PS: Thank you very much!

I heard that Andrew was going to open an overseas trading company. Shen Bi thought of Hutchison & Co. (later renamed Hutchison International). Moreover, the traditional main business of Hutchison & Co. was import and export trade.

Since HSBC injected HK$150 million to acquire a 33.65% controlling stake in Hutchison International in September last year, HSBC has become the majority shareholder of Hutchison International.

However, HSBC does not want to hold a stake in Hutchison International for a long time. Last year, HSBC's investment in Hutchia International was just an investment behavior.

If there is a suitable buyer who is willing to take over the equity of Heji International. As long as it is profitable, HSBC is also willing to get rid of it.

Now, Andrew is going to open an overseas trading company. Without a background, if you start from scratch, the development speed of the trading company will definitely be slow in the initial stage. Although Hutchison International is now in decline, the shelf is still there, and the heritage still exists.

If Andrew had taken over a controlling stake in Hutchison International from HSBC, he would have become the majority shareholder of Hutchison International.

Then the talents and heritage required for the newly opened overseas trading company can be spun off and integrated from Hutchison International.

Shen Bi, who had this idea, informed Andrew of his thoughts and proposals.

Andrew is indeed interested in Shen Bi's proposed acquisition of a 33.65% controlling stake in Hutchison International held by HSBC. After all, Hutchison's reputation is outstanding, although it is now in decline. But the asset heritage is still very deep.

But he is not very clear about the current situation of Hutchison International. So I asked Shen Bi to help introduce the recent situation of Hutchison International.

Hutchison & Co. is a long-established foreign company in Hong Kong with a history of more than 100 years. Since the 60s of this century, under the leadership of the new head of Hutchison Qi Dezun, Hutchison has entered a period of rapid development.

Making full use of market capital, Hutchison & Co. carried out large-scale asset mergers and acquisitions overseas, and developed rapidly, and then changed its name to Hutchison International. And integrated its subsidiaries, established Hebao Company and Ducheng Real Estate, and listed them respectively. Further strengthen the momentum of the Harmony Group.

Hebao became the listed company with the widest range of business within the Hutchison Group. Its main subsidiary is Tak Hui Bao & Co., whose business mainly includes import and export trade, commerce, machinery, automobile sales and construction material supply.

Hebao's business developed rapidly after its listing, and it became a shining star at the height of the stock market in 1973. In the same year, Hebao had at least 35 subsidiaries and a record of HK$17 million in net profits.

After the name change, Hutchison International continued its business strategy of asset acquisition and expansion, resulting in a sharp increase in the number of subordinate companies, and by the end of '72, the number of subordinate companies had reached more than 300. Become an upstart representative of the British team in Hong Kong.

At the height of the Hong Kong stock market in early '73, Hutchison International's company was valued at more than HK$7 billion.

But the good times did not last long, and after experiencing the peak of the prosperity of the Hong Kong stock market, it ushered in the subsequent 73 stock market crashes. Hutchison International was also unable to consolidate its gains at the peak of the stock market in time.

Hong Kong's stock market fell from its highs, and the stock market boom began to cool. At that time, Hutchison International did not stop the pace of expansion, and still borrowed a large amount of market capital for investment and mergers and acquisitions.

With the advent of the oil crisis in '74, the Hong Kong stock market has fallen sharply, and the stock prices of listed companies under the Hutchison Group have depreciated sharply.

However, instead of reflecting this situation in its accounts, the Group used the proceeds from the land sale and the funds raised from the listing of Metropole Property to maintain net profits and pay dividends, which is a rather aggressive strategy in the hope that the stock market will recover and tide over the difficulties.

Unfortunately, the stock market fell further, and by December 10 of the same year, the Hang Seng Index had fallen to a low of 150 points.

Beckon International was hit by the double blow of a sharp depreciation in the share prices of its listed companies and a sharp appreciation in the Swiss franc borrowed by the department, and its financial difficulties quickly surfaced.

At that time, Hutchison International's overseas investments, including those in the United Kingdom, Australia and Southeast Asia, were not performing well, especially in Indonesia, which was hit by the global oil crisis, resulting in bad debts of about HK$100 million.

