People in Hong Kong create super chaebols

The news of Niu Bijian's sad resignation swept across Hong Kong like a storm, attracting widespread attention from all walks of life.

No one expected that this Jardine Matheson boss, who was once on par with Mr. Shen Bi of Huifeng Bank, would end his brilliant career so hastily and low-key.

The Suzhou City remained silent on this matter and did not make the reasons behind it public. Niu Bijian himself also remained silent when questioned by the media and did not reveal any inside information.

Therefore, the real reason why Niu Bijian resigned is shrouded in mystery and has become a major unsolved case in Hong Kong.

However, in the top circles of this prosperous city, some bigwigs who hold great power and have insight into the world have their own speculations and interpretations in their hearts, which makes this incident even more mysterious and complicated.

After being stripped of his position, Niu Bijian did not choose to return to Britain in disgrace, but chose to stay in Hong Kong and wait for the opportunity.

He placed all his hopes on the British shareholders, firmly believing that his current situation was closely related to them.

He vowed not to give up until the final conclusion of the incident was settled and was determined to continue seeking a turnaround in Hong Kong.

Every possibility of returning to Jardine Matheson is precious to him.

His many years of leadership career have enabled him to establish an unshakable position in Jardine Matheson and Hong Kong's business community, and he has become accustomed to standing at the pinnacle of power and glory.

Therefore, he would never give up easily, but would seize every opportunity and try to make a comeback.

At the same time, Su Cheng decisively seized the opportunity and pushed Ma Shiming to quickly take over the helm of Jardine Matheson Group.

Ma Shiming, an experienced business leader in his forties, has accumulated profound management wisdom and practical experience during his years of hard work in the Hong Kong Electric Group.

Therefore, when he officially became the executive director of Jardine Matheson, he was able to quickly integrate into and take control of the overall situation, becoming familiar with the daily operations and management of Jardine Matheson, demonstrating extraordinary leadership and decision-making ability.

Located in a luxurious villa on Plantation Road in Hong Kong, Niu Bijian has rarely stepped out of the mansion since being dismissed.

He stayed indoors, but he was not passively avoiding the world. Instead, he actively played the role of a middleman, frequently contacting various shareholders in an attempt to reverse the situation.

His glorious career at Jardine Matheson for many years not only enabled Niu Bijian to accumulate rich management experience, but also to reap rich financial rewards.

Although he is a professional manager, he has already become a billionaire thanks to his profound influence on companies such as Jardine Matheson and Hong Kong Holdings.

However, things change unpredictably. Niu Bijian had never expected that the moment he stepped down early, his position in the hearts of the Keswick family and even the British shareholders had quietly slipped.

Even if British forces regained control of Jardine Matheson, it would be difficult for him to regain his former glory as the top boss.

For British shareholders, the value of a man who is still at the helm of Jardine Matheson is naturally incomparable to that of him who has now lost power.

Therefore, all the current efforts of Niu Bijian seem to be just a pointless struggle and it is difficult to rewrite the predetermined fate.

Despite the major setbacks in their careers, with the tacit cooperation between the Keswick family and Niu Bijian, they miraculously succeeded in uniting all British shareholders and formed a force that could not be ignored.

For a long time, Chinese shareholders have been rare in Jardine Matheson. Apart from Su Cheng, a major Chinese shareholder who plays an important role, the rest of the influential shareholders are almost all British.

After some careful counting, they were pleasantly surprised to find that with the combined efforts of everyone, the total amount of shares they held was as high as 30.2%.

This figure is not only impressive, but also means that the combined strength of their shares has surpassed the proportion of shares held by Su Cheng personally.

This discovery undoubtedly laid a solid foundation for them to regroup and gain more voice.

Although they feel helpless about the shares controlled by the Hong Kong Land Group, they are also well aware that the position of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission is inclined towards British interests.

Therefore, they hope to seek opportunities to prohibit Hong Kong Land from further increasing its holdings in Jardine Matheson Group shares with the support of the SFC.

After completing the contact with all of Jardine's UK shareholders, they did not rush into action but adopted a more thoughtful strategy.

They turned to contact the British shareholders of Hutchison Whampoa, intending to further consolidate their influence in Jardine Matheson Group and lay a more solid foundation for future counterattacks.

