Hong Kong 1980: The Savage Era

Chapter 522 Chapter 524 [Acquisition Quagmire]

Zhang Wenhe explained, “Foreign financial groups all have their own securities companies or hire securities companies in their own country. They rarely deal with local securities companies in Singapore. They may be afraid of project information being leaked and do not trust local companies.”

Luo Qihong nodded. Zhang Wenhe's words made sense because he had the same concerns. After all, the relationships among the consortium companies in Singapore were quite complicated and no one knew at which link problems would arise.

For example, when it came to acquiring Yeo Hiap Seng Group, he didn’t believe that the local Singaporean consortium would not be tempted by this piece of fat meat. Since they were rivals, they could of course resort to despicable means, otherwise they would have to bear the consequences of failure.

In Luo Qihong's opinion, F&N Group is more important than Yeo Hiap Seng Group because F&N Group's industries are stronger. The beer industry alone can bring in huge profits, not to mention the many land and properties under F&N Group. He roughly estimated that the asset value of F&N Group is around 10 billion Singapore dollars.

Moreover, these assets still have a lot of room for appreciation. For example, in the past life, the Singapore government would build an industrial zone here for the land in the Jurong area.

"City Development Company?! I remember this company appeared in the last acquisition of Parkson Holdings. It's really a narrow road for enemies to meet again." Luo Qihong suddenly felt that the other party was most likely the City Development Company.

City Developments Corporation is affiliated to the Hong Leong Group and is a company owned by the Guo Fangfeng family. It is the flagship of the Hong Leong Group in real estate and one of the top five real estate companies in Singapore. It is very powerful.

The Hong Leong Group was founded in 41 by brothers Guo Fangfeng. In the early days, they were engaged in the hardware and building materials trade and quickly accumulated original capital relying on post-war reconstruction.

Today, the Hong Leong Group is involved in many fields including finance, insurance, real estate, hotels, industry, technology, etc., and has also expanded its influence to the United Kingdom, Australia and other places. It is a true multinational enterprise.

What worries Luo Qihong is that Hong Leong Financial Group is the largest non-bank financial institution in Singapore, specializing in small and medium-sized enterprise loans and personal financial management, which means that City Development Corporation will not lack funds for the acquisition.

"Mr. Luo means that the City Development Company is the biggest suspect?" Zhang Wenhe was slightly stunned. Why is Luo Qihong so wary of the City Development Company?
"Keep an eye on the City Development Corporation and the financial company under the Hong Leong Group. It should be them." Luo Qihong sighed softly. This is a strong opponent. He doesn't want to guess correctly.

"Yes, I will check it myself." Zhang Wenhe said.

Zhang Wenhe is responsible for all of Hengan Investment’s business in Singapore. He certainly has a relatively deep understanding of the overall strength of City Development Company and understands how difficult it is.

"How much equity does the opponent hold?" Luo Qihong asked. He still had to find out clearly so as to make the next plan.

Zhang Wenhe hesitated for a moment and replied, "About 3.5%, definitely not more than 5%. They started later than us and were very cautious, so we only hold 7.1% of the shares."

F&N Group is a large company and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a multinational group. Its beverage industry is spread throughout Southeast Asia.

Unlike City Developments, Frasers Group is definitely a complementary enterprise to Yeo Hiap Seng Group. Once the acquisition is successful, it will achieve the effect of '1 plus 1 is greater than 2'.

It is worth mentioning that the Frasers Group has acquired a power plant in Australia and has plans to capture Australia. Moreover, the Frasers Group is currently attacking everywhere and investing heavily in the real estate industry, seemingly with plans to build a flagship real estate company.

This somehow coincided with Luo Qihong's plan, which was why he felt that F&N Group could not be given up and the acquisition must be successful.

After taking over Frasers Group, the Luo Qihong family is basically ranked among the top ten in Singapore. With a little more effort in the future, it will not be a problem to squeeze into the top five. After all, these two groups have a large amount of land in Singapore, and after full development, the size of which will be no smaller than that of Dehe Real Estate Company.

The next afternoon.

