The acquisition of Qingzhou Yingni is just an episode. For such non-core companies, Chen Zhiwen does not pursue absolute privatization and 100% control. Besides, when the time comes in the future, the most core industries such as Midea and Red Bull will also It is necessary to appropriately introduce capable shareholders.
In early October, Hutchison Whampoa officially took control of Yingni, and the Kane family obtained a board seat. However, everyone knows that in the face of absolute control, a board seat has no meaning.
Subsequently, Yingzhou Yingni sold the old land in Hung Hom to Hutchison Whampoa Company at a market price of HK$15 million, and Yingzhou Yingni's cement business was also merged into Hutchison Infrastructure. Although the benefits were not great, at least Hutchison Infrastructure's cost of purchasing cement is much lower.
As for the operation of the cement factory, Hutchison Whampoa did not move anyone, and everything continued as usual. However, several British people inside took the initiative to leave, allowing a few capable Chinese to take the opportunity.
Unconsciously, within half a month, the acquisition of Qingzhou Yingni seemed to have become history, and no one paid attention to it anymore.
After Hutchison Whampoa acquired the land in Yingni, Qingzhou, it immediately started negotiations with the Hong Kong government to "convert the land from industry to commercial" at a normal price. As long as the request is not excessive, the Hong Kong government will usually agree, leaving the remaining The next thing is some details.
The entire market does not care much about how Hutchison Whampoa will deal with Yingni. However, there was a group of people who believed that after Hutchison Whampoa acquired Yingni, it would definitely carry out privatization operations, because this is Chen Zhiwen's consistent style, but this time It has obviously failed. After Hutchison Whampoa acquired the Hung Hom land of Yingzhou Yingni, it has stated that it will not privatize it again. In addition, Yingzhou Yingni seems to have only Sunset Industrial Cement Factory left, which has led to a sharp decline in the stock price. Few speculators suffered heavy losses.
However, this only affected a small group of people in the market. Half a month later, an earth-shattering event happened in Hong Kong shopping malls:
John Madden, chairman of Wheelock's board of directors, officially announced that he has invited Jardine Matheson and Land to propose a full acquisition of Wheelock, which is currently underperforming, by the end of October.
As soon as the news came out, it immediately caused a sensation throughout Hong Kong.
The four major foreign banks in Hong Kong used to be Jardine Matheson, Hutchison, Swire and Wheelock. Among them, Jardine Matheson was the strongest. Not only did it have a large amount of business overseas, but just one land was invincible. It was the core of Hong Kong. Central is full of real estate properties, which collect rents of hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars every year, surpassing the hard work of other companies for a year, and every building is a very high-quality asset.
The second is Swire, whose core businesses are Cathay Pacific, the airline that monopolizes Hong Kong, the Coca-Cola OEM business that controls Hong Kong and several nearby Asian countries, the port and ship maintenance business, and real estate consisting of a large number of high-quality properties. Companies, including airlines, are very large. However, the oil crisis in the past few years has been a fatal blow to the global aviation industry. Cathay Pacific also suffered a lot of losses. Fortunately, it has returned to normal in the past year. As for the beverage business, Although it looks ordinary, the advantage lies in its large volume and basically no losses. It is the highest quality business. In terms of real estate, just one Taikoo City is the envy of countless people.
Before the acquisition, Hutchison and Wheelock were at the same level. They were both big and big, but they didn't have any core businesses that they could excel in.
For example, Wheelock's shipping business is very good, but not as good as Pao Yukang and Dong Haoyun. Its real estate business is also good. It has two buildings in Central and a lot of land in other places. However, there is a certain gap compared with Land and even Swire Properties. In terms of retail department stores, it has the high-end brand Lane Crawford. Lane Crawford controls Dah Sun Department Store and Chung Hwa Department Store among the four major Chinese-owned department stores, and is involved in retail businesses such as antiques, jewelry, and cosmetics.
In fact, any one of them is quite large, but in the hands of a giant company like Wheelock, it seems too weak.
However, although Wheelock has many shortcomings, it is undeniable that its scale is very large. In the entire Hong Kong, there are at least 10,000 people working for Wheelock and the companies it controls.
If Jardine Matheson acquires Wheelock, it can reach a higher level in terms of scale and influence, and can even suppress Hong Kong's quasi-central bank HSBC.
Hong Kong, HSBC Headquarters:
Shen Bi frowned as he looked at the sudden news and didn't say anything for a while. Diss next to him was also silent, thinking about the changes and what HSBC could do.
"What do you think?" Shen Bi broke the silence and asked.
"We must not let Jardine Matheson acquire Wheelock. Even now Jardine Matheson often confronts us on the board of directors. If Jardine Matheson acquires Wheelock, then Newbill will not be able to ride on our head?" Dis thought. After thinking about it, he said.
Although HSBC is large, larger than Jardine Matheson + Land + Wharf, HSBC is also a listed company. Although the Hong Kong government has imposed legal restrictions on HSBC’s shareholders for protection, HSBC also has a large number of directors. He Group is also a director of HSBC.
Although in Western business models, management has a higher say, on the board of directors, it is always unpleasant for anyone to be opposed by one of the directors.
"But how to stop this? To force debt? Although both Jardine Matheson and Wheelock owe HSBC loans, with Jardine Matheson's network, they can find other banks to transfer the debt. If we force too much, it will only be self-defeating." Shen Bi frowned and said.
Although HSBC is powerful, Jardine Matheson's loan business also accounts for a large share of HSBC's revenue. In addition, the other party is also a director of HSBC, so the quarrel is too tense and it is not good for them.
"It is not suitable for us to come forward in person. This does not comply with the rules set by the Hong Kong government for us." Dis said: "The only way is to find other people to come forward, such as Chen Zhiwen."
"Chen Zhiwen? Do you want him to come forward to acquire Wheelock? This is even worse. Although his asset scale is not as large as Jardine, his potential is too great. If we acquire Wheelock again, we may cultivate a A bigger opponent than Yihe." Shen Bi shook his head quickly and said.
If there was regret medicine, Shen Bi would have taken it long ago. HSBC should not have helped Chen Zhiwen in his early stages. But at this point, nothing can be changed. However, Chen Zhiwen must not be allowed to acquire another large British-owned company. .
"Instead of letting Chen Zhiwen acquire Wheelock, we will provide him with more resources, but the premise is that he can confront Jardine in other places, rob Jardine of other resources, or consume Jardine's funds." Dis said.
"You mean their supermarket competition?" Shen Bi said after thinking about it.
"This is one of them, but this supermarket business alone will make Yihe a little uncomfortable at most, but it will not damage the foundation of Yihe. As for where to start, we have to discuss it with Chen Zhiwen. We also need to consider It’s Chen Zhiwen’s choice,” Dis replied.
"If Chen Zhiwen wants to confront Yihe in such a short period of time, Chen Zhiwen will not agree without paying a certain price, and if he can acquire Wheelock, Yihe will not give up at will." Shen Bi said.
"Another way is to guide overseas giants to participate. As long as there is competition, Wheelock's board of directors will naturally choose the one with a higher price. We all know that Jardine's current economic situation is not good. As long as the competition is fierce, we will If the loan is slightly stuck, Jardine may give up." Diess said.
"That's all we can do, let's take action from both sides. In this way, you go meet with Chen Zhiwen and see what he wants, and then how to take action. I will be responsible for the situation overseas." Shen Bi thought for a while. He said that as a quasi-central bank, HSBC cannot acquire companies without problems for no reason. If it cannot take action, it can only indirectly rely on other companies.
PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of chapter)