The Industrial Giant Reborn

"Dis Avita? The general manager of Dolly, what do you want me for?" Chen Zhiwen said a little strangely.

Assistant An Qi replied: "Maybe it's because Jardine Matheson wants to acquire Wheelock, and HSBC can't sit still and wants us to intervene."

"Do you know a lot?" Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"Following the boss, you can always learn a lot." An Qi said with a smile.

"Okay, then let him come over tomorrow." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. Regarding the matter of Wheelock, he knew that HSBC would never sit back and watch Jardines take over Wheelock. In the original history, when Jardine was preparing to acquire Wheelock, HSBC arranged for Hutchison, which had already been acquired by him. The Group stepped in to intervene, but now that Hutchison and Huang belonged to Chen Zhiwen, HSBC lost a sharp sword in its hands.

And if he can still find himself, that is also his own opportunity, but if he wants to let Hutchison try to acquire Wheelock like the later generations, HSBC will definitely not agree to it. The specifics can only be seen later.

The next day, Diess came to the Hutchison Building in a low-key manner.

For the person in charge of Huodoli, Chen Zhiwen still has a lot of face, and he may need to cooperate with him in the future. After all, Hong Kong is a place with many high-quality assets, especially some British-funded enterprises that have existed for hundreds of years. Said to be fat and oily.

"Hello, Chen Sheng." Diess said to Chen Zhiwen in excellent Cantonese. Almost none of the British ghosts who have been in Hong Kong for a long time can't speak Cantonese. If you can't even learn a foreign language, you don't deserve to earn this money.

"Mr. Diess, hello, please sit down." Chen Zhiwen greeted with a smile.

"Mr. Diss, what do you drink?" Angie asked beside him.

"Tea is fine, thank you." Diss said politely.

"Me too." Chen Zhiwen said.

An Qi then left, and Diss said: "Chen Sheng, Mr. Shen Bi asked me to bring you a word. Originally, he should come to meet with you to discuss this matter in person, but because the market is in a special period, it is not convenient for him to personally Come out and meet you."

"Understood, HSBC is also a director of Jardine Matheson, it is really inconvenient." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, big companies in Hong Kong have the habit of inviting each other to be their directors. The same is true for Kee and CLP Taikoo. Even more than ten years later, when the Chinese consortium controls Hong Kong, they will have this habit.

The most fundamental purpose of this is actually to be able to carry out better cooperation to a large extent, or to avoid unnecessary vicious competition.

"Yes, Huodoli just assisted He Huang in the acquisition of Qizhou Yingni. It's normal for me to appear in the Hutchison Building. Even if people in Jardine suspect it, they have nothing to say." Diss said with a smile.

"Then I don't know, what does HSBC want me to do?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"It's nothing. I heard that Chen Sheng's ParknShop Supermarket has some conflicts with Hong Kong's Wellcome Supermarket. So this time, on behalf of HSBC, I can provide Chen Sheng with a certain amount of preferential interest rate loans." Diss said with a smile.

"No problem, as long as the interest rate is in place, I am happy to play with Hongkong Land." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

After the oil crisis, countries all over the world experienced severe inflation. In order to suppress inflation and prevent an economic crisis like that in 1929, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates continuously. Today, the benchmark interest rate has reached 7 points, that is to say, The money is deposited in the Bank of America, and the annual interest is 7% of the income.

Raising interest rates is a way for the United States to harvest other countries. The same is true for future generations in 2022. When interest rates in the United States are high, funds from all countries will flow to the United States. If the control is not good, ordinary countries, even smaller developed countries, will Foreign exchange is likely to be exhausted. In order to prevent this from happening, countries must also raise interest rates.

The same is true for Hong Kong. If the Hong Kong dollar does not raise interest rates, a large number of Hong Kong dollars will definitely be converted into US dollars and leave to enjoy high interest rates in the United States.

In the case of high deposit interest rates, loan interest rates are naturally higher. In recent years, apart from real estate with higher profits, other real industries and even service industries have found it difficult, and financing costs are too high.

If you can get a preferential interest rate, that is a very high advantage.

"We can provide an interest rate of 7.2%. I wonder how much money Chen Sheng needs?" Diss asked.

"How about 1 billion Hong Kong dollars?" Chen Zhiwen said calmly.

"One billion?" Diss was stunned for a moment, and said: "Chen Sheng, the expansion of ParknShop needs so much money? Even if all the properties are self-owned, they don't need so much money, right?"

