Li Jiacheng is only considered the top rich man in Hong Kong now, but he is far from the richest man in Hong Kong. Li Jiacheng's successful acquisition of the shares of Hutchison Whampoa caused a huge sensation in the Hong Kong press at that time. Newspapers and magazines used eye-catching headlines to describe Li Ka-shing's successful acquisition of the "snake swallowing an elephant" style, as if it was placed in the sky over Hong Kong. An atomic bomb, with its earth-shattering energy, not only shocked the whole of Hong Kong but also caused the stock market to soar.
Hutchison Whampoa Limited is a large multinational corporation with operations around the world. It operates a diverse range of businesses, including the largest container terminal operator in many markets around the world, a retail chain group, property development and infrastructure businesses, as well as state-of-the-art telecommunications services. Li Ka-shing knows that HSBC will never hold a long-term holding of Hutchison Whampoa, because financial institutions directly operate the enterprise, which is inconsistent with reason, law, and inconvenience. It is only a matter of time before HSBC sells Hutchison Whampoa.
Therefore, since 1978, Li Jiacheng began to plan how to acquire the shares of Hutchison Whampoa from HSBC, and now it has reached the stage of transaction.
Hutchison Whampoa has a minimum value of 14.4 yuan per share, but it was sold to Li Jiacheng for 7.1 Hong Kong dollars per share, which is very cheap, and it also received loan support from HSBC.
However, no matter how Li Zetian thought about it, he felt that HSBC's mind might be hilarious, and it sold the shares of Hutchison Whampoa at a 50% discount.
Li Zetian immediately sent someone to investigate whether HSBC and Li Jiacheng had dirty py transactions.
It didn't take long for his subordinates to write a report and fax it to him, which mainly analyzed why HSBC intended to sell the shares of Hutchison Whampoa to Li Jiacheng.
The analysis above shows that, firstly, HSBC owes Li Jiacheng a favor in the battle of Wharf; secondly, it is optimistic about Li Jiacheng, and believes that Li Ka-shing will play a pivotal role in Hong Kong in the next ten years; The favorable impression has enabled HSBC to make a smooth transition after the return of Hong Kong, and its operations will not be affected by politics.
The market is weak, and the last two points are the key to HSBC's sale to Li Jiacheng.
Because in 1978, Li Jiacheng and Deng Lao met and they were very happy, which caused a sensation in Hong Kong at that time.
Li Zetian immediately called Hong Kong and asked his staff to inform HSBC that he wanted to buy the shares of Hutchison Whampoa in their hands. At the same time, he asked Dongfang Yuqin to book a flight to Hong Kong. Although Li Zetian is now worth tens of billions of dollars, he is basically all shares, but there is not much cash, and the price of a Boeing 747 is as high as hundreds of millions of dollars. Now he is reluctant to sell his shares to buy an airplane, which is too much of a loss. Every company is growing rapidly and the value of the shares is increasing every day. In addition, he doesn't usually travel far and can't take a few planes, so he doesn't need to buy a plane at this stage. Of course, it also has something to do with him being an orphan in his previous life, and he is used to being diligent and thrifty.
The next day, Li Zetian flew to Hong Kong.
After the plane took off, Li Zetian squinted and lay on the chair, the corners of his mouth raised slightly, revealing a confident smile, and muttered in his heart: "I don't believe it, I went to Hong Kong, and HSBC will still value Li Jiacheng so much? In terms of influence in the world, can Li Jiacheng be comparable to me?"
After 14 long hours, Li Zetian finished reading the materials, and when he was tired, he slept on the plane. When the plane arrived in Hong Kong, it was exactly 9 o'clock in the morning, and the sun was shining brightly.
Li Zetian first went home and asked Shen Bi, chairman of HSBC, to meet at a five-star hotel at noon.
Shen Bi is a Chinese name, but he is a shrewd British guy. Under his leadership, HSBC's profits have grown rapidly, and its business development has reached its peak.
"Mr. Li, hello, it's a pleasure to meet you." Shen Bi greeted with a smile on his face.
Li Zetian reached out and shook hands with him. He also smiled and said, "Hello, Mr. Shen, it's also a pleasure to meet you."
The two sat down and greeted the waiter to serve.
HSBC is essentially a British colonial bank and has always maintained a special relationship with the British Hong Kong government. This gives it a monopoly and privileged position in Hong Kong's financial industry. HSBC, which accounts for about half of Hong Kong's deposits, was the central bank in Hong Kong before the establishment of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Therefore, any rich person in Hong Kong will not be able to become a big climate without the support of HSBC.
In the era of the British Hong Kong government, HSBC, as the leader of the British-funded monopoly consortium in Hong Kong, actually controlled the entire Hong Kong economy, while the chairman of HSBC was the actual ruler of Hong Kong. Shen Bi's status in Hong Kong can be imagined .
However, no matter how good HSBC is, it is also good in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, that is, a bank. Li Zetian is now at the height of his power, and his career potential is endless, and the flow of funds is huge. Countless banks are begging to cooperate with him. Moreover, Li Zetian's career has already expanded to Europe, HSBC wants to seek a strong partner, it is necessary to make good friends with Li Zetian. In fact, Li Zetian now has little interaction with HSBC, and generally cooperates with banks in the United States.
Li Zetian did not spare the circle, took a sip of water, and said to him straight to the point: "Mr. Shen, I heard that HSBC plans to sell 20% of Hutchison Whampoa's shares, to tell you the truth, I am also very fond of this company. interested."
Hutchison Whampoa owns a Hong Kong container port and a large land bank, as well as Parknshop and Watsons (a health and beauty product retail chain) with monopoly income in the Hong Kong retail industry, and also owns 14 of the 24 ports of call in Hong Kong berth. Hong Kong Port is one of the busiest and most efficient international container ports in the world and a major hub port in the global supply chain. There are more than 80 international liner services providing about 500 container liner services every week, connecting Hong Kong Port to 500 ports around the world. Many destinations have ranked first in the world's container throughput for several consecutive years. If you think about it with your toes, you will know that the profit of the port is ridiculously high!
In addition, Parknshop and Wellcome supermarkets account for about 70% of Hong Kong's retail trade, and Watsons and Jardine's Mannings account for almost 70% of Hong Kong's medicinal herb sales.
Before meeting with Shen Bi, Li Zetian had seen these documents on the plane, and he was more determined to acquire Hutchison Whampoa.
Shen Bi frowned slightly. At this juncture, Li Zetian suddenly proposed to acquire the shares of Hutchison Whampoa, which surprised and embarrassed him. He has promised Li Ka-shing privately that HSBC will give priority to selling Hutchison Whampoa to Li Ka-shing. Li Ka-shing's shrewd, capable and honest business style, as well as the growing Cheung Kong Industrial and its booming performance, made him very admire.
However, Li Jiacheng and Li Zetian were instantly dimmed.
Shen Bi hesitated, pondered, his brain was running fast, analyzing the pros and cons.
Li Zetian waited quietly, slowly eating the small pastries sent by the hotel...