In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 184 Is this the foundation of a big family?

Li Ming frowned. Although he was caught off guard by the sudden question, he quickly responded, "Mr. Lin, I really have no intention of selling shares in China Gas Company. If I want to sell, I will give priority to you."

"Well, Mr. Li, even if the deal fails, we still have friendship. Mr. Li is a senior among our Chinese businessmen. I still need to learn more from him. Oh, and I have one more thing to tell you. Jardine Matheson is targeting the China Gas Company again.

He proposed to buy my stocks, but I did not agree. Mr. Li can pay attention to this. Also, I hope Mr. Li will not tell anyone about this matter, otherwise if this matter gets to Jardine Matheson, they may have a bad opinion of me.

Since the China Gas Company is named "China", I hope it can always be controlled by the Chinese, rather than being controlled by the British. This would be a great shame for us Chinese businessmen!" Lin Haoran said solemnly.

Lin Haoran himself did not hold out much hope that he could successfully convince business seniors like Li Mingze this time. Not everything could be as smooth as the acquisition of Oriental Daily News, especially a big Hong Kong business family like the Li family, which was even more difficult to convince.

He came here now just to build a relationship with Li Mingze. They all knew each other, which was like adding one more connection.

Since Jardine Matheson is so confident that it can win the competition with Hong Kong Electric Group, it means that Jardine Matheson already holds a considerable number of shares. Sooner or later, it will launch an attack on China Gas Company. And this time will not be too long. It may start taking action in the near future.

With the strength of Jardine Matheson, shareholders of China Gas Company such as Li Mingze may not be able to withstand their attacks, and they may very likely lose control at that time.

By then, he would have to consider requesting outside help.

Judging from the importance Li Ming placed on Chinese-owned enterprises and his past deeds, he probably did not want the China Gas Company to become a British-owned company again.

Now, Lin Haoran has left a deep impression on him and has also expressed his intention to acquire China Gas Company, which shows that Lin Haoran has the ability to compete with Jardine Matheson.

At that time, Li Mingze would naturally ask Lin Haoran for help first.

Moreover, establishing a good relationship with Li Mingze now is also related to another matter.

In another four months, Li Mingze's younger brother, TVB Chairman Li Hau-ho, will die of a heart attack, and Li Hau-ho's family has no intention of continuing to manage TVB.

If Lin Haoran contacts Li Xiaohe's family through Li Mingze, he will most likely be able to acquire the TVB shares held by the Li family and officially become an important shareholder of TVB.

So, it doesn't matter whether he comes here today or not. The most important thing is to plan ahead for future events and lay a solid foundation for the future.

After hearing Lin Haoran's words, Li Mingze's expression became serious, and he murmured, "Is Jardine Matheson still not giving up?"

In 1975, Jardine Matheson and Hong Kong Electric Group launched a takeover campaign for China Gas Company. At that time, they were almost acquired by the other party. However, shareholders of China Gas Company such as Li Mingze had the support of some bigwigs of the Hong Kong Chinese General Chamber of Commerce. With the support of the outside world, the joint action between Jardine Matheson and Hong Kong Electric Group ultimately ended in failure.

Since then, although Jardine Matheson and Hong Kong Electric Group have continued to hold part of the shares of China Gas Company, they have no intention of acquiring it again, and Li Mingze even thought they had given up.

Unexpectedly, he came up with this idea again this time.

"One of your important shareholders has recently cashed out by selling stocks, right? This is what Jardine Matheson told us," said Lin Haoran.

"That's true. We thought we had kept this matter secret enough and no one would know about it in the short term. We also had no plans to announce it, but we didn't expect it to be leaked anyway." Li Ming said with a wry smile.

"Mr. Li, since this shareholder wants to withdraw from China Gas Company, why don't you buy these shares? In this way, Jardine Matheson will not be able to take advantage of the loophole?" Lin Haoran asked curiously.

He was a little curious about this question when he learned about it. The Li family is considered a top wealthy family in Hong Kong with considerable assets. Logically speaking, it should not be difficult for them to come up with tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars.

"Mr. Lin, I'm not afraid to tell you that although our Li family is large and powerful, we also have a lot of investments. Our Lixishen Industrial Co., Ltd. has invested in nearly a hundred companies in name, and the family situation is quite complicated.

These include Steel Pipe Co., Ltd., Canada Petroleum Corporation, Bank of East Asia, Mido Hotel, etc. I have served in more than 90 corporate positions such as director, director, vice chairman and even chairman in these companies alone.

It can be said that most of our liquid funds have been used for investment. The family does not hold much funds. Although we can take out loans, if our Li family wants to invest, we need to vote at a family meeting, and I cannot have the final say on all matters.

Although the earnings of China Gas Company are stable, the rate of return is not high compared with the highly profitable industries such as real estate companies. Therefore, some people in our family do not agree with our family increasing its shareholding.

And at that time I thought that if this matter was concealed and not announced to the public, it would not be spread.

I just didn't expect that this matter would eventually get out. No matter what, I am very grateful to Mr. Lin for providing me with such an important matter. I will remember this favor."

Li Ming sighed.

Working in more than 90 companies?

Even Lin Haoran was shocked after hearing Li Mingze's introduction.

Up to now, he is only holding positions in six companies, namely Hong Kong Electric Group, Ching Chau Cement Company, Vieux Cargill Group, Oriental Press Company, Hong Kong Land Group and Universal Investment Company.

However, except for the Swire Properties Group, where he is only a director, he is the actual controller of the other five companies.

The Li family should have only achieved controlling rights in a small number of these companies, and in more companies it may just be an important shareholder.

