Chapter 747 Negotiations with Huang Gui

Chapter 747 Negotiations with Huang Gui

Chapter 747 Negotiations with Huang Gui

Fang Xianming agreed, "Okay, Mr. Yang, I will collect the information in this regard as quickly as possible."

"Yeah," Yang Wendong nodded, and the matter was left at that for now, so he started to look at the information in his hand;
With the capital investment and several acquisitions in recent years, Changxing Financial Company has become one of the top financial companies in Hong Kong and is also very large in scale. However, if it is a successful acquisition, such as Hutchison Whampoa, it will still be independent after completion. Other acquisition or investment projects of various subsidiaries will also be transferred to the corresponding companies after completion, and there will be compensation in terms of funds, which may be decided by the boss Yang Wendong.

1974 was the best time to buy stocks at the bottom. Changxing Financial Company had sufficient funds, so it was naturally very successful in this regard. It acquired some real estate companies in the Hong Kong stock market, from large to small. On average, the value of each company was not very high, and it would not attract the attention of the stock market or even these companies.

"I haven't heard of many of these, but there are indeed some properties and land." Yang Wendong looked at the information of each company and said with a smile: "Very good, let's keep these stocks for now, and when the time is right, we will consider selling them for cash."

The time for cashing out naturally had to wait until at least 81. Previously, he was still uncertain about the specific time of the 73 economic crisis, because it was a simple economic crisis, but the next wave was caused by external factors, and the time point was basically certain. He was confident that his butterfly effect could not change some major events;

By that time, except for the future real estate giants, the others can just sell off and cash out. From 75 to 81, real estate companies were basically able to make money. The difference was that many small and medium-sized companies were a little timid and their returns were not as good as those of the real estate five tigers, but their return rate was definitely not low.

As for the few that may not be able to operate well or even go bankrupt during this period, it doesn’t matter as it will not affect the overall situation.

"I understand. The real estate market will definitely be hot for a while." Fang Xianming said with a smile.

Although my boss is not very strong in some professional knowledge, he is really accurate in judging the timing of various economic crises, not only in Hong Kong, but also in the United States. He can predict it. He is simply a stock market god.

Yang Wendong looked at it for a while and then said, "We already own 25% of Hutchison Whampoa's shares. We have acquired so much in just a few months. There should be some feedback from the market, right?"

Fang Xianming said: "There are some rumors, but many people in the market are still not sure, because most of our stocks are acquired by some existing shareholders, and we have signed confidentiality agreements with them;
Although it is impossible to keep it absolutely confidential, there are rumors in the market that someone is buying Hutchison Whampoa shares on a large scale, but these shareholders dare not admit it publicly. In addition, I have entrusted TVB and Changxing Media to control public opinion, and most people still do not believe that someone will buy Hutchison Whampoa at this time. "

"Given Hutchison's current performance and debts, if I didn't have absolute confidence in Hong Kong's future, I wouldn't want to touch it," Yang Wendong said with a smile and shaking his head.

This statement is also true. Whether in the past or now, Hutchison Whampoa almost went bankrupt because of its huge debts.

In fact, this year, many investors are optimistic about the future of Hong Kong. After all, the better the relationship between the mainland and Europe and the United States, the more dependent it is on Hong Kong. However, Hutchison Whampoa's debt is too heavy. Even if a consortium is able to bear it, it is not necessary. After all, wouldn't it be safer to invest such a large amount of money in other risk-free real estate or financial businesses? The rate of return may not be lower than that of Hutchison Whampoa.

Fang Xianming said: "In fact, many investors are also interested in some of Hutchison's assets, such as a large number of properties, transportation, docks, trade, ports, and Hong Kong Electric shares, but these consortiums want to acquire these separately, rather than investing in the entire Hutchison. Qi Dezun has not been able to raise funds during this period."

"I remember that Hutchison doesn't have much money left. If there is really no other way, then Qi Dezun will have to really sell these high-quality properties." Yang Wendong also frowned;
Qi Dezun is a smart man and knows the value of some of Hutchison's assets. He will not sell them unless he has to. But if the company's capital chain is broken, then he will have to do it.
If some core businesses are really sold, then if I acquire Hutchison Whampoa in the future, I am afraid I will lose a small part of the assets for nothing;

If it were just some land, it would be fine. Hong Kong is so big that there will always be a chance to make it up. But if it was some special businesses, such as HK Electric stocks, ports, etc., then the loss would be huge.

