In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 732 Li Ka-shing: Is he really going to fall into Lin Haoran's hands?
John Anderson, Vice President of Wells Fargo’s Asia region, quickly glanced at the contents of the A4 paper, and his expression visibly darkened and became serious.

Li Jiacheng's heart sank suddenly, and an extremely ominous premonition instantly enveloped him.

Although he couldn't see what was written on the paper in Anderson's hand because he was sitting across from him, he was almost certain that something had happened, and it must be something serious!

Anderson looked up, his expression becoming very complicated. The previous enthusiasm for cooperation had vanished, replaced by a businesslike distance and wariness.

"Mr. Li, I'm very sorry, we just received an urgent message from the market." He changed his form of address, and his tone became cold.

He waved the A4 paper in his hand, or perhaps deliberately let Li Jiacheng see the contents: "Global Research Company is holding a press conference and has released a very negative financial risk assessment report on Hutchison Whampoa."

The report mentioned that your group's cash flow is extremely tight, possibly only enough to last for about 40 days, and that your company urgently sought funding from multiple external investment banks; all of this information has been leaked.

Anderson paused, then looked seriously at Li Jiacheng, whose face was beginning to turn pale: "Is this news true? At this point in time, your group's credit risk seems to have undergone a significant change."

I think we need to immediately suspend the current negotiations and reassess the risks of this financing and the value of the collateral. I'm sorry, we cannot continue until the situation becomes clearer.

These words were like ice water poured over Li Jiacheng's head, chilling him to the bone!

The thing he was most worried about finally happened!
And it just so happened that it occurred at the very moment when he was about to secure the most crucial round of financing!

He already knew that Universal Research Company would hold a press conference when he arrived, but he did not expect that the other party was targeting Hutchison Whampoa!
After all, everyone in Hong Kong knows that Universal Research has been acquired by Lin Haoran.

Lin Haoran!
You're really determined to wipe me out! You won't even give me a little bit of time left!
Li Jiacheng opened his mouth, as if trying to explain something: "Mr. Anderson, this is just one side of the story from a research company. They don't understand the full picture of the group, we..."

“Mr. Li!” Anderson interrupted him rudely, his tone firm. “We are a bank. We only care about risk and facts. The market has already reacted!”

He pointed out the window, where the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was located: "I believe your company's stock price is plummeting right now, which is a direct reflection of market risk. Under these circumstances, we must be responsible for the funds of our shareholders and depositors. Let's end today's meeting here."

After saying that, Anderson gave Li Jiacheng no further chances, stood up, straightened his suit, and led his team out of the conference room without looking back.

The empty conference room was left with only Li Jiacheng and the two senior executives he brought.

Deathly silence.

Li Jiacheng stood frozen in place, his face ashen, his body swaying slightly, almost unable to stand.

A subordinate quickly stepped forward to help him up.

"Mr. Li, are you alright?"

At this moment, his bodyguard rushed up quickly. Seeing that the conference room door was open, he hurriedly ran in and handed the mobile phone to Li Jiacheng: "Mr. Li, someone is calling to see you."

Without a doubt, the call was coming from Hutchison Whampoa headquarters.

As soon as the call connected, he practically yelled into the other end, "What's the situation now? What exactly is going on with Huanyu Research Company?"

Li Jiacheng has lost his composure countless times in the face of Lin Haoran, a business rival.

In the past, he always maintained a refined image in front of outsiders, but at this moment, the huge sense of crisis and the anger of being schemed against made him completely lose his composure.

As a listed company, Hutchison Whampoa is required to regularly disclose its operating status to the public.

Many listed company leaders prefer to report only good news and not bad news in order to stabilize stock prices and facilitate bank loans.

Even when it comes time to release annual reports, some listed companies falsify financial data to conceal the company's true operating conditions.

Therefore, Li Ka-shing had already planned to conceal the group's operating and financial situation until the group's financial crisis was over.

All of this is for the overall development of the group.

After overcoming the difficulties, everything will move in a positive direction.

