Chapter 1285 The Mantis Stalks the Cicada, Unaware of the Oriole Behind!

In February and March of 1990, the stock price of Yongan Group continued to rise, and news of a consortium acquiring Yongan Group came out intermittently. However, Yongan Group repeatedly clarified, claiming that it did not know the reason for the rise in stock prices and that there were no important matters to be announced.

However, on March 20, Overseas Chinese Bank of Singapore, the second largest shareholder of Wing On Group, publicly announced that it had sold all of its approximately 45.37 million shares of Wing On Group to a Chinese-owned consortium in Hong Kong at a price of HK$11.52 per share, and had officially Notify the major shareholder, the Guo family.

Stimulated by this news, Yongan Group's share price bucked the market trend and soared that day, rising by 15% and closing at HK$14.1 per share.

On March 21 of the same year, the stock price of Yongan Group bucked the market trend and soared by more than 15%. Those who are good at this have already predicted that the situation is unusual and an important event will occur.

Sure enough, in the evening of that day, New World Development came to the stage from behind the scenes and officially announced that it had hired Sun Hung Kai International as a financial consultant and was preparing to make a comprehensive acquisition of Wing On Group at a price of HK$17 per share, but the acquisition required 51% or more control. will take effect.

New World also stated that it had obtained about 27% of the equity of Yongan Group before making the acquisition proposal. Since the acquisition did not obtain prior consent from the management of Yongan Group, it was considered a hostile takeover.

On that day, several newspapers in Hong Kong published this news that shocked the whole Hong Kong: "The real buyer has been revealed to the world, and it is New World Development Co., Ltd.. The person in power of the company is Zheng Jiachun, the son of the company's chairman Zheng Yutong, whose identity is Managing Director of the company. The company has announced a bid of HK$17 to acquire shares of Yongan Group through a company called Prime Harbor, involving a capital of HK$3.1 billion. In addition, it also involves the involvement of many Chinese-owned families in Hong Kong, including directors of Changchun Industrial Group. Chang Li Jiacheng and others.”

It turns out that the performance of Wing On Group has long made Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation of Singapore, the second largest shareholder, deeply dissatisfied and intends to sell its 25% stake.

In early March 1990, Sun Hung Kai Company Chairman Feng Yongxiang revealed information to his friend Cheng Jiachun that OCBC Bank wanted to sell its shares in Wing On Group.

This was an unexpected surprise for Zheng Jiachun, who was planning to expand aggressively. Zheng Jiachun immediately negotiated with Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation regarding the equity transfer. As a result, the two parties hit it off immediately. Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation transferred its 25 shares at a discount of 18% below the market price, that is, HK$11.52 per share. % of Yongan's equity was sold to New World Development, and the capital realized was approximately HK$500 million.

After New World Development purchased 25% of the shares of Wing On Group, it took this opportunity to continue to absorb shares of Wing On Group in the market. On the other hand, it called the Kuok family several times, hoping to conduct the acquisition in a friendly manner.

Since there was no response, in order to avoid a long night of nightmares, we decided to preemptively launch a hostile takeover.

The acquisition price of HK$17 per share proposed by New World Development is the highest price since the listing of Yongan Group.

The profit of Wing On Group in 1981 reached HK$104 million, which was the peak of its performance. Subsequently, due to the influence of the real estate market and the trend of Wing On Bank, profits fell repeatedly. By 1987, the profit was only HK$51 million. In 1988, excluding non-recurring profits, it was With only HK$80 million, calculated at a purchase price of HK$17 per share, the price-to-earnings ratio is as high as over 35 times.

However, New World's development target is not actually Yongan Group, but Yongan Company, in which it holds 61% of the shares. Since a hostile takeover of Yongan Company is absolutely impossible, New World then transfers its target to Yongan Group, hoping to control Yongan Group. And control Yongan Company.

What New World Development covets is the huge amount of valuable properties under the name of Wing On Company. At that time, Wing On Company owned at least Wing On Center in Sheung Wan, Wing On Building in Central District, the current site of Wing On Department Store in Yau Ma Tei and the adjacent Fudu Hotel. It also owned a 77,000-square-foot shopping mall in Wing On Plaza in East Tsim Sha Tsui and a 38,000-square-foot shopping mall in Nanyang Center.

