Chapter 674 [Taking Land Company]
On July 29, the Land Company announced the suspension of trading.
Soon people sensed that something major was happening, and they bought related stocks such as Cheung Kong Holdings, Hutchison Whampoa, etc.;
Actually, you don’t have to guess, if you buy the Land Company, there is a high probability that the Wu family will make the acquisition in a private name;
Otherwise, Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa should be suspended at the same time.
In the morning, the Hong Kong branch of Xinshe took the initiative to find Wu Guangyao.
"Mr. Wu, I heard that you want to buy Land Company?" the new president said bluntly.
"Yes! Is there any problem in this?" Wu Guangyao asked curiously.
The new president said: “Will this cause panic in the British consortium and force the British capital out of Hong Kong? If this is the case, it may not be conducive to Hong Kong’s stability and smooth transition.”
Wu Guangyao frowned, this has been withdrawn from politics!
However, as a new agency, it is normal to worry about this;
Wu Guangyao explained: "I negotiated with Land Land in a friendly manner, and the acquisition in good faith will naturally not have much impact. Moreover, as far as I know, Jardines originally deliberately withdrew from Hong Kong. Fulfill them."
The new president heard that it was a good-faith acquisition, and he was immediately relieved;
"Since Mr. Wu said this, I am relieved! Mr. Wu also knows that the above requires us to unite all forces that can be united, and investors from any country are welcome to invest in Hong Kong."
"Hmm! Don't worry, Yihe and I won't fight each other."
Sent away the new president, Wu Guangyao smiled and shook his head!
In the afternoon, when Wu Guangyao led the team to the headquarters of Jardine Matheson, the whole building was crowded with reporters;
Police also came here one after another to perform duties.
Wu Guangyao walked into the Chater Building surrounded by bodyguards. The reporters were allowed to shout loudly, but the team members did not say a word;
Obviously, when things are not settled, everyone will not take it lightly.
In the meeting room of Chater Building, after a greeting, Huo Jianning, Yuan Tianfan, Liu Yu and others began to review the financial situation of Land;
The whole process will last a long time. Tonight is destined to work overtime.
Jardines owns 450 million shares of Hongkong Land at this time. If the transaction is concluded today, it can cash out 7.2 billion Hong Kong dollars;
At the same time, the debt of Land will be completely separated from Jardine.
Before the takeover battle, although the land issued 100 million new shares to Jardine, it caused the Wu family to pay an extra HK$1.6 billion;
But Wu Guangyao has no heartache at all. It should be noted that in the first half of the year, Jardine also cashed out 1.2 billion Hong Kong dollars in overseas assets to stabilize the land company in order to save the land company.
The Wu family’s team took a full 8 hours to read the financial statements of Land and have a comprehensive report;
The current long-term debt of Hongkong Land is 10 billion Hong Kong dollars, and the short-term debt is 2.5 billion Hong Kong dollars;
Landland currently has 55 real estate development projects, and 10 real estate projects have been suspended, including Miramar’s Old Wing Development Project, Queen’s Garden Development Project, etc.;
In addition to real estate projects, the Land Company also has Wellcome Supermarket and Wenhua Hotel.
There are 650 million Hong Kong dollars on the book of Land, of which 615 million Hong Kong dollars are funds from the newly issued new shares, which means that the original liquidity of Landlord’s account was only 35 million Hong Kong dollars;
For a company with assets of tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars, it is still a bit unbelievable.
"Ximen Taipan, we have no problem, how about you?" Wu Guangyao said.
Simon Keswick suppressed his heartache and said: "We hope you will pay in US dollars!"
Wu Guangyao nodded and said, “No problem, there is no problem with domestic and overseas payments.”
After discussing the last condition, the two parties finally began to sign a formal contract.
While waiting for Wu Guangyao and others to walk out of the Chater Building, the number of reporters not only did not decrease, but also increased.
"Mr. Wu, can you take an interview?" a group of reporters shouted loudly.
Wu Guangyao was happy, nodded, let a group of reporters sit in the parking lot and ask questions in an orderly manner;
Tiantian Daily News reporter: "Mr. Wu, may I ask if you came to Chater Building today to buy the land company?"
Wu Guangyao replied: "Yes!"
Dagongbao reporter: "So has an agreement been reached?"
Wu Guangyao replied: "After happily negotiated with Jardine Matheson, an agreement was finally reached; I personally purchased all the shares in Jardine Land at a price of 16 Hong Kong dollars per share!”
‘Boom’
The scene was instantly exploded. It turned out to be 16 Hong Kong dollars per share, which was a full 10 Hong Kong dollars higher than the original price of 6 Hong Kong dollars per share of Land; in other words, Wu Guangyao bought Land Company at a premium of 160%.
Although compared with the Wharf acquisition case, the price from 7 Hong Kong dollars to 50 Hong Kong dollars is still a lot worse, but the market value of Hongkong Land is also much higher!
A reporter from a newspaper exclaimed: “The Hong Kong Chinese, who have been ruled by colonists for 100 years, have been proud of it! Mr. Wu, you have successively acquired Wharf, Land Company, and Hutchison Whampoa, greatly increasing the reputation of our Chinese!”
Wu Guangyao said with a smile: "My participation in real estate activities is not against the traditional British-owned foreign firms; but like most other people, I am full of confidence in the future of Hong Kong. My acquisition activities just show that I am in other businesses. The money that comes in successfully needs to find another way out, nothing more. I have always pursued the spirit of mutual benefit. Of course, everyone develops under the same sky, and competition and mergers are inevitable. Even so, the attitude of peace as the most important thing cannot be discarded. So, don’t over-interpret this acquisition, thank you."
After Wu Guangyao and others left, the reporter still did not leave, they were waiting for Simon Keswick and his party;
After a while, Simon Keswick was invited to be interviewed again.
Simon Keswick just said: "From then on, Jardine is no longer passive!" He turned and left!
A group of reporters fell into a daydream, thinking about how to report this tomorrow.
The next day, the whole Hong Kong was discussing the acquisition of the land by the Wu family;
Although Wu Guangyao only said that it was a normal business practice, in the eyes of some Chinese, this is an acquisition that has soared the reputation of the Chinese.
At the same time, the share price of Hongkong Land rose by as much as 20% on the day, reaching as high as 8.6 Hong Kong dollars per share.
Fortunately, Wu Guangyao did not intend to privatize the Land Company, otherwise this group of stockholders would make a profit.
And not only do you have to pay a high full-scale acquisition fee, but you also have to pay the debt alone;
Wu Guangyao is not a living bodhisattva, how could he do such a thing.
To be honest, Wu Guangyao only took a fancy to the six first-class buildings in the heart of Central, and the rest of the assets simply didn’t.
Therefore, Wu Guangyao’s plan is to take advantage of the downturn in the market and the opportunity of the land company’s large debts to package and sell these six buildings to Kowloon Real Estate.
After getting the money, the land company can repay the debt and use the funds to start those dozens of real estate projects;
As for the company's dividends, I am afraid that we will have to wait for these real estate projects to make money before we can talk about it!
(End of this chapter)