giants of the era

Chapter 167 Hutchison Whampoa Company
Li Jiacheng is only considered a top rich man in Hong Kong now, but he is still far from the richest man in Hong Kong.Li Ka-shing's successful acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa's shares caused a huge sensation in the Hong Kong press at that time. Newspapers and magazines used eye-catching and large headlines to describe Li Ka-shing's successful acquisition of "snake swallowing an elephant" as if it had launched an airplane over Hong Kong. An atomic bomb, with its earth-shattering energy, not only caused a sensation in Hong Kong but also caused the stock market to soar.

Hutchison Whampoa Limited is a large multinational corporation with operations all over the world. It operates diversified businesses, including the largest container terminal operator in many markets in the world, retail chain groups, real estate development and infrastructure businesses, as well as the most technologically advanced telecommunications services.Li Ka-shing knows that HSBC will never hold Hutchison Whampoa for a long time, because it is unreasonable, legal and inconvenient for financial institutions to directly operate the company. It is only a matter of time before HSBC sells Hutchison Whampoa.

Therefore, since 1978, Li Ka-shing has been planning how to acquire the shares of Hutchison Whampoa from HSBC, and now it has reached the stage of the imminent transaction.

In the previous life, Hutchison Whampoa was worth a minimum of 14.4 yuan per share, but it was sold to Li Jiacheng for 7.1 Hong Kong dollars per share. The price was very cheap, and it also received loan support from HSBC.

No matter how Li Zetian thought about it, he felt that HSBC might be out of its wits, and actually sold the shares of Hutchison Whampoa at a [-]% discount.

Li Zetian immediately sent someone to investigate whether HSBC and Li Jiacheng had dirty transactions.

Not long after, the people under him wrote a report and faxed it to him, which mainly analyzed why HSBC Bank intends to sell the shares of Hutchison Whampoa Company to Li Jiacheng.

According to the above analysis, HSBC firstly owed Li Ka-shing a favor in the Wharf War; Favorability has enabled HSBC to make a smooth transition after Hong Kong's return, and its operations will not be affected by politics.

People in the shopping mall are weak, and the latter two points are the key to HSBC's sale to Li Jiacheng.

Li Zetian immediately dialed the number in Hong Kong and asked his subordinates to inform HSBC that he wanted to meet the chairman of HSBC.At the same time, he asked Dongfang Yuqin to book a flight to Hong Kong.Although Li Zetian is now worth tens of billions, they are basically shares, but not much cash, and the price of a Boeing 747 is as high as hundreds of millions of dollars. He is now reluctant to sell his shares to buy an airplane, which is too bad.Every company is growing fast and the value of the shares is increasing every day.In addition, he doesn't usually travel far, and can't take a few planes, so he doesn't need to buy planes at this stage.Of course, it also has something to do with him being an orphan in his previous life, and he was used to thrift.

The next day, Li Zetian flew to Hong Kong by plane.

After the plane took off, Li Zetian squinted his eyes, lay on the chair, slightly raised the corners of his mouth, showing a confident smile, and murmured in his heart: "I don't believe it. I went to Hong Kong. HSBC would still value Li Jiacheng so much? With the Chinese in the In terms of influence in the world, can Li Jiacheng compare to me?"

After 14 long hours, Li Zetian took the time to read the materials, and took a nap on the plane when he was tired. When the plane arrived in Hong Kong, it was exactly 9 o'clock in the morning and the sun was shining brightly.

Li Zetian first went back home, and at noon he asked Shen Bi, chairman of HSBC, to meet at a five-star hotel.

Shen Bi has a Chinese name, but he is a shrewd British guy. Under his leadership, HSBC's profits have grown rapidly, and its business development has reached its peak.

"Mr. Li, hello, it's a pleasure to meet you." Shen Bi smiled and stretched out his hand to say hello.

Li Zetian reached out to shake his hand, and said with a smile, "Hi, Mr. Shen, it's also a pleasure to meet you."

The two sat down and greeted the waiter to serve.

HSBC is essentially a British colonial bank and has always maintained a special relationship with the British Hong Kong government.This gives it a privileged monopoly position in Hong Kong's financial industry.HSBC's deposits account for about half of Hong Kong's deposits. Before the establishment of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, HSBC had been performing the duties of the central bank in Hong Kong.Therefore, if any rich man in Hong Kong does not have the support of HSBC, he will certainly not be able to become a big climate.

In the era of the British Hong Kong government, HSBC, as the leader of Hong Kong’s British monopoly consortium, actually controlled the entire Hong Kong economy, and the chairman of HSBC was the actual ruler of Hong Kong. Shen Bi’s status in Hong Kong can be imagined .

However, no matter how powerful HSBC is, it is also powerful in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, and it is just a bank.Li Zetian is now in full swing, with great potential in his career and huge capital flow, countless banks are begging to cooperate with him.Moreover, Li Zetian's business has already expanded to Europe. If HSBC wants to find a strong partner, it is necessary to make friends with Li Zetian.In fact, Li Zetian now has little contact with HSBC, and usually cooperates with American banks.

Li Zetian didn't let the circle go, drank his saliva, and said straight to the point: "Mr. Shen, I heard that HSBC Bank plans to sell 20% of the shares in Hutchison Whampoa. To tell you the truth, I have no doubts about this company." very interested."

Hutchison Whampoa owns Hong Kong's container cargo port and a large land bank, as well as ParknShop and Watsons (health and beauty product retail chains) with monopoly benefits in Hong Kong's retail industry, and also owns 24 of Hong Kong's 14 ports of call berth.Hong Kong Port is one of the busiest and most efficient international container ports in the world, and it is also a major hub port in the global supply chain. There are more than 80 international liners providing about 500 container liner services every week, connecting Hong Kong Port to 500 countries around the world. Many destinations have ranked first in the world's container throughput for several consecutive years. If you think about it with your toes, you know that the port's profits are ridiculously high!
In addition, ParknShop and Wellcome supermarkets account for about 70% of Hong Kong's retail trade, and Watsons and Jardine Holdings' Mannings account for almost 70% of Hong Kong's medicinal material sales.

Before meeting with Shen Bi, Li Zetian had already read these materials on the plane, and he was even more determined to acquire Hutchison Whampoa Company.

Shen Bi frowned slightly. At this juncture, Li Zetian suddenly proposed to acquire the shares of Hutchison Whampoa Company, which surprised and embarrassed him.He has privately promised Li Ka-shing that HSBC will give priority to selling Hutchison Whampoa to Li Ka-shing.Li Ka-shing admired Li Ka-shing's shrewd, capable and honest business style, as well as the ever-growing Cheung Kong and its thriving performance.

However, when Li Jiacheng and Li Zetian were compared, they paled in an instant.

Shen Bi hesitated and pondered, his brain was running fast, analyzing the pros and cons.

Li Zetian waited quietly, slowly eating the small cakes brought by the hotel...

(End of this chapter)