Chapter 641: Insider Agreement

Dairy Farm International is nothing to Jardine Matheson, but Jardine Matheson is worried that other big investors will take the opportunity to get involved. Even if it succeeds in the end, Jardine Matheson will probably have to pay a higher price.

Among the many financial groups in Hong Kong, the British ones are easy to deal with, and most of the Chinese ones are not strong enough. The only exception is Yang Wendong. If he gets involved, it is hard to say whether Jardine Matheson can win in the end.

"Sir Zhou Xinian is also very influential in the Hong Kong government. Aren't you worried about this?" Yang Wendong asked back.

Behind business is ZZ. Even in a takeover war, in history, the reason why Chinese capital was able to take over British capital in the 80s was essentially because the mainland was rising internationally and Britain was declining. Even HSBC deliberately supported a lot of Chinese capital, which is why they were able to succeed one after another.

Although Zhou Xinian is a Chinese, he has a high reputation in Hong Kong. He has served as a member of the Executive Council, the Legislative Council, the Urban Council, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the University of Hong Kong, President of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, Chairman of the Hong Kong Red Cross, Member of the Municipal Health Bureau, Member of the Hong Kong Excise Department, Chairman of the Po Leung Kuk, Justice of the Peace, and Chairman of the Hong Kong Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. In 1960, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

The above is only part of it. Sir Zhou Xinian had a very high political status among the Chinese. Later, when he was older, he withdrew from the political arena, then began to participate in business, and eventually became the chairman of the board of directors of Dairy Farm International, but his former identity and relationship chain still exist.

Henry Keswick smiled and said, "Don't worry about this, Mr. Yang. I have already asked Governor MacLehose, and his reply is that the Hong Kong government does not care about the Sino-British business war in the market, whether it is British capital acquiring Chinese capital or Chinese capital acquiring British capital."

"Did Governor MacLehose really say that?" Yang Wendong was delighted. If that was the case, he would take action against Wharf Holdings, and then MacLehose would not be able to interfere openly.
In fact, in the past, MacLehose basically did not interfere with the mergers and acquisitions between Chinese and British companies. According to interviews with the outside world, his description to the outside world was similar to this, but no one knows what happened in reality. It may be because of the influence of the mainland that it was difficult to interfere.

At that time, the mainland and Britain had just established diplomatic relations, and the relationship was still quite sensitive. MacLehose had just become the governor, and his authority was not great enough. It was indeed unlikely that he would interfere with the actions of local big financial groups, which would be very offensive. Instead, it was the most appropriate choice for him to do nothing.

Henry Keswick nodded and said, "Yes, the Hong Kong government will not interfere, so I hope Mr. Yang will not interfere at that time. In return, I will definitely make some concessions in other future cooperation. Or if you have any needs now, we can discuss it."

"Not yet." Yang Wendong thought about it and shook his head.

His natural target is Wharf Holdings, but as Wharf Holdings is the flagship enterprise of one of the two wings of Jardine Matheson, if a takeover war really breaks out, it will definitely be a fight to the death.

Originally, he was planning to take advantage of the recent establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Britain and the arrival of Murray MacLehose in Hong Kong, but now Jardine Matheson suddenly wanted to prepare to take action against Dairy Farm International in advance, which would affect his plan.

Although he also values Dairy Farm International, its importance is still not as high as that of Wharf Holdings. And because both are Chinese companies, he cannot forcibly acquire Dairy Farm International. This is the tacit understanding of the Chinese community in Hong Kong. Even though he is now the largest shareholder of Hang Seng Bank and his shares are slightly more than those of the Ho family, he has never intended to seize management rights. Secondly, this is also good for him.

Most importantly, although Hong Kong Land successfully acquired Dairy Farm International in the past, it also caused great damage to its vitality and led to the dilution of a large number of its own group's stocks, thus paving the way for Chinese capital to target Hong Kong Land in the future;
For him, Hutchison Whampoa is a fatter sheep than Wharf Holdings, but it is difficult for him to take it over now. If he allows it to acquire Dairy Farm International, he will have the opportunity to obtain more Hutchison Whampoa shares. If he can acquire Hutchison Whampoa in the future, the entire real estate layout of Hong Kong will be almost complete, and Dairy Farm International will also be in his hands.

