Started from Hong Kong Island

Chapter 369: 367 [Two Acquisitions]

Hengchangxing Enterprise Company Meeting Room
Six persons, including Lee Ka-shing, Willis, Stephen Sham, Ho Sin-hang, Leung Kau-kui and Ho Tim, attended the meeting to discuss the sale of Hang Cheong Bank.

"Boss Shen Bi, Mr. Li, and Boss Willis, at what price do you plan to acquire Hengchang Bank?" He Shanheng said with full energy.

Li Jiacheng showed a report and asked his secretary to distribute it to everyone. He said, "According to the investigation, the asset value of Hengchangxing Enterprise Company is about 18 billion yuan. However, considering the special nature of Hengchangxing, Hutchison Whampoa is willing to pay a 3% premium to acquire 18% of Hengchangxing held by Mr. Ho Sin Hang, 15% held by Mr. Leung Kau Kui, and 10% held by Mr. Ho Tim. The funds involved are 10 billion yuan."

Ho Sin-heng and the other two looked at each other and had no objection to the price. Then Ho Sin-heng asked, "How does Hutchison Whampoa plan to operate and develop Heng Chang Bank?"

"Hutchison Whampoa also has rich experience in trade, automobile agency, investment business, etc." Li Jiacheng conducted in-depth investigations on Ho Sin Hang and others, and understood the personalities of these three people, so he also did some professional research on Ho Sin Hang.

In fact, people like Ho Sin Hang valued their hard work very much. Although they wanted to manage the bank for some more time, Shen Bi asked them to choose between Hang Seng Bank and Hang Chang Bank. Of course, Shen Bi also had a very legitimate reason, which was that Hang Seng Bank was about to usher in great development, and Ho Sin Hang had limited energy, and investing all his energy in Hang Seng Bank might not be enough.

In addition, the descendants of the Ho family were not good at trade. Ho Sin Hang still wanted his descendants to have some capital to live on and did not want them to be squeezed out of Hang Seng Bank. So he had to follow Shen Bi's advice and sell most of the shares of Hang Chang Bank and sell the controlling rights to Hutchison Whampoa.

The meeting lasted for several hours, with breaks in between.

On the second day, Hutchison Whampoa unilaterally announced that it held 43% of the shares of Hengchangxing Enterprises Co., Ltd., becoming the largest shareholder and actual operator of Hengchangxing Enterprises Co., Ltd.

The outside world was in an uproar. Just a few days after selling Hutchison Whampoa to Wheelock Group, it turned around and acquired the more powerful Hang Cheong Hong Enterprises. What tricks was Hutchison Whampoa playing?
On that day, the share price of Hutchison Whampoa rose by about 10%, involving multiple large-scale stock transactions, and investors were chasing after Hutchison Whampoa shares.

After entering 79, the share price of Hutchison Whampoa remained volatile and the increase seemed somewhat abnormal.

As a major shareholder, Li Jiacheng dispatched special personnel to keep an eye on the share price movements of Hutchison Whampoa, and any personnel who found any abnormalities would immediately report to Li Jiacheng.

Li Jiacheng decisively asked someone to check the source of those accounts. He suspected that someone wanted to acquire or attack Hutchison Whampoa.

The first person he suspected was Li Wendi, but it seemed that Li Wendi had no reason to acquire Hutchison Whampoa, otherwise there would be no need to split up Hutchison Whampoa.

To be safe, Li Jiacheng decided to meet with Li Wendi to get to the bottom of the matter.

"Mr. Li, do you suspect that I was the one who did it?" Li Wendi smiled slightly. He had already guessed that it was Wells who did it. This was a last-ditch struggle, which was in line with Wells' style of doing things.

However, it was impossible for him to tell Li Jiacheng about this guess, and he might even mislead Li Jiacheng.

He believed that with Li Jiacheng's ability, it would be impossible for Wells to succeed, but it was foreseeable that Cheung Kong Holdings would lose a large sum of money.

"It's not about doubt, but about asking Mr. Li's opinion," said Li Jiacheng.

It means the same thing, just expressed differently.

Li Wendi smiled and said, "I can understand that Mr. Li doubts me, but it's really not me. Otherwise, why would I take the initiative to reduce my shareholding and increase Mr. Li's shareholding? Isn't this contradictory?"

"So who do you think poses a major threat to Hutchison Whampoa?"

