When everyone thought the situation was about to calm down, Wheelock Group held a press conference.
It was announced that its subsidiary Wheelock Land will be split from the group and become an independent company. It will complete asset evaluation and prepare for independent listing within three months. It is expected to be listed on the Far East Exchange in June and become a listed company controlled by Wheelock Group.
There are currently four major exchanges in Hong Kong. The leader is undoubtedly the Hong Kong Exchange, which is also an exchange controlled by British capital.
Ranked second is the Far East Exchange, which was established by the Li Guanchun family of Hong Kong. Many Chinese-owned enterprises in Hong Kong are listed on this exchange.
Although its strength is far from comparable to that of the Xiangjiang Exchange, its development momentum is extremely strong, especially the rise of Xiangjiang Chinese capital in recent years, which has greatly enhanced the strength of the Far East Exchange.
Currently, the exchange houses Bank of East Asia, Chinese Land, Chow Hing Properties, Hopewell Holdings, Wantai Garments, Sun Hung Kai Properties, Lai Sun Garments, Cheung Kong Holdings, Kwong Wah Construction, Kowloon Construction and many other well-known Chinese-owned enterprises.
Now Wheelock Group, one of the leading companies on the Hong Kong Exchange, will spin off Wheelock Land, one of its main assets, and list it on the Far East Exchange. This is a considerable blow to the Hong Kong Exchange.
The outside world thinks that this is the Xinjian Group's expression of dissatisfaction with the Heung Kong Exchange. They are afraid that Heungkong Land is only the first step in the operation of the Xinjian Group. In the future, more companies may be split and listed on the Far East Exchange.
Jason Wallace, the chairman of the Heung Kong Exchange, personally called Li Jianhui and introduced the advantages of the Heung Kong Exchange to the Far East Exchange. He had only one intention, and that was to persuade Heung Kong Land, which Li Jianhui had split up, to stay listed on the Heung Kong Exchange.
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"Mr. Wallace, recently I feel that the Hong Kong Exchange is very unfriendly to Chinese capital, and to a certain extent has become the representative of the interests of the British capital group in Hong Kong, which makes me very insecure.
Wheelock Land is a property that I am very fond of, and I think it would be better to let it be exchanged in the Far East, at least it will not specifically target our compatriots."
"Li Sheng may have some misunderstandings about our exchange. Our exchange will never favor any capital or enterprise.
As for the previous investigation, we also cooperated with the Monetary Authority. Our exchange itself had no intention of targeting Xinjian Investment Company.
Our exchange has the most trading seats in Hong Kong, the largest shareholder base, the largest trading market value in Hong Kong, and the most active trading volume in Hong Kong.
The Wheelock Group is a listed company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It would be most beneficial for the split Wheelock Land to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. I also hope that Li Sheng can give more thought to the Far East Exchange as it is not a good place for Wheelock Land to be listed.
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If it were just Wheelock Land, Jason Wallace wouldn't be so nervous. He is worried that with Li Jianhui taking the lead, companies on the Hong Kong Exchange will play this trick one after another and transfer all companies to Far East trading through splitting and listing.
Where to go.
In particular, Li Jianhui owns two major groups, Wheelock and Hutchison Whampoa, with dozens of subsidiaries, and there are many companies with the ability to go public. If Li Jianhui splits them one by one, he will then reduce his holdings in the stocks of these companies.
There will only be some empty shells left on the Hong Kong Exchange.
Unfortunately, Li Jianhui did not accept this trick. He told Wallace directly that the decision to split Wheelock Land and list it on the Far East Exchange had been decided and would not be changed.
As for whether Xiangjiang Exchange favors British-owned enterprises in Xiangjiang, this is not the decision of the two of them. Millions of citizens in Xiangjiang are very clear-eyed, and everyone has a strong idea in their hearts. The rapid development of the Far East Exchange in recent years cannot deceive anyone.
After hanging up the phone, Jason Wallace immediately convened a meeting of the exchange management to discuss how to eliminate the impact of Wheelock Land's listing on the Far East Exchange.
As the oldest exchange in Hong Kong and the strongest in Hong Kong, these senior executives never want to see the Far East Exchange climb over them.
Since Li Jianhui is determined to have Wheelock Land listed on the Far East Exchange, they must also provide some benefits to offset the impact of Wheelock Land on the Hong Kong Exchange.
One of the senior executives said: "It can be said that the troubles of our exchange this time are entirely due to Jardine Matheson, HSBC, Swire, etc. Since Li Jianhui is trying to split up, Jardine and Swire can do the same.
In particular, the split listing of Wellcome Retail, Heungkong International Dairy Company and Swire Pacific's Cathay Pacific owned by Jardine Matheson will be a great benefit to our exchange."
In addition, some senior officials mentioned that to attract more small and medium-sized companies to list on the Hong Kong Exchange, some standards could even be lowered for this purpose.
Some senior officials also said that Chinese-owned enterprises in Hong Kong are rising rapidly, and the Heung Kong Exchange must change some of its traditional thinking so that Chinese-owned enterprises can trust the Heung Kong Exchange and be willing to choose to list on the Heung Kong Exchange.
In the past, they relied on the leading British companies to gain an advantage, but the situation has changed a lot in the past two years. Chinese companies have become more and more powerful, while British companies in Hong Kong have been withdrawing from the Hong Kong market.
If the Hong Kong Exchange is still unable to come up with some plans that can attract Chinese companies, it is not impossible that it will be surpassed by the Far East Exchange in the future.
Jason Wallace said solemnly: "We are currently taking two steps. The first is to communicate with Jardine Matheson and Swire, and try our best to let them split and list some of their subsidiaries.
In addition, when it comes to attracting potential companies to go public, we can no longer be arrogant and wait for others to take the initiative.
Our relevant departments must take the initiative, and we can actively connect with companies with potential, and we must not let Li Fuzhao drag them all to the Far East Exchange."
At the same time, Xiangjiang Exchange is also preparing to make some adjustments in terms of listing and follow-up fees. They are preparing to bring the price to the same level as the Far East Exchange, without giving the Far East Exchange a chance to compete with them in terms of price difference.
Before the Xiangjiang Exchange can take action, Daoheng Bank has also announced that it plans to land on the Far East Exchange within this year.
At the same time, news came out from Hutchison Whampoa that Hutchison Real Estate will be re-split and plans to be listed on the Far East Exchange within this year.
Henderson Land also joined in the fun at this time and announced its listing plan. The exchange also chose the Far East Exchange.
All of a sudden, there was a surge of public opinion that was badmouthing the Hong Kong Exchange. It seemed that the largest exchange in Hong Kong was about to be crowned the Far East Exchange.
The continuous bad news made Jason Wallace smash his tea cup. In addition to being angry, he was also worried about the future of the Hong Kong Exchange.
He knows very well how much influence the Chinese-funded enterprises in Xiangjiang can have if they unite. Even if only a few wealthy Chinese-owned companies unite, it will be a major blow to the Hong Kong Exchange.
The Bank of East Asia, Xin Jian Group, and Sun Hung Kai Group are all among the top forces in Hong Kong.
Once the three parties form an alliance, it will be enough to shake up Hong Kong. Not to mention the Hong Kong Exchange, even MacLehose will have a headache when facing it.