The Industrial Giant Reborn

Bao Fuda, who had been silent for a long time, continued: "Connor, becoming one of the Jardine Department does not mean that you will lose everything you have now, and we Jardine will not interfere in the management of HK Electric at will. Besides, if HK Electric is acquired by Chen Zhiwen , There used to be so many British high-level executives under the Hutchison Group, but now there are not many left. The Chinese have basically mastered Hutchison. If Hongkong Electric is controlled, how long do you think you high-level executives can sit still?"

"Okay, then I'll go back and hold a high-level meeting to discuss this matter, but keeping all of our positions is the basic condition for this cooperation." Connor thought for a while and said, what Bao Fuda said is indeed reasonable, and it has already developed to the point At this step, it is no longer possible to return to the previous situation where there are no major shareholders and their management dominates. The difference is who will control HK Electric.

"No problem, you can sign a paper agreement. You don't need to worry about it for at least three years." Niu Bijian said boldly, and glanced at HSBC next to him. If you lost at least the voting rights for the previous few years, you might as well be a good person once.

Besides, even if he does get a controlling stake in Hong Kong Electric, he won't touch these people casually, as long as he doesn't have any crooked intentions.

Shen Bi saw that things were going in the direction he thought, and said with a smile: "Well, although there may be some opinions on the content of cooperation, our direction is the same, so we should go back and get ready, Chen Zhiwen's side , no one knows what he will do? We still need a quick fix."

"Okay, then after the emergency meeting is held tomorrow, I'll come and inform you guys again." Connor was a man of action, and he greeted and left after speaking.

It was the same with Shen Bi and Diss, they left soon.

"Shen Bi, an old fox, made me play again. He probably wanted to use us to control HK Electric since we asked him out." Niu Bijian said angrily. HSBC cannot acquire shares in other companies, unless the company is about to close down and owes HSBC a large amount of loans. In this case, HSBC can take over for a short time, but it needs to change hands when the company's business improves. This is Hong Kong's "quasi-central bank" limit.

This has also led to HSBC being unable to intervene in any other industries except the banking industry, which has been stuck in the upper limit in Hong Kong. Now, taking the opportunity of Jardine's desire to acquire Hong Kong Electric, it indirectly controls Hong Kong Electric.

"Being able to climb from an ordinary employee to the position of HSBC's top class must be extraordinary." Bao Fuda shook his head and said, "We need HSBC's funds, and it's normal to be countered, but as long as we pay off the loan in the future , that HK Electric is also ours."

"You think it's too simple, Shen Bi, would let the duck in his hand fly away so easily?" Niu Bijian sighed and said, "I'm afraid that after a long time of tossing, it's for HSBC to make a wedding dress."

"Then what should we do? You can't give up now, right?" Bao Fuda said with a frown.

"It's impossible to give up. As long as we get the ownership of HK Electric, we'll win. We'll talk about it later." Niu Bijian said that in the commercial society of Hong Kong, there are always laws to deceive each other. Legally, if you control Hongkong Electric, HSBC can at most poach a piece of meat from itself, and it is impossible to snatch it away.

Downstairs of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, inside a Rolls Royce.

Diess said: "Mr. Shen Bi, it seems that everything is going as you planned. Even if Niu Bijian knew there was a problem, he could only jump in. Connor had no choice at all."

"Niu Bijian delivered it to the door himself, which saves me a lot of convenience. Otherwise, as he said, if he wanted to find someone to stand up to Chen Zhiwen, he might not be able to find it in the whole of Hong Kong." Shen Bi shook his head and said.

"But our biggest opponent is Chen Zhiwen, and his growth is really too fast." Diess said with a frown, "A friend of mine in Japan told me that Midea Group launched a small game console called Game Boy. The entire Japan is sold out, I roughly understand that the sales volume of this product in Japan is almost 500,000 a month, and Midea, I estimate that the net profit is at least 100 Hong Kong dollars."

