In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 700 Li Ka-shing is forcing me to acquire Hutchison Whampoa! (Second Update)

Although Hongkong Land Group wanted to acquire Raffles Hotel, the negotiations were not going smoothly.

It has been two months since we first made contact with the people behind Raffles Hotel, and we still haven't reached an agreement.

However, Raffles Singapore has already softened its stance.

Somehow, this matter reached Li Jiacheng's ears.

Let's return our attention to the mobile communications commercialization launch event.

After more than an hour, the press conference finally came to an end.

At the same time, Hong Kong Telephone Company also launched an appointment service at its business halls throughout Hong Kong.

On the surface, the first batch of 3,000 mobile phone slots were available, but in reality, more than 1,000 slots had already been reserved internally.

The remaining fewer than two thousand spots will be filled through a reservation and lottery system.

Simply put, it involves having potential users register and make an appointment, then drawing lots to determine who can purchase the item. This way, those who are not selected will be even more eager to own it and may even be willing to pay extra to buy it from scalpers.

The higher the price goes, the more popular the mobile phone becomes.

This allows the popularity of mobile phones to be maintained even when there are insufficient slots.

At this moment, Mr. Robert Galvin, President of Motorola, and Mr. Ma Shimin of Hongkong Land Group are both being interviewed by reporters on the podium at the press conference.

Robert Galvin, in particular, is a true global tech giant. The fact that he could be interviewed in Hong Kong naturally aroused the enthusiasm of many reporters, who bombarded Galvin with a barrage of questions.

At the same time, Lin Haoran stepped down from the podium.

Because he had already seen Cui Zilong signal to him with his eyes that he needed to talk to him.

"President Cui, have you found out what I asked you to investigate?" The two entered an empty office, closed the door, and Lin Haoran asked.

"Boss, we've investigated. According to our informant at Standard Chartered Bank, around 9 a.m., in addition to Mr. Brown, Mr. Li Ka-shing and Mr. Lawrence Kadoorie were both at the Standard Chartered Bank headquarters building in Hong Kong."

Not only that, but even Mr. Henry Keswick of Jardine Matheson was at the same time at the Standard Chartered Bank headquarters in Hong Kong. Cui Zilong quickly informed Lin Haoran of the investigation results.

Lin Haoran frowned upon hearing this.

Without a doubt, this gathering of people couldn't possibly be anything good for him.

In particular, the arrival of Henry Keswick of Jardine Matheson & Co. in Hong Kong was a complete surprise to Lin Haoran.

"Looks like they're up to no good!" Lin Haoran muttered to himself.

“Boss, I’ve already had my informants investigate for us. They’ll get back to me as soon as they have any news,” Cui Zilong continued.

Lin Haoran nodded, but didn't have high hopes.

If these people were truly discussing how to deal with him, they would have taken precautions to keep it secret and wouldn't have easily leaked the information.

Therefore, it is quite difficult to obtain useful information through spies.

However, he didn't stop it, just in case they found out some information that would be useful to him!
"Increase the efforts, mobilize all relevant informants in the intelligence team, including high-level spies in these companies, to investigate these people. Report to me immediately if there are any clues!" Lin Haoran said solemnly.

"Okay, boss, I know what to do!" Cui Zilong nodded.

In the past two years, Cui Zilong has secretly developed many new spies, including some senior executives of giant companies, especially those who are already in senior positions but have limited abilities and cannot advance further. These people are easy to bribe and become one of their spies.

Lin Haoran has never been stingy when it comes to investing in intelligence.

Moreover, Lin Haoran doesn't actually need to invest any money, because Oriental Media Group is now a very profitable company, and its own profits are enough to support the intelligence department's expenses.

Moreover, he wasn't afraid that Cui Zilong might use his special status to secretly make money.

It is undeniable that while the expenditures of intelligence agencies are complex, it is difficult to determine whether there is any embezzlement through financial statements.

However, as long as Cui Zilong's loyalty remains unchanged, it can be concluded that there is no problem with Cui Zilong.

As for the senior executives of Lin Haoran's companies, they have also been bribed by rival companies.

However, Lin Haoran possesses the golden finger of detecting loyalty, which means he can easily find any traitors among the senior management of his companies.

