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Chapter 205: Intelligence from Jardine Matheson

Lin Haoran and Han Yili were not familiar with each other, so naturally they didn't have much to talk about.

After completing the gun license procedure, the two exchanged a few pleasantries, and then Lin Haoran said goodbye to Han Yili and left the Police Headquarters.

Just as Lin Haoran was leaving the Meili Building in Wan Chai in his Rolls-Royce, a high-level meeting with a very depressing atmosphere was held at the Jardine Matheson headquarters near Central.

The failure of the acquisition forced them to hold a meeting to discuss how to deal with the shares of China Gas Company in their hands.

Jardine Matheson and Swire Properties, the two companies together control 40.7% of the shares, but they cannot even get the controlling rights. It is certainly impossible for them to continue holding these shares.

Although they won't lose anything by keeping the shares, it will keep their funds under pressure.

For them, the future return on continuing to hold shares in China Gas Company is too low.

Therefore, holding on to these shares would be a loss for Jardine Matheson and Swire Properties.

The most important thing now is how to safely withdraw from China Gas Company and turn its attention to other listed companies or continue to invest in the real estate industry.

Niu Bijian looked at the senior executives and said, "Everyone, now that things have come to this, the failure of the acquisition has been decided. Let's discuss what to do next!"

There was silence in the conference room. The senior executives looked at each other, thinking about how to respond.

After a while, a senior financial manager took the lead in breaking the silence: "Mr. Niu Bijian, I think we should find a suitable buyer as soon as possible to sell the shares of China Gas Company in our hands. This way, we can recover the funds and avoid long-term capital occupation."

"It is not easy to find a suitable buyer. China Gas Company is completely controlled by Lin Haoran. It is impossible for other buyers to take control from him. To this extent, the value of our shares is greatly reduced. No one will spend hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars to buy our shares for the sake of dividends.

It is not just us at Jardine Matheson that have to deal with these shares. The Swire Properties Group also has to sell all the shares it has acquired this time. As everyone knows, this is an important time for the Swire Properties Group to expand. If we could take over the controlling stake in China Gas Company, it would also enhance the strength of both of our companies. However, our acquisition this time has failed, and we are now in a situation where we are neither up nor down. These shares have become a burden to us!
We have 40.7% of the shares of our two companies to deal with. It is impossible to find a suitable buyer unless we sell them at a very low price! Who of you wants to try to find a suitable buyer for the group? If you can help us deal with these shares without losing money, I will promote you and increase your salary! "After Niu Bijian finished speaking, he glanced around the conference room.

However, everyone selectively avoided Niu Bijian's sight and did not dare to look directly at the big boss.

They naturally knew very well that it was impossible to find a suitable buyer without losing money!

Even if you are losing money, you may not be able to find a suitable buyer.

Now that we have this money, wouldn’t it be nice to invest it in real estate?

This is a transaction involving nearly 300 million Hong Kong dollars.

With this amount of funds, why would people buy shares in China Gas Company?

"I opposed the acquisition of China Gas Company in the first place. Now the real estate industry is booming and house prices basically double in a year. Why should we acquire China Gas Company? Now it's better, right? At this point, the acquisition failed and the funds cannot be withdrawn." A senior shareholder continued.

"What's the point of you coming out and talking after the fact? The most important thing for us now is to discuss how to deal with this matter, not to pursue responsibility. There is nothing wrong with acquiring China Gas Company. The quality of this company is recognized by everyone. What we didn't expect is that the acquisition failed under such circumstances!" another senior executive retorted.

As everyone was discussing the issue, a young executive put forward a different viewpoint: "Ladies and gentlemen, I don't think we have to rush to sell our shares. Although we don't have a controlling stake, Towngas is still a company with potential. We can continue to hold shares and influence the company's decisions through other means to strive for more benefits in the future."

This view immediately aroused opposition from some people.

An older executive said, "Young man, your idea is too naive. We have already failed in this acquisition. If we continue to hold shares, we will only fall into a more passive situation. Moreover, our funds will not allow us to hold these shares for a long time without sufficient benefits."

Bao Fuda stood up and put forward his own opinion: "Ladies and gentlemen, I suggest that we temporarily contact major investment institutions and business owners to see who is interested in these shares. We don't need to sell them all at once, nor do we need to sell them to only one buyer. As long as we can sell part of them in batches and then sell part of them through the stock market, we can also recover this batch of funds in the short term, and then continue to invest these funds in other projects.

If it really doesn't work, we can only continue to try to persuade Mr. Lin Haoran to buy our shares, because at present, he should be the one who is most interested in our shares. Once he buys our shares, he can even privatize China Gas Company.

Judging from his previous actions of privatizing Qingzhou Cement Company and Wanan Group, he is likely to be interested in privatizing China Gas Company. Young people will think that they can make more money if they control the company in their own hands! "

Bao Fuda is not only the general manager of the Hong Kong Land Group, but also a senior member of Jardine Matheson.

And the topics discussed today are also related to the Swire Properties Group.

“In my opinion, we should let Jardine Securities handle the trading and return these shares to the market. Although it will take a long time to do so due to the large number of shares held, as long as we are cautious, we can recover the funds in two to three months at the shortest, or a year and a half at the longest.” A director next to Bao Fuda stood up and said.

