In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

"Boss, you're back. This is probably the longest time you've been away from Hong Kong!" The person who picked him up at the airport was Cui Zilong, who said with some emotion at this moment.

"Yes, this is indeed the longest time I have been away from Hong Kong since I entered the business world!" Lin Haoran said with a smile and nodded.

Before this, whether he went to the United States or the United Kingdom, he only stayed there for a month at most each time.

This time, he stayed in Japan for as long as four months.

Moreover, if Dai Shi hadn't called him, he wouldn't even have planned to return to Hong Kong in the short term.

The biggest reason, of course, is that his investment in Japan is too huge, and even he has to pay attention to it.

On the other hand, the industry in Hong Kong has long been on the right track. With Burton, Ma Shimin, Chen Shoulin, Cui Zilong and other capable people in charge, he is very relieved.

Moreover, in the business community of Hong Kong, both the British and Chinese financial groups have realized his strengths and weaknesses in the past two or three years and dare not easily become his enemy.

Therefore, this is why he is so confident to stay in Japan.

"Let me take you to Kangle Building first. Also, I have had several of your private cars driven here. I have had them checked before they came, and there is no problem with the condition of the cars." Cui Zilong continued.

Lin Haoran nodded.

At this time, two shuttle buses drove up to Lin Haoran and others.

A dozen people got on the shuttle bus and drove to the airport parking lot.

A few months ago, when leaving Hong Kong, after parking his several private cars in the airport parking lot, Lin Haoran instructed Cui Zilong to have the cars driven back to the company for regular maintenance.

After all, he didn't know how long he would be away in Japan. If the car was just left in the open-air parking lot of Kai Tak International Airport, exposed to the wind, rain and sun, the car would definitely have problems after a few months.

Sitting in the familiar Rolls-Royce, Lin Haoran continued chatting with Cui Zilong.

From Oriental Press, we talked about the current situation of Global Security Consulting Company.

Along the way, Lin Haoran looked at the bustling streets and the heavy traffic in the center of Hong Kong.

After being away for several months, I now feel a special kind of intimacy when I return.

It has only been a few months since I last came back, but Hong Kong has undergone significant changes.

For example, in Tsim Sha Tsui, he saw several completed high-rise buildings. In Lin Haoran’s previous impression, these high-rise buildings were still semi-finished products under construction.

The change is more obvious when you pass through the Hung Hom Tunnel, through Causeway Bay, Wan Chai and on the way to Central.

Compared with the Kowloon Peninsula, the changes in the northern part of Hong Kong Island are obviously greater.

The real estate crisis has not yet arrived, so Hong Kong's real estate industry is still booming.

The convoy drove smoothly back to the underground parking lot of Kangle Building.

At the same time, in a high-rise building not far from the headquarters of Huifeng Bank, Li Guobin, President of Bank of East Asia, was sitting in his office with a serious expression.

Opposite Li Guobin is Li Fushu, chairman of Bank of East Asia and Li Guobin’s father.

Li Guobin is the successor trained by Li Fushu. As he grew older, Li Fushu gradually handed over most of the management rights to his eldest son Li Guobin.

This year, Li Fushu directly promoted Li Guobin to the position of president. From this, it can be seen that Li Fushu is very optimistic about his eldest son.

The Li family is definitely a wealthy and powerful family in Hong Kong.

Bank of East Asia was founded by Li Guobin's great-grandfather Li Peicai 63 years ago. Among the Chinese banks in Hong Kong, Bank of East Asia has a long history.

All along, because the Li family has firmly held the controlling stake in Bank of East Asia, and Bank of East Asia is one of the giants in Hong Kong banks, the status of the four major families of the Li family has never changed.

In order to develop, in the early 1970s, Bank of East Asia, under the control of the Li Peicai family, was successfully listed, thereby raising more funds and successfully allowing Bank of East Asia to develop faster.

However, there are definitely disadvantages to listing Bank of East Asia, and that is that the Li family's shares in Bank of East Asia will continue to decrease.

Today, ten years after its listing, several rounds of financing, and the occasional sale of shares by the Li family for cash, the shares of Bank of East Asia held by Li Peicai's family have become fewer and fewer, and now only 32.3% remains.

Even so, the Li family is very reassured by this equity and is not afraid that the controlling stake of Bank of East Asia will fall into the hands of others.

After all, 32.3% of the shares are still an absolute force that cannot be ignored in Bank of East Asia. The shareholdings of other shareholders are relatively dispersed, and it is difficult for them to form a joint force to compete with it.

In addition, the Li family is the founding family of Bank of East Asia and has never been out of the control of the Li family since its establishment. For Bank of East Asia, the Li Peicai family has deep-rooted influence and voice, and has placed a large number of family confidants in the bank's decision-making and management levels.

Everything seemed to indicate that no force could seize the controlling stake of Bank of East Asia from the Li family.

This has indeed been the case in recent years.

With the Bank of East Asia developing so well, it is natural that some people would covet it. In recent years, not only Chinese financial groups have thought about acquiring the Bank of East Asia, but even many foreign capital forces have had such thoughts.

But in the end, without exception, they all failed.

It can be said that the Li Peicai family has a firm control over the Bank of East Asia, even though their holdings in the Bank of East Asia are constantly decreasing.

But since this year, they have gradually discovered that there are problems with the stock trading of Bank of East Asia.

As the corporate controlling shareholder, they are well aware of the stock market situation of Bank of East Asia.

Although Galaxy Securities' acquisition of shares was secretive, there is no wall that is impenetrable, and the Li family still noticed some clues.

Dai Shi and others secretly absorbed so many shares, the trading volume remained high, and the number of sell orders decreased, which made the Li family realize that someone must be eyeing the Bank of East Asia.

Therefore, they let a shareholder come out to test the waters and find out who was behind the scenes. Even though they did not believe that the other party had the ability to acquire Bank of East Asia, they still wanted to know who was controlling everything behind the scenes.

Sure enough, they really found it out.

But what happened made the Li family panic.

They didn't expect that the force coveting the Bank of East Asia would be Lin Haoran.

If we were to ask who is the business community that Hong Kong cannot afford to offend in recent years, Li Fushu feels that it must not be the British financial group, but Lin Haoran!
After all, even Jardine Matheson was driven out of Hong Kong by Lin Haoran. It is conceivable how strong the other party is.

Therefore, after learning that the force behind this was Lin Haoran, the Li family panicked.

What is the most frightening thing about Lin Haoran?
That’s definitely his acquisition ability.

Over the past three years, Lin Haoran has successively acquired Ching Chau Cement Company, Hong Kong Electric Group, China Gas Company, Oriental Press Company, Kowloon Motor Bus, Hong Kong Land Development, Hong Kong Telephone Company, etc.

Which one is not famous in Hong Kong?
In fact, several of these companies had a market value that was not inferior to that of Bank of East Asia before being acquired.

Under such circumstances, it would be strange if the Li family was not panicking.

The whole of Hong Kong knows that Lin Haoran has almost never lost a battle in Hong Kong.

Perhaps the only failure was the failed acquisition of Jardine Matheson.

However, Jardine Matheson was also controlled by Lin Haoran for a period of time, and eventually the British financial consortium paid a huge price to regain control of Jardine Matheson.

It can be said that if Lin Haoran had not taken the initiative to give up Jardine Matheson, the British consortium would not even have the opportunity to take back Jardine Matheson.

And now, their family business, Bank of East Asia, has been targeted by Lin Haoran.

Is this still available?

"Dad, I asked President Dai this morning, and he said that Mr. Lin Haoran will return to Hong Kong in the near future to handle the matters of Bank of East Asia. Do we really have to bow our heads in front of Mr. Lin?" Li Guobin asked unwillingly.

In Li Guobin's heart, he always felt that Bank of East Asia was the family business of their Li Peicai family.

But Daddy said that he planned to accept Lin Haoran.

This made Li Guobin feel very unwilling.

After all, once his father steps down, Bank of East Asia will be completely under his control.

As the largest Chinese bank in Hong Kong, excluding those powerful foreign banks such as Standard Chartered Bank and Citibank, Bank of East Asia's strength in Hong Kong is second only to Bank of East Asia and Hang Seng Bank.

The Li family is definitely a giant in Hong Kong's financial industry.

The strong strength of Bank of East Asia is also the biggest reason why they became one of the four major families.

But once Lin Haoran enters the Bank of East Asia, the strength of their Li family in the Bank of East Asia will definitely be weakened.

This is what Li Guobin is most unwilling to accept.

"Guo Bin, do you think we can compete with Lin Haoran? Even though we hold 32.3% of the shares of Bank of East Asia, we don't know how many shares of Bank of East Asia Mr. Lin already holds. You should have noticed that the number of sell orders of Bank of East Asia is decreasing, which means that the shares held by the other party must be quite high.

In this case, if we go head-to-head with Lin Haoran, do you think our Li family has the strength to compete with him in terms of wealth? Compared with Lin Haoran's huge assets, we are undoubtedly hitting a stone with an egg. Even a Landmark Group is enough to match many East Asia Banks, and the Landmark Group is now his privatized enterprise.

In addition to the Landmark Group, Lin Haoran also controls many companies. With the assets of these companies added together, what do you think our Li family can use to compete with them?" Li Fushu sighed.

"But, as long as we hold more than 50% of the shares, then what does it matter if Lin Haoran is rich?" Li Guobin said unwillingly.

The Li family now holds 32.3% of the shares, which means that as long as they increase their holdings by another 18%, they can achieve this goal.

This is why Li Guobin doesn't understand why his father gave up directly increasing his holdings. Is it because the other party is Lin Haoran? (End of this chapter)