Reborn as a tycoon in Hong Kong

Monday, April 23, 1979.

Wheelock holds a board meeting.

At the board meeting, Chairman John Madan proposed to issue additional A-shares to Li Jiacheng equivalent to 5% of the company's total share capital based on the current market value of Wheelock. Wheelock is listed in the form of AB shares. The face value of A shares is relatively large, which is equivalent to five times the face value of B shares when issued, but the voting rights of both are the same.

In other words, it is not cost-effective to buy A shares. Take the additional issuance of Li Jiacheng as an example. Li Jiacheng can only obtain 5% of the voting rights by acquiring 5% of Wheelock's A shares. However, if the money is used to buy B shares with the same market value, he can obtain 25%. voting rights.

Faced with John Ma Sheng's proposal, the directors of Zhang Yuliang's group naturally opposed it. Li Jiacheng was introduced by John Ma, and he must be on John Ma's side. Although there is no nomination for Li Jiacheng to join the board of directors, as long as Li Jiacheng has 5% of the company's shares, John Ma will definitely propose it. Let Li Jiacheng join the board of directors, and then he will be even more unable to stop it.

The reason is simple. Among the current Wheelock directors, some hold less than 5% of the shares. It makes no sense that Li Jiacheng, who holds more shares, cannot become a director of the company.

Although both Li Jiacheng and Li Jiacheng were Chinese businessmen, since Li Jiacheng cooperated with John Ma Cheng, who would consider the friendship between Chinese businessmen? Zhang Yuliang naturally tried his best to block John Ma Cheng's proposal and did not agree to increase the issuance of Li Jiacheng.

Zhang Yuliang strongly opposed it, but John Ma was not surprised because it was a normal thing.

John Ma looked at several neutral directors and said: "Dear directors, the group's development plan is to take advantage of the decline in the shipping industry due to the oil crisis, increase investment in the shipping industry, and purchase more ships. The purchase of a large number of ships requires a large amount of funds, which consumes too much of the company's cash. In addition to the shipping industry, the real estate industry has been booming in recent years. The company intends to increase investment in this area, which also requires funds, so the additional stock issuance has strong capabilities. Shareholders are very necessary.”

"The chairman is right. It is indeed necessary to introduce powerful shareholders. The addition of Li Sheng will not only allow the company to obtain a large amount of cash, but also enable it to cooperate with the company in real estate development. It can be said to be a win-win situation."

A neutral director nodded in agreement. The additional shares issued are only 5%. It does not dilute everyone's shares much, but it can enhance the company's strength, so small shareholders have no reason to object.

Zhang Yuliang saw the movements of the other two neutral directors and immediately said: "Issuing additional shares can indeed allow the company to obtain a large amount of cash and enhance the company's strength, but it does not have to be Li Sheng. There is no one who is stronger than Li Sheng in Xiangjiang." No, we can completely compare and contrast, there is no need to make a decision right away.”

No one objected to Zhang Yuliang's words. After all, this matter was not very urgent, especially for neutral directors. It was okay to take another look. There was no loss anyway.

"Director Zhang, this matter is related to the development of the company. I hope you will not deliberately delay the time. Next Tuesday, which is the first day of next month, the board of directors will be convened again. I hope Director Zhang can give a summary by then. Li Sheng is the better choice."

John Ma was unable to force a decision, but he was not prepared to give Zhang Yuliang too much time. Counting the two days off, there were only eight days in total.

"I will not deliberately delay time. If I don't have a better candidate than Li Sheng by then, I will just follow your instructions and issue additional shares to Li Sheng."

Zhang Yuliang snorted. He knew very well that if he could not propose a better candidate at the next board meeting, then he would no longer be able to prevent Li Jiacheng from investing in Wheelock, and he might even become a director of Wheelock in the future.

After the board meeting, John Ma and Li Jiacheng went to John Ma's office.

"Chairman Ma Sheng, you shouldn't agree to let Zhang Sheng find someone else. There are too many variables."

Li Jiacheng said aloud that it was he who took the initiative to invest in Wheelock this time and asked Shen Zhou for help. Not only did a lot of the funds required for the additional stock issuance have to be borrowed from HSBC, but even getting John Ma to agree to the additional stock issuance was also a matter of asking Shen Chou to help pull the string.

The reason why Li Jiacheng chose to invest in Wheelock was because there were currently not many large-scale listed companies in Hong Kong for him to choose from. If he wants to achieve greater success, acquiring a large group is the best choice.

