Reborn as a tycoon in Hong Kong

Jardine Matheson.

"Hutchison Whampoa is going to sell its foreign trade business. Let's talk about what Lin Baicheng thinks and whether we should get involved."

Henry Kaiser called several important people into his office to discuss.

Someone speculated: "Could it be related to the fact that Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business was seized by the customs last year?"

"Before Hutchison Whampoa was acquired by Lin Baicheng, the company's most important industry was its foreign trade business. Even after the company was acquired by Lin Baicheng, it began to increase investment in real estate and retail industries, but foreign trade business is still an important pillar of Hutchison Whampoa , and has always done very well, I really can’t think of any reason for Hutchison Whampoa to sell.”

"Lin Baicheng has become the richest man in Hong Kong at a young age. It is impossible that he does not know that foreign trade business is the pillar industry of Hutchison Whampoa. Even if he does not know the importance, Wei Li and others will remind him. Now that this matter has passed Hutchison Whampoa's The board of directors, obviously Hutchison Whampoa has its own plans, and it may not be optimistic about the future development of its foreign trade business."

"I think, no matter what Hutchison Whampoa thinks, it has nothing to do with us. What we have to consider now is whether to participate in the bidding for Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business."

"You are right. Why Hutchison Whampoa sold its foreign trade business has nothing to do with us."

Henry Kaiserk couldn't help but nodded slightly when he heard this. There was no point in guessing Hutchison Whampoa's plan. It might not be correct, and there was no need to waste energy.

"Then, let's discuss whether Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business is worth acquiring, and whether the group has the funds to participate in the bidding."

"If the annual report published by Hutchison Whampoa is taken as the standard, Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business made a profit of HK$150 million last year, and the profit in the previous two years was also hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars, with an annual growth rate of about 15%. For such an industry, HK$800 million is still worth it."

"Anyway, Hutchison Whampoa is willing to let the bidding buyers participate in due diligence. We will find out when the time comes. If it is not fake, then this acquisition is worth it."

"I also think it's worth it. After the group took over, not only the development will be better, but there is no reason why it will be worse, so it is worth acquiring."

Several people expressed their opinions, and everyone thought it was worth acquiring.

"It seems that everyone has the same opinion."

Henry Kaiser couldn't help but nodded after hearing this, he thought so too. Since everyone has the same idea, there is nothing more to say.

Afterwards, they discussed the group's funds, which turned out to be a bit troublesome.

Jardine Matheson \u0026 Co. originally lost hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars because of former Tai Panyu Bijian's involvement in short selling Hutchison Whampoa. Later, Henry Caesar and other British-owned families shorted Hutchison Whampoa, using the same Jardine Matheson also lost hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars.

Although the Golden Gate Building was sold to recoup hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars, the Golden Gate Building is Land's property, and the money recovered from the sale belongs to Land and cannot be misappropriated by Jardine Matheson.

Although the Kesake family and other shareholders made up for the funding gap, the result of doing so was that the family suffered heavy losses in strength. Although the money for the current acquisition is not provided by the Cesarke family, it is a major investment. Because of the short-selling mistake last time, the board of directors had doubts about his ability. However, this time there was no way for the board of directors to easily agree to the acquisition plan.

Henry Kaiser was still very optimistic about Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business, so he decided to lobby other directors on the board of directors to participate in the acquisition.

In the next few days after Hutchison Whampoa released the news, one after another interested companies went to Hutchison Whampoa, communicated with Hutchison Whampoa's management, and after leaving a deposit in a specific account at HSBC Bank, they Hutchison Whampoa has launched due diligence on its foreign trade business.

Naoto Mutuo and Delson Cage, the two vice presidents of Ocean Import and Export Trading Company, also went to Hutchison Whampoa and pretended to carry out due diligence on Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business.

The management structure of Ocean Import and Export Trading Company consists of a large team, two vice presidents, and the more important personnel director and financial director. Lin Baicheng and his five directors each assigned exactly one person to serve.

Taipan was arranged by Lin Baicheng. He directly talked to Nash Bridgewall, the head of Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business, and told Bridgewall about Ocean Import and Export Trading Company. After Bridgewall was willing to work for him, Move Bridgewall to the top class position. In this way, once the acquisition is successful, Bridgewall can manage the company seamlessly without worrying about the loss of a large number of talents.

However, before Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business completed the transaction, Bridgewall had been an employee of Hutchison Whampoa, so it was difficult for him to conduct transactions with Hutchison Whampoa on behalf of Ocean Import and Export Trading Company. The reason for the transaction was Iwasaki Mineryu. Two vice presidents arranged with Phil Smith were in charge.

The personnel director and financial director were dispatched by Bao Yugang and Logan Rockefeller respectively, but relatively speaking, everyone in the finance department would send personnel to supervise.

Furthermore, although everyone has assigned someone to serve, everyone has promised in advance that they must cooperate with Bridgewall's work and focus on developing the company.

In fact, Lin Baicheng and the others knew very well that wherever there are people, there are struggles. Employees in their respective companies will have office struggles, not to mention that the five of them belong to different directors, so office struggles are unavoidable.

However, it is limited to office struggles that do not affect the company's development. Once the scale of the struggle expands, the unlucky ones will only be those in the management. Lin Baicheng and others will definitely not have disputes or fall out over the Ocean Import and Export Trading Company.

There are many companies in Xiangjiang that are interested in Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business. After all, it is a high-quality asset. However, there are not many companies that have the strength to participate in the auction. After all, it is at least 800 million Hong Kong dollars, which is not a small amount.

Take the Hong Kong Electric Group controlled by Lin Baicheng as an example. Before its acquisition by Lin Baicheng, its market value was less than HK$5 billion, but it was already one of the top ten listed companies in Hong Kong. And even if it is Hong Kong Electric Group, despite its market capitalization of nearly HK$5 billion, if it is asked to come up with HK$800 million at once, it will not have the strength if it does not seek a bank loan.

Not to mention Hong Kong Electric Group, even Hutchison Whampoa, which has a higher market value, is not easy to come up with HK$800 million in cash without seeking a bank loan.

Market capitalization is market capitalization, cash is cash, and the two are not the same concept.

Seeing that the ten-day period is getting closer and closer, it is less and less likely that companies will participate in the auction. Companies interested in participating in the auction will definitely conduct due diligence on Hutchison Whampoa in advance.

So far, a total of six companies, excluding Ocean Import and Export Trading Company, have carried out due diligence. This number is not too many but not too few.