After more than half a year of sharpening its knives, Heung Kong Telecom formally set up an acquisition team and launched an acquisition invitation to the parent company of Optus Communications, the second largest telecommunications company in Australia.

Australia is one of the most developed countries in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of telecommunications. However, before July 1997, there were only three telecommunications companies in Australia: Telstra, Opus and Vodafone. On July 1 of the same year, Australia promulgated the Telecommunications Act 1997, formulating a development strategy of "comprehensive competition", the main purpose of which is to fully introduce market mechanisms, enhance the long-term interests of users, and improve the international competitiveness of Australia's telecommunications industry.

Since the federal government privatized a third of the shares of Telstra and granted licenses to 81 companies with network infrastructure to operate local, international, mobile, satellite and other telecommunications services, the telecommunications industry, especially mobile communications, has grown rapidly.

Optus Pty Ltd is Australia's second largest telecommunications company and full-service operator, whose services include mobile telephony, domestic long distance, international long distance, local calls, international calls, business network services, i, satellite services and subscription television, and the company operates three satellites for domestic use in Australia.

The parent company of Optus Communications was the parent company of Hong Kong Telecom, the British Great Eastern Telegraph Company.

However, at this time, the British Great Eastern Telegraph Company was not having a good time, and it finally earned hundreds of billions of Hong Kong dollars, and its investment in the Internet was completely lost, and its own market value was only tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars.

Although Hong Kong Telecom was not spared in this round of plunge, it only fell from a market value of 500 billion to more than 200 billion Hong Kong dollars.

But then again, since New Era Group took over HKT, HKT has exuded endless potential.

First of all, HKT has always been at the forefront of Asia's next-generation services such as PCC, broadband Internet access and video information.

Secondly, Hong Kong Telecom has recently invested in Internet companies such as Du Niang in the mainland, allowing investors to see the second Jingwei Capital;

Finally, Heung Kong Telecom is one of the most advanced and efficient telecommunications providers in the world, with huge development potential.

......

Hong Kong Telecom.

In the conference room, Lin Zuhui was making the final mobilization.

"With this acquisition, Heung Kong Telecom is also breaking through the regional scope, and regardless of whether it is successful or not, we will continue to invest in telecommunications companies in the Asia-Pacific region to continue to expand its business."

Of course, subsequent investment in telecommunications assets is no longer wholly-owned or controlled, but only needs to invest a certain number of shares and obtain a seat on the board.

Everyone nodded, and in the entire conference room, foreigners occupied nearly half of the seats, and the CEO was Australian. After all, Heung Kong Telecom was originally founded by the British, and if it weren't for the needs of later localization, there would not be so many Chinese executives.

Lin Zuhui continued: "Averon, what do you think is the biggest difficulty in this acquisition? What are the preparations? ”

Averon immediately said: "There are two biggest difficulties in this acquisition: first, it will usher in other competitors and fall into a premium; Second, since OPTUS communication is a full-field telecommunications business (fixed network, mobile, satellite communication, submarine cable, broadband Internet access, etc.), the Australian government is the key to the final acquisition, especially involving submarine cable and satellite communications, and even more involving the Australian military. ”

Lin Zuhui nodded, he was not confident that this acquisition would be successful, but he would still go all out.

"The first one is not difficult, the current telecom assets have plummeted, and competitors are not stupid; For Hong Kong Telecom, if the acquisition of Optus Communications is successful, it means that it will become one of the world's top 10 telecommunications companies, and the opportunity is rare. ”

There was a look of surprise on everyone's faces, who didn't know that this person likes financial investment very much, and the key to increasing the financial strength of the company is almost all success.

"The second difficulty is what you need to solve, this acquisition should cooperate with local syndicates, financial institutions, and law firms in Australia, and if you encounter these problems, you need to communicate more with the Australian government and sign some memorandums to solve their concerns."

Averon nodded seriously and said, "No problem, I have worked in Telstra for many years, and I believe that this acquisition has a great chance of success." We have set up a local company in Australia, which can avoid some sensitive issues and public opinion. ”

In fact, the only competitor in this acquisition is Sing Tao Telecom.

Because of the ZZ factor, Lin Zuhui felt that Heung Kong Telecom was an advantage, not a disadvantage!

Because 76% of the shares behind Sing Tao Telecom are controlled by the government, the Australian government is more worried about the new government's interference in Australia's national defense;

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On the contrary, the majority shareholder of Heung Kong Telecom is New Era Group (49%), and the majority shareholder is a business group.

The reason why Lin Zuhui is worried is because the submarine cable of OPTUS communication seems to be involved in the 'Prism ~ Mirror Project', which wants to spy on the West.

