Started from Hong Kong Island

Chapter 261 [Not Available Yet]

The Peninsula Tsim Sha Tsui
Li Wendi has acquired 16.8% of Kowloon Motor Bus Company's shares from the stock market, becoming the third largest shareholder of Kowloon Motor Bus Company.

Lei Juekun inquired about Li Wendi's background and some of his deeds, and knew that Li Wendi was an acquisition maniac. Almost all of the companies under Li Wendi were acquired through acquisitions. There were even rumors in the market that Li Wendi was planning to take action against the British-owned Wharf Group. So Lei Juekun no longer had any luck and was sure that Li Wendi wanted to take action against the Kowloon Motor Bus Company.

Kowloon Motor Bus Company is one of the important assets of the Lei family. Lei Juekun would never be willing to give up the company. Moreover, Kowloon Motor Bus Company is an important part of his development and expansion of the family industry. Without this support, the effectiveness of the development plan will be greatly reduced.

"Hello, Mr. Li! I am Lei Juekun, chairman of Kowloon Development Company and executive director of Kowloon Motor Bus Company." Lei Juekun greeted with a polite smile.

"Hello, Mr. Lei!" Li Wendi was also very direct. As soon as he sat down, he said, "Mr. Lei, you must have asked me to meet you because of my acquisition of Kowloon Motor Bus Company shares, right?"

Lei Juekun nodded. "Yes! I have heard of Mr. Li's reputation in the business world, but Kowloon Motor Bus Company may be different from other companies. My Lei family has worked for Kowloon Motor Bus Company for many years and have a good relationship with the directors of the board of directors."

Lei Juekun kept talking about his own advantages, as if warning Li Wendi in other ways, 'Kowloon Bus Company is not something you can successfully acquire just because you want to.'

"Mr. Lei, I have acquired many companies. If these words alone can make me back out, then I don't need to stay in Hong Kong. Mr. Lei, if you want to dissuade me from acquiring Kowloon Motor Bus, you need to come up with something practical." Li Wendi said with a faint smile, but his eyes were on Lei Juekun.

"Mr. Li, we are all Chinese, there is no need to go to this extent. The Lei family has existed in Hong Kong for many years and is not a newcomer. If Mr. Li just wants to invest in Kowloon Motor Bus, I welcome it on behalf of the board of directors, but if it is a malicious takeover, I don't think the board of directors will agree." Lei Juekun said bluntly.

"Mr. Lei is indeed a man from a wealthy family. He speaks so domineeringly." Li Wendi laughed and mocked, "I, Li Wendi, am not a good person either. I even dare to challenge Wharf Holdings. Is Mr. Lei more powerful than Jardine Matheson and Hong Kong Holdings?"

"."Lei Juekun was speechless. He was very clear about the level of company Jardine Land. The scale of Kowloon Motor Bus Company was not as large as that of Jardine Matheson. It might be similar to some of its slightly better subsidiaries.

"Mr. Lei, do you have anything else to say? If not, I'll take my leave first." Li Wendi stood up and wanted to say something else, but Lei Juekun tried to stop him and said, "Mr. Li, wait a minute! What I said just now was a bit harsh, please don't take it as an offense."

"We can still discuss the matter of Kowloon Motor Bus Company. Mr. Li can propose his own conditions. If they are suitable, I will try my best to convince the board of directors."

This is a typical case of 'bullying the weak and fearing the strong'. Seeing that Li Wendi was not afraid at all, Lei Juekun put down his airs.

"I don't have any conditions, and I won't agree to any conditions from Mr. Lei." Li Wendi felt that there was nothing left to discuss between them. "According to Hong Kong's corporate law, I will attend the next board meeting. Mr. Lei, please ask the company's staff to notify me to attend. Otherwise, I don't want anything more unpleasant to happen."

"Oh, and thank you Mr. Lei for your hospitality today." Li Wendi smiled.

Looking at Li Wendi's receding back, Lei Juekun gripped the knife and fork even harder, as if he wanted to deform the steel knife and fork.

"Just as the rumors say, he is a stubborn loser. If he wants to acquire Kowloon Motor Bus, it's not enough to just have money. Let's take it slow." Lei Juekun said gritting his teeth.

Mid June

High inflation rates have triggered severe economic recessions in the United States and other countries. High unemployment and bankruptcies are the most prominent global economic phenomena today.

In order to quell the market's speculative demand for gold, the U.S. Treasury Department announced the auction of part of its gold reserves. The International Monetary Fund also took the same measure and required member countries to use "Special Drawing Rights" as the unit of account to replace the gold previously used.

When these two batches of gold entered the market for sale, the price of gold in the market hit a low of US$102 per ounce, but the gold auctioned was always absorbed by enthusiastic buy orders.

Since the economic crisis, the price of gold has exceeded $160 per ounce, and Li Wendi took advantage of this opportunity to make a fortune, but his jewelry company did not make much money, just some ordinary price difference.

He Qijun thought this was a good time to buy gold, so she discussed with Li Wendi and wanted to mobilize most of the jewelry company's cash to buy gold.