Jardine Matheson Group and Swire Group have long been one and the same, with a close and natural connection between the two, which has laid a solid foundation for their collaboration.

After two months of careful planning and unremitting efforts, the Keswick family successfully convinced the British shareholders of the Hutchison Whampoa Group with a series of attractive promises and profit sharing, and reached a consensus one by one.

Today, the British shareholders of Jardine Matheson Group and Hutchison Whampoa Group have united closely to form a sharp offensive line.

They stood side by side, forming an indestructible battle line, aiming directly at Su City.

In the blink of an eye, time passed to March 1982.

Just as many shareholders of Jardine Matheson Group and Swire Properties Group joined hands to file a complaint with the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission, Su Cheng also quietly laid an important chess piece.

He directly prompted the Jardine Matheson Group to sell part of its shares, and the mysterious buyer was Su Cheng himself.

This action seems ordinary, but it actually has a deep meaning.

With the successful completion of the transaction, Su Cheng's shareholding in Jardine Matheson Group quietly climbed to 49.99%, precisely stopping at the 50% threshold, thus avoiding triggering the mandatory regulations for the privatization acquisition of Jardine Matheson Group.

This strategy not only demonstrated Su Cheng's profound business insight and precise operating methods, but also laid the groundwork for subsequent layout and game.

Although Su Cheng had the ability to easily acquire Jardine Matheson, he had no intention of privatizing this historic company because, in his opinion, it was not necessary.

Similarly, he has no plans to privatize the Hong Kong Land Group.

Su Cheng is well aware that over-privatizing enterprises may become a heavy burden, even though he currently has sufficient funds and does not need to worry about financial pressure.

However, the future is full of uncertainty, and things are hard to predict in the next few decades.

Therefore, he prefers to maintain the company's existing structure and respond flexibly to future changes and challenges.

Therefore, retaining the listed corporate status of Jardine Matheson Group and Swire Properties Group is a wise decision for the Su family to reduce future risks.

On this basis, Su Cheng carefully planned another round of equity adjustment. Su Cheng continued to transfer part of the shares of Hong Kong Land Group held by Jardine Matheson Group to himself, making Su Cheng's shareholding ratio in Hong Kong Land Group reach 49.99%.

This move not only strengthened Su Cheng's control over the two groups, but also enabled him to achieve a delicate balance in the shareholding structure of the two groups - both maintained a 49.99% shareholding level.

Such a layout not only avoids triggering any possible forced acquisition or privatization clauses, but also reserves more strategic flexibility and operating space for the Su family in the future.

After completing this series of equity adjustments, Suzhou City was not in a hurry to let Jardine Matheson Group and Swire Properties announce this major change to the public.

He understood that the timing of the announcement had to be just right, and the silence at this moment was precisely to prepare for a more powerful counterattack later.

Through detailed intelligence collection and analysis, Su Cheng has understood the movements of British shareholders.

He was naturally very clear that these British shareholders would never give up control of the Jardine Matheson Group easily. After all, they had been secretly preparing for nearly half a year to take back Jardine Matheson.

This persistence and determination makes Su Cheng full of anticipation for the upcoming competition.

Of course, he didn't really care. To him, these British people had no chance of gaining any advantage over him.

He waited patiently for the next move by British shareholders.

He wanted to know what strategies these former rivals would adopt to try to regain control of the Jardine Matheson Group;

He also wanted to witness with his own eyes how they used all their tricks to try to turn the tide in this business game.

Su Cheng himself has made all preparations and is waiting for the right moment to deal a fatal blow to his opponent.

On March 3, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission held a press conference, at which Chairman Mai Si solemnly read out an important statement.

The statement pointed out that Mr. Su Cheng did not consult the SFC in advance when carrying out the acquisition of Jardine Matheson Group and Hong Kong Land Development Group. This move was considered to violate the basic principle of "ensuring fairness to all shareholders" in the Takeovers and Mergers Code.

Therefore, the SFC formally required that the shares held by Jardine Matheson Group and Hong Kong Land Development Group be sold and returned to the open market to maintain market fairness and transparency.

If both parties fail to respond positively, the CSRC will have to intervene and directly deal with the internal dispute between the two.

This letter of opinion was soon delivered to Su Cheng.

He flipped through the pages gently, a faint smile on his face, and thought to himself: "That's it?"

