The Industrial Giant Reborn

July 28, sunny:

The air-conditioning of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has been turned on to the lowest level, but the mood of everyone inside is like a crater, and many people are already screaming with excitement.

It turned out that a few days ago, when the World Sugar King announced the acquisition of the Grand Hotel, he rented a place on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and bought the stock of the Grand Hotel in cash at HK$70 per share, which aroused the interest of a bunch of people, many of whom were anxious. to sell their own stocks.

However, that afternoon, the Kadoorie family did the same thing. They rented a place on the other side of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and bought it at 72 Hong Kong dollars per share.

However, the purchasing office of the Kadoorie family is very inefficient and the transactions are relatively slow, almost three times that of the next door. But for more money, many people are still willing to wait. Besides, there are more people waiting for sugar. Wang's new move, and because of this, stock trading slowed down even more.

Until this morning, the position of "Sugar King" was changed to another brand: "75 Hong Kong dollars a share, cash purchase, quick decision".

As soon as many stockholders saw this sign, they immediately ran over and threw the Kadoorie family aside.

Michael Kadoorie, who was hiding behind the scenes, saw everything in front of him, his face darkened again, and he said, "What the hell is Guo Henian doing? Is a big hotel group worth such a big price for him to buy?"

The younger brother Henry Katri said: "According to the information I checked with my friends in Southeast Asia, Guo Henian's financial resources may be far higher than ours. For him, there may not be too much financial pressure."

"This is not a question of financial pressure, but whether it is worth it. Although the scale of the big hotel is not small, it is not very dazzling among so many listed companies in Hong Kong. Only the Peninsula Hotel is relatively famous, and the others are not. What, this Guo Henian, I can understand that he wants to buy the big hotel by force, but he doesn’t hesitate to buy it at 75 Hong Kong dollars per share, which is far more than the value of the big hotel itself. With this money, it’s more cost-effective to buy other companies.” Michael Kadoorie said with a frown.

In fact, he has long known that his family's strength is far lower than that of Guo Henian. Guo Henian is the richest man in Malaysia, and his Kadoorie family is just one of the ten richest families in Hong Kong. Although Hong Kong's per capita wealth exceeds that of Malaysia, Malaysia But in a country with a large population, the wealth of the local richest man and the resources behind it are definitely not something the Kadoorie family can fight against.

The only advantage is that this acquisition battle took place in Hong Kong, and as long as the price is too high, the other party will feel that it is not worth it, and they will naturally give up. No one will do business at a loss.

"There are two explanations. I have also heard that Guo Henian wants to invest in Hong Kong, so he just wants to use this acquisition opportunity to achieve this goal. If this time it fails because of a problem, then on the Hong Kong side I am afraid that it will be difficult to succeed again. The acquisition of our listed company will cause the stock price to rise sharply, and the acquisition of other listed companies will also encounter the same problem. Therefore, for Guo Henian, this time must be successful. The second possibility is, It is Guo Henian's personal hobby, he may have taken a fancy to the Peninsula Hotel, so he is determined to acquire the big hotel group." Henri Jia reasoned.

"The two guesses you mentioned are both possible, but either one is very unfavorable to us." Michael Kadoorie said with a frown.

"Now that we have come to this point, we have no way out. We have 800 million Hong Kong dollars in cash in our hands. If it goes on like this, Guo Henian wants to win at least one billion yuan, and the stock price will rise sharply. No matter whether Guo Henian is There is no reason to bite us like this, but as long as we show an attitude of not giving up, when the cost is too high, he will definitely give up." Henry Jia said.

"It's okay for you to say that, but even if Guo Henian is repelled, our loss is as great as our family has not seen in decades." Mi Gaojia said with a frown.

"There is no way to do this. If we are attacked by a big consortium, we will not be able to escape unscathed, unless we admit defeat and sell the stock to the other party." Henry Jia said.

"This is impossible. The Peninsula Hotel is our family's heritage, and we must keep it no matter how high the price is." Michael Kadoorie said after taking a deep breath. The biggest wealth of the Grand Hotel is the Peninsula Hotel, which must be what Guo Henian fancy Otherwise, other properties under the big hotel group, such as Kowloon Hotel, Repulse Bay Shadow Park, Johnson Tower, etc., are all negotiable. If others really want to buy at a high price, Michael Kadoorie feels that the other party is regarded as God .

"Then we can only fight." Henry Jia said logically.

"Then we will increase the purchase price to 78. I want to see if Guo Henian will follow suit." Michael Kaori said.

"Okay, I'll do it now." Henry Kadoorie said as ordered.

"Kadoorie has increased the price to 80 Hong Kong dollars a share, hurry up, brothers!"

"Sugar King is 82!"

"Kadoorie is 84 here!"

In the constant price increase, many stockholders who have not sold their stocks are happy, while those who have already sold are stomping their feet angrily, hating themselves for selling too early.

Two days later, the purchase price of Sugar King was as high as 87 Hong Kong dollars, which was almost three times the stock price of the big hotel before the takeover war broke out. , How many stockholders have made a lot of money, it is much more interesting than Chen Zhiwen's few acquisitions.

Of course, in terms of stock gains, it is still far inferior to the stock of the milk company back then.

CLP Group Headquarters:

"Brother, what should we do now? This Guo Henian is simply crazy. He has been buying at this price, and more than half of the funds in our hands have been consumed. Do we want to continue?" Henri Jiali asked with an ugly face.

The one who looked uglier than him was Michael Kadori. He never thought that Guo Henian would be so crazy that he wanted to buy a big hotel at almost any cost. Do you know how many stocks Guo Henian owns?"

"I don't know, but at least a dozen percent has been acquired recently." Henry Jia said.

"More than ten percent! With the style of Chinese acquisitions, if you don't have certain stocks in your hands, you won't do it openly. That is to say, Guo Henian may already have almost 30% of the stocks in his hands, which is close to the trigger. The limit of the acquisition offer has been reached," Michael Kadoorie said.

"We now have 20% in our hands. In the current situation, it is impossible to quit even if we want to." Henry Jiazhi naturally understood what his elder brother meant. If it was before, the shares of both parties were not as large as they are now. If you sell the shares in your hand, the other party will be happy to take over, even at a high price.

But now, the two parties have each spent several hundred million yuan, making it cheaper for a bunch of shareholders or speculative institutions, and both parties have a lot of shares. It is impossible to take over the other party's shares, because once they take over, it will trigger an acquisition invitation. With the current Stock price, can't you play bankruptcy?

It's just that this is a deadlock. It is impossible for the Kadoorie family to give up their ancestral business without absolutely losing hope, but now when there seems to be no hope, they cannot let go.

"Since we can't withdraw, let's continue. Guo Henian's acquisition speed has also slowed down a lot. Obviously, the financial pressure is also very high. Everyone is just consuming it like this. Let's see who consumes more energy than whom." Mi Gaojia Reasonable frowned and said, in the acquisition cases in Hong Kong or other places, there are actually not many acquisitions that can be acquired in a short time, and most of them will take a long time, because the stock will be pulled to a high price, and everyone is not a fool, so slowly Wait for the opportunity, wait for a long time, and the stock price will fall, and then we will see who is stronger.

"That's okay. In fact, even if Guo Henian acquires 34.9%, he may not necessarily win. We still have a chance at the shareholders' meeting." Henry Jia said that the Hong Kong government's revision of the threshold for triggering a takeover offer is to protect them. In fact, in the past two years, Chen Zhiwen has put too much pressure on the British capital, and it has indirectly protected the Kadoorie family.

"That's right, we still have a lot of people at the general meeting of shareholders. Over the years, we haven't made any major mistakes. Shareholders may not necessarily support outsiders." Michael Kadori said.

"However, there are still problems in terms of funds. If we continue to purchase at this intensity, the cash in our hands may not last long. If we want to find an emergency loan from the bank, we will not be able to do it in a short time." Henry Jia said logically.

"There is still a lot of funds in the CLP account. If there is an emergency, I can use this fund." Michael Kadoorie said.

"Is there any risk in doing this?" Henry asked.

Mi Gao Jiali said: "Don't worry, I have the numbers, and it won't affect CLP."

"That's fine." Henry Jiali nodded and said.

On the other side, Guo Henian came to the Hilton Hotel, met Chen Zhiwen and Bao Yugang again, and said: "You two, I have already acquired 34.9% of the shares of the big hotel, and several shareholders have been persuaded by me. Do you need to announce it now? Hold a general meeting of shareholders?"

Bao Yugang said: "Guo Sheng, don't want it for now, I'm going to buy the stocks of the big hotel."

"Are you buying? It's useless, right? If you do this, once the Hong Kong government or the court finds out, it is very likely that we belong to the same acquisition team, which will trigger the acquisition offer instead?" Guo Henian said with a frown.

Whether it is the current 35% requirement or the previous 50% requirement, many people think there are loopholes in the acquisition offer. For example, if one party acquires 34.9% and the other party acquires 16%, isn’t that a success?

But in fact, this is not recognized by the court at all. Once it is sued, it will only be judged to belong to the same party, and then trigger a takeover offer. Unless one party has acquired the stock and publicly admitted that it will be owned for more than two years, then it is considered a normal shareholder, and if it cooperates with the acquirer, it may succeed, but the time cost is too high, and the company’s controlling shareholder is not Fool, the sudden addition of a large shareholder will only cause alarm.

"So I will contribute the funds, and you, Guo Sheng, will continue to buy. Now no one knows how many shares you have in your hands. Just pretend that it has not reached 34.9%. When it is announced in the future, the over-acquired shares will be treated as non-existent." .” Bao Yugang said with a smile.

"Understood, Bao Sheng wants to consume the funds in Kadoorie's hands first, right?" Guo Henian understood Bao Yugang's intention and said with a smile.