In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 182 It all depends on your ability!

Now, as the controlling major shareholder of Hong Kong Electric Group, if Hong Kong Electric Group can take over China Gas Company, it would be equivalent to Lin Haoran taking over China Gas Company.

If possible, Chen Shoulin actually agreed to acquire China Gas Company, even if it was just to hold a certain number of shares. As long as China Gas Company did not make reckless investments, it would be a very good investment project.

In 1975, the cost price of the Hong Kong Electric Group's secret acquisition of 7.2% of China Gas Company's shares was not high, costing less than HK$ million.

In recent years, the share prices of most of Hong Kong's high-quality listed companies have at least increased several times, and the same is true for the share price of China Gas Company, which has already increased several times over the past few years.

Just through the dividends of the past few years, not taking into account complex factors such as inflation, the Hong Kong Electric Group has already made back its investment.

Therefore, the quality of China Gas Company can be reflected from here.

This is dozens of times better than depositing money in a bank, and there is no risk.

On the contrary, investing in other things still involves certain risks.

For example, the Hong Kong Electric Group has been pursuing diversified development in recent years and is no longer limited to its main business of electricity sales. Over the past few years, it has successively opened up real estate development, property management, technical services, retail, advertising, finance and financial services, etc.

Through diversified development and the expansion of more businesses, the revenue and profits of the Hong Kong Electric Group have indeed increased significantly, but in fact some investments will also result in losses.

For example, in 1978, the Hong Kong Electric Group loaned HK$ million to a listed company. As a result, the other party's investment failed and it was unable to repay the loan. Its stock price also plummeted and the company was insolvent. Finally, the Hong Kong Electric Group had to apply to the court for compulsory liquidation of the company, and only recovered more than HK$ million. Not only did it not make any interest, it also lost more than HK$ million.

This example is enough to illustrate that investing involves risks!
Even in the real estate industry, which has been booming in recent years and has allowed many real estate companies to make huge profits, no one knows when a real estate crisis will occur.

The stable income of China Gas Company and its monopoly on the Hong Kong market mean that there is almost no possibility of loss and it is not even affected by the market economy. After all, gas is the most basic energy source for residents. No matter how poor you are, you still have to make fire and cook. You can't use firewood in the city. These are enough to make it the best investment and financial management project.

After receiving instructions from his boss Lin Haoran, Chen Shoulin called Niu Bijian directly in the office.

Whether you want to sell or not, you have to reply to the other party. It's a matter of courtesy.

At this moment, Niu Bijian, who was in the office of Jardine Matheson's headquarters, was studying the detailed information of China Gas Company handed over by his subordinates.

Five years ago, they intended to acquire this Chinese-owned utility company, but unfortunately failed and had to give up.

In this way, five years later, Jardine Matheson finally found an opportunity to acquire the company again.

Originally, the Chinese shareholders of China Gas Company held more than 42% of the shares, and they were very united. Therefore, even when Jardine Matheson and Hong Kong Electric Group joined forces, they were unable to forcibly acquire the company, because it was basically impossible to acquire more shares than these Chinese companies through the stock market.

However, in the past few days, Jardine Matheson received an important piece of news that the third largest shareholder of China Gas Company had secretly sold out most of his shares while the stock market was experiencing large trading volumes and high share prices.

You know, this third largest shareholder holds 8.8% of the shares of China Gas Company.

Both Jardine Matheson and Hong Kong Electric Group hold a certain amount of shares, and even Jardine Matheson's shareholding exceeds that of the apparent third largest shareholder, but no one knows how many shares Jardine Matheson actually holds.

Until now, no one knows that, in addition to the obvious shareholders, the sixth brother of Jardine Matheson actually holds so many shares.

It was because of this news that Niu Bijian had the idea of ​​acquiring China Gas Company.

After all, the loss of this 8.8% equity means that these Chinese shareholders will only have about 33% of the shares, which indirectly means that an additional 8.8% of stocks will enter the hands of shareholders in the secondary market.

It is much easier to acquire stocks when they are in the hands of stockholders than in the hands of these wealthy shareholders.

It is difficult for them to acquire 42% of the shares.

But with 33% of the shares, it’s different. The probability of a successful acquisition has been greatly increased.

It was because of this that he came up with the idea of ​​acquiring the shares held by Hong Kong Electric Group.

As long as it can successfully acquire the shares of Hong Kong Electric Group, plus its own shares, Jardine Matheson can directly launch the "Dawn Attack" operation, absorb a large number of China Gas Company shares in the market, surpass the equity controlled by the joint Chinese shareholders in one fell swoop, and achieve controlling stake in China Gas Company.

This acquisition method has been implemented many times by Jardine Matheson and Hong Kong Land Development, and it has always been successful!

At this time, the phone rang.

"Mr. Niu Bijian, my name is Chen Shoulin. Just now, after discussion, several important board members of our Hong Kong Electric Group finally decided not to sell the group's shares in China Gas Company. I am very sorry." Chen Shoulin's voice came from the other end of the phone.

After hearing what Chen Shoulin said, Niu Bijian was stunned. In order to buy the shares of China Gas Company held by Hong Kong Electric Group, he increased the share price by 20% based on the current stock market price. This was already very sincere.

However, he soon regained his composure and replied to Chen Shoulin: "Mr. Chen, the price is not suitable. We can discuss it again."

"No, no, no, Mr. Niu Bijian, it's not a question of price. We really have no intention of selling. Not only will we not sell, we also plan to increase our holdings in China Gas Company," Chen Shoulin replied.

In the office of Mr. Yihe, Niu Bijian frowned.

What does Hong Kong Electric Group mean by this? Do they also want to compete for the controlling stake in China Gas Company?

