In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Huifeng Bank is not only listed in Hong Kong, but also in New York, London and other places. It can be said that their shareholders are spread all over the world, and even the largest shareholder holds less than 10% of the shares.

Therefore, this 1% of shares is actually not a small amount.

After signing the equity investment agreement, Shen Bi, the head of Huifeng Bank, directly announced on the spot that two Chinese people, Lin Haoran and Li Jiacheng, would become directors of Huifeng Bank at the same time, and this matter had been approved by the board of directors of Huifeng Bank.

It was almost twelve o'clock when Lin Haoran left Huifeng Bank.

Foreign-owned companies like Jardine Matheson do not have the Chinese habit of discussing cooperation over wine.

In Europe and the United States, private life is very important. Eating lunch is private life, while talking business is work. Work should be completed during working hours in the office. Therefore, there is no habit of eating lunch while talking business in Europe and the United States.

Therefore, Lin Haoran did not have the opportunity to eat for free just because of such a big thing as becoming a shareholder of Huifeng Bank.

However, he was not interested in these Western dishes, so he decided to start his own cooking.

After leaving Huifeng Bank, Lin Haoran and his two bodyguards had lunch at a nearby Cantonese restaurant, and then went to Wanqing Building.

Wanqing Building was less than 500 meters away from where he had dinner, so it was very convenient to get there.

When we arrived at the president's office of Wanqing Group, Burton was holding the phone and making a call.

Today, Burton not only has to manage the Ching Chau Cement Company, but also the Wan'an Real Estate Company and Kowloon Motor Bus. He has already become a top professional manager at the same level as Weary.

"Boss, good afternoon!" Seeing Lin Haoran, Burton quickly ended the call, stood up and greeted him.

"Well, good afternoon. Have you encountered any problems recently?" Lin Haoran pulled out a chair, sat down and asked with a smile.

"There are no big problems. Now the three companies under Wanqing Group are developing on their own. My main job now is to internationalize Wanqing Group. Qingzhou Cement Company is developing better and better in Southeast Asia, especially with the help of the Guo family. Our market share in Singapore and Malaysia is gradually increasing. Everything is moving in a good direction.

By the way, boss, I have recently planned to let Kowloon Motor Bus also explore overseas markets. Kowloon Motor Bus’s development in Hong Kong has basically reached a bottleneck. Only by going abroad can we have better development. Recently, I have set my sights on Penang, the second largest city in Malaysia. There are many Chinese in this city, but the basic transportation facilities are much behind the capital Kuala Lumpur. The government has recently launched a tender for a new bus company. If we can win the bid, it will be an important breakthrough for Kowloon Motor Bus!" Burton reported to Lin Haoran.

When Lin Haoran first met Burton, he was only the deputy general manager of Qingzhou Yingni Company, but his main focus was on developing overseas markets.

It is clear that he is keen to expand into overseas markets.

Today, the revenue and profits of Qingzhou Yingni Company are increasing every month. The main reason is that Burton continues to expand overseas markets, which has led to a continuous increase in Qingzhou Yingni's cement sales. As the market becomes larger, the profits will naturally increase.

Therefore, after Kowloon Motor Bus came under his management, Lin Haoran did not find it strange that he wanted Kowloon Motor Bus to enter the overseas market.

"Penang?" Lin Haoran was a little surprised.

He also knows this city, which is a city with a very high proportion of Chinese. In Penang, as long as the Chinese can speak Mandarin, there will be no communication barriers. As long as you meet a Chinese person, the other party will basically speak Mandarin.

"Yes, boss. Our bidding team has already gone to Penang. We hope that the bid will be successful. Once we get started, Kowloon Motor Bus will be able to enter more overseas markets in the future." Burton said expectantly.

"Is the success rate high?" Lin Haoran asked.

“It’s not too high, nor too low. As far as I know, there are currently five bus companies bidding, three of which are Malaysian bus companies, and the other two are foreign bus companies, one is the Singaporean listed company SBS Transit, and the other is our Kowloon Motor Bus.

However, the service of the three local bus companies is very poor, and their overall strength is not high. The buses they operate now are basically old and worn out. The local government of Penang should not look down on them. So our real opponent is the New MRT Bus Company. This company was formed by the merger of three private bus companies in Singapore two years ago and was listed that year. It is currently the largest bus company in Singapore. "Burton continued to report.

Lin Haoran nodded. He couldn’t interfere in such matters. If it could be accomplished, it could be accomplished. If it couldn’t be accomplished, then forget it.

Besides, he didn't really care about the profits from bus operations.

The reason why Lin Haoran acquired Kowloon Motor Bus was simply because he coveted the numerous reserve plots of land owned by Kowloon Motor Bus.

As for the little profit earned by the Kowloon Motor Bus Company itself, it is dispensable to Lin Haoran.

Moreover, it is not certain whether opening up new markets in Southeast Asia will be profitable.

However, Lin Haoran still supported Burton's decision.

If nothing else, expanding overseas markets can at least make the stock price rise higher.

After chatting with Burton for a long time in the office and looking at the group's performance report for the first half of 1980, Lin Haoran was extremely satisfied.

At the beginning, it was indeed a waste of talent for Burton to simply serve as the deputy general manager of Qingzhou Yingni.