But now, instead of them announcing it, someone else has announced it for them.

It's easy to imagine how furious Li Jiacheng is right now.

On the other end of the phone, the secretary's anxious voice came through: "Mr. Li, just now, Hutchison Whampoa's stock price dropped by more than 30%, and it's still falling! Huifeng Bank just called to inquire about our situation and mentioned whether the 3.58 million loan can be repaid on schedule!"
"The investigation by Huanyu Research Company somehow uncovered our group's situation, revealing almost no discrepancies in our operational details. Our entire situation has been exposed!"

pat!

The mobile phone slipped from Li Jiacheng's hand, fell to the ground, and the battery and back cover flew off.

He felt as if he had been struck by lightning, completely losing all his strength. He staggered back two steps and fell heavily into the chair.

At this moment, Li Jiacheng's eyes were glazed over, and he muttered to himself, "It's over...it's completely over..."

As expected, after this incident, the financial problems of Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong Holdings will definitely have a significant impact on him.

Because the operating conditions of the two groups are simply not verifiable.

If he denies the investigation report from Universal Research, the other party is very likely to release more detailed information or even get the Securities and Futures Commission to intervene in the investigation, completely shattering his denial. That would be a devastating second blow, and Hutchison Whampoa would be completely discredited with no chance of recovery!

But if you don't deny it, it's tantamount to admitting the report's authenticity!
Market panic will be like a burst dam, with banks withdrawing loans, suppliers cutting off supplies, and stock prices collapsing...

All his greatest fears will become reality in the shortest possible time!

Whether you admit it or not, you're headed for death!
Lin Haoran's stab was precise and ruthless, completely cutting off all his escape routes!
Hutchison Whampoa is a large and powerful company, and given its current situation, it is not without ways to overcome its difficulties.

But he couldn't bear these methods.

For example, selling off some of Hutchison Whampoa's assets.

But he was unwilling to do so.

After Wyman Wong's sweeping reforms, all of Hutchison Whampoa's non-performing assets were completely cleared out, leaving behind high-quality assets such as docks, retail, real estate, and warehouse land.

If the solution is to sell off assets to weather the storm, then a lot of assets will definitely need to be sold.

But he was unwilling to sell any of them.

As a very forward-thinking businessman, Li Ka-shing naturally understood that Hutchison Whampoa's businesses would create a lot of wealth for him in the future.

Moreover, in this economic climate, selling off will inevitably attract many opportunists who will drive down prices.

Besides selling off assets, there is another option: selling a portion of the shares.

Cheung Kong Holdings currently holds a 40% stake in Hutchison Whampoa. If he were to allow Cheung Kong Holdings to reduce its shareholding, it would be enough to overcome this difficulty.

But now that the stock price has clearly plummeted, selling shares at this time would obviously be a huge loss.

Moreover, as a prudent businessman, Li Jiacheng knew that equity was the lifeline of control.

If he reduces his holdings too much, even by just a few percentage points, it could attract the attention of vulture-like financial giants and could even shake his absolute control over Hutchison Whampoa.

This is the bottom line that he absolutely cannot accept!

He has paid too high a price to gain control of Hutchison Whampoa and to join the ranks of Hong Kong's top conglomerates. How can he give up so easily because of the current difficulties?

Moreover, Lin Haoran is eyeing the company covetously. If he reveals the slightest weakness, the other party will pounce on him like a shark smelling blood, frantically absorbing shares, and may even seize control of Hutchison Whampoa!

Then wouldn't all his hard work of half his life have benefited others?
This outcome is even harder to accept than bankrupting him!
Although he didn't think Lin Haoran would target Hutchison Whampoa, which he held a 40% stake in, he still had to be wary.

He was quite at ease insisting on holding 40% of the shares.

Holding such a large number of shares allows him to both attack and defend, preventing any enemies who covet Hutchison Whampoa.

But if they don't sell shares or assets, how can they overcome this difficulty?
To be honest, the number of banks and financial institutions in Hong Kong that could help him was very limited.

