Five hundred and fortieth chapters different ideas
Henry Keswick also did not get the good news he expected from Standard Chartered. Faced with this situation, he felt unspeakably disappointed.
At the beginning, these two people said very well that they would support Wellcome and the Li Group's competition. But now when they come to the door, these two people can't make the decision on their own.
After Henry Keswick returned to the group, he immediately ordered his assistant to notify the shareholders of Jardine Matheson Holdings Group to hold a shareholders' meeting at 3 p.m. to discuss the current difficulties faced by Jardine Matheson Group.
Similarly, George Lavine of Standard Chartered Bank also asked his assistant to contact the directors of Xiangjiang to discuss the issue of Wellcome City.
What's more troublesome for them than HSBC is that the resolution here still needs the approval of the London headquarters, especially this time they want to take the shares in the hands of small shareholders of Jardine Matheson Group. Such a large investment is impossible without the approval of the headquarters. of.
At the HSBC board of directors meeting, Shen Bi said to those present: "Fellow directors, you all know the current situation in Xiangjiang. The Li family consortium is ambitious, and our British-funded consortium is constantly retreating. Now only the Jardine family is left in the front. They are struggling to support themselves in the face of the pressure from the Lee Group, and now they need some help from us, HSBC and Standard Chartered."
Shen Bi then took out the plan proposed by Henry Keswick and asked the directors present for their opinions.
When these directors heard that HSBC had been asked to join forces with Standard Chartered to acquire the shares held by small and medium-sized shareholders, and that they would face the pressure of the Li Group together, they immediately quit.
They know the situation of Yihe quite well. Now their main profits are from real estate and Milk International Company. Wellcome City, which was a money-attracting machine in the past, has now become a money-loser. Although Milk International has a monopoly on the milk supply in Xiangjiang, At present, the profit is not too much, and its main assets are still in real estate.
If they were allowed to acquire some shares of Jardine Matheson Group a year or two ago, they would have no objections. However, at this juncture, several groups of Chinese-owned families are selling off their properties, which makes them all feel that Xiangjiang Real Estate has a bright future. Something is not good. Taking over the order at this time is not what their bank should do.
Even though Shen Bi was somewhat prepared, he was still very agitated when faced with the opposition.
Shen Bi said: "Please also consider whether we, HSBC, have any chance of winning once Jardines falls and we face the pressure from the Li Group. If we don't lend a helping hand to Jardines at this time, what else will you expect then?" Who lends a helping hand to us? You are not so naive as to think that the Li Group will turn a blind eye to us. Haven’t you seen clearly Li Guangyu’s ambition? He wants to become the only overlord of Hong Kong. Any group that threatens him will They are the ones he wants to eliminate."
It’s not that these directors don’t understand the threat of the Li Group, but they are unwilling to lose their own interests until something comes to the end. As for the current situation of Jardine, they have a mentality that it has nothing to do with them and let them lose money. They tried to help Yihe in their own interests, but they said they couldn't do it.
A director said: "Shen Bi, even if we join, what's the use? Wellikang City is already helpless. The Li Group will not give up. Why should we compete with the Li Group for financial resources? We, HSBC, Standard Chartered and Jardine Matheson, can't defeat them if we tie them together, so why are you holding on to Wellcome?"
Shen Bi was very angry after hearing this. He said: "Then according to what you mean, the Li Group has strong financial resources. If we compete with HSBC in the future, we don't have to do anything. We might as well just surrender."
With Shen Bi's behavior, these directors knew that he expected them and others to support him in taking over the shares from the small shareholders of Jardine Holdings Group.
A shareholder considered that once Jardine Matheson collapses, HSBC will be under great pressure. Although investing in Jardine Holdings Group is not very profitable, at least there will be no losses. Wellcome's losses can be recovered from other companies. , it’s just that they can’t make a profit.
He said to Shen Bi: "How much do we need to invest in Yihe? Some aspects of their group still need to be further understood. The losses in Huikang City are not much now. If we don't invest too much, in order to reduce the risk of Li's The consortium is putting pressure on us, HSBC, but we can still invest.”
Shen Bi's serious expression finally relaxed. After this director spoke, several directors said similar words, asking Shen Bi to confirm the profit situation of Jardine and the amount of this investment before discussing it at the meeting. room for discussion.
Some shareholders who were willing to object no longer objected to this. Anyway, the investment has not been confirmed yet. They just asked Shen Bi to come up with a plan. At this time, they were too lazy to object.
Seeing this, Shen Bi happily said: "Thank you all directors for your support. I will contact Henry Keswick and George Lavin after the meeting to discuss this matter and come up with a plan as soon as possible for everyone to make a decision." .”
Shen Bi's side was pretty good. In the conference room of Standard Chartered Bank, when George Lavine proposed to acquire the shares from Jardine Matheson's minority shareholders in response to the pressure from the Li Group, he was unanimously opposed by the senior management of Standard Chartered Bank Xiangjiang.
They believe that the current investment in Jardine Matheson is quite unwise and is not in the interests of Standard Chartered Bank. Even if George Lavin talks about the threat of the Lee Group to Standard Chartered Bank after the collapse of Jardine Matheson Group, it is of no use.
Standard Chartered Bank is different from HSBC. HSBC is headquartered in Xiangjiang, and this is their root. It is not a big deal for Standard Chartered Bank if the Xiangjiang market is lost. Anyway, their headquarters is in London. If the Xiangjiang market is gone, they will not be killed. .
The top management has countless escape routes. As long as they don't make decision-making losses here, they can move to a higher position. The plan proposed by George LaVine is obviously not in their interests.
As for the pressure from the Li Group, they selectively ignored it. They knew that the first target of the Li Group would not be Standard Chartered, but HSBC, because HSBC's headquarters is in Hong Kong.
The Li Group, which is also based in Xiangjiang, will certainly not allow another financial group to exist that can threaten its position.
In the Jardine Matheson Group conference room, Henry Keswick was also discussing the Wellcome issue with the group directors.
Henry Keswick described today's situation to the directors present. He also asked the directors to give him one more week. If HSBC and Standard Chartered were unwilling to intervene, he would deal with Wellcome.
One of the directors said: "Keswick, in the past few months, we have given you time and time again. You asked us not to transfer our shares for the time being, and we agreed. Now it has been three months." After months, you asked us to give you one week, right? One week later, you asked us to give you another week."
Now not only Henry Keswick is worried, but small shareholders like Jardine are also worried. If this continues, the value of their shares will be greatly reduced. They are all worried that Jardine's shares will eventually fall into their hands.
It's too late to regret.
At the same time, they also envied the small shareholders of Hutchison Whampoa, who were taken over by Xiangjiang China Investment Company before they even thought about selling.