Reborn Tycoon Rise

Chapter 208 Battle for Hutchison Whampoa (17)

Xu Zhi glanced at Li Jiacheng, who was expressionless next to him, and already guessed that this game must be related to him. Although many business tycoons had already seen that the problems with Hutchison Whampoa stocks some time ago, they knew about it, but after all No one knows how much the two cashed out. Wei Li has now made this move on the board of directors. It is obvious that he already knows that the shares owned by Xu Zhi are less than 33.4%. The only people who know so clearly are those who were actually involved in this incident. Even from the beginning, it was Li Jiacheng's layout.

Under normal circumstances, owning 30% of a company's stocks is enough to control the company, but Xu Zhi has just taken over, and all management and even the board of directors have no one from him. This is the time when major shareholders are at their weakest. As long as they survive this period , if you train your own people, the company can easily take over control.

"Which consortium is requesting the increase in shares this time?" Xu Zhi asked rhetorically.

Wei Li smiled and said: "This time I contacted Australia's Wesfarmers Group. Wesfarmers Group is willing to invest 1 billion Hong Kong dollars in our Hutchison Whampoa. According to our current stock price of 8 Hong Kong dollars, we will increase the investment by 125 million shares. Xu Sheng also mentioned it last time Equity financing, but the shares in your hands should be close to 50% now. Refinancing will trigger a takeover offer.

Wesfarmers Group is one of the largest retail companies in Australia. Once it takes a stake in our company, Watsons' retail business under Hutchison Whampoa can use Wesfarmers' channels to gradually internationalize, and our transportation business can also gain access to Wesfarmers Group's A large number of orders, this is a deal that has the best of both worlds. Xu Sheng, you are the major shareholder of our company, what do you think? "

"One billion Hong Kong dollars is a big deal." Xu Zhi said with a casual smile. Due to the completion of the acquisition, Hutchison Whampoa's stock price has dropped to around 8 Hong Kong dollars, and the market value of the entire company is only about 3.2 billion Hong Kong dollars. Once the share increase is 1 billion Hong Kong dollars, , the new shareholders’ equity will never be lower than that of Evergrande.

Xu Zhi glanced at everyone present. The fact that no one asked about such a big event already showed that this incident had been planned for a long time. However, he did not expect that Wei Li could actually contact an overseas consortium that was willing to invest such a large amount. .

"Xu Sheng?" Wei Li reminded him with a smile.

Xu Zhi thought for a while and smiled: "In principle, I agree to increase capital, but the current stock price of Hutchison Whampoa is not stable. If we increase capital at the current stock price, it will obviously be unfair to many shareholders. I suggest it be lower than the average stock price of the previous month." Come and increase capital, this is only reasonable!”

Wei Li said: "Xu Sheng, you are wrong. Hutchison Whampoa's stock fluctuated too much some time ago. You know the reasons better than us. It is simply unreasonable to increase capital at that price."

Xu Zhidao: "Well, since we can't go by the stock price, if I remember correctly, Wei Li, I remember you publicly stated your position two months ago that Hutchison Whampoa's stock price should be 14.4 Hong Kong dollars per share. If calculated at this price , I can accept it too.”

"..." Wei Li was speechless for a moment. He had indeed said this. At that time, HSBC had just sold Hutchison Whampoa's shares to Li Jiacheng. He said this casually when a reporter asked him about it.

A director suddenly said: "Xu Sheng, since you are not satisfied with this price, you can exercise your veto power and we will discuss the new price later."

Wei Li also reacted and said: "Xu Sheng, all the directors here have agreed to this price. If you don't agree, why not show us the official certificate and our board of directors can also take the next step?"

Xu Zhi thought for a while and said: "I think this capital increase is unnecessary. I have another plan here. Since you all think that 8 Hong Kong dollars per share is reasonable, then I will privatize the entire Hutchison Whampoa at 8.5 Hong Kong dollars per share. What do you think?"

"What?" Everyone was shocked. Even Li Jiacheng, who had been silent, turned his head in surprise.

Wei Li was also a little surprised, frowned and asked, "Is Xu Sheng serious?"

Xu Zhi nodded and said, "Of course."

Wei Li said: "To fully privatize Hutchison Whampoa, even at the price you mentioned, Xu Sheng will have to invest at least 2 billion Hong Kong dollars. Is Xu Sheng sure?"

Xu Zhi smiled and said: "Don't worry, as long as you pass this proposal, I will naturally produce evidence that I have 2 billion Hong Kong dollars before convening the shareholders' meeting."

"No, I object." Another director said: "This price is still too low."

Xu Zhi asked back: "The financing Wei Li proposed before was only 8 Hong Kong dollars per share. Why didn't you say it was lower?"

The director said: "This is different. One is financing and the other is comprehensive acquisition."

"Okay." Xu Zhi interrupted the man and said: "According to Xiangjiang's company law, when the board of directors receives a request for a comprehensive acquisition, it must report it to the shareholders' meeting, which has priority over financing.

My point is very simple. If the status quo is maintained, I will be happy to accept it. But if you insist on increasing share financing, then I will also propose a comprehensive acquisition to the shareholders' meeting. "

Xu Zhi glanced at Li Jiacheng and said, "No one will compete with me this time! As for the proof of 2 billion funds, I will submit it to the board of directors soon!"

Wei Li was silent for a while and said: "Xu Sheng needs to think clearly, 2 billion Hong Kong dollars is not a small amount."

"You don't need to worry about it. I know that my proposal today is a bit abrupt. You don't need to give me an answer right away. Think about it slowly." After saying that, Xu Zhi greeted Wang Liming and left the conference room together.

"Xu Sheng, do you really want to fully acquire Hutchison Whampoa?" The two of them walked quietly to the car and sat down before Wang Liming asked.

"Of course not, this is just a buffering opportunity." Xu Zhi said with a smile: "Actually, although Wei Li's move today was beyond my expectation, I am very happy!"

Wang Liming asked: "What does Xu Sheng mean?"

Xu Zhidao: "Although I have become a major shareholder of Hutchison Whampoa, I have been having a headache since the acquisition. It is easy to acquire enough controlling shares, as long as you have money, but how can I successfully take over the management of Hutchison Whampoa? right?

Wei Li's people have already controlled every business of Hutchison Whampoa. If he is directly eliminated without sufficient reasons, it will probably cause turmoil in the entire Hutchison Whampoa management. Chinese capital has already made it easy for these people to take over Hutchison Whampoa. The British are worried that if I do this directly, even if these people do not take action temporarily due to economic pressure, they will try their best to find a way out in the future, which will not be beneficial to Hutchison Whampoa's development.

Once a company with tens of thousands of people like Hutchison Whampoa gets panicked, big problems will inevitably arise. But now that Weili actually handed over the knife and neck himself, of course I was too happy before it was too late. "

Wei Li was already a major shareholder before HSBC sold Hutchison shares. Wei Li repeatedly refused to give Shen Bi face, intending to weaken HSBC's influence in Hutchison. However, even if Shen Bi was unhappy, considering the overall situation, he did not directly abolish Wei Li. Instead of taking the top class position, he gave the shares to Li Jiacheng to deal with him.

In the original history, Li Jiacheng obtained 22.65% of Hutchison Whampoa shares in 1979, but one year later, at the end of 1980, he had obtained more than 40% of the shares. Although in 1981, Wei Li resigned and left, but it was also because he did not want to He wasted his time fighting within Hutchison Company, so he decided to start his own business.

The subsequent management team was the former second-in-command. After becoming the chief executive, he still suppressed the Chinese management in an all-round way with the intention of becoming independent from Hutchison Whampoa.

Even with a controlling stake, it still took Li Jiacheng nearly three years to actually take over Hutchison Whampoa. The fundamental reason was to stabilize this large enterprise with tens of thousands of employees. Once the management is in chaos, the entire enterprise will collapse at any time. .

Wang Liming also understood and said: "Now Wei Li has openly proposed financing to dilute our shares on the board of directors, which gives us a reason to move him. At least after we take action, we will have a decent reason."

Xu Zhidao: "Yes, coupled with our internal layout at Hutchison Whampoa, after abolishing Wei Li, Hutchison Whampoa will not have any major problems in the short term."

Even like Li Jiacheng, he has a large number of top talents, but talents are also human beings, and it takes time to become familiar with the business. Even if Wei Li happily cooperates and directly lets the British team teach him step by step, the new team will still have to spend at least It took several years to become thoroughly familiar with the business of a large company like Hutchison Whampoa.

To a certain extent, unless you plan to dismantle and sell the target company for acquisition, just to make a profit, the middle and senior management must not move. If you want to completely control the company, you must get rid of the heads of these people, but you must There must be an honest reason to reassure other managers, at least on the surface.

Shopping malls are not novels, and you don’t just have to get a controlling stake and mess around. Historically, the mergers and acquisitions of the world’s top 500 companies have basically been peaceful mergers, which took several years or even longer to fully integrate. Hutchison Whampoa is currently one of the few in Hong Kong. One of the few Fortune 500 companies!

Wang Liming said: "But I can't fully believe this person. He and Wei Li are the same person."

Xu Zhi nodded and said: "Don't worry, I know it in my heart. It's just mutual use. You make an appointment with him to come to my office tomorrow. There are some things I have to ask clearly. Otherwise, I don't know if Wei Li has anyone else." variable."

Wang Liming nodded and replied: "Okay, I'll go right away."

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