These British shareholders may have naively believed that they could easily regain control of the Jardine Matheson Group simply because the total amount of shares they held exceeded Su Cheng's previous shareholding ratio.

Or perhaps, they fantasized that after the Jardine Matheson shares held by the Swire Group returned to the secondary market, they would take the opportunity to make large-scale acquisitions and thus achieve a comprehensive surpass of Suzhou.

However, they overlooked a crucial point - Su City had already made plans in advance.

As early as February, he had quietly acquired 49.99% of the shares of Jardine Matheson Group and Hong Kong Land Development, a layout that the British were completely unaware of.

Given the current situation of Su Cheng’s near-absolute controlling stake, his opinion undoubtedly carries great weight.

Almost any major decision can be implemented under his leadership without relying too much on the nods of other shareholders.

Therefore, Su Cheng simply smiled indifferently at the wishful thinking of the British shareholders, and he already had a plan to deal with it in his mind.

Not long after, Su Cheng personally held a press conference to respond positively to the decision of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.

At the meeting, he showed great respect and cooperation, and announced that all the shares of Jardine Matheson Group held by the Hong Kong Land Group and the shares of Hong Kong Land held by the Hong Kong Land Group would be sold to the secondary market in accordance with market rules.

Immediately afterwards, Su Cheng unexpectedly announced two important transaction contracts: one was a formal agreement in which the Jardine Matheson Group would transfer part of the shares of the Hutchison Whampoa Group to him, and the other was an agreement in which the Hutchison Whampoa Group would transfer part of the shares of the Jardine Matheson Group to him.

These transactions not only demonstrate Suzhou's deep-rooted control over the two major groups, but also herald another important move in its strategic layout.

With the comprehensive reorganization of the boards of directors of the two groups, all the original British board members have withdrawn from the stage of history, and have been replaced by new directors who are completely trusted and personally selected by Su Cheng.

Therefore, the approval of these two transaction contracts was naturally unanimously approved by the new board of directors, ensuring the legality and compliance of the transactions.

As for why it has not been made public yet, Su Cheng smiled and said that this was only for the need to maintain market stability and expectation management. When the time is right, it will naturally be announced.

After Suzhou announced the news, there was an uproar everywhere in Hong Kong. Both Niu Bijian and other British shareholders were deeply shocked and confused.

They had never expected that Su Cheng had quietly controlled 49.99% of the shares of Jardine Matheson Group and Swire Properties respectively. This shocking fact completely shattered their original layout and fantasy.

Faced with such a situation, they couldn't help but feel helpless.

Even if all the shares held by Jardine Matheson Group and Swire Properties Group return to the secondary market, it will only add more liquidity to these two already well-funded groups. It will be of little help to their goal of regaining control. How can they compete when their opponent holds 49.99% of the shares?
Unless they acquire the other 50.01% of the shares, which is simply impossible.

What's more, the stock prices of the two groups are currently at a high level. If they want to acquire a large number of shares through the open market, they will undoubtedly have to pay an extremely high price.

At this moment, the British shareholders deeply realized Su Cheng's unfathomable business wisdom and planning capabilities. They realized that in this business competition, they might have been at a disadvantage from the very beginning.

The attempt to regain control of Jardine Matheson now seems to be nothing more than an unrealistic and naive fantasy.

With its excellent business acumen and operational capabilities, Su Cheng has long made its companies into stars in the capital market, and its stock prices have naturally been pushed up to remarkable levels by market enthusiasm.

The reason is that all the companies controlled by Su Cheng are leaders in the industry. Not only do they have outstanding performance and huge profits, they have also won the favor of the majority of shareholders with their generous dividend policies.

Take the Hong Kong Electric Company Limited as an example. Although there have not been many dividend distributions in the past few years, the unprecedented dividend feast last year surprised many shareholders to find that the amount of dividends they received far exceeded their initial shareholding cost.

This news was like a shot in the arm, instantly igniting the market's enthusiasm. The share price of Hong Kong Electric Group soared, and its market value exceeded the HK$30 billion mark in one fell swoop, making it a shining pearl in the Hong Kong stock market and a giant among listed companies.

Because of the precedent of the Hong Kong Electric Group, it is only natural that the shares of the Jardine Matheson Group and the Hong Kong Land Development Group have soared. (End of this chapter)