"Parkn Shop naturally doesn't need so much money, but relying on this alone will not have much effect on Hongkong Land. If you really want to achieve the goal of HSBC and make Jardine give up the acquisition of Wheelock, you need to pay attention to Wheelock. Let's do it." Chen Zhiwen said.

"Chen Sheng wants to buy Wheelock as well?" Diess asked, staring into Chen Zhiwen's eyes.

Wheelock wants to sell itself. Although Jardine was the first choice, since the news has been released, it must be ready to ride a donkey to find a horse. If Chen Zhiwen really wants to buy Wheelock, HSBC will definitely not support it, but behind Chen Zhiwen With a strong overseas relationship, if it is possible to acquire Wheelock without the help of HSBC, there is nothing HSBC can do about it.

Coming here today is actually a trial. If Chen Zhiwen is not interested in Wheelock, then it happens to be the best partner for HSBC. How to do it later, you need to take one step at a time.

"Not interested, but HSBC and I have the same goal. HSBC wants to stop Jardine Matheson from acquiring Wheelock. It will not affect the acquisition of Wheelock." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said.

"Here in Hong Kong, it is estimated that there is no consortium that can acquire Wheelock. Mr. Shen Bi has sent a message to some overseas consortiums, but it is hard to say whether they can be found." Diess thought for a while and replied.

"So, if we want to delay this matter, we must start with Wheelock." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

Diston suddenly became interested and asked, "What good ideas does Chen Sheng have?"

Chen Zhiwen said: "Mr. Diess, you should know that Wheelock has a lot of business competition with Jardine?"

"I know." Diss seemed to understand a little bit, and said, "Chen Sheng, do you want to persuade Wheelock not to hand over your core financial information?"

"Yes, for Wheelock, once this information is handed over, it will destroy three points of martial arts. John Ma is not a fool, he will definitely be entangled." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

The negotiated acquisition of the two companies is different from the forced acquisition of the Hutchison Group by Chen Zhiwen. The latter relies entirely on its own preliminary research data. If Hutchison really concealed huge debts or certain aspects of business problems, and the compulsory acquirer fails to find out, it is their own fault, and the negotiated acquisition, the acquired party, is It is necessary to provide a large amount of real information, including core information such as financial status, business operations, liabilities, etc.

Listed companies, although they will also announce their own company's financial information in their quarterly financial reports, but those are very superficial information, just to inform investors of the company's operating conditions, and the core operating conditions are confidential, and in the acquisition These need to be communicated to the other party.

If the acquirer has no conflict of interest with you, then you will be informed, but if you are a competitor in many fields, once you give these materials, you will take off your underwear. If the other party suddenly does not acquire, That is a huge loss for the acquired party.

Jardine Matheson, Wheelock and even other large foreign firms have been operating in this small place of Hong Kong for a hundred years, and there are fifty if not one hundred conflicting industries.

"This is a way. Wheelock also intends to ask me to be a consultant to Dolly. I can tell John about this matter." Diston said after a pause.

"It's quite efficient." Chen Zhiwen smiled. This is also one of the benefits of Dolly to HSBC. Through this subsidiary, which is very famous in the Hong Kong investment circle, HSBC can indirectly influence the operations of most large companies in Hong Kong. M\u0026A, investment, etc.

As for private use? Isn't that normal?

"If John Ma is hesitant, it may really ruin the merger, but what does this have to do with Chen Sheng's need for 1 billion Hong Kong dollars?" Diess continued to ask.

Chen Zhiwen replied: "I will not acquire Wheelock, but I am somewhat interested in some assets of Wheelock."

"Wheelock's assets? What did Mr. Chen fancy?" Diss asked.

Chen Zhiwen turned his head slightly, looked not far away from the floor-to-ceiling windows, pointed and said, "There."

"Federation Building?" Diston suddenly understood and said.

"No, there is also the International Building next to it." Chen Zhiwen said calmly.

Hong Kong's Central is the first place to develop after the opening of Hong Kong. Therefore, it has always been the center of Hong Kong's economy, and because of its early development, the properties in Hong Kong's Central are all controlled by these century-old companies.

Although the Hutchison Group was also known as one of the four major foreign firms in Hong Kong a few years ago, in fact, the history of Hutchison is not long, and it is a rising star among the British foreign firms. There is only one building in Central, Hutchison Building.

Wheelock is different. Its history can be traced back a hundred years ago. It also has several properties in Central Hong Kong. Among them, the most famous are the two buildings near Victoria Harbour: Federal Building and International Building.