Besides Standard Chartered, there's only Hang Seng Group.

However, Hengsheng Group is controlled by its rival, Lin Haoran.

As for Standard Chartered, it currently owes Huifeng Bank a considerable amount of money, much of which will mature in the next few months.

If Huifeng Bank and Standard Chartered Bank have sound financial conditions, the other party will definitely take the initiative to postpone the debt repayment time.

However, Standard Chartered Bank is not doing well these days, and they are also continuing to withdraw funds.

Moreover, his friend, Mr. Brown, the former tycoon of Standard Chartered Bank, has already returned to England. The new successor is now very cautious in handling matters and dares not take any risks at all.

In this situation, the other party not only refuses to lend money, but may even demand repayment.

This is why Li Ka-shing had to turn his attention to international investment banks.

When he couldn't get a loan from Hong Kong banks, he turned to international banks for help.

As one of the world's financial centers, Hong Kong has branches or offices of many international investment banks.

The original plan was good, but now it's clear that this path is no longer feasible.

These international investment banks are very shrewd. If you want to get funds from them, the price you have to pay will definitely be even higher!
Higher interest rates, stricter collateral requirements, and possibly even extremely stringent performance-based clauses!
This is tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst!

Li Jiacheng felt a deep sense of powerlessness, as if he were trapped in the center of a spider web, and the more he struggled, the tighter the restraints became.

Lin Haoran's attack was perfectly timed, coming at the very moment when he was in a period of transition and most reliant on external funding, completely cutting off all of his financing channels!

He was cautious his whole life, yet he suffered repeated losses at the hands of Lin Haoran.

This even made him somewhat insecure; was he really so easily defeated?
He is known in the media as Li Ka-shing, a source of pride for the Chinese people.

Are we really going to be defeated by Lin Haoran, this rising star?

Do not!
no way!

Li Jiacheng clenched his fist tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force.

Having weathered decades of ups and downs in the business world, what storms haven't I seen?

How many times have we been on the verge of disaster, only to escape unscathed in the end?

Li Jiacheng's rise from a refugee youth to his current position is not solely due to luck, but also to an extraordinary level of resilience and ruthlessness! Lin Haoran is indeed formidable, ruthless in his actions, and meticulous in his planning.

But Li Jiacheng is no pushover either!
He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. His brain raced at an unprecedented speed, analyzing any possible, even the slightest, way out of this seemingly hopeless situation.

The avenues for international investment banks and local banks have been almost completely blocked. Selling core assets and equity is the bottom line, and it must not be crossed.

So, what should we do?
Even though I forced myself to calm down, my mind was still a mess.

“Let’s go back to Hutchison Whampoa Building first!” Li Jiacheng said, and led the way toward the elevator.

This place is ultimately not my territory.

Moreover, he was very disgusted by Wells Fargo's attitude.

Passing by the office next door, John Anderson, Vice President of Wells Fargo Asia, said perfunctorily, "Mr. Li, take care!"

Li Jiacheng remained silent, but quickened his pace, wanting to leave as soon as possible and return to the Hutchison Whampoa Building.

When the group was in a critical situation, he had to stay at the center and stabilize morale.

The elevator doors slowly closed, shutting out the suffocatingly cold atmosphere of Wells Fargo.

In the cramped space, only Li Jiacheng's heavy breathing and the anxious heartbeats of his three subordinates and bodyguards could be heard.

“Mr. Li, we…” A senior executive was about to speak when Li Jiacheng raised his hand to stop him.

He closed his eyes and rubbed his throbbing temples hard with his fingers.

We can't afford to panic, absolutely not! He's the soul of Hutchison Whampoa. If he collapses first, the group is truly finished.

Nowadays, Li Jiacheng no longer has a capable general like Ma Shimin under his command, and future generals like Huo Jianning have also been poached by Lin Haoran ahead of time.

It can be said that although he has many people at his disposal, he doesn't have many top-notch talents!
This is also why he has no choice but to continue to use Richardson, Xia Boyin, Peter Weyley, and other former Weyley players.

Although part of the reason was to stabilize Hutchison Whampoa's management, he was not yet capable of taking over the entire Hutchison Whampoa.

But from another perspective, wasn't he also facing a shortage of manpower?
This is a very real problem.

Top-tier business leaders are rare finds.

Looking back at his many senior executives today, it's almost impossible to find anyone who can truly stand on their own and share his burdens in such dire circumstances!
Although Richard and others are capable, they are ultimately "outsiders." Whether they can be fully trusted and work together with him when the group faces life and death is a huge question mark.

He even suspected that the leak of internal information might be related to these former Wylie subordinates.

He simply couldn't believe that Universal Research Company was really that amazing, capable of predicting such accurate data.

An unprecedented sense of loneliness and desolation welled up in Li Jiacheng's heart.

The predicament of having no one available made his situation all the more difficult.

Every decision and every instruction required his personal attention and careful consideration; no one could share this immense burden with him.

The slight feeling of weightlessness from the elevator descending made his already churning stomach even more uncomfortable.

"Ding--"

The elevator takes you to the basement parking lot.

He quickly climbed into the back seat of the Rolls-Royce, not wanting to stay there for even a second longer.

At this very moment, the entire city of Hong Kong was in an uproar because of the press conference held by Universal Research Company.

Especially on the four major stock exchanges, Hutchison Whampoa's stock code seemed to be cursed, with selling pressure as heavy as mountains and buying pressure as sparse. Every slight rebound was instantly drowned out by an even more turbulent wave of selling.

After Galaxy Securities bought a portion of the shares, seeing that the stock price continued to fall, they temporarily stopped buying and instead focused on closely monitoring Hutchison Whampoa's stock price.

As a result, even fewer people will buy in.

Therefore, after Galaxy Securities stopped acquiring shares, Hutchison Whampoa's stock price plummeted like a kite with a broken string, with the glaring red numbers constantly breaking records for the largest drop, affecting the hearts of countless investors and institutions.

In Western countries, red is used to indicate a decline, as green symbolizes vitality and hope. Therefore, in Hong Kong, green represents an increase, while red represents a decrease.

"It's dropped another 5%!" someone shouted, and the trading hall erupted in chaos as panic spread like a plague.

Investors holding Hutchison Whampoa shares were ashen-faced; some beat their chests in despair, while others stood frozen in shock.

Originally, due to reasons such as Hongkong Land's delisting, Wharf Holdings' stock price returning to rationality, Jardine Matheson's withdrawal from Hong Kong, Bank of East Asia's defeat of Huafeng Bank, and Hang Seng Bank's delisting, many of the once-powerful listed giants have now disappeared from the stock market.

This is precisely why, prior to today, Hutchison Whampoa's market capitalization had already made it the second largest listed company in Hong Kong.

After the crisis at HSBC Bank was resolved, Hutchison Whampoa's share price rose rapidly, and its market value once exceeded HK$10 billion, second only to Hong Kong Electric Group under Lam Ho-yin.

As for the market capitalization of Hong Kong Electric Group, it has reached more than HK$20 billion, ranking first among all listed companies in Hong Kong, giving it a sense of aloofness and superiority.

But now, Hutchison Whampoa, this commercial behemoth with a market value of tens of billions, is capsizing at a visible speed.

Every percentage point drop means hundreds of millions of dollars in market value evaporated, Li Jiacheng's personal wealth shrinks dramatically, and market confidence collapses completely.

Among listed companies, due to the sharp drop in Hutchison Whampoa's share price, Swire Pacific, Hong Kong Telephone, CLP Power, and Hong Kong and China Gas all moved up one place.

Soon, among Lin Haoran's companies, apart from Hong Kong Land Group and Wanqing Group, which had already delisted from the stock market, Lin Haoran actually controlled three of the top five listed companies in Hong Kong.

Among them, Hong Kong Electric Group, which ranks first, is far ahead.

Since Lin Haoran took over Hong Kong Electric Holdings Limited, and through a series of investments, the company's business has improved significantly, and its financial statements have become increasingly attractive.

In addition, Lin Haoran, a super-rich man in Hong Kong, is known for his ability to make money. If Hong Kong Electric Group had been able to be privatized, it would probably have been removed from the stock market by Lin Haoran long ago. Therefore, in the eyes of many shareholders, buying Hong Kong Electric Group shares is definitely a sure way to make money.

As a result, the market value naturally skyrocketed.

As for Swire Pacific, its market capitalization is still less than HK$10 billion.

Although CLP Power controls a larger power supply market than HK Electric, its market capitalization is several times smaller.

The stock market does not always fully reflect the actual asset value of a company; rather, it is more of a game of market confidence and future expectations.

Lin Haoran's companies have mastered this magic of "expectation" and are regarded by investors as synonymous with high growth and high returns.

With the rise and fall of one, Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa now seems more like a symbol of an old era abandoned by the market, teetering on the brink of collapse under the impact of the new era.

His other major company, Cheung Kong Holdings, also experienced a sharp decline.

Panic was like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, the ripples of which quickly spread throughout the Hong Kong stock market, dragging down the Hang Seng Index, which began to turn downwards.

Some stocks that were originally performing well were also affected, experiencing varying degrees of decline.

When Li Ka-shing returned to the Hutchison Whampoa Building, Hutchison Whampoa's share price had already fallen by more than 40%.

In other words, Hutchison Whampoa, which originally had a market value of over HK$10 billion, has now fallen to less than HK$6 billion.

Moreover, the stock price continues to fall.

As for Cheung Kong Holdings, its market value, which was originally nearly HK$7.3 billion, has also fallen by more than 35%, and is now less than HK$4.7 billion.

"It's over, it's really over this time." A middle-aged stock investor slumped in a chair in the trading hall, staring blankly at the glaring red on the simple LED electronic screen, muttering to himself.

He staked almost his entire fortune on Hutchison Whampoa, hoping to get a share of the profits by following "Superman Li".

Originally, he hadn't invested that much.

But as Hutchison Whampoa's stock price increased, he naturally invested more and more in it.

He even took out a loan last month and used it all to buy shares in Hutchison Whampoa.

But what awaited them was utter destruction.

Similar scenes of despair were playing out in various securities brokerage offices.

Chasing high prices is always the most common behavior in the stock market.

However, when the market crashes, investors' psychological defenses can easily crumble.

This is why many ordinary stock investors buy at high prices and sell at a loss.

After parking his Rolls-Royce in the Hutchison Whampoa building parking lot, Li Ka-shing quickly took the elevator directly back to his chairman's office.

As the elevator doors opened, he could clearly sense the heavy atmosphere in the entire office.

No one looked too happy.

This floor houses the offices of Hutchison Whampoa's senior and middle management.

The success or failure of Hutchison Whampoa is also related to their interests.

"Boss, our stock price is still falling. We need to find a way to stop it, or the consequences will be unimaginable!" Richard was already waiting at the elevator entrance. As soon as he saw Li Jiacheng, he immediately came up to him, his face pale and his voice urgent.

Li Jiacheng, his face ashen, strode toward his office, issuing orders as he went: "Immediately summon all executive directors for a meeting in the main conference room in ten minutes!"
Also, have the heads of the public relations and finance departments come to my office immediately, and bring me a copy of the materials released by Huanyu Research Company!

"Yes!" The secretary immediately ran to make the arrangements.

Now, stopping the stock price decline and restoring investor confidence are Li Jiacheng's most urgent tasks.

Otherwise, it will trigger a series of thorny problems, and may even trigger a more serious chain crisis.

He didn't want to be dragged into the abyss by the stock market before his cash flow dried up.

　At the editor's suggestion, the book has been renamed from "From Inheriting a Small Factory to a Global Tycoon" to "Rising from a Cement Plant: I Can See Loyalty".

　　
　
(End of this chapter)