Giant of the times

Li Jiacheng is now only considered the top rich man in Hong Kong, but he is still far from the richest man in Hong Kong. Li Ka-shing's successful acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa's shares caused a huge sensation in the Hong Kong press at the time. Various newspapers and magazines used eye-catching headlines to describe Li Ka-shing's successful acquisition as a "snake swallowing an elephant" style, as if a bomb was dropped over Hong Kong. An atomic bomb, with its earth-shattering power, not only shocked the entire Hong Kong but also caused the stock market to skyrocket.

Hutchison Whampoa Limited is a large multinational company with operations around the world. It operates diversified businesses, including the largest container terminal operator in many markets around the world, retail chain groups, real estate development and infrastructure businesses, and the most technologically advanced telecommunications services. Li Ka-shing knows very well that HSBC will never control Hutchison Whampoa for a long time, because financial institutions directly operate the company, which is unreasonable, illegal and inconvenient. It is only a matter of time before HSBC sells Hutchison Whampoa.

Therefore, starting in 1978, Li Jiacheng began to plan how to acquire Hutchison Whampoa's shares from HSBC Bank, and now it has reached the stage of imminent transaction.

In the previous life, Hutchison Whampoa's minimum value per share was 14.4 yuan. However, it was sold to Li Jiacheng for 7.1 Hong Kong dollars per share. The price was very cheap and it also received loan support from HSBC.

No matter how he thought about it, Li Zetian felt that HSBC might be crazy and actually sold Hutchison Whampoa's shares at a 50% discount.

Li Zetian immediately sent someone to investigate whether there were any dirty transactions between HSBC and Li Jiacheng.

Not long after, his staff wrote a report and faxed it to him, which mainly analyzed why HSBC intended to sell Hutchison Whampoa shares to Li Jiacheng.

The above analysis shows that HSBC owes Li Ka-shing a favor in the Wharf battle; second, it is optimistic about Li Ka-shing and feels that Li Ka-shing will play an important role in Hong Kong in the next ten years; third, it can also help Chinese-owned Li Ka-shing win the BJ job The goodwill enables HSBC to make a smooth transition after Hong Kong's return and its operations will not be affected by politics.

Shopping malls are not very popular. The last two points are the key to HSBC selling to Li Jiacheng.

Li Zetian immediately called the number in Hong Kong and asked his men to inform HSBC that he wanted to meet with the chairman of HSBC. At the same time, he asked Dongfang Yuqin to book a flight to Hong Kong. Although Li Zetian is now worth tens of billions, it is basically all shares and not much cash. The price of a Boeing 747 is as high as hundreds of millions of dollars. Now he is reluctant to sell his shares to buy an airplane. This is such a loss. Every company is growing rapidly and the value of the shares is increasing every day. In addition, he doesn't usually travel far and doesn't take many flights, so there is no need to buy a plane at this stage. Of course, it is also related to the fact that he was an orphan in his previous life and was used to being thrifty.

The next day, Li Zetian took a plane to Hong Kong.

After the plane took off, Li Zetian squinted his eyes, lay on the chair, raised the corners of his mouth slightly, showed a confident smile, and murmured in his heart: "I don't believe it, I went to Hong Kong, HSBC will still value Li Jiacheng so much? With the Chinese in Can Li Jiacheng be as influential as me in the world?"

After 14 long hours, Li Zetian took the time to read the information. When he was tired, he took a nap on the plane. When the plane arrived in Hong Kong, it was exactly 9 o'clock in the morning and the sun was shining brightly.

Li Zetian first went back home and made an appointment to meet with Shen Bi, chairman of HSBC Bank, at a five-star hotel at noon.

Shen Bi has a Chinese name, but he is a shrewd British guy. Under his leadership, HSBC's profits grew rapidly and its business development reached its peak.

"Hello Mr. Li, nice to meet you." Shen Bi smiled and extended his hand to say hello.

Li Zetian stretched out his hand to shake his hand, and said with a smile: "Hello, Mr. Shen, it's also nice to meet you."

The two sat down and asked the waiter to serve the food.

HSBC is essentially a British colonial bank and has always maintained a special relationship with the British Hong Kong government. This gives it a monopolistic and privileged position in Hong Kong's financial industry. HSBC's deposits account for about half of Hong Kong's deposits. Before the establishment of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, HSBC had been performing the functions of the central bank in Hong Kong. Therefore, any wealthy person in Hong Kong will definitely not be able to achieve success without the support of HSBC.

During the era of the British Hong Kong government, HSBC, as the leader of the British-owned monopoly consortium in Hong Kong, actually controlled the entire Hong Kong economy, and the chairman of HSBC was the actual ruler of Hong Kong. It is easy to imagine Shen Bi's status in Hong Kong. .

However, no matter how great HSBC is, it is only as good as a bank in Hong Kong and the UK. Li Zetian is now at the height of his power, with unlimited business potential and huge capital flows. Countless banks are begging to cooperate with him. Moreover, Li Zetian's career has expanded to Europe. If HSBC wants to find a strong partner, it is necessary to have a good relationship with Li Zetian. In fact, Li Zetian now has very few interactions with HSBC, and usually cooperates with American banks.

Li Zetian did not spare the circle. He took a sip of water and said to him straight to the point: "Mr. Shen, I heard that HSBC plans to sell 20% of Hutchison Whampoa's shares. To tell you the truth, I am also interested in this company. very interested."

Hutchison Whampoa owns the Hong Kong container port and a large land bank, as well as PARKnSHOP and Watsons (health and beauty products retail chain), which have monopoly profits in Hong Kong's retail industry, and also owns 14 of Hong Kong's 24 ports of call berth. The Port of Hong Kong is one of the busiest and most efficient international container ports in the world and a major hub port in the global supply chain. There are more than 80 international liners providing about 500 container liner services every week, connecting Hong Kong Port to 500 destinations around the world. With multiple destinations, it has ranked first in the world in container throughput for several consecutive years. If you think about it with your toes, you will know that the profits of the port are ridiculously high!

In addition, Parknshop and Wellcome supermarkets account for about 70% of Hong Kong's retail trade, and Watsons and Jardine-controlled Mannings account for almost 70% of Hong Kong's medicinal sales.

Li Zetian had already read these materials on the plane before meeting Shen Bi, and he became more determined to acquire Hutchison Whampoa.

Shen Bi frowned slightly. At this juncture, Li Zetian suddenly proposed to acquire the shares of Hutchison Whampoa Company, which surprised and embarrassed him. He has privately promised Li Ka-shing that HSBC will give priority to selling Hutchison Whampoa to Li Ka-shing. He admired Li Ka-shing's shrewd, capable and honest business style, as well as the growing Yangtze River Industries and its booming performance.

However, when Li Jiacheng and Li Zetian were compared, they were instantly overshadowed.

Shen Bi hesitated and pondered, his brain running rapidly, analyzing the pros and cons.

Li Zetian waited quietly, slowly eating the pastries served by the hotel...