After a few days of fermentation, public opinion in the United States slowly declined. After all, not many people would pay attention to a company that has nothing to do with them. Those who will be affected will continue to pay attention, but the number of these people is too small compared to the population of the United States, and the popularity will naturally decrease. Next, there may only be occasional new news about acquisitions, which may make it popular again. .
However, when the news spread to Hong Kong, public opinion exploded. First, Chen Zhiwen's influence in Hong Kong is too great, and the total population of Hong Kong is too small. There are too many people who rely on Chen Zhiwen for food, and there may be one-tenth of them directly or indirectly. Secondly, many wealthy and middle-class people in Hong Kong are immigrating and transferring assets, but there are still more people waiting and watching. If Hong Kong's richest man suddenly spends huge sums of money to acquire overseas companies at this time, he is suspected of transferring assets.
However, Chen Zhiwen did not come forward to explain this. Before Disney's acquisition, he did not bother to explain to the media that he could spend his money however he wanted, regardless of whether he had any purpose, and there was no need to explain to outsiders, otherwise, Will this group of people not be allowed to go to heaven in the future?
And because your behavior may cause Hong Kong's economy to get worse or more people to immigrate, it doesn't matter. Hong Kong's economy is generally unchanged and will skyrocket in the future. Let those who sway on both sides leave and stay. Maybe it will benefit more in the future and kill two birds with one stone.
Over in the United States, Morgan Stanley has sent an invitation letter, inviting Chen Zhiwen to the United States to discuss the specific details of the acquisition of Disney. After all, Disney has not yet clearly refused, so there is hope, and the acquiree will definitely have to negotiate with the acquirer. The meeting will discuss many issues, such as the most important employment issue, subsequent company development issues, management freedom issues, debt issues, capital investment and other issues.
Large-scale acquisitions involve too many things and require a long time to talk. These are naturally left to a professional team, but the specific goals still need to be determined by the boss Chen Zhiwen.
However, before leaving Hong Kong for the United States, Chen Zhiwen still made an appointment with a former friend - Mr. Shen Bi, the current executive of HSBC Bank.
The place where the two met was the Hilton Hotel that Chen Zhiwen had already acquired. Although it was ready to be demolished, the relevant procedures had not been completed, and some customers' orders had not yet been completed, so it was operated semi-normally and only accepted short-term users. .
The whole of Hong Kong basically knew that this Hilton Hotel was going to be demolished, but many people came to book a room, maybe because they knew they would have no chance in the future.
In the presidential suite, Chen Zhiwen met with the executive of HSBC Bank, whom he had not seen alone for a long time. Since the forced acquisition of Hong Kong Electric three years ago, and a slap in the face of HSBC, Pao Yugang subsequently acquired China Electronics, and HSBC There was no help as promised, and after that, HSBC acquired the US bank SITC that they had longed for, but they also paid a lot of money and wasted about two years.
The relationship between the two parties can't be said to have deteriorated. After all, no one begged the other, they just became indifferent. This time, Chen Zhiwen suddenly invited Shen Bi, which made him a little strange. Although the relationship may not be good, he still has to give face. , and besides, some things are gone in the past, and people still have to look to the future. If there are any big projects to cooperate with, that's okay.
In Hong Kong, business always comes first.
"Mr. Shen Bi, this is the high-grade Dahongpao tea that I bought specially from the UK. It is also the favorite variety of the British nobles!" Chen Zhiwen had already prepared the reception. After brewing the tea, he said with a smile.
"It's very fragrant and pure. I haven't tasted Dahongpao like this for a long time." Shen Bi sniffed it gently and nodded.
"Then you have to taste it. I still have 2 pounds of this kind of property here. When Mr. Shen Bi goes back, he can take it away." Chen Zhiwen said again.
"Sheng Chen is too polite." Shen Bi felt a little uncomfortable. You must know that when Chen Zhiwen started to grow up a few years ago, although he was still polite, he generally would not give gifts like this, so he asked: "I don't know about Chen Sheng's appointment?" I’m here, what advice do you have?”
"I don't have any advice, it's just a big cooperation." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile: "Mr. Shen Bi should know what I want to do in the United States, right?"
"Who in Hong Kong knows about Chen Sheng's acquisition of Disney? It's such a big deal. Although Disney has not been doing well in the past few years, it is still one of the giant companies in the United States. If it succeeds, Chen Sheng will be able to carry out the acquisition of Disney." It has entered the history of global business!" Shen Bi said with a smile.
HSBC has also wanted to internationalize in recent years, but the expansion or acquisition of overseas banks is naturally much more difficult. Chen Zhiwen was at the forefront of HSBC early, not only relying on electronic products and beverages to enter the European and American markets, It also used capital to invest in the retail industry in the United States, and its scale has reached a level that shocked Shen Bi. Now it wants to acquire Disney in the United States, which can be said to be unparalleled.
"With great fame comes more troubles. Recently, a lot of media are not very friendly to me." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
"They are just some small newspapers that attract attention. Do we need them to evaluate us when we do things?" Shen Bi said arrogantly: "Besides, Mr. Chen, your influence in the Hong Kong media is not small. Why do you care about them?"
"It doesn't matter, but there will always be some troubles, especially now that we are in a special period." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, "So I also hope that this deal can be completed as soon as possible. No matter how much the media hypes it, once the deal is done, everything will return to normal. And when the acquisition is completed, I will naturally deal with that group of media who deliberately set the pace!"
Although he controls TVB and directly or indirectly controls a large number of media through investing in shares or granting large advertising orders, there are always some that are beyond his control. These media usually do not interfere with each other, but this time, A few seem to like to hype various topics in order to gain greater sales, and they may even have special purposes.
Chen Zhiwen has already arranged for people to investigate. When the people behind it are caught, they will be dealt with seriously.
"Of course, offending Hong Kong's top financial groups should naturally be punished." Shen Bi also agreed. Although this matter has nothing to do with him, as the head of the most powerful financial group in Hong Kong, he is sometimes attacked by some tabloids. Fortunately, it is not too sharp, and in many cases it is left unsolved. If someone can scare the monkeys, then everyone's life may be more comfortable in the future. It's just that this matter seems to have nothing to do with where I am now, so I asked: "Then Mr. Chen invited me here because of Disney? What can I do in this area?"
"Funds!" Chen Zhiwen said: "I need a lot of funds, but I don't know if HSBC can accept this transaction."
"You want to get a loan from HSBC." Shen Bi thought for a moment and said, "Chen Sheng should have entrusted Morgan Stanley with the acquisition. In this case, shouldn't Morgan Stanley provide the loan funds?"
"Generally speaking, the loan can only be said to be a share of the investment bank participating in the transaction, but it does not mean that all of it must be his funds. Furthermore, large investment banks also need to avoid risks, and the amount may be close to 2 billion U.S. dollars at any time. They won’t pay for it all alone, and I’ve already agreed with them that I will handle part of the funds myself.” Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
"That makes sense, but how much funding does Chen Sheng need from HSBC?" Shen Bi suddenly became interested and asked.
Although the relationship with Chen Zhiwen is not very good, Chen Zhiwen's investment in Hong Kong has been shrinking in the past two years. Now it seems that he has long predicted that there will be problems in the real estate market, but no matter what the reason is, the shrinking of the front line has also led to the collapse of the relationship with Hong Kong. There is no conflict with local companies, and the same is true with HSBC.
Time will wash away all conflicts. In addition, in the past two or three years, Chen Zhiwen's industries have made rapid progress in the international market and have begun to gradually widen the gap with HSBC. Although HSBC also wants to improve itself through internationalization, it is obviously not as fast as superior.
The economic crisis in Hong Kong has also had an impact on HSBC. The most basic thing is that there have been a lot of bad debts. However, these problems are not major. HSBC has always done a good job in risk management. However, a large amount of deposits have flowed in but no loans have flowed out. This has a negative impact on the bank. It is a very troublesome problem.
And what Chen Zhiwen is asking for now just solves HSBC's current problems.
"5 billion Hong Kong dollars." Chen Zhiwen stretched out five fingers and said. The Hong Kong dollar crisis is coming soon, and this may be the last time that a large amount of funds can be reasonably mobilized on a large scale.
"5 billion!" Shen Bi was shocked. This is the largest one-to-one loan in the history of HSBC. Even if the total liabilities of companies such as Jardine Matheson, Wheelock, and Swire are higher than this figure, it is not a one-time event. . However, compared to the funds required to acquire Disney, it is not much. At the current exchange rate, the funds are less than US$1 billion.
"Yes, I think this money should not be a problem for HSBC. As for the collateral, it is not a problem. I will arrange properties under Hutchison Whampoa, Wharf, and Galaxy Real Estate to be used as collateral. How about that?" Chen Zhiwen said.
Hutchison Whampoa is already a special case in Hong Kong because its properties in Hong Kong have almost no liabilities. This is simply unbelievable among Hong Kong real estate peers. However, there is no way. Under the guidance of knowing the future direction of land prices, in the bull market, Hutchison Whampoa is completely Regardless of the future, they desperately developed the properties in their hands. Even if they reached the high-price plateau period, they just stopped acquiring new land. In addition to the investment in the gold market, Chen Zhiwen also gave part of it to Hutchison Whampoa, making Hutchison Whampoa even more powerful in Hong Kong.
Of course, this is only in Hong Kong. Hutchison Whampoa’s investments in Japan and the Mainland still have huge liabilities.
Galaxy Real Estate is a little behind Wharf, mainly because it was acquired late, but its debt ratio is also very low. During the period from 1980 to mid-82, real estate development basically solved its own debt problem.
The three companies still own a large number of high-quality properties in Hong Kong, including several Central buildings, several office properties in Tsim Sha Tsui, Admiralty, etc. Even if land prices have fallen now, the value of these prime commercial locations is not more than HK$5 billion.
"Okay, as long as the collateral is enough, the loan is definitely not a problem." Shen Bi nodded and said. He couldn't see any possible trap here. The collateral was enough, plus Chen Zhiwen had a hugely profitable company like Midea, and the loan from HSBC , there can be no risk.
(End of chapter)
