"Lin Sheng, you are now at ease in Egypt, since the news was exposed by the "Hong Kong Economic Times", we no longer have the comfort of hiding in the shadows before. I heard that Dalia had returned to Hong Kong and went to see Su Haiwen. Although we took down Wu Guangzheng and Su Haiwen in advance, and also instructed them not to accept media interviews before the situation is clear, but the restraint is limited to this, with the relationship between Su Haiwen and Daria, presumably he will answer truthfully as soon as he asks Su Haiwen, then everything will be exposed, and the war between us and Standard Chartered will start completely! ”

On the other side of the phone, Song Nianhui's voice mixed with excitement and anxiety came from across the ocean. Lin Xiaozhi poured himself a glass of wine, walked to the glass window, looked at the charming morning scenery of Alexandria Harbor outside, took a sip and waited for him to finish speaking, before he replied with a smile: "I don't expect to hide this thing for a long time, and it is just a day for us to have a first-mover advantage. ”

In order to win the more than 100 million shares of Standard Chartered shares held by the shipking family, Lin Xiaozhi offered an offer that was 40% higher than its previous share price on the London Stock Exchange. Of course, shouting a high price can only say that white people such as Robert Houm and others who are forgetful of profit, such as Qiu Teck Puat was very resolute in his attitude when he first contacted Media Asia, and was very reluctant to sell his Standard Chartered shares, and in the end, although he may not want to offend Lin Xiaozhi, a new Chinese super-rich, he reluctantly sold 5% of the Standard Chartered shares to him, but he not only has a high price, but also has a lot of additional conditions, but the meaning of the people is also clearly put out, and it also makes him owe a favor.

Su Haiwen and Wu Guangzheng, the two super-rich people worth tens of billions and nearly 100 billion Hong Kong dollars, are not impressed with money, in order to win the shares held by the ship's king family, he even promised that no matter whether it is successful or not, the Kowloon Bank will provide a large number of low-interest loans for the two in the future, and the two of them will be used to help; If Standard Chartered can be eaten, Standard Chartered will definitely give more comprehensive financial support to the two companies in the future.

After increasing various conditions several times, Su Haiwen and Wu Guangzheng sold more than 8% of their Standard Chartered shares to him, although from the price point of view, a single share is cheaper than the one bought from Robert Houm, but the latter did not mention any conditions at all, but these people got a lot of hidden benefits from him, which is only higher than Robert Houm.

The Lin family wants to take a controlling stake in Standard Chartered Bank, which is by no means an easy task.

The truth of a son of heaven and a courtier is not only understood by Chinese, but also by foreigners.

The current management of Standard Chartered will definitely be the most fiercely resistant, even if they only own less than 10% of the shares of Standard Chartered, but everyone knows that once Standard Chartered is acquired by the Lin family, they will definitely install their own people in the management and clear them out sooner or later.

In the end, it is the capital that holds Standard Chartered, and Song Nianhui naturally knows this truth, but he can't help but worry in his words: "We have done it very secretly in the early stage, and I thought that we could delay it for at least another month or two so that the senior management of Standard Chartered would not notice it, but now that it has been exposed, the pressure on our side has increased dramatically." ”

Lin Xiaozhi understood his worries, although they began to absorb Standard Chartered shares from the London Stock Exchange half a year in advance, but in order to avoid the attention of Standard Chartered as much as possible, they not only prepared a large number of trading accounts, but also did not absorb them quickly, and only absorbed about 11 from the secondary market in nearly half a year. About 4% of the shares of Standard Chartered are only slightly more than the shares held by the current management of Standard Chartered.

Subsequently, although the Lin family ate the remaining 8 of the Boat King family one after another. 27% of the shares of Standard Chartered, and Robert Hum has the remaining 4. 77% and 5% of the Standard Chartered shares ceded by Khoo, but combined, they now own only 29 Standard Chartered shares. 44%, although it is firmly in the position of the largest shareholder of Standard Chartered, there is still a big gap from the holding.

When Lloyds Bank acquired Standard Chartered, it once absorbed more than 39% of the shares of Standard Chartered, and almost all the outstanding shares of Standard Chartered in the entire secondary market were eaten, but what was the result? Standard Chartered invited three white knights, and said that most of the minority shareholders who were friends with Standard Chartered management sold their shares to themselves or three white knights, and as a result, it took less than a month for the combination of Standard Chartered management and three white knights to hold more than 51% of the absolute control line, successfully repelling Lloyds Bank's hostile takeover.

In recent years, although the 'mediocrity' of Standard Chartered's performance has made many retail investors and small shareholders have a lot of opinions on the management, many of its institutional investors and major shareholders are deeply tied to the interests of today's management, and no one dares to guarantee that after the old three white knights in the past 'turned back', Standard Chartered will not summon a new white knight to guard itself, so even if Lin Xiaozhi has eaten nearly 30% of the Standard Chartered shares by relying on the first-mover advantage in the past six months, the outcome is still unknown.

