Started from Hong Kong Island

Chapter 370 368 [White-hot]

It is always difficult for Qiu Delu, the dragon from across the river, to defeat the local snake Li Jiacheng. In addition, HSBC has lent a one-time low-interest loan of 7 million yuan to Li Jiacheng personally to repurchase shares of Cheung Kong Holdings and increase its equity to 44.3%.

Although Kuok Teck Puat failed in his acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong Holdings, he made huge profits and established a reputation in Hong Kong for wealthy Singaporeans investing in Hong Kong, which was in stark contrast to the Huang Ting Fang family's low-key approach.

Li Wendi made a huge profit of 4.1 million yuan from these two acquisition wars with the private investments of Hengxin Investment Company and Sun Hung Kai Securities, of which Sun Hung Kai Securities' private investment made a profit of 1.4 million yuan.

However, Li Jiacheng suffered heavy losses. Cheung Kong Holdings lost nearly 2 million yuan, while the Li Jiacheng family lost less, just over 1 million yuan, with a total loss of 3 million yuan.

However, Cheung Kong Holdings took the opportunity to control Hutchison Whampoa and will recover in time. After all, both Cheung Kong Holdings and the Li Ka-shing family have huge potential and hold a large amount of assets. They can completely rely on the booming local market to recover the losses.

But this incident made Li Jiacheng lose some face. He was actually cheated by Wells and outsiders. It is true that you can't guard against a thief in your own home even if you are on guard day and night.

Wells was "very sensible" and submitted his resignation to the board of directors the day after the acquisition battle ended. He also recommended Li Jiacheng to the board of directors to become the next boss, which seemed to be a bit of a bad taste.

Cheung Kong
This time, Li Jiacheng did not smash anything, but sat on the chair with a gloomy face. Hong Xiaolian and others did not dare to say anything for fear of bringing bad luck.

"Have we investigated the matter clearly? Is Li Wendi involved in this matter?" Li Jiacheng calmed down a little.

Hong Xiaolian replied, "We have checked it out. There is no sign that Li Wendi is involved. However, he did meet with Wei Lisi recently with great fanfare."

"Li Wendi seems to be telling us that this matter has nothing to do with him, otherwise he would not have met with Willis at this time. In addition, the Cheung Hsin Group has released news that it intends to cooperate with the Khoo Teck Puat Group to enter the real estate industry in Singapore."

Li Jiacheng nodded. "The Kowloon Bay MTR station project must be completed as soon as possible. We need to make up for the losses caused by this anti-takeover battle. We must also follow up on the project of the Taohua Datong Food Company factory land. We should talk to Changxin Group and ask them to relocate Taohua Datong Food Company as soon as possible."

"Yes! Our business department will speed up the negotiations." The business department manager responded.

"Based on the current land prices, our losses from this acquisition war can be fully offset by 7% to 8% from the Kowloon Bay MTR station project. Moreover, there are nearly 50 square feet of rental area. Do we need to sell all of it to recover the funds?" said Hong Xiaolian.

"What does Changxin Group mean?" Li Jiacheng asked.

"Changxin Group does not intend to hold these properties. Last time they asked us whether we wanted to take over these properties." Hong Xiaolian handed the documents to Li Jiacheng.

Li Jiacheng thought about it. Cheung Kong Holdings has always adhered to the principle of "goods are like wheels". "Sell it. The company needs a lot of funds to maintain development and repay the loan from HSBC."

The impact of the sneak attack by Qiu Debao was huge. Although it did not cause any serious damage to Cheung Kong Holdings, it would still take some events for it to recover.

Sunday, March 3

The international gold price has exceeded US$310 per ounce. Such an increase has allowed international gold speculators to begin to see great prospects. With the added bonus of US financial policies, the gold price will rise dramatically within this year.

Lin Dongmei from Hengxin Investment Company was smiling very happily, because under the instruction of Li Wendi, she had drawn a lot of funds to buy gold futures. Now she has earned dozens of dollars per ounce, with a profit of more than 1 million US dollars, and this is the current amount.

So Lin Dongmei wanted to increase her investment in gold futures. "I plan to sell some stocks and raise 3 million yuan in cash to buy gold futures. What do you think?"

Li Wendi smiled and said, "It's up to you! If you want to buy, hurry up, because international speculators are about to come down in large numbers."

"Well! Then I will immediately mobilize funds to buy it." Lin Dongmei's nose for the securities and stock markets is quite sensitive. Last time Li Wendi asked her to buy shares of the electric light company, she smelled something different. "Are you planning to acquire the Xiangjiang Electric Light Company?"

