Hong Kong 1980: The Savage Era

Chapter 488 490 [High Price Not Worth It]

Thursday, June 1992, 2.

The Spring Festival is over, and the employees have put away their playful mood and returned to their work mentality.

Last year, Hong Kong real estate experienced a battle between real estate developers and the Hong Kong government, which caused turmoil in the real estate market. Now it has begun to recover, or it can be said that homebuyers and real estate developers have found a way to cope with it.

"Boss, we have stopped purchasing small properties such as office buildings, luxury homes, and shops. The number of purchases is basically the same as the number sold last year, and the profit is about 18%, totaling 9320 million yuan," Kang Wenyi reported.

"In the future, the group will hold a certain proportion of scattered properties as the group's investment in the property market. The profit will be used to repay the matured loans." Luo Qihong said.

The group's investment should be multi-faceted, especially for companies that started out with real estate, which cannot give up their foundation.

Kang Wenyi then reported on the situation of the shipping company.

Now is the time when the shipping industry begins to explode. The shipping company acquired by Luo Qihong in the late 80s has been making great progress and its profits are not inferior to those of its trading company. According to his prediction, in another year, the shipping company's income will be comparable to that of real estate or even ports, making it a real cash cow.

Just a few minutes after Kang Wenyi left, Bai Jinyan walked in with a good look on his face.

"There is good news. Last year, United Group announced a merger with Asia Securities by exchanging 1 new share for 50 common shares of Asia Securities. As a result, the share price of Asia Securities fell sharply at the end of last year, from HK$2.3 per share to HK$1.1 per share."

"At the same time, I discovered that when the United Group's share price was HK$1.3, the retired Weil bought a large number of Asia Securities shares, which attracted the attention of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, which required the disclosure of the number of Asia Securities shares bought."

Listening to Bai Jinyan's eloquent speech, Luo Qihong fell into deep thought with a stern face. It was obvious that the CSRC suspected that Wei Li and Li Mingzhi were in collusion and wanted to manipulate the stock market to privatize Asia Securities Company.

The CSRC will definitely take action next, and this combination of punches is just one of the moves.

"I heard from senior executives of the CSRC that the CSRC is discussing whether to suspend trading of ten listed companies associated with the United Group. I think Li Mingzhi should have also received the news. Can we take action now?" Bai Jinyan asked eagerly.

Asia Securities owns a mid-range property portfolio with an asset value of more than HK$18 billion and a large number of high-quality stocks. In fact, it can launch acquisition investment activities of more than HK$20 billion at any time.

This strength is quite strong, comparable to half of the companies in the Chinese Estates Group combined.

Such a high-quality company certainly has no trouble selling, but it has attracted the attention of the China Securities Regulatory Commission and has caused some trouble. However, in the end the benefits outweigh the disadvantages and there will be no shortage of buyers.

This is also the reason why Bai Jinyan is so anxious.

"I heard that Li Wenzhen of Lippo Group has been in frequent contact with Li Mingzhi. I'm afraid he is interested in acquiring a company under the United Group. It is very likely Asia Securities Company. If we decide to acquire Asia Securities Company, we must act quickly." Bai Jinyan continued, his tone inevitably anxious.

Li Wenzhen of Lippo Group also comes from Southeast Asia. Lippo Group is one of the top ten conglomerates in Indonesia. It has 7 listed companies in Indonesia and more than 100 subsidiaries. Its business covers many fields such as banking, insurance, leasing, real estate, industry and consulting.

In the previous life, the Financial Plaza in Admiralty eventually fell into the hands of Lippo Group and was renamed Lippo Centre.

In the early 80s, Li Wen Zheng began to enter Hong Kong and was one of the first "cross-river dragons" from Southeast Asia to invest in Hong Kong. In 84, Li Wen Zheng cooperated with Lin Shaoliang to acquire 99.73% of the shares of Chinese Bank. Subsequently, Li Wen Zheng took over all the shares of Chinese Bank and began a long journey of development.

