Reborn as a tycoon in Hong Kong

Around eleven o'clock in the morning.

Henry Caesar, Michael Kadoorie, George Swire, and John Madden went to HSBC Bank to visit Shen Zhou on behalf of their short-selling group.

The companies controlled by the four Henry Caesars were all large companies in Xiangjiang, and they also represented some middle-class British-owned families, so Shen Zhou did not dare to neglect and received them immediately.

These people flaunted themselves as so-called gentlemen, so they did not talk about business matters immediately. Instead, they started chatting about current political affairs, side entertainment, etc.

After more than ten minutes of chatting, we got to the point.

Henry Kaesik spoke up and said: "Taipan, today we are here not only hoping to borrow some more Hutchison Whampoa stocks, but also hoping to get help from HSBC."

"Guys, there is no problem with borrowing stocks. This is HSBC's business. But if you want HSBC to help suppress Hutchison Whampoa's stock price, then I can only refuse. You should know very well that HSBC is also It is unreasonable for Hutchison Whampoa’s major shareholders not to help stabilize Hutchison Whampoa’s stock price.”

Shen Porridge guessed that these four people came here to borrow stocks to continue short selling, but he never thought that they actually wanted HSBC to help them. How could they agree to this?

"Taiban, don't refuse in a hurry."

John Madden said solemnly: "We have been to Standard Chartered before we came here, and the directors of Standard Chartered have agreed to help."

Michael Kadoorie also said: "The Taipan should know very well how many people's interests we represent this time. Could it be that HSBC would rather choose to cooperate with Lin Baicheng and Hutchison Whampoa than with people like us?"

"Are you guys forcing HSBC to choose one of the two?"

Shen Cong's expression was a bit ugly. In the past, it was these companies that looked at HSBC. When did it become HSBC's turn to look at the companies that borrowed money? However, the four of them represent most of the British-owned families. If HSBC loses these customers, it will really be hurt, so he really can't express his anger.

George Schweizer quickly said: "It's not to this extent, I just want HSBC to help me a little."

"What do you want from HSBC?"

Shen Porridge's face looked a little better, but he still looked unhappy.

"Lin Baicheng himself and Hutchison Whampoa have a lot of loans from HSBC, right? We hope HSBC can withdraw the loans. In addition, we also hope that HSBC can reduce its holdings of Hutchison Whampoa's stocks. We can secretly buy the reduced holdings at a premium. As long as HSBC can reduce its holdings and release the news, HSBC’s interests will not be harmed.”

Henry Kaesik said that they want HSBC to help, so of course they will not let HSBC bleed. They believe that given HSBC's position in Hong Kong, as long as it is reported that HSBC will reduce its holdings of Hutchison Whampoa's shares, it will inevitably have a heavy blow to Hutchison Whampoa's stock price. When coupled with the loan withdrawal incident and their short selling, it will definitely be If a large number of stocks follow the trend and are sold, there is no doubt that the funds in the market can hold on.

Hearing this, Shen Porridge immediately said: "If you don't say anything about reducing your shareholdings in advance, you will definitely not be able to borrow money!"

Henry Kaiserk said immediately: "When Hutchison Whampoa purchased real estate, your two banks provided fully mortgaged loans for these properties. Now you can completely say that this does not comply with the loan details, so your bank needs to withdraw the loan. Although this It will affect your bank’s reputation a little bit, but with the support of people like us, HSBC will not suffer.”

"That's not the point!"

Shen Porridge shook his head, looked at them and said: "I don't know if Standard Chartered has told you that Lin Baicheng himself transferred about 3 billion Hong Kong dollars to the bank accounts of HSBC and Standard Chartered a while ago, and then transferred it away again. I think it was He has received investment from the United States, but if he needs it, there should be no problem in spending no less than HK$2 billion."

"We also know this, but his shareholding in Hutchison Whampoa has reached 49.9%. If he increases his holdings, he must fully acquire Hutchison Whampoa. And the highest price of Hutchison Whampoa in the past six months is Around HK$70, we don’t think he has the funds to make acquisitions, so he won’t increase his holdings.”

Michael Kadoorie spoke up and said, if there is no clear investigation, how dare they continue to short-sell. They have even thought that if a huge amount of foreign funds take over all the stocks, they will apply to investigate the holders of these stocks to investigate whether Lin Baicheng secretly bought these stocks, but they did not go to the China Securities Regulatory Commission to conduct the investigation. Register.

"I know that Lin Baicheng cannot increase his holdings. That's not what I want to say."

Shen Porridge shook his head when he heard this and said directly: "When Lin Baicheng acquired Hutchison Whampoa, he bought 90 million shares from HSBC. At that time, HSBC had an agreement with Lin Baicheng, and Lin Baicheng used these 90 million shares to obtain a loan from HSBC 1 billion Hong Kong dollars. HSBC’s own shareholding in Hutchison Whampoa is only 15%, which is 60 million shares, and now HSBC has loaned out 80 million shares, exceeding HSBC’s own shareholding.”

"If HSBC borrows money from Hutchison Whampoa, it will definitely offend Lin Baicheng. Lin Baicheng will definitely not cooperate with HSBC again, and he has funds, so he can spend 1 billion Hong Kong dollars to redeem his HSBC mortgage At that time, HSBC not only had no shares to lend to you, but had to buy about 20 million shares from the market, otherwise it would not be enough to return the shares to him."

"That's why I say that borrowing money is absolutely not okay. Otherwise, not only will it not be helpful, but HSBC will become a long party."

HSBC and Standard Chartered are different. Standard Chartered has cooperation with Lin Baicheng and Hutchison Whampoa, but not much. With the support of British families such as Henry Caesar, of course, they can choose to abandon Lin Baicheng. At most, they will lose Lin Baicheng as a customer in the future. . HSBC can also abandon Lin Baicheng, but the price it needs to pay will be huge.

"This is a bit troublesome!"

Henry Caesar, Michael Kadoorie, George Swire, and John Madden couldn't help but frowned when they heard this. This was something they had never thought of before. They knew very well that Shen Zong was right. Asking HSBC to take out loans would not work, and doing so would only be more detrimental to them.

Henry Kaesik asked: "What if HSBC is asked to reduce its holdings of Hutchison Whampoa's shares?"

"As long as a few people can convince the board of directors, I have no problem with it."

Although it would make Lin Baicheng very unhappy if it just reduced its shareholding, HSBC just regretted it and did not break up with Lin Baicheng, so Shen Zhou did not insist on it.

"Let's go back and discuss it again. We'll visit HSBC again in the afternoon."

Henry Kesak and the four discussed in a low voice, and then decided to go back and talk to others before making a decision.

Of course Shen Porridge would not keep them, but he also promised the four of them that he would not tell Lin Baicheng about the relevant matters.