By the end of 1974, the stock price of Hutchison International had fallen from $44 per share at the peak of the stock market in March 1973 to $1.18, and the market value of the company had fallen to HK$340 million.

That's 4.7 per cent of its heyday in 1973. From 1974 to 1975, Hutchison International suffered a loss of HK$129 million. At that time, Hutchison International was in the midst of a serious financial crisis, and rumors of the company's closure were rife.

In September 1975, Hutchison International convened a general meeting of shareholders, at which the board of directors requested a rights issue of HK$175 million from shareholders to resolve the company's financial crisis, but was rejected by the shareholders represented by HSBC.

The creditors of HCI are seeking liquidation through legal means.

With no alternative, the board was forced to accept HSBC's proposal to acquire a 33.65% controlling stake in Hutchison International with an injection of HK$150 million, and HSBC became a major shareholder in Hutchison International.

The board of directors of Hutchison International was reorganized, and Qi Dezun resigned. In November 1975, HSBC invited Wai, who was known as a "corporate doctor", to join the board of directors of Hutchison International.

As Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, he stipulated that Keeper would enjoy a 2.5% net profit for Hutchison International once it regained its profits.

Three weeks after taking office, Wei convened a meeting of all 145 senior executives of the group to explain and record the problems of the international group, the crux of the problems, and the countermeasures. Wei Li pointed out that Hutchison International is developing too fast and the management is out of control.

As a result, the company's structure has become too complex and disorderly, and the Group's information management and financial reporting are generally inadequate, inaccurate and uncoordinated, so that the management is unable to understand the seriousness of the problem and make decisions on the right medicine.

Wei Li also said that the accounting and financial control of the whole group is very poor, and the headquarters can only estimate the profits of the various companies in the department in the form of reports, and many of the group's problems are caused by this lack of discipline.

At the meeting, he presented to all senior executives the goals to be achieved within the predetermined deadlines, including establishing modern financial controls, resolving outstanding litigation, reducing recurrent expenditures, comprehensively reducing debt plans, and eliminating loss-making departments and companies.

Subsequently, Wei Li embarked on a series of drastic reform measures, first of all, to stop the losses of the subsidiaries, and at the same time to strengthen the structure between the head office and the subsidiaries, and then to strengthen the management of each company, and second, to strengthen the financial foundation of the group.

To this end, Willey decided to sell or dissolve the company with lower losses and lower profits.

At this time, the Hutchison Group had a total of 315 companies, most of which were in the red, the most serious of which were investments in Indonesia and Singapore, and most of the other overseas companies were also in poor condition.

At present, the first priority of the Hutchison Group is to divest its loss-making and low-profit subsidiaries and cut off the source of losses.

So, Andrew, if you take over a controlling stake in Hutchison International, you become the majority shareholder of Hutchison International.

Then, in the sale and dissolution of Hutchison International, it will be very convenient and cost-effective to absorb some talents and resources suitable for trading companies.

After listening to Shen Bi's briefing. Andrew had a general idea of what's going on at Hutchison International. However, the acquisition of shares in other companies requires careful investigation, deliberation and measurement.

For this reason, Andrew expressed his intention to Shen Bi, and after he carefully investigated Hutchison International, he could have a private contact with HSBC to discuss. The specific matters will be discussed after the results of the investigation are confirmed.

Catherine, who was accompanied by tea on the side, saw Andrew and Shen Bi, and reached the intention of acquiring a controlling stake in Hutchison International in the hands of HSBC so easily. It felt a bit incredible, completely inconsistent with the negotiation scene she imagined!

Not to mention Catherine's imagination. At this time, Mr. Henry, who was still working overtime in the company, was on the phone and invited some old customers of Shengli Securities to talk.

Invite these predators, who are quite influential among investors, to cooperate with the pre-sale of small-scale funds that will start in a few days.

Of course, it is inevitable to invite these predator investors to cooperate with the pre-sale of the fund, and pay some necessary benefits. After all, pie doesn't fall out of thin air in the sky.

Overtime is hard, but Henry got a more satisfactory invitation to discuss the results, and he was still very happy.