But he also believes that by signing the memorandum, the Australian military will feel that it will not be an obstacle to take the initiative.

In fact.

Hutchison Telecommunications has been in Australia since the 80s, but it is only a mobile operator (mobile phone business) and does not have fixed-line and broadband services.

There are four major mobile operators in Australia: Telstra, Optus Pty Ltd, Vodafone and Hutchison Whampoa Australia Pty Ltd, each with a roughly 45% market share with 6.3 million subscribers, followed by Telstra with a share of about 31% and 4.3 million subscribers....

The vast majority of countries in the world are very open to mobile services through external bidding and licensing. Because the government also wants to make huge revenues by bidding for licenses (2G, 3G, frequency types) and improve the country's telecommunications technology through competition.

In July and August this year, Hutchison Telecommunications was ambitious, and joined a number of consortiums to win 3G licenses in Germany and the United Kingdom, each of which was more than 4 billion pounds; However, Li Chaoren is very smart, after winning the German 3G license, he was a little uneasy, and then called Europe and said that he wanted Hutchison Telecommunications to withdraw from the consortium.

As a result, Li Chaoren is really powerful, and in September, the global Internet and telecommunications assets plummeted, and Hutchison Telecom avoided a lot of losses.

Of course, Hutchison Telecommunications is not giving up 3G, after all, the UK 3G license cost 4.4 billion pounds; It is just to reduce the huge investment on the German side, and then continue to invest in 3G licenses in other countries.

Unlike Li Chaoren's idea, Lin Zuhui's idea is to win OPPUS Communications, so that Hong Kong Telecom is no longer limited to more than 6 million cities; As for the 3G mobile license, it will also enter the 3G mobile license, but it is only limited to Australia and Hong Kong.

As for investing in telecommunications assets, we chose to invest in Southeast Asia, not for the purpose of holding, but only for strategic investment. When the time is ripe, more than a dozen countries and regions will be recruited to form a telecommunication alliance.

It's called influence.

Of course, this is also based on the strength of Hong Kong Telecom, which is one of the most advanced telecommunications companies in the world, and Hong Kong's Internet is also one of the top five in the world, both in terms of network speed and penetration rate.

.......

October.

The news that Heung Kong Telecom is negotiating with Dadong Telegraph to acquire OPPUS Communications in Australia has attracted worldwide attention for a while after media reports.

The citizens of Xiangjiang are also discussing.

"Heung Kong Telecom's acquisition of telecommunications assets at this time is a bit unwise!"

"What do you know, Mr. Lin Zuhui is good at buying the bottom, maybe he is waiting for the Internet and telecommunications assets to plummet, and then buying the bottom, waiting for the market to turn prosperous, wouldn't it be a big profit."

"Makes sense!"

"I don't think it's that simple, the reason why Heung Kong Telecom wants to acquire Optus Communications in Australia is because it wants to break through the problem of Hong Kong's small territory. If the acquisition is completed, Heung Kong Telecom will become a world-class telecommunications company in one fell swoop. If you look at it, Heung Kong Telecom has carried out a lot of new business in the past year or so, and is committed to overseas development. If you want me to say, with Mr. Lin Zuhui's consistent style, he will definitely expand overseas on a large scale. ”

"Can I buy the shares of Heung Kong Telecom?"

"Well, things don't seem to be right lately, and I don't know very well."

.......

The news reached Star Island.

Yang Li urgently convened Sing Tao Telecom executives to discuss countermeasures.

Heung Kong Telecom suffers from a small territory, and Sing Tao Telecom is not; What's more, Sing Tao Telecom has been developing overseas at a very early stage, which is much larger than Heung Kong Telecom's overseas business.

"If we miss this time, Sing Tao Telecom's overseas development will be greatly hindered, but it will complete HKT's overseas development. So, I think we should go all out and make a takeover offer to Daito Telegraph. ”

A senior executive reminded: "Telecom assets are plummeting, and our opponent is the big conglomerate of New Era Group, we all know that Lin Zuhui is a person who is good at acquisitions, and he is also a strong opponent with a high bid." Once the acquisition capital is too high, coupled with the dilution of OPTUS Communications, the overall performance efficiency of Sing Tao Telecom will be greatly reduced. ”

A lot of executives nodded, and they had to think about the cost, because it's important for Sing Tao Telecom to be profitable.

On the contrary, for Lin Zuhui himself, he felt that it was not a problem to buy expensive, and he would come back after operating a few handfuls around him; Lin Zuhui cares about the size of the enterprise and the influence it brings to himself; What's more, Lin Zuhui knows better than everyone how the telecommunications industry should go in the future and make more money.