Fang Xianming said: "It's not that easy. In fact, these assets have been mortgaged separately, and some of them have been mortgaged to multiple banks, including Hang Seng. Even if you want to sell them, you have to get approval from the bank, and we will get the news in advance.

Besides, a lot of money was mortgaged when the asset value was high in the early years. Although the market has recovered now, it is still far from what it was before the stock market crash. I am afraid that even if I sell it, it will not be enough to repay the loan. "

Since the end of last year, Hong Kong's stock and real estate markets have begun to recover, but it is still a long way to go before they can return to the prices of 72, especially the stock market, which has fallen by nearly 9% in the past two years. It will have to increase seven or eight times to return to its original state. It would be great if this increase could be achieved within three years.

"You're right." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "But we can't delay any longer. If we continue to buy stocks, we'll probably be exposed."

Unlike Wharf Holdings, Hutchison Whampoa's acquisitions required swiftness, but if the acquisitions were fast, no matter how hidden, they would most likely alert others.
After all, the listed companies themselves, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, countless shareholders, and some stock market commentators, most of these people may be unqualified, but there are definitely a few powerful ones.

Fang Xianming asked: "Then what should we do? Should we make a direct public acquisition? Given Hutchison's current situation, this may work, and the stock price may not be pulled up too high."

"No, once we make it public, Hutchison's current performance will no longer matter to shareholders. They will definitely go all out to buy Hutchison's shares." Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "Maybe it will be made public eventually, but it's better to be later."

Fang Xianming replied: "Okay, then I will continue to contact Hutchison's shareholders, but I will contact those who have relatively large shares. There are also some who have fewer shares but many people. If I contact these people, it will be difficult to guarantee that they will not tell others."

Those who can hold a relatively high proportion of Hutchison Whampoa shares are basically those with certain industries. When the Changxing Group comes to them, even if they are unwilling to sell their shares, they will agree to keep it secret for the time being after receiving some hush money. After all, there is no need to offend a top financial group in Hong Kong. At least most people think so.

But if you talk to too many small shareholders, it will be difficult to maintain absolute confidentiality when there are too many of them, and the mix of people, many of whom may be nouveau riche with no brains;

Yang Wendong said, "Let's not contact these people yet. I'd better make another appointment with Qi Dezun. After all, we have cooperated well over the years. It's better not to fall out with each other." Fang Xianming said, "Okay, then I'll make an appointment with Qi Dezun right away."

"Yeah." Yang Wendong nodded;
The next day, at the headquarters of the Connaught Building:

When Qi Dezun arrived, he did not exchange pleasantries, but asked first: "Mr. Yang, during this period, you were the one who bought Hutchison's shares from the shareholder group, right?"

"It seems that the confidentiality agreement cannot ensure absolute confidentiality." Yang Wendong smiled;
This matter may not be known to the public, but it is difficult to conceal it for business tycoons like Qi Dezun. They also have their own channels and deep network of relationships.

Qi Dezun added: "It seems that Mr. Yang is really ready to take action against me and Huang. This doesn't seem to be a good idea. Over the years, we have had a good cooperation."

"Qi Dezun, do you remember what the premise was when I first bought the shares and promised not to increase my holdings of Hutchison Whampoa shares?" Yang Wendong said, "No, it should have been called Hutchison at that time. You hadn't acquired Whampoa at that time."

After Qi Dezun heard this, his face changed. The original agreement between the two was that Hutchison would not suffer large-scale continuous losses. As long as this did not happen, Yang Wendong would not increase his holdings of Hutchison shares. He even basically stood on Qi Dezun's side in terms of voting.
In the following years, Yang Wendong did exactly that. In the voting on the board of directors, the representatives of Changxing basically did not interfere with Qi Dezun's actions, and also funded Hutchison Whampoa in many ways.

But the situation of Hutchison Whampoa has been very bad in the past two years, and Yang Wendong really has a reason at this time.