Li Wendi knew that the gold price was indeed very low at the moment, but the gold price would remain sluggish in the next two years and would not change much. Buying so much gold would require finding a place to store it, and even the storage fees would be lost.

"Since the United States has done this, the price of gold should not change much for the time being. We just need to buy according to normal demand." Li Wendi said calmly.

He Qijun was stimulated by Huang Lixin's taking over of Hefeng Enterprise. Now she wants to further control the company by actively performing, so she is a little impatient in judging the current situation.

"Not for now, but I will in the future. I think the current gold price is already the lowest and it is unlikely to go any lower. Buying now is also a good investment for the jewelry company." He Qijun still did not give up. Li Wendi felt that He Qijun was a little stubborn, and this stubbornness contained anger. In fact, it was not impossible to buy now, but it was just that the storage fees could not be paid, so he took a step back and said, "Then buy some gold, but you have to plan well, and the amount of gold stored cannot exceed the amount that the jewelry company's warehouse can store."

"Okay! Then I will notify the jewelry company to purchase the goods immediately." He Qijun became happy and hurried over to make a phone call.

They were at the Qinian Newspaper at this time, not at the Junfu Jewelry Company.

After He Qijun finished the call, Li Wendi asked about the newspaper's business situation. At present, there were no major problems with the newspaper, and the affairs of Yulang International Company had gradually faded. The sales of comics were slowly increasing, setting a new sales record.

"Do you think the current Qinian Newspaper is qualified to go public?" He Qijun asked with some hesitation but excitement. The Qinian Newspaper is like her child, and now it seems to have grown up. Of course, she is happy.

This sentence surprised Li Wendi a little. A newspaper is not a real estate company, and it is a bit difficult to go public. However, going public through a backdoor listing is simpler and can avoid those complicated procedures. But Li Wendi still doesn't want Qinian Newspaper to go public.

"It is not enough to rely solely on these magazines, newspapers, comics and printing industries. If we want to be more secure, we still need to continue to increase the value of assets," Li Wendi refused.

This is a big deal, and Li Wendi cannot let He Qijun do whatever she wants.

He Qijun seemed to have guessed what Li Wendi would say in advance, and calmly poured tea for Li Wendi. "I also know that it is difficult for Qinian Newspaper to go public, and the current stock market situation is not good. However, if Qinian Newspaper does not go public, it will not be able to go public in the next five or six years at the current development speed. Instead of this, we might as well give it a try."

Li Wendi shook his head and smiled, "When did you become a drug addict? You can't gamble on going public. It doesn't mean that if something goes wrong, we can go back to the way it was. If the Qinian Newspaper goes bankrupt, we will lose a lot."

"Then tell me, when will our Qi Nian newspaper be able to go public?" He Qijun stared at Li Wendi and asked.

"Wait two years, and I'll give you a suggestion: you can buy more properties, especially high-quality properties," said Li Wendi.

"You mean to take advantage of the real estate boom to go public?" He Qijun asked, blinking her big eyes.

"I guess so. A newspaper goes public in order to gain recognition from shareholders, so you need to have something to show for it. If you have something that can excite shareholders, going public will be a very easy thing." Li Wendi spread his hands and explained.

He Qijun nodded thoughtfully. What Li Wendi said made sense, but she didn't know that Li Wendi had other ways to go public.

As a large number of British companies were involved in the takeover, companies such as Jardine Matheson, Hong Kong Land Development, Hutchison Whampoa and Hong Kong Electric Company accelerated their acquisition of target companies, and the share prices of these companies also saw a small increase.

Li Wendi naturally made a small profit from the stocks he held, but it was not yet time to sell. Even if the share price of Hutchison Group rose to 2.4 yuan per share, Li Wendi had no intention of selling it.

Chinese-funded enterprises were not left behind either. For example, after its backdoor listing, Sun Hung Kai Securities made a move on a securities company called Zhongtong Enterprise through a share swap acquisition, and its strength is growing rapidly.

Li Wendi also wanted his company to initiate an acquisition, but unfortunately there were too many projects going on recently and the funds were not sufficient. He did not dare to force it. In case of difficulties, he would need to use his own funds to fill the hole, even if it was only temporary, which would not benefit either party.

Therefore, we can only watch the high-quality companies being snatched away.

Changxin Real Estate Company Office

Zhang Wentao walked in quickly and Li Wendi asked him to sit down and report.

"Boss, the land reserve plan you mentioned last time involves a lot of money. I suggest a different approach. The Hong Kong government invented the land exchange rights certificate in the 60s. We can start with this." Zhang Wentao continued, "We can adopt a plan to exchange residential properties for land exchange rights certificates. This way, we can use less money and make money. At the same time, we can get more land exchange rights certificates and increase our land reserves."

Li Wendi paused for a moment. The idea was good, but he didn't know how to put it into practice. He could give it a try.

"Okay, let's use the form of pre-sale housing first. We don't have too many residential houses on hand, and we can give them some discounts if necessary." Li Wendi said with some cunning.

(End of this chapter)