Li Wendi shook his head. "I can't guess, because I am the most likely suspect. Maybe it's the Landmark Company. I think Mr. Li knows something about sniper tactics, and the other party may want to profit from it."

Li Jiacheng also believed that the possibility of a sniper attack was the greatest, but unfortunately he did not dare to gamble. If the other party really came for it, he would lose Hutchison Whampoa, this piece of fat meat and springboard.

"The sniper tactic was invented by Mr. Li. Is there a way to crack it?"

Li Wendi smiled bitterly and said, "There is no solution. This is aimed at companies with unstable holdings. As long as the holdings are stable enough, there is nothing to be afraid of."

Even if Li Wendi had it, she would not tell Li Jiacheng. The two of them were not familiar with each other to that extent.

"Then can Mr. Li sell the remaining 5% of Hutchison Whampoa shares to Cheung Kong Holdings?" asked Li Jiacheng.

After several months of stock acquisition, Cheung Kong Holdings already holds nearly 40% of Hutchison Whampoa's shares. If it can obtain the 5% held by Li Wendi, its shareholding will reach 45%. Although it cannot be said to be as stable as a rock, it only needs a little effort to control Hutchison Whampoa.

Li Wendi said nonchalantly, "Don't worry, Mr. Li! I will definitely support you in taking charge of Hutchison Whampoa."

Selling it to Li Jiacheng now would undoubtedly be a loss. Seeing that the sniper war is about to begin, the stock price will not be worse than it is now. Even if Li Jiacheng is willing to pay a premium, Li Wendi believes that it will only be 3% to 4%.

a week later

The Khoo Teck Puat Group, chairman of Singapore's Goodwood Park Hotel Group and founder and major shareholder of Malayan Banking, published an advertisement stating that it had acquired 13.6% of Hutchison Whampoa's shares and had begun a full acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa shares from other shareholders at a 2% premium.

Li Jiacheng's Cheung Kong Holdings did not have sufficient funds at the moment, but with HSBC as its backer, it immediately obtained a loan of 6 million yuan and also launched a full acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa.

As the Chiu Group took the lead in launching a comprehensive acquisition four hours earlier than Cheung Kong Holdings, and Hutchison Whampoa's boss Willis did nothing, many shareholders flocked to Rothschild & Co. (Chiu's financial advisor).

By the time Cheung Kong Holdings announced the acquisition, the Chiu Group already held a 23.1% stake.

At this time, the stock price had risen to 23 yuan, and Cheung Kong Holdings' purchase price was increased to 28 yuan. It was also announced that Cheung Kong Holdings already held 40% of the shares of Hutchison Whampoa.

For a time, the stock market became even more boiling, and investors were waiting for the Qiu Group to offer a new price.

On the third day, the Qiu Group announced another acquisition, launching a comprehensive acquisition of Cheung Kong Holdings, indicating that it already held 11.8% of the shares of Cheung Kong Holdings. This news was like pouring oil on a hot pot, and a fire suddenly broke out. Investors smelled an opportunity and immediately turned around to speculate on the shares of Cheung Kong Holdings.

Upon hearing the news, Li Wendi smiled so much that his two rows of front teeth were exposed. He had never expected that Qiu Delu, a dragon from another country, actually knew how to use this trick to make a feint to the east and attack in the west. Compared with the shareholding of Hutchison Whampoa, Li Jiacheng's shareholding in Cheung Kong Holdings was only 35.2%. However, the directors of the board of directors of Cheung Kong Holdings were all Li Jiacheng's people or friends.

So Li Jiacheng still has an absolute advantage.

Changxin Group
Li Wendi called Lin Dongmei and asked her to sell all the shares of Hutchison Whampoa now, and then asked Bai Hui to sell the few remaining shares of Changxin Group.

The current share price of Hutchison Whampoa is 25.3 yuan. Hengxin Investment Company can make a 7% profit at this price, which is about 2.7 million yuan, while Changxin Group's profit is about 3000 million yuan.

According to Li Wendi's prediction, the share price of Hutchison Whampoa will fall back to around 18 yuan afterwards. Even so, Hengxin Investment Company will still make a profit of 1.6 million yuan.

"The group holds 2.3% of Cheung Kong Holdings' shares. Based on the current share price, the profit is about 1800 million yuan," Bai Hui reported. "Investors are rushing to buy Cheung Kong Holdings' shares. The price is expected to rise by more than 40%, and the profit will reach 4000 million yuan."