Even so, more than ninety positions were enough to surprise Lin Haoran. Is this the foundation of a big family?

In comparison, although I have a rich background, I am still too young and have been involved in too few companies.

However, if he wanted, with the funds in his hands, he could easily control a thousand small and medium-sized enterprises, let alone one hundred. It's just that there is no need for it, and he has no intention of investing indiscriminately.

And it is obvious that the Li family does not invest randomly.

"Sorry to bother you so late today. If there's nothing else, we'll leave first. Mr. Li, we'll talk again when we have time. Mr. Li's experience in the business world is invaluable. I look forward to learning some valuable knowledge from him." Lin Haoran looked at the time. It was almost seven o'clock in the evening, so he stood up and prepared to leave.

"By the way, Mr. Lin, you are not a member of the Hong Kong Chinese General Chamber of Commerce yet, right? On behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, I would like to invite Mr. Lin and hope that he can join our Hong Kong Chinese General Chamber of Commerce. Chamber of Commerce members can share resources, work together and promote development, which is very helpful. Joining the Chamber of Commerce will also be of certain help to Mr. Lin's career development path. I look forward to Mr. Lin's joining to strengthen the strength of our Chinese entrepreneurs!" At this time, Li Mingze invited Lin Haoran.

Although Lin Wanan is also a member of the Hong Kong Chinese Chamber of Commerce, it only represents Lin Wanan personally and has nothing to do with Lin Haoran.

Today, Lin Haoran has become a well-known new business tycoon in Hong Kong's business community. Although he is young, no one dares to underestimate him.

If such a person could be brought into the Chamber of Commerce, it would enhance the Chamber's strength, making it more confident in the competition between Chinese and British financial groups.

"Join the Hong Kong Chinese General Chamber of Commerce?" Lin Haoran had never thought about this question carefully.

All along, he has been accumulating funds by relying on his information advantage of predicting the future.

With these favorable conditions, even if he does not join any chamber of commerce, he is destined to occupy an important position in the business world.

However, Lin Haoran thought about it for a while, then a smile quickly appeared on his face, and then he said: "Okay, I agree!"

Joining the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce has all the advantages and no disadvantages. Although it seems useless to him, by joining it, he should be able to come into contact with more Chinese bigwigs and deal with them more easily in the future, or even cooperate with them.

Making money through the Chamber of Commerce may not be very useful, but the connections are priceless.

"Okay, Mr. Lin is really straightforward. Mr. Lin's words are enough! Joining the Hong Kong Chinese General Chamber of Commerce requires some procedures, and each member needs to be strictly reviewed. Of course, with Mr. Lin's business achievements, the joining process does not need to be too complicated.

I asked the people in the Chamber of Commerce to complete these procedures for Mr. Lin first, and then contact Mr. Lin to go to the Hong Kong Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, so as not to disturb Mr. Lin for too much time! "

Hearing that Lin Haoran agreed, Li Mingze also smiled and looked at Lin Haoran with more affectionate eyes.

"Well, then I'll trouble you, Mr. Li. In that case, we'll leave first. We'll come back to bother you when we have time." There was nothing else to do, so Lin Haoran didn't plan to stay here any longer.

"Mr. Lin, would you like to stay and have dinner with us?" Li Ming asked politely.

"No, thank you Mr. Li for the invitation. We still have things to deal with. Bye!" Lin Haoran refused with a smile.

Accompanying Chen Shoulin, Li Weiguo and Li Weidong, the four of them walked out of the headquarters building of China Gas Company. It was already dark outside.

"Mr. Chen, let's go have dinner together and I'll take you back." After getting into the Rolls-Royce, Lin Haoran said to Chen Shoulin.

"Okay." Chen Shoulin naturally wouldn't refuse the boss's invitation.

"Weiguo, drive to Xiyuelai Restaurant." Lin Haoran said to Li Weiguo who was in the driver's seat.

"Okay, boss!" After receiving the order, Li Weiguo started the car and drove quickly towards the Xiyuelai Restaurant.

Lin Haoran has been to this restaurant many times, so Li Weiguo is naturally very familiar with it.

"Boss, since Mr. Li didn't agree, why did you tell him about Jardine Matheson's plan? Wouldn't this allow Mr. Li to take precautions in advance, ultimately resulting in our Hong Kong Electric Group and Jardine Matheson having no chance to acquire China Gas Company?" Chen Shoulin asked curiously.

“From what Niu Bijian said, it’s clear that they are determined to acquire China Gas Company, which means that they now control much more shares than us, and they may have already made the acquisition. Therefore, if we compete with them alone, the probability of winning against Jardine Matheson in a head-on competition is not high.

Mr. Li and other Chinese shareholders obviously do not want Jardine Matheson to take over China Gas Company and turn it from Chinese to British. So this is our opportunity. From Mr. Li's words, I also feel that he is not very keen on increasing his holdings in China Gas Company. Once Mr. Li and others can no longer hold on, they will definitely turn to us for help. That will be our chance."

Lin Haoran did not hide anything from Chen Shoulin, but told him his plan directly.

In fact, in Lin Haoran’s previous life, these Chinese shareholders of China Gas Company were ultimately unable to withstand the attack of Jardine Matheson.

Finally, they had no choice but to turn to the real estate tycoon Li Zhaoji for help. With Li Zhaoji's help, Chinese-owned enterprises successfully resisted the attack of Jardine Matheson, and China Gas Company became a listed company controlled by Li Zhaoji's family.

Lin Haoran has made plans for this world in advance, and it is obvious that Mr. Li Zhaoji has no chance of taking over China Gas Company.

(End of this chapter)