Chapter 650: Drinking Milk

Chapter 650: Drinking Milk

Chapter 650: Drinking Milk (2)

"Zhou Xinian? It's almost time." Yang Wendong was mentally prepared for this appointment;
After all, on the surface, the Changxing Group is now the largest Chinese-owned financial group in Hong Kong. Although it has no obligation to help other Chinese-owned companies, it is normal to be sought for help. Only the Changxing Group has the ability to repel the Jardine Matheson Group, which is at the peak of its power.

Fang Xianming said: "It seems that the stock swap by Hong Kong Land has impressed too many shareholders. The Dairy Farm has also repeatedly appealed to shareholders to remain calm in newspapers, but it is basically useless. The future described by Hong Kong Land is too rosy."

"I can only say that there are too many fools. Once they are fooled, they really believe it." Yang Wendong smiled;
In fact, most people who trade stocks think they are smart. But in fact, except for a few who are really confident, the others just think they are smart. Perhaps they also know that the stock market is a game for capital tycoons, but they always think they can make a fortune by following the tycoons, but they don’t know that they are the target of these tycoons.

More than 95% of the world's large companies seek to go public, essentially because of this group of people. Many companies even find that the stock market is more profitable than their core business. For example, General Electric, a giant in the technology field, took advantage of stock market fluctuations many times in one year and earned profits that exceeded its physical business.

Fang Xianming asked, "We have a verbal agreement with Henry Keswick. Do you want to see Zhou Xinian?"

"Go ahead. Not helping is one thing, not meeting is another." After Yang Wendong agreed, he said to his assistant, "Tell him that we will meet at the Four Seasons Hotel tonight. Ask him to keep a low profile and not be photographed by the media. If this meeting is discovered by the media, it will have a huge impact."

The market has actually been speculating whether someone among the Chinese investors would come forward to help the dairy company, and Yang Wendong is the most likely one. There were even reporters who came to interview him, but they were blocked by security guards.

"Yes." The assistant agreed and left.

Around 7: that evening, Yang Wendong and Zhou Xinian met in the presidential suite of the Four Seasons Hotel;

"Hello, Mr. Yang." Zhou Xinian said with a smile and shook hands.

Yang Wendong also shook hands and said, "Hello, Sir Zhou."

Although Zhou Xinian was not as rich as Yang Wendong in terms of financial resources, his life was indeed quite exciting. He had developed into almost the pinnacle of Hong Kong Chinese in both politics and business. He had very good relationships with many former governors, legislators, political figures, social celebrities, and many long-established Chinese families, and his status was also very high.
It was only in 1967 that he fled to Taiwan to avoid suspicion, which offended the Hong Kong government at the time. This was one of the reasons why the Jardine Matheson Group dared to take action against him.

After the two exchanged pleasantries for a while, Zhou Xinian said directly: "Mr. Yang should know the reason why I asked you out. I hope Mr. Yang can support the Dairy Farm Company and prevent it from being taken over by Jardine Matheson."

"I also know Sir Zhou's purpose." Yang Wendong also said directly: "The problem now is not the funds, but the fact that Hong Kong has adopted a stock-for-stock strategy. Could it be that I use the high-priced funds to give back to those shareholders who want to exchange their stocks for Hong Kong's stocks?

You should also know that although the offer from Hong Kong Land does not involve cash delivery, it is already very high based on the data. No matter who it is, it is impossible to acquire Dairy Farm’s shares at this price.”

The trick of Hong Kong Land was that it could acquire a large number of Dairy Farm shares without spending a penny, and even indirectly pushed up the "market value" of Dairy Farm to nearly HK$20 billion. It only needed to push up the price of its own company's shares, and even cash out part of it. It could make money and acquire Dairy Farm at the same time.

This kind of game can only be played once, because it will inevitably cheat countless shareholders in the future, making it impossible for any company to use this trick again in the future, but this trick is so unsolvable;
Not to mention that Yang Wendong has reached a tacit understanding with the Keswick family. Even if he hadn't, he would be powerless to save the Milk Company at this time, unless he really spared no expense. But that would not be cost-effective. Instead of investing hundreds of millions or even billions of funds, it would be better to take the opportunity to lay out the Jardine Matheson Group. If he successfully acquires Jardine Matheson Group in the future, he will also get the Milk Company today.

Zhou Xinian paused and asked again: "Is there really no other way?"

"From an economic point of view, there is no way to deal with this move by Hong Kong Land, unless another high-quality listed company does the same." Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "But Hong Kong Land has the highest market value in Hong Kong now. With the current housing prices, Hong Kong Land is also the company with the most potential. Other companies can't compare at all.
The companies under my control are not listed, and it is impossible for them to distribute shares.'

"What if we change our thinking and work together to develop the land of the Milk Company?" Zhou Xinian did not seem disappointed with Yang Wendong's reply, but changed his suggestion: "With Changxing Real Estate's operational capabilities and the land of the Milk Company, these lands will surely generate a lot of value if they are developed."

Yang Wendong said: "It is possible in theory, but I don't think it will work. It's too late. It's too late to develop it now.

Sir Zhou should be very clear about the group of stockholders. Most of them care about immediate benefits. If you tell them how much profit they will get in a few years or even ten years, and how much the stock price will double, even if it is true and even if they believe it, do you think they will wait?"

Those who have played in the A-share market in their previous lives basically understand this principle. Among ten thousand people, few will really hold the stocks of a certain company for a long time. They all want to buy low and sell high.