Li Wendi nodded and said, "All the funds raised from Hutchison Whampoa's stock investment have been used to buy shares of Hong Kong Electric Company."

"Yes! The current gold price is rising rapidly. Should we buy gold futures?" Bai Hui asked.

"How much funds can the investment department move?" Li Wendi thought for a while and asked. There are many opportunities now, all of which are good opportunities, but it is impossible to buy all of them. He can only pick some good investments.

"Including the funds recovered from Hutchison Whampoa shares, it is approximately 9300 million yuan." Bai Hui said without hesitation. This is one of her daily work contents and she is very familiar with it.

Li Wendi thought about it and concluded that the price of gold would soar in 79 and the profits would increase exponentially. However, the acquisition battle of the Hong Kong Electric Company was also imminent and the profits would also be considerable.

"Take out 4000 million and buy gold futures with 5300 times leverage, and use the remaining million to buy shares of Hong Kong Electric Company." Li Wendi finally couldn't resist the temptation of leverage.

Bai Hui knew that the interest brought by leverage was very high. "The leverage is 4 million yuan, and the interest every month is at least 500 million yuan. Isn't it a bit risky?"

"Don't take risks! Just do as I say. What you need to do is to try to reduce the interest brought by leverage." Li Wendi said. With a mere interest of 500 million yuan, a company of the size of Changxin Group does not have to worry about it.

Next, Li Wendi will have to keep an eye on the battle between Qiu Deba and Li Jiacheng, as well as Welles who is playing as a support.

Although it is not certain that Li Jiacheng will be at a disadvantage, after all, he has the support of HSBC and many friends, but Qiu Debao came prepared and should have prepared many plans, and his funds must be sufficient.

Li Wendi suspected that Qiu Dehua was not trying to acquire Hutchison Whampoa or Cheung Kong Holdings, but was using it to build a reputation so that he could develop in Hong Kong in the future.

In his previous life, Qiu Debao, a dragon from across the river, competed with the ship charter king for the Wheelock Company in 85. It was a huge acquisition case worth 25 billion yuan.

Although it is not 85 now, Khoo Teck Puat is still the second richest man in Singapore after the Huang Ting Fang family. His financial resources cannot be underestimated.

Hilton Hotel Central District Private Room

After the waiter poured red wine into two glasses, he retreated respectfully and closed the door.

The red wine swayed along the rim of the glass, and then was brought to his lips. Li Wendi took a sip and said with a smile, "Mr. Wei Lisi is very clever. He tricked Li Jiacheng before leaving."

Willis put down his glass and said, "I have been running Hutchison Whampoa for so many years. If you want to drive me away, I have to think about myself. This is reasonable."

The Hutchison Group was in a mess at the time. Even with the support of HSBC, the management had to have the ability to turn the tide, otherwise the loss would be greater and the scope of the impact would be wider.

Therefore, Willis has made contributions to Hutchison Whampoa, but Willis' annual salary is over 10 million, which is enough to reward his efforts.

"It seems that Mr. Wells can make a lot of profit from this acquisition battle." Li Wendi said jokingly.

Wei Lisi smiled and said, "Thank you, Mr. Li! Without the sniper tactics you invented, how could I make money?"

"It is unlikely that Li Jiacheng will take over Hutchison Whampoa. You are right. You still have to be your own boss. Otherwise, how can you be in charge?" Wills added.

Li Wendi did not go into the details of the question. "How did you find Qiu Deba as a partner?"

"What's the matter? Mr. Li, do you want to meet Mr. Qiu?" Wells immediately grasped Li Wendi's psychology.

Li Wendi responded, "I want to expand into Singapore recently and need a new partner. I am looking for someone now."

Wells thought for a moment and said, "To be honest, Qiu Debao is not a very good partner. However, if Mr. Li did not want to run a hotel in Singapore, Qiu Debao could still cooperate with him."

“We Chinese have a saying that goes, ‘A master can only lead you to the door, but you have to rely on yourself to practice.’ I want to enter Singapore’s commercial building industry first.” Li Wendi said bluntly.

"Okay! After the acquisition is completed, I will introduce you to Mr. Qiu." said Wells.

The two men clinked their glasses again and began to discuss other business matters.

(End of this chapter)