Started from Hong Kong Island

Chapter 248 [I owe you a favor]

Metropolitan Real Estate Company Office

As usual, Li Wendi came here to take charge for half a day, which was considered a reassurance to the employees of Capital Real Estate Company, letting them know that the boss still cares about the company.

In fact, Li Wendi owns too many companies, and the time he can arrange each week is very limited. In addition, now is a period of great development, and he needs to find opportunities for rapid expansion, so the working hours are not enough.

Li Wendi looked at the information and said to Gao Yi, "Is Taiwei Real Estate Company the only one Global Building that we want?"

Tai Wei Properties Limited is a small and medium-sized enterprise that focuses on both property and real estate development. Its most dazzling asset is the Global Building located on Des Voeux Road Central. Other properties and land are scattered assets. However, its debts are not serious, and it is a relatively high-quality company after the disaster.

Gao Yi wanted to take this opportunity to control this company and complete the expansion plan of Ducheng Real Estate Company.

"Other property assets are also valuable, but they are scattered and require a lot of manpower and material resources to manage." Gao Yi continued, "If the share swap is successful, we can take the opportunity to control the company, and the Global Building will also become an asset of Metropolitan Real Estate."

Stock swap is indeed a good way to acquire other companies without spending too much money. The only disadvantage is that it reduces the control over the original company and may be taken advantage of by competitors.

"Will the original boss of Taiwei Real Estate Company accept such a stock exchange plan?" Li Wendi asked doubtfully.

The location of Global Building is very advantageous, as it is across the road from Landmark Chater House. The land alone is worth a lot of money.

Li Wendi remembers that at an auction in 70, the Hong Kong Land Development Co., Ltd. won a 2.58 square feet reclaimed land in Central at a high price of HK$5.3 million, with a unit price of HK$4867 per square foot, setting a new record for land prices in Central.

Although the Global Building is not that large, with an area of ​​only 2.3 square feet, it is also a valuable piece of land worth more than 1 million yuan, which is higher than the asset value of Capital Real Estate Company. How it can be controlled by Capital Real Estate Company is a bit strange.

"Boss, our Ducheng Real Estate originally held 21% of Taiwei Real Estate's shares, which is only about 10% less than the majority shareholder. Moreover, Ducheng Real Estate owns three Central Commercial Buildings, and its strength is not much weaker than Taiwei Real Estate." Gao Yi said, "Now Taiwei Real Estate's boss Hu Zengqiang is also facing a hostile takeover by other companies, so he also wants to divert the trouble."

"It is indeed a good strategy to introduce a similar opponent so that we can both suffer losses in the fight and he can keep his position as chairman of the board of directors." Li Wendi smiled knowingly. This is reasonable.

"The other party is Cheung Kong Holdings. Boss, you have dealt with their boss Li Jiacheng. He is a figure that should not be underestimated." Gao Yi said seriously.

Mudd!

Why is it Li Jiacheng again?! Is there no way to escape this guy's spell?
Li Wendi was slightly stunned, and then complained in his heart. He naturally would not remember all of Li Jiacheng's development trajectory, but only some major events.

"Then how do we do the stock exchange? Hu Zengqiang shouldn't let us exchange more than 10% of the shares, right?" Li Wendi asked.

"Hu Zengqiang only agreed to issue us a certain amount of new shares, and the total shareholding cannot exceed 30%. Moreover, he can only be supported as the chairman of the board of directors of Taiwei Real Estate Company within 5 years. I guess he will also subscribe to a certain amount of new shares, otherwise the controlling position cannot be guaranteed." Gao Yi analyzed.

"Five years have passed! The opportunity has faded. Although the Global Building is of high quality, there is no need for us to hold on to Taiwei Real Estate. Now is an era of great opportunities. It is possible to increase the funds 5 times." Li Wendi certainly does not want to make wedding dresses for others.

