……

Hong Kong Governor Youde and Muddy just let the Swire and Qinhe, who had no intention of fighting, quit the army, HSBC and Qinhe still have their own calculations, and all parties are well aware of this situation.

Tang Huan dealt with this scene, and planned to leave for the mainland to take a trip as usual. But just before getting on the plane, there was news that Standard Chartered Bank, one of the two major note-issuing banks in Hong Kong at this stage, was hostilely acquired by Lloyds Bank.

In terms of status, even HSBC is not as good as Lloyds, the former belongs to the landlords, and the latter is one of the four major banks in the UK.

Therefore, as soon as the confrontation began, the struggling Standard Chartered Bank was a little unable to bear it, and this strength and weakness were clearly displayed, and outsiders could see it clearly.

If Standard Chartered doesn't want to be eaten, the most effective way it can respond is to seek friendly foreign help. The business tycoons who saw through this also began to calculate the costs and benefits of acting as this "white knight".

Although they have business dealings with each other, whether Standard Chartered Bank is dead or alive, Tang Huan really didn't see it in his eyes.

Because of the entanglement of interests and the balance of relationships involved, Tang Huan and Qinhe Group, who secretly watched HSBC drooling, were not suitable to mix. And there is also a lesson from the past - in the process of digesting the Jardine controlled by the British into diligence, the mental effort consumed made Tang Huan very tired of coming again in a short period of time, and if he didn't do it, he would have indigestion.

Tang Huan's plan, outsiders naturally won't know, Wu Guangzheng hurriedly ran to inquire about the situation, "If Datang is interested in Standard Chartered, my father-in-law means that we will join forces to prevent Lloyds Bank's acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank and get the shares of Standard Chartered Bank as a 'white knight'." ”

Speaking of this, Wu Guangzheng deliberately added: "At present, there are already two other white warriors who have taken the initiative to contact my father-in-law. Pooling the financial resources of the four of us, we can surely easily repel the menacing Lloyds Bank. ”

"The banking sector is too specialized, too complex, and I have some dealings with Lloyds Bank in the UK in other businesses, so I don't want to get involved. Tang Huan directly refused.

Seeing Wu Guangzheng's disappointed face, Tang Huan changed the topic and said: "Sir Bao just won Wheelock last year and participated in the establishment of Dragonair, is he interested in the banking industry again?"

Tang Huan's implication is that the big moves of the charter boat king are one after another, can he still keep his business kingdom running steadily?

Although in the 1980 battle for the Wharf, with Tang Huan's covert intervention, the charter king was able to save hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars, but still spent more than a billion Hong Kong dollars; in the 1985 Wheelock battle, the charter king used another 2.5 billion Hong Kong dollars; and in 1985, the charter king began to participate in the formation of Dragonair, so far at least 200 million Hong Kong dollars have been injected.

This does not take into account the many major investments of the charter king in Chinese mainland, but he is now starting to start the idea of acting as the "white knight" of Standard Chartered Bank, which is a bit big!

If the battle for Wharf and the battle for Wheelock are the inevitable choices of the "abandoned boat landing" strategy, which is clean and beautiful, then in the investment of Dragonair, the charter king is a bit of a quagmire.

At the beginning, the charter king participated in the establishment of Dragonair Airlines, and was invited by the person in charge of the Xiangjiang branch of the new Chinese news agency, surnamed Xu.

For this reason, the charter king also resigned as a director of Cathay Pacific Airways, and even rejected the absolutely cost-effective "recruitment" from a commercial point of view when Dragonair was jointly suppressed by the Hong Kong government and Cathay Pacific.

"When people get older, they may feel a little nostalgic. Wu Guangzheng carefully explained: "In the early years, my father-in-law worked in the banking industry for a period of time, and in 1949, when he brought hundreds of thousands of yuan to Xiangjiang, he even had the idea of opening a bank, but in view of the lack of funds and the fierce competition in the banking industry in Xiangjiang, he gave up. It can be said that in his old man's heart, he has always remembered his past banking career and dreamed of becoming a banker. ”

Tang Huan smiled slightly, "This is also true, dreams do not distinguish between ages." ”

Seeing that Tang Huan seemed to be a little unconvinced, Wu Guangzheng shrugged his shoulders, "My father-in-law attaches great importance to this investment, and in order to be able to enter the board of directors of Standard Chartered Bank in the future, he even did not hesitate to resign as a director of HSBC to avoid conflicts of interest." ”

"It seems that Sir Bao has a lot of plans. Tang Huan hurriedly straightened his face and asked instead, "You just said that there are two other white knights who are willing to participate in this operation to save Standard Chartered Bank, who are they?"

