Started from Hong Kong Island

Chapter 247 [Want to buy? No way]

Monday, September 1
Li Wendi convened a high-level meeting of a shipping investment company at Hutchison House in Central. The company was not a listed company, but most of its management were foreigners, with only a few Chinese.

The boss of the shipping investment company was replaced by a Chinese, which naturally made the foreign executives unhappy, so many management staff were late for the meeting.

Li Wendi hated this kind of "show of power", but he was still fooled by his employees. Li Wendi saw that the watch hand was exactly at 10 o'clock, so he looked around and said in a deep voice, "All employees who were late today will be fired. At the same time, I will let an outside professional company intervene to evaluate the previous work content of the resigned employees. If there are major mistakes, the company will hold them accountable for legal responsibilities."

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. They thought the new Chinese boss would be scared by their show of force, but in fact he was outwitted instead.

"Mr. Li, if we fire so many management staff, the company's business will most likely be paralyzed." said a foreign employee, with some threats in his tone.

"Let it be paralyzed. Anyway, I have money and can afford the losses. As long as the shipping company can transport goods to customers normally, I am not afraid of anything. Even if there is chaos for a while, I can spend a lot of money to recruit talents. Do you think one month is enough?" Li Wendi said with a sneer.

"Okay, if anyone still wants to resign, you can ask for it now, and I will approve it on the spot," Li Wendi added.

Li Wendi saw that no one spoke, and no one stood up to leave, so he wanted to announce the start of the meeting. However, he saw the management staff arriving late. He glanced at them and said, "You don't need to attend the meeting. You have been fired. Go to the HR department to complete the resignation procedures."

"Mr. Li, what you are doing is against the law. You need to give us a reason to accept it." The foreigner stepped forward and questioned.

"There's no reason. I just don't like you. Go away." Li Wendi raised his lips and didn't bother to explain. "The company is mine. I can do whatever I want."

"."The foreigners stood at the door, not knowing what to do.

They never thought things would turn out like this.

After the incident was settled, Li Wendi got to the point of the meeting. "The company has started to suffer some losses. Fortunately, our company's ships do not have many loans. The shipping industry is very profitable nowadays, so I plan to apply for a mortgage loan from the bank to buy some new ships."

The remaining senior executives were shocked by Li Wendi's "dominance" just now, and now they dared not object to Li Wendi's proposal.

So Li Wendi was personally responsible for the business of bank loans and purchasing new ships. As for other vacant positions, he quickly contacted a headhunting company and asked them to quickly help the company find new talents.

Of course, Li Wendi did not really leave these positions vacant, but instead urgently mobilized several capable employees from the Starlight Real Estate Company to come over to deal with the emergency. Although it takes some time to adapt, it is better than leaving them vacant.

Li Wendi's actions soon spread and received happy applause from Chinese businessmen. Finally, someone helped them vent their anger.

Back to Changxin Real Estate Company
As soon as Li Wendi sat down, he received even more shocking news: the Hong Kong Electric Company was plotting to acquire the China Gas Company.

John Madden, chairman of China Gas Company, called and asked Li Wendi to attend the board meeting of China Coal Corporation immediately to discuss countermeasures.

After hanging up the phone, Li Wendi's brows were deeply furrowed, forming a ravine. He had no memory of this incident in his previous life, so he was very surprised.

He remembered that the China Gas Company was acquired by Li Zhaoji in 1983. If the company fell into the hands of the Hong Kong Electric Company, it should be controlled by Li Jiacheng. He judged that this acquisition would most likely fail.

Of course, it was too late to buy shares of Hong Kong Electric Company at this time. After all, the news had been leaked and the possibility of making a big profit was very low.

"We must stop the acquisition of Hong Kong Electric Company no matter what. If it is really acquired, things will become even more troublesome." Li Wendi muttered to himself.

Ten minutes later, he remembered the meeting at Towngas, so he quickly picked up his coat and ran towards the underground garage.

Towngas Boardroom

What surprised Li Wendi was that there was a stranger at the board meeting, a British guy.

After everyone was gathered, John Madden introduced the stranger to everyone, "Gentlemen, let me introduce you. This is Mr. Connor, the boss of Hong Kong Electric Company. It was he who proposed to our board of directors to acquire China Gas Company. As for the price, let Mr. Connor tell us himself."

