Started from Hong Kong Island

Chapter 377 375 [Gold Investment]

Zhang Yan was surprised and said, "Wouldn't that be helping the enemy? They could buy up a large amount of stocks at a low price."

"If they can buy the shares, why can't we? We only need 6% to sit on the Diaoyutai, and their goal is to make money. Of course, the risk factor is not small. If you are unlucky, you may lose Luckin Coffee."

Li Wendi looked at Zhang Yan and said, "The decision is entirely up to you. I am just here to assist you."

"The possibility of me losing Luckin Coffee seems not high? What do you think the probability is?" Zhang Yan is also a speculator, and with the support of Li Wendi, he doesn't feel very scared.

"Probably 30% at most, but we must grasp the timing well, the sooner the better. After all, the enemy is the attacking party, and we are just breaking through under the name of attack." Li Wendi reminded Zhang Yan.

In fact, this is an open conspiracy. Once the plan is implemented, no one can stop it until someone achieves the goal.

There may be no winners, but there will definitely be people who fail to achieve their goals.

In fact, the sniper had a reason for advancing and retreating, but Li Wendi just didn't want to play according to the opponent's plan. Only when there was an accident would there be a chance to break the deadlock.

After Zhang Yan left, Zhao Lekai came in and sat down at Li Wendi's signal to report, "Boss, this is Daxin Company's business report for last month."

"The turnover has dropped by 4 percentage points. Although it is better than the previous rate of decline, Dah Sing's share in the department store industry has fallen to 5%. If it drops further, Dah Sing may not be able to make it into the ranks of the top ten department stores in Hong Kong." Zhao Lekai feels that the situation is not optimistic.

Dah Sing Company is positioned as a mid-range department store, which is very different from Lane Crawford's high-end department store. The competition is almost the most intense in the entire industry. In the early 70s, Dah Sing Company fell into a disadvantage. It is considered remarkable that it has survived for so many years.

Dah Sing's enemy is not Sincerely Department Store or Wing On Department Store, but the outsider who intervened in the Hong Kong department store market - Japan. Previously, the Hong Kong department stores did not take the Japanese department stores seriously at all. Instead, they intensified the internal fighting among local department stores and gave the Japanese department stores an opportunity to take advantage of.

Today, Japanese department stores have occupied nearly half of Hong Kong's department store market. Local department stores either sell Western goods or domestic products, while Japanese department stores sell both. Coupled with their first-class service, they have attracted many Hong Kong citizens.

Li Wendi didn't care. Every aspect of the group needed funds now, and department stores were a money-burning industry. He had no other choice for the time being and could only keep waiting.

"The group is short of cash, and we are unable to take care of Daxin Company's affairs for the time being." Li Wendi waved his hands, looking helpless.

"Why don't we join forces with Wing On and Sincere to fight against foreign department stores?" Zhao Lekai suggested.

Li Wendi knew about the dirty deeds among the three department stores. It would be a bit difficult to unite the three, after all, they were really angry at the beginning.

"Lekai, I think you should be clear about some of the things involved. It is very difficult to cooperate. In addition, the group does not have much manpower and material resources to invest, so it may not be able to lead this matter." Li Wendi said.

"Boss, I don't need the financial support of the group, I just need the group's reputation. I dare not say that this will be accomplished, but I am somewhat confident that even if it fails, we will not suffer much loss." Zhao Lekai still hopes to use the department store industry to break his situation in Changxin Group. Only in this way can he establish prestige and build his own faction.

Li Wendi nodded and asked, "Your plan states that after Daxin Company's situation improves, we plan to acquire Dada Department Store and Singapore's Geely City Department Store, which are not doing well. The bigger the business, the greater the loss. What are your specific ideas?"

"I plan to refer to the model of Wellcome Supermarket owned by Hong Kong Land Development and ParknShop owned by Hutchison Whampoa. I think the current department store model is likely to be eliminated and replaced by the supermarket model. So if Dah Sing Company is successful in its transformation, those department stores will be the best choice for us to expand our territory." Zhao Lekai said happily.

Wellcome and ParknShop were fighting fiercely. If Daxin joined in, if the force was not strong enough, it might not attract the attention of the two supermarket companies. If it was a little bigger, it would be a direct cash war. Li Wendi didn't want to extinguish Zhao Lekai's fighting spirit. These things could be stopped at any time, so he agreed to Zhao Lekai's plan.

Zhang Yan acted quickly. The next day, he announced and published unfavorable news about Luckin Coffee, including the company's debt problems. At the same time, Zhang Yan had people spread unfavorable news about Luckin Coffee in the four major stock exchanges.

In the afternoon, Luckin Coffee's stock price began to stagnate, without any increase.

Hu Jiaqi, an Australian Chinese and the mastermind behind this sniping, was confused by Zhang Yan's actions. Wouldn't it be easier for him to succeed in the acquisition if the stock price was low?

After failing to figure out Zhang Yan's purpose, Hu Jiaqi instructed his secretary to notify the securities company to continue buying a large number of Luckin Coffee shares. He had the idea of ​​actually acquiring Luckin Coffee. Even though he only had tens of millions in cash, the bank would be happy to lend money for the acquisition.

Luckin Coffee is a company that owns high-quality properties, such as To Lo Chi Building in Wan Chai and Him Wo Building in Sheung Wan.

As long as Hu Jiaqi takes over Luckin Coffee, he can gain a firm foothold in Hong Kong and become a real estate tycoon in Hong Kong. This is a very tempting choice.

Fortunately, Zhang Yan acted decisively and did not wait for the stock price to fall before taking action. Otherwise, before he could grab a single share, the stock-grabbing campaign would have already begun.

As soon as the stock price started to rise, Zhang Yan stopped buying and proceeded to the next step: announcing that he would hold 41.2% of the shares in the new company and would stop the acquisition when it reached 46%.

When Hu Jiaqi heard Zhang Yan's direct approach, he decisively began to sell Luckin Coffee's shares. Although it did not achieve the expected results, he still made a small profit.

The most important thing is that by taking advantage of the popularity of sniping Zhang Yan, he has gained a little fame in Hong Kong.

In fact, the person Hu Jiaqi wanted to target at first was Li Wendi. Because Li Wendi was very famous, even if there was a high probability that the target would fail, it would not prevent him from becoming famous.

However, thinking of Li Wendi's domineering and vindictive style, Hu Jiaqi was a little scared. Being stared at by a big boss all day long made his back feel a little cold. Besides, how could he develop?

Now he can't even defeat Zhang Yan, so Hu Jiaqi is glad that he didn't provoke Li Wendi in the first place, otherwise he would be scared now.

The time came to mid-December 79.

The Hang Seng Index has climbed to 827.12 points, 625.14 points higher than the buying point of 202 that Li Wendi originally instructed.

Li Wendi knew that the Hang Seng Index would continue to rise, but the Changxin Group continued to use funds to repay maturing debts, so he instructed Bai Hui to sell all Hang Seng Index investments to recover funds. At the same time, gold investments were also to be sold.

Li Wendi's personal and private company's Hang Seng Index investments continued to be retained, but he still came to Citibank to arrange the sale of US gold.

At this time, the price of gold had risen to US$811 per ounce. The peak price of gold was US$81 per ounce in January 1. However, Li Wendi held too much gold, and it was a bit urgent to sell it all within half a month.

(End of this chapter)