Reborn as a tycoon in Hong Kong

On March 17th, Hutchison Whampoa.

Hutchison Whampoa set up a bidding site at its headquarters to entertain a total of eight companies that wanted to participate in the bidding, as well as journalists from various media who were arranged to gather together. Just the day before yesterday, another company appeared to pay a deposit for due diligence.

This is a public auction. If a buyer bids for Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business, the bid will be at least 800 million Hong Kong dollars. This is definitely a large investment. Letting reporters publicize it will also help spread the company's reputation, so there are reporters here. a good thing.

"Mr. Cesar, welcome."

As the chairman of Hutchison Whampoa, Lin Baicheng also came to the auction this time, but he did not need to do the specific auction matters, he only needed people to come over. When he saw Henry Caesar, the chairman of Jardine Matheson, he said hello.

"Lin Sheng, long time no see."

Although he wished that Lin Baicheng would die immediately, Henry Kaiser still shook hands with Lin Baicheng with a fake smile.

"I'm here to wish Mr. Kesak a successful bid."

Lin Baicheng said with a smile that although the two sides are hostile, business is business, and of course the higher the price for Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business, the better. The most important thing is that in the hostility between the two parties, he is the one who benefits, so his mentality is naturally more peaceful.

"Thanks!"

Henry Kaiserk and Lin Baicheng had nothing to talk about, so they walked aside and were led by the staff to the seats arranged by Hutchison Whampoa for Jardine Matheson.

"Zhang Sheng!"

After a while, Lin Baicheng saw some Chinese people walking in and said hello to the leader.

"Lin Sheng!"

Zhang Yuliang shook hands with Lin Baicheng very politely.

Zhang Yuliang came on behalf of Wheelock this time. He is Wheelock's largest shareholder. Since the real estate company was acquired by Wheelock in 1971 by issuing new shares, he has become Wheelock's largest shareholder. The shares are even slightly more than those of the Madden family.

With more shares in his family, Zhang Yuliang would definitely not be willing to be an ordinary director. Therefore, he has been competing with John Madden for control of Wheelock since the merger. There have been many overt and covert battles between the two parties.

However, John Madden has always been the chairman of Wheelock, and Wheelock was developed by the Madden family. The company's senior management and many directors are familiar with the Madden family, so most of the Zhang Yuliang family Under such circumstances, they cannot compete with the Madden family.

Later, when the oil crisis broke out, Wheelock's profits dropped significantly, becoming less and less year after year. By 1976, John Madden was even interested in selling Wheelock. At that time, it even caused a fight between Jardine Matheson and Hutchison International, but After all, the deal was never concluded.

By 1977, the real estate industry began to recover, and Wheelock benefited and survived. Last year, Lin Baicheng asked Hutchison Whampoa to purchase the Federal Building and International Building from Wheelock, providing Wheelock with a large amount of funds.

However, last year John Madden also participated in the short selling of Hutchison Whampoa. Although he used the Madden family's own funds and the loss had nothing to do with Wheelock, after this incident was spread, the His influence was not small. Zhang Yuliang took the opportunity to win over many people, and his power in Wheelock was greatly enhanced.

This time Zhang Yuliang came here because he wanted to acquire Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business. He believed that the foreign trade business had great potential. Once it did well, he would gain more support from shareholders in Wheelock in the future, overpowering Madden. family, took control of Wheelock.

Lin Baicheng and Zhang Yuliang started chatting. Zhang Yuliang and the Madden family were competing for control of Wheelock. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Zhang Yuliang may have thought so, so the relationship between the two was not bad.

Regarding Wheelock, Lin Baicheng actually had this idea in his mind, that is, Zhang Yuliang could not compete with the Madden family, and finally chose to transfer the shares to others. Lin Baicheng and Zhang Yuliang were on good terms, and maybe he could buy it from Zhang Yuliang at some time. Wheelock shares.

After the oil crisis, Bao Yugang chose to abandon ship and land, but some people did not think so. Wheelock, controlled by the Madden family, did not do this.

As far as Lin Baicheng knew, Bao Yugang was reducing the number of ships, but Wheelock was buying a large number of ships. Many of the ships Bao Yugang sold were taken over by Wheelock, and Wheelock even owned several ships. The state placed orders to build new ships.