"These two properties can be said to be one of the most valuable assets under Wheelock. Is Chen Sheng sure that he can buy them?" Diss asked.

"You have to give it a try." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile, "If I can acquire these two buildings, then Jardine, maybe the interest in Wheelock will be greatly reduced, right?"

In fact, almost no one knows that since the northern government began to cooperate with the West, many capitals in Hong Kong have begun to prepare to withdraw, and Wheelock's John Horse Stool is one of them.

In the original history, after Jardine's acquisition of Wheelock was indirectly destroyed by HSBC, Wheelock began to vigorously develop the real estate industry, but it was very conservative. Without investing a penny of their own, and taking advantage of the benefits of the rising real estate market, Wheelock is still earning very well after 77 years.

After earning enough money in the real estate market, John Maseng invested all the funds in the shipping industry, because in his opinion, seagoing ships are assets that can walk, and even if something happens, these assets are still floating in the ocean.

The ending can be imagined. In the 1980s when the shipping crisis broke out, Wheelock was almost ruined until it was acquired by Bao Yugang.

And in the real estate development in the late 1970s, John Mastool also sold the two buildings of Federal and International, which at least shows that in the eyes of John Maseng now, these two buildings can also be sold, as long as the price is right.

"I need to report to Mr. Shen Bi before I can reply to Chen Sheng." Diss said after thinking for a while.

Shen Bi only authorized him to provide funds to Chen Zhiwen's ParknShop supermarket for expansion, which may only cost two to three hundred million Hong Kong dollars. Now Chen Zhiwen wants to take this opportunity to obtain funds for the acquisition of the two buildings of the Federal and International Buildings. The funds involved will It has increased several times.

Moreover, this also involves Wheelock, and it is even more necessary to report to Shen Bi.

"Okay, then I'll wait for the good news from Mr. Diess." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, "If possible, I would like to entrust Huodoli to complete this acquisition for me."

HSBC Headquarters:

"Chen Zhiwen is really an old fox." After listening to Diss' report, Shen Bi sighed and said: "I originally speculated that with Chen Zhiwen's large-scale sales of various businesses in Hutchison, he would not want to acquire Defeng, I didn't expect him to have the idea of ​​the Federal Building and the International Building."

"He is really good at seizing the opportunity, but if we don't agree, he doesn't seem to have anything to do? It's impossible for him to refuse us to support his Park'n'Shop supermarket." Diess said.

"No, you're wrong." Shen Bi shook his head and said, "Chen Zhiwen must have known that HSBC will not let Jardine Matheson acquire Wheelock, so he told you the weakness of this acquisition, as long as we tell John Ma It is best not to submit the detailed information of Wheelock, and Jardine would not dare to do it casually. In this way, if Wheelock is not in the hands of Jardine, then Chen Zhiwen has hope to acquire the two buildings, and he does not want Jardine And the acquisition of Wheelock, the purpose of Chen Zhiwen is to use our hands to cut off the self-sale of Wheelock."

"Although we know that this is Chen Zhiwen's goal, this is indeed a good way. If Wheelock does not provide important information and gives Jardine ten courage, they will not dare to buy it." Diess said.

There is a lesson from the past that the Hutchison Group owed billions of dollars in debt. No one knows whether there will be another company in Hong Kong, especially the foreign debt problem. The foreign debt will not appear in the Hong Kong bank. People know that even listed companies have many legal ways to hide their debt problems. Otherwise, if everything is transparent, there will not be so many banks or large companies in the history of human business that suddenly defaulted on their debts. B.

In fact, many bigwigs in Hong Kong know that even Jardine Matheson has heavy foreign debts, and Wheelock is also one of the four foreign firms. Who knows how many problems there are? Especially now that the company is selling itself suddenly. At this time, even if Wheelock provides complete financial information, the acquirer must confirm it with multiple parties.

without providing information? Ghosts dare to buy? A pit may detonate the acquirer.

"Then you find a way to meet John Matou and tell him this suggestion. As long as he is smart enough, he should not provide the company's core confidential information. In this way, the acquisition will be suspended." Shen Bi said: "And I have already contacted a Southeast Asian consortium. This is a backup option. In fact, I don't really want Southeast Asian capital to enter Hong Kong too much."

"Okay, I'll make an appointment with John Maseng tomorrow, but Chen Zhiwen also wants to entrust us to purchase the Federal and International Building for him, what should we do?" Diess asked.

"If we don't accept this business, he will find someone else." Shen Bi thought for a while and said.

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