Then, these bribed middle and senior managers will soon be dealt with.

Over time, the management of Lin Haoran's various companies realized that anyone who tried to use their position to make a quick buck would inevitably run into trouble.

This has led to the formation of a unique culture of integrity within Lin Haoran's company.

Therefore, it's not so easy for other companies, such as those British giants, to plant spies in his company.

At noon, Lin Haoran, Ma Shimin, Motorola President Robert Galvin, and many other visiting guests had lunch together at the hotel restaurant.

Meanwhile, the major telecommunications service centers in Hong Kong were already packed with people.

Many people want to experience the convenience of mobile phones.

Although many of them cannot afford it, and many more are just there to watch the spectacle, that doesn't stop them from coming to see this groundbreaking new product. In the future, they will also be potential customers for mobile phones.

After the press conference, according to the reservation rules, customers who made reservations on the same day will know the lottery results on the third day.

Those who win the lottery can go to the business hall to pay the remaining amount and apply for mobile communication services.

Citizens who are not selected in the lottery can apply for a refund of their deposit at any time, or continue to participate in the next lottery!

For a time, the whole of Hong Kong was buzzing with discussion about this groundbreaking product.

Time quickly came to three o'clock in the afternoon.

Lin Haoran stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of an office on the 12th floor of Xiangjiang Telephone Company, looking down at the crowd queuing on the street below.

The mobile phone craze was even more intense than he had anticipated. Although he didn't know how many people were willing to pay a deposit and enter the lottery, there were only three thousand units—no, even counting the one thousand or so that had already been reserved, it should be said that there were less than two thousand units. With such a small quantity, if he really wanted to sell them, they might sell out in a day.

However, there's no rush. Creating a viral phenomenon is easy enough.
He knew that Motorola urgently needed to boost its stock price, so naturally they wouldn't sell all the machines so quickly.

He is now confirmed as a member of Motorola's board of directors and is also a major shareholder of the company. Whether it is for his own benefit or to save face for Motorola, it is worth it for him to do so.

Maintaining popularity is essential for sustained exposure.

Thinking of this, a satisfied smile appeared on his lips.

"Boss, I just received the latest news." Cui Zilong walked over quickly and lowered his voice, saying, "Our inside sources have confirmed that the reason why Li Jiacheng, Brown, Laurence Kadoorie, Henry Keswick, and others gathered together this time, although we don't know exactly what they were discussing, is indeed aimed at you, Boss, judging from all the signs."

We learned from an informant at Hutchison Whampoa that the performance of Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong Holdings across various sectors has declined to varying degrees in the past month, which Mr. Li Ka-shing believes is that you, the boss, are deliberately targeting him.

It's said that Li Jiacheng smashed things in his office several times because of this, which shows how much he hated you, boss!

Upon hearing this, Lin Haoran raised an eyebrow, a hint of amusement flashing in his eyes: "Interesting. Is Li Jiacheng trying to play the 'preemptive strike' game with me?"

He had no intention of targeting Li Jiacheng, but unexpectedly, the other party launched the first attack.

The last time Li Jiacheng did something like that, it did annoy him, but he never deliberately targeted him.

But now, the other party's underhanded tactics have angered him.

“Boss, thanks to your acquisition and restructuring of Hengsheng Bank, our Land Group has been developing rapidly in various industries recently, and has indeed taken away a lot of market share from our competitors. Perhaps that’s why Mr. Li Jiacheng is planning to join forces with others to deal with us,” Cui Zilong analyzed cautiously.

Lin Haoran sneered and turned to walk towards his desk: "If they can't compete fairly, they'll resort to underhanded tactics? Since they want to play, I'll play along. It seems Li Ka-shing is trying to force me to acquire Hutchison Whampoa!"

Now that Li Jiacheng has taken the initiative to attack him, if he doesn't fight back, wouldn't people think that he, Lin Haoran, is easy to bully?

Previously, when Huifeng Bank was facing a cash flow crisis, many listed companies, especially giants that maintained financial cooperation with Huifeng Bank, saw their stock prices plummet.

At that time, Lin Haoran instructed Galaxy Securities to take advantage of the situation and aggressively acquire shares of these giants.