"Game boy? I've heard that it was very popular in Hong Kong last year. This thing is only in Japan. It can make a net profit of 50 million Hong Kong dollars a month?" Shen Bi said in shock. HSBC monopolizes most of the banks in Hong Kong. Benefits, you can't make so much money in a month, and this is only a Japanese market.

"Yes, it may be more than that. Many Japanese are willing to buy at high prices, and even a special scalper was born." Diess said: "But this thing can't be popular all the time. It was also sold in Hong Kong at the end of last year, but The follow-up soon became less popular, and maybe I bought everything that should be bought. I can only say that making money is very profitable, but it’s all quick money. Maybe after a few months, sales will drop sharply.”

"That's scary enough." Shen Bi thought for a while and said, "Chen Zhiwen must not be allowed to acquire Hong Kong Electric this time. In fact, this is what the Governor of Hong Kong meant, but Hong Kong needs to maintain the image of a free market. The rules of the offer have already been criticized by many people, no matter what happens this time, the Hong Kong government cannot intervene, and we can only step forward."

"That's right, if even 35% of the triggering bids can't stop the fate of being acquired, then the situation is really over." Diess nodded and said.

"How's the progress of Haifeng Bank in the United States recently?" Shen Bi asked again.

"It's not so good. I heard that a bank in the United States wants to buy Haifeng, but I can't find out which one. Haifeng probably wants to find a horse on a donkey." Diess said.

"Banks in the United States? Recently, the Federal Reserve has kept raising interest rates, and most of the American banks are in danger. They still want to buy Haifeng?" For me, it is the most important step in the internationalization of HSBC, and I must not miss it. Otherwise, I don’t know how long it will take to find the next suitable one. And you have seen it, the reason why Chen Zhiwen can change in a few years Such strength is because he is the first one in Hong Kong to go international."

"Understood. In a few days, I will go to the United States." Diess nodded and said.

The internationalization of HSBC has been full of twists and turns. As early as the early 1970s, it was preparing to acquire a British bank, but it was looked down upon by British local banks and blocked them, because for many British bankers, being acquired by a small bank in Hong Kong, It's a shame, even though HSBC's profits were among the highest in the UK at the time.

Then, after several years of searching, I finally found Haifeng Bank, the sixth largest bank in New York in the United States, but the same problem still exists. It is very difficult for a Hong Kong bank to acquire an American bank. And the Federal Reserve is very difficult to pass. Over the years, in order to be able to make the acquisition successfully, HSBC has spent a lot of energy and resources in it. It can also be said that after Shen Bi took over HSBC, the most important thing, there is no one.

The next day, Chen Zhiwen was tinkering with the latest Apple 3 computer, which was Apple's latest product. Before the release, he specially sent a batch to Chen Zhiwen. After multiple equity dilutions, he still owns 22% of Apple's stock and is currently Apple's largest shareholder.

Different from the previous history, Chen Zhiwen's investment in Apple has affected many places, the most basic is the capital level, the first investment plus multiple capital injections from later generations, as well as the channel resources of Costco and Wal-Mart. Apple's development is better, and its research and development level is also stronger, which also led to the release of the Apple 3 computer earlier than in the original history.

Some time ago, this computer held a grand press conference in San Francisco. Thousands of people participated, and there were hundreds of reporters from various places. Woz even went on stage in person, demonstrating the powerful functions of the Apple computer in front of the media. The event made the Apple 3 one of the most popular personal computers in America right now.

"Dong dong dong" there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Chen Zhiwen saw that it was Zhou Jiayang and Xu Jinhong.

"Chen Sheng." The two came in and greeted them.

"Here are a few computers sent from the United States. Each of you has one, use it. In two years, our group will start to learn from the United States and use personal computers to work." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

Although Jobs's publicity discourse is to let personal computers enter every household in the United States, this is a long-term slogan goal, but at the implementation level, it is obviously impossible now, no matter what kind of computer, it is now based on business needs.

