In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 739 No scruples, no cost, just to increase holdings!
The 3% stake held by the shareholder surnamed Wang is crucial at this moment. It is not just a number, but could become the fulcrum and source of confidence for Li Jiacheng's counterattack.

Although Ma Shimin outwardly told these people that the boss, Lin Haoran, could not possibly hold more shares in Hutchison Whampoa than in Cheung Kong Holdings.

In fact, he knew that his boss already held nearly as many shares as Cheung Kong Holdings in Hutchison Whampoa. Once he acquired the shares held by these people, his boss would be able to control more shares than Cheung Kong Holdings.

The reason I say this is simply to prevent these people from making exorbitant demands.

The results were fairly good, but now, it seems, it was a miscalculation.

Unexpectedly, Li Jiacheng had such a trump card, which is truly surprising.

In that case, it all depends on how many shares Galaxy Securities can acquire today.

Now that things had come to this point, and after learning about the other party's relationship with Li Jiacheng, Ma Shimin knew that he could not force the other party to sell the shares.

However, we definitely need to acquire the remaining 10% or so of the shares.

As long as Galaxy Securities is cooperative, losing 3% is not a problem.

He checked the time; it was already past 11 a.m.

Ma Shimin weighed the pros and cons in his mind in an instant and made a decision in the blink of an eye.

Forced relationships are never sweet, especially when dealing with a determined shareholder who has a close relationship with Li Jiacheng. Forcing or even coercing him will not only be ineffective, but may also exacerbate the conflict and even cause changes to the other 10% of shares that have already been acquired.

Fortunately, he had prepared in advance and had considered all these possible scenarios.

Now, people are already waiting outside the conference room.

A mixture of understanding and regret quickly appeared on his face. He sighed slightly and his tone became exceptionally sincere: "Mr. Wang, I admire your loyalty, integrity, and commitment."

In business cooperation, integrity and goodwill are paramount. Since you have these concerns and insist on discussing the matter with Mr. Li, I fully understand and respect your decision.

Chairman Wang simply nodded: "Thank you for your understanding, Mr. Ma Shimin. If there's nothing else, I'll head back now."

At this moment, he naturally wanted to inform Li Jiacheng of this news as soon as possible.

Having watched Li Jiacheng rise step by step to where he is today, he has great confidence in Li Jiacheng. Coupled with the friendship they have built over the years, he still leans towards helping Li Jiacheng stabilize the situation.

This 3% stake is the most direct support he can offer.

Ma Shimin naturally saw through his thoughts, but still maintained a warm smile on his face: "Of course, Mr. Wang, please do as you please. I hope we will have the opportunity to cooperate in the future."

He stepped aside and gestured for me to enter, his posture generous and appropriate, showing no intention of obstruction.

Chairman Wang said no more, nodded, and quickly walked towards the conference room door.

He didn't even bother to look at the Hutchison Whampoa shareholders who had already agreed to transfer their shares to Lin Haoran; all he wanted to do at that moment was see Li Jiacheng as soon as possible.

However, when he opened the conference room door, he found two security guards from Hongkong Land standing expressionlessly on either side, and a middle-aged man in a suit, who was clearly a senior executive of Hongkong Land, waiting quietly.

"Mr. Wang, hello. Mr. Ma instructed that, in order to ensure your privacy and avoid unnecessary disturbance, I will escort you out through a private passage. A vehicle is ready for you, and we can take you to your company building."

Before we reach our destination, I would like Mr. Wang not to use his mobile phone to avoid any misunderstandings. The middle-aged executive bowed slightly, his tone respectful yet carrying an unquestionable, formulaic quality.

Mr. Wang's heart sank.

Dedicated passage?

escort?
Is my mobile phone temporarily unavailable?

This sounds like polite and thoughtful service, but it is actually a form of mild "isolation" and "delay".

While Ma Shimin verbally expressed respect for his decision, his actions clearly showed that he did not want him to contact Li Jiacheng immediately!
This is to buy Galaxy Securities time for its operations in the secondary market and for the five shareholders who have already signed agreements to complete the necessary procedures!

