Hong Kong 1980: The Savage Era

Chapter 150 [Expansion and Division]

Thursday, May 11

Luo Qihong was sitting in the China Gas Company, reading a newspaper with a smile of contempt on his lips.

The business of China Gas Company is very stable. First, it supplies gas to residents through gas pipelines, and second, it makes profits by selling bottled gas.

The overall monthly gas consumption of residents does not change much, and the revenue and profit of China Gas Company will not change much. If there is any change, it will be an increase, and there will rarely be a big decrease.

As a result, it also controls a number of spin-off companies, such as a gas cylinder manufacturing company, a gas transportation company, and even a small shipping company.

The above-mentioned companies are all wholly owned and controlled by China Gas Company. In fact, the market value of China Gas Company is far more than 22 billion yuan. According to Luo Qihong's calculations, it is no less than the market value of more than 50 billion yuan of Hong Kong Electric Company.

The reason why Luo Qihong dared to expand his company in this way was that he controlled the China Gas Company. As long as he had this company in his hands, he would have the financial power to make a comeback, which was also the reason why he was determined to control the China Gas Company at all costs.

For a tycoon, it is very important to have a base. This is also the reason why Li Zhaoji in his previous life was willing to pay any price and endure the sniping of Liu Luanxiong.

Luo Qihong had the same idea as John Madden and Li Zhaoji. China Gas was a treasure and did not need to be too famous, so he had no idea or plan to raise its stock price.

The newsprint published a report that Carrian Company had reached an agreement with Li Ka-shing of Causeway Bay. Li Ka-shing sold the factory land of its United Soft Drinks subsidiary to Carrian Company. The land area was 6.94 square feet, the selling price was HK$1.2 million, and it could be built into a floor area of ​​60 square feet.

In addition, Carrian Company and Singapore's Yeo Hiap Seng Group jointly formed Lao Zhi Company, with Carrian Company holding the majority of the shares, to acquire Lee Ho Woo's United Soft Drinks Company.

In fact, Singapore's Yeo Hiap Seng Group, as a large food manufacturing company, also has a soda brand under its umbrella, but it cannot compete with American-owned Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. Perhaps it wants to regain some market share through United Soda Company.

United Soda Company was also on the decline, otherwise Li Ho-woo would not have sold it. However, this brand still has some market in Hong Kong.

Luo Qihong was somewhat interested in this United Soda Company. The soda market was huge, and it could be used to enter the mainland market. Although Coca-Cola and PepsiCo had already entered the mainland market, he could open up sales by relying on price.

So Luo Qihong wrote the name of United Soda Company on his notebook. If you look carefully, you will find that there are several company names in it, including Huaguang Real Estate Company (the family real estate company of shipping magnate Zhao Congyan), Chinese Estates Company, China Entertainment Real Estate Company, Wheelock Company, etc.
Among them, what Luo Qihong valued most was naturally Wheelock & Company, one of the four major trading companies in Hong Kong.

In his previous life, Li Jiacheng relied on Hutchison Whampoa's many overseas companies to radiate his influence. He acquired many industries in the UK, Australia, Canada and other places, and created a world-class family.

It can be seen that planting trees for future generations to enjoy the shade is of great importance!

Luo Qihong naturally wanted to replicate this development model. In fact, only the shipping industry of Wheelock Company could compare with Hutchison Whampoa. Other industries were very average, and some industries were even not as good as medium-sized companies, so the role they played was definitely not as good as that of Hutchison Whampoa.

But having that shelf is extremely important, otherwise Luo Qihong would need to spend a lot of manpower and material resources to create it 'from scratch'.

The next news is about Zhaoan Real Estate Company. After several days of rising, its stock price has risen to 2.78 yuan, and its market value has successfully exceeded 2 million yuan.

This stock price is temporarily not enough to reach the subscription price of Dean Securities Investment Company at that time, but Luo Qihong is still full of confidence.

There are also some news about Dean Securities Investment Company, which are given very little space and only report on Dean Securities Investment's actions in recent days.

"Huh? Swire Trading Company!" Luo Qihong read the entire page. He had already paid attention to Swire Trading Company when he acquired Hexiang Trading Company last time.

Naturally, he wanted to acquire this trading company which ranked among the top 5 in Hong Kong. However, now was a golden age for making money through trade and Jardine Matheson would certainly not be willing to sell it. Moreover, he did not have the financial resources to carry out the acquisition.

"It's time to start looking for other trading companies." Luo Qihong said lightly.

The shortcut to development for a trading company is acquisition, using the essence of others to expand and make up for shortcomings in other areas.

Luo Qihong may have to thank Gong Guoyan for canceling the listing status of Hexiang Trading Company. Without this person's help and determination, he may not be able to fully control Hexiang Trading Company and freely call on private funds for acquisitions. As for the fundraising and share offering function of listed companies, Luo Qihong believes that Hexiang Trading Company can raise a small amount of funds. If it exceeds 5 million yuan, the fundraising and share offering may fail.

Therefore, this aspect is not as convenient as private funds, and he can also transfer funds in Hexiang Trading's account at will.

After making up his mind, Luo Qihong immediately summoned Su Qishan and asked him to collect information on trading companies again, focusing on small trading companies and the businesses they operated.

"Boss, do you want to expand the business scope of Hexiang Trading Company?" Su Qishan asked calmly. He had witnessed a lot of Luo Qihong's operations.

"Yes, so you should pay attention to collecting information in this area." Luo Qihong continued to remind.

"Ever since Resk took over as manager of the sales department and Zamasu took over as manager of the transportation department, many foreigners have begun to admit defeat and do not want to lose their jobs. The situation in the company has gradually calmed down." Su Qishan briefly described the company's current office situation.

"Yeah!" Luo Qihong nodded, but he was thinking in his mind how to continue to reuse the Chinese groups, cut the power of the foreign groups, and make the China Gas Company completely under his control.

However, this cannot be said to Su Qishan for the time being, to prevent it from being leaked and causing unnecessary turmoil.

He also did not have suitable Chinese administrators to replace those foreigners, so he had to adopt the strategy of 'boiling the frog in warm water'.

"The company's third quarter earnings report is out. Do you plan to distribute dividends or make investments?" As the person in charge of the secretariat, Su Qishan can see such reports.

"Let's talk about dividends. How much profit is there?" Luo Qihong asked casually after taking the report.

"About 6 million yuan!" Su Qishan replied.

"Do we need to use this opportunity to raise the stock price?" Su Qishan asked.

Luo Qihong shook his head. "My 36% stake is not very stable. I will need to increase my holdings in the future. It is not appropriate to raise the stock price now, nor is it appropriate to suppress the stock price. Let's keep it as it is."

If the stock price is too low, it will easily attract the attention of other financial groups and create unnecessary trouble.

You have to know that although Luo Qihong seems powerful now, he is actually a "medium-level" person and is very afraid of challenges from other financial groups.

Fortunately, the environment at that time was still good. British capital was strong, and most of the Chinese tycoons wanted to seize high-quality industries from British capital, leaving some room for their Chinese compatriots.

Unlike after 86, when British capital shrank, a large number of high-quality companies were taken over by the Chinese, triggering internal strife among the Chinese.

Restaurant lobby of Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Central
Luo Qihong and Li Bingjun had dinner here, but since there was nothing important to discuss, they did not book a private room.

"I heard that Uncle Li and Rocky are splitting up. How is it going?" Luo Qihong asked casually while cutting the steak.

This incident had some impact on Luo Qihong, but overall not significant.

"The basic terms have been negotiated, and there is one more item under discussion." Li Bingjun said truthfully.

"Would you mind telling me about it? Perhaps I can give you some advice." Luo Qihong smiled slightly. Lin Luoqi had been busy splitting up the business and had no energy to raise the share price of Best Real Estate Company.

"It's a question of equity distribution of Hongpu Real Estate Company. Lin Luoqi hopes that Dehe Real Estate Company will retain some equity, and at the same time requires us to pay the acquisition funds as soon as possible." Li Bingjun was a little worried, after all, it was related to the transformation of the Li family.

(End of this chapter)