Li Wendi knew it was difficult to hide it from Lin Dongmei. "We have such a plan, but we have to postpone it a little bit. Now there are signs that the Landmark Company is trying to acquire the Electric Light Company. We just want to stop it and take the opportunity to make a fortune."

Lin Dongmei glanced at Li Wendi and said with a smile, "I think we should act quickly. There are only so many good things in Hong Kong. If we act slowly, they will be gone."

Li Wendi still insisted on his own opinion, "Having just acquired Wheelock & Company, Changxin Group does not have the funds to acquire the electric light company for the time being."

Lin Dongmei was not very clear about the debt situation of Changxin Group. If she knew that Changxin Group's debt was as high as 30 billion yuan, she probably would not dare to persuade her in this way.

"Then we will do it ourselves. If we take into account the profits from gold, we are fully capable of acquiring it." Lin Dongmei said confidently.

Li Wendi shook his head. "We can't afford to fight a takeover war with the Landmark Company. If we fail, the loss will not be less than 5 million. We just need to defeat the Landmark Company's takeover now. When the Changxin Group recovers, we can unite with the family and the Electric Light Company will be ours."

In fact, Li Wendi's family is fully capable of launching a takeover war with Hong Kong Land Development for the Hong Kong Electric Company. Unfortunately, Li Wendi wanted to take this piece of fat meat at the lowest cost and still have spare capacity to develop overseas industries.

By early April, the number of Hong Kong Electric Company shares on the stock market was decreasing, and the share price had risen by more than 4%.

Li Wendi no longer delayed the meeting with Connor, the boss of the Hong Kong Electric Light Company, and made an appointment to meet Connor at the Hilton Hotel in Central on April 4.

"Mr. Connor, I won't beat around the bush. You should have noticed the abnormality of the Hong Kong Electric Company recently. To be honest, this is the result of the competition between the Cheung Kong Group and the Hong Kong Land Development." Li Wendi saw Connor frowning and explained, "The Cheung Kong Group has no intention of acquiring the Hong Kong Electric Company for the time being. This move is intended to prevent the Hong Kong Land Development from acquiring the company."

"As for why the Changxin Group spent so much money to stop it, the reason is very simple. The Changxin Group does not want to see a rejuvenated Landmark Company bring trouble to itself."

Of course, Connor didn't believe Li Wendi's words. Li Wendi was a rational businessman and would not abandon the interests of Changxin Group for hatred. "Is it Changxin Group that wants to swallow up the Electric Light Company?"

Li Wendi laughed heartily and said, "Yes, Changxin Group does have such a plan, but not now. I think our current enemy is the Hong Kong Land Company."

The Hong Kong Electric Company is a public company that is not controlled by a family. As the boss, Connor naturally controls the board of directors and is not much weaker than those families.

"The Electric Light Company is a well-known large enterprise in Hong Kong. It is capable of resisting the acquisition of the Landmark Company without the help of Mr. Li and the Changxin Group." Connor was of course worried about "inviting a wolf into the house". By defeating the evil tiger of the Landmark Company, he would invite the hungry wolf Li Wendi. "Haha!! Mr. Connor, please forgive me for being frank. The Electric Light Company cannot escape the acquisition of the Landmark Company. The Landmark Company has acquired 6% of the shares of the Electric Light Company years ago. Now it may exceed 15% and become the major shareholder of the Electric Light Company. Even if you can get more shareholders to support you, can you always guard against the covetousness of the Landmark Company?" Li Wendi laughed.

"There should be no difference between selling a real estate company and selling it to Mr. Li, right? In the final analysis, I lost the electric light company." Connor said angrily. These people are simply robbers, always using capital to rob.

Li Wendi explained, "Of course it's different! Hong Kong Land can't negotiate with you, and it won't offer you generous terms, but I can. Hong Kong Electric Company has a lot of land. If I join the board of directors, I promise to give 5% of the profits from the development of these lands to Mr. Connor and your family, and any fundraising and share offering by Hong Kong Electric Company will not affect the 4% shares you currently hold."

"I believe that the Landmark Company will not be sold to you, Mr. Connor, under such conditions."

The conditions were indeed generous, but Connor still wanted to reap the benefits and let both the Hong Kong Land and Li Wendi suffer losses.

"Mr. Li, I still hope to continue managing the electric light company." Connor stared at Li Wendi and said.

Li Wendi shrugged. "Well, then I can only wish Mr. Connor good luck."

Connor was getting a little too greedy. He might have felt that Li Wendi's show of weakness indicated the weakness of Changxin Group, otherwise Li Wendi would not have made such concessions.

After the negotiations failed, Li Wendi immediately notified Miles and asked him to mobilize a large amount of funds and start buying the shares of the electric light company at all costs.