Singapore-Malaysia business tycoon Khoo Teck Puat and Australian businessman Robert Hum. After Wu Guangzheng finished answering, he laughed first, "Do you feel strange again?"

"yes. Tang Huan smiled and nodded, "Sir Bao and Qiu Teck Puat were rivals before, but I didn't expect to fight side by side so soon, it's really unexpected." ”

The clash between the charter boat king and Qiu Depuat that Tang Huan mentioned was the battle for Wheelock last year.

The two major shareholders of this veteran British-funded foreign bank, Zhang Yuliang, a descendant of Chinese businessman Zhang Zhushan, and the Madden family, a Jewish family, have been arguing for many years.

On the afternoon of February 14, 1985, Wheelock suddenly suspended trading and announced that Singaporean businessman Khoo Teck Puat had acquired 13.5% of the voting shares from the Madden family, Zhang Yuliang believed that he had been betrayed by Madden, so he transferred the equity to the charter king, and asked him to fully control Wheelock and not let the opponent reverse the takeover.

There is a vindictive spirit in this, if Qiu Teck Puat succeeds in acquiring Wheelock, then the Madden family can continue to sit in the position of Taipan, and Zhang Yuliang is full of strength to oust the other party, so he asks the charter king to completely buy Wheelock.

Due to the charter king's large-scale acquisition of 34% of the voting rights of Wheelock shares in Zhang Yuliang's hands, and the joint enterprise that held 6.8% of the shares of Wheelock, the latter overtook Khoo Teck Puat first, and further held more than 50% of the shares, and finally forced Khoo Teck Puat to announce that he accepted the acquisition proposal of the charter king, and resold the 25% of the Wheelock shares that had been collected in his hand to the victor, and admitted it himself.

Tang Huan really didn't expect that these two people would change so quickly when they met each other.

But after carefully recalling the information in his memory, Tang Huan was relieved again.

Speaking of which, Qiu Depuat is also surviving in the cracks. Originally, he was very successful in founding Bank Malaysia and became a member of the Malaysian Parliament. However, in 1965, just in time for Malaysia to kick Singapore out of the political arena, Malaysia drove out the Bank of Malaysia on the grounds that it used the funds of the Bank of Malaysia to make private investments in Singapore, and turned the Bank of Malaysia into a Bumiputera bank.

This is the sadness of not finding a strong backing, and Khoo Teck Puat is currently an Australian citizen. In this living environment, there is really no need for Qiu Teck Puat to expand the conflict of interests in the shopping mall to the grievances and hatreds between individuals, and it has a more realistic significance for him to make money and be kind to others.

However, whether it is to resign as a director of Cathay Pacific, participate in the formation of Dragonair, or resign as a director of HSBC and act as a white warrior of Standard Chartered Bank, I am afraid that the decision of the charter king will not be as superficial as Wu Guangzheng said, and there should be an overall layout of one link after another.

"Since Sir Bao attaches so much importance to Standard Chartered Bank, I'm afraid that the action will not be small, and he will have to call in a large amount of money, right?" Tang Huan asked tentatively,

"My father-in-law wants to take advantage of this opportunity to become the largest individual shareholder of Standard Chartered Bank, and the ideal result is to gradually get a controlling stake, so it is conservatively estimated that he spent 2 billion Hong Kong dollars to acquire 15% of the equity of Standard Chartered Bank. ”

After Wu Guangzheng answered without concealment, he climbed up the pole and said: "Datang, you don't want to be this white warrior, and I won't force it, but you can't let me run for nothing, give me some financial support." ”

"You must know the situation of our family. My father-in-law has no sons, he is patriarchal, and in the end, the family business will definitely be inherited by our sons-in-law, so I can't behave badly. ”

"Very understanding!" Tang Huan smiled loudly, "You have spoken, I naturally have no reason to let you go home empty-handed." Say, how much do you want to turnover?"

"I know your richest man is not covered, and his pockets are bulging. Wu Guangzheng smiled and stretched out two fingers, "What about this number?"