Lin Haoran believes that his management ability is not inferior to that of professional managers of top listed companies in Hong Kong.

Fortunately, Lin Haoran acquired Qingzhou Yingni, otherwise Burton would not have had the opportunity to showcase his talents.

In another world, Qingzhou Yingni Company was eventually acquired by Li Jiacheng's Cheung Kong Group. After the acquisition, Li Jiacheng naturally used means to drive out the original senior executives of Qingzhou Yingni and replaced them with senior executives trained by Cheung Kong Group, whom he trusted the most. Let's not talk about other things, just take Hutchison Whampoa Group. After Wei Li was driven away, the three carriages left behind were eventually driven away by Li Jiacheng.

Perhaps this is also the reason why Burton’s talents were ultimately not fully utilized in another world?

The two chatted for a long time in the office, and most of the time, Burton was reporting some of his development plans to his boss Lin Haoran.

For Lin Haoran, as long as the decision does not harm the interests of the company, he will do his best to support it and rarely interfere.

As we were chatting, the pager rang.

Lin Haoran picked it up and saw that it was a call from Su Zhixue.

He didn't return the call because Su Zhixue's office was only one floor up.

"You go ahead and do your work. I'm going to do something." Lin Haoran said to Burton.

"Boss, go slow."

After Lin Haoran left Burton's office, he went directly up the stairs from the 30th floor to the 31st floor.

"Huh? Boss, so you are in Wanqing Building?" Seeing Lin Haoran appear outside the office door, Su Zhixue stood up to greet him.

"Well, I was just chatting with Mr. Burton about some work matters at Wanqing Group. What's wrong? What do you want to talk to me about?" Lin Haoran closed the office door and sat down on the chair next to Su Zhixue.

"There is something I want to report to you. This morning, we found that the trading volume of Hong Kong Land Holdings' stock suddenly increased. It was much more difficult to absorb it than in the past. I originally thought it was just an occasional occurrence.

But I didn't expect that the whole morning trading time was like this. Not only that, after the stock market opened in the afternoon, the trading volume of the Hong Kong Land Group was still the same as in the morning. According to these situations, there must be big funds entering the market to compete with us. I am worried that Jardine Matheson has increased its stake in the Hong Kong Land Group, so I quickly reported it to you, boss." Su Zhixue replied.

"It can't be Jardine Matheson." Lin Haoran said confidently, shaking his head.

Because he knew that although Jardine Matheson was preparing to engage in mutual equity control with the Hong Kong Land Development to prevent Chinese financial groups from coveting Jardine Matheson and the Hong Kong Land Development, it was impossible for Jardine Matheson to use the money to directly increase its holdings in the secondary market.

As far as I can remember, Jardine Matheson and Hong Kong Land Development increased their mutual shareholdings by raising funds through their own assets. For example, the shares of Wheelock Group were not acquired in the secondary market at all.

Moreover, they do not need to absorb equity from the secondary market. As they have controlling rights, they have many ways to increase their equity holdings.

"Since it's not Jardine Matheson, then who could it be?" Su Zhixue couldn't help but think.

"No matter who it is, they don't have much influence on us, right? You just need to continue to keep steady and absorb. We have sufficient funds at the moment!" Lin Haoran said with a smile.

Having just borrowed 20 billion Hong Kong dollars, the company does have ample funds. At least, it does not need to worry about funding issues before successfully taking over the Hong Kong Land Group.

The shares they hold now, plus the 6% held by Hong Kong Electric Group, exceed 32%.

The other party has just entered the scene, which is obviously too late and poses no threat to him at all.

Moreover, Huanyu Investment Company is still continuously absorbing shares, although the speed has greatly slowed down, but it is still increasing its holdings.

Although Lin Haoran had no idea who was eyeing the shares of the Jardine Matheson Group, he had a rough guess that it was probably those Chinese tycoons.

The Chinese financial consortium's desire for the Hong Kong Land Group never extinguished until the 90s.

It is precisely because of the Chinese financial consortium's coveting of the Hong Kong Land Group that Jardine Matheson implemented a policy of mutual control over the Hong Kong Land Group.

If it were those big bosses of Chinese financial groups, Lin Haoran would have no need to worry at all.

After all, with the 20% stake held by Jardine Matheson, the British consortium already holds more than 30%. Add to that the more than 32% of shares he holds, that is to say, there are only a little over 30% of shares left on the stock market at most.

Under such circumstances, he continues to increase his holdings. Who can surpass him?

Moreover, if these Chinese financial groups are acquiring shares of the Swire Properties Group, it would be good news for Lin Haoran.

Maybe, by then we can join forces with them and completely put an end to Jardine Matheson.

Of course, Lin Haoran would only do this under special circumstances.

If he could take over Jardine Matheson Holdings with his personal strength, Lin Haoran had no intention of letting other Chinese financial groups intervene.

"Okay, boss. We are currently focusing on acquiring shares of the Landmark Group. Although other forces unexpectedly entered the market today, we are not pushovers. We can at least absorb more than half of the usual amount. According to the current progress, within two months at most, the shares of the Landmark Group held by our Huanyu Investment Company will reach 30%!" Su Zhixue said confidently. (End of this chapter)