His face hardened, as if he wanted to refuse firmly: "No need, I know the way myself."

The middle-aged executive's smile remained unchanged, but his body subtly blocked the path leading directly to the elevator lobby. His voice was still respectful: "Mr. Wang, please understand that this is company policy and also for your safety. This way, please."

Although his tone was polite, his eyes revealed a firmness, and the two security guards beside him subtly focused their gazes on him.

Chairman Wang understood instantly.

This is, after all, the territory of the Landmark Group, and the Kang Le Building is one of the cores of Lin Haoran's business empire.

Although the other party dared not use force against him, it was extremely easy for them to stall him for ten or twenty minutes with this kind of "soft approach".

He took a deep breath, knowing that a hardline confrontation would be pointless and might only bring him humiliation.

He gave the assistant a cold look and snorted, "Lead the way."

"Okay, Mr. Wang, please follow me." The middle-aged executive smiled and stepped aside to lead the way, which was the dedicated passageway opposite to the main elevator hall.

Mr. Wang was extremely anxious, but he had no choice but to follow the other party.

He could only hope that Li Jiacheng had already noticed and taken action.

He never expected that the other party would resort to such unscrupulous means to prevent him from contacting Li Jiacheng.

Faced with this situation, he had no choice but to comply.

……

On the other side, after instructing his assistant to sign contracts with the five shareholders, Ma Shimin quickly left the meeting room, returned to his office, and locked the door.

The composure on his face vanished instantly, replaced by extreme calmness.

He quickly picked up the dedicated phone in the conference room and dialed a number.

The call was answered almost instantly.

"Dai Shi, I've secured five deals, totaling 10.2% of the shares. The agreements are being signed, and it's confirmed that we can get them."

But the most crucial Mr. Wang, we didn't manage to get the 3% he had. We didn't expect his relationship with Li Jiacheng to be so close, it's practically impossible to persuade him. I've managed to stall him for now, but it won't last long!" Ma Shimin's voice was very low, and he spoke very quickly.

Previously, Galaxy Securities had acquired a total of 24.62% of Hutchison Whampoa's shares. With the upcoming acquisition of 10.2%, the total would only be 34.64%, which is still 5.46% short of the 40% controlled by Li Ka-shing.

However, Mr. Wang's 3% stake will almost certainly support Li Jiacheng's side.

In other words, Lin Haoran is facing not just 40% of the shares, but a full 43%!
In the office of Galaxy Securities, Dai Shi heard this and said in a low voice, "Mr. Ma, more than two hours after the market opened, up to five minutes ago, we took the opportunity to acquire a full 4.32% of Hutchison Whampoa shares today. Currently, Galaxy Securities' apparent holdings of Hutchison Whampoa shares have reached 28.94%."

Furthermore, we also performed well with Cheung Kong Holdings. Taking advantage of this opportunity, we acquired another 4.15% of the shares, bringing our total stake in Cheung Kong Holdings to 25.38%, including the 21.23% we already held.

In just two hours, Galaxy Securities absorbed a whopping 4.32% of Hutchison Whampoa's shares, which is truly impressive and demonstrates their remarkable performance this time.

Taking advantage of the panic and unease following yesterday's market crash, Standard Chartered Bank's full support during Li Ka-shing's press conference, and the brief period of confusion caused by mysterious buying after today's opening, the company swiftly and efficiently absorbed a large number of shares.

The timing was incredibly precise.

Ma Shimin quickly calculated: Galaxy Securities holds 28.94%, plus the 10.2% held by the five shareholders he just secured, for a total of 39.14%!

This number left him with incredibly mixed feelings.

On the one hand, Dai Shi's team performed flawlessly, achieving this result in such a short time, which is extremely impressive;

On the other hand, 39.14% is only 0.86% away from Li Ka-shing's 40%, which is indeed not much, and it can be easily surpassed in the future.

However, the opposing side still has the staunch support of Chairman Wang (3%), and with Li Jiacheng's 40%, the total reaches 43%, putting our side at a significant disadvantage.