After thinking about it, Lin Xiaozhi replied: "Since it has been exposed, there is no need to cover it up anymore, so as not to make people look down on us, so you can simply take the time to announce the acquisition of Standard Chartered!" On my side, the movie was completed two days ago, but now I don't know except for the crew. Taking advantage of this time difference, I plan to go to the UK again to see if I can buy the Standard Chartered shares in the hands of Aberdeen, Schroders and Lloyd! For a period of time in the future, you have to resist Hong Kong! ”

In addition to them, Standard Chartered's largest shareholders are Aberdeen Asset Management (about 11.). 7% of the shares of Standard Chartered), Schroders Group (about 7. 62% of Standard Chartered shares), Lloyds Bank (about 6% of Standard Chartered shares), Khoo Teck Puat (about 8. 17%) and the Goldtown family (which holds about 8 Standard Chartered. 74% of the shares), which together hold more than 40% of the shares of Standard Chartered.

Among them, Khoo Teck Puat has made it clear that he is not ready to sell his shares in Standard Chartered to anyone, so he can directly give up the fight.

The Goldston family has been managing Standard Chartered Bank since the reconquest of Hong Kong during World War II, although it does not hold many shares in Standard Chartered, it has always had unimaginable power and influence on the appointment and dismissal of Standard Chartered senior management, and at least five members of its family members serve in the senior management of Standard Chartered, two of them are directors, and three hold key positions in the Hong Kong branch and London headquarters respectively.

In addition, the remaining three major shareholders of Aberdeen Asset Management can fight for it, but the hope is a little slim, according to Lin Xiaozhi and their preliminary investigation, among the many institutional shareholders of Standard Chartered, only this is ready to hold Standard Chartered shares for a long time.

It's Schroeder and Lloyd, these two should be able to win if someone offers a high price, and they are also the goals he is ready to fight for personally.

In addition to these major shareholders, Standard Chartered has less than 30% of the shares in the hands of small and medium-sized institutions and retail investors, and these will also be the focus of the two companies in the future. It's just that after the secret absorption of Standard Chartered shares was exposed, Lin Xiaozhi and the small shareholders who wanted to win for Standard Chartered were not as advantageous as the senior management of Standard Chartered. Fortunately, the Goldston family, who now controls Standard Chartered, does not have strong financial resources, according to prior investigations, unless they borrow a lot of money, they alone can mobilize at most three or five billion pounds in the short term to compete with Lin Xiaozhi.

The hostile takeover of Lloyds Bank in '86 proved that the Queenston family, who had controlled Standard Chartered for half a century, could no longer afford to retain its privileges within Standard Chartered unless it relied on foreign aid. At the beginning, Lloyd was not unified in his voice, and he was reluctant to fight with the three white knights for financial resources, but he missed the opportunity to annex Standard Chartered in vain, but Lin Xiaozhi would not make this mistake.

"I know Lin Sheng, and when I go back, I will hold a press conference to announce the acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank. Standard Chartered will inevitably fight back, but I can't stay in Hong Kong forever! Song Nianhui responded.

Lin Xiaozhi frowned, he understood what Song Nianhui meant.

Once a full-scale takeover begins, Standard Chartered will inevitably devote all its energy to competing with the Lin family for a controlling stake. Kowloon Bank is the initiator of the acquisition, but Song Nianhui has been staying in Hong Kong, at most he can only buy him a little time, once the other party notices that Song Nianhui has no action, he will inevitably be suspected of his current whereabouts, and then his actions in the UK may be exposed.

Lin Xiaozhi thought for a while before responding: "If you can fight for a few days, it's a few days, if you can't do it, you can go to Singapore first!" ”

Song Nianhui on the other side of the phone was stunned for a moment, and after thinking about the meaning of his words, he suddenly laughed.

Yes, it is not clear when they have reached an agreement with Khoo Teck Puat that Standard Chartered, and a trip to Singapore at this time will inevitably attract Standard Chartered's attention to Khoo Teck Puat for the time being, the largest shareholder of Standard Chartered, thus buying time for Lin Xiaozhi to public relations several other major shareholders in the UK.

After understanding this, Song Nianhui agreed with a smile: "Don't worry, Lin Sheng, I'll try my best to buy you a week!" ”

A week's time, not too much, but not a lot.

He was just about to hang up the phone, but he didn't want Lin Xiaozhi to chase after him: "Qiu Depu's side, you might as well go over and visit again, although he said that he won't sell it, we can't give up." If the other party relaxes, you look at the price and conditions......"

After another pause, before Song Nianhui could react, he said categorically: "If necessary, you can use the second account!" ”

Song Nianhui was silent for a while, and then he answered again and hung up the phone.