"Hello, everyone! I'm Connor from Hong Kong Electric Company. According to my research, the current market value of China Gas Company is 2.4 million yuan. Hong Kong Electric Company is willing to acquire the new shares issued by China Gas Company at a premium of 1%, which requires approximately 30% of the shares. This amount of money will be distributed to you and the shareholders as profits in the form of dividends." The plan proposed by Connor seemed very good, but it was more beneficial to Hong Kong Electric Company.

Those present were all business elites, so they could naturally see Connor's intention, to get an extremely high-quality company at the lowest cost.

The sound of the abacus was very loud, like thunder in a clear sky.

Once Hong Kong Electric Company holds 30% of the shares, the shares of all shareholders present will shrink, and when dividends are distributed, Hong Kong Electric Company can take 30% of them. In other words, Hong Kong Electric Company spent 70% of the funds to buy 30% of the shares of China Gas Company.

Seeing that the directors all looked thoughtful, Li Wendi knew that these people did not want to be the first to offend the head of the British company. He did not want to do that either, but he was afraid that China Gas Company would be taken away by Connor, so Li Wendi smiled and said, "According to Mr. Connor's plan, I also want to acquire China Gas Company, and I am a shareholder of China Gas Company, so I should enjoy priority."

Faced with such irony, Connor was neither angry nor annoyed. Instead, he smiled and said, "Since Mr. Li and all of you do not agree with this plan, we can discuss it again. The Hong Kong Electric Company is very sincere in acquiring the China Gas Company."

Li Mingze smiled and said, "We have already seen Mr. Connor's sincerity. China Gas Company is not a cheap product. Even without the acquisition by Hong Kong Electric Company, we can still get considerable profits every year. On the contrary, after the acquisition, the total share capital will increase, and the dividends we receive will decrease. The Chinese have a saying that goes 'drinking poison to quench thirst', and we don't want to be slowly poisoned to death."

With Li Wendi's start, Li Mingze also began to attack Connor.

In fact, these directors were very angry because Connor said he was sincere, but in fact he treated everyone as fools.

Whether it was the bargaining technique used to make the offer or the cost Connor wanted to pay for the acquisition, there was no doubt that Connor did not have much sincerity.

"Everyone, I have another plan here. You should listen to it first." Connor was still not angry and was forced to come up with the real plan.

No one answered Connor, so Connor started talking on his own. "Hong Kong Electric Company is willing to buy your shares at a 2% premium, and strive to increase your shareholding to 30%. You will also be members of the board of directors. If you feel that you have a loss, you can distribute last year's dividends in advance and then sell your shares to us. How do you think?"

This plan sounds interesting and can maximize the interests of everyone. Li Wendi looked around and saw that the directors were all thinking deeply and were obviously interested in this plan.

"Mr. Connor, I have a suggestion. What do you think?" Li Wendi started to play tricks again. "I want to exchange my China Gas Company shares for equivalent Hong Kong Electric Company shares. This way, Hong Kong Electric Company can save some money, and the interests of our board members can be maximized."

This plan naturally kills two birds with one stone. Li Wendi can then directly attack the Hong Kong Electric Company. As long as he succeeds, he can directly control the two large companies. What a tempting plan.

Connor was stunned. He didn't expect Li Wendi to be so vicious and set his sights on the Hong Kong Electric Company. He had heard about Li Wendi's attack on the Wharf Group.

"Haha!! Mr. Li's suggestion is very good, I agree!" Li Mingze was the first to express his opinion. Although he did not have many shares, he could still benefit from the Hong Kong Electric Company.

Li Fushu, John Madden, and Kocha all nodded and said that they could proceed according to this plan, especially John Madden, who would be able to become a director of the Hong Kong Electric Company, which would be more beneficial to his face project.

Connor thought for a moment and replied, "This is a big plan. I need to go back and consult the other directors."

Hong Kong Electric Company is a large public enterprise that is not controlled by any family, which means that Connor has full control over it, and convincing shareholders is a piece of cake for him.

This was obviously a rejection of Li Wendi's proposal, as this plan was not in the interests of the Hong Kong Electric Company.

The meeting ended quickly, and Connor left China Gas Company without saying goodbye to anyone.

"Mr. Li is really sharp. He can defeat someone like Connor." Li Fushu praised Li Wendi.

"What do you mean by sharp? Now I have offended the boss of the Hong Kong Electric Company." Li Wendi said with a wry smile. They are all a bunch of old foxes. They don't want the China Gas Company to be acquired, nor do they want to offend Connor.