"We can first delay Hu Zengqiang, and then secretly win over those shareholders to achieve the goal of issuing new shares in a targeted manner." Gao Yi still has some means.

Since you want to win them over, you naturally have to give them benefits, otherwise the shareholders will never be willing to rebel.

"Well, you are the one who takes charge of the matter. As long as it's not excessive, you can make the decision. Our main goal is to take over the Global Building." Li Wendi reminded Gao Yi that it would be enough to achieve the main purpose of the acquisition.

"Thank you, boss!" Gao Yi was very grateful for Li Wendi's appreciation, as this matter had a lot more room for maneuver.

The property in the heart of Central naturally appeals to many people. It can rapidly expand the company's asset value, which is not much different from acquiring some high-quality companies. Li Wendi is certainly no exception.

However, this matter is very troublesome to implement and the possibility of failure is very high. Hu Zengqiang is not a confused guy, but the fact that Li Jiacheng dared to take action proves that there is great potential for success.

In fact, Li Wendi doesn't want to fight with anyone now. It's a good time for mergers and acquisitions. The right thing to do is to quietly acquire other companies to complete basic expansion. Even if he defeats Li Jiacheng now, there will be other Wang Jiachengs emerging.

Mid to late March
Li Wendi received a piece of news: Sun Hung Kai Securities plans to acquire a company and go public through a backdoor listing, but there was no specific information as to which company it was.

So, Li Wendi smelled an opportunity to make money. Although the profit would not be too big, it was a good time in this period of economic recovery. After all, Sun Hung Kai Securities was not a small company, but an enterprise that could stand shoulder to shoulder with Sun Hung Kai Properties.

Li Wendi guessed that this was because Sun Hung Kai Securities was dissatisfied with the excessive number of listing rules, and thus came up with this method to simplify the process and time.

Of course, 'backdoor listing' is very creative in this era. It is not the trend of 'backdoor listing' in the 90s. Anyone has the ability to go public through a backdoor listing.

Li Wendi spent the whole morning thinking hard in the office, writing and drawing on dozens of pages of white paper, before he remembered that in his previous life, Sun Hung Kai Securities had acquired Huachang Jianye Company, and that the acquisition was very short, completed in just one week, and Sun Hung Kai Securities paid a relatively small price.

So, when the market opened in the afternoon, Li Wendi came to HSBC. At this time, there were many more investors in the trading hall and it was quite noisy.

He personally found Wu Xiong who was busy. Wu Xiong was very tactful. He immediately dropped the client he was working on and took Li Wendi to the small conference room. He brought a cup of coffee in a paper cup and said, "Mr. Li, have a cup of coffee first!"

"This time I came to you because I want you to help me buy stocks of Huachang Jianye Company. I don't need too much, one or two million shares will be enough." Li Wendi took a sip of coffee, his tone a little casual, as if it was nothing important.

Wu Xiong was puzzled. Why was Mr. Li interested in such a small company? One or two million shares didn't seem like an acquisition. Was it an investment?
Wu Xiong really wanted to ask the reason, but unfortunately he was just a trader and Li Wendi might not tell him the truth.

He is a smart man and has already smelled the benefits.

"Okay, do you need me to check the stock price? You can have an idea of ​​it then." Wu Xiong reminded.

Li Wendi shook his head. "No need! Just buy it. It's just a small investment."

The reason why he bought so few stocks was that he was afraid that what happened in this life would be different from what happened in the previous life, so his funds would be trapped (handling fees and taxes would eat up the principal, and it would need to rise to a certain amount before it could be sold), and the profit would not be too high.

"I understand!" Wu Xiong nodded slightly. He wanted to say something more to Li Wendi, but Li Wendi had no such intention.

Late September

Jardine Matheson did not initiate the acquisition of Jardine Matheson or the privatization of Gammon Construction. Instead, Sun Hung Kai Securities took the lead in attacking Huachang Development Co., Ltd. and immediately announced that Sun Hung Kai Securities held 23% of the shares of Huachang Development Co., Ltd., becoming the second largest shareholder of Huachang Development Co., Ltd. and would continue to acquire shares to increase its holdings to 42%.