There is a reason why Lin Baicheng is interested in Wheelock. From the perspective of the 1980s, there is certainly no problem with Bao Yugang's "abandon ship and land" strategy, especially in the first few years of the 1980s, because of the second oil crisis. With the outbreak of the epidemic, the costs of shipping companies will only increase. At this time, the more ships there are, the greater the losses may be.

However, by the late 1980s, as more and more Hong Kong businessmen invested in the mainland, and the connections between the mainland and foreign countries became more frequent, the shipping industry would gradually usher in spring. Especially since the mainland's comprehensive reform and opening up in 1991, the economic development rate has soared, and the prospects of the shipping industry are naturally needless to say.

Therefore, Lin Baicheng was very happy to acquire Wheelock a few years later in the mid-1980s. At that time, Wheelock's large number of ships could create a lot of profits for Lin Baicheng with a few more years at most.

What's more, if Lin Baicheng really wants to make an acquisition now, he really doesn't have that much money, and it will be just right in a few years.

While Lin Baicheng and Zhang Yuliang were talking, companies participating in the auction arrived one after another, including two vice presidents of Ocean Trading Company. They knew the time was not right, so they did not say hello to Chairman Lin Baicheng.

Among the total eight companies this time, excluding ocean trading companies, there are only four local companies in Xiangjiang, and the other three are foreign. Among them, two companies are from the UK, and one is from Malaysia. They are also engaged in foreign trade.

When all the companies participating in the auction arrived, Hutchison Whampoa's chief executive Weili went to preside over the auction.

After a few polite words, Weili said: "I won't say too much. What we are going to auction today is our company's foreign trade business. I think everyone has investigated our company's foreign trade business. I will give you the details here. I won’t say any more.”

"Now let's talk about the bidding rules. The base price is 800 million Hong Kong dollars. The highest bidder will win. After the bidding is over, half of the bidding price must be paid. After the handover between the two parties is completed, the remaining half of the funds must be paid. Our company does not accept any credit."

"The base price is HKD 800 million, and each bid must not be less than HKD 1 million. The bidding begins now!"

Where each company representative sits, there is a sign with the company's name on it. When bidding, you only need to hold up the sign and call out the price.

"Eight hundred million!"

"Eight hundred and twenty million!"

"Eight hundred and twenty-five million!"

"Eight hundred million."

"Eight hundred and fifty million Hong Kong dollars!"

Soon, the price rose to HK$850 million, by which time the bidding slowed down.

After the price reached HK$870 million, it took a while for someone to pick up the call every time.

"Fortunately, we have temporarily increased the price limit."

Seeing that the price was approaching HK$880 million, but no company had withdrawn yet, Lin Baicheng guessed that HK$900 million was probably not the final transaction price.

After learning that eight companies, including Ocean Trading, were interested in Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business, Lin Baicheng, Bao Yugang and others contacted each other and finally decided to raise the upper limit of the bidding price to HK$950 million.

The main reason why they chose to raise the price limit was that Lin Baicheng and the others wanted to acquire Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business. A mature and complete foreign trade company could create benefits for them faster. Although short-term premium acquisitions will result in a lot of losses, the money will be earned sooner or later.

"Eight hundred and ninety million!"

"Eight hundred and ninety-two million!"

"Eight hundred and ninety-five million!"

"Nine billion!"

"905 million Hong Kong dollars!"

Henry Kaiser gritted his teeth and bid out a price that was higher than the original reserve price in his mind. The original reserve price of Jardine Matheson was HK$900 million, but he was really unwilling to give up like this, so he decided to bid an additional price of HK$5 million. . If someone really calls out for a price higher than this, it's not too late to give up.

"907 million Hong Kong dollars!"

After a small meeting, Zhang Yuliang glanced in the direction of Henry Caesar and continued to increase the price.

"Shit!"

Henry Caesar cursed secretly and put the sign in his hand aside, but gave up the bidding.

At this moment, only the Ocean Trading Company and a British foreign trade company are still holding the brands. Although this does not mean that they will definitely bid, it can explain something.

"908 million Hong Kong dollars!"

But it was the remaining foreign trade company that made the bid.

"910 million Hong Kong dollars!"

Delson Cage bids.

Zhang Liangyu called out the price: "911 million Hong Kong dollars!"

"Nine hundred and fifteen million Hong Kong dollars!"

Delson Cage directly raised the price by four million Hong Kong dollars, as if he was determined to win.

The remaining foreign trade company also put down its brand this time.

"Is there anyone else who wants to bid?"