Although it has not been made public, he has actually become the second largest shareholder of many listed giants in Hong Kong. If this were to get out, it would definitely cause panic among all the bigwigs in Hong Kong.

After all, if someone like Lin Haoran becomes the second largest shareholder of their company, wouldn't it be dangerous if Lin Haoran had the idea of ​​seizing control?

However, Lin Haoran naturally wouldn't spread this matter.

He knew that secretly acquiring these stocks would not only allow him to make a fortune when the stock price rose later, but might even have a special effect at a critical time.

That's why it has a special function now, isn't it?
At that moment, a thought suddenly flashed through Lin Haoran's mind: to seize Hutchison Whampoa, a company under Li Ka-shing. He had always felt that he had arrived too late in his transmigration and thus missed out on Hutchison Whampoa.

This was indeed something he found somewhat regrettable.

After all, Hutchison Whampoa's development potential is no less than that of Hongkong Land Group.

However, out of consideration for the fact that everyone was a Chinese businessman, Lin Haoran did not take action to seize Hutchison Whampoa, even though he had the ability to do so.

But things are different now. Li Jiacheng has actually joined forces with those British people to try to deal with him, so don't blame him for showing no mercy.

"In Hutchison Whampoa's case, Galaxy Securities currently holds 18.71% of its shares, making it the second largest shareholder of Hutchison Whampoa."

"In the Cheung Kong Holdings sector, Galaxy Securities now holds a total of 16.25% of the shares, making it the second largest shareholder of Cheung Kong Holdings."

This is the situation where Lin Haoran took advantage of the sharp drop in their stock prices to buy up shares in two listed companies under Li Jiacheng, eventually holding shares in them.

He wasn't very interested in Cheung Kong Holdings, so he had little desire to acquire it.

Publicly available information shows that Li Ka-shing personally holds 40% of the shares in Cheung Kong Holdings.

Hutchison Whampoa is actually controlled by Li Ka-shing through Cheung Kong Holdings, which currently holds a 40% stake in Hutchison Whampoa.

They all hold a high percentage of shares, but it's not like there's no way to take them over.

Because Li Ka-shing has only held controlling stake in Hutchison Whampoa for a very short time.

In order to acquire Hutchison Whampoa, Li Ka-shing has almost exhausted his own funds in recent years, paying too high a price.

After all, his acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa was described as a "snake swallowing an elephant".

Therefore, Li Ka-shing's control over Hutchison Whampoa is not actually firmly established.

Unfortunately, the real estate market is not as booming as it was a few years ago, and transaction volume is declining, which makes things even worse for Li Ka-shing.

Although housing prices don't seem to have fallen much yet, it's clear from government land auctions and transaction volumes that Hong Kong's real estate industry is now in a slump.

Such exorbitant housing prices are simply a result of developers forcibly preventing prices from falling.

At this moment, a plan gradually took shape in Lin Haoran's mind.

Galaxy Securities was instructed to secretly acquire shares of these two companies through the secondary market.

Once discovered, they openly target Cheung Kong Holdings, creating the illusion that "Lin Haoran is forcibly acquiring Cheung Kong Holdings."

This move may seem aggressive, but it actually has a deeper meaning.

He recalled the scene when Paul Yiu-kong was fighting with Jardine Matheson for control of Wharf Holdings.

The two companies' efforts to gain control of Wharf Holdings drove up the company's share price, which at its peak exceeded HK$100 per share.

This can also give Lin Haoran some inspiration.

Cheung Kong Holdings is the foundation of Li Ka-shing's business empire. If a strong offensive is adopted, it will inevitably force Li Ka-shing to devote his main energy and funds to protecting Cheung Kong Holdings. After all, it is the core of the business empire he built with his own hands, and he will never give it up.

At that time, Lin Haoran will drive up the stock price of Cheung Kong Holdings and announce his purpose of acquiring Cheung Kong Holdings, publicly acquiring a large number of Cheung Kong Holdings shares.

As a result, Li Ka-shing was forced to fight back. Although he held 40% of Cheung Kong Holdings' shares, it would be quite difficult for him to increase his stake from 40% to 50%.