Upon hearing the news, the share price of Huachang Construction Company rose from 0.7 yuan per share to 1.1 yuan per share, an increase of 56%. Shareholders began to compete for Huachang Construction Company's shares. According to past acquisitions, this is indeed worth investing. Faced with such a strong opponent, the shareholders of Huachang Construction Company immediately held a board meeting to discuss how to deal with the acquisition case of Sun Hung Kai Securities. In the end, they decided to negotiate with Sun Hung Kai Securities to ensure the best interests of the company's shareholders.

When Li Wendi heard the news, he felt a little uneasy. Huachang Jianye Company was preparing to surrender, and the stock price might fall sharply. After all, Sun Hung Kai Securities Company would not want a high-priced new stock.

So, Li Wendi hurriedly picked up his coat on the back of the chair and drove to HSBC Bank.

"Mr. Wu, help me sell Huachang Jianye Company's stocks immediately. Sell all of them without worrying about the stock price." Li Wendi gave the order anxiously. The stock price could rise or fall at the command.

As for the restructuring of assets after Sun Hung Kai Securities took over Huachang Jianye Company, which increased investors' confidence in Huachang Jianye and caused the share price to rise again, Li Wendi didn't care at all, because all this takes time. If it drags on for a month, it will be a loss for him.

Seeing this, Wu Xiong did not dare to delay and hurried into the office.

An hour later, Wu Xiong came over with a slightly happy look on his face. "Mr. Li, you have sold all the 180 million shares of Huachang Jianye Company you held. The purchase price was 0.7 yuan, and the selling price was 1.3 yuan. The profit was 108 million yuan. After deducting various expenses, the funds returned were 222.3 million yuan, and the rate of return exceeded 76%."

I made 100 million, which is not a large amount, but the rate of return is very good.

Li Wendi was very satisfied with the profit. He could have invested more money at the beginning, but too much money would have attracted the attention of Sun Hung Kai Securities and Huachang Construction Company. Perhaps this move would have caused Sun Hung Kai Securities to change its target company, which would have been a loss.

"Yeah!" Li Wendi nodded and asked Wu Xiong again, "How is the share price of Hutchison Group? Is the upward trend still good?"

In Li Wendi's eyes, the investment in Hutchison Group is the bulk of the investment, and other investments are diversified investments. Even if the stock price rises, it cannot compare with the small increase in the stock price of Hutchison Group.

At its peak, Hutchison Group had as many as 360 companies under its umbrella, including overseas companies, but companies in Hong Kong still accounted for more than 30%, so Willis is now reducing the number of companies under its umbrella and using the funds recovered to adjust the company's debt problems.

In the past six months, Wells has sold more than 20 small companies, recovering funds of up to 1.4 million yuan, which has greatly alleviated the company's debt crisis. Of course, Wells also feels sorry for those companies and sold them after repeated consideration because it cannot affect some of the company's established plans.

Although Willis thought that the previous manager Qi Dezun was a "man who likes to show off", some big plans were still very useful for the development of the company, such as exchanging shares or buying and subscribing shares with many companies with good prospects.

However, there are some plans that Wells thinks are "useless", such as the cooperation with Dachang Real Estate Company. Wells believes that his Hutchison Land Company (listed) has sufficient strength to develop the land and does not need to make concessions to Dachang Real Estate Company. As for Li Wendi's Changxin Real Estate Company, Wells does not want to offend it for the time being, but if there is a chance, he will still kick Li Wendi out.

Under the management of Chen Detai, Dachang Real Estate Company has become very stable. It originally had the ability to develop large residential areas, but in order to reduce risks, it chose to cooperate with other powerful companies.