"I also think that in the current market situation, it is very unlikely to find a suitable buyer. Instead of blindly looking for buyers and having to sell at a loss, it is better to sell the stocks slowly through the stock market.

None of those investment institutions are easy to talk to. How could they do anything that has no profit?

Our Jardine Securities has the ability and strength to manipulate the secondary market stock price of China Gas Company. As long as the operation is good, we can not only get our investment back, but we may even make a profit. Recently, several stocks traded by Jardine Securities have risen a lot.

Moreover, the entire stock market is developing in a good direction. Even though the share price of China Gas Company has fallen a lot today, it is only a matter of time before it goes back up even without our intervention." A deputy general manager of Jardine Matheson put forward his own idea.

……

There were endless arguments and everyone had different ideas, but no one suggested continuing to hold these shares.

Jardine Matheson has always been domineering and overbearing, and the companies they target are naturally unwilling to be second.

However, Lin Haoran's shareholding ratio has already ended their ambition to control China Gas Company, so now their idea is to sell these shares as soon as possible to recover funds as soon as possible.

Niu Bijian watched everyone's heated discussion and felt conflicted.

He also knew that each option had its pros and cons and needed to be carefully weighed.

"Let me summarize. Now you have two main opinions. One is to find other suitable buyers; the other is to gradually sell the shares we hold through the stock market. In this case, let's vote to decide." Niu Bijian stopped the meaningless debate and spoke directly.

The voting results came out quickly. Among the 23 participants, 8 agreed with the first opinion and 15 agreed with the second opinion.

Because most people have little expectation of finding the right buyer.

In this case, selling it from the secondary market is obviously the most reliable way.

They still believe in the capabilities of Jardine Securities.

This time, the acquisition of China Gas Company failed, but the blame cannot be blamed on Jardine Matheson Securities. On the contrary, Jardine Matheson Securities did a very good job in this acquisition.

Although the plan was to absorb 15%, in the end only 14.2% was acquired, but the difference is not much.

"The result of the vote is already obvious. Based on this, we have decided to entrust Jardine Securities to handle this matter. Mark, this task will be led by you! In addition, please be sure to keep this matter strictly confidential. Once leaked, our plan may be hindered or even ruined!" Niu Bijian looked at Mark, the general manager of Jardine Securities, and said seriously.

"Mr. Boss, please rest assured that I will do my best and live up to your trust!" Mark responded.

Subsequently, the high-level meeting concluded successfully with this decision.

However, what Niu Bijian didn't know was that not long after the meeting ended, the news had already reached Cui Zilong, the general manager of Oriental Press Company.

"Mr. Cui, I have some important information about Jardine Matheson. Would you like to hear it?" One night, Cui Zilong was resting at home when the phone suddenly rang.

On the other end of the line came the voice of an ordinary senior manager of Jardine Matheson & Co., whom he had recently tried hard to make friends with.

This senior executive was one of the spies Cui Zilong had specially placed in business giants such as Jardine Matheson, Hong Kong Land, Wheelock, CStone, and Global Shipping in response to Lin Haoran's request to build a keen intelligence network.

After all, the boss is a business tycoon with many competitors in Hong Kong, and the intelligence he needs most must come from other corporate giants.

This person is old and has little room for promotion, so he came up with the idea of ​​earning extra money.

"Oh? What kind of information is it? How much does it cost?" Cui Zilong didn't take it seriously at first and asked casually.

"It's about the China Gas Company. The price is HK$100,000, no bargaining!" The other party quickly put forward the conditions.

Although he was in a senior position at Jardine Matheson and had a high salary, his annual salary was only a few hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars.

China Gas Company?

Cui Zilong was cheered up when he heard this. He was naturally very aware that his boss was also the helmsman of China Gas Company.

Today, the editorial department of Oriental Daily has written several articles about Lin Haoran's acquisition of China Gas Company and the embarrassing incident of Jardine Matheson & Co., which have already become several heavyweight articles. These articles will be reported in tomorrow's newspapers.

Oriental Press Company and China Gas Company are now truly brother companies.

"Mr. Andrew, I am indeed interested, but I still need to consider whether the value of this information can match 100,000 Hong Kong dollars. After all, this is not a small amount." Cui Zilong responded cautiously.

"Mr. Cui, please rest assured. It is definitely worth the price. I value our long-term cooperation in the future more than a one-time deal. If it were just a mere 100,000 Hong Kong dollars, why would I take the risk and leave myself open to you? The long-term plan is what I consider!" The other party said sincerely.

Cui Zilong thought to himself that it was unlikely that the other party would ruin his own future for such a small profit.

"Deal! Mr. Andrew, please tell me the details. I will pay in cash to ensure that you have no worries!" After weighing the pros and cons, Cui Zilong readily agreed.

After all, it was not easy to place a high-level chess piece in Jardine Matheson, and both parties should show sincerity in this first cooperation.

Even though the value of this intelligence was less than one hundred thousand, it laid a solid foundation for the in-depth cooperation between the two sides in the future.

(End of this chapter)