In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

After chatting with Su Zhixue in the office for half an hour, Lin Haoran left Wanqing Building.

After having a quick lunch at a nearby restaurant, we returned to the car.

After some thought, Lin Haoran asked Li Weidong to drive to Jardine House again.

Got to ask for some power!

After all, he is now a major shareholder of Jardine Matheson, so it is natural for him to have the right to decide.

In his handbag, there were also Jardine Matheson stock certificates.

These certificates proved that he owned more than 20% of Jardine Matheson's shares.

As for the Swire Properties Group, unless something unexpected happens, Li Ka-shing is unlikely to increase his holdings further because there is no point in doing so.

Li Jiacheng said that he owns 5.13% of the shares of the Hong Kong Land Development. Even though he bought more shares in the last half hour this morning, judging from the trading volume, his holdings did not increase by much.

Therefore, even if Li Jiacheng's shares were added to those of the British financial groups, they would only hold about 35% and would not pose any threat to him.

He now holds more than 40.5% of the shares of the Hong Kong Land Development.

If Li Jiacheng finally agrees to sell the shares to him, these British financial groups will have no chance of resistance.

In a conference room on the 32nd floor of Jardine House, the headquarters of Jardine Matheson & Co.

At this moment, there are more than twenty people sitting in this conference room which is two to three hundred square meters in size.

Not only was Niu Bijian, the boss of Jardine Matheson, present here, but also the general manager of the Hong Kong Land Group, the president of Jardine Securities, Henry Keswick, and other major senior executives and important shareholders of Jardine Matheson and its subsidiaries were all gathered here.

Jardine Matheson was facing an unprecedented crisis. If it failed to handle it properly, it might lose its control over the company. Naturally, this made all the senior executives of the British financial group very nervous.

At this moment, they all put aside their internal fighting and actively discussed how to respond to the acquisition challenge from Lin Haoran.

Henry Keswick, the current patriarch of the Keswick family, set out from England the afternoon before yesterday and arrived in Hong Kong this morning.

After arriving in Hong Kong, Henry Keswick did not even take a rest or have lunch, and could not wait to get in the reception car sent by Jardine Matheson and go to Jardine House.

Along with him came a dozen shareholders of Jardine Matheson.

These people formed a British-owned consortium called Jardine Matheson, which controlled the entire Jardine Matheson group of companies.

The threat from the Chinese financial groups forced them to take this crisis seriously.

Naturally, these people did not want to lose control of Jardine Matheson.

Once Lin Haoran takes over Jardine Matheson, it will undoubtedly bring huge impact on their interests.

After all, if he could continue to control Jardine Matheson, the benefits he could create indirectly through it would be far more than just receiving dividends as a shareholder.

This is exactly the reason why many consortiums are striving to gain controlling rights.

For example, in the former Qingzhou Yingni Company, although the former chairman only held a small number of shares, he used Qingzhou Yingni to gain huge profits for himself that far exceeded dividends.

"Mr. Niu Bijian, do you know how many shares of Jardine Matheson & Co., Ltd. Lin Haoran already holds?" Henry Keswick looked at Niu Bijian and asked directly.

"Mr. Henry, when Mr. Lin Haoran met me, he did not tell me how many shares he held. He only told me that he had become a major shareholder of Jardine Matheson and had more than 20% of the shares. But this is just his personal opinion, and I don't really believe it!" Niu Bijian shook his head and said.

Actually, he and Henry Keswick had been secretly competing with each other for more than two years.

Henry Keswick hoped that the Keswick family could regain control of Jardine Matheson, while Niu Bijian tried his best to avoid being ousted.

However, for now they have to work together.

Because they all understood that if Lin Haoran successfully took over Jardine Matheson, the consequences would be disastrous.

Once Lin Haoran takes the position, Niu Bijian's position as the boss will be lost!

At the same time, the Keswick family will completely lose control of Jardine Matheson.

This is a reality that none of them can accept.

The Keswick family, in particular, has always regarded Jardine Matheson as their own private territory.

As for the other British shareholders, they have always followed Henry Keswick and stood in solidarity with him. "Everyone, we are united in facing the outside world. Although we are not afraid of Lin Haoran taking over Jardine Matheson, his position as a major shareholder has always existed for a long time, which is undoubtedly a hidden danger.

What good ideas do you have to completely eradicate this hidden danger? Jardine Matheson should be a solid fortress for people like us. I, Henry Keswick, will never allow any Chinese businessmen to get involved in our Jardine Matheson, and I believe you will do the same! "Henry Keswick stood up and said solemnly to everyone present.

Just when everyone was thinking of a solution, Bao Fuda, general manager of the Jardine Matheson Group, stood up.

"Mr. Bao Fuda, do you have any good ideas?" Henry Keswick looked at Bao Fuda and asked expectantly.

"Mr. Henry, and everyone present here, I am not going to answer the topic just now, but I have an important thing to remind you. The project leader of the securities department of the Hong Kong Land Group reminded me that the stock trading of our Hong Kong Land Group is also abnormal. The current market value has been raised to HK$110 billion. This is not a normal transaction, but it is suspected that someone is interfering in the stock market of the Hong Kong Land Group, and the other party may even be a Chinese businessman!" Bao Fuda talked about another thing.

