Mixed in 1980

Chapter 375 Taking Down HSBC and Standard Chartered
"You don't even care about your reputation anymore?" Shen Bi's lips twitched, and he felt a toothache.

Since taking office, Peng Dingkang has been busy putting on a show, trying to create a persona of being approachable. If he does this kind of thing, his reputation will be completely ruined once it gets out.

"What Soros did has nothing to do with us!"

Peng Dingkang flicked his cigarette ash and sneered, "We're just temporarily keeping the money in Hong Kong. We'll transfer it out at the right time."

That's absolutely right!
Little did Soros know, he was also having a headache. He had long had his eye on Hong Kong, a lucrative market, but Chen Fan had gotten the better of him first. He didn't know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

The property market was ignited ahead of schedule, and the situation in Hong Kong is different from what was previously expected.

Under normal circumstances, there is a competitive relationship between the stock market and the real estate market. When the stock market performs well and the rate of return on investment is high, funds tend to flow into the stock market in search of short-term high returns.

Conversely, when the real estate market outlook is positive and there are strong expectations of rising housing prices, funds may be withdrawn from the stock market and invested in the real estate market.

However, despite the collapse of Hong Kong's property market, funds did not flow into the stock market in large quantities. The reason is simple: the Thai baht collapsed, and Hong Kong's media was hyping up a financial crisis.

The atmosphere of a financial crisis is pervasive, and the stock market is naturally not performing as expected!
All of this was done by Chen Fan!

Soros was furious and had already formed an alliance with Quantum Fund, Tiger Fund, macro hedge funds, and various international speculators to enter Hong Kong.

The foreign exchange market, stock market, and futures market are all targets!
First, they borrow large amounts of Hong Kong dollars from banks and financial institutions, then secretly buy Hong Kong stocks from around the world through brokerages, or borrow constituent stocks, and then drive up the stock and currency markets.

Wait until the price is high before shorting, and seize the right opportunity to ignite the stock and currency markets!
The problem arose during the upward surge. Soros originally planned to use the "return" as a gimmick for large-scale publicity, prematurely exhausting the positive factors and repeatedly hyping up the stock and currency markets.

The original plan was to raise the Hang Seng Index to over 1.6 points.

As a result, Chen Fan first dealt a blow to the real estate market, causing it to collapse prematurely. Then, he launched a large-scale campaign to suppress the real estate market due to the economic crisis, and the stock market's rise also became extremely slow.

It's almost impossible for it to reach 1.6 points; the bubble isn't big enough, which is extremely unfavorable for short selling.

Real estate stocks, in particular, were already heavily inflated and were a prime target for short selling. Before Soros could even make a move, they collapsed, severely impacting the Hang Seng Index.

As for launching an attack from foreign exchange reserves, it is also very difficult. Hong Kong has extremely high foreign exchange reserves, second only to the mainland and Japan, reaching US$928 billion, ranking third in the world.

All of this needs to be weighed!
Soros is not God and does not have a God's-eye view. Despite his dominance in the financial markets, he is very cautious in every attack.

In 1992, when the British pound was attacked, they first made a probing attack in May, but when they found the time was not right, they immediately went into hiding and did not launch another attack until September.

The attacks on the Mexican peso in 1994 and the Thai baht in 1997 followed the same pattern: first, a probing attack, and then a full-scale attack when the time was right.

In fact, Soros had wanted to take advantage of Southeast Asian countries as early as 94. He had attempted to launch a test attack at that time, but when he found the time was not right, he decisively went into hiding.

The same applies to Hong Kong!
In the original historical trajectory, after July 1997, Soros launched three rounds of attacks, and finally launched a general offensive in August 1998.

Soros is now weighing when to launch his attack. Even if the property market collapses, Hong Kong's economy still has a large bubble that can be absorbed.

It's simply a matter of how you eat it!
With the combined presence of three major funds and a large number of state speculators, Hong Kong cannot withstand the pressure and will inevitably become their "ultimate cash cow" sooner or later.

