In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

The meeting had just ended when an announcement released by Jardine Matheson quickly spread to several mainstream media in Hong Kong.

The news that Lin Haoran was promoted to vice chairman of the board of directors of Jardine Matheson undoubtedly caused an uproar.

In the past, Jardine Matheson was known as the internal fortress of the British financial group, and it was difficult for Chinese to get involved in its senior management, let alone such an important position as the second-in-command of Jardine Matheson.

But now, what did they witness with their own eyes?
Lin Haoran unexpectedly transformed himself into the vice chairman of Jardine Matheson?
Although Lin Haoran had previously threatened to acquire Jardine Matheson, almost no one believed he could succeed at the time.

Because experts in the industry have long analyzed and pointed out that as a Chinese, if Lin Haoran wants to completely control Jardine Matheson, his equity ratio must be close to or even exceed 50% in order to achieve this.

Therefore, in the eyes of many people, Lin Haoran, the new tycoon who has successfully acquired listed companies in Hong Kong many times, seems to be about to suffer a Waterloo at Jardine Matheson.

But now, although Lin Haoran failed to fully control Jardine Matheson, the news that he became the vice chairman of Jardine Matheson was enough to shock everyone.

what does this mean?
This means that Lin Haoran has successfully torn a crack in the solid barrier of Jardine Matheson, a British financial group.

From now on, the ownership structure of Jardine Matheson will no longer be the exclusive domain of British financial groups!

In the blink of an eye, it is October.

This news, with reports from major news media, quickly spread throughout Hong Kong.

From now on, Lin Haoran has another identity - Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Jardine Matheson!

If this identity were placed somewhere else, it might be very ordinary and mean nothing.

But in Hong Kong, this identity is too important.

As we all know, Jardine Matheson is the top foreign company in Hong Kong. Its tentacles extend widely to all walks of life in Hong Kong. The daily life of Hong Kong citizens is almost closely related to Jardine Matheson. Its business scope is wide, covering retail, catering, hotels, construction, insurance, real estate, securities and many other fields.

For example, Jardine Matheson owns retail giants such as Wellcome, 7-11, and Mannings, well-known catering brands such as Pizza Hut, KFC, and Maxim's, as well as luxury accommodation brands such as Mandarin Oriental.

After more than a hundred years of trials and tribulations, the Jardine Matheson brand has long been deeply rooted in the land of Hong Kong and has become an inseparable part of it.

It can be said that the vast majority of Hong Kong citizens have close ties with Jardine Matheson in their daily lives.

Therefore, when Lin Haoran joined the core senior management of Jardine Matheson, this news was undoubtedly exciting and welcome to the Chinese people.

No matter where we are, the sense of national honor is always deeply rooted in people's hearts.

Today, Hong Kong's economy has achieved remarkable achievements, and the pursuits of citizens have also been sublimated, from basic survival needs to higher ideals.

Lin Haoran was indeed as he said. Even though he was the vice chairman of Jardine Matheson, he never used his position to interfere in the management of Jardine Matheson.

Even after the meeting, Lin Haoran left Jardine Matheson. Unless there was something important, he was too lazy to go to Jardine House.

However, he also arranged one of his own people among the senior management, that is, Li Meihui, the former financial director of Aigo Company.

Now he has nothing to do with Aigoo anymore. Moreover, after the Jianing Group entered Aigoo, it would certainly be impossible for it to continue to hand over such an important position as finance to the cronies of the former boss. Therefore, Li Meihui also resigned from Aigoo.

It just so happened that it was very suitable for her to join Jardine Matheson and serve as an ordinary senior executive.

This can be regarded as having one's own informant in Jardine Matheson.

Outside the Hong Kong Electric Company building, Lin Haoran had just got out of his car and was about to go upstairs to chat with Chen Shoulin about China Gas Company's expansion into overseas markets, but he was stopped by reporters who had been lurking around for a long time.

The security guards of Hong Kong Electric Group and the brothers Li Weidong and Li Weiguo were planning to drive them away but were stopped by Lin Haoran.

"Whatever you want to ask, please ask as soon as possible. I will answer it if I can. I will give you five minutes!" Lin Haoran looked at the time on his wrist and said to the reporters with a smile.

Lin Haoran's words immediately surprised the reporters.

"Mr. Lin, there are rumors that you have given up the acquisition of Jardine Matheson. Is that true?" a reporter asked first.

"I have currently stopped purchasing Jardine Matheson shares and made it clear at the board meeting that I will not further increase my holdings." Lin Haoran did not directly respond to the rumors.

In fact, his plan was far from giving up Jardine Matheson. Instead, he intended to achieve counter-control over Jardine Matheson through the Hong Kong Land Group.