Yang Wendong went on to say: “If it was just a simple loss, I could accept it. After all, under the economic crisis, most companies in Hong Kong suffered losses, so I didn’t do anything in 73/74.
But now the economic crisis is over, other companies are gradually returning to normal, but Hutchison is getting worse and worse, the capital chain is about to break, and the debt crisis is so big that even I am a little scared. Tell me, as the boss, how are you going to explain to me, the major shareholder?"

Hutchison Whampoa's 20 billion debt, if he didn't know the future, he would be crazy to take over such a business;
HSBC was forced to do so in the past. First, Hutchison Whampoa was too large at the time. If it went bankrupt, the entire Hong Kong economy would be greatly impacted. The Hong Kong government had no choice but to let HSBC step in.

The second is that Hutchison's large debts were all borrowed from HSBC. If it went bankrupt, HSBC might not go bankrupt, but Shen Bi's career would inevitably end, even if the previous debts were not borrowed by him.
It is estimated that when Stephen Shen took over Hutchison Whampoa, he was considering holding on for a while and then paying off the HSBC debt. However, until Li Ka-shing acquired Hutchison Whampoa, Hutchison Whampoa was only barely operating. It was not until 1982, three years after Li Ka-shing's operation, that the company took off again, thanks to the booming Hong Kong real estate market.

Qi Dezun was speechless for a moment. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Mr. Yang, are you planning to acquire Hutchison Whampoa?"

Yang Wendong said: "Yes, but Hutchison will still be a listed company and will not consider privatization like Wharf Holdings."

Wharf Holdings is a pure rent collector, so privatization is not a big problem. However, Hutchison Whampoa is different. Its business is complicated. Even if it will be properly cleaned up in the future, its business types will inevitably be much more than Wharf Holdings.

Another point is that you cannot privatize a company after acquiring it. Once you do this for the second time, if you acquire a company for the third time in the future, the market may think that there will be another privatization, which will inevitably increase the difficulty of acquisition;

Therefore, privatization should be carried out selectively to create uncertainty and avoid causing trouble for oneself.

In addition, with so many of its own companies, some of them will need to be listed or introduce other shareholders. Hutchison Whampoa is a very suitable company because its existence is to facilitate the development of overseas infrastructure business in the future. After listing, it will not only carry part of the capital of Hong Kong as a whole, but also introduce other overseas shareholders in the future.

In industries like games and electronics, he will not share with outsiders unless he has to. However, for infrastructure and real estate companies like Hutchison Whampoa, if others can bring convenience to him, he will naturally give the other party some benefits to a certain extent. Only by giving back can he obtain higher profits.

Qi Dezun was silent for a while and said, "If that's the case, that's fine. I can cooperate with you, but the management rights of Hutchison must belong to me in the future. You also need to stay out of my management as you did before."

"Are you kidding? I spent hundreds of millions of dollars and took on nearly 20 billion in debt just so that you can continue to be in charge of Hutchison?" Yang Wendong laughed coldly.

These foreigners often think too highly of themselves. In the past, after Li Jiacheng controlled 40% of Hutchison Whampoa's shares, Hutchison Whampoa's boss Richard Xin also hoped that Li Jiacheng would not care about anything and that Hutchison Whampoa would just follow his requirements and that he would just be a dividend collector.
At that time, due to the control of Hutchison Whampoa by the British foreign management, Li Jiacheng had to give in, but he also continued to cultivate Chinese confidants to take over important positions in Hutchison Whampoa. The two sides fought for several years, and Li Jiacheng finally won and drove out Richard Xin and others.

Qi Dezun said, "Mr. Yang, I know you are rich, but to manage a company like Hutchison, money alone is not enough."

"Hutchison's management? Now that Hutchison has become like this, you still want to talk about your management?" Yang Wendong asked back, and then continued: "Qi Dezun, I will give you a condition. You can continue to be the head manager, but the future planning of Hutchison must be in my hands. You are responsible for executing my orders."

Although Qi Dezun turned Hutchison into what it is now, it was a strategic misjudgment. He is absolutely exceptional in management ability. Many people have failed, but it does not mean that they are incompetent. It is still okay for them to be a management team that does not care about strategy.

"Then I would rather He Huang go bankrupt." Qi Dezun replied coldly.

"Whether Hutchison will go bankrupt or not is not up to you." Seeing that the cards had been revealed, Yang Wendong said, "I will soon hold a shareholders' meeting as a major shareholder. We'll see then."

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(End of this chapter)