Like all banks, the Bank of Kowloon also has a number of accounts with very high levels and authority, among which the two account owners with the largest authority are Lin Xiaozhi himself, one is deposited with the laundered funds they earned from the oil futures and foreign exchange markets and some other invisible income of the Bank of Kowloon that is inconvenient to disclose to the outside world, this fund will only be dispersed into multiple shares of funds in the Hong Kong stock market and Taiwan stock market in the name of the investment funds of the Bank of Kowloon; The other account is Lin Xiaozhi's private small treasury, which is deposited in addition to his legitimate investment income and the sharing of the Asia Group, as well as a huge amount of money borrowed from Lin Baixin not long ago.

Unlike UCT Cinemas, which directly used Media Asia's funds to acquire, Lin Xiaozhi has formulated two acquisition plans since last year, because the funds involved in these two acquisitions are more than $3 billion, which is far from being able to bear the funds in the account of any company under his name. is also helpless, Lin Xiaozhi can only use the funds in his two secret accounts.

The first account is intended to be used to acquire Standard Chartered, while the second account is intended to be used to acquire the American publishing company that is being approached. To operate two acquisitions at the same time, Rao thought that he was fully prepared, but after the implementation, he found that the preparation was still not enough, and Lin Xiaozhi also thought about it for a long time, so he had the intention of swallowing the Standard Chartered that had already bitten a big bite even if the second acquisition was slowed down.

……

After learning that Sir Daria, chairman of the board of directors of Standard Chartered Bank, had gone to Hong Kong in person and that the first thing he did when he arrived in Hong Kong was to visit his former friend Su Haiwen, Song Nianhui immediately hung up a phone call to Lin Xiaozhi, and not long after consulting with him, he notified the Hong Kong media and held a press conference, at which he officially announced, "...... Previously, a media friend asked us about the acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank by Kowloon Bank, which was recently exposed by the Hong Kong Financial Times. At that time, the conditions were not ripe, so I chose to avoid answering this question for the time being. In the past few days, after discussions with Chairman Lin Xiaozhi (Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kowloon Bank), I hereby hold a press conference, on behalf of Kowloon Bank, I will formally respond to the questions of the outside world, and at the same time, Kowloon Bank will also admit that from now on, we will officially launch a comprehensive acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank Group! ”

Even though many smart people have analyzed the truth from many clues before, the victim did not admit it, and no one dared to be sure whether their guess was a true revelation or gossip news.

Now the Bank of Kowloon finally held a press conference, and the bank's chief executive, Song Nianhui, personally admitted at the press conference that the Bank of Kowloon will launch a comprehensive acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank. After the revelations not long ago were confirmed, the sensation caused this time was by no means comparable to the change of ownership of the Golden Princess, and even the Asia Group spent billions to acquire a British theater chain, and the entire Hong Kong exploded in an instant.

For example, the editor-in-chief of the "Oriental Daily" devoted a whole front page to expressing his shock and disbelief in the evening newspaper issued in the afternoon of the same day: "...... Although all the evidence had shown that the Bank of Kowloon was plotting to absorb Standard Chartered shares, when the news was announced from the mouth of the bank's chief executive, Mr. Song Nianhui, the whole venue was in an uproar. All the media, including myself, were shocked and incredulous when this large-scale acquisition, which was destined to surpass Hutchison, Wharf and Wheelock......

Mak Wah-cheung, editor-in-chief of the Hong Kong Financial Times, who was the first to discover and report the incident, personally wrote an article to applaud the Standard Chartered acquisition of the Bank of Kowloon: "...... Zhuang, since Li Jiacheng, Bao Yugang, Hong Kong businessmen gradually for the British capital to co-opt, although the strength than in the past increased tenfold, a hundred times, but no Chinese businessmen can stage a snake swallowing elephants, British capital still controls the lifeblood of Hong Kong, Chinese businessmen grow every day, but all have a little less courage, Kowloon Bank to acquire Standard Chartered, like the momentum of my Chinese capital, victory is gratifying, although defeat is still glorious! ”

In the eyes of the vast majority of Hong Kong and Taiwan media, after the miraculous development and serial mergers and acquisitions of Kowloon Bank in recent years, although it is also among the large local banks in Hong Kong, it is not only worse than the old British bank - Standard Chartered, but it is an order of magnitude.

Therefore, although the cheers continued, many media also euphemistically said that even with the full support of the Lin Xiaozhi family, it is almost impossible to swallow Standard Chartered unless the Lin family sells its holdings of Media Asia Group.

Originally, after learning from Su Haiwen that the Standard Chartered shares held by the ship's king family had been bought by Lin Xiaozhi at a high price, Standard Chartered had already understood that he was in trouble, and before they could come up with a countermeasure and contact Lin Xiaozhi's family, the Kowloon Bank had already held a press conference to officially announce the launch of a comprehensive acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank.