In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

The sharp rise in the share price of Bank of East Asia almost made the entire stock market boil.

As the saying goes, where some are happy, others are sad.

Shareholders who held Bank of East Asia shares were overjoyed, but on the other hand, shareholders of one stock experienced the opposite reaction to that of Bank of East Asia.

This stock is Huifeng Bank!

the reason is simple.

Although not all financial and capital businesses of Lin Haoran's Hong Kong enterprises cooperate with Huifeng Bank, they account for at least 60 to 70 percent!

For example, Hong Kong Land Development, Hong Kong Electric Company, Hong Kong Telephone Company, Kowloon Motor Bus Company, etc., most of their capital transactions are conducted through Huifeng Bank, and the corporate funds deposits are also basically kept in Huifeng Bank.

Now that Lin Haoran has successfully taken over the Bank of East Asia, everyone knows what this means.

Therefore, when the performance of Bank of East Asia will increase significantly when Lin Haoran takes over, the bank's business will naturally decline as a result.

Obviously, Huifeng Bank, which has the most cooperation with Lin Haoran, will definitely be the first to be affected.

According to data released by a Hong Kong survey company last year, the total deposits of Hong Kong International Commercial Bank last year were HK$1312 billion, surpassing the entire Hong Kong financial industry.

The total deposits of Bank of East Asia are only HK$64 billion, so the gap between the two banks is quite large.

Among the HK$1312 billion of Huifeng Bank, companies under Lin Haoran contributed at least more than HK$ billion to Huifeng Bank.

Now, as Lin Haoran has become the absolute controlling shareholder of Bank of East Asia, his corporate finance business will definitely be transferred to Bank of East Asia.

As a result, Bank of East Asia's total deposits will surely increase significantly this year, and its financial strength will be further enhanced.

The total deposits of Huifeng Bank will naturally decline sharply due to the loss of financial business of Hong Kong's top giant companies such as the Hong Kong Land Group, Hong Kong Electric Group and Hong Kong Telephone Company.

In addition, two months ago, Huifeng Bank's attempt to acquire the Royal Bank of Scotland in the UK failed. These all represent the failure of Huifeng Bank's overseas market expansion.

Taking all these factors into account, the future of Huifeng Bank is cast with a heavy shadow.

So, this is the situation in the stock market.

The share price of Bank of East Asia began to fall sharply after the news of the surge in the market value of Bank of East Asia spread.

The originally relatively stable stock price trend suddenly became precarious. Investors sold their shares of Bank of East Asia and turned to the seemingly promising Bank of East Asia.

When the market opened in the morning, the total market value of Huifeng Bank was as high as HK$238 billion, surpassing all listed companies in Hong Kong.

However, as investors sold off their shares in large quantities, the share price of Huifeng Bank also fell sharply.

237 billion, 235 billion, 230 billion, 227 billion...

When the total market value of Bank of East Asia exceeded HK$52 billion at the last minute of the day's closing, the share price of Bank of East Asia also fell sharply, directly falling below the HK$200 billion mark and returning to the single digit. The final total market value fell back to HK$1 billion!
This was undoubtedly the worst trading day for Huifeng Bank in the past 20 years, with the decline reaching a terrifying 24.6%, which was shocking.

In sharp contrast, the market value of Bank of East Asia doubled on that day.

The performance of the two banks in the stock market is completely different.

When Lin Haoran heard about this, he found it a little unbelievable.

However, although the share price of Bank of East Asia has doubled, it has little to do with him. After all, he is unlikely to sell the shares.

What he was thinking about was what actions Huifeng Bank would definitely take to deal with this sudden crisis.

The most important thing is that before this, Shen Bi wanted to merge the Bank of East Asia into the Huifeng Bank but failed, so he made harsh words to him.

Therefore, if nothing unexpected happens, he or Bank of East Asia may have to face a fierce counterattack from Huifeng Bank or a difficult challenge from behind.

He thought about it and called Cui Zilong.

"Mr. Cui, please help me investigate some detailed information about some commercial war events of Huifeng Bank in recent years. I need it. In addition, please pay special attention to the new developments of Huifeng Bank!" After the call was connected, Lin Haoran directly stated his request.

Cui Zilong heard this and replied directly: "Okay, boss, please wait for the information. I will sort it out for you within half an hour. In addition, I will also pay special attention to Huifeng Bank. There is one of our hidden people in the senior management of Huifeng Bank. If they have any movement, I will get the news and inform you as soon as possible."

"Very good, Mr. Cui, thank you for your hard work. I'll be waiting for your good news!" Lin Haoran said and hung up the phone.

It is not difficult to collect Huifeng Bank’s business war information. Basically, it is ready-made and just needs to be sorted out.

About 20 minutes later, Lin Haoran received a document sent to him by Cui Zilong via fax. He sat in the office and read through the document carefully.

As the financial overlord of Hong Kong, Bank of Hong Kong has naturally experienced many fierce business wars in its more than 100 years of history, otherwise it would not have its current status.

This document records more than a dozen of the most important commercial war cases since the establishment of Huifeng Bank, including traditional financial competition as well as "high-end games" involving geopolitics, feng shui metaphysics and even armed confrontation.

Among them, the case of Huifeng Bank's acquisition of Hang Seng Bank, which Lin Haoran was very familiar with, is currently under review.

The list also includes the successful acquisition of the US Ocean Milan Bank by Huifeng Bank three years ago, which was later renamed as Haifeng Bank, and the failed acquisition of the Royal Bank of Scotland in the UK.

Lin Haoran read carefully each case one by one, and it took him more than half an hour to finish.

After reading it, he made some conclusions about Huifeng Bank’s business strategy.

With the development of Huifeng Bank over the years, commercial wars are inevitable, which are all for their own expansion and consolidation of their industry position.

Judging from past cases, the strategies commonly used by Huifeng Bank in business wars include:
First, information intelligence warfare.

Huifeng Bank attaches great importance to intelligence gathering. They will place spies within their opponents or obtain key information through cooperation with other financial institutions. Just like when it acquired Hang Seng Bank before, Huifeng Bank learned in advance that the senior management of Hang Seng Bank had different attitudes towards the acquisition, and thus formulated a precise acquisition strategy, which ultimately led to a successful acquisition.

Second, the public relations war.

Huifeng Bank is good at using the media and public opinion to influence market trends. During the acquisition of Haifeng Bank (formerly Ocean Millennium Bank of the United States), they widely publicized the bright prospects after the acquisition through the media, stabilized market confidence, and made the acquisition process relatively smooth.

However, when the acquisition of the Royal Bank of Scotland in the UK failed, they quickly used public relations means to blame the failure on external uncontrollable factors, thereby reducing the damage to their own reputation.

Third, the game of financial means.

Huifeng Bank will use various financial tools and means to suppress its competitors. For example, in the competition with some small banks, they will attract customers by lowering loan interest rates, raising deposit interest rates, etc., while increasing the financing costs of competitors, thereby weakening their competitiveness.

Fourth, the use of personal network.

Huifeng Bank has been operating in Hong Kong for many years and has accumulated a deep network of personal connections. They will use these personal connections in business wars, maintain good communication with government departments, regulatory agencies, etc., and strive for a favorable policy environment and regulatory support.

To sum it up in one sentence, Huifeng Bank's business war history fully demonstrates its attitude of using any means to achieve its goals, and its excessive reliance on political relations and pursuit of short-term interests.

Lin Haoran has keenly realized that Huifeng Bank will most likely repeat the same trick to suppress Bank of East Asia.

However, among these strategies, what he was most worried about was whether Huifeng Bank would persuade the Governor's Office to participate in this matter.

Once the Governor-General's Office forced him to give up the acquisition of Bank of East Asia, he would be helpless.

Of course, the probability of this happening is very small.

Because the current Governor, Mr. MacLehose, is more focused on acting within the rules.

Lin Haoran's acquisition of Bank of East Asia was legal and compliant, and everything was completed within the framework of the rules. Governor MacLehose had no reason to interfere forcibly.

However, the Hui Feng Bank has been operating in Hong Kong for many years and its close ties with the political circles cannot be underestimated. There is no guarantee that they will not use some unconventional means to influence the decision of the Governor's Office.

Given Huifeng Bank's past practice, this is not impossible.

Although it is still unclear how Huifeng Bank will fight back, he still has to make various preparations.

In addition to asking Cui Zilong to collect intelligence on Huifeng Bank, Lin Haoran also quickly contacted Li Fushu and asked Li Fushu, the current chairman of Bank of East Asia, to be prepared for the response.

The Li family has controlled the Bank of East Asia for so many years, and must have had a lot of dealings with the Bank of East Asia. The Bank of East Asia even coveted the Bank of East Asia, a long-established Chinese bank in Hong Kong.

The fact that the Li family was able to overcome all the difficulties in the end must be due to their unique coping strategies and profound foundation.

As for Lin Haoran, he is an outsider and doesn't know much about financial business wars. It is definitely impossible for him to fight Huifeng Bank personally.

In addition, Lin Haoran still continues to give the management rights of Bank of East Asia to the Li family. Therefore, no matter what, the upcoming financial war will still be dealt with by Li Fushu and his son as the main force.

All he could do was to ensure that when Li Fushu and his son were charging at the front, there was solid support in the rear, such as the necessary connections and resources.

Although he had read many business war cases of Huifeng Bank, Lin Haoran understood that the real battlefield was far more complex and changeable than the cases on paper.

"Haoran, don't worry. With your support, I will go all out to protect Bank of East Asia against the challenge from Huifeng Bank." Li Fushu said with a smile. (End of this chapter)