In Li Wendi's opinion, Chen Detai is a little too conservative, because in an era of great opportunities, if you don't fight, you will only fall behind.

"The share price of Hutchison Group has risen to 1.9 yuan, and the upward trend is very good. Securities experts predict that it will rise to more than 2.5 yuan." Wu Xiong smiled and said, "Congratulations, Mr. Li! You have made nearly 2000 million yuan."

Li Wendi shook his head. "This is to be expected. There is nothing to congratulate. Do other blue chip stocks have such a rise?"

"The growth of other blue-chip stocks is not as good as that of Hutchison Group, but the growth is also between 10% and 25%." Wu Xiong said with a straight face.

This is much better than the environment in 74, but compared to 72 and 73, it is nothing.

Li Wendi asked Wu Xiong some other questions, got the answers and left HSBC.

A coffee shop in Central
Li Wendi and Li Jiacheng sat face to face, chatting away, seemingly without getting to the point.

"Mr. Li, do you want to talk to me about Taiwei Real Estate Company this time?" Li Wendi asked with a faint smile.

There was no surprise on Li Jiacheng's face. He had dealt with Li Wendi before and knew very well that Li Wendi was not a fool.

"Mr. Li guessed right! To be honest, if we fight for the control of Taiwei Real Estate Company, the only one who will benefit will be Hu Zengqiang. It is better for us to unite so that we can reduce the losses to each other." Li Jiacheng smiled and clasped the cup with his right hand.

Li Wendi said, "How does Mr. Li want to distribute the assets of Taiwei Real Estate Company?"

"My Cheung Kong Holdings can buy the Global Building in Central at market price. After the transaction is completed, Cheung Kong Holdings will withdraw from Taiwei Real Estate Company and return the control to Mr. Li." Li Jiacheng's target is also the Global Building.

"Haha!! Why don't we switch it over and give the controlling rights of Taiwei Real Estate to Cheung Kong Holdings?" Li Wendi responded with a faint smile.

Li Jiacheng knew that it would be difficult for Li Wendi to agree to this plan, so he put out the bait he had prepared, "If Mr. Li can agree to this plan, the building we jointly built in Wan Chai can be sold to Changxin Real Estate Company at cost price to compensate Mr. Li's losses."

Li Wendi had to admit that the bait put out by Li Jiacheng was "very tempting". Although the building in Wan Chai was not as good as the one in Central, if it was bought at cost price, the profit generated would not be much worse than that of the Global Building. Moreover, the building was about to be completed and could soon enter the stage of collecting rent.

"How about we sell the Global Building to Cheung Kong Holdings at the market price on the day of signing the contract and a 2% premium?" Li Wendi stared at Li Jiacheng's face.

Li Jiacheng's expression became serious. This price was definitely expensive. "1% premium?!"

"Okay, deal!" Li Wendi stretched out his hand towards Li Jiacheng, and after the two hands were clasped together, he said, "I've given in this time, but next time it will be Mr. Li's turn to give in."

Li Wendi did not acknowledge that this was an equal transaction and wanted to force Li Jiacheng to owe him a favor.

After hearing this, Li Jiacheng became alert. Li Wendi really had bad intentions and had a backup plan. However, he could not refuse now because the deal was only reached verbally and Li Wendi could find all kinds of excuses to interrupt the cooperation.

Li Jiacheng could only accept this favor as an excuse, "This is natural. Mr. Li, please show mercy in the future."

"Haha!! Mr. Li, you're too polite! Our cooperation is so pleasant, why do you need to show mercy?" Li Wendi said pretending to be stupid.

The two discussed some details and left after lunch.

After losing the Global Tower, Li Wendi would of course find a Central Tower of equal value somewhere else.

In fact, Li Jiacheng did not suffer any loss. The Global Building was of such high quality and was located in the heart of Central. Once a new commercial building was built, it would not be a problem for the value of this building to increase more than tenfold by the 80s.

(End of this chapter)