In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Not long after receiving Ma Shiming's reporting call, news about the bank information on that day finally came out.

On the morning of December 12, Lin Haoran finally received a call from Cui Zilong.

"Boss, the bank information has been collected completely. Since the banks involved this time are basically private banks, not listed banks, it is difficult for us to collect intelligence information. However, hard work pays off. The information we collected this time is very complete and should meet your needs!" Cui Zilong reported on the phone.

"Please bring the information to Shi Xundao's villa. I'll wait for you at home!" Lin Haoran said directly.

"Okay, boss, I'll take it right away!" Cui Zilong said, and hung up the phone in a hurry.

Twenty minutes later, Lin Hao saw Cui Zilong who was coming in a hurry.

He was seen holding a briefcase, which obviously contained the information that Lin Haoran needed.

Lin Haoran led him into the study on the first floor and poured him a cup of hot tea.

"Boss, this is the information we collected this time. The information is very detailed. I estimate that it will be difficult for you to read it in a short time, so I have asked someone to briefly summarize their advantages and disadvantages. Boss, you only need to read these brief information, determine which bank's information you are interested in, and then find out the detailed information of that bank!" Cui Zilong took out a pile of information and put it next to Lin Haoran.

Although Cui Zilong didn't know why his boss wanted to collect the bank information, he knew very well that he shouldn't ask too many questions.

There was indeed a lot of information, a thick stack that looked like there were at least several hundred sheets of paper!
It is no wonder that it took them four days to collect this information.

Lin Haoran took a quick look and found that in addition to Dah Sing Bank, Wing Lung Bank, Chiyu Bank, Nanyang Commercial Bank and Bank of East Asia mentioned earlier by Ma Shiming, there were also Bank of Guangdong, Bank of Beijing, Zhejiang First Bank, Hong Kong Commercial Bank, Dao Heng Bank, Far Eastern Bank, Hang Lung Bank, Hong Kong Chinese Bank, Ka Wah Bank, Wing On Bank and so on.

The information is indeed very complete. In addition to the information of Huifeng Bank and Hang Seng Bank, the information of as many as 25 banks is here.

However, Lin Haoran soon noticed a fact.

Even many of these Hong Kong-based banks have actually been acquired by foreign capital.

For example, Guangdong Bank was 100% acquired by Pacific Bank of the United States.

Jinghua Bank, 92% of its shares were acquired by International Commercial Trust Bank Group.

Zhejiang First Bank had 95% of its shares acquired by Japan's Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank.

Dao Heng Bank was acquired by Malaysia's Hong Leong Group for 100% equity.

Guang'an Bank was acquired by Japan's Fuji Bank with 100% equity.

Wing Hang Bank was acquired by the American company Irving Trust for a 51% stake.

……

After reading this, Lin Haoran was surprised to find that apart from these foreign-controlled banks, there were not many options left.

"Boss, although it is much easier to obtain bank licenses in Hong Kong nowadays, in the past few years, because the government restricted the issuance of bank licenses, many foreign banks had to either set up financial companies or acquire banks in Hong Kong that already had banking licenses in order to enter the Hong Kong banking market. This led to most of Hong Kong's local banks being invested by foreign capital." As if seeing Lin Haoran's confusion, Cui Zilong explained.

Lin Haoran sighed. He didn't expect that Hong Kong's banking industry had been so seriously infiltrated by foreign capital.

Moreover, it would obviously be more difficult for him to acquire a bank controlled by foreign capital.

Since others have acquired and controlled the banks in Hong Kong, it is obvious that their strength cannot be that bad.

If he wants to acquire it, the price must be high.

Therefore, he has no plans to acquire banks controlled by foreign capital for the time being.

"Mr. Cui, if I want to acquire a local bank, which one would be more suitable?" Lin Haoran suddenly asked.

There was so much information that he was too lazy to read it.

Cui Zilong must have known a lot from the bank information he collected through his subordinates in the past few days.

So, maybe he can provide some useful information.

"Boss, so you want to acquire a bank!" Cui Zilong suddenly realized. No wonder the boss asked him to collect this information.

Lin Haoran nodded and didn't continue speaking.

After Cui Zilong thought deeply, he slowly analyzed to Lin Haoran: "Boss, after careful consideration, I think you can consider choosing one of the three banks, Hong Kong Commercial Bank, Dah Sing Bank, and Bank of East Asia, for acquisition.

Although foreign banks have involvement in these three banks, the proportion of foreign holdings is not high.

Specifically, the foreign shareholders of Hong Kong Commercial Bank include Japan's Tokai Bank and Thailand's Bangkok Bank, each holding only 10% of the shares, and the total foreign shareholding ratio is only 20%;

Dah Sing Bank currently has only one foreign shareholder, Standard Chartered Bank of the United Kingdom, which holds a 7.5% stake;

As for Bank of East Asia, it has two foreign bank shareholders, namely Societe Generale and China Construction Investment (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd.

Among these three banks, Bank of East Asia is undoubtedly the largest in scale, and its strength ranks among the top five among local banks, second only to Bank of East Asia and Hang Seng Bank.

However, this also means that its acquisition may be the most difficult because Bank of East Asia is currently controlled by the Li family, one of the four famous families in Hong Kong.

In comparison, the acquisition difficulty of Hong Kong Commercial Bank and Dah Sing Bank may be lower. Although they also have foreign investment, the proportion of foreign shareholding is relatively low, and there is no strong local family background to support them. "

After listening to this, Lin Haoran nodded slightly, his eyes swept over the information provided by Cui Zilong, and he weighed the pros and cons in his mind. Choosing which bank to acquire not only depends on the proportion of foreign capital holdings and the size of the bank, but also on the feasibility, cost and future development strategy of the acquisition.

Among these banks, Bank of East Asia is undoubtedly the most famous. Even in Lin Haoran's previous life, Bank of East Asia was a very famous bank. Even decades later, its scale is not bad at all, and its total comprehensive assets are even close to HK$1 trillion.

Not only that, he also had a bank card from the Bank of East Asia in his previous life, so he was naturally very familiar with it.

As for the other two banks, to be honest, he had never heard of the Hong Kong Commercial Bank. Either they were directly swallowed up or they went bankrupt.

As for Dah Sing Bank, I have heard of it a little, but it is not very well-known and is obviously not as good as Bank of East Asia, Hang Seng Bank and Bank of East Asia.

Lin Haoran picked up the information of Bank of East Asia and started reading it.

"Hey, is Bank of East Asia now a listed company?" Lin Haoran asked in surprise.

He really didn't pay attention to this.

"Boss, Bank of East Asia went public very early and is one of the few senior listed banks in Hong Kong. As early as two years ago, Bank of East Asia was still one of the top 50 listed companies in Hong Kong by market value. However, with the surge in the market value of real estate companies in the past two years, its ranking has fallen, but even so, the total stock market value of Bank of East Asia is still firmly in the top 25 in Hong Kong, and its current total stock market value is about HK$ billion!" Cui Zilong said with a smile.

Lin Haoran began to become interested in listed companies.

If he couldn't have acquired it if it wasn't for Hang Seng Bank, he would definitely have chosen Hang Seng Bank.

But since Hang Seng Bank cannot be acquired, it is not impossible to choose Bank of East Asia, which is only slightly worse than Hang Seng Bank.

I just don't know if he can acquire this bank.

Lin Haoran turned his attention to the shareholding ratio of Bank of East Asia.

Li Peicai's family holds a 32.3% stake and is the actual controlling shareholder of Bank of East Asia.

Societe Generale holds a 5.99% stake, making it the second largest shareholder of Bank of East Asia.

China Construction Investment (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. is the third largest shareholder of Bank of East Asia, holding 4% of the shares.

As for the remaining shareholders, their shareholding ratio is below 2%, so they are not worth mentioning.

The shares held by this shareholder are less than 50%!

In other words, shareholders holding more than 50% of Bank of East Asia shares in the secondary market?

From this perspective, there might actually be a possibility that Bank of East Asia could be acquired!

The only trouble may be the obstacle posed by the Li family.

Bank of East Asia was founded by the Li family. Since its establishment for more than 60 years, it has always been controlled by the Li family.

Therefore, the Li family has always been a wealthy family in Hong Kong, and even one of the four major families in Hong Kong, with the same status as the Li family he is familiar with.

Acquiring Bank of East Asia would mean offending the Li family.

However, after some thought, Lin Haoran felt relieved.

With his current wealth, which is many times greater than that of the Li family, why is he still afraid of offending the Li family?

Although Li Peicai's family has always been a prestigious family in Hong Kong, his current status is obviously higher.

Just like the Li family, now they all want to have a good relationship with him.

What's more, most importantly, the acquisition of Bank of East Asia is just a normal business move.

Thinking of this, Lin Haoran made a preliminary decision in his mind.

However, he did not rush to make a decision. Instead, he put down the information and chatted with Cui Zilong in the study for a while.

After all, the other party had just sent the information over, so we had to entertain the guests.

After chatting with Cui Zilong for more than half an hour, he said goodbye to Lin Haoran.

After Cui Zilong left, Lin Haoran picked up the information and carefully read the information of Bank of East Asia.

If he had known that so many banks had been invaded by foreign capital, he would have told Cui Zilong not to investigate so much bank information.

In this way, the information has already been obtained.

However, things have come to this point and there is no point in saying more.

It took Lin Haoran several hours to slowly read through the information of Bank of East Asia.

After reading it, he took another quick look at the information of Dah Sing Bank and Hong Kong Commercial Bank.

Finally, Lin Haoran soon made a decision. He had already found his acquisition target, which was Bank of East Asia! (End of this chapter)