"Two hundred million, yes, no problem. Seeing Wu Guangzheng nodding in confirmation, Tang Huan waved his hand very happily, and then asked very casually, "By the way, is it a Hong Kong dollar or a US dollar?"

Wu Guangzheng, who was happy, just picked up the cup and took a sip, and when he heard Tang Huan ask so "drawing a snake", he immediately took a sip of water on the coffee table, coughed a few times in a row, and then looked at Tang Huan and asked, "I said it was a dollar, and you agreed?"

"As long as you dare to borrow, I dare to give!" Tang Huanyun said calmly.

Wu Guangzheng's blood suddenly became enthusiastic, and he muttered with a flushed face: "If that's the case, maybe I can preside over this matter." ”

"Of course I'm going to help you. Tang Huan patted Wu Guangzheng's shoulder meaningfully, "However, I have two hopes. ”

"You say. Wu Guangzheng quickly gathered his agitated mind.

"Although Dragonair's situation is a bit delicate at the moment, I hope that Sir Pao can continue to fight for it, which can be regarded as helping me to hold back the attention of Swire Group. ”

Tang Huan snapped his fingers, "Many people know about the dirt between Qinhe and Taigu during this time. Hong Kong Governor Youde personally came forward to make peace, and the current chairman of the board of directors of Swire Group, John Swire, also made it clear that the conflict ended here, and it is necessary to prevent people. ”

Wu Guang nodded knowingly, "Then there must be a time limit, right?"

"Three years. Tang Huan groaned and made a gesture.

"I think it's fine, but I'm going to report it back to my father-in-law. Wu Guangzheng, who couldn't give an answer on the spot, smiled embarrassedly, and then took the initiative to ask, "What is the second point?"

"I know that HSBC's Winkdo has long been Sir Pao's financial advisor. However, since Sir Bao has resigned as a director of HSBC, and it is very likely that there will not be much money to be transferred to HSBC for this investment, why not change to a non-HSBC financial adviser during this investment?" Tang Huan's eyes were particularly sharp when he said these words.

Wu Guangzheng scratched his head, "Datang, your request sounds very simple, but how can I think it is full of deep meaning! I can't answer in person, I have to go back and discuss with my father-in-law." ”

Tang Huan nodded disappreciatively, "Don't be pressured, if Sir Bao doesn't agree, it's 200 million Hong Kong dollars, and if you agree, it's 200 million U.S. dollars." In short, no matter what, you won't run in vain when you come to me this time,"

"Isn't this called pressure?" Wu Guangzheng stood up with a wry smile, "I'll report to my father-in-law right away what you mean." ”

"I'm going to go to the mainland and fly straight to the United States, because I have a company that's about to go public on the NASDAQ. Tang Huan said while sending the other party out: "To handle the matter of funds, you can go directly to Sun Hung Kai Bank." ”

……

Silicon Valley No. 1 flew directly from Xiangjiang to Yanjing, and Tang Huan was on the plane looking at the official mainland newspapers collected by his assistant.

From some of the above reports, it is not difficult to find that in the process of reform and opening up, the conflict between conservatism and innovation has become more and more intense. In particular, the formal establishment of the political term "bourgeois freedom" also illustrates the complexity of the current situation in China.

After arriving in Yanjing, Meng Qingguan, the brother-in-law who came to greet him, told Tang Huan, "It's not a coincidence, the old man went out of Beijing to inspect below." ”

"It's good to go out for a walk and relax. Tang Huan asked a little uneasily, "Who will take care of you?"

"Don't worry, your aunt is personally responsible. Meng Qingguan patted Tang Huan's shoulder with relief, and then changed his words and said with some excitement: "In the first half of this year, our side made a lot of contributions to foreign trade. ”

Tang Huan's layout in Funan is equivalent to opening up a low-end market, after a long period of war, there can be said to be a lack of everything, just so that many competitive Chinese products, with price advantages to find a place. There are also a number of infrastructure projects that are entrusted to Chinese companies.

In Tang Huan's view, many of China's current problems are often caused by economic weakness. The creation of some additional jobs and product sales should be regarded as an impact on the situation. Judging by the current indications, the effect is limited.

Therefore, Meng Qingguan's little pride did not resonate with Tang Huan, but he lazily confirmed to the other party whether his itinerary in Yanjing had been arranged. (To be continued.) )