Reborn since 1993

Chapter 1208 Coronation
For years, Bank of China Hong Kong City Company has been the one suppressed by HSBC in Hong Kong.

The feng shui battle between Bank of China, HSBC, and other banks in Central in the past reveals the nature of their relationships.

There are, of course, a variety of reasons for this, including HSBC's longer presence in Hong Kong, its more comprehensive overseas channels and systems for banking, investment banking, retail, and other businesses, its operations in seventy countries, and the greater convenience of using HSBC overseas.

In these aspects, Bank of China is indeed inferior to HSBC. Many large clients and wealthy individuals in Hong Kong, especially companies from the UK and America, prefer to cooperate with HSBC.

But besides these, there is one more crucial point: for the past century, the port city has been under the control of the British Government.

HSBC, being British, naturally thrives in Hong Kong compared to banks like Bank of China.

After Hong Kong's return to China, Bank of China gradually began to show signs of recovery in the city.

The emergence of China.com may become a "landmark" event for Bank of China Hong Kong City Company!
If BOC Hong Kong City Company can take on the financing of China.com and even participate in its listing in the future, it will be equivalent to BOC taking the lead in Hong Kong's Internet industry. In the future, it will have the opportunity to make financing, loans, and listing of Hong Kong's technology stocks the foundation of BOC Hong Kong City Company!
It should be noted that in the past, Bank of China was completely unable to compete with HSBC in terms of listing and financing of Hong Kong companies.

But now, Bank of China Hong Kong City Company has gained the upper hand!

All of this is related to the previous acquisition of Hong Kong City Telecom by Cyberport, backed by Bank of China. Cyberport acquired Hong Kong City Telecom by overpowering PCCW, which was backed by HSBC.

This transformed Cyberport into the second largest company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and the subsequent Silicon Harbor project, China.com, and Bank of China are all eligible to join.

This is the MVP settlement screen for the winning team. Basically, the winner takes all. Bank of China previously bet on Cyberport, and now it's time for Cyberport to reward Bank of China.

However, for Dongling Hi-Tech, choosing Bank of China as its partner means that in the future, when supporting Cyberport's Hong Kong-based bank overseas, it can prevent being sold out by certain treacherous banks at a critical moment...

Cao Zongyan's chubby face was full of smiles. After greeting Ning Wenke and the others, he glanced around and said, "It seems there are other guests today?"

Li Dongling didn't hide anything and said directly, "We also invited Wei Jiaxuan, President of Bear Stearns Asia, and Cornell, President of Goldman Sachs Asia Pacific Investment Bank!"

Upon hearing that Li Dongling had also invited these two people, Cao Zongyan immediately understood Li Dongling's meaning, but he couldn't help but be surprised by Li Dongling's generosity.

The fact that so many organizations have been brought in this time clearly indicates they're preparing to create a big news story!
A short while later, two more yachts arrived one after another. When Wei Jiaxuan and Cornell saw Cao Zongyan, they exchanged a few polite words, their faces remaining calm, but only they knew what they were thinking.

"plum!"

"Goldman Sachs has always been very bullish on Dongling Hi-Tech, and China.com is about to set a new record!"

After sitting down, Cornell smiled at Li Dongling, subtly revealing the relationship between Dongling High-Tech and Goldman Sachs, highlighting that the two sides had collaborated on numerous projects.

Goldman Sachs played a significant role in Dongxin Semiconductor's recent acquisition of Meipusi Company, but it also benefited from the deal. Needless to say, the profits it made from Dongling Hi-Tech have made it more active in the mainland market.

Cornell's statement was also intended to give Goldman Sachs an advantage.

Wei Jiaxuan naturally understood Cornell's implied meaning, but she only chuckled. As a female professional manager, the fact that Bear Stearns entrusted her Asian business to her was enough to prove that Wei Jiaxuan was no ordinary person.

"With Cyberport's strength and Li's operational skills, China.com has become the website with the most daily user visits in Asia."

Everyone knows the potential of China.com, but realizing that potential requires external support. Bear Stearns has enough connections and power on Wall Street to fully realize China.com's potential!

Wei Jiaxuan said with a hint of implication, almost stating it outright, that Bear Stearns could support China.com's listing on NASDAQ.

Whether Bear Stearns was a Wall Street institution or not is debatable in terms of which institution was most deeply involved in the internet wave, but it was certainly the most aggressive Wall Street investment bank!
Bear Stearns was truly spurred on by internet concept stocks like Yahoo and Feiyan Technology, watching helplessly as Yahoo's market value soared from a billion-dollar internet company to over 30 billion dollars in less than two years!
The firms that underwrote Yahoo's stock are making a killing.

This speed, which even printing presses couldn't keep up with, made Bear Stearns completely envious.

Nowadays, no matter how strong an internet company is, as long as there is an opportunity to go public on Nasdaq, Bear Stearns is willing to take a gamble, hoping to run into the next Yahoo!
This made Bear Stearns very aggressive in the internet industry. No matter how well the internet company performed, Bear Stearns would take it public whenever there was an opportunity.

The number of internet companies that have gone public in recent years is several times that of their peers, such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

But this isn't even the craziest part yet. In the previous life, next year, Bear Stearns sent 67 internet companies to Nasdaq in a single year, averaging six per month. Even dropping dumplings into a pot couldn't have done that fast. To be honest, they've gone so far as to shamelessly fleece the public...

It's easy to imagine how reckless Bear Stearns was. The infamous Pets.com, the pet e-commerce website that ripped off countless people, was one of the sites Bear Stearns took public, and then went bankrupt...

Compared to internet companies like Pets that rely solely on gimmicks and advertising, China.com's model is similar to Yahoo's. Yahoo's success has proven that the portal website path is viable!

Bear Stearns, naturally eyeing China.com, was the first major Wall Street firm to contact Li Dashan. Listening to Wei Jiaxuan and Cornell, who were already engaged in a heated debate and subtle power struggle over China.com before even starting negotiations, Cao Zongyan couldn't help but take a sip of his drink.

Judging from the attitudes of these two individuals towards China.com, Cao Zongyan could tell that these two companies seemed determined to secure financing for China.com and obtain its equity.

Meanwhile, Wall Street institutions seem to value the internet even more than he imagined!

Li Dongling and Lin Xianhui did not intervene when Wei Jiaxuan and Cornell were arguing.

Regardless of whether the Wall Street institutions represented by these two individuals genuinely believe in China.com or are simply putting on an act for Li Dashan.

The more they argue with China.com, the easier it is to raise China.com's valuation, so there's no need to stop them.

"Thank you all for coming today. You are all old friends of Dongling Hi-Tech and Cyberport. As China.com, a subsidiary of Cyberport, we naturally hope to continue to cooperate with you!"

Of the Bank of China, Goldman Sachs, and Bear Stearns, only Bear Stearns is cooperating with Li Dashan for the first time. Inviting Bear Stearns this time also implies that Bear Stearns is meant to act as a disruptor.

Given Bear Stearns' obsession and fanaticism with the internet, they would definitely not let Goldman Sachs have the opportunity to invest in China.com, which would be most beneficial for China.com!
"As you all probably already know, there is no reason why I have invited you here today!"
China.com is preparing for a round of financing in order to expand China.com globally and increase its R&D and promotion expenses.

"China.com also hopes to get everyone's support!" Li Dongling said.

None of Cao Zongyan, Wei Jiaxuan, Cornell, or the others were surprised by these words.

After all, it couldn't have been for philanthropist Li to invite them out to international waters just to fish, even though he did bring fishing rods he had invested in...

How much funding does China.com want this time?

Cornell asked, "We all understand that China.com wants to raise money, but we still want to know at what valuation China.com is raising funds at."

After clearing his throat, Lin Xianhui said, "China.com plans to raise funds at a valuation of $28 billion!"

Lin Xianhui's first words silenced the yacht deck.

A sea breeze carrying a faint fishy smell blew across the deck where the presidents of the three major institutions—Cao Zongyan, Wei Jiaxuan, and Cornell University—stood like wax figures.

Cao Zongyan looked at Li Dongling. Although the Bank of China was "one of their own," they couldn't be cheated like that!

That's a valuation of $28 billion, how dare China.com make such a claim?
Wei Jiaxuan and Cornell had similar expressions to Cao Zongyan, both looking astonished.

Although the Wall Street Journal and other media outlets have praised China.com, that's just praise. Saying that China.com can surpass Feiyan Technology is a pipe dream; who knows when that will ever happen.

Just like the media praising someone's outstanding acting skills and predicting they will become a movie star, it's completely different from the fact that they are already a movie star.

China.com shouldn't take the media hype too seriously. A valuation of $28 billion has set a new record for the global internet industry!

Lin Xianhui saw the expressions on Cao Zongyan's, Wei Jiaxuan's, and Cornell's faces, but he had no choice but to bite the bullet and speak.

"In this round of financing, China.com will give up 30% of its equity, but the number of places available for financing is limited!" Lin Xianhui said.

Upon hearing this, Cao Zongyan and the others exchanged bewildered glances. China.com was actually planning to secure $840 million in funding in one go.

This was definitely an outrageous demand. What surprised them even more was the implication in Lin Xianhui's words: the number of financing slots for China.com was limited, and if they didn't take them, someone else would snatch them up!
Cornell wanted to say that with over $800 million in funding, which sucker would be willing to snatch it up? But then, he looked suspiciously at Cao Zongyan and Wei Jiaxuan. He felt that there seemed to be quite a few suckers like that...

The relationship between Bank of China and Cyberport is well known in Hong Kong, and Bear Stearns' fervor for the internet made Cornell think twice.

If you think about it carefully, there are also a group of investment institutions in mainland China that are eager to get their hands on China.com, as are venture capitalists in Silicon Valley and institutions on Wall Street.

While an $800 million funding round may seem large, it becomes less daunting when spread out among enough investors.

Thinking about it this way, Cornell suddenly felt a sense of crisis, even though he also felt it was all nonsense...

(End of this chapter)