However, the outside world was not aware of this. They mistakenly believed that Lin Haoran's cessation of shareholding meant that he had completely given up controlling Jardine Matheson and was only satisfied with the position of vice chairman of the board of directors of Jardine Matheson. In this way, in the battle to acquire Jardine Matheson, Lin Haoran seemed to have neither succeeded nor failed.

"Mr. Lin, as the senior executive of Jardine Matheson Bank second only to Mr. Niu Bijian, will you continue to pursue the position of boss?" a reporter continued to ask.

"If there is an opportunity, I certainly hope that I can become the head of Jardine Matheson. However, it is obvious that other British financial groups are unwilling for me to take up this position. So I can only think about it. As for whether there will be an opportunity in the future, who knows? Let time tell!" Lin Haoran said with a smile.

Next, Lin Haoran answered a few more questions in succession and then walked into the Hong Kong Electric Group building under the protection of security guards, leaving a dozen reporters who wanted to ask further questions and had to leave with regret.

Lin Haoran was able to answer so many questions, which was already a courtesy to them. If they continued to pester him, it would be a bit too much.

In the stock market, as Jardine Matheson announced that Lin Haoran would become the vice chairman of the board of directors and Lin Haoran announced that he would no longer increase his holdings of Jardine Matheson shares, for a while, the share price of Jardine Matheson seemed to have stalled and no one continued to speculate.

After all, Lin Haoran's answer was basically equivalent to giving up on continuing to acquire Jardine Matheson. In this way, without suspense, the share price of Jardine Matheson naturally could not continue to maintain a high price.

However, these have little to do with Lin Haoran.

Because even if the share price of Jardine Matheson fell, he would not be very interested in its shares.

Now, what he is pursuing is to let the Swire Group hold a controlling stake in Jardine Matheson. In this case, whether Jardine Matheson increases its stake or not is no longer of much significance.

As for the Hong Kong Electric Company, its overseas expansion has been going very smoothly. After winning the bid for power supply near Bangkok, the Hong Kong Electric Company's experts have conducted an investigation and have decided to build a dam in a valley near Bangkok and a reservoir with an area of ​​more than ten square kilometers, which will then be used to generate electricity.

As the only listed subsidiary of Hong Kong Electric Company Limited, China Gas Company is also planning to go overseas.

No matter how well they live in Hong Kong, the market there is too small after all, and the space for development is very limited.

Therefore, if you want to expand the market, in addition to involving other industries, the best and simplest way is to open up overseas markets!
Although it cannot achieve a monopoly overseas like it does in Hong Kong, as long as it can occupy a part of the market, the China Gas Company's turnover will increase significantly.

Today, Towngas has also set its sights on the Nanyang market, especially the big cities in the Nanyang market.

Nanyang has a large population, such as Singapore, Jakarta, Bangkok, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, etc. Except for Singapore, which has a smaller area and a smaller population than Hong Kong, there are many cities with a larger population than Hong Kong.

If China Gas Company can enter a few of these cities, the company's turnover will increase significantly.

If Lin Haoran were to use his own identity in Hong Kong, he might not be able to enter these markets.

But with the help of the Guo family, the local boss in Southeast Asia, the local government will basically give face to the Guo family, greatly increasing the possibility of China Gas Company entering these markets.

For example, Chen Shoulin recently discussed with relevant leaders in Kuala Lumpur to allow China Gas Company to jointly establish a new energy supply company with a local enterprise.

While Lin Haoran and Chen Shoulin were discussing the company's plans, someone was also chatting in Niu Bijian's office in the Jardine House.

Opposite Niu Bijian was Henry Keswick, the current head of the Keswick family.

"Mr. Niu Bijian, I estimate that I will be returning to England in two days. Before I go back to England, I want to talk to you." Henry Keswick said solemnly.

He had been in Hong Kong for several days and had to prepare to return to London.

After all, Henry Keswick was not only an important shareholder of Jardine Matheson, he also had many industries in the UK.

He is needed to take charge of the situation there, so it is impossible for him to leave the UK for too long.

"Of course, Mr. Henry, please tell me what you want to talk about!" Niu Bijian faced Henry Keswick. Even though the two sides had become hostile due to power issues, Niu Bijian always gave Henry Keswick enough respect.

Because the reason why Niu Bijian was able to take the position of head of Jardine Matheson was actually because he was promoted by Henry Keswick.

Niu Bijian worked at Jardine Matheson for thirty years, and it can be said that he basically worked at Jardine Matheson for his entire life.

When Henry Keswick stepped down, he saw Niu Bijian's talent and chose him as his successor.

But who could have imagined that after Niu Bijian became the head of Jardine Matheson, he had become obsessed with the supreme power of Jardine Matheson, which meant that the Keswick family's controlling stake in Jardine Matheson was constantly weakening.

Looking at his former subordinate in front of him, Henry Keswick felt a little emotional.

Who would have thought that his trusted followers who used to obey him and obeyed his orders would be obedient now that they have grown stronger. (End of this chapter)