“In addition, although we haven’t found any other forces entering the scene during these two hours of absorption, I think that if we analyze it carefully, we will find something is wrong. So I guess that Li Jiacheng’s team may also have noticed something is wrong,” Dai Shi continued.

“Well, let’s leave that aside for now. Even if you didn’t leak anything, Chairman Wang will soon notify Li Jiacheng. Fortunately, Li Jiacheng is currently facing a severe shortage of funds. But what we’re worried about is whether Standard Chartered Bank will get involved. If Standard Chartered Bank does get involved, it will be bad news for us. So, we must grab more shares before they enter the market on a large scale and drive up the stock price!” Ma Shimin said directly.

"Mr. Ma, what should we do next?" Dai Shi asked.

Dai Shi is the deputy general manager of Galaxy Securities, which is a subsidiary of Hongkong Land Group. Therefore, Dai Shi can be considered Ma Shimin's subordinate. Now that the boss is not here, it is naturally more appropriate to listen to Ma Shimin at this critical moment.

Ma Shimin checked the time; it was already 11:30 a.m., which meant the stock market would take a lunch break in half an hour.

At that time, Li Jiacheng will definitely react, and may even use the lunch break to urgently raise more funds. It will definitely be a bloody battle after the market opens in the afternoon.

Ma Shimin acted decisively, speaking rapidly: "Dai Shi, listen up, the next half hour is crucial! I don't care what methods you use, take advantage of the brief window of opportunity while Li Jiacheng may still be verifying the situation and mobilizing funds, and continue to absorb as many assets as possible!"

Don't be afraid to push up the stock price; every share is crucial now! We must expand our lead as much as possible, even if it's only 0.1%!

The boss, Lin Haoran, is currently in Shenzhen and cannot be contacted at any time.

The day before, Lin Haoran had already instructed Ma Shimin to take charge in case of any emergencies.

There is only one goal: to take advantage of this opportunity to surpass Li Ka-shing and become the largest shareholder of Hutchison Whampoa.

The unexpected loss of that 3% stake is now considered part of the Tefu incident.

Unexpected events must be treated specially.

At this moment, he must make the most decisive decision.

"Understood! We'll squeeze every last second of the last half hour!" Dai Shi immediately replied.

“Very good!” Ma Shimin praised, then added in an extremely serious tone, “At the same time, closely monitor all large transactions! If you discover any large-scale entry of brokerage seats suspected to be from Standard Chartered Bank or HSBC, report to me immediately!”

Furthermore, don't stop the acquisition spree at Cheung Kong Holdings! This is one of our trump cards. Currently, barring any unforeseen circumstances, even if Li Ka-shing knows we're eyeing Hutchison Whampoa, they probably won't realize they're not only targeting Hutchison Whampoa, but also Cheung Kong Holdings!

"Yes, Mr. Ma, I'll get back to work now!" Dai Shi said, and then hurriedly hung up the phone.

After hanging up the phone, Ma Shimin took a deep breath.

He knew that this half hour would be decisive.

He had to ensure the agreement signed by the five shareholders was flawless and complete the legal transfer procedures as quickly as possible to completely lock in that 10.2%. He didn't want to disappoint his boss; he had to do it well.

After thinking for a moment, he first called the mainland manager of Hongkong Land Group and asked him to find the boss, Lin Haoran, as soon as possible.

Once found, have your boss call him back as soon as possible; he has important information to share.

After arranging all this, Ma Shimin returned to the conference room.

He can hold off Chairman Wang for a while, but not forever.

Once Chairman Wang leaves the Kang Le Building, he will contact Li Jiacheng immediately.

When Li Jiacheng learns that five shareholders have defected, he will surely be furious and become even more frantic.

After all, everyone can imagine how important Hutchison Whampoa is to Li Ka-shing.

The attitudes of Standard Chartered Bank and HSBC will be crucial.

Fortunately, Li Jiacheng is currently facing a severe shortage of funds, which may be the only factor that can restrain him from launching a full-scale counterattack.

But Simon Murray knew that given Li Ka-shing's reputation and past relationships, there was a high probability that he could obtain emergency financial support from HSBC and Standard Chartered.

Even if they can't get funding, it's not impossible that Standard Chartered Bank might directly take over Hutchison Whampoa shares.

Just like the former Huifeng Bank, it often personally took action to acquire shares in listed companies, such as Hutchison Whampoa.

In the meeting room, the five shareholders were already reviewing the agreement. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, they were certain that they would acquire the 10.2% stake.

The mobile signal was blocked, and the five shareholders had no idea that they would be bombarded with phone calls in a short while.

However, they were destined to remain unaware until they left the Kang Le Building.

Meanwhile, inside the trading room at Galaxy Securities, the scene was bustling with activity.

After receiving Ma Shimin's order, Dai Shi knew that time was of the essence and there was no time to hesitate.

What he had to do was lead his team in a frantic acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa shares in the last half hour before lunch break.

The goal is for them to control more than 43% of the shares.

With the addition of that 10.2% stake, they now own 39.14%, just 0.86% away from Li Ka-shing's 40%. However, if the 3% stake is included, the difference becomes a full 3.86%.

With only half an hour left, achieving that 3.86% is indeed quite challenging.

However, if we give it our all, it's not entirely impossible.

After all, there are still quite a few orders listed, only the prices are a bit higher.

Currently, they are only 3.86% apart in terms of shares. Even if the share price is slightly higher, this small difference will not have a significant impact on the overall cost.

So he quickly gathered all team members to make a new round of plans.

Inside the Galaxy Securities trading room, the atmosphere was as tense as a taut bowstring.

Dai Shi stood in the center, his gaze sweeping over every screen and the face of every trader.

He took a deep breath, his voice carrying clearly to every corner: "Gentlemen, listen up! Before the midday break, buy everything, regardless of cost! Primary target: Hutchison Whampoa! Secondary target: Cheung Kong Holdings! Move out!"

As soon as the command was given, a torrential downpour of instructions erupted in the trading room.

"Hutchison Whampoa, at HK$18.5, has a buy order for 15 shares. Take it!"

"At 19 yuan, there are 20 shares on the sell side. Buy them all!"

"Quick! There's another new listing over there, don't hesitate!"

Traders' fingers flew across the keyboard, their eyes glued to the ever-changing numbers.

Funds poured into the market like a floodgate being opened.

Hutchison Whampoa's share price began to rise at a visible speed, with trading volume increasing dramatically.

The market immediately sensed this frenzied force, especially the numerous individual investors and institutions at major stock exchanges and securities companies, who were completely bewildered by this sudden surge.

"What's going on? Hutchison Whampoa's stock price suddenly surged with high trading volume!"

"There are huge buyers snapping up goods regardless of cost!"

"Who's being so crazy? Are they insane? Although Hutchison Whampoa now has Standard Chartered Bank backing it, everyone knows that Hutchison Whampoa is indeed in a cash flow crisis, and its market value can't possibly be this high. But now, the stock price is almost approaching its previous peak. Who's being so irrational?"

Many stock investors were completely bewildered.

Even investment banks and large investors couldn't understand this sudden surge.

There must be a demon in the abnormal situation.

At this moment, no one in the market knows that it was Lin Haoran's people who orchestrated this scheme behind the scenes.

His goal was to seize power from Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa!
At this moment, Galaxy Securities' frantic buying not only failed to reduce the number of sell orders, but instead increased them.

The reason is simple: everyone feels that Hutchison Whampoa's current market capitalization is unlikely to return to its previous peak.

Furthermore, no one would believe that Cheung Kong Holdings, with a 40% stake in Hutchison Whampoa, could wrest control of Hutchison Whampoa from Li Ka-shing.

Therefore, many shareholders of Hutchison Whampoa believe that they must seize the opportunity now, or it will be too late.

No one wants to miss such a great opportunity to sell at a high price.

As a result, Galaxy Securities' acquisition speed accelerated under these circumstances.

The buying speed is much faster than in the previous two hours.

Seeing that his side was accumulating more and more shares, Dai Shi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Therefore, completing the task assigned by General Manager Ma should not be difficult.

The absorption rate was extremely fast: 31%, 31.5%, 32%, 32.5%...

