Chapter 160

So conservatively speaking, Robert Kuok needs to prepare HK$15 billion for the Grand Hotel, but how much of a premium will ultimately depend on the final increase in the Grand Hotel's stock price.

At the critical moment when Robert Kuok is fighting for the hotel, Liu Zhicheng will deal a fatal blow to China Power.

China Light and Power is a giant enterprise, and Liu Zhicheng will definitely need to invest more money.

However, the Kadoorie family, the major shareholder of China Light and Power, holds as much as 27.3% of the shares, although Liu Zhicheng already owns % of the shares.

But if Liu Zhicheng launches an attack on China Light and Power, his acquisition ratio will be at most 60%, and the funds he needs to prepare will naturally be 60% of the market value.

But this is totally unrealistic, because the Hong Kong government stipulates that public service enterprises must maintain their listing status. And the circulating shares of large enterprises must not be less than 15%.

If Liu Zhicheng completely acquires all the outstanding shares outside the Kadoorie family, it will trigger the risk of a full delisting, so the difficulty of blocking China Electronics can be imagined.

.........

Who is Robert Kuok? This is the question many Hong Kong stock investors had after hearing the news.

It was not until the afternoon of that day that the Daily Economic News urgently published an afternoon supplement, which made everyone aware of this Southeast Asian tycoon.

The Daily Economic News used titles such as "Sugar King of the World", "Malaysia's Richest Man", and "Southeast Asian Hotel Tycoon" to introduce Robert Kuok.

Any wealthy person with such a title is enough to become a business tycoon, and Robert Kuok alone has three.

The newspaper described in detail that Robert Kuok had been interested in investing in Hong Kong a long time ago, and he already had a hotel business under his name.

Everyone suddenly understood why he wanted to acquire the big hotel group.

The Grand Hotel Group is a long-established British enterprise that owns the most famous Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong.

There are also many high-quality land and rental properties. The real estate industry is booming right now, and as a result, the share prices of hotels are rising again.

St. George's Building, 2 Snow Street, Central, Hong Kong, is the headquarters of China Light and Power Corporation.

This 24-story office building was built by Lawrence Kadoorie in 1968. After its completion, it became the headquarters of many companies including China Light and Power, China Hotels Group, and Kadoorie Properties.

Lawrence Kadoorie, who had received the accurate news, was holding a copy of the Daily Economic News and was reading the content introducing Robert Kuok.

For ordinary Hong Kong citizens, the information they get from watching melons is enough.

But for the Kadoorie family, who are about to spend a lot of money to protect their own industry, it seems not detailed enough.

He said to his men, "Use some connections right away and go to Malaysia to look up all the information about Robert Kuok. There is too little useful information in this newspaper."

"Okay." said a young blonde.

"Also, please invite Mr. Horace and Mr. Michael over here," Lawrence Kadoorie said again.

Now most of my funds have been invested in the construction of power grids in Kowloon in the New Territories.

Moreover, due to the oil crisis and the Hong Kong government's refusal to raise electricity prices, CLP began to suffer financial difficulties.

It was no longer possible to withdraw funds to support the Grand Hotel and increase its stake in the Grand Hotel. This was a major crisis facing the Kadoorie family.

Lawrence Kadoorie's private office is on the twenty-second floor.

At this moment, he was holding an old man's crutch, standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out through the glass window at the HSBC headquarters building next door.

The height was about the same as that of St. George's Building, and he could directly see the office floor where HSBC CEO Stephen Simpson was working.

I heard that the HSBC Building is going to be demolished and rebuilt into a skyscraper. Construction will officially begin this year and the construction period is about five years.

Before this, the HSBC Building had been demolished and rebuilt twice. When this skyscraper is completed, it will be HSBC's fourth-generation headquarters building.

Recalling this, Lawrence Kadoorie couldn't help but feel angry. Although Hong Kong is an oriental city, the elites who created the city's glory came from the West.

No one can drive us away! No one can drive us away! We have settled here for a century, and we can surely settle here for another century!
This was Lawrence Kadoorie's obsession. He suddenly turned around, looked at his brother Horace Kadoorie and his son Michael Kadoorie, and gave his order: "We must defend the Grand Hotel, no matter what means!"

Michael Kadoorie is the future successor. He hopes to keep all the foundations more than his father. He raised his fist and said, "Don't worry, Dad. The hotel will never be lost from our hands!"

Listening to the inspiring declarations of the father and son, Horace Kadoorie did not feel inspired. He just shook his head and sighed.

He said: "Our shareholding in the Grand Hotel is too low, but the reality is that we are already on the verge of despair. When the one-month offer period arrives, our family will most likely withdraw from the Grand Hotel's board of directors completely!"

He himself does not work for any major hotel or China Light and Power Company, and his shareholding is pitifully small, so he is not the heir to the family's wealth.

He created an agricultural loan foundation specifically for poverty alleviation among farmers in the New Territories. It can be said that his role in the family is that of charity public relations.

Because of this public service, he was awarded the OBE, the fourth level of the Order of the British Empire, by the Queen of England.

Perhaps it is because he holds a small amount of shares and his interests in the family business are relatively weak, which allows him to look at the crisis clearly and objectively.

Horace Kadoorie paused and continued, "I strongly advocate that we should not have any more hope for the Grand Hotel.
We should resolutely give up the Grand Hotel and transfer our shares to Robert Kuok to ensure that there will be no problems with our China Power."

"impossible!"

Lawrence Kadoorie and his son said in unison that they would never surrender without firing a shot.

As the saying goes: A tree lives by its bark, a man lives by his face.

This concerns the dignity and reputation of the Kadoorie family. If they handle it in this way, they will become a laughing stock in the British business circle in the future.

The loss of interests here is too huge. How can the Peninsula Hotel, an international brand hotel that has been run by the Kadoorie family for half a century, be thrown away just like that?

"The enemy is at the gates now. Can you please show your warrior spirit? I strongly oppose your appeasement.

This strategy of yours will not only fail to solve the current crisis, but will only make others laugh at us. "Michael Kadoorie accused his uncle
Horace Kadoorie hesitated to speak, unable to find any reason to refute for a moment. He could not help but sigh in his heart and stopped talking.

"Michael, you must respect your uncle at all times and never speak in that tone again."

Lawrence Kadoorie reprimanded his son. He knew his brother was not a coward, but a man who dealt with things objectively, but was too pessimistic. Under the current situation, it was possible that CLP might be attacked by someone, so he had to be on guard.

He asked Horace Kadoorie, "Do you mean that someone will take advantage of the chaos to launch a surprise attack on our China Light and Power Company?"

Horace Kadoorie nodded to indicate that this was what he meant.

The net assets of the Grand Hotel are only between 1 billion and 1.5 billion. If the stock price rises to more than 30 yuan, it will be a losing deal even if the Grand Hotel is acquired in full.

Capital is always profit-seeking. If the share price of Grand Hotel rises too sharply, Robert Kuok may eventually give up the acquisition.

But at the same time, Horace Kadoorie also saw the pros and cons of this. If he continued to implement a counter-takeover of the big hotels, he would drive up the stock price.

When he invested all his funds in the hotel's counter-takeover offer, Robert Kuok withdrew his investment from the hotel and stood to make a huge profit.

At the same time, if someone attacks China Power at this moment, what should I do?

Lawrence Kadoorie planned to raise the stock price to 30 or 40 yuan. If Robert Kuok suddenly stopped increasing his investment, the Kadoorie family’s funds would be locked at a high level.

By then, billions of Hong Kong dollars will become cannon fodder, