Rebirth of financial migrant workers

Chapter 474 Appetizers at the Shareholders' Meeting
Perhaps because it was the first shareholders' meeting, the attendance was relatively complete.

Except for Huajin Group, other major shareholders sent representatives to attend.

Unlike Ji Dong, an outsider, these shareholders are all local natives of Shuanghe, and the reason they held shares back then was mostly due to the will of the province.

They rarely ask about the specific business strategies of the mule bank. Even when arranging related clients or encountering disagreements, they mostly conduct friendly discussions in private.

Therefore, the only variable in this shareholders' meeting is the outsider Huajin Group. How will it perform at the conference, representing the capital consortium of Shanghai, Hong Kong and Osaka, the three most developed regions in the East Asian financial circle?

Almost everyone was curious about this question, and from time to time they looked at Ji Dong who was talking to Wang Quan with a smile.

They don't believe that this capital tycoon, who has been plotting to acquire shares of Mule Bank for several years, will be content with the current status quo in the power structure.

It is worth mentioning that through continuous purchases of stocks in the secondary market recently, Zhongjing Group’s share of bank equity has surpassed the former second largest shareholder, Shuanghe Energy, and is approaching the throne of the largest shareholder.

The shareholders' meeting started on time at 10 a.m.

First, the bank's leaders gave a very official and formulaic brief introduction to the current operating conditions of the bank, especially highlighting the "outstanding" progress that Mule Bank has made in just one month since its listing.

The representatives of the indigenous shareholders applauded out of respect. Unexpectedly, Ji Dong, who was expected to make a big move, also applauded with a smile to show his approval.

This disappointed those who wanted to watch the fun.

As expected, no matter how aggressive the capital is, it has to be cautious when entering the mainland market.

When the meeting was halfway through being conducted in an amicable and orderly manner, Ning Minghao winked at Director Ding in the office. After receiving the signal, the latter cleared his throat and put forward his own proposal.

".Now there is an urgent problem in front of us. With the recent purchase of a large number of our bank's shares in the secondary market by Mr. Ji, the public shareholding ratio of our bank's Hong Kong shares has dropped to 24.98%, which is lower than the minimum level of 25% stipulated in the Securities Listing Rules of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Just yesterday, the SFC sent a fax to our bank, asking us to solve the problem of insufficient public shareholding as soon as possible."

Director Ding's words made everyone present turn their attention to Ji Dong again, and Wang Chunliang couldn't help but worry for his future father-in-law.

This is a proactive countermeasure initiated before Huajin Group becomes the largest shareholder.

The fat Ji Dong didn't seem surprised by this. Seeing that everyone's eyes were focused on him, he asked expressionlessly:

"I wonder what Chairman Ning plans to do about this issue?"

Ning Minghao, who had been prepared for a long time, said calmly:

"The overall situation is the most important thing. The current priority is to restore the public shareholding ratio of our bank's Hong Kong shares as soon as possible in accordance with the requirements of the SFC."

Ji Dong interrupted immediately:
"So what is the chairman's specific plan?"

Director Ding opened the PPT and explained the plan prepared in advance word by word:
“It is mainly divided into two steps. The first step is to recommend major shareholders to reduce their holdings, and the second step is to place new shares.”

This time Ji Dong did not speak, but Ji Yang, who was sitting next to him, expressed strong dissatisfaction:

"The first step is to target our Huajin Group, right? I'm afraid that won't work. Mule Bank is a strategic investment target of Huajin Group, and continuously increasing its holdings is the group's established strategy. Why don't Chairman Ning ask other major shareholders if they are willing to reduce their holdings?"

As if they had expected the other party's answer, Ning Minghao and Director Ding did not dwell on it. The latter said directly: "In this case, we can only allocate new shares. Now the meeting will enter the stage of issuing overseas preferred shares. According to calculations, our bank must issue at least 6.3 million Hong Kong shares in a private placement this time, and the issuance targets do not include any companies under the Huajin Group. Only in this way can the proportion of public shareholding be increased to more than 25%."

This method of issuance will undoubtedly dilute the equity held by Huajin Group, so Director Ding was interrupted again before he could finish his words.

Ji Dong waved his hand:

"Regarding the issue of the public shareholding ratio of Mule Bank, the group has also discussed it internally. The experts we hired from HKIS at a high salary suggested that Mule Bank conduct a private placement of Hong Kong stocks. Therefore, our Huajin Group, adhering to a scientific attitude, requested to terminate the proposal of the bank to issue offshore preferred shares!"

Ning Minghao naturally responded tit for tat:

"In this case, let's vote at the shareholders' meeting."

He still couldn't finish his words and was interrupted again.

This time, it was not a member of the Ji family who interrupted him, but Ning Minghao's secretary.

The latter turned off the microphone in front of Ning Minghao and reported in a low voice:

"Chairman, there is news from Hong Kong City that the Fortune Honesty Company registered by the Huajin Group in Hong Kong City intends to purchase 4 million Hong Kong shares of our bank through an off-market acquisition. The transaction is about to be completed."

Ning Minghao narrowed his eyes when he heard this and began to calculate in his mind that if these 4 million shares were added, Huajin Group's shareholding ratio would be close to 14%, and it would become the largest shareholder of Mule Bank.

Judging from the current actions of the Huajin Group, the other party is obviously not satisfied with this. Their ultimate goal should be to increase the overall shareholding ratio to 30% in order to complete the controlling stake and realize capital premium.

Just when the meeting reached a deadlock, Vice President Wang Quan, who had been listening, suddenly stood up and said to both parties like a peacemaker:
"This is the first shareholders' meeting of Mule Bank. Leaders from the province and even the whole country are paying close attention to it. There is no need for us to get confrontational. Whether to issue offshore preferred shares or conduct a private placement of Hong Kong stocks, I think we can sit down and discuss it. How about this, the meeting has been going on for quite a long time, so let's adjourn it for now. I have arranged a place for all the shareholders and leaders to rest and have lunch."

Ning Minghao, who was caught off guard by the latest developments of the Huajin Group, took the opportunity to drive the donkey downhill. He winked at Wang Chunliang who was sitting in the back row and hurried away.

On the way back to the office, Ning Minghao patted Wang Chunliang on the shoulder:

"I didn't listen to your advice before, which led to me being in a passive position now. I'm afraid that our Mule Bank will really have to change its name this time. If that happens, I will become the sinner of the bank."

"Chairman Ning, this is wrong!"

Before Wang Chunliang had time to comfort her, he heard someone from behind answer first.

He turned around and saw that the person coming was Ji Dong.

Following behind Ji Dong was Ji Yang with a sinister smile on his face, and Ji Zimei who maintained a professional smile.

The latter secretly winked at Wang Chunliang behind the backs of Ji's father and son and Ning Minghao.

Wang Chunliang immediately realized that the confrontation at the shareholders' meeting just now was probably just an appetizer, and the content that both sides were going to discuss next would be today's main course.

(End of this chapter)