Chapter 684: The Beginning of the 9Longcang Acquisition War

Chapter 684: The Beginning of the 9Longcang Acquisition War

Chapter 684 The Beginning of the Wharf Acquisition War

Fang Xianming was a little surprised after hearing this, so he asked, "Mr. Yang, do you think the price of oil will go up?"

For oil field companies, their main source of revenue is oil. Only when oil prices rise can their stocks rise.

"Yes, that's right. I have some inside information." Yang Wendong did not explain. He did not need to explain, but he still briefly talked about it with his subordinates.

Fang Xianming didn't think much after hearing this and said, "Okay, that's no problem, but our funds overseas are limited. But now we have a lot in Hong Kong, mainly because we withdrew a lot of funds from the stock market before. What do you think?"

"Hong Kong funds?" Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "Don't touch Hong Kong funds for the time being. We should start with Wharf soon. When the Wharf matter is over, if there is extra funds, we can consider it."

In the 70s, there were no futures for oil. In an era when financial capital had not yet gone crazy, the core purpose of futures was still for goods with a life cycle, such as agricultural products.

It was the first oil crisis that caused global oil shortages, and similar situations could not be avoided again. As a result, oil futures were born. In 1978, NYMEX launched the No. 2 heating oil futures contract, which was the first oil futures contract. However, this was just a test, and the total market size was not very large.
It was not until 1983 that NYMEX launched the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures contract, which became one of the most important crude oil futures in the world.

That is to say, during the two previous oil crises, even though he knew the time, he thought his butterfly effect would not have any impact on them. However, without futures, what he could do was limited and he could only gain a little.
The acquisition of Wharf involves an important layout in Hong Kong, especially the Harbour City project which has already started construction, but the progress is very slow. Wharf is determined not to use loans and use its own funds to complete such a large project, which makes the entire project so slow that Yang Wendong is speechless.
It was obvious that they could just take out the loan and build the project quickly, then make money to repay the loan, but the Jardine Matheson Group refused to do so. I don’t know what they were thinking. They had no confidence in the future of Hong Kong, right? Hong Kong also acquired Dairy Farm International, saying they had confidence, but they refused to take out loans to expand.
This also meant that in the original history, when Pao Yue-kong robbed Hutchison Whampoa, Harbour City had not yet been fully built, and it took a total of ten years. If Yang Wendong was to operate such a project, it would take at most two or three years.

Of course, it is also because of Wharf Holdings’ strategy that it diluted its own shares in the past few years. Otherwise, Yang Wendong would not have been able to acquire nearly 30% of the shares without being noticed by the market. This is impossible under normal circumstances. This loophole will only occur when large-scale financing is carried out.

Fang Xianming said: "Okay, Mr. Yang, the shares of Wharf Holdings in our hands are close to 30%, and there are not many floating shares in the market. If we continue like this, Wharf Holdings' shares will inevitably rise against the trend.

According to the current situation, we either stop or we can only contact some shareholders of Wharf Holdings. Although we can use American capital to come forward, I don’t think we can hide it when the stock price in the market plus these factors are added together. ”

The reason why our group was able to acquire so many Wharf shares was that, in addition to Wharf's own repeated financing and share expansion, it also entrusted American capital to acquire them.

But no matter what you do, when the number of stocks on the market decreases on a large scale and becomes too large, it will definitely cause vigilance. After all, the invisible market has always existed, and prices will rise when supply exceeds demand.

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "The Hang Seng Index has also fallen below 800, which is equivalent to the level in 71. It's almost time to make a move, but Old Zheng hasn't completed the transaction yet. You can pause for a while and wait until the ship is sold."

The oil crisis and the future shipping crisis are coming, and the price of ships will plummet or even become negative, which means that owning a ship is a negative asset because there are fees for berthing, maintenance, cleaning, etc., and the price is still very expensive;
Now that Jardine Matheson wants to enter the shipping industry and even give up some of its Hong Kong properties, I have to satisfy them no matter what;

This group of British investors, who are so good at eating shit that they can't catch up with the hot ones, didn't join the real estate industry when it started to make money. They waited until they saw the Chinese investors making a lot of money and wanted to join the market. As a result, they encountered the real estate crisis. They still had a strong foundation and the crisis mainly targeted stocks. 75 years later, house prices were still soaring, which allowed British investors to make some money. However, compared with those Chinese real estate tycoons, they are far behind.
The same is true for the shipping market. In the early years, few Chinese investors in Hong Kong could engage in shipping because the capital required was too large. Before 67, Dong, Zhao, Bao, Cao and others were still far behind Wheelock and Swire.

But they seized the opportunities from 67 to 75 and successfully doubled the size of their fleets and assets. The other British companies remained stable until the Chinese shipping companies made crazy profits. It was not until the early 70s that they began to think about the end.
Originally, Jardine Matheson won the bid for the land of the Connaught Building. After it was built, it wanted to exchange the building with Pao Yu-kong for a 20-ton oil tanker. However, Pao Yu-kong did not agree. It may be a misjudgment before the oil crisis. This incident became the biggest regret of his life.

And now he naturally has to make this deal with Jardine Matheson. Once it is completed, he will be able to obtain high-quality properties in Hong Kong, and Jardine Matheson will be able to obtain oil tankers that will depreciate greatly in the future. Both parties will have a bright future!

On March 3, Yang Wendong called Zheng Zhijie and Zheng Yuhua and asked, "How are the negotiations for the oil tanker exchange building going?"

Zheng Zhijie said: "At present, we are ready to offer two 2-ton oil tankers. In addition to the Star House and Windsor House, Hong Kong Land is also ready to offer the Excelsior Hotel in Wan Chai District. They are not willing to offer other buildings, but only some street shops, residential land or warehouse locations in other places as transactions."

"There are only two tankers. Jardine Matheson doesn't want the other 2-ton and 5-ton tankers we have?" Yang Wendong asked with a smile. Zheng Yuhua replied, "Jardine Matheson only wants two 20-ton tankers. They already have smaller ones. The bigger the tanker, the higher the profit. I guess Keswick wants to trade with us because of this."

"Well, OK, it seems that Jardine Matheson does not want to put all its efforts into shipping." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Then we will sell the other tankers according to our plan. We will not participate in the tanker business in the future."

Oil tankers in the future were indeed profitable until the 80s, and even after the oil crisis, the profit margins were bound to drop significantly;
It would be better to sell them quickly while the price of oil tankers is high now. The funds obtained can be invested in real estate in Hong Kong or other Asian cities to make a lot of money, or you can focus on the container freight industry. In any case, it is definitely better than oil tankers.

Zheng Yuhua said, "I understand, Mr. Yang. Actually, in Hong Kong, both Dong Haoyun and Zhao Congyan are planning to buy it, but there are also overseas investors making offers, so I am still waiting to see which one has the highest price."

"Dong family? Okay, don't think too much about it, just go by the price." Yang Wendong said nonchalantly;

This is not a trap for other Chinese people, because in essence, it is these people who are optimistic about the future shipping market that lead to the future family crisis;
Even if they did not have Yang Wendong's ship, they would have purchased other ships, especially Dong Haoyun. In the original history, when Bao Yugang abandoned his boat and landed, he also acquired the fifth largest shipping company in the UK, and placed orders for several supertankers when Japanese shipyards had no orders, including the "Sea Giant", a super ship with a total displacement of more than 40 tons.

In fact, Tung Haoyun also knew that the shipping market was not doing well, but he believed that it was just a normal market fluctuation and that it would recover after two to three years of lows, so he had to take the opportunity to increase the scale, just like buying cheap land during the real estate crisis. However, he miscalculated. When the direction went wrong, the harder he worked and the more risks he took, the worse he would fall in the end.

Zheng Yuhua agreed: "Yes, Mr. Yang."

Yang Wendong continued, "Regarding the real estate transaction, we should reach an agreement with Jardine Matheson as soon as possible. They have already offered three buildings, plus some land and properties in good locations. We don't need all of them to be high-quality properties. Land in other towns is also acceptable as long as it is suitable."

"Okay, then I will renegotiate and finalize the agreement as soon as possible." Zheng Zhijie agreed.

In the following half month, Yang Wendong also followed this large-scale tanker-for-property project. Finally, on March 3, the two sides reached an agreement. The Jardine Matheson Group exchanged two tankers with a total tonnage of 18 tons with the Changxing Shipping Group in exchange for the Yidong Hotel, the Windsor House, the Star House, plus six street shops on Hong Kong Island, three warehouses in Tsim Sha Tsui, and a residential land in Yau Ma Tei.
When the news came out, the whole of Hong Kong was shocked. No one knew what impact this transaction would have on the current economic crisis in Hong Kong.
"Mr. Yang, it's a pleasure to work with you." Henry Keswick had a bright smile on his face. He was obviously very happy to have obtained two giant oil tankers that could "print money".

Yang Wendong also shook hands and said with a smile: "Me too, I hope to have more cooperation with the Jardine Group in the future."

Now that the Dahua tanker transaction is completed, he can now proceed with Wharf Holdings with confidence; he really has to thank Jardine Matheson itself, because their desire to acquire the Dairy Farm delayed his intention to acquire Wharf Holdings for nearly a year, which gave him the opportunity today.

The signing was closed and no media was invited. After the signing, both parties began legal procedures and transferred their respective transaction items. The transaction was not completed until half a month later.

At the same time, during this half month, the share price of Hutchison Whampoa began to show abnormal growth, and a large amount of funds were publicly acquired, which immediately attracted the attention of a large number of people.

"Is this a big financial group preparing to acquire Wharf Holdings?" A stock commentator said in disbelief after seeing the stock market trading data.

Someone nearby also confirmed, "Yes, it's true. And looking at the trading situation of Wharf Holdings' stocks, with such a small amount of capital entering the market, the increase is so large, which means there are not many stocks left on the market."

"Not much? Then who is the one buying it?" After the stock commentator finished speaking, a name immediately appeared in his mind. It seemed that apart from that person, other capitals would not dare to take action against Jardine Matheson?
On March 3, Changxing Financial Group issued an announcement that because it is optimistic about the future earnings of the Wharf Group, the company has recently acquired some shares on the stock market and is ready to run the company together with the board of directors to provide higher economic returns for Wharf shareholders.

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(End of this chapter)