Mixed in 1980

Chapter 335 Acquisition for One Hong Kong Dollar
HSBC is not one person's HSBC.

With many powerful financial groups behind him, Shen Bi was not intimidated at all, even when facing governors and ambassadors; on the contrary, he was confident and assertive.

Peng Dingkang and Richard were unable to refute it for a moment, as HSBC and Standard Chartered had suffered too great a loss.

"Fake..."

Peng Dingkang gritted his teeth inwardly. He had once again lost to Chen Fan. If he could, he really wanted to find a gunman and send him away with a single bullet.

Unfortunately, Chen Fan lives a secluded life with extremely tight security, so there's simply no opportunity... well, even if there were, he couldn't do it.

If you can take down Chen Fan today, you'll be taken down tomorrow. Nobody would make such a terrible move.

"Just wait. In three years, my plan will be completed. Chen Fan will have to spit out everything he has swallowed, and he'll have to spit it out twice as much."

Gritting his teeth silently, Peng Dingkang remained silent.

With special approval, the British side agreed to sell Hang Seng Bank. Shen Bi did not hesitate and immediately called Xinghuo Investment to finalize the matter that day.

The Huo family, Li Hongying, Li Zhaoji, Hu Yingxiang, Liu Jianxiong and others will withdraw their funds tomorrow, which will put a lot of pressure on HSBC.

Yu Jing answered the phone!
Chen Fan hasn't been answering the phone these past few days. For him, answering the phone is meaningless until things are resolved.

After understanding Shen Bi's thoughts, Yu Jing went to Chen Fan's office: "President Chen, Shen Bi just called, wanting to sell Hang Seng Bank."

"Sell it to us?" Chen Fan asked in surprise.

Britain, after all, was once a world superpower and has always tried to maintain its dignity. I didn't expect it to bow down so quickly. It seems that it really couldn't hold on any longer.

Yu Jing smiled slightly: "Besides us, no one else dares to take it over. Shen Bi's condition is that Hang Seng is sold to us in exchange for us stopping our attacks on HSBC and Standard Chartered."

"What good thoughts are you having?" Chen Fan frowned, not wanting to stop there.

Whether it's Spark Investment or other allies, they've all invested heavily in shorting HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Hang Seng, with the greater the drop in share price, the greater their profits.

If you stop now, the returns will be too small.

Profiting less means losing money!
Chen Fan took out a cigarette from the drawer, lit it, and after smoking half of it, he finally spoke: "Tell Shen Bi that acquiring Hang Seng is possible, but I will only offer 1 Hong Kong dollar!"

“President Chen…” Yu Jing’s eyes widened.

Hang Seng Bank in 1992 was a major bank, with a market capitalization of over HK$30 billion before the attack.

The stock price has now halved, but the market value is still 150 billion.

You're offering HKD 1? You might as well not pay at all, just rob me. Wouldn't it be better to buy for free?

Chen Fan took a drag of his cigarette and slowly exhaled the smoke: "Tell him he'll agree."

Yu Jing swallowed hard, returned to her office, picked up the phone and called Shen Bi, awkwardly informing him of Chen Fan's offer.

Sure enough, Shen Bi's furious voice came through the microphone, accusing Chen Fan of being a robber who was robbing HSBC.

One Hong Kong dollar, to put it nicely, is a symbolic payment of one Hong Kong dollar; to put it bluntly, it's an insulting offer, a way of bowing down to Chen Fan.

Only after things calmed down on the other end did Yu Jing say, "Mr. Shen, you should know that Hengsheng cannot be saved and is destined to go bankrupt."

"Secondly, it is in our interest to short your three banks on a large scale and make your stock prices continue to plummet."

“Stopping now would result in significant losses for us.”

“Acquiring Hang Seng for one Hong Kong dollar is in our best interest. Only in this way can we give an explanation to our allies, since it would harm their interests.”

"President Chen said it must be decided today!"

After saying that, Yu Jing left with the words "You guys think about it" and hung up the phone. Shen Bi was already sitting weakly in his office chair, looking very dejected.

One Hong Kong dollar is equivalent to handing over Hang Seng Bank.

This is a disgrace to HSBC!

However, it cannot be denied that Yu Jing is right; Hang Seng is destined to fail, and the only option is to sacrifice it to save the king and stabilize the share prices of HSBC and Standard Chartered.

With a sigh, they had no choice but to convene another shareholders' meeting. After a heated discussion, they could only humiliatingly accept Chen Fan's offer.

He sold HSBC's 62% stake to Chen Fan for HK$1.

Sign the contract tomorrow at 2 PM!

Shen Bi hopes to sign the contract tomorrow morning. The sooner the contract is signed and the sooner the publicity starts, the more stable the share prices of HSBC and Standard Chartered will be.