One executive said: "Yes, it's not that you don't participate in the acquisition, but you can't fall into the malicious bidding with Lin Zuhui, so as not to buy expensive." The important thing is that optus communication involves some ZZ factors, we should be able to operate it, after all, it is not a long time ago, Xiangjiang Telecom and New Era Group have elements of Huaxia, maybe we have more advantages in Sing Tao! ”

Yang Li said: "What you are saying are spreading public opinion that is unfavorable to Xiangjiang Telecom behind the scenes? ”

He had no intention of refusing, and the last time he tried the bitter fruit of failure in the Hong Kong Telecommunications incident, he wanted to turn over and do a good job.

At the same time, the acquisition of OPTUS Communications is also crucial for Sing Tao Telecom.

The executive said, "Not bad! This acquisition is not only related to the Great Eastern Telegraph Office, but also the attitude of the Australian government is very important, and even involves the Australian military. Later, assuming that we are not in the case of price advantage, we can create some public opinion. ”

Yang Li nodded and said, "Okay!" Let's join the acquisition first, and this plan is kept. ”

.......

Averand and his team came to the headquarters of the Great Eastern Telegraph Office in London, England for the second time.

Last year, the Great Eastern Telegraph Company made a lot of more than 130 billion Hong Kong dollars in the new era today, including 10 billion US dollars in cash, and as a result, the new board of directors continued to take office and invested all the funds in Internet companies, resulting in a large number of losses, and the entire Great Eastern Telegraph Office did not have a good time.

Because of this, when the Daito Telegraph Office received the invitation, it did not refuse, but directly negotiated the price.

In the conference room, Averand said: "Chairman Lavik, the value of telecommunications assets is still depreciating, and we are still in good faith, and the $8 billion privatization of OPTUS COMMUNICATIONS is very high. ”

Optus Communications is a publicly traded company, but as long as Daito Telegraph agrees to privatize (60%), the rest of the minority shareholders will not be able to make waves.

Lavic asked directly: "The price is still a little lower, and we want all cash!" ”

Averon knows that the current shares of Xiangjiang Telecom do not maintain their value, and Dadong Telegraph will definitely not want a share.

However, he still said with a smile: "As far as we know, the last Hong Kong Telecom transaction, the New Era Group you obtained, has generated certain benefits. If it weren't for those stocks, the life of Daito Telegraph would have been even more difficult! ”

At that time, it was about 55 billion shares of the New Era Group, and the current market value of the New Era Group was 860 billion Hong Kong dollars.

It is conceivable that in this life, the Dadong Telegraph Bureau has made a lot of money, and in the previous life, Li Zekai gave all the shares of Yingke, and as a result, the Dadong Telegraph Bureau lost no bottoms.

Lavik said with a smile: "We are very grateful to Mr. Lin for the shares, which is probably the best investment." ”

A kind of Dadong Telegraph executives nodded one after another, and even wanted to say, why didn't they give all the shares of the New Era Group in the first place! In that case, the Daito Telegraph Office would not have lost tens of billions of dollars.

At the same time, Daito Telegraph is also selling off the shares of the New Era Group, because the losses are too big and the money needs to be misappropriated to pay off the debt.

"Since the friendship between the two companies is so good, we still hope that the deal will be reached for $8 billion, and we can make it all in cash, but we need the consent of the Australian government before we can make the deal official," Averon said. ”

Lavik hurriedly said: "Nonono, one yard to one yard, at least 8.5 billion US dollars, we will agree to sell." ”

"You are cashing out the shares of the New Era Group, and this is undoubtedly where we are needed.....

Well, the executives of the Dadong Telegraph Bureau were dumbfounded, and even thought that Lin Zuhui had instructed Averon to threaten him.

"$8.2 billion, if no one is higher than you, we will officially agree!"

The two sides fought again and almost reached a preliminary agreement.

Of course, it's just a preliminary agreement, and Daito Telegraph is not stupid, someone is offering higher, so why not sell it at a higher price!

It can only be said that at the same price, they may take care of the New Era Group, which is happy to work together.

Of course, the money for this acquisition was paid by Hong Kong Telecom.

.......

On the other hand, Sing Tao Telecom came to the door and also put forward its own offer of 7.6 billion US dollars.

Yang Li refused to hold on to higher prices because he felt that telecommunications assets were still plummeting and he was worried that it would be expensive.

At the same time, everyone understands that the deal was not so easy to conclude with this acquisition.

The Australian official is not the official of Hong Kong, and the Australian official will consider the zz factor.

At the time, the Hong Kong government made it clear that it would not interfere in commercial activities.