Henry Keswick did not think much about it. After all, this matter was very sudden, so he said, "Mr. Yang, this matter is very important. I hope to get your true promise. When I, Jardine Matheson, acquire Dairy Farm International, I hope your capital will not come forward to help Dairy Farm International."

"Mr. Keswick, this is a negotiation. Do you think I will make a commitment? If you want me to make a commitment, you have to give me some compensation, right?" Yang Wendong said with a faint smile.

The verbal promises made by top businessmen are usually kept once they are made. This is the principle of doing business.

But it is not a situation of interest, how can I make a promise casually? Even if Yang Wendong is not going to interfere in the affairs of Dairy Farm International and Jardine Matheson, there is no need to set a limit for himself. Henry Keswick frowned and said, "Then how about this? If I successfully acquire Dairy Farm International, I can give up a piece of land in the Causeway Bay area of Dairy Farm International. How about that? You can choose which piece, Mr. Yang, and send someone to find it yourself. We limit the area to 2 square feet. How about that? If you want a larger area, we can trade the other areas at the market price."

"Mr. Keswick is quite generous. Okay, I agree to this." Yang Wendong finally agreed. He just needed a step. Otherwise, if he agreed directly, he would seem stupid.

With the current land price in Causeway Bay, 2 square feet (2000 square meters) is worth more than 5.3 million Hong Kong dollars. Although this area seems small, in this era, most office buildings are small and do not require a large foundation. You know, even the land king, the Kang Le Building, is only 50 square feet, which can build a skyscraper of more than 2 floors. If the 20 square feet of land is suitable, it is no problem to build a building of more than floors.

Moreover, the importance of Causeway Bay is such that even if you have money, it will be difficult to buy a suitable property in the future. It is no exaggeration to say that every inch of land is worth a lot of money.
Although my future goal is to buy a property, I am still unsure about the time. It is better to consider the present instead of planning too far away.

Anyway, it is best for me not to get involved in this matter.

"Haha, okay, then I wish us a happy cooperation." Henry Keswick said with a laugh.

After leaving the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Yang Wendong and Fang Xianming returned to the headquarters office of Changxing Group;
"Now that Jardine Matheson is preparing to take action against Dairy Farm, we will temporarily suspend our actions against Wharf Holdings," said Yang Wendong.

To him in the past, Hutchison Whampoa was more important than Dairy Farm International. Even if Jardine Matheson did not take action against Dairy Farm International due to historical changes, it did not matter. He had already become a shareholder of Dairy Farm International anyway. Zhou Xinian did have a special status, but he was not young anymore. When he retired, he could acquire Dairy Farm International openly. This was actually similar to Hang Seng Bank.

However, if Jardine Matheson goes ahead with its move, Dairy Farm will become secondary. This is a good opportunity to make arrangements against Hutchison Whampoa in advance.

As for Wharf Holdings, since he was already a major shareholder, he could just wait until the Jardine Matheson Group had taken action against Dairy Farm before making his move.
Another point is that if the Hong Kong government had not interfered with Jardine Matheson's acquisition of Dairy Farm, it would have been difficult for them to intervene in his acquisition of Wharf Holdings, at least not openly. After all, he chose to take action at this time because of the current special international political environment.

Fang Xianming agreed, "I understand. Then I will suspend the acquisition of Wharf Holdings. Otherwise, if their stock price goes up again and Jardine Matheson discovers something unusual, it may affect the plan for Dairy Farm International."

"Well, good." Yang Wendong nodded. "Not only do we need to suspend the acquisition, we also need to sell some shares appropriately to suppress the stock price, so that those stock critics will find out that they are wrong, and the matter will be over. It just so happens that we can cash out a little bit, as the current stock price is still relatively high."

The operation of Wharf Holdings was actually very poor, so when other stock prices were high, its performance was very average, but Yang Wendong's capital had been acquiring, so it also pulled it up;

Now, we can make some money by cashing out at a high price. Of course, this amount of money is a small matter. The main purpose is to allow Jardine Matheson to acquire Dairy Farm International with peace of mind.

"Okay, I'll arrange it right away and push down the price of Hutchison Whampoa's stock." Fang Xianming replied.

Yang Wendong added: "By the way, how is Qi Dezun's acquisition of Hong Kong Electric going?"

PS: Ask for monthly ticket

(End of this chapter)

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