"Connor is not afraid of offending us, so why should we be afraid of offending him?" Li Fushu said nice things, but acted like a 'dwarf'.

The conversation between the two attracted Li Mingze again. The voices of the three Chinese made John Madden and Kocha look at each other in confusion, as if they realized the imbalance of power.

Under Wells' management, Hutchison Group continued to sell its substandard companies, and the recovered funds were quickly used to clear debts. It was soon announced to the outside world that Hutchison Group had reduced its debts by more than 35%. The remaining 65% of debt would continue to be cleared, and the group would strive to maintain its debts at around 30% of total assets.

As soon as the news came out, the share price of Hutchison Group began to rise, rising to 1.5 yuan. Li Wendi earned 2000 million yuan from the 1000 million shares he held, which made Li Wendi very happy.

Seeing that the new boss, Willis, was so capable, some bold investors began to buy shares of Hutchison Group, which was also one of the reasons for the rise in stock prices.

Looking at the newsprint, Li Wendi suddenly remembered that 75 was a year of major acquisitions. Jardine Matheson bought up shares of Kinmen Construction Company and Jardine Matheson Holdings at low prices, completing its plan to control more than half of the shares and even privatized Kinmen Construction Company.

Jardine Matheson has mobilized a large amount of funds to invest overseas, but does not have much cash in its account, so it will propose a stock exchange plan, just like it did when it dealt with Dairy Farm International. The plan of stock plus a small amount of funds seems to have given shareholders a lot of benefits, but in fact the winner is Jardine Matheson.

Renfuhang is a subsidiary of Jardine Matheson Company, engaged in car agency, car repair, auto parts sales, and auto technical consulting. All businesses related to car agency are not much different from watch agency companies.

The assets of Kinmen Construction Company are even greater than those of the Jhong Fu Building. The Kinmen Building in Central alone is worth hundreds of millions. In addition, Kinmen Construction Company is one of the four largest construction companies in Hong Kong and has long been ranked first in the construction industry.

Both companies have very promising profit prospects and property assets, and are even comparable to the top mid-sized real estate companies in Hong Kong.

Li Wendi remembered that the acquisition plan would be announced in the first half of the year, which was a good opportunity for him to make a fortune.

So, Li Wendi went to HSBC again and found Wu Xiong.

"Mr. Wu's business is picking up again, congratulations!" Li Wendi laughed and teased Wu Xiong.

Wu Xiong smiled bitterly and said, "It's just that there are a few more trading customers. It's better than before, but it's still very bad."

"If it weren't for Mr. Li's care, I would have already gone to work several jobs." Wu Xiong said with some pity.
"Mr. Wu is a white-collar worker among white-collar workers. He has to work several jobs. How can others survive?" Li Wendi certainly didn't believe it. After all, Wu Xiong had handled hundreds of millions of dollars from him, and he didn't even know how much he earned from the handling fees.

"Okay, let's get down to business." Li Wendi didn't want to continue chatting. It was more important to get down to business. "How much have the share prices of Jardine Matheson and Kinmen Construction Co., Ltd. risen?"

"I need to check. The stock prices have increased recently." Wu Xiong thought for a moment and decided to take a look at the current stock price first.

A few minutes later, Wu Xiong came back and reported to Li Wendi, "The share price of Renfuxing is 1.4 yuan, and the share price of Jinmen Construction Company is a bit high, at 2.1 yuan. Are you planning to buy it, Mr. Li?"

Li Wendi asked again, "How much money do I have left in my account?"

"About 7000 million!" said Wu Xiong.

"If I buy stocks of these two companies, how much can you help me buy?" Li Wendi asked bluntly.

"There aren't many scattered shares of these two companies on the stock market right now. I think it shouldn't be a problem for me to buy 300 million shares," Wu Xiong said conservatively.

"Okay, then transfer 2000 million over. You can acquire as much as you can. There is no need to worry about exposure for this acquisition. But you have to pay attention to the stock price and not raise it too much. The principle is to get more stocks and spend less money." Li Wendi explained.

"Yes!" Wu Xiong glanced at Li Wendi. This Mr. Li has already invested 5000 million in the stock market, and now has another 2000 million. He is so optimistic about the current stock market.

"Mr. Li, do you think the stock market is about to warm up completely?" Wu Xiong couldn't help but ask.

"Maybe. Some fluctuations are normal, but there shouldn't be a big crash like the one in 74," said Li Wendi with a smile.

(End of this chapter)