Before that, we need to take down the Four Asian Tigers!
After Siam, the next target is the Philippines. Soros was still somewhat frustrated when Chen Fan suddenly got involved. The attack on Siam went too smoothly, so much so that the Philippines' plans were not yet complete.

We'll have to wait a little longer!
As for Chen Fan, he had already received a call from Zhou Wenya: "Mr. Chen, HSBC and Standard Chartered have agreed to sell their Hong Kong businesses. What are your instructions?"

"Let Yu Jing negotiate, and try to drive the price down as much as possible!" Chen Fan raised the corners of his mouth, finally admitting defeat.

Nowadays, HSBC and Standard Chartered can hardly be considered high-quality assets. A large amount of funds have been lent out and are stuck in the real estate market, with no way to get them back.

And they face the constant threat of Chen Fan.

Yu Jing led her team to participate in the negotiations. The process was not difficult, but when it came to the asset verification, she couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

Foreign investors are really daring!

Borrowing from HSBC and Standard Chartered was too leveraged. If the property doesn't appreciate, the interest alone will cripple the capital, making repayment impossible.

These are two complete messes!

If handled well, we can weather the storm and have a promising future; if handled poorly, we will collapse and have no future.

"It would be better to just break it down and then rebuild it."

HSBC and Standard Chartered have resigned themselves to the fate of divesting their Hong Kong businesses for sale. The price was repeatedly hit over a period of more than a month before an agreement was finally reached in May.

Spark Investment acquired a 68% stake in HSBC (Hong Kong) for HK$168 billion, with the remaining 32% being publicly traded shares.

In addition, it acquired 73% of Standard Chartered (Hong Kong) for HK$145 billion, with the remaining 28% also being publicly traded shares on the stock market.

The news caused an uproar in Hong Kong!
HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank changed hands, and from then on, Chen Fan would control the three largest banks: HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Hang Seng.

HSBC and Standard Chartered have the right to issue Hong Kong dollars, Hang Seng is responsible for calculating the Hang Seng Index, and there is also Tai-Ce Bank, which has the most abundant cash flow.

The entire financial market will be controlled by Chen Fan!
What's even more astonishing is the acquisition price. Even though HSBC and Standard Chartered's share prices fell significantly due to the property market crash, their market capitalization is still over 100 billion based on current share prices.
How much was the acquisition price?

The company acquired a 68% stake in HSBC for HK$168 billion, with a total market value of HK$247 billion; and a 73% stake in Standard Chartered for HK$145 billion, with a total market value of HK$198 billion. These figures are vastly different from their stock market capitalization!
After the news broke, retail investors immediately sold off their stocks, causing HSBC and Standard Chartered shares to plummet.

Yu Jing laughed loudly, saying that the drop in stock price was just right. While Xinghuo Investment was exerting pressure in the media to short the two banks, it was also arranging for people to buy up the stocks at the bottom.

Another benefit of the stock market crash is that Hang Seng Bank shareholders had already shorted HSBC and Standard Chartered before the property market downturn, and the stock price plunge allowed them to make a profit.

Finance is just that unethical!
It doesn't produce value itself, it's just a redistribution of wealth. Anyone who gets involved either cuts someone else's knife or gets cut by someone else's knife.

"HSBC and Standard Chartered have changed hands?"

Soros, holding the newspaper, frowned and pondered: "Both of these banks are important components of the Hong Kong stock market, and their stock price plunges will have a significant impact on the Hang Seng Index."

"It's really been a rollercoaster ride, with a lot of bubbles being squeezed out, making it much more difficult to harvest."

"Hong Kong needs positive developments!"

Soros sighed and put down the newspaper: "Let's put it aside for now. After July, once we've harvested the Four Asian Tigers, it'll be Hong Kong's turn."

Time is moving towards July!