It is really possible. The current Hong Kong Electric Group is now a Chinese-owned enterprise. Looking at the past behavior of the new boss Lin Haoran, it is really possible that he wants to acquire China Gas Company.

At this time, Niu Bijian really wanted to say "Alpaca".

He thought that five years had passed and the actual helmsman of the Hong Kong Electric Group had changed, so the company should no longer have the idea of ​​acquiring China Gas Company. However, he did not expect that the other party was still like their Jardine Matheson Company and had no intention of giving up.

It seems that the idea of ​​taking over China Gas Company alone is not feasible. "Mr. Chen, in this case, why don't we restore the cooperation agreement signed five years ago?" Niu Bijian said directly.

Chen Shoulin naturally knew what he was talking about. Five years ago, in order to successfully acquire the Chinese-owned enterprise China Gas Company, Jardine Matheson and Hong Kong Electric Group signed a cooperation agreement to work together to obtain the controlling stake in China Gas Company.

Regarding the ownership of management rights of China Gas Company after the acquisition is completed, the two parties had clearly agreed at the time that the party with the higher equity share would serve as the chairman of China Gas Company.

What this means is that everyone will work together to take over the company, but as for the controlling rights, everyone will compete based on their own abilities.

Unfortunately, the cooperation between the two parties ended in failure, and the cooperation agreement signed at the beginning was naturally invalidated.

Today, the reason why Niu Bijian brought up this matter again is naturally because he is very confident that his equity can exceed that of Hong Kong Electric Group.

Except for a few senior executives of Jardine Matheson, no one knows how many shares of the China Gas Company they actually control!

"Okay, Mr. Niu Bijian, on behalf of the Hong Kong Electric Group, I promise you, but there is no need to sign a new agreement. It doesn't make much sense. We have cooperated many times, and the Hong Kong Electric Group still has its credibility." Chen Shoulin replied with a smile.

He said this at the instruction of Lin Haoran.

"Okay, then goodbye, Mr. Chen!" After learning about the attitude of the Hong Kong Electric Group, Niu Bijian had no intention of continuing the conversation with Chen Shoulin.

On the Hong Kong Electric Group side, after hanging up the phone, Chen Shoulin started chatting with Lin Haoran again.

"Boss, do we really have a chance to beat Jardine Matheson? From the other party's tone, I can be sure that they must have already controlled a lot of shares, maybe even up to 15%, and we only have 7.2% of the shares, and our financial strength is not as good as theirs. Considering all these, our chances of winning are too low." Chen Shoulin asked his question directly.

If he still has the final say over the Hong Kong Electric Company, he feels that there is absolutely no chance of winning this matter. There is no need to agree to the other party, and there is no need to pay too much attention to China Gas Company. He should just continue to hold the 7.2% stake.

However, his boss asked him to agree to Jardine Matheson, which made him feel a little strange.

"I can't guarantee that, but you said it before, Towngas itself is a high-quality company. Even if we don't have control over Towngas, our shares are still a good investment and we won't lose money, so it doesn't matter whether we win or lose." Lin Hao said with a smile.

"That's true. In that case, let's just let things take their own course." Chen Shoulin said with great approval.

In fact, Lin Haoran didn’t think so in his heart. He already had some preliminary ideas on how to take over China Gas Company.

Upon learning that Jardine Matheson had intervened in advance, Lin Haoran knew that the difficulty of acquiring China Gas Company had increased directly, and by a lot.

But Lin Haoran had no intention of giving up. Even if it was Jardine Matheson, so what?
Now that he has strong financial strength, he is really not afraid of this foreign company!

There was even an idea to acquire Jardine Matheson.

Would Lin Haoran be afraid of a target that might be acquired?

Of course not!
Since he had decided to compete with Jardine Matheson, he planned to approach it from three directions.

First, the Hong Kong Electric Group continues to acquire stocks in the secondary market.

Second, Huanyu Investment Company also continued to absorb stocks in the secondary market.

Third, secretly contact the current chairman of China Gas Company and test the other party first to see if you can acquire enough shares from them!

The Hong Kong Electric Group is now a Chinese-owned enterprise, no longer a British-owned enterprise.

Therefore, if Lin Haoran comes forward to acquire the company in the future, these shareholders will not be so resistant.

If you are unwilling, don't be in a hurry. Just wait for another opportunity, that is when Jardine Matheson proposes a full acquisition again.

When Jardine Matheson becomes more powerful, these Chinese shareholders may not be able to retain their controlling rights. At that time, in order to prevent Jardine Matheson from successfully acquiring them, these shareholders will most likely choose to sell their shares to Lin Haoran.

Because through Chen Shoulin's understanding of the acquisition battle five or six years ago, Lin Haoran already knew that the shareholders of the China Gas Company would never sell the company to a British-owned enterprise.

Originally, Lin Haoran planned to let Huanyu Investment Company slowly and secretly absorb the shares of China Gas Company until the right time to take action.

But now it is clear that this is no longer appropriate.

He also didn't expect that the situation would force him to take over this listed company as soon as possible.

"By the way, Mr. Chen, please give me the contact information of Mr. Li Mingze, chairman of China Gas Company. I would like to talk to him privately." Lin Haoran said to Chen Shoulin.

"Okay, boss. Please wait a moment. I'll look through the address book." After Chen Shoulin said this, he took out a miniature notebook from his pocket and started flipping through it.

This notebook records Chen Shoulin's personal connections over the past few decades and is a valuable asset to him.

Mr. Li Mingze actually has a special identity.

He is the elder brother of Li Xiaohe, the current chairman of Hong Kong TVB.

If nothing unexpected happens, Li Xiaohe will die of a heart attack in a few months.

Contacting Li Mingze now may provide him with sufficient help in the future when he wants to acquire the Li Xiaohe family's shares in the TVB.

(End of this chapter)