Just after the New Year, Li Jianhui specifically contacted Wheelock Chairman John Madden.
As one of the four major foreign banks, Wheelock and Hutchison Whampoa are brothers and sisters, but far from being comparable to Jardine and Swire.
The main reason why Li Jianhui focused on Wheelock instead of Hutchison Whampoa was that more than 20% of Hutchison Whampoa's shares were in the hands of HSBC. His relationship with HSBC was not considered friendly. He wanted to win over Hutchison Whampoa and merge.
not easy.
As for Wheelock, currently the Zhang Yuliang family, the largest individual shareholder, does not manage Wheelock. John Madden, who is in charge of Wheelock, is pessimistic about the future.
I had approached Jardine Matheson before, hoping that Jardine Matheson could acquire Wheelock. However, HSBC interfered and supported Hutchison Whampoa, causing the Jardine Matheson acquisition to fail.
You must know that Jardine Matheson is the leader of the four major foreign banks in Xiangjiang, and its strength is so strong that HSBC can suppress one of them.
Once Jardine Matheson acquires Wheelock, HSBC will lose its position as the largest enterprise in Hong Kong.
Previously, HSBC supported Charter King and Jardine Matheson in their fight for Wharf, and there were some reasons for this.
In Private Room 306 of Xinhui Teahouse, Li Jianhui personally poured tea for John Madden and said: "Mr. Madden, this tea is called Wuyishan Dahongpao. Try it and see if this tea is real or fake."
John Madden was not in a hurry. He tasted the cup of tea in a decent manner and evaluated the tea in terms of color, aroma and taste.
He doesn't care what Li Jianhui means today, anyway, he won't speak first, so that he can firmly grasp the initiative in his hands.
"Mr. Madden is indeed a master of tea ceremony. I specially invited you today because I want to know if you are still interested in selling the shares you hold."
John Madden did not expect that Li Jianhui Jiayi Group had not yet developed well and was planning to acquire Wheelock again.
If Li Jianhui had come to inquire a year or two ago, he would have sold his shares without hesitation.
However, the Xiangjiang real estate industry has resumed development. Wheelock's business in this area has developed quite well, and its profits have also increased significantly. He has no plans to sell his shares for the time being.
After all, as the chairman of the board of directors of Wheelock Group, he knows very well that the current market value of Wheelock in the stock market is seriously underestimated, and he will not sell his shares at a low price.
"Li Sheng, if you are here for the shares in my hand, then today's topic can be stopped here. You should be aware of the current market situation of Xiangjiang Real Estate.
Although I am relatively pessimistic about the future, I am not going to have trouble with money. After all, even if there is a problem, it will only be many years later."
Li Jianhui was afraid that John Madden was optimistic about the future, so that he would not have any chance to get Wheelock.
Since this person wanted to leave, everything was easy to say. John Madden didn't take action just because he felt that there would be no generous rewards.
He smiled and said: "Mr. Madden, no one knows how the future will develop. It's just that you and I are different. I grew up here and my roots are here. Only by accelerating my development can I have a future here."
a place.
Wheelock is a very good company, and I am very interested in it. I know that Mr. Madden holds 21.5% of the shares. I am willing to acquire your shares at a price of two levels above the market premium. What do you think?
?”
Listening to Li Jianhui's quotation, John Madden fell into deep thought. Wheelock's current market value is HK$2.34 billion. Li Jianhui gave him a two-tier premium, which is equivalent to valuing Wheelock at HK$2.808 billion.
This is not far from his inner valuation of Wheelock. In his opinion, Wheelock's current real market value is only about HK$3 billion.
As a pessimist, John Madden naturally hopes to cash out from Wheelock as soon as possible and use the funds in his ideal investments in Canada and Australia.
"Li Sheng, everyone in Xiangjiang knows that I want to get out of here. I won't talk to you about useless things. If you want the Wheelock shares in good faith, I can sell them to you at a 50% premium to the market price.
"
It was also Li Jianhui who really wanted to win over Wheelock, otherwise he would have kicked him out. John Madden was taking him for granted and paid a premium of five levels. He was crazy about money.
I am not a charter king, I have no ambition to win Wheelock, and I will not pay much higher than the market value for Wheelock.
"Mr. Madden, you are asking for a lot of money. I am young and don't have to go through many twists and turns in doing things.
Third level, I will buy the shares in your hands at a premium of three levels to the market price. If you are willing, we will conduct a transaction, and I will have all the funds in cash.
If you still feel that this price is not suitable, then our negotiation will probably end here. I would rather start a new company by myself than be a financier."
John Madden didn't believe at all that Li Jianhui didn't know how to bend the rules. This young man had been a man of the hour in Hong Kong last year. Even if the charter king snatched the Wharf from Jardine, he couldn't compare with him.
However, he knew that the three-tier premium was probably almost Li Jianhui's bottom line. If he still refused to accept it, Li Jianhui might really give up on acquiring Wheelock.
The three-tier premium has exceeded his inner expectations. If he sells his shares to Li Jianhui, he will receive HK$666.5 million in cash. The Madden family will have enough capital to develop in Canada and Australia.
Moreover, with this cooperation, the two parties have established a relatively friendly relationship, and maybe there will be more cooperation between the two parties in the future.
"Li Sheng, I believe Wheelock is definitely worth the money. If I hadn't had concerns about this place, I would never have sold my shares.
Just as you said, the premium will be three levels. Tomorrow morning you will come to Wheelock with your personnel. We will sign a contract and report it to the Hong Kong Exchange. Starting tomorrow, you will become the new head of Wheelock."
One party wants to buy and the other is willing to sell. When both parties agree on the price, the transaction is quite easy.
At least John Madden did not embarrass Li Jianhui too much, nor did he think about stalling for time, nor did he think about using Li Jianhui to attract more buyers.
This is completely different from Charter King's acquisition of Wharf. Both Charter King and Jardine Matheson are determined to win Wharf, which is why Wharf's shares soar in the market.
On the contrary, people like Li Chaoren, Li Sishu and others tend to be very low-key in their acquisitions of companies and will not cause shocks in the stock market at all, let alone spend several times more than the market value for acquisitions.
Li Jianhui's offer of a three-tier premium this time was also based on the fact that Wheelock's real estate business was rising and the stock market value was a bit underestimated for Wheelock, otherwise he would not have offered such a high price.
A three-tier premium is fine, but if it's a five-tier premium, he will never acquire this company, even if it owns Wheelock Real Estate, Wheelock Shipping, and Lane Crawford Retail.
It’s also that he doesn’t have many talents at hand right now. Otherwise, he would just build these companies instead of acquiring them.