Zhang Wenhe handed the two documents to Luo Qihong's desk and said to him, "Mr. Luo, this is the detailed information of the shareholders of F&L Group."

Luo Qihong nodded and took the documents, one of which was an analysis report and the other was the shareholders' shareholding situation.

Before the 80s, the Frasers Group was dominated by a British consortium, with institutions such as the Malaysian Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation holding some of the shares, and there was no family control. After the 80s, the Kuok family began to acquire shares of the Frasers Group through its Wilmar International and Kerry Group. In the 90s, the Kuok family joined forces with the Singaporean Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation and the Malaysian Sime Darby Corporation to gradually increase their holdings of Frasers Group shares in the form of a consortium. Today, the shareholding ratio exceeds 30%, making it the actual controller.

The Guo family holds a 26.4% stake through Kerry Group and private investment vehicles, OCBC Bank holds a 5% stake, and Sime Darby holds a 6% stake. As a financial investor, OCBC Bank has always supported Robert Kuok, so the Guo family is the actual controller of F&N Group.

Luo Qihong frowned slightly. If calculated in this way, Robert Kuok's side would have 31.4% of the shares. He could only fight for 6% of the shares of Malaysia's Sime Darby Berhad, and then he must acquire more than 25% of the shares.

The key is that such a high shareholding can easily attract the attention of the Guo family, which in turn will expose the acquisition intention and lead to the company being mired in a takeover war.

The Kuok family has the support of OCBC Bank, so they won't be short of financial support. This is really a problem.

"Can we try to get some support from OCBC Bank?" Luo Qihong closed the document and asked Zhang Wenhe.

Zhang Wenhe shook his head and said grimly, "It's difficult. OCBC and the Kuok family have a long-term partnership and a very good relationship. OCBC would not have changed sides unless there were huge benefits."

"What about Sime Darby? Are they in cahoots with the Kuok family again?" Luo Qihong became a little annoyed. He suddenly felt that this acquisition was going to fail again.

He was not afraid of falling into the quagmire of acquisitions, but he was most afraid of alerting the enemy and giving the city development company a bargain.

“There shouldn’t be too many problems with Sime Darby. Yeo Hiap Seng Group and Heng Chang Hong Holdings both have some dealings with this company. We can use this as an opportunity to negotiate with them,” said Zhang Wenhe.

Sime Darby was founded in 1910 and initially engaged in rubber planting and trading. It was once the largest plantation owner in Malaysia. It was later controlled by the government in the 80s. Today, its industries have expanded into industrial equipment, automobile distribution, real estate, and healthcare.

"No, I don't want them to support the acquisition. I want the 6% stake in their hands. I can pay any price. I also want them to try to keep it a secret for us for a while." Luo Qihong said domineeringly.

"I will try my best to do this." Zhang Wenhe did not have much confidence that he could do it.

Luo Qihong believes that it is still necessary to take action against the Kuok family and solve this problem from the root, otherwise the Kuok family will easily take back control.

"Immediately launch an investigation into the Kuok family, particularly into the family's financial situation and recent investment projects."

"Yes! I know what to do." Zhang Wenhe understood what Luo Qihong meant. If necessary, he could strike against Robert Kuok's family so that Robert Kuok could not take care of both ends. This would be more conducive to the acquisition.

Luo Qihong did not stay in Singapore for long. This acquisition was a long-term project and it was impossible for him to stay in Singapore for a long time because he had investments in many countries, especially the operations of his headquarters.

The office of Xiangjiang Hengan Investment Company.

Yuan Tianfan came to visit Luo Qihong, naturally for the matters of Haiyu International Company.

Yuan Tianfan is now in a dilemma. He wants to give up Haiyu International but is unwilling to do so, and he also does not want to disappoint the expectations of his allies. However, the certified shares in Cai Shiliang's hands are a fatal weapon. He is not sure of winning, and does not want to make a big fuss.

Luo Qihong has always been good at handling these difficult acquisition cases, so Yuan Tianfan came to learn from him, hoping to get some advice or even practical support.

"You still don't want to fall out?" Luo Qihong asked seriously.

(End of this chapter)