In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 166 Acquisition Target, Buying a Building
Lin Haoran continued to look at the document in his hand.

The data in the materials are as of the closing of the stock market on the previous day.

"In other words, I now even have the ability to buy Jardine Matheson?" Lin Haoran's eyes lit up.

But after thinking about it, he shook his head.

Jardine Matheson is the lifeblood of the British financial group in Hong Kong, and there is a high probability that he will not be able to successfully acquire it.

Now Lin Haoran is just rich, but he doesn’t have much influence.

The British financial groups behind Jardine Matheson are very united. It is very difficult to secretly acquire Jardine Matheson. It is not possible to seize the controlling stake of Jardine Matheson just by having money.

Moreover, Jardine Matheson & Co. holds a relatively special position among these British financial groups and was once even called the "King of Foreign Firms".

On the contrary, the Hong Kong Property Group is just a real estate company controlled by Jardine Matheson, just like the Wharf Holdings that was just snatched away by Bao Yugang.

If Bao Yugang was able to acquire Wharf Holdings, then Lin Haoran could naturally acquire the Hong Kong Land Development.

Moreover, Jardine Matheson and its subsidiary Jardine Securities actually only hold about 20% of the shares of Hutchison Whampoa. Perhaps he can start with the Hutchison Whampoa Group first.

Although the market value of the Hong Kong Land Group is very high, as long as Lin Haoran controls 30% of the shares of the Hong Kong Land Group, there is a high probability that he can directly seize the controlling rights of the Hong Kong Land Group.

Given the current market value of the Hong Kong Land Group, 30% is just over HK$20 billion.

The most important thing is that in Lin Haoran's view, the Hong Kong Land Group is more valuable than Jardine Matheson. He can take Jardine Matheson or not, but he will definitely find a way to take over the Hong Kong Land Group.

The Landmark in Central, including the Connaught Building, Alexandra House, Prince's Building, Gloucester Building, etc., almost most of the important commercial properties in Central are owned by the Landmark.

In addition to Central, the Hong Kong Land Group is also continuously developing in Hong Kong's most prosperous commercial areas such as Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui and Wan Chai, and owns numerous commercial properties, hotels and other businesses.

Just like the tallest building in Hong Kong, Kang Lok Building, it is also owned by the Hong Kong Land Group.

These properties are priceless, not to mention tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars. At the current market price, they are worth 20 billion Hong Kong dollars. Taking over Swire Properties means controlling these properties.

This is something that Jardine Matheson cannot compare to.

Jardine Matheson has been investing heavily overseas in recent years. Its overseas assets have long exceeded its Hong Kong assets, forming a strong international trade capability.

However, could he control the trade channels after he took control of Jardine Matheson? Definitely not.

Jardine Matheson's overseas assets, financial industry, etc. are all in the hands of these British people. Even if he takes over Jardine Matheson, the other party may find a way to give him only an empty shell Jardine Matheson in Hong Kong. By then, the true value of Jardine Matheson will be greatly reduced.

As for the Swire Properties Group, most of its assets are in Hong Kong. Although it has invested in hotels and shopping malls in overseas places such as Singapore, Manila and Bangkok, these are real fixed assets and the ownership rights cannot be lost.

Therefore, taking over Swire Properties is Lin Haoran’s goal. As for whether or not Jardine Matheson can be taken over, it is secondary!

If HK$20 to 30 billion can really control the Hong Kong Land Group, he can afford the money.

If we can really control the giant like Swire Properties with this little money, it would be totally worth it.

However, Lin Haoran also knows that the market value of all these large British and Chinese companies will continue to rise.

In two or three years, there will be more and more listed companies with a market value of over HK$10 billion, not just Huifeng Bank.

Therefore, taking advantage of the current low stock prices, it is a good opportunity to acquire the Jardine Matheson Group.

In addition, Lin Haoran also knew one thing, that is, the boss of Jardine Matheson is now in a desperate situation because Wharf Holdings was forcibly acquired by Bao Yugang, and he is afraid that both Jardine Matheson and the Hong Kong Land Group will be coveted by Chinese financial groups.