This time, Zhang Liangyu didn't bid immediately, so Wei Li asked after waiting for a while and no one said anything.

After a few seconds, Wei Li, who was looking around at several companies, said, "Okay, 915 million Hong Kong dollars for the first time!"

"917 million Hong Kong dollars!"

Zhang Liangyu gritted his teeth and decided to bid one last time.

"920 million Hong Kong dollars!"

Delson Cage continued to bid without changing his expression.

"For HK$920 million, does anyone still want to bid? If no one bids, the company's foreign trade business will be sold to Ocean Import and Export Trading Company."

"Since no one bids, then it will be HK$920 million for the first time!"

"920 million Hong Kong dollars for the second time!"

"920 million Hong Kong dollars for the third time! Transaction completed, congratulations to Ocean Import and Export Trading Company!"

As Wei Li dropped the hammer, the auction officially ended.

Delson Cage and Naoto Mutaku stood up, the spotlights kept turning on, but it was the reporters who kept taking pictures. Ninety-two million Hong Kong dollars is definitely a huge deal in Hong Kong, and big coverage is absolutely inevitable.

"Lin Sheng, congratulations, Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business was sold at a good price."

At the end of the auction, Zhang Liangyu congratulated Lin Baicheng.

Hearing this, Lin Baicheng smiled and joked: "So I would like to thank Zhang Sheng for your offer."

"Lin Sheng was joking."

Of course Zhang Liangyu would not think that he had any merit, and smiled and said: "If there is anything we can cooperate with in the future, Lin Sheng must remember to contact me. I am very willing to cooperate with you, Lin Sheng."

"Definitely, if there is a chance."

Lin Baicheng smiled and agreed. Although he knew that there would be no chance of cooperation between the two in the short term, it would be hard to predict in a few years, so it was still necessary to maintain a good relationship.

After saying a few more words, Zhang Liangyu said goodbye and left.

After other companies left one after another, Lin Baicheng did not stay. As for the specific transaction, of course it was left to Wei Li.

At noon that day, news about Hutchison Whampoa's packaged sale of its foreign trade business for HK$920 million appeared on TV stations and various newspapers. Among them, economic newspapers conducted detailed analysis and analyzed the gains and losses.

Because today is Saturday, the stock market is closed and there is no trading, so the announcement of this news has no impact on Hutchison Whampoa's stock price.

However, the day after tomorrow, next Monday, Hutchison Whampoa's stock price will inevitably be affected. Although there had been news before, it only mentioned a minimum transaction price of HK$800 million, and it was still unclear whether the transaction would be successful. Therefore, there was uncertainty, and the power of many parties was naturally not that strong.

Now that the news has been confirmed, the transaction amount is more than HK$800 million, so Hutchison Whampoa's stock price may experience a short-term correction. After all, Hutchison Whampoa has received HK$920 million in cash.

Monday comes in a blink of an eye.

After the stock market opened, Hutchison Whampoa's stock price fell slightly. Ten days ago, Hutchison Whampoa's stock price surged due to the good news. However, because Lin Baicheng's offshore company was selling a large number of stocks, the stock price fell back down before it broke through 70 Hong Kong dollars. In the following days, It even fell back to the previous shock price of HK$65, and now fluctuated around HK$62.

Today, the stock price quickly exceeded 65 Hong Kong dollars, and then continued to rise. However, the higher it went, the greater the pressure. However, it still did not break through the price of 70 Hong Kong dollars, and then it fell back. For the same reason, Lin Baicheng's offshore company is reducing its stock holdings in large quantities, which has brought too much selling pressure on the stock price.

Nowadays, Lin Baicheng will not pay attention to the changes in Hutchison Whampoa's stock price unless the stock price rises or falls sharply. He went to HSBC Bank this morning.

Lin Baicheng came to HSBC for a loan, this time the loan was HK$500 million. The reason why we need a loan is because it costs 300 million Hong Kong dollars to invest in Ocean Trading Company. Although Galaxy Games Company has money, after the completion of the development of the console, money will be used for both publicity and stocking, so there is no way to get the money out.

Furthermore, the acquisition of home appliance technology, processing plants, production lines, etc. all require money, so Lin Baicheng approached HSBC for a loan.

Lin Baicheng does not need to provide collateral for this loan. The previous 90 million shares of Hutchison Whampoa can be used as collateral again. This time, as long as he signs a supplementary agreement with HSBC. As a result, he has a loan of HK$1.5 billion from HSBC.