Return to 1958 and build a century-old giant

Chapter 916 Rio Tinto Directors and Jardine Matheson's Demands

Brad shook hands in return and said, "Hello, Mr. Yang."

"Please sit down, don't be shy," Yang Wendong said, while the waiter had already prepared coffee.

After exchanging pleasantries, they got down to business. Brad asked, "Mr. Yang, your company is acquiring a large number of Rio Tinto shares on the UK stock market. We at Rio Tinto welcome shareholders like Mr. Yang. However, such obvious actions have caused stock price fluctuations and affected the company's daily operations. Therefore, the company sent me here to communicate with you."

Yang Wendong took a sip of coffee and asked, "So what do you want to know?"

Brad asked, "How many shares do you need to acquire? That way, we can develop an appropriate internal authority for you based on your goals."

"About 20%, I need a board seat, how about that?" Yang Wendong said with a faint smile.

“20%.” Brad’s expression changed. “Mr. Yang, are you really going to invest that much?”

Yang Wendong countered, "What? Do you think I don't have enough funds? Or that I can't acquire enough shares?"

Brad quickly replied, "No, it's just that Rio Tinto has never had a major shareholder with such a large shareholding ratio in all these years."

“Then I’ll be the first,” Yang Wendong said nonchalantly. “But since you’re all here, let’s discuss this. Rather than me acquiring shares on the stock market, this money will only benefit other shareholders and investors in the end.”
"How about your board of directors directly issue me 10% of its shares? That way, my funds can go directly into the company account, which would be beneficial for Rio Tinto's future development, right?"

“Well,” Brad said tactfully, “Mr. Yang, the board of directors may not agree to this.”

“If you disagree, that’s fine too. I can just acquire it directly.” Yang Wendong said, “You should know that you can’t stop me. Rio Tinto has been listed for nearly a century, and its shares have long been dispersed. Anyone or any capital can do this as long as they have money.”

There are many advantages to being a listed company, and it can be very satisfying to fleece investors. Some listed companies may use financial means to earn profits that exceed those of their own business.
But once it goes public, you might become one of the "leeks" (victims), just like in nature, there are always stronger predators.
Rio Tinto, a giant corporation, is likely to be very safe. Historically, no one has ever targeted it. However, now that it has encountered Yang Wendong, who knows the future, and has ample funds and the existence of Christmas Creek, it is only natural to accept it without hesitation.
If it weren't for his political background, he would have wanted to acquire Rio Tinto.

“Okay, I’ll inform the UK side in a bit and then wait for their reply.” After thinking for a moment, Brad said, “If Mr. Yang becomes a director of Rio Tinto, I wonder if there are any other requirements.”

If Yang Wendong acquires 20% of the shares, he will obtain a seat on the board of directors by any means necessary. This is a right granted by the Listed Companies Law, and the board of directors and management cannot prevent it even if they disagree.

Yang Wendong said, "Don't worry, I won't interfere with Rio Tinto's normal operations. In fact, I can even help Rio Tinto develop in some financial fields. You should know whether I have the ability to do so."

“We are well aware of Mr. Yang’s capabilities,” Brad nodded and said.

Yang Wendong continued, "There's one more thing, which is the Christmas Creek iron ore mine. Since I'm already a major shareholder of Rio Tinto and Christmas Creek is mine, I hope we can reach a cooperation agreement as soon as possible."

The iron ore deposits at Christmas Creek are worth billions of dollars, but if they're not developed, they're just scrap metal. Only when these iron ore deposits are exported can they provide us with a continuous source of economic value, right?

Brad said, "Okay, I'll report this to the board as well."

The two parties had been discussing cooperation for a long time, but they were stuck on some issues and neither side was willing to compromise.
But now that Yang Wendong has invested heavily in Rio Tinto and stated that he will not interfere with Rio Tinto's other operations, the subconscious message is that Rio Tinto must make concessions on the Christmas Creek issue.

On the surface it was just polite talk, but in reality it was a kind of threat.

But there's nothing we can do; they have the power. The capital market has never been fair, as was the case with Rio Tinto before.

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "That's good. Also, I would like to ask if Rio Tinto is willing to sell its lithium and cobalt mines."

“Lithium and cobalt mines?” Brad paused, then asked, “You want to enter these two fields separately? Why? Lithium and cobalt have very limited uses.”

"This is my business choice, so tell me if it's okay or not?" Yang Wendong asked.

Brad replied, "I can't decide that right now, but the market for lithium and cobalt is small, and we can discuss it if the price is right."

“Alright, I will arrange for someone to go to England to negotiate with your company,” Yang Wendong nodded and said.
As a time traveler, he naturally knew the future value of lithium. After the 80s, laboratories in Japan developed commercial lithium batteries, which were then used in laptops, and lithium began to rise in popularity.

The value of lithium will gradually increase in areas such as ordinary mobile phones, batteries for various electronic products, smartphones, and future electric vehicles.
The value of cobalt ore is similar, because lithium batteries require cobalt metal;

In fact, as early as the 70s, Yang Wendong had thought about making lithium batteries. However, the money was a minor issue in this research, mainly because there was no one in Hong Kong. If he went to Europe and the United States to conduct research, he would only end up doing the work for others if the patents involving such huge national interests were developed in Europe and the United States.

So instead of going through all that trouble researching patents, it would be better to take advantage of knowing the future and stockpile some lithium and cobalt mines in advance. This way, the return on investment is high and the risk is low.
Of course, it's still a long way from the day when he'll see huge returns; Yang Wendong himself may be too old by then. But this can be considered a legacy left to his family.
In the future, Southeast University aims to build a fully electric society. According to Yang Wendong's understanding, no matter how electricity is generated, appropriate energy storage is required. Whether it is energy storage power stations or a large number of electric vehicles, lithium is indispensable.
Having reached the level of wealth the Yang family enjoys today, he no longer cares about short-term returns, but rather pursues investments that offer stable, long-term returns or have extremely high future value.

Brad said, "Then I'll report this to the British. Thank you for your hospitality."

"You're welcome," Yang Wendong nodded and said.
Just as Yang Wendong had expected, Rio Tinto ultimately agreed to his request and issued shares to him through a private placement.
Because Rio Tinto's board of directors had no choice at all. They themselves didn't even know who held Rio Tinto's shares. If Yang Wendong just wanted to acquire another 10%, as long as he had the money, it would be a piece of cake, and no one could stop him.

As for seeking help from the government, that's impossible. If Yang Wendong wanted to acquire Rio Tinto, the British government might intervene, but if it's just an investment and he's not pursuing management rights, the British government won't bother with such a thing. In this era, the world is pursuing the free flow of capital. If the British government interferes, it will be accused of interfering with the freedom of capital by the capital market.

Therefore, Rio Tinto had no choice but to cooperate. On the one hand, Rio Tinto itself could obtain additional funds, and on the other hand, its relationship with Yang Wendong would be better.
In early December 1982, Rio Tinto of the United Kingdom issued shares to Hong Kong's top tycoon Yang Wendong for £260 million. Combined with the shares he had previously acquired, Yang Wendong would hold 20% of Rio Tinto's shares and become one of Rio Tinto's executive directors.

At the same time, Rio Tinto also announced that it has acquired new development and production rights for the Christmas Creek iron ore mine, which will add at least 3000 million tons of iron ore production to the company's annual output in the future.

As a result, Rio Tinto's stock price surged;

Surprisingly, in Hong Kong, Hutchison Whampoa's share price also surged as a result, with rumors circulating that the Hutchison Whampoa Group would also participate in the development of the Christmas Creek iron ore mine.
"Who leaked this?" Yang Wendong asked after looking at the newspaper in the Kang Le Building.

Fang Xianming said, "I don't know. The rumor has been circulating for two days. The only thing we can find out is that it started at the stock exchange. There are a lot of people and rumors there, so even if the police get involved, they probably won't be able to find out anything."

"Forget it then, these kinds of rumors happen all the time." Yang Wendong didn't care and said, "But I do have plans to involve Hutchison Whampoa in this."

Fang Xianming said, "But Hutchison Whampoa doesn't have any shares in this iron mine. Are you suggesting that Changxing Mining transfer a portion of its assets to Hutchison Whampoa?"

“That won’t be necessary. It’s hard to set a price. If it’s too high, people will spread rumors that I’m taking the opportunity to annex the listed company’s assets. If it’s too low, I feel like I’m losing money.” Yang Wendong shook his head and said, “As long as Hutchison Whampoa gets involved, that’s fine. Changxing Mining’s foundation is too shallow, it doesn’t have many employees, and its management is not as good as Hutchison Whampoa’s.”

Hutchison Whampoa sent a group of foreigners and Chinese to Christmas Creek Iron Mine to learn from Rio Tinto's experience.
On the one hand, we will need these talents ourselves in the future; on the other hand, it can also help to prevent Rio Tinto from manipulating production processes.

Changxing Mining has been established for several years, but the resources invested in the early stages were all in finding mineral veins. It has no experience or even personnel for development.
Although Hutchison Whampoa also lacks experience in this area, it is still an established company with many employees who have extensive experience in collaborating with overseas groups and a significant number of British staff. Therefore, it would be suitable for them to collaborate with Rio Tinto in Australia.

“Okay, I will discuss it with Ma Shiming,” Fang Xianming replied.
Yang Wendong then asked, "Ma Shiming has been performing quite well lately, hasn't he?"

He had been in charge of Hutchison Whampoa for many years, and the first taipan had reached retirement age, so he began looking for a new successor last year.

As the largest listed company under his own umbrella, Yang Wendong was also quite concerned about this, so he personally looked at the headhunting firm's information and accidentally discovered Ma Shiming.

He knew that in the original history, after Li Ka-shing acquired Hutchison Whampoa, he chose Ma Sai-ming as the head of Hutchison Whampoa and managed Hutchison Whampoa to the level of a Fortune 500 company.

Prioritizing the use of historically successful individuals is Yang Wendong's first principle in personnel selection. After all, these people have at least succeeded in the past, so their abilities must be quite good. It is much safer than randomly choosing someone who did not succeed in the past.
Fang Xianming said, "So far, it's very good. Under his management, Hutchison Whampoa's business in all aspects is operating very well."

“Alright, let’s do it this way.” Yang Wendong nodded and said, “The Rio Tinto matter is now over. You can choose someone to be a director. They don’t need to interfere in Rio Tinto’s normal operations; they can just act as a messenger. I also need to understand Rio Tinto’s future progress.”

Even if he invests in companies like Rio Tinto, he won't interfere too much.
However, it is one's right to know some important things.

"Yes, Mr. Yang," Fang Xianming replied.
Another week passed, and on this day, Yang Wendong suddenly received an unexpected message;

"Niu Bijian wants to see me?" Yang Wendong asked the assistant who was delivering the message. "Did he say what it was about?"

The assistant replied, "No, but he said he has what you want."

“Okay, let’s arrange a meeting then,” Yang Wendong said, nodding.
Although Jardine Matheson Group is far smaller than Cheung Hing Group, it is still one of the top three conglomerates in Hong Kong, so Yang Wendong would naturally give it some face.

The next day, Yang Wendong met with Niu Bijian at the Four Seasons Hotel;

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Yang Wendong asked directly, "Mr. Niu Bijian, may I ask what brings you here today?"

“We would like to make a deal with Mr. Yang,” Niu Bijian said, pulling out a document. “I think Mr. Yang would be interested in this.”

"This is..." Yang Wendong looked at the document and said, "Rio Tinto's shares? Jardine Matheson also has shares in Rio Tinto, and 5% of them?"

Niu Bijian laughed and said, "Yes, these are Rio Tinto shares that my Jardine Matheson owned more than a hundred years ago. You should also know that Rio Tinto and Jardine Matheson were the same company more than a hundred years ago, and they only separated later. So I have always had Rio Tinto shares here."
I didn't know that at first, but after Yang Sheng became a director of Rio Tinto, I did some research and found out that these shares had been held for so long.

"So you're planning to sell it to me?" Yang Wendong retorted.
He did know that Jardine Matheson and Rio Tinto were indeed from the same company, namely the infamous East India Company in history.

Of course, it's not that they are the same thing, but rather that they were created by the same group of capital. After the rise of the British Empire, it also began to launder its money, so the East India Company disintegrated and became many new companies, such as Jardine Matheson and Rio Tinto.

Niu Bijian said, "Yes, I can sell it to you at the current market price."

Yang Wendong countered, "Why?"

Niu Bijian said, "Anyway, these stocks aren't of much value to me. Since Mr. Yang wants them, I'm happy to grant his wish. However, Mr. Yang has to agree to another condition."

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