We're building a super chaebol in Hong Kong

The news of Newbigging's disheartened resignation swept through Hong Kong like a sudden storm, drawing widespread attention from all sectors of society.

No one had anticipated that this Jardine Matheson taipan, once on par with Sir Michael Sandberg of HSBC, would end his illustrious career so hastily and quietly.

Su Cheng remained silent on the matter, not revealing the reasons behind the scenes, and Newbigging himself remained tight-lipped under media scrutiny, disclosing no inside information.

Therefore, the real reason for Newbigging's resignation remained shrouded in mystery, becoming a major unsolved case in Hong Kong.

However, within the upper echelons of this bustling city, some powerful figures with keen insights into world affairs each harbored their own speculations and interpretations, adding to the event's mystery and complexity.

After being stripped of his position, Newbigging did not choose to return to England in dismay, but instead chose to stay in Hong Kong, awaiting an opportunity.

He placed all his hopes on those British shareholders, firmly believing that his current predicament was inextricably linked to them.

Before the final conclusion of the incident was settled, he vowed not to give up, determined to continue seeking a turnaround in Hong Kong.

Every sliver of possibility that could lead him back to Jardine Matheson was precious to him.

Years of leadership had established him in an unshakeable position within Jardine Matheson and the Hong Kong business community, accustomed to standing at the pinnacle of power and glory.

Therefore, he would never give up easily, but would seize every opportunity to try to make a comeback.

At the same time, Su Cheng decisively seized the opportunity to quickly promote Simon Keswick to take over the helm of Jardine Matheson Group.

Simon Keswick, a seasoned business leader in his forties, had already accumulated profound management wisdom and practical experience through years of dedicated work at Hongkong Electric Holdings.

Therefore, after officially becoming an executive director of Jardine Matheson, he was able to quickly integrate and take control of the overall situation, handling the daily operations and management of Jardine Matheson with ease, demonstrating extraordinary leadership and decision-making skills.

Inside a luxurious villa on Hong Kong's Plantation Road, Newbigging had rarely stepped out of his residence since his dismissal.

He remained behind closed doors, not to passively avoid the world, but to actively play the role of a mediator, frequently contacting various shareholders in an attempt to reverse the situation.

His illustrious career at Jardine Matheson had not only accumulated rich management experience for Newbigging, but also brought him considerable financial wealth.

Despite being a professional manager, he had already joined the ranks of billionaires due to his far-reaching influence over Jardine Matheson, Hongkong Land, and other enterprises.

However, fate is fickle, and Newbigging had not anticipated that from the moment he stepped down ahead of schedule, his position in the hearts of the Keswick family and even the British shareholders had quietly declined.

Even if British interests regained control of Jardine Matheson, it would be difficult for him to regain the glory of being the top leader.

After careful statistics, they were pleasantly surprised to find that, by combining their efforts, the total number of shares they held reached as high as 30.2%.

This figure is not only remarkable, but also means that the combined strength of their shares has surpassed the proportion of shares held by Su Cheng personally.

This discovery undoubtedly laid a solid foundation for them to regroup, regain momentum and strive for more say.

Regarding the shares controlled by Hongkong Land, they felt helpless, but also knew that the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission's stance tended towards British interests.

Therefore, they hoped to seek an opportunity to prohibit Hongkong Land from further increasing its holdings in Jardine Matheson Group with the support of the Securities and Futures Commission.

After completing contact with all the British shareholders of Jardine Matheson, they did not rush to take action, but adopted a more thorough strategy.

They turned to contact the British shareholders of Hongkong Land, intending to further consolidate their influence in Jardine Matheson Group through this step, and lay a more solid foundation for future counterattacks.

Jardine Matheson Group and Hongkong Land have long been integrated, and the connection between the two is close and natural, which laid a solid foundation for their collaboration.

After two months of careful planning and unremitting efforts, the Keswick family successfully persuaded the British shareholders of Hongkong Land to reach a consensus one by one through a series of attractive promises and profit sharing.

Today, the British shareholders of Jardine Matheson Group and Hongkong Land have closely united to jointly build a sharp line of attack.