Galaxy Securities is holding an increasing number of Hutchison Whampoa shares.

With the addition of the 10.2% stake that Simon Murray is currently signing contracts with the five shareholders for, he is getting closer and closer to acquiring 43% of the shares.

This is the benefit of not sparing any cost and not being afraid of being discovered; the absorption speed is incomparable to the absorption speed in the first two hours of the morning.

As noon approached, the atmosphere in the trading room almost froze, with only the suppressed calls of the traders remaining.

Dai Shi's clenched fists were slightly sweaty as he continuously tallied the newly acquired shares and their percentage of ownership.

The strategy of frantic buying is proving extremely effective, with funds being converted into equity at an astonishing rate.

With the 10.2% locked up by Ma Shimin, their total controllable shares are rapidly approaching the critical 43% threshold.

Hope is just around the corner!

On the other hand, Li Ka-shing was also bewildered when Hutchison Whampoa's stock trading volume surged and its market value continued to rise.

Not only Li Ka-shing, but Standard Chartered Bank was also stunned.

Originally, it would have been quite simple for Standard Chartered Bank to help Li Ka-shing: either acquire Hutchison Whampoa shares in the name of Standard Chartered Bank, or lend money to Cheung Kong Holdings to continue increasing its stake in Hutchison Whampoa.

At this very moment, Tyron is holding an emergency meeting of senior executives at the company.

After returning from Li Jiacheng's place, he first ordered an investigation. When the investigation yielded no results, he had no choice but to hold a meeting to discuss how to help Li Jiacheng overcome this highly likely crisis.

Before the meeting was over, an assistant rushed in to report that Hutchison Whampoa's stock price continued to soar, and even more wildly, and Mr. Li Ka-shing was frantically trying to contact them for help.

Today, Tyronn is not yet able to wield absolute power at Standard Chartered Bank's Hong Kong branch.

Therefore, he cannot act on his own initiative.

But at this moment, they simply don't have any time to carefully analyze and weigh the options!
The market simply won't give them that time!

Most importantly, Hutchison Whampoa's share price is currently too high.

In this situation, if they enter the market, they are bound to lose money. Should Standard Chartered Bank even consider acquiring shares?

"Mr. Tyronn! We must make a decision immediately! The stock price is out of control! If this is indeed a hostile takeover, it might be too late by the time we finish our meeting! We must intervene immediately to stabilize the stock price, or at least make our stance clear!" A senior executive in charge of marketing spoke urgently.

“But what about the size of the funds? What about the risk assessment? We don’t have those yet…” Another person in charge of the risk control department tried to remain rational.

"There's no time for an assessment!" Tyron slammed his hand on the table, interrupting the other person, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Li Jiacheng's plea for help, the inexplicable loss of contact with those shareholders, and the current irrational and frenzied surge in the market...

All clues point to one conclusion: Lin Haoran has made his move! And in an extremely fierce and reckless manner!
If they hesitate any longer, and Lin Haoran successfully acquires enough shares, even without absolute control, just becoming the largest shareholder, his strong financial resources and management power will be enough to marginalize Li Jiacheng. At that time, all of Standard Chartered Bank's support for Li Jiacheng may be in vain!
"Immediately!" Tyron made a decisive move, demonstrating his decisiveness as a tycoon in a critical moment. "Activate the emergency authorization quota! Notify our related trading seats to enter the market immediately!"

The goal of buying Hutchison Whampoa shares is to drive up the stock price, reduce the amount the other party can absorb, and intercept as much of the circulating shares in the market as possible. We absolutely cannot let Lin Haoran succeed so easily!

He chose the most direct but also the most expensive way – Standard Chartered Bank got involved directly!
"That scale..."

"Use up to the limit I've authorized! At the same time, immediately prepare an emergency loan agreement for Cheung Kong Holdings. The interest rate and terms can be relaxed appropriately! Hurry!" Tyron practically roared.

The people in the meeting room were stunned by Tyron's decisiveness, but they also knew that this was the only way at the moment.

The instructions were quickly relayed.

(End of this chapter)