Back to 1980: Please Love Me Again

Chapter 182 Acquisition of Hutchison
Tsim Sha Tsui, Miramar Hotel.

"It has to be said that Shen Bi's investment in Li Chaoren is very bold, and it will definitely reap rich rewards."

In the room, after finishing the day's trip, Zhao Wenmu sat paralyzed on the sofa, talking to Zhao Jingxian about Li Chaoren's going to swallow He Huang.

It's just that he took these things that haven't happened yet, and told Zhao Jing as his own prediction.

"Hutchison Whampoa has more than 60 billion assets, and Cheung Kong has only 7 million. Can Li Chaoren really swallow the other party?"

Zhao Jing still couldn't believe it.

Hutchison Group, as the name suggests, actually has two major components, Hutchison Matheson and Whampoa Dockyard.

It is the largest listed company controlled by the top ten chaebols in Xiangjiang at this time.

Hutchison is the second largest foreign firm on Hong Kong Island. It is mainly engaged in Indian cotton, British cotton and woolen fabrics, tea import and export trade in the Mainland and local retail business.

Huangpu Dockyard, Taikoo Dockyard, and Naval Dockyard are known as the three major dockyards of Xiangjiang. They have the ability to build and repair [-]-ton ships, and operate the terminal storage industry.

After World War II, Hutchison & Co. fell into the hands of the Chi Tak-zun family, one of the four major British-owned families in Hong Kong.

Prayer Zun pinpointed the general trend of the Hong Kong industry with more people and less land, and real estate must be booming. He closed the docks and docks on the east side of the Kowloon Peninsula, moved the ship repair business to Tsing Yi Island, and transferred all other warehouses and docks to Kwai Chung.

In this way, a lot of land was freed up.

And most of them are located in prime locations.

So next, Qi Dezun overhauled the civil engineering and focused on developing the real estate business.

He has a big appetite and has absorbed more than 360 companies in a short period of time, a large part of which is located overseas.

People at the time commented that he had "sharp teeth" and "a strong appetite", which meant that he expanded wildly and blossomed everywhere.

However, despite his good appetite, he suffered from indigestion.

A large number of acquired companies performed poorly and needed blood transfusions for a long time to survive.

Fortunately, in those years, the Xiangjiang stock market was very hot, Qi Dezun made a lot of money from the stock market, and was able to temporarily fill this huge financial burden.

But luck always comes to an end.

In 1973, the Xiangjiang stock market crashed, followed by the world oil crisis, and then the Xiangjiang real estate landslide.

A series of blows fell precisely on Hutchison Group.

Hutchison, which was already overburdened, collapsed completely.

At this time, the white knight HSBC came to the rescue.

In August 1975, HSBC Bank injected 8 million Hong Kong dollars and acquired a 1.5% stake in Hutchison, becoming its largest shareholder.

At the same time, the Huangpu Company was spun off from the Hutchison Group.

In September 1977, Hutchison merged with Whampoa again and was reorganized as "Hutchison Whampoa (Group) Co., Ltd."However, because the group suffered a huge deficit before, even with the excellent professional manager Wei Li in charge of the business, it failed to bring it back to its former glory.

"HSBC is very willing to divest Hutchison, and I believe Shen Bi's asking price will not be too high."

Zhao Wenmu kissed Zhao Jing's forehead, and continued:

"The Hong Kong Company Law stipulates that banks are not allowed to engage in non-financial business. Creditor banks can temporarily take over enterprises that are insolvent."

"That's the situation with Hutchison right now, and once it returns to normal, HSBC will have to hand over control of it."

Although Hutchison currently has average profitability, it can already be called a normal operation.

Therefore, HSBC is willing to transfer the control of Hutchison.

"However, HSBC is also unwilling. Hutchison Huang's assets are excellent, but its management is not good. As long as it is well managed, its value will far exceed what it is now. Therefore, HSBC's intention to sell Hutchison Huang is not to sell shares for arbitrage, but to hand over control After that, Hutchison will be able to operate well.”

"In this way, the remaining equity in HSBC's hands can realize the maximum value."

HSBC's calculation was really good, and Hutchison was handed over to Li Chaoren.HSBC not only gets rid of this burden and avoids legal risks; it can also retain a large number of Hutchison preferred shares, which will bring large dividends to HSBC after Li Chaoren "rescues" Hutchison.

Therefore, HSBC actually has only one appeal:
The receiver can manage Hutchison very well.

Undoubtedly, Superman Li is an excellent choice.

What's more, there was Rong Ren who came forward as a guarantee.

This is indeed the case. Soon after, Li Chaoren reached an agreement with HSBC.

Li Chaoren bought 7 million Hutchison shares at a price of more than 9000 yuan per share, holding 20% ​​of the shares, and became its largest shareholder.

Then he was successfully elected as the chairman of the board of directors of Hutchison Whampoa Co., Ltd., becoming the first Chinese executive in Hong Kong to join a British foreign company.

Rong Renyi did not have such an honor.

Because Rong Renyi just ate Wharf, and Wharf is just an arm of Jardine Matheson.

The price of the Hutchison stock sold by HSBC to Li Chaoren was only about half of the market price, and he agreed to temporarily pay 20% of the cash.

The rest of the funds can be paid in installments.

The conditions are not bad!

Of course, HSBC’s original investment cost was only about 1 yuan, and the actual profit was still very rich.

After that, Hutchison under the management of Li Chaoren flourished day by day. In the next few years, Hutchison's profit increased by more than ten times, and HSBC gained great benefits.

Li Chaoren has truly become Shen Bi's Rong Renyi.

Rong and Li both took over the management of a large British-funded enterprise, which aroused widespread attention from the international media.

A beautiful country "News Weekly" said in a news commentary: "Li Chaoren became the chairman of Hutchison Whampoa. This is the first Chinese to be appointed as a large trading house in Xiangjiang. As the investors of Xiangjiang said, he will not be The only one."

The British "Times" analyzed: "This makes Xiangjiang's British companies nervous."

"Since World War II, especially in the 70s and [-]s, the economic power of the Chinese has grown rapidly. With the backing of a powerful China, these upstart Chinese businessmen are even more powerful, so they dare to openly compete with British businessmen in the mall to obtain the economy that originally belonged to British businessmen. This makes the British businessmen in Xiangjiang extremely uneasy. British businessmen are all lamenting the changes in the world."

This article tries to attribute the success of Chinese businessmen to the development and changes of the background of the times, but it does not reflect on why British businessmen have gradually declined, revealing the arrogance and prejudice of the "British Empire" everywhere.

However, no matter whether they admit it or not, whether they are willing or not, the general trend of the times is moving forward and unstoppable.

The rise of Xiangjiang Chinese businessmen is the general trend.

The rapid development of the mainland has accelerated this process.

The general trend of the world, those who follow it will prosper, and those who go against it will perish.

Or it can be said that the movement of heaven is permanent, it does not exist for Yao, and it does not perish for Jie.

As an ordinary person in the era, the most important thing is to follow the development of the times and follow the trend.

Standing hand in hand in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, looking at the bustling city outside, Zhao Jing murmured:
"It's so beautiful!"

"Yeah, it's beautiful."

Zhao Jing scratched his palm.

The wind blows slowly, and the night murmurs softly.

The place is bustling.

(End of this chapter)