After getting permission for the children to leave, Chen Fan took his three fathers-in-law and their families, as well as his uncle's family, to the top floor of the Xinghuo No. 1 Building in Guangzhou.

The higher-ups originally wanted to invite him to the ceremony on July 1, but Chen Fan politely declined, knowing that if he appeared on television, it would definitely be widely reported.

Chen Fan didn't want to become famous in mainland China. He was famous enough in Hong Kong, but it made traveling inconvenient. He preferred to keep a low profile in mainland China and live a comfortable life.

Watching a fireworks show with family and friends is also a great idea!
After a night of excitement, it was July 2nd. Xu Jinqiu left her family to return to Beijing, while Chen Fan took Zeng Ali and Zhao Yuanyuan to Hong Kong.

"It's different now!"

After passing through the port, Chen Fan asked the driver to stop the car, got out, and looked at the surrounding scenery. It was the same scenery, but the feeling was different.

The British are gone.

This place is no longer ruled by the British!
With HSBC and Standard Chartered already acquired, the British no longer wield much influence in Hong Kong.

That leaves some British-owned companies and some British-controlled media outlets. Chen Fan had already said that these media outlets would be dealt with one by one.

I had a good night's rest!
Chen Fan took his two wives to Xinghuo Investment, where the shareholders of Hang Seng Bank were already gathered, their faces beaming with smiles.

Especially the shipping magnate Dong!

The eldest son became the head of Hong Kong, an honor that can be written into the family's history of glory, and everyone offered their congratulations.

After exchanging pleasantries and drinking another cup of tea, Chen Fan said, "Soros can't hold back anymore and has started targeting the Philippines. Are we following suit?"

As he spoke, he looked at Liu Jianxiong, who was in charge of the Philippines and had had enough time to plan ahead.

"Through investigations of international financial institutions, it was found that Soros's presence in the Philippines was not extensive, which is also related to the Philippines' limited foreign exchange reserves."

"Their foreign exchange reserves are around US$80 billion, which is not a large enough target to be attacked. Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore are the main targets."

"This also gave us an opportunity."

"We can crush the Philippine monkeys today and turn their pesos into worthless paper."

After listening, Chen Fan couldn't help but burst into laughter: "If the Philippine monkey knew that he was disliked by Soros because of his small foreign exchange reserves, I don't know whether he should cry or laugh."

Liu joked, "The result is the same. Soros complains that there's not enough meat, but we don't mind. The Philippines' mining, agriculture, ports, and tourism industries are still quite good."

"We have already acquired a lot of industries through investment and loans in the early stages. Today we have completely crushed the Philippine peso, and tomorrow I will go there to accelerate the acquisition."

Chen Fan nodded slightly: "The media coverage needs to keep up, especially in Hong Kong. We must create an atmosphere of financial crisis and publicize the fact that Soros has his sights on Hong Kong."

"The stock price must be kept under control. There is already a bubble, and if it gets blown up further, we will be in a very passive position when Soros shorts Hong Kong."

"The public opinion in Hong Kong lately is indeed abnormal!"

At the opportune moment, Tung, the shipping magnate, spoke up: "Our own media are extensively promoting the positive news of the return to China, and the media controlled by British capital are also singing its praises. This is very abnormal."

"We suspect that the British may have reached some kind of tacit agreement with Soros, and may stab him in the back at a critical moment."

"Nowadays, the stock market has been fluctuating due to the impact of public opinion, especially Huazi Holdings, whose stock price has risen a lot. Old Li, your gas company is the same."

After speaking, he looked at Li Zhaoji.

Li Zhaoji nodded slightly: "Something is definitely not right. I was planning to release some shares to drive down the stock price. It's currently overvalued. If it gets shorted, the losses will be severe when the economic crisis hits."

PS: Only one update today~ I'll make up for it the day after tomorrow~ I didn't turn on the air conditioner last night, but I used a fan instead, and it blew on all night, so I caught a bit of a cold. I've had a headache all day today.

(End of this chapter)