Currently there are quite a few well-known groups and companies in Hong Kong. The three old-established foreign banks, Swire Group, Wheelock and Jardine Matheson, are the most famous. However, Swire Group has always been doing well, and Jardine Matheson is currently strong, so it will The problem with Defeng is more obvious, that is, this company is not dominated by one company, but has two families competing for control.

Therefore, after consideration, Li Jiacheng wanted to take over Wheelock, but he knew that it was too difficult to take over Wheelock now, so becoming a small shareholder first and lurking in was a good choice.

Once the competition between the Madden family and the Zhang Yuliang family in Wheelock intensifies, not only both sides will suffer, but even if one of them loses, then Li Jiacheng will have a chance to win Wheelock.

Because of this, Li Jiacheng just wanted to become a shareholder of Wheelock smoothly and did not want any changes.

"Li Sheng, there is nothing you can do about it, even if I don't agree."

John Madan shook his head after hearing this: "My control over the company's board of directors is not that strong. Zhang Yuliang's proposal is beneficial to the company, so the neutral director will only stand on his side. Rather than me firmly pushing for the issuance of additional shares for you, If it is rejected by the board of directors, it is better to take a step back and let Zhang Yuliang find someone stronger than you, Li Sheng."

"But."

"I know what you are worried about, Li Sheng."

John Madan raised his hand and interrupted: "There are indeed many Chinese families in Xiangjiang who are more powerful than Li Sheng, but 5% of Wheelock's shares are worth more than 100 million Hong Kong dollars. Everyone has their own career, so instead of spending To become a small shareholder of Wheelock with more than 100 million Hong Kong dollars, it is better to use the funds to develop your own business. I think everyone knows what is the most beneficial choice, so you don’t need to worry."

There is one thing that John Ma Tian did not say, that is, it is useless to worry now. If Zhang Yuliang can really find someone who is more powerful than Li Jiacheng or more likely to bring benefits to Wheelock, then there is no point in thinking about it now. Meaning, see you later.

"All right."

John Ma has said so, what else can Li Jiacheng say? If a competitor does appear, we can only wait until the competitor appears.

Furthermore, Li Jiacheng's investment in Wheelock was just to lay low and plan for the future. If he was unable to invest in Wheelock, there wouldn't be much loss for Li Jiacheng, and he could completely accept it. He would just look for another goal.

The other end.

Zhang Yuliang was thinking about who would be more suitable. First of all, he must be a Chinese who has a good relationship with him. He cannot find an opponent for himself. In addition, he must have strong strength. At least this person must be able to easily come up with a weapon. Chinese businessmen with more than 100 million Hong Kong dollars.

To meet the two conditions, there are really not many people Zhang Yuliang can choose, only a few.

"Baosheng is definitely not good. He abandoned ship and landed. The development direction is completely opposite to Wheelock."

"In the case of Lin Sheng, he makes clothes and exports and uses shipping. It is not impossible to ask him to invest in Wheelock and become a small shareholder."

"Sheng Chen is engaged in real estate, and Wheelock will also vigorously develop the real estate industry. There is a possibility of cooperation, and it can be one of the alternatives."

"Xu Sheng is afraid that it won't work. His father is in the shipping business, and since he didn't inherit this business, he wouldn't be interested in Wheelock, let alone become a small shareholder."

"Sheng Dong, he and Wheelock can be said to be competitors, so there is no need to consider them."

"Lin Sheng. His strength is the strongest, but he is only a small shareholder of Wheelock. I don't know if he will take it seriously. He will be listed as one of the alternatives for the time being."

"."

Zhang Yuliang wrote down the people he thought of one by one, and then eliminated one after another. In the end, there were only a few targets that could be invited. He was not sure whether these people were interested in investing in Wheelock.

What Zhang Yuliang can do now is to rank these people in order, and then go to the door in the order to talk to them.

On the last day of this week, the 27th, Lin Baicheng learned from Qin Lan that Zhang Yuliang wanted to meet him, and he agreed.

At noon that day, the two of them drank tea in a private room of a teahouse.

"Lin Sheng, I'll just tell you the truth."

The two drank tea for a while, and Zhang Yuliang said: "On Monday, John Ma Bi proposed at the board meeting to issue 5% more shares to Li Jiacheng and Li Sheng based on Wheelock's current market value. I have been discussing with Ma Bi The family is vying for control of Wheelock. Naturally, they don’t want John Malone to increase in strength, so I said that we should issue additional shares to people who are stronger than Li Sheng. And the reason why I invite you to meet this time is to invite you to join the stock club. Dockford, became a shareholder of Wheelock.”