That is to say, computers that were only used by universities, big technology companies, banks, and industry leaders in the past are gradually distributed to ordinary companies, and some industries that are commonly used to analyze and record data at home, such as warehouses, retail, etc., can start to use them. personal computer too.

American companies, especially those in Silicon Valley, are also slowly introducing computers to work, because this can indeed increase efficiency.

"Shouldn't this be for Mei?" Xu Jinhong said with a smile.

"They have theirs, you have yours, let's get acquainted first." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile: "This thing is quite expensive, the terminal price is 2,600 US dollars."

"$2,600? The technology industry is really huge profits." Zhou Jiayang was a little shocked. In fact, he probably knew the profits of several game products of Midea Company. The computer in front of him is just a box and a monitor, and it sells for $2,600. .

"It doesn't make huge profits, and it doesn't have the scale we have today. Although this is small, the cost of research and development is in tens of millions of dollars." Chen Zhiwen smiled. It is true that he did not rely on the electronics industry to start his own business, but he can grow bigger in the future. More than half of the credit is to rely on the arcade.

"That's right." Zhou Jiayang nodded and said, "Chen Sheng, the two of us are here because we have something to report to you. We have received news from Hong Kong Electric that Hong Kong Electric held a high-level meeting this morning. Discussing the private placement of Hongkong Land, and then making Hongkong Electric the majority shareholder of Hongkong Electric, once successful, our plan to acquire Hongkong Electric may come to naught.”

"They responded quite quickly. We bought Hutchison and Wharf successively. I guess these ghosts are no longer willing to sell HK Electric to us." Chen Zhiwen nodded.

The acquisition of Hong Kong Electric has never been a problem with the group of Hong Kong Electric itself. When the scale is large enough, it is very cool for the management to control the company, but once it is forcibly acquired by external capital, it will be powerless to resist, not only in Hong Kong. , This is the case for many companies in the world.

"Currently in Hong Kong, Jardine Matheson and HSBC are the only ones capable of opposing us. With the combination of these two companies and the Hong Kong government's revision of the acquisition offer trigger rules, once Hongkong Land really becomes the major shareholder of HK Electric through a private placement , we have no other choice but to trigger the acquisition offer at a high price." Xu Jinhong said with a frown.

"But the share of stock in our hands is not enough to exercise a veto power." Zhou Jiayang said.

"Such a large private placement, does not require the consent of all shareholders?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"Theoretically, it is necessary, but over the years, many companies have basically been decided by the board of directors. As long as there is no huge loss, the general shareholders' meeting will not pursue it, let alone a company like HK Electric, which is different from the peace and harmony of the year. Heji is the same, they are all a bunch of small shareholders, they can’t be twisted together at all, what to do is completely up to the board of directors, and Heji was on the verge of bankruptcy when it was losing money, and the shareholders’ meeting still can’t do anything to the management.” Zhou Jiayang said.

"It doesn't matter, as long as there are laws to follow, we are now major shareholders. As long as we publicly oppose HK Electric's private equity increase plan, we can use this reason to organize a general meeting of shareholders." Chen Zhiwen said.

"Yes, but we still need to find some shareholders of HK Electric, and ask them to support us at the general meeting of shareholders, or we can acquire their stocks." Zhou Jiayang analyzed.

"The general meeting of shareholders is generally announced ten days in advance. You have ten days. Finding another 7% shareholder should not be a problem. But to be on the safe side, we still focus on acquisitions. Don't worry." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

Conspiracies and tricks are meaningless in the face of absolute strength. As long as you acquire 33.4% of the shares, you can veto HK Electric's financing plan.

"It's not difficult to do it if you don't spare the cost, but in this way, once HK Electric's stock price is pushed up by us, we will lose the possibility of a full acquisition." Zhou Jiayang reminded.

"If you lose it, you lose it. Since Jardine Matheson and HSBC have intervened, it is impossible for us to acquire it without paying a little price. First, we will get a share of the veto power, and then I will let HSBC be responsible for the price." Chen Zhiwen said with a cold snort.