When dealing with a super-rich man like Lin Haoran, it's not safe to be coveted unless you hold more than 50% of the shares.

Therefore, Li Ka-shing will definitely put all his funds into Cheung Kong Holdings.

After acquiring Hutchison Whampoa, Li Ka-shing successfully became one of Hong Kong's top tycoons, but he also incurred heavy debts.

After focusing all his energy on Cheung Kong Holdings, he had no time to pay attention to Hutchison Whampoa.

In this way, his control over Hutchison Whampoa will be weakened.

Meanwhile, he continued to acquire shares in Hutchison Whampoa in secret.

At that point, Li Jiacheng might be forced to negotiate with Lin Haoran.

When Li Ka-shing learns that he not only holds a large number of Cheung Kong Holdings shares, but also a large number of Hutchison Whampoa shares, he will surely realize that he has fallen into a trap from the very beginning.

But by then, it was too late.

At that point, Lin Haoran will have all the initiative at the negotiating table.

Alternatively, let Lin Haoran acquire both companies.

Alternatively, they could simply give up Hutchison Whampoa.

Li Jiacheng will naturally know how to choose when the time comes.

In order to get back the shares of Cheung Kong Holdings and prevent Lin Haoran from coveting Cheung Kong Holdings again in the future, Li Ka-shing will not only have to give up Hutchison Whampoa, but he may also have to acquire Lin Haoran's shares at a high price.

This means that Li Ka-shing not only has to endure the pain of losing Hutchison Whampoa, but also has to pay a huge price to acquire these shares.

This seems cruel.

But Lin Haoran knew very well that being merciful to the enemy was being cruel to himself.

You do the first day of the month, I'll do the fifteenth!
So, the only one to blame is Li Ka-shing himself.

Lin Haoran tapped his fingertips heavily on the table, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

He had previously coveted Hutchison Whampoa, a high-quality company, but unfortunately, he didn't have the resources at the time.

Now that Li Ka-shing has angered him, he will naturally retaliate fiercely.

The best revenge would be to snatch Hutchison Whampoa back from the other side, which they had worked so hard to acquire!

Only by teaching Li Ka-shing a severe lesson will the other party realize that Lin Haoran is not someone to be trifled with.

If we don't take advantage of the fact that the other party has only recently acquired a controlling stake in Hutchison Whampoa and their foundation is still unstable, it will be extremely difficult to make a move once Li Ka-shing has recovered and completely consolidated his control over Hutchison Whampoa.

Thinking of this, Lin Haoran waved his hand, signaling Cui Zilong to leave. Then, Lin Haoran called Dai Shi, who had also come here today, and asked him to come over.

"Boss, you want to acquire Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong Holdings?" Dai Shi took a deep breath, stunned by his boss's order.

Lin Haoran only instructed Dai Shi to arrange for the holding team to secretly continue accumulating shares of Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong Holdings; he gave no other instructions.

He doesn't need to disclose his shareholding as long as it doesn't reach 35%.

This allowed him to remain hidden in the shadows.

However, Lin Haoran also knew that it was impossible to secretly absorb them indefinitely, because Li Jiacheng's trading team was not bad either. They would definitely find clues and guess that someone was targeting them.

However, these are all things that happened later.

The key now is to keep increasing holdings so that we can have a better grasp of the future.

"Just follow my orders. Don't overthink it, and don't reveal any information to anyone!" Lin Haoran said with a smile.

"Okay, boss, I'll go back to Galaxy Securities to make the arrangements now," Dai Shi said solemnly after calming down.

Lin Haoran nodded, and Dai Shi quickly left the office.

I checked the time; it was already past 3 p.m., so there was definitely no time to absorb it today.

For him, it didn't matter, since taking Hutchison Whampoa from Li Ka-shing was not something that could be done in a short time.

Now that Dai Shi has returned, he has the time to organize a team.

Lin Haoran has always placed great trust in the trading team at Galaxy Securities.

Because those employees who lacked loyalty had already been completely dismissed.

With his golden touch that can detect loyalty, no disloyalty can escape detection.

. . . . . . . .

P.S.: 10,000-word update complete, please vote with monthly tickets!
(End of this chapter)