Reborn as a tycoon in Hong Kong

At noon that day.

Hutchison Whampoa issued an announcement stating that the company's operations are normal and that the recent decline in the company's stock price is a normal adjustment in the market.

At the same time, the company's controller and major shareholder Lin Baicheng stated that the 49.9% of Hutchison Whampoa shares he holds will never be reduced within one year. He is optimistic about the long-term development of Hutchison Whampoa.

After the announcement was made, Hutchison Whampoa's stock price stopped falling in the afternoon and rebounded slightly. Unfortunately, the rebound was not strong and did not break through the price of HK$50. After that, it fell again, with the stock price between HK$45 and HK$50. The Hong Kong dollar fluctuated.

Hutchison Whampoa's share price has stopped falling, and short sellers will definitely take action if they want to make greater profits. Either publish news that is unfavorable to Hutchison Whampoa, or create events that are unfavorable to Hutchison Whampoa, etc. Only in this way can investors bet on Hutchison Whampoa, causing the stock price to continue to fall.

Lin Baicheng asked Hutchison Whampoa to make an announcement to temporarily stabilize the stock price. He wanted the short side to take action, so that he could know more clearly who was shorting Hutchison Whampoa and carry out targeted responses.

However, as of the close of this week on Friday the 17th, there was no movement at all in the market. Although Hutchison Whampoa's stock price fell, it fell along with the Hang Seng Index. The decline was not significant, and the short side did not make targeted moves.

The short side didn't take action. Although Lin Baicheng didn't know what the short side was thinking, he had no choice but to give up. After all, he had no major good news to stimulate Hutchison Whampoa's stock price, so he could only defend passively.

However, Lin Baicheng certainly would not wait for the short side to take action before counterattacking, so he held a board meeting on Friday.

At the board meeting, a resolution was passed, that is, the company will look for strong external partners, and plans to increase the minimum 5% and maximum 10% of the shares to a third party. The fixed increase price is between 33 Hong Kong dollars and 37 Hong Kong dollars. The specific price is The fixed increase price and fixed increase quantity will be negotiated between management and a third party.

HSBC disagrees with this private placement plan. It’s not that HSBC feels that its own interests have been damaged by the private placement. After all, the stock price of the private placement is within a reasonable range. However, HSBC feels that there is no need to conduct a private placement. Hutchison Whampoa is currently operating normally and has normal liabilities. The company's stock price will rise sooner or later. There is no need to introduce third-party shareholders to dilute the shares of the original shareholders.

However, Lin Baicheng was determined, so the proposal was passed by the board of directors, and HSBC's objection was invalid.

The reason why Lin Baicheng is willing to carry out private placement is mainly to attract powerful partners and enhance the market's confidence in Hutchison Whampoa. The price of the fixed increase is between HK$33 and HK$37. After the fixed increase is announced, with this good news, it is unlikely that the stock price will fall below this fixed increase price.

Of course, Lin Baicheng has not yet found a partner for the scheduled increase, but he already has some candidates in mind, and he will slowly talk to the scheduled candidates later. If it can be negotiated, of course it would be best; if it can't be negotiated, that's okay.

If the negotiation is completed, although the private placement will reduce Lin Baicheng's shareholding in Hutchison Whampoa, Hutchison Whampoa itself will receive a large amount of funds to enhance the company's strength. As for Lin Baicheng's shares that have been reduced by the same proportion, he can buy them from the market and continue to increase his holdings to 49.9%, and he will not lose money.

And if the private placement is not negotiated, it doesn't matter. Lin Baicheng also has an alternative plan, which is to let Golden Fleece Company come forward to take over the private placement, and Lin Baicheng spends his own money to take over the shares.

Although this means that Lin Baicheng's shareholding in Hutchison Whampoa exceeds 50%, which is not in compliance with the laws of the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission, but as long as the real legal person under the skin of Golden Fleece Company is not exposed, then everything will be fine. The outside world will only think that Golden Fleece Company is just an overseas company.

And Lin Baicheng, who spent money to take over the fixed increase, will not lose money. He can just wait until Hutchison Whampoa's investment in gold prices makes a huge profit and the company's stock price rises sharply, and then let Golden Fleece Company sell its shares.

The reason why he still wanted to find someone else to take over the private placement was because Lin Baicheng wanted to use his own funds to develop the upcoming home appliance company, wafer and memory chip technology. Lin Baicheng, who has decided to spend US$700 million to be long on gold futures, will not have much funds to develop home appliance companies and semiconductor technology in the short term if he takes over a large amount of fixed investment from Hutchison Whampoa.

Not long after the board meeting ended, Lin Baicheng called Wei Li and the others to his office for a small meeting.

"There has been no other movement in the sky these two days. Although we don't know what they are thinking, for us, developing the company is the most important thing, so we will ignore this matter for the time being and develop the company's business well. .”

"Furthermore, I will look for the target of the private placement, and I will personally handle the specific private placement matters, so you don't have to worry about this matter."

Wei Li nodded to express his understanding: "Mr. Lin, we know what to do."

"Mr. Lin, regarding the acquisition of Kowloon Bus, do you want to stop it temporarily?"

Xia Boyin asked aloud. Lin Baicheng asked Wei Li to look for a bus company to acquire at the end of September, and finally targeted the Kowloon Bus Company, and the person responsible for the acquisition was Xia Boyin.

The control of Kowloon Bus Company is in the hands of Lei Juekkun, but Lei Juekkun only has a little more than 20% of the shares. If he really wants to, he can seize the control of Kowloon Bus from Lei Juekkun.

The market value of Kowloon Bus is not very high. After completing the investigation of Kowloon Bus, Xia Boyin began to slowly attract funds from the stock market. After the shareholding exceeded 10%, he began to contact the small shareholders of Kowloon Bus while raising funds.

For some small shareholders, holding shares in Kowloon Bus is for investment, so as long as there is a suitable premium, they will definitely not mind selling their shares.

Today, Hutchison Whampoa’s shareholding in Kowloon Bus is close to 20%, which is not much different from Lei Juekun’s shareholding.

If the acquisition of Kowloon Bus continues, it will be good if the acquisition goes smoothly. If something unexpected happens, it will lead to competition with Lui Juekkun for Kowloon Bus and an acquisition war. This is not a good thing at a time when some people are shorting Hutchison Whampoa.

"The Hang Seng Index has been falling recently. It is a good time to acquire Kowloon Bus, so continue the acquisition and don't stop."

Lin Baicheng thought for a moment and then made a decision. As he said just now, instead of taking advantage of the current downturn in the stock market and making acquisitions when the stock price falls, why not wait until the stock market rises and the stock price rises to make acquisitions?

As for the risks that may be involved, we can wait until the risks appear and deal with them at that time.