Rebirth of England

In fact, Lijiapo is a city disguised as a country because it is too small, with a land area of ​​only more than 700 square kilometers, which is 1/25 of the Huaxia Hangzhou.

At the same time, it is also the country with the highest proportion of Chinese in the world besides China, with Chinese accounting for nearly 75%.

You know, Kolo has a land area of ​​nearly 57,000 square kilometers and a total population of less than 7 million at this time.

The total population of Lijiapo has exceeded 4 million, so it is also one of the most densely populated countries in the world.

After Barron arrived here, he checked into the Goodwood Garden Hotel. This hotel is owned by the Qiu Deba family, the richest man in Lijiapo, and he often likes to dine at this hotel.

It is also worth mentioning that the total 13.5% shares of Standard Chartered Bank currently held by Qiu Teck Puat are held by three of his companies, including Goodwood Park Hotel.

Qiu Teck Puat has a total of 14 children. Now these three companies are run by his three children. These three children are also board members of Standard Chartered Bank.

The Goodwood Garden Hotel is now run by Qiu Teck-bat's daughter Elizabeth Qiu, who is the tenth among Qiu Teck-bat's children.

"Your Highness the Duke, my father is waiting for you in the restaurant downstairs. I will take you there."

Elizabeth Qiu came to Barron's room in person and said to him.

Barron knew that given Qiu Deba's physical condition at this time, it would be impossible for him to come to greet him in person. Elizabeth Qiu would not be rude to come here on behalf of her father.

"Excuse me, Ms. Qiu, I am looking forward to meeting Sir Qiu."

Because of his previous help in helping Standard Chartered Bank resist the takeover by Lloyds Bank, Qiu Tak-ba received the honor of the Queen and became a knight.

When Barron saw Qiu Deba, the richest man in Li Jiapo at this time, he looked good. Although he could not hide his old appearance, there was no sign that he would die suddenly in half a month.

"Your Highness the Duke, I know you came to see me this time for the shares of Standard Chartered Bank."

After a while of greetings, Qiu Deba was also surprised by Barron's fluency in Chinese. Here in Nanyang, he had met many Westerners who were fluent in Chinese, but like Barron, he didn't have any accent. Very standard Mandarin, this is the first time I have seen it.

He also got straight to the point:

"But it may disappoint you. Frankly speaking, over the years, there have been too many people who have wanted to buy shares of Standard Chartered Bank from me, but I have never agreed. It is also because Standard Chartered Bank has been my partner for many years. , I don’t want to change its business.”

The three people who initially served as "white knights" to help Standard Chartered Bank resist the takeover by Lloyds Bank all had different reasons.

For example, Khoo Teck Puat and Australian businessman Robert Holmes are both long-term customers of Standard Chartered Bank. Khoo Teck Puat has a history of cooperation with Standard Chartered Bank for more than 20 years, while Robert Holmes is starting a business. In the process, it received financing from Standard Chartered Bank and provided help in times of need, so it helped Standard Chartered Bank resist the acquisition of Lloyds Bank.

As for Mr. Bao, Hong Kong's "shipping king", he was not a client of Standard Chartered Bank before and had no contact with the two parties. However, he bought a large number of shares of Standard Chartered Bank when its stock price was high due to the acquisition. , many people speculated that it was because he received financial help from HSBC, because HSBC did not want the powerful Lloyds Bank to get involved in Asia, Africa and Latin America due to the acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank, thereby intensifying competition with it. Appear.

Nearly two decades later, among the three, only Qiu Teck Puat has kept the shares of Standard Chartered Bank in his hands, thus becoming the largest individual shareholder of this bank.

If it weren't for the fact that after Khoo Teck Puat's acquisition of Brunei National Bank, the scandal of his eldest son being accused of transferring funds for his own use through the bank controlled by the acquisition was exposed, then he would also have intervened in the management of Standard Chartered Bank. among.

"You can rest assured, Sir Qiu, even if I can control Standard Chartered Bank, I will not be too involved in its management. This bank will still focus on emerging markets. Instead, I will help it develop larger markets. market."

Barron understood that as a businessman, Qiu Deba still valued interests, and the so-called feelings were just gestures for more interests.

Just like the banks he opened back then, didn't they take advantage of the fact that supervision was not strict to absorb deposits for their own investment?

The only difference is that Qiu Deba's investment was ultimately successful, making him earn a lot of wealth and becoming the richest man in Li Jiapo.

"My current physical condition means I don't care much about the company's affairs anymore. I have left them all to my children."

Qiu Deba said calmly:

"I also know that they may not have as deep feelings for Standard Chartered Bank as I do. We can't hold those shares forever. There will always be a day when we sell them, but it probably won't be now, so Your Highness the Duke, I’m afraid I’ll disappoint you.”

Seeing that Qiu Deba has not relented on selling his shares, even if Barron's offered a certain premium and was willing to use US$1 billion to purchase the shares of Standard Chartered Bank that they had at this time with a market value of about US$900 million, Barron's also He didn’t insist anymore, but said:

"No matter what, I am very happy to have this conversation with you this year. There is a saying in China that 'the master is a teacher', and there is also 'an elder in a family is like a treasure', even if there is no cooperation this time I am lucky to have the opportunity to ask you for more experience, whether it is life experience or business experience."

…

"Your Highness, according to the news from Mr. Sheehan of DS Holdings and Goldman Sachs Group, in addition to the shares of Standard Chartered Bank that we have bought in the secondary market, they have reached an agreement with three institutions and are willing to pay 20 % premium, the shares held by Standard Chartered Bank were sold, and the total amount accounted for about 11% of the headquarters capital of Standard Chartered Bank."

Although there was no result in Qiu Deba today, there was some good news.

At present, Qiu Deba is the largest individual shareholder of Standard Chartered Bank, and Standard Chartered Group holds about 10% of the shares of Standard Chartered Bank. Most of the remaining shares are scattered in the hands of some investment institutions.

This time, Goldman Sachs will also help them contact some investment institutions such as "retirement funds" that hold shares of Standard Chartered Bank to acquire their shares at a corresponding premium.

Now it seems that the east is not bright and the west is bright, which makes Barron feel better.

"In addition, Boss Ma from Alibaba Company also asked you about the specific time of your arrival in Hangzhou..."

"Tell him that we will fly directly from Lijiapo to Hangzhou tomorrow."

Last year, Barron invested US$20 million in Alibaba and obtained 20% of its shares. At that time, Barron had an agreement with Boss Ma that he would have priority in subsequent financing of Alibaba.

Now nearly a year has passed, and Alibaba is also preparing for the next round of financing.

Originally this kind of thing only required Amber to negotiate, but Barron happened to come to Lijiapo this time, and he was also planning to go to China, so he happened to meet with Boss Ma.