In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 265 Li Jiacheng's Ambition
Lin Haoran did not refuse Run Run Shaw's suggestion that he serve as vice chairman of the board of directors.

Anyway, with a professional like Shao Yifu around, this position is just a nominal one for Lin Haoran.

Ultimately, the proposal was passed unanimously.

Lam Ho Yin is the largest shareholder of TVB and is more than qualified to serve as vice chairman of the board.

Afterwards, Run Run Shaw, as the new chairman of the board of directors, reported some of his management policies to the shareholders and shareholder representatives in the conference room.

He even mentioned the issue of TVB's repositioning, which was the issue that Lin Haoran had raised to him yesterday.

The shareholders' meeting did not last too long, and it was over in just half an hour.

Except for Run Run Shaw, the new chairman of the board, and Lin Haoran, the new vice chairman of the board, the positions of other people remained unchanged, so naturally there was not much to discuss in the meeting.

After the meeting, the shareholders and shareholder representatives left the TVB headquarters building one after another.

Shao Yifu, Lin Haoran and Yu Bojun returned to the chairman's office from the conference room.

"Mr. Shao, as you know, I have many companies under my umbrella, and I definitely don't have much time to spend on TVB. The development of TVB still depends on you and Mr. Yu." After sitting down, Lin Haoran said directly.

"Mr. Lin, I understand. As long as you provide some good suggestions to the company occasionally, that's enough!" Shao Yifu said with a smile.

For him, it would be better if Lin Haoran did not interfere.

No one wants to have someone in the company who has the ability to make decisions, as it will hinder management.

But after chatting with Lin Haoran yesterday, he also recognized Lin Haoran's talents and hoped that Lin Haoran could occasionally bring useful suggestions to TVB.

The three of them chatted for a while in the office, and then Lin Haoran said goodbye to them and prepared to go to Wanqing Building.

Things on TVB's side have been almost settled, and the rest will naturally be handed over to the new chairman, Run Run Shaw.

……

Cheung Kong Group, Office of the Chairman.

Li Jiacheng was sitting in his boss chair at this moment, and the head of the securities department was reporting to him.

"Mr. Li, as of today, the shares of Hutchison Whampoa held by our Cheung Kong Group has officially exceeded 40%, reaching the target you set!" his subordinates reported to him excitedly.

"Okay, you did a great job. I will double your year-end bonus this year!" Li Jiacheng wanted to remain calm, but he couldn't hide his smile at this moment.

Hutchison Whampoa, I’m finally getting it!

How could he not be excited!
At the end of last year, Hutchison Whampoa sold 22.4% of Hutchison Whampoa to Li Ka-shing at a low price. However, this 22.4% alone is certainly not enough to control Hutchison Whampoa.

Therefore, after acquiring the Hutchison Whampoa shares held by Huifeng Bank, Li Ka-shing has allowed Cheung Kong Group to continue to increase its holdings of Hutchison shares quietly, and has not chosen to compete openly or secretly with Wei Li.

In his opinion, there was no need for this at all. As long as he held a large number of shares, it would only take him a short time to oust Wei Li from office.

Now, half a year has passed, and their stake in Hutchison Whampoa has finally exceeded 40%.

Everyone knows what this means.

This means that Li Jiacheng can finally take over this ocean-going bank in a real sense.

Originally, Cheung Kong Group certainly did not have so much funds to increase its holdings. Not only that, they also owed hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars to Huifeng Bank.

However, over the past six months, Hong Kong's real estate prices have risen so wildly that the assets of their Cheung Kong Group have nearly doubled in just over six months. Many projects developed in previous years have been sold off at high prices.

In this way, the funds of Cheung Kong Group will naturally be much more abundant.

It's not just Cheung Kong Holdings. This is also the reason why companies like Sun Hung Kai Properties, Henderson Land Development, etc. suddenly became as rich as Li Ka-shing and wanted to acquire companies everywhere.

Because of the huge boom in the real estate market in the past two years, their cash flow is extremely abundant, as if they don't have to do anything, and their wealth is increasing every day.

In the past six months, Lin Haoran has successively acquired Hong Kong Electric Group, China Gas Company, Kowloon Motor Bus, etc. Each acquisition was a big news, which also indirectly helped to cover up the secret acquisition actions of Cheung Kong Group and made the absorption of Cheung Kong Group smoother.

In addition, seeing Lin Haoran's continuous and successful acquisition of these listed companies, Li Jiacheng became very jealous, so he kept asking the securities department to speed up the acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa shares.

In another world, Cheung Kong Holdings’ stake in Hutchison Whampoa would not exceed 40% until the end of the year.

But this world, influenced by Lin Haoran, has actually achieved this goal today in July. After his men left the office, Li Jiacheng sat in his chair and began to think.

Lin Haoran continued to acquire companies that even he wanted to control, which naturally made him envious.

Whether it is Ching Chau Cement, Hong Kong Electric Group, Kowloon Motor Bus and China Gas Company, these are all high-quality companies that Li Ka-shing very much wants to control, but unfortunately he has missed out on them now.

