Hong Kong 1980: The Savage Era

Chapter 454 456 [A flaw appears]

After finishing the negotiations with Sino-Singapore Group, Luo Qihong hurriedly contacted those Chinese families and sent out senior executives of the group to buy more time.

Luo Qihong personally came to the Cao family to discuss the sale of shares with the head of the family, Cao Guangbiao.

Cao Guangbiao knew the purpose of Luo Qihong's visit and was very welcoming.

Cao Guangbiao established Dragonair with the purpose of competing with Cathay Pacific. Now that Cathay Pacific is showing signs of taking over Dragonair, he is certainly worried.

Although Cao Guangbiao knew that Dragonair would never return to the hands of the Cao family, he also hoped that it would fall into the hands of the Chinese rather than the hands of his opponents.

So when Luo Qihong proposed to transfer 15% of the equity, Cao Guangbiao agreed immediately and was even willing to transfer an additional 5% to ensure that Luo Qihong had enough capital.

Luo Qihong declined. He thought it would be beneficial for the Cao family to retain some shares. After all, if the shares were too concentrated, it would be easy for the Hong Kong government to have other ideas.

Early April.

The Swire Group finally received the news that Luo Qihong wanted to control Dragonair, which shocked the Shi Huaiya family.

Luo Qihong is not as easy to deal with as Cao Guangbiao. His strong financial resources alone are enough to hold back Cathay Pacific Airways for many years. Moreover, Luo Qihong has a good relationship with the Hong Kong government.

Of course, the news received by the Swire Group was leaked by officials of the Hong Kong government, and Luo Qihong also reached an agreement with the Hong Kong government in the first negotiation, and the Hong Kong government was willing to provide some convenience in policy.

Luo Qihong also paid a price. For example, Zhaoan Real Estate Company will increase its investment in new towns to help the Hong Kong government quickly improve the new towns.

At the same time, Luo Qihong also promised to invest in the UK in the future, including British ports, telecommunications, trade and some infrastructure.

Such a major investment naturally gained the support of the British, which was something the Swire Group could not do.

Because the Swire Group has always claimed that their investments will remain in Hong Kong and will basically not be shaken.

Upon hearing this, the Swire Group felt like the sky had fallen. The top management quickly found out the reason, which was most likely due to the Modern Terminals incident, and Luo Qihong wanted to take revenge.

However, the Swire Group did not approach Luo Qihong to discuss the matter first, but instead approached the Sino-Singapore Group. However, the Sino-Singapore Group's attitude was more ambiguous and it did not give a clear answer.

According to the original history, Cathay Pacific Airways will control Dragonair and build it into a Hong Kong airline specializing in mainland routes.

In this way, Cathay Pacific Airways will once again dominate Hong Kong's aviation industry. However, in 95, when China Express Airlines entered Hong Kong's aviation industry, it was also troubled by the Swire Group, which used previous legal provisions to restrict China Express Airlines.

This shows the tyranny of Cathay Pacific Airways. However, now that Luo Qihong has taken action in this life, the days of Swire Pacific will definitely not be easy.

The incident quickly fermented, and some newspapers claimed that Luo Qihong would put an end to Cathay Pacific's tyranny in Hong Kong, and also reported some examples of Cathay Pacific's "bullying customers with its size".

Suddenly, the share price of Swire Group fell significantly. In order to restore investors' confidence, Cathay Pacific Airways said that it already holds 30% of Dragonair's shares and is the largest shareholder. Dragonair will not threaten Cathay Pacific's business.
In order to further pressure Cathay Pacific Airways, Luo Qihong, together with China New Group and the Cao family, convened a new round of Dragonair board meetings to elect a new chairman of the board.

Naturally, there were no surprises. Bai Jinyan successfully took over as chairman of the board of directors. At the same time, he announced that he would recruit aviation professionals from around the world to expand the scale of Dragonair.

Thursday, May 8

In the early morning hours of Hong Kong, Iraq brazenly invaded Kuwait.

By the morning, Hong Kong had already received the news, and investors immediately knew that "a storm was coming." A large number of people gathered at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, waiting for the market to open.

Luo Qihong was in a good mood. Both the company and individuals bought a large amount of oil futures, with an average price of US$16.5 per barrel, and there was not much fluctuation during the period. What Luo Qihong did not expect was that the Hong Kong stock market plummeted from the opening, with a drop of more than 3% in the first hour.

"Damn it! TV dramas are harmful." Luo Qihong originally believed that the stock market would rise because of the TV drama, but the reality was a sharp drop.

It is absolutely impossible to sell off at this time, after all, no one will take the goods.

"Ah Hong, the stock market has plummeted." Bai Jinyan rushed in. Although he was not fast, his big belly was frightening.

Luo Qihong didn't care about being upset, and hurried to meet him, "Be careful. The sky hasn't fallen yet."

"What should we do? How much have you invested personally?" Bai Jinyan asked anxiously.

"Not much, just a few billion." Luo Qihong helped Bai Jinyan sit down, "The bulk of the money is still in oil futures."

"That's good." Bai Jinyan breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, even the blue-chip stocks were reduced by half.

"The decline caused by the war comes and goes quickly, and it won't last too long." Luo Qihong said, "Hong Kong's real estate market shouldn't decline much, or even not at all. We should still pay attention to bottom-fishing in the stock market."

"Well, how much drop do you think it will take to buy at the bottom?" Bai Jinyan asked.

"About 20%. If the decline gets smaller, then we should start to buy at the bottom." Luo Qihong said based on his experience. "Oil prices will skyrocket in a few months. I have arranged for others to follow up. You just need to help out a little bit."

The next afternoon.

When Luo Qihong was thinking about how to clean up the mess, he received a phone call, which made him very happy.

Due to the outbreak of the Middle East War, the automobile sales of Hengchangxing Enterprise were greatly affected, which in turn affected the valuation of Hengchangxing Enterprise. Therefore, Cheng Yutong, Lin Xiufeng and Xu Zhantang wanted to lower the acquisition price.

At the same time, Chow Tai Fook, Bai Shun Ning and Bei Hai Industrial issued a public statement, saying that after the acquisition is successful, they will "split" Heng Chang Hang Enterprise, with its properties belonging to Chow Tai Fook, the automobile business to Bai Shun Ning, and the remaining businesses to Bei Hai Industrial.

Originally, lowering the price had already touched Ho Sin Hang's bottom line. Many employees felt that their interests were being exploited. Ho Sin Hang had worked with these employees for many years and had a deep relationship with them. Many of the employees also held shares.

So Ho Sin Hang began to regret and no longer wanted to sell Hang Chang Bank to Chow Tai Fook and other three companies.

After much deliberation, Luo Qihong decided to contact Ho Sin Hang. After all, everyone knew that Cheng Yutong's deal had failed.

Before Luo Qihong met He Shanheng, another shocking thing happened: the new company formed by Chow Tai Fook, Bai Shunning and Beihai Industrial, Bei Yi, formally issued a takeover proposal to acquire Hengchangxing Enterprise.

This made Luo Qihong want to retreat, but after thinking about it, he also felt that it was impossible for Cheng Yutong and others to succeed.

So Luo Qihong took the initiative to make an appointment with Cheng Yutong.

Inside the Zheng family villa in Deep Water Bay.

Luo Qihong, Cheng Yutong and Cheng Kar-shun sat on the sofa and drank tea, which was a rare tea that Cheng Yutong got from the mainland.

After praising Cheng Yu-tung a little, Luo Qihong got to the point of this visit.

(End of this chapter)