In this kind of acquisition war, everyone will only think about cashing out quickly, and no one will consider how many years will pass.

Zhou Xinian nodded and said, "I know this too, but this is the last chance, so I hope Mr. Yang can make this news public. With Mr. Yang's fame, perhaps he can attract enough shareholders." "I'm sorry, Sir Zhou, I can't help you with this matter." Yang Wendong refused directly, "If we had cooperated a long time ago, then the Land would have no chance at all, but now the situation has become like this, I'm afraid it's too late to save the situation;

If we start working with Dairy Farm now and Hong Kong Land succeeds in its subsequent acquisition, it will be a huge loss for me.”

"Mr. Yang, don't worry about this. Our cooperation agreement will not have many restrictions beyond finances." Zhou Xinian said quickly.

Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "It's not financial, but I don't fight a battle that I'm not sure of. Given Dairy Farm's current situation, the chances of my success are slim if I participate.

Sir Zhou, to put it bluntly, I think you should find a way to withdraw gracefully as soon as possible."

In fact, given the scale of Jardine Matheson, when he set his sights on Dairy Farm, the matter was basically settled, unless Yang Wendong, the prophet, intervened too early. But if he really bought a large number of shares too early or even became the largest shareholder, both the outside world and Zhou Xinian would think that Yang Wendong wanted to take over Dairy Farm, which would make him unpopular both inside and outside.

Now Swire has been at it for a long time and has acquired a considerable amount of shares. It is useless to look for anyone at this time.

After hearing what Yang Wendong said, Zhou Xinian said coldly: "Don't worry about it, Mr. Yang. I will never give up the milk company."

Yang Wendong also knew the character of Zhou Xinian, so he said, "Okay, I understand Sir Zhou. So, if you have any funding needs, I can ask Hang Seng Bank to give you some additional credit."

"Thank you." Zhou Xinian was silent for a while and finally said nothing more.

Soon, he said goodbye.

Fang Xianming said: "Zhou Xinian has had a smooth life and has reached the pinnacle of Chinese people. Now that he is old, he still has some stubborn thoughts and insists on controlling Dairy Farm International."

"Actually, this is his life goal. People always have to find something to do. Only when you have a goal will you feel that life has meaning." Yang Wendong sighed.

In fact, whether now or in the future, whether in Europe, America or mainland Asia, many wealthy people, even the relatively wealthy upper class, have already achieved financial freedom and will never be able to spend all their money in this lifetime;
However, few of these wealthy people really lie down and take a rest. Instead, they continue to struggle. That is because once people really have no goals, their lives will be confused and living will be boring, especially for middle-aged and elderly people. This is one of the reasons why many wealthy people continue to control their companies when they are older. Even if people have nothing to do or retire, their brains may degenerate prematurely.

Zhou Xinian had a very good development in politics in the first half of his life. Later, for some reasons, he entered the business world and everything went smoothly. Now he is almost 70 years old, but he is still managing a company, which is essentially the same.

Fang Xianming smiled and said, "That's right, successful businessmen are generally like this. For ordinary people like us, we can just take care of our grandchildren when we get old."

"It's also a good choice. It's enough to have something to look forward to." Yang Wendong laughed.

Hong Kong's acquisition of Dairy Farm is still going on, and both parties are still attacking each other, exposing each other's shortcomings, and praising themselves in the media;
Because Dairy Farm International now has a higher bank credit line, this makes the acquisition of Hong Kong Land more difficult than in the past;
However, what still could not be changed was the plight of the Dairy Company. According to the information Yang Wendong received, after being rejected by him, Zhou Xinian also approached more than a dozen other Hong Kong real estate companies, intending to cooperate in the development of the Dairy Company's land. These companies included Li Ka-shing, Li Shau-kee, Chen Zengxi, Zheng Yutong, Hu Ying-shek, Luo Ying-shek, etc., but none of them agreed to cooperate.

These people are all smart. They know that the dairy company has no chance, so they will naturally not make the choice to offend Jardine Matheson. Even if they are not afraid, there is no need to create conflict.

Finally, in May, a company finally stepped forward. It was a very low-key company called Huahan Real Estate. Its bosses were also the famous "stingy king" Wang Dehui and his wife in Hong Kong. This was the origin of the joke about giving out a mooncake during the Mid-Autumn Festival and dividing it into 8 parts to distribute to employees. This was even more outrageous than what happened to Shaw Yat-fu.

Huahan Industrial has always been relatively low-key. It is actually quite powerful among Chinese real estate companies. However, even if they participated, it did not cause any waves.
Finally, by mid-May, the Hong Kong Land Group successfully acquired 5% of Dairy Farm's shares, achieving its strategic goal. However, the share swap is still ongoing and will eventually reach 51%. Then, in accordance with Hong Kong's Listed Companies Act, Dairy Farm will be forced to delist and be fully privatized.

At this point, Hutchison Whampoa Milk, the most important merger and acquisition in the commercial history of Hong Kong, has come to a perfect end. Except for spending a lot of money to acquire the shares of the milk company in the early stage, Hutchison Whampoa basically did not spend a penny later and successfully acquired a property company that owned large tracts of land in Causeway Bay and Bo Fu Lam. In addition, although the profit was not very high, it was very stable and it could be regarded as a monopoly in the milk distribution business.

After the news was announced, Zhou Xinian immediately resigned as chairman of the company's board of directors and left.

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)