As soon as these words were spoken, many people at the scene frowned.

After all, the Hong Kong Land Group is the most important subsidiary of Jardine Matheson today. Once the Hong Kong Land Group is lost, it will undoubtedly be a heavy blow to Jardine Matheson.

"Mr. Niu Bijian, during our last conference call, what is the progress of our mutual shareholding plan, especially Jardine Matheson's increase in its stake in the Hong Kong Land Development?" Henry Keswick looked at Niu Bijian again.

A few days ago, they held a telephone conference. At that time, they thought that Lin Haoran was targeting the Jardine Matheson Group, so they discussed how to deal with this crisis.

Finally, Niu Bijian proposed a mutual support plan.

However, no one expected that Lin Haoran was targeting Jardine Matheson instead of the Jardine Matheson Group, so no one paid attention to this matter.

"Everyone, since the last conference call, I have not slackened in the implementation of this decision. Although the progress has slowed down, under normal circumstances, it should be possible to complete it within ten days. Currently, we expect to complete the increase in holdings by October 10!
We can then announce this matter to the public, but we are currently facing a problem. That is, Mr. Lin Haoran is now a major shareholder of Jardine Matheson. If we use Jardine Matheson to increase our holdings in the shares of the Hong Kong Land Development, wouldn’t Mr. Lin Haoran be the biggest beneficiary?

So I also plan to discuss with you whether to stop this plan. However, if there are other Chinese businessmen who are planning to take over the Jardine Matheson Group, then we must continue with this plan.

Jardine Matheson can still be firmly controlled by us for the time being, but the same cannot be said for the Hong Kong Land Group. We still hold too few shares in the Hong Kong Land Group!" Niu Bijian stood up and answered.

The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became solemn.

They already feel troubled by the fact that someone is eyeing Jardine Matheson, and now someone is eyeing the Hutchison Whampoa Group.

In the past, they were full of confidence and never thought that anyone could take away controlling rights from them.

But ever since Bao Yugang forcefully took away Wharf Holdings from Jardine Matheson, their pride and confidence have been gone.

"Mr. Niu Bijian, Mr. Henry, I think the best strategy is to use our personal connections, and even resort to some intimidation, to force Mr. Lin Haoran to voluntarily give up his shares in Jardine Matheson. We can also consider intervening with the influence of the Governor, Mr. MacLehose.

If Mr. MacLehose is willing to come forward, he will certainly give us some support. Moreover, judging from the shares we currently hold, even if Mr. Lin Haoran has become a major shareholder, it will not be easy for him to fully control Jardine Matheson. Once the persuasion is successful, we can focus on dealing with the unknown challenges that the Hong Kong Land Group may face.

Today, with the booming development of Hong Kong's real estate industry, the wealth of Chinese businessmen is increasing day by day and can no longer be ignored. Their economic strength is comparable to that of our British consortium, so we cannot underestimate the strength of these Chinese consortiums! " said a senior executive of Jardine Matheson.

"This strategy is feasible. If it doesn't work with Mr. MacLehose, we can also try to contact the Prime Minister's wife. I believe that the Prime Minister's wife also does not want to see Jardine Matheson fall into the hands of the Chinese financial group. This is the face of the British financial group in Hong Kong. If Lin Haoran wants to continue to gain a foothold in Hong Kong and even in the Commonwealth, he cannot fail to consider these factors!" Henry Keswick nodded in agreement.

Under normal circumstances, the entire meeting should have been supported by Niu Bijian because he was the boss of Jardine Matheson!
But in reality, the meeting was almost entirely dominated by the former boss, Henry Keswick.

Faced with this situation, Niu Bijian must be dissatisfied in his heart.

But he had no choice. Although he had been the head of Jardine Matheson for several years, Henry Keswick was not only the former head, but also the previous major shareholder of Jardine Matheson. He was also supported by other British shareholders.

And he is just a professional manager.

"Can we use Lin Haoran to kick Henry Keswick out of Jardine Matheson completely?" While everyone was discussing it, suddenly, an evil idea emerged in Niu Bijian's mind.

He was naturally well aware that Henry Keswick's family wanted to drive him out of power so that Henry Keswick could come back to power.

In the face of competition with the Keswick family, he was even at a disadvantage.

However, after careful consideration, Niu Bijian had to give up this unrealistic idea.

He had met with Shen Bi, the boss of Hui Feng Bank, yesterday. Shen Bi had already stated to him that Hui Feng Bank would not support Lin Haoran in supporting Jardine Matheson.

In other words, there is a high probability that Lin Haoran will not be able to compete with the British consortium behind Jardine Matheson.

Even if he joined forces with Lin Haoran, what would be the use?

Thinking of this, Niu Bijian couldn't help but sigh.

Although he was not a shareholder of Jardine Matheson, he had been the boss for such a long time, and he was really unwilling to be kicked out! (End of this chapter)