While Li Xuemei and Airbus Vice President Kendi Jesse were discussing the purchase of the aircraft, Cathay Pacific Airways held a press conference and a consortium of Chinese families acquired a 70% stake in Cathay Pacific Airways held by Swire Pacific for HK$3.6 billion.

The completion of this acquisition means that Cathay Pacific Airways has completely become a Chinese-funded enterprise, and the proposer of this acquisition, Cao Guangbiao, serves as the chairman of Cathay Pacific Airways.

In the case of the establishment of a new airline by the Lee consortium, a number of Chinese-funded groups led by Cao Guangbiao acquired Cathay Pacific Airways, which made the media in Hong Kong quite interested.

The decline of the British-funded consortium has increased the contradictions and conflicts of the Chinese family in Xiangjiang due to disputes over interests, and the Xiangjiang media expect to be able to watch a big show this time, but they know that the Li consortium is sitting with a lot of preparations.

These days, there are quite a few people from Britain, the United States, and Japan who have reported to the Lee Building, and some of them have been arranged outside the Xiangjiang Aircraft Engineering Company, while the other personnel are waiting for the planes to be received, and they are all pilots poached by the Lee consortium in various regional airlines.

The current market of Xiangjiang is only so large, and most of the routes opened by Xiangjiang Airlines overlap with Cathay Pacific, so it is impossible for the two major airlines not to conflict in the future for the sake of passenger sources.

At the press conference, a reporter from the Oriental Daily asked: "Cao Sheng, what is the reason why so many of your families bought Cathay Pacific Airways with a huge amount of more than 5 billion Hong Kong dollars?"

Cao Guangbiao is very happy now, he originally wanted to build his own airline but was vetoed by the Xiangjiang government, which made him very unwilling for a while. This time, he was able to acquire Xiangjiang, a giant company, and served as the chairman himself, which was finally a bad breath.

Cao Guangbiao said with a smile: "Cathay Pacific Airways is a company that serves the citizens of Hong Kong and other regions, but the recent problems about Cathay Pacific have deeply hurt the hearts of the people of Hong Kong and seriously affected the image of Hong Kong around the world. We bought Cathay Pacific from a British consortium to change these problems and improve our image of Hong Kong. ”

The reporters didn't believe his words, why Cathay Pacific has these problems, they are very clear, a little problem, Lee's media group can magnify him countless times. If it weren't for Lee's media staring at Cathay Pacific every day, where would such a thing have happened?

A reporter from Sing Tao Daily asked: "Cao Sheng, we all know that Lee's Heung Kong Airlines has been established, and the plane has also placed an order in Boeing. It is reported that at the beginning of next month, it will be able to receive two Boeing 747-200s, and at that time, Heung Kong Airlines will officially start operation, and how are you Cathay Pacific Airways prepared to deal with this?"

Cao Guangbiao has also been troubled in the past two days, although they have taken control of Cathay Pacific. And Xiangjiang Airlines has not even a plane in place now, but Xiangjiang Airlines has obtained far more routes than Cathay Pacific Airways. Moreover, Cathay Pacific Airways has routes, and Xiangjiang Airlines basically has them, and in the face of competition with Xiangjiang Airlines, Cao Guangbiao still has some worries in his heart.

Cao Guangbiao said confidently to reporters: "We welcome Heung Kong Airlines to join, only by competing with each other, our airlines can better serve the public." Moreover, we and Heung Kong Airlines are both Chinese-funded groups, and I believe that there will be no malicious competition between us, and our two companies will only promote the common development of everyone. ”

Ta Kung Pao reporter asked: "Cao Sheng, we have received news that Xiangjiang Airlines has obtained the government's approval for routes to three cities in the mainland, and as long as the mainland government agrees, Xiangjiang Airlines can open these three routes." I don't know if you have any plans to open mainland routes after you take control of Cathay Pacific Airways. ”

Although Ta Kung Pao asked, many reporters present did not think that Cathay Pacific could get new routes now, and there was a lot of resistance in this. Looking at these shareholders of Cathay Pacific now, it is estimated that the Hong Kong Transport and Housing Bureau will reject their application.

If it weren't for Airbus' desire to sell planes this time, it is estimated that the Xiangjiang government would still not approve it. Lee Guang Woo is still like this, not to mention these shareholders of Cathay Pacific Airways.

Cao Guangbiao said: "After we take over Cathay Pacific, we will learn more about the company's situation, and we will definitely apply to the Hong Kong government in the future, and we also believe that the Hong Kong government will treat every airline fairly, and our Cathay Pacific Airways will definitely be able to get the approval of the mainland route." ”

Cao Guangbiao knows very well that if they Cathay Pacific want to get a new route, not only will the Xiangjiang government embarrass them, but also the Xiangjiang Airlines, as Cathay Pacific's biggest rival, will definitely not want them to get the route easily.

However, in difficulty, he also has to give it a try, and the main purpose of buying Cathay Pacific Airways by himself and others is to strengthen ties with the mainland. If they can't get a mainland route, it doesn't make a lot of sense for them to control Cathay Pacific.

At the time of Cao Guangbiao's interview, Gan Qin also made a detailed report to Li Guangyu about the sale of Swire Pacific.

The price of Cathay Pacific's sale this time is lower than that of HSBC's sale, when HSBC valued Cathay Pacific at $6 billion, and this time the valuation is more than 5.1 billion, which is directly less than 800 million Hong Kong dollars.

This is also because Hong Kong Airlines does not operate, otherwise the longer it is delayed, the lower the stake of Cathay Pacific will be.

What Li Guangyu didn't expect was that Bao Yugang actually joined the acquisition this time, it seems that Cao Guangbiao's energy is not small.

As for the Cathay Pacific issue, Li Guangyu does not feel that they have too much of a threat, at least in the past ten years, they will not be a threat to the Hong Kong Airlines, and the Hong Kong Transport and Housing Bureau will definitely not approve many of their routes.

Li Guangyu said: "Gan Qin, you inform Lei Jianbin so that his operation can start." At the same time, the recruitment was announced in the name of Heung Kong Airlines, with the focus on flight attendants. The management personnel will be in place in two days, and strive to officially realize the company's maiden voyage in the middle of next month. ”

Because Du Yuemei, Peng Xiaoli, Gan Qinglin and Gu Zhengsheng have poached a group of pilots of local airlines, there is no shortage of Xiangjiang Airlines in this regard, as long as the flight attendants are in place, after the handover of the Boeing plane, Xiangjiang Airlines can officially open flights.

Gan Qin said: "Okay Li Sheng, I'll go back to the arrangement later." In addition, on the side of Swire Pacific, Wooden's proposal that the funds from this sale would not be invested in Swire Pacific, and that the dividends would be distributed to all shareholders Guo Lingming also agreed to his proposal, so we did not object. ”

Li Guangyu got what he could get in Swire Pacific, and he was not interested in the rest, and the dividends were not bad, and he could also get back a lot of cash.

It seems that the Shi Huaiya family is not ready to vigorously run Swire Pacific, otherwise they will not use all the funds to pay dividends, and the current financial situation of Swire Pacific is not very good.