So in the face of the crisis, Niu Bijian took a series of measures to strengthen its control over Jardine Matheson and Land Development, namely the cross-equity holding strategy of Jardine Matheson and Land Development.

This matter should be implemented by the end of this year. By then, Jardine Matheson will hold 40% of the shares of Hutchison Whampoa, while Hutchison Whampoa will hold 38% of the shares of Jardine Matheson.

Once they succeed in implementing it, if Lin Haoran has not yet controlled the land, then they may fail and can only wait for the next opportunity.

Of course, even if he fails this time, there will be another chance next time. Moreover, he secretly holds enough shares this time, so as long as he does not announce it, the other party will not know about it.

In the future, Chinese financial groups including Li Jiacheng tried many times to acquire the Swire Group, but ultimately failed.

In fact, Li Jiacheng almost succeeded in the acquisition during the next major stock market crash, but unfortunately he gave up and was unwilling to pay the price he had previously agreed to.

Having missed that opportunity, the Chinese financial consortium never had another chance to acquire the Hutchison Whampoa Group, and it has been controlled by Jardine Matheson since then.

"Perhaps I can acquire the shares of Jardine Matheson and Hutchison Whampoa at the same time, and then try to control Jardine Matheson. If I ultimately fail to control Jardine Matheson, I can use Jardine Matheson's shares to threaten Jardine's senior management, and force them to eventually give up the controlling stake in Hutchison Whampoa!" Lin Haoran thought of a way.

Anyway, no matter how the acquisitions are made, you won’t lose money by holding the stocks of these two giants.

Now, one has a market value of more than 4 billion Hong Kong dollars and the other has a market value of more than 7 billion Hong Kong dollars. By the end of the year, they will at least increase a lot.

In addition to himself, he can also use the Hong Kong Electric Group to plan the equity of the Hong Kong Land Group!
At this moment, a general plan against Jardine Matheson and Hutchison Whampoa Group gradually formed in Lin Haoran's mind.

"Zhixue, please remember this first. However, no one else can know about this. The future share acquisitions must also be operated separately. The traders cannot be told which listed companies we plan to acquire and how much we will acquire. I hope only you know these. I trust you very much. Therefore, you will have a heavy responsibility from now on. Do you understand?" Lin Haoran said to Su Zhixue seriously.

Su Zhixue took out a notebook and a pen and said, "Boss, please rest assured. I know the seriousness of the matter and will ensure confidentiality!"

Everyone knows that an investment of several billion Hong Kong dollars is an explosive matter. If it is accidentally leaked, it will be a disaster. "Next, your main task is to target the stock acquisition plans of four listed companies: Jardine Matheson, Hong Kong Land Group, China Gas and Kowloon Motor Bus.

In addition to Jardine Matheson, our goal is to hold a shareholding of around 30% in each of the other three listed companies, so you don't need to worry about funds.

As for Jardine Matheson, you can take as much as you can according to your ability.

I would like to emphasize in particular that for the Hong Kong Land Group, I hope you can manage to acquire more than 20% of the shares within six months. This is crucial to my subsequent strategy.

As for the other requirements, based on past experience, you should have already understood them. You must be extremely cautious and secretive to ensure that our actions are not detected by the other party, so as not to alert the enemy!" Lin Haoran continued.

"Boss, you are actually planning to acquire Jardine Matheson and Swire Properties?" Su Zhixue was completely shocked.

Towngas and Kowloon Motor Bus did not surprise him, but Jardine Matheson and Swire Properties were completely different. They were the two top companies in Hong Kong. Even the Hong Kong Electric Group, which his boss had just acquired, was slightly inferior to them.

So, when Su Zhixue heard his boss say he wanted to acquire these two companies, he was shocked and couldn't hide the exaggerated expression on his face.

Who would have thought that more than a year ago, the boss was still cautious about the acquisition of Ching Chau Cement Company, but in such a short period of time, he not only successfully acquired Ching Chau Cement Company and Hong Kong Electric Group, but now he is directly targeting Hong Kong Land Group and Jardine Matheson.

This is simply unbelievable.

"Well, I do have this plan. As for whether the acquisition can be successful, it depends on your progress in absorbing the assets. So your next task will be arduous. I hope you won't let me down. Every time you complete an acquisition, I will give you a generous reward. Come on!" Lin Haoran patted Su Zhixue on the shoulder and said solemnly.

"Okay, boss, I know what to do. Although the task is arduous, I will never let you down. I will form a new team as soon as possible. According to the current task, this operation team will need about thirty to fifty people!" Su Zhixue replied seriously.

"It's up to you to decide. Anyway, our purpose cannot be revealed. You should screen the recruits first. Character is very important. After the team is formed, I will be the last checkpoint to see if there is anyone who does not meet the requirements!" Lin Haoran nodded and said.

His method of screening is very simple, naturally he uses loyalty to judge. Those who are not loyal enough will never be used!

Once his acquisition secret is leaked, the other party will be on guard, and the acquisition will become more difficult.

"Good boss!"

"Make good preparations and tell me when the team is built. The current team can first secretly absorb the shares of the Landmark Group. As for the other three companies, once the team is formed and I have done a good job, you can assign tasks!"

After Lin Haoran gave his instructions, he left Huanyu Investment Company and the Wan'an Group Building.

He has already explained the tasks to the two companies here. After they have completed their tasks, they will naturally call Lin Haoran to inform him.

After leaving the building, Lin Haoran first went to the Hong Kong branch of Citibank and transferred 200 million Hong Kong dollars to the company account of Wan'an Group.

Then he returned to the Hong Kong Electric Building again.

At this time, it was already past two o'clock in the afternoon.

After Lam Ho Yin took over the Hong Kong Electric Group, there have been no significant changes in the group's daily business operations.

In essence, the Hong Kong Electric Group has merely welcomed a new helmsman, while the advancement of its various businesses still closely follows the existing strategic planning and development blueprint.

"Boss, I'm going to Lamma Island tomorrow to inspect the construction progress of the power plant. Do you want to go?" Chen Shoulin asked when he saw Lin Haoran walk into the office.

At present, the power generation on Hong Kong Island is done by the Ap Lei Chau Power Plant, which is also a power plant under the Hong Kong Electric Group. However, this power plant, which began construction in 1968, has consumed an increasing amount of electricity with the development of Hong Kong Island. Obviously, the Ap Lei Chau Power Plant is no longer sufficient.

So two years ago, the Hong Kong Electric Group began planning to build a larger new power plant at Pineapple Tsui on Lamma Island. The power plant is currently under intensive construction and is expected to be put into operation in 1982.

Is it the Boli Tsui Power Station on Lamma Island?

When Lin Haoran heard this, he asked, "What time will you go there tomorrow?"

As far as he knows, after the power station is built, Xiangjiang Island will rely on it for electricity for the next few decades, so it is very important.

"Tomorrow morning at ten o'clock, we'll set off after I arrange the group's affairs." Chen Shoulin answered directly, and it was obvious that the itinerary had already been arranged.

"Okay, I'll come over tomorrow morning and we'll go together then." Lin Haoran nodded.

After all, it is one of the most important industries of the Hong Kong Electric Group in the future, so he will definitely go there to inspect it.

"By the way, Mr. Chen, I want to buy a commercial building near Central. Have you heard of any building that is for sale?" Lin Haoran suddenly asked.

He already has plans for the future development of Huanyu Investment Company, which is to expand the scale of Huanyu Investment Company and then use this investment company to control some listed companies.

Therefore, it is obviously inappropriate for Huanyu Investment Company to still be hiding in a small office of Wan'an Group.

It is only January 1980, which is far from the peak of this wave of real estate boom. Even if a real estate crisis comes and the price plummets, it will not fall to the current price.

Therefore, it is very cost-effective to buy a commercial building now.

He had long wanted to buy a commercial building in Central, but he had never had enough funds.

Now that we have enough funds, it's time to take action.

If you buy now, the price will at least double in a year, so you won’t lose money no matter how you calculate it.

(End of this chapter)