Hong Kong 1980: The Savage Era

Chapter 282 283 [Amazing Appetite]

John Madden and Qiu Depu soon received the news that Luo Qihong and Cheng Yutong jointly acquired Wheelock and Company and took over all the shares held by Zhang Yuliang's family.

In the evening of the second day, on behalf of a consortium headed by Southeast Asian tycoon Qiu Depu, Rothschild & Sons announced in the name of a newly registered Hong Kong company Falwyn that it would launch a HK$19 billion proposal to acquire Wheelock at a price of HK$6 per A share and 6 cents per B share, with the condition that the acquisition would only take effect if more than 50% of the shares were acquired.

Prior to the announcement of the acquisition, the Chiu Group already held a 23.5% voting stake in Wheelock Holdings.

In order to respond to the acquisition by the Qiu Degen consortium, Luo Qihong and Cheng Yutong registered a new company, Zheng Luo Co., Ltd., with each party holding 50% of the shares. At the same time, it was announced that Zheng Luo Company held 34.9% of the valid voting shares of Wheelock Company and 49.9% of the shares of United Enterprises Company.

This means that Zhengluo Company directly and indirectly controls 41.7% of the effective shares of Wheelock Company, making it the current largest shareholder of Wheelock Company.

The next morning, Cheng Yu-tung, chairman of Cheng & Luo Company, Luo Qihong, general manager, and Liang Botao, deputy general manager of Citizens Financial Company, attended a press conference together and publicly announced Cheng & Luo Company's full acquisition of Wheelock at a price of HK$6.6 per A share and HK$6.6 per B share, which was 10% higher than the Qiu Dehua Group.

As a result, the Kuo Teck Puat Group began to lose ground.

Luo Qihong knew that this kind of acquisition case still required a battle of public opinion, so he ordered Yu Jichang to publish information about the acquisition case of Zheng Luo Company and Wheelock Company in Tiantian Daily and other media products under Fujia Newspaper Company, which also stated that Dean Securities Investment Company still held about 5% of the effective shares of Wheelock Company.

In other words, Zhengluo Company has already won the acquisition, directly and indirectly holding 46.7% of the shares of Wheelock Group, and only needs 4% of the effective shares to win.

The shareholding of the Qiu Dehua Group was very different from that of the Zheng Luo Company. However, Qiu Dehua did not give up. Instead, he reported the "joint acquisition of the Zheng Luo Company" to the Commission, the Securities and Futures Commission and other institutions.

Unfortunately, the impact on Zheng Luo Company was very limited. All the funds of Zheng Luo Company came from Cheng Yutong and Luo Qihong, and it did not borrow from the bank. Therefore, even if the time was delayed, it would not bring down Zheng Luo Company.

Mandarin Oriental Hotel
Li Jiacheng, wearing black full-frame glasses, sat at the table with a warm smile on his face, talking to Luo Qihong. But in Luo Qihong's eyes, Li Jiacheng was just suppressing his emotions and being kind on the surface.

The two had a lot of conflicts, which started with the Gongbei Bank Building. They had only cooperated for the sake of profit.

"Mr. Luo is really sharp. He has acquired many companies in just a few years. Now he has acquired Wheelock Group. The speed of development is 10 times faster than our generation." Li Jiacheng's Hong Kong dialect is a little awkward, giving people a very deliberate and forced feeling.

Li Jiacheng's ancestral home is from Chaoshan, Guangdong Province. He learned Hong Kong dialect after he became an adult, so he inevitably has a heavy accent.

Luo Qihong smiled and said modestly, "Mr. Li, you are too kind. Compared with you, I am still a small witch compared to a big witch. The dividend of Hutchison Whampoa last year was higher than the market value of any real estate company under my control. I still have a lot to learn from you, Mr. Li. Mr. Li, please teach me some business methods."

Li Jiacheng declined and said, "Running a company is nothing more than employing people. I think Luo Sheng has a lot of experience, so there is no need for me to teach him. The management skills that Luo Sheng demonstrated when he took over the China Gas Company are very good."

"It seems that Mr. Li is still unwilling to teach me. Is he worried that 'teaching the apprentice will starve to death'?" Luo Qihong joked, with no intention of letting Li Jiacheng go.

This may seem meaningless, but it actually helps you take the initiative in the discussion later.

Being at a disadvantage now, it will be easier to gain the upper hand later.

Li Jiacheng thought that Luo Qihong didn't understand these things and he could take advantage of them in advance. However, who would have thought that Luo Qihong actually understood them and his methods were very experienced.

"Mr. Luo, you're being too polite. It's not that I don't want to say it, but there's really nothing to teach you." Li Jiacheng still evaded the question.

Bai Jinyan and Hong Xiaolian were chatting happily, as if they had known each other for a long time. Luo Qihong took a sip of red wine, leaned back in his chair, and crossed his legs. "Mr. Li, let's get down to business. To be honest, Mr. Li from Hengji Photo Company has approached me and offered me very generous terms."

Upon hearing this, Li Jiacheng's face flashed with a look of "as expected", and he immediately asked, "Mr. Luo, can you tell us the conditions of Hengji Photo Company?"

Luo Qihong shook his head. "This is confidential. Please forgive me for not being able to tell you clearly. Anyway, I am very satisfied."

The words "I am very satisfied" put a lot of pressure on Li Jiacheng. He knew that without huge benefits, he would not be able to convince Luo Qihong to help, which might be even higher than the loss of a failed acquisition.

Li Jiacheng was silent for half a minute, then turned to look at Hong Xiaolian. After Hong Xiaolian took out a document, he turned to Luo Qihong and said, "Why don't you take a look at our conditions first? If you are not satisfied, we can continue to talk and revise until you are satisfied."

Li Jiacheng's attitude was very good, which could be described as 'flexible', but it was this attitude that made Luo Qihong a little upset, and he couldn't help but give Li Jiacheng face.

The other party is a business tycoon with assets worth hundreds of billions. If they really become enemies, it will be a very uncomfortable thing for Luo Qihong. However, he has to secretly curb the other party's development momentum, which is very difficult to do.

Luo Qihong took the document and read it carefully.

The condition given in the document was to acquire the shares of the Electric Light Company held by De'an Company at a premium of 3%. Once Cheung Kong Holdings controlled the Electric Light Company, it would issue about 10% of new shares to Luo Qihong at a low price, and entice Luo Qihong to join the board of directors of the Electric Light Company and become a director of the board.

Such conditions seem good, but in fact they are useless. It is just a Buddha statue without any real power. It is not as good as Li Zhaoji's conditions.

"It's a 3% premium. Mr. Li is very sincere." Luo Qihong smiled slightly. "I can't say what the problem is, but the other Mr. Li's conditions are better."

Li Jiacheng pondered Luo Qihong's words carefully, and soon understood what Luo Qihong was concerned about. He said, "The 3% premium condition remains unchanged. What do you want to change the remaining conditions to? Or what conditions do you want to add?"

Luo Qihong shook his head and smiled, "My conditions will be very harsh, Mr. Li may not be able to bear it."

As soon as the words were spoken, the room fell into complete silence.

"Mr. Luo, please tell us what you have to say first. Perhaps we can make a deal." Li Jiacheng did not dare to agree easily and write a blank check.

"Okay, let me mention it then." Luo Qihong said awkwardly, "Hutchison Whampoa and Qingzhou Yingmud have a large piece of land on the waterfront of Hung Hom. Once it is developed, I hope to get a 20% stake."

The two companies have a land area of ​​3 million square feet in the Hung Hom area, which can be used to build more than 1 residential buildings. The profits they obtained in the past life amounted to tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars.

This is also an important source of funds for Li Jiacheng to expand his industries around the world. If some of it can be intercepted, it should be possible to weaken Li Jiacheng's business achievements.

Of course, Luo Qihong believed that Li Jiacheng would never agree to this, because it involved a wide range of issues and would undoubtedly be a blow to Li Jiacheng's grand plan, causing considerable damage.

Li Jiacheng suddenly became indifferent, and Hong Xiaolian was even more stunned. Both of them did not expect that Luo Qihong had such a big appetite and actually wanted to get involved in such a big project.

(End of this chapter)