Therefore, Li Ka-shing hopes to take complete control of Hutchison Whampoa as soon as possible and then set his sights on other high-quality companies.

He had coveted the Jardine Matheson Group a long time ago.

Now that Hutchison Whampoa Group already holds a 40% stake, it is only a matter of time before it takes over. It seems like it is time to move on to the next target.

Li Ka-shing is naturally not satisfied with just the Hutchison Whampoa Group. He has huge ambitions, otherwise he would not have been so aggressive as to target Hutchison Whampoa, whose market value far exceeds that of Cheung Kong Holdings.

Coupled with the booming real estate industry, his ambitions grew.

If you’re going to do it, do it big.

And the Jardine Matheson Group is obviously a very suitable choice.

"After taking control of Hutchison Whampoa Group, I can use both Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa Group to secretly take action against the Hutchison Whampoa Group. The Hutchison Whampoa Group is not easy to take down. Should I find a partner?" Li Jiacheng thought carefully.

Jardine Matheson and Jardine Securities together hold 20% of the shares of the Hong Kong Land Development, which Li Ka-shing naturally knows.

Therefore, this is a good opportunity for him to control the Hutchison Whampoa Group. As long as the shares of the Hutchison Whampoa Group held by the Cheung Kong Group and the Hutchison Whampoa Group exceed 20%, he will become a major shareholder of the Hutchison Whampoa Group.

The temptation of the Hong Kong Land Group to Chinese tycoons is undoubtedly huge. It is the oldest real estate company in Hong Kong and also the largest real estate enterprise in Hong Kong. Located in the prime location of the Central business district, the heart of Hong Kong's economy, it owns a huge investment portfolio of high-end commercial buildings and is known as the "crown jewel" of Hong Kong real estate.

As Hong Kong Land Group said in its promotional advertisement: "Without Hong Kong Land Group, the sea view of Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong would be very different."

Whoever controls the Hong Kong Land Group can be called the “King of Kings” in the Hong Kong real estate industry!
Li Jiacheng wanted to be the "king of kings".

Now, seeing that the Hutchison Whampoa Group has been completely taken over, Li Ka-shing’s ambition to acquire the Hong Kong Land Group has been infinitely magnified.

If it only relies on Cheung Kong Holdings, it will definitely not be able to acquire the Hutchison Whampoa Group.

But with the addition of the giant Hutchison Whampoa Group, the opportunities increase countless times.

If a strong partner is brought in, the probability of taking over the Jardine Matheson Group will increase again.

"Looking for Brother Bao?" Li Jiacheng thought about it. Bao Yugang was his best friend in the Hong Kong business world. Bao Yugang's usual help was indispensable to his current achievements.

However, Li Jiacheng then shook his head and gave up the idea.

It is obvious that Bao Yugang does not have much funds at the moment.

The Bao family spent too much money to acquire Hutchison Whampoa. Not only that, they also owed HK$21 billion to Bank of East Asia. Now, only more than a year has passed, and the Bao family is still recovering. How could they have the extra energy to partner with him to acquire the Hong Kong Land Group?
"Unite with Zheng Yutong, Li Zhaoji, Guo Desheng and others?" Li Jiacheng then thought of other people.

As for Lin Haoran, he did not consider it because he was not familiar with Lin Haoran, the young man who had suddenly risen, and he was not used to cooperating with unfamiliar people.

On the contrary, Zheng Yutong, Li Zhaoji, Guo Desheng and others are his old friends in the business world. In 1976, they joined forces to acquire the land in Sha Tin to develop the famous Sha Tin First City.

"Maybe I can try to acquire it myself. If I can use Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa Group to control the Hong Kong Land Development, then I will be the most powerful entrepreneur in Hong Kong and the true richest man in Hong Kong. Since I can control the Hutchison Whampoa Group, why can't I control the Hong Kong Land Development?" As he thought about it, Li Ka-shing's ambition grew again.

Thinking of this, he could no longer sit still.

Li Jiacheng left the office directly and went to the finance department of Cheung Kong Holdings.

"How much available funds does our company have currently?" Li Jiacheng asked directly to the head of the Finance Department.

"Mr. Li, our company currently has 1.28 million Hong Kong dollars in available funds in its account. We spent a lot of money on acquiring shares in Hutchison Whampoa during this period, but in two weeks, one of our real estate projects in North Point will be available for sale. By then, we will be able to recover hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars!" The head of the Finance Department responded respectfully.

Ten minutes later, Li Jiacheng could not wait to summon the head of the company's securities department and arranged for the people in the securities department to secretly absorb the shares of the Jardine Matheson Group.

Since he had decided to try to acquire the Hong Kong Land Group, he decided to let Cheung Kong Holdings act first.

There is no need for Hutchison Whampoa to continue absorbing shares. Once he successfully takes over, he can control Hutchison Whampoa to absorb shares of the Hong Kong Land Development.

In this way, with these two approaches, he might really be able to become a major shareholder of the Jardine Matheson Group.

(End of this chapter)