Standing side by side, they have formed an indestructible front, targeting Su Cheng.

In the blink of an eye, time flowed to March of 1982.

Just as many shareholders of Jardine Matheson Group and Hongkong Land joined hands to jointly file a complaint with the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, Su Cheng also quietly laid an important chess piece.

He directly prompted Hongkong Land to sell a portion of its shares, and this mysterious buyer was Su Cheng himself.

This move seemed ordinary, but it was actually full of hidden meaning.

With the smooth completion of the transaction, Su Cheng's shares in Hongkong Land quietly climbed to 49.99%, precisely stopping before the 50% threshold, thereby avoiding triggering the mandatory requirement to privatize Jardine Matheson Group.

This strategy not only demonstrated Su Cheng's profound business acumen and precise operation, but also laid the groundwork for subsequent layouts and games.

Although Su Cheng had the strength to easily acquire Jardine Matheson, he did not intend to privatize this long-standing enterprise, because in his opinion, this was not a necessary move.

Similarly, he had no plans to privatize Hongkong Land either.

Su Cheng knew that excessive privatization of enterprises could become a heavy burden, even if he was currently financially abundant and did not need to worry about economic pressure.

However, the future is full of uncertainty, and things are unpredictable over the decades.

Therefore, he preferred to maintain the existing structure of the enterprise, flexibly responding to future changes and challenges.

Therefore, retaining the listed company status of Jardine Matheson Group and Hongkong Land was actually a wise decision for the Su family to reduce future risks.

On this basis, Su Cheng carefully planned another round of equity adjustments.

Su Cheng continued to transfer a portion of Hongkong Land's shares held by Jardine Matheson Group to himself, so that Su Cheng's shareholding ratio in Hongkong Land also accurately reached 49.99%.

This move not only enhanced Su Cheng's control over the two groups, but also made his equity structure in the two groups reach a delicate balance—both maintained at a 49.99% shareholding level.

This arrangement not only avoided triggering any potential mandatory acquisition or privatization clauses but also preserved greater strategic flexibility and operational leeway for the Su family in the future.

After completing this series of equity adjustments, Su Cheng did not rush to have Jardine Matheson and Hongkong Land announce this significant change to the public.

He understood that the timing of the announcement needed to be just right; this moment of silence was precisely to prepare for a more powerful counterattack later.

Through detailed intelligence gathering and analysis, Su Cheng already understood the movements of the British shareholders.

He was naturally very clear that these British shareholders would never easily give up control of Jardine Matheson; after all, they had been secretly preparing for nearly half a year to regain Jardine.

This persistence and determination filled Su Cheng with anticipation for the upcoming contest.

Of course, he didn't really care too much. As far as he was concerned, these British people shouldn't even think about taking advantage of him.

He watched the situation unfold, patiently waiting for the next move from the British shareholders.

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He wanted to know what strategies these former opponents would adopt to try to regain control of Jardine Matheson.

He also wanted to witness firsthand how they would use all their skills in this commercial game, trying to turn the tide.

As for Su Cheng himself, he had already made thorough preparations, waiting for the opportunity to give his opponents a fatal blow.

On March 15th, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) held a press conference where the chairman, Maisi Zhuang, solemnly read out an important statement.

The statement pointed out that when Mr. Su Cheng carried out the acquisition of Jardine Matheson and Hongkong Land, he did not consult the SFC in advance. This action was considered to have violated the basic principle of "ensuring fairness to all shareholders" in the Takeovers Code.

Therefore, the SFC formally requested that the shares held by Jardine Matheson and Hongkong Land in each other be sold and returned to the open market to maintain market fairness and transparency.

If the two parties failed to respond positively, the SFC would have to intervene and directly handle the internal disputes between them.

This letter of opinion was quickly delivered to Su Cheng's hands.

He flipped through it lightly, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth, thinking to himself: "Is that all?"

These British shareholders perhaps naively thought that, based solely on the sum of the shares in their hands exceeding Su Cheng's previous shareholding ratio, they could easily regain the helm of Jardine Matheson.

Or perhaps they fantasized that after the Jardine shares held by Hongkong Land returned to the secondary market, they could take the opportunity to acquire them in large quantities, thereby achieving a complete surpassing of Su Cheng.

However, they overlooked a crucial point—Su Cheng had already made arrangements in advance.

As early as February, he had quietly gained control of 49.99% of the shares of Jardine Matheson and Hongkong Land. These British people had no idea about this arrangement.

In the current situation where Su Cheng held near absolute control, his opinion undoubtedly carried significant weight.

Almost any major decision could be achieved under his leadership, without relying too much on the approval of other shareholders.

Therefore, Su Cheng only smiled indifferently at the wishful thinking of the British shareholders, already having a countermeasure in mind.

Soon after, Su Cheng personally convened a press conference to respond positively to the decision of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.

At the meeting, he showed a high degree of respect and cooperation, announcing that the Jardine Matheson shares held by Hongkong Land, and the Hongkong Land shares held by Jardine Matheson, would all be sold to the secondary market in accordance with market rules.

Immediately afterward, Su Cheng also unexpectedly announced two important transaction contracts: one was the formal agreement for Jardine Matheson to transfer some Hongkong Land shares to him, and the other was the agreement for Hongkong Land to transfer some Jardine Matheson shares to him as well.

These transactions not only demonstrated Su Cheng's deep-rooted control over the two major groups but also foreshadowed another important move in his strategic layout.

With the complete reorganization of the boards of directors of the two groups, the original British directors had all withdrawn from the historical stage, replaced by new directors who were completely trusted and personally selected by Su Cheng.

Therefore, the passage of these two transaction contracts was naturally also unanimously approved by the new board of directors, ensuring the legality and compliance of the transactions.

As for why it had not yet been made public, Su Cheng said with a smile that this was only to maintain market stability and the need for expectation management, and it would naturally be announced when the time was right.

After Su Cheng announced this news, there was an uproar everywhere in Hong Kong. Whether it was Niubi Jian or other British shareholders, they were all plunged into deep shock and confusion.

They had never expected that Su Cheng personally had quietly gained control of 49.99% of the shares of Jardine Matheson and Hongkong Land. This shocking fact completely shattered their original plans and fantasies.

Faced with such a situation, they couldn't help but feel helpless.

Even if all the shares held by Jardine Matheson and Hongkong Land in each other were returned to the secondary market, it would only add more liquidity to these two already financially strong groups, and it would be of almost no help to their goal of regaining control. The opponent already controlled 49.99% of the shares, so how could they compete?

Unless they acquired the other 50.01% of the shares, but that was simply impossible.

What's more, the stock prices of the two groups were currently at a high level, and wanting to acquire a large number of shares through the open market would undoubtedly require paying an extremely high price.

At this moment, the British shareholders deeply realized Su Cheng's unfathomable commercial wisdom and layout ability. They realized that, in this commercial contest, they might have been at a disadvantage from the very beginning.

Trying to regain control of Jardine Matheson now seemed to be nothing more than an unrealistic and naive fantasy.

With his outstanding business acumen and operational capabilities, Su Cheng had long turned his companies into stars in the capital market, and their stock prices had naturally been enthusiastically pushed to remarkable levels by the market.

The reason was that the companies controlled by Su Cheng were all leaders in their respective industries. They not only had outstanding performance and rich profits but also won the favor of the majority of shareholders with their generous dividend policies.

Taking Hong Kong Electric Holdings Limited as an example, although there were not many dividends paid in the past few years, the unprecedented dividend feast last year made many shareholders surprisingly discover that the amount of dividends they received far exceeded their initial shareholding cost.

This news was like a shot in the arm, instantly igniting the enthusiasm of the market. The stock price of Hong Kong Electric Holdings Limited soared, and its market value broke through the 30 billion Hong Kong dollar mark in one fell swoop, becoming a dazzling pearl in the Hong Kong stock market and a behemoth among listed companies.

Because of the precedent of Hong Kong Electric Holdings Limited, it was natural that the stocks of Jardine Matheson and Hongkong Land also rose sharply.

(End of chapter)