The reason why Zhang Yuliang told the truth was because he knew very well that if Lin Baicheng went to investigate, he would definitely find out what was going on. Therefore, there was no need for him to be a villain and it was best to be honest.

“Become a Wheelock shareholder?”

Lin Baicheng couldn't help but ponder upon hearing this. He was indeed interested in Wheelock, but not now. Wheelock is currently vigorously developing the shipping industry, which was definitely a loss-making business in the 1980s. Therefore, if he buys shares in Wheelock now, the investment will definitely lose money. Even Wheelock's real estate industry cannot bring about the shipping industry. losses.

Of course, there are benefits to agreeing to Zhang Yuliang's shareholding now, that is, he has a relationship with Zhang Yuliang, and he will definitely support Zhang Yuliang after buying shares in Wheelock. So in the future, if Zhang Yuliang decides to sell his shares in Wheelock, Lin Baicheng can be first in line. It’s been months.

Lin Baicheng asked aloud: "Sheng Zhang, if you invite me to invest in Wheelock, does Wheelock issue an additional 5% of shares to me?"

"Yes!"

Zhang Yuliang nodded and said: "As long as you, Lin Sheng, are willing to agree, with your strength, the company's board of directors will definitely choose to support you, Lin Sheng, to buy shares in Wheelock. Although the value of this additional share is as high as about 130 million Hong Kong dollars, it is very important to you, Lin Sheng." For me, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

"This money is really nothing to me, and I can really afford it."

Hearing this, Lin Baicheng nodded first, then shook his head and said: "But Mr. Zhang, I can only say sorry to you. Wheelock is a good group company, but I have no interest in becoming a small shareholder of Wheelock." , 5% of the shares is too little for me."

The reason why Lin Baicheng refused to buy shares in Wheelock was not only because he disliked that 5% of the shares were too small, but also because the target of the additional issuance proposed by John Ma was Li Jiacheng. Li Jiacheng wanted to buy shares in Wheelock. Although Lin Baicheng did not know that Li Jiacheng What purpose does Jiacheng have, but as long as Li Jiacheng is willing to join the trap of Wheelock, he will be very happy to fulfill it.

Lin Baicheng has been looking for opportunities to trick Li Jiacheng, but unfortunately he has not found any. Although he asked Hutchison Whampoa to suppress Cangjiang Industrial in the development of the real estate industry, the results were limited. After all, Li Jiacheng is firm on the company's development path. The most Hutchison Whampoa can do is raise the price when Cangjiang Industrial auctions the land, making Cangjiang Industrial pay more costs. No matter how much, there is no way.

Now that Li Jiacheng wants to buy shares in Wheelock, regardless of other things, Li Jiacheng's current investment in 5% of the shares will definitely lose money, unless Li Jiacheng can take over Wheelock or persuade John Ma to change his plan of vigorously developing the shipping industry. plan, but Lin Baicheng felt that both possibilities were unlikely.

"Lin Sheng, do you want to stop thinking about it?"

Zhang Yu had a bitter conscience. Some of the people he visited in the past few days felt that spending more than 100 million Hong Kong dollars to invest in Wheelock was too much, and it would be better to go to Lin Baicheng.

"Sheng Zhang, just 5% of the shares is too little for me."

Lin Baicheng shook his head slightly, thought for a while and then said: "Zhang Sheng, can you issue more shares? 10% or 15% is fine."

"Lin Sheng, Wheelock doesn't have a lot of funds, so we are only planning to issue 5% more shares."

Zhang Yuliang waved his hand. He was looking for someone who could help him, not add a competitor to himself. If Lin Baicheng gets 10% or more of the shares, if Lin Baicheng secretly acquires some, or contacts a few directors, it is entirely possible for him to become the third strongest player in the company. It is even possible for someone with a bad shareholding to surpass him. After all, Lin Baicheng The capital is abundant, which is unmatched by him.

"In this case, I can only say sorry."

Lin Baicheng shrugged. 5% of Wheelock shares were of no use to him at all. He could fight for more to cause trouble. If it was just 5%, he might as well not buy the shares and give it to Li Jiacheng. Look. Let’s see what Li Jiacheng is going to do.

Although Lin Baicheng clearly refused, Zhang Yuliang still didn't want to give up, because this was the last person he could find, and Lin Baicheng didn't want to invest in Wheelock because he spent too much money. Maybe he would persuade him a few more times. Can Lin Baicheng change his decision?

With this idea in mind, Zhang Yuliang did not give up lightly, but continued to persuade Lin Baicheng, talking about Wheelock's development prospects, and wanted Lin Baicheng to know that investing in Wheelock would be an investment with huge returns.