In fact, Li Wendi already holds 12% of the shares of the electric light company, which is not much different from the shares of the land company. Now Connor is unwilling to cooperate, which has put Li Wendi in trouble. However, the trouble is temporary. After all, he has such a large amount of gold overseas.

On that day, the share price of the Electric Light Company had not yet risen significantly, but the acquisition action of Hutchison Whampoa was much larger. Because the market was about to close in two hours, the Hong Kong Land Development Company was unable to react in time.

On that day, Wharf Holdings acquired nearly 1% of the shares, bringing its shareholding to 13%, just 2% away from Hutchison Whampoa.

The real takeover war began the next day. Hong Kong Land Development was the first to announce the acquisition of Hong Kong Electric Company. Wharf Holdings was not to be outdone and followed suit by announcing its acquisition, with the purchase price 10% higher than that of Hong Kong Land Development.

However, not many investors came to Sun Hung Kai Securities to sell their shares. Hong Kong investors have encountered many acquisition cases and know that when two large companies compete for acquisitions, premiums will naturally come one after another. Whoever gives up the shares now will be a fool.

Wharf Corporate Office
Mai Lisi sat opposite Li Wendi, his face also not very good. He did not think it was necessary to acquire the Hong Kong Electric Company, and to compete with the Hong Kong Land Development. After all, Hutchison Whampoa had just recovered a little vitality.

However, Mai Lisi knew how capable Li Wendi was. She had not suffered any major failure since her debut, so he could only believe that Li Wendi could really succeed.

"Boss, the share price of the Electric Light Company has risen to 4.8 yuan, with a total market value of about 57 billion yuan. Wharf Holdings holds 8% of the shares. If we forcibly acquire it, we will still need nearly 25 billion yuan in funds. The number is too huge." Mai Lisi said somewhat uneasily.

"You calculated wrong. We already hold 15% of the shares of the electric light company, and my company owns another 7% of the shares. However, we still need 20 billion in funds." Li Wendi said with a frown.

"Even if it is 20 billion yuan, Hutchison Whampoa can't take it out now," said Mai Lisi.

"It's okay! You set up a new company immediately and inject 8% of the shares of the electric light company. I will also let my subsidiary inject 7% of the shares into the new company. The difference of 20 billion yuan will be made up by me and my private company." Li Wendi was also a little confused.

20 billion yuan in cash at this time is definitely an astronomical figure.

After Mai Lisi left the office, Li Wendi did not stay long and left as well.

Citibank

As soon as Li Wendi arrived, he got straight to the point and said, "Mr. William, I need a loan of 15 billion yuan now, and the collateral is the gold I have in the United States worth 4 million US dollars."

"Mr. Li, I heard about your company Hutchison Whampoa's acquisition of Hong Kong Electric Company. I know this loan is very urgent, but I have to tell you that it is impossible to get the loan immediately. It will take at least 24 hours." William explained.

"Okay! How much loan can I get now?" Li Wendi didn't have time to argue with William.

William replied, "At present, the Xiangjiang branch only has 8 million yuan. I can give you 5 million yuan for emergency use. As for the remaining 10 billion yuan, we still need to communicate with the headquarters."

"OK! Let's start the formalities!" Li Wendi was very anxious. He believed that the situation at the land company would not be very good. Now both parties were trying to buy time.

Soon, Li Wendi signed all the agreements, and William immediately arranged for someone to transfer 5 million yuan into Li Wendi's account.

Sun Hung Kai Securities

This battle certainly alarmed Feng Jingxi, and now he is in charge of the company.

"Mr. Feng, I have 5 million yuan in my personal account. Help me to buy up all the scattered shares on the stock market at all costs immediately, and spread the word that Wharf Holdings holds 20% of the shares of the Electric Light Company. The acquisition will stop when it reaches 35%." Li Wendi ordered.

Feng Jingxi glanced at the secretary next to him and said, "Do it immediately."

The male secretary replied "yes" and hurriedly left the meeting room.

"Mr. Li, this is a super-large acquisition battle. You may want to look for other foreign aid. I believe many Chinese are willing to help Mr. Li." Feng Jingxi suggested. He believed that Li Wendi was unlikely to lose, and even if he lost, the Swire Group would not have an easy time.

Li Wendi sighed, "Let's talk about it later. I can still bear it now. Mr. Feng, do you have any suggestions for those shareholders to take out their stocks?"

Feng Jingxi shook his head. "The acquisition war has reached a white-hot stage. Shareholders will not trust anyone and will not take out their shares unless they use dishonorable means, such as spreading rumors or providing evidence to prove that the Landmark Company is short of funds."

(End of this chapter)