Chen Fan, however, insisted on keeping it a secret until the afternoon!
Checking the time, Chen Fan realized it was already past closing time. He picked up the phone and called each of his allies, inviting them to his home for a get-together that evening. Liu Jianxiong, who also lived in Deep Water Bay, less than a kilometer away, arrived with his wife as soon as Chen Fan got home: "Why did you suddenly call us over? What's the good news?"

"We'll talk about it all together once everyone's here."

After instructing the servants to serve tea and prepare another table, Chen Fan took out a cigarette and offered it to Da Liu: "You must have made a considerable profit from this operation, right?"

Da Liu took the cigarette, lit it, and chuckled, "Not bad. I acted quickly and found several institutions to short sell. I made a big profit."

Taking a deep breath, Lau said, "Our alliance has taught the British a lesson. It's amazing how quickly things have changed; Hong Kong is no longer under their control."

"Just wait and see. The British will only be able to cause trouble for a few more years, around 1997. We'll have plenty of opportunities to crush them." Chen Fan lit a cigarette and laughed.

The scheme has been set up!
Xinghuo Real Estate's land plots have entered full-scale development. In two or three years, one residential community after another will rise from the ground and become a British-owned cemetery.

They still want to massacre Hong Kong? No way!

Chen Fan's goal is to keep the British money in Hong Kong. At that time, the British will definitely have a very interesting reaction, even more so than they do today.

As we chatted, everyone gradually arrived.

Everyone's face was beaming with smiles. In just a few days, Hang Seng's stock price had been halved, HSBC had fallen by 15%, and Standard Chartered by 18%. Everyone had made a fortune.

"Comrades, I have invited you all here today because I have some news to announce."

Everyone was speechless at Chen Fan's way of addressing people. They said that when in Rome, do as the Romans do, but this guy just wouldn't change and liked to call others "comrade."

In Hong Kong, "comrade" is not a positive word.

In 1989, Hong Kong stage play director Edward Lam first used the term "comrade" to refer to same-sex relationships, and it gradually gained acceptance and spread.

In Hong Kong, casually calling someone "comrade" will get you beaten up.

But Chen Fan didn't change his mind, and everyone was helpless. They could only listen to him say, "HSBC has already bowed down and plans to sell its shares in Hang Seng Bank."

"On the condition that we stop the attack!"

Upon hearing this, everyone frowned. Comrade Huo asked, "Would you agree? According to the plan, the share prices of HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Hang Seng will have to drop by at least another 20%."

“The British will definitely pay another price. I don’t believe you’ll be so easy to talk to.” Li Zhaoji laughed. Chen Fan was not someone to be trifled with.

Every time we clashed with the British, there were a whole host of conditions after the victory.

The currency war resulted in the loss of 21 plots of land.

"Old Li understands me best."

Chen Fan smiled, took a puff of his cigarette, and slowly said, "HSBC has agreed to sell 62% of Hang Seng's shares for HK$1."

One Hong Kong dollar?

Everyone was stunned. What's the difference between this and robbery? If there is a difference, it's that he symbolically took out 1 Hong Kong dollar and took away someone else's assets worth tens of billions.

Upon closer reflection, it seems reasonable; if the British didn't agree, their losses would only be greater.

Chen Fan continued, "According to our previous agreement, the shares of Hang Seng will be divided among us. I will take 30%, and you can divide the rest. Is that alright?"

Everyone nodded in agreement; it was all pre-arranged.

Li Zhaoji then asked, "What about Hang Seng's shares? The original founders of Hang Seng hold a portion of the shares, but the number is small and negligible. The number of shares issued is extremely large, accounting for nearly 30%."

"This is the second thing I want to talk about."

Chen Fan coughed lightly and rubbed his hands together: "We've arranged to sign the contract with England tomorrow afternoon. We have a morning to handle other matters."

"The first thing to do is to buy Hang Seng, HSBC and Standard Chartered at the bottom. I will not participate in Hang Seng stock. Everyone should act on their own and whoever buys it gets to keep it."

“I have no objection,” Li Zhaoji replied.

The downside of each going their own way is that they compete with each other, making it impossible to continue suppressing the stock price. The upside is that there's no need to share profits, thus avoiding conflicts.

Old Huo nodded in agreement: "The market is dumping everything, and time is tight. We only have one morning left. Everyone should buy as much as they can. There's no need to raise prices arbitrarily."

"It's best not to hurt feelings."

Chen Fan smiled and said, "Next, we need to discuss the management of Hang Seng Bank. What do you all think is the most appropriate arrangement?"

P.S.: Second update! Please vote! Thank you for your support!

(End of this chapter)