After entering the 90s, Li Wenzheng accelerated his pace to enter Hong Kong. In May last year, Lippo International acquired 5% of the shares of Hong Kong listed company People's Finance and renamed it Lippo Limited, becoming the flagship of Lippo Group's business expansion in Hong Kong. In the final analysis, Li Wenzheng's strength is not weaker than that of Qiu Depu and Huang Tingfang. No wonder Bai Jinyan is so nervous.

"There is no problem with the acquisition, but the China Securities Regulatory Commission has its eyes on United Group. If we intervene, those officials may 'take care' of us." Luo Qihong said thoughtfully.

The Luo family is now wealthy and powerful. If they are "taken care of", they will be in big trouble. Of course, Luo Qihong will not sit idly by, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission will not have an easy time either.

"This shouldn't be a big problem. We are only acquiring Asia Securities Company, not the entire United Group. The China Securities Regulatory Commission won't dare to target us at will. The impact will be huge." Bai Jinyan said without much confidence.

“Then let’s carry out the acquisition in the name of the group, and once it’s done, merge it into Dean Securities Investment.” Luo Qihong said.

"Li Wenzhen and Li Mingzhi have some connections. The United Group holds a 20% stake in Lippo Properties, a company listed in Indonesia. The two parties also have certain business dealings in Hong Kong. Do you have time to talk to Li Mingzhi in person?" Bai Jinyan knew that Luo Qihong had cooperated with Li Mingzhi before, and since Luo Qihong had such a high status, Li Mingzhi would definitely give him face.

Seeing that Bai Jinyan had spoken, Luo Qihong nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll go talk to Li Mingzhi, but I can't guarantee that I can win him over."

The last time Wei Li sold Asia Securities, Luo Qihong did not show up, and only Bai Jinyan was in charge of the operation. In the end, he lost to Li Mingzhi. Li Mingzhi also used this incident to hype up, causing the share price of United Group to rise a lot.

Of course, this does not have much impact on Zhaoan Group. After all, this is caused by Wei Li’s own wishes, not a problem of Zhaoan Group’s strength.

In a private room at the Central Hilton Hotel.

Luo Qihong and Li Mingzhi were chatting happily, with smiles on their faces, as if they were familiar friends.

"Mr. Li, I heard that you were investigated severely by the China Securities Regulatory Commission recently, and now you are selling off your company. Do you have no other options?" Luo Qihong smiled faintly, with a hint of malice in his words.

In recent days, there have been reports that United Group wants to sell its four listed companies, namely Asia Securities, Ronggang Group, Santai Baoye and Paramount, and is anxiously looking for buyers.

To outsiders, it seemed that Li Mingzhi was in big trouble and was eager to get out of it, just like when he was in Australia.

Li Mingzhi smiled and said, "There are some problems, but they are minor ones. The main reason is that the group is too big and my energy is limited. Now I want to cut some businesses and focus on core businesses such as real estate."

This is of course a lie, and anyone with a discerning eye can easily tell whether it is true or not.

Li Mingzhi is a well-known financial expert. If there were no major problems, how could he sell them off so smoothly? He would at least squeeze out the remaining value of these four companies before letting them go.

Luo Qihong smiled knowingly, "We are all sensible people, so I will tell you straight away, my wife is interested in your Asia Securities Company and wants to acquire it, please name a price."

Hearing this, Li Mingzhi frowned slightly, and after a moment's hesitation, he responded, "Mr. Luo, I'm not lying to you. You're not the only one interested in this company. Lippo is also interested in Asia Securities. We've already started discussions, so I'm afraid..."

Luo Qihong laughed and said, "Mr. Li, do you think the money is too much? When it comes to acquisitions, the one who pays the highest price wins. I will pay a 5% premium, 1.6 yuan per share, to acquire the shares held by United Group. How do you think?"

Li Mingzhi shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Luo Sheng! Huadi Company, a subsidiary of Lippo Group, offered 2.6 yuan per share, which is much higher than your bid."

(End of this chapter)