Among them, the Wing On Center in Sheung Wan alone has a building area of ​​600,000 square feet.

In this regard, the analysis of Mr. Sicong, a senior stock commentator in Hong Kong, is: "In December 1987, the book value of the properties held by Wing On (Company) was HK$1.19 billion, of which HK$800 million was recorded at the price in 1981, and HK$100 million was recorded in 1981. After that, HK$300 million was recorded at the price in 1972 and deducted depreciation. Based on the market value of the mall, it has appreciated 10 times since 1972 and doubled since 1981. Based on the above ratio, the property in hand of Wing On (Company) is estimated to be. 4.7 billion Hong Kong dollars, which is 3.5 billion Hong Kong dollars higher than the book value. In other words, if Wing On (Company) revalues ​​the properties in hand, shareholders’ funds will be 4.7 billion Hong Kong dollars, or 16 Hong Kong dollars per share of Wing On (Company).”

Sicong said with emotion: "Such a huge asset, under the management of the current board of directors, can only generate a net profit of HK$90 million in 1987, which naturally arouses the covetousness of others."

According to market rumors, New World intends to arrange for the demolition and reconstruction of the Liu Chong Hing Building between the two Wing On Buildings (Central District), Wing On Building, Wing On Life Building, Wan Bang Hong and Tak Pu Road Central after acquiring the Wing On Group.

If this site with an area of ​​37,300 square feet is redeveloped, a commercial building with a floor area of ​​560,000 square feet can be built based on a plot ratio of 15 times.

By then, including Wing On Centre, New World Tower and their extensions, New World Development will have nearly one million square feet of commercial buildings in Central for rental purposes, which is not a small scale.

As for the bank investments, life insurance companies and other companies under the Wing On Group that only suffer losses or have low profits, New World Development is planning to sell them back to the Wing On Kuok family so that they can "inherit the ancestral business."

On March 22, 1990, the day after New World announced the comprehensive acquisition of Yongan Group, the board of directors of Yongan Group issued a statement rejecting New World's acquisition proposal, believing that it seriously underestimated the group's assets and was unpopular; and claimed that it had accepted the acquisition. Shareholders owning more than 50% of the shares were notified that they had no intention of accepting acquisitions from New World.

At this time, Zheng Yutong and his son, Zheng Yutong, Zheng Jiachun, and even Li Jiacheng and others were worried about the intervention of the Imperial Group and Sir Yang.

For Imperial, it might be mosquito meat.

However, it is indeed a big piece of fat for them.

According to the current situation, they have a very good chance of swallowing it.

"Father, do you want to meet Sir Yang?" Zheng Jiachun asked.

Zheng Jiachun also knows that in Xiangjiang, they may not be afraid of other consortiums, but Sir Yang and the Imperial Group are definitely unavoidable.

However, at this time.

The landline phone in the study room of the villa rang. Zheng Jiachun went over to pick up the phone and answered it. After listening, he just said: "I understand."

What Zheng Jiachun didn't expect was that Guo Zhiquan, the third generation head of the Guo family, actually went to Repulse Bay Mid-Levels Villa to meet Sir Yang.

Because someone just saw Guo Zhiquan’s car coming out of Sir Yang’s mid-level villa.

And today Sir Yang just came back from Haojiang.

In other words, Guo Zhiquan had already met Sir Yang just now.

"Father, Mr. Li, no, Guo Zhiquan has just gone to Repulse Bay Villa to meet Sir Yang, and he stayed there for a long time. It seems that Sir Yang is likely to intervene in this acquisition battle."

Together, these Chinese consortiums cannot hold even one hand of the Imperial Group, let alone face the entire Imperial Group and Sir Yang.

If Sir Yang really wants to intervene, there is no way they can win this sniper battle.

Zheng Yutong also frowned after hearing this.

In the beginning, the reason why he wanted to acquire Yongan Group was because he heard about the current situation of the Guo family and Yongan Group from his eldest son Zheng Jiachun, and then decided to take action.

However, he also ignored one person.

That's Sir Young.

He knew that Sir Yang was not an easy man. As long as he took action, others would have no chance.