Chapter 737 Goodbye Iron Lady Thatcher

Chapter 737 Goodbye Iron Lady Thatcher

Chapter 737 Goodbye Iron Lady Thatcher
In this world, the most perfect acquisition is always a friendly acquisition, which means reaching an agreement with the other party’s major shareholder, board of directors or management, and completing it without any conflict;

As for other mergers and acquisitions, no matter how legendary their stories and processes are in business history, they are essentially the most intense confrontations at the capital level. Even if they win in the end, they will inevitably pay a higher price than a "friendly acquisition."

Although in history, Hutchison was forcibly taken over by HSBC at the shareholders' meeting, history has changed so much in this life that Yang Wendong is not sure whether it will remain the same. He also cannot say for sure whether HSBC will come forward to fight for it. If so, it will become a confrontation between the two consortiums. Even if he is not afraid of HSBC now, there is no need for him to make such a fuss.

Qi Dezun snorted coldly and said, "If that's the case, then forget it. Mr. Yang, I'm sorry for disturbing you today. Goodbye."

After saying that, Qi Dezun left without looking back. His decisive behavior made Yang Wendong a little stunned.

Fang Xianming, who had been silent behind him, said, "Mr. Yang, it seems that Qi Dezun hasn't given up yet."

"I guess for him, I think he would rather have Hutchison go bankrupt than give up the management rights." Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "It's a pity. If we can reach an agreement today, many things will be much more convenient for us in the future."

As long as Hutchison becomes their own, they basically don't need to do anything, just inject capital, and then appropriately cut some useless businesses, and then wait for the real estate market to recover. As long as the land price returns to the balance point of Hutchison's profit and loss or the value of the collateral, everything will be normal;
For others, it is unknown what the future will be like, but for Yang Wendong, it is too simple.

Fang Xianming said: "Then I will continue to purchase Hutchison shares on the stock market. As long as we have enough shares, we can also initiate a shareholders' meeting to remove Qi Dezun."

"Well, this seems to be the simplest way." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "However, Hutchison is now suffering from heavy losses. We don't need to seize power directly. We can just force him to resign during the shareholders' meeting, and then we can take over.

Otherwise, if the market judges that I want to acquire Hutchison Whampoa, it will repeat the operation of Wharf Holdings, and the share price will rise sharply. Qi Dezun may even use this opportunity to turn the tables, and then we will lose more than we gain.”

The essence of stock price is confidence. Once Yang Wendong tells the market that he wants to acquire Hutchison Whampoa, Hutchison Whampoa's stock will immediately become a hot commodity, which is not in the interests of Yang Wendong.

Fang Xianming nodded and said, "That's a good idea. We can first make Hutchison's performance worse and worse, and continue to lower the stock price through the media. This way, our acquisition cost will be low, and we can eventually force other shareholders to join forces and remove Qi Dezun."

"Haha, smart." Yang Wendong smiled.

Fang Xianming continued: "I can ask Changxing Media to cooperate with TVB to suppress Hutchison Whampoa's share price through publicity.
In addition, we should also try to get involved in some of Hutchison's existing real estate businesses, especially since their suppliers must be heavily in debt, and we should try to force them to cause trouble or stop working;
This will make Hutchison's normal business unable to operate and its capital chain will be even tighter."

After listening to this, Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Okay, go ahead."

The business world is like a battlefield. As long as it is not against the law, you should beat your enemies to death.
As for the details, there are naturally subordinates to handle them. Hong Kong is a small city, but there have been so many well-known acquisition battles and business wars in history. There are more tricks involved than what is written in the book.

The history books describe it in four words: "struggle to be emperor", and the business wars describe it in four words: "use any means necessary";
Half a month later, Yang Wendong received a piece of news that surprised him: "Did Qi Dezun actually convince the Swiss Bank to lend him money?"

Fang Xianming nodded and said, "Yes, it is said that the amount is around 2 million Hong Kong dollars. This amount of money is not enough to solve Hutchison's current problems, but it can still ease the situation for a while.

Seeing that Qi Dezun had successfully borrowed money again, the market's trust seemed to have recovered, and many other banks and even shareholders were in a wait-and-see state again. "

"I have to say, Qi Dezun is really capable." Yang Wendong couldn't help but sigh: "I don't know how he managed to succeed in this situation."

For a wealthy man who started from scratch and relied on the traditional business model, he is obviously very capable, even far more capable than Yang Wendong, the prophet;
There is not much description of Qi Dezun in the history of Hong Kong business history, but another person, Chen Songqing, gave a clearer account. He was also like Qi Dezun, using similar means to borrow money from banks on a large scale, from Hong Kong to Southeast Asia, from Europe to Japan, and he borrowed from all the banks.

Even during his final investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption, he successfully persuaded HSBC to lend him more than 100 million yuan. Even Shen Bi was fooled.

Fang Xianming said: “I don’t think it’s necessarily a legal method. In fact, this is also the norm. Many banks are not controlled by shareholders, but by management;
Some of these managers may do something to harm the bank for their own benefit. After all, everything is legal, and even if they lose their jobs if they are found out, it may be worth it. "

"This situation does exist, but it's not easy." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Since Qi Dezun has borrowed the money, he can probably hold on for a while longer. Our plan can only be delayed."

It is indeed difficult for a giant like Hutchison to completely collapse. Fang Xianming said: "Yes, but I have already arranged things here. Many of Hutchison's suppliers have begun to refuse to supply, and some of their partners have gradually controlled funds. This is fatal to Hutchison;
Unless the entire real estate market strengthens rapidly, even if Hutchison borrows a few hundred million from other banks, it will not last long. These banks’ short-term loans will inevitably have extremely high interest rates, which is completely a poison to quench thirst.”

"Well, then we will continue with other actions. We will suppress Hutchison's operations and continue to acquire its shares." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "When their funds are exhausted, we will take down Hutchison in one fell swoop."

Fang Xianming agreed, "Okay, Mr. Yang."

The value of Hutchison Whampoa's stock is not high, but no matter how low it is, it will take some time to acquire a certain number of shares. Although I also hope to turn the tables at the shareholders' meeting, no matter what, the more stocks I hold, the better. Whether it is the success rate of the final acquisition or the early investment return rate, the effect will be better.

Time soon came to November, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index also broke through 11 points. The stock market began to rise gradually, and the transaction volume of the real estate market also began to rise gradually. Everything was moving in the right direction;

However, something big also happened in the financial market.

The Hong Kong government officially announced that the Hong Kong dollar will be decoupled from the British pound and the US dollar and will be freely floated.

Both the British pound and the US dollar experienced severe currency fluctuations after the oil crisis. Coupled with the interest rate hikes after inflation, the Hong Kong dollar suffered huge imported inflation and exchange rate risks. Therefore, after comprehensive consideration, the Hong Kong dollar officially became an independent currency that can be freely exchanged with foreign currencies.
This will also enhance the market's ability to bear the Hong Kong dollar exchange rate, and prepare Hong Kong for its future as an Asian financial city;

Also because of the strength of Hong Kong's economy, there have been no major fluctuations after the exchange rate became freely convertible.

However, Hong Kong, which was originally one of the cash machines of the British Empire, also suffered a lot of losses to Britain after the exchange rate was liberalized. This incident was also reported by Hong Kong's English newspapers. After all, many British people in Hong Kong still care about the situation in the UK.
Yang Wendong would have his assistant screen news from various newspapers every day. He had heard about these news reports, but he did not care. Britain's decline was a long-term inevitable process, and the oil crisis had only accelerated it. Without sufficient military and colonial support, the economies and high welfare of not only Britain, but also the rest of Europe and the United States would be nothing but a joke.

However, at the end of the month, an uninvited guest was about to come to Hong Kong, which caught Yang Wendong off guard.

"Thatcher is coming to Hong Kong?" Yang Wendong was very surprised after hearing the report from his assistant Aying.

Ah Ying said: "Yes, I just received a call from the UK. Thatcher is going to visit many countries and regions in Asia, including India, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Myanmar and Hong Kong."

"They were all former British colonies? It seems Thatcher's goal is also for the economy." Yang Wendong understood a little.

The reason why the British Empire was so strong in the past was because its powerful navy conquered enough colonies, and these colonies brought huge profits to the British mainland;

After World War II, the United States promoted liberalization, the world began to oppose colonialism, and Britain's strength declined, so it was natural that it could not maintain its colonies. However, the influence of long-term cooperation, cultural invasion, etc. still existed. In addition, compared with countries like Japan, the British colonial era was relatively "mild", which led to the fact that even today, the conflicts between the two sides are not serious, and many people even miss the British era.

"It is very likely that even Hong Kong will be freed from the pound sterling. Other countries will certainly not cooperate with the UK unfairly as before for their own interests," Assistant Aying analyzed.

"Yes." Yang Wendong nodded;
Britain gradually allowed each colony to become independent. It did not completely abandon them, but gave up management rights on the surface. However, it still exercised strong control over the economy. The model was similar to that of Hong Kong.
However, the local government or wealthy people will naturally not agree to such things over time. Even if it is not convenient to do it too radically in public, it will be like Hong Kong, where local financial groups seize the interests of British financial groups, and even have greater advantages in other countries, because the local governments are also behind these financial groups;
Over time, British interests have been eliminated one by one, and the benefits that can be returned to the UK will naturally become less and less. This is naturally a very important and urgent matter for the UK, which has a poor economy and is in urgent need of overseas markets.

It was normal for Thatcher, now a rising star in the British officialdom, to come to Asia to deal with these matters.

Ah Ying continued, "Thatcher should arrive in Hong Kong around December 12th. In addition to meeting with the Governor of Hong Kong and the British financial group, she also hopes to meet with you alone."

"Okay, let's meet." Yang Wendong agreed;
If it were any other British official, he might not necessarily give this face, but Thatcher was the future British Prime Minister. Even if Britain declined in the future, a lean camel is bigger than a horse, and his own group would still need to rely on Britain to a certain extent in the future.

Ah Ying agreed: "Okay, I will communicate with Thatcher's team again."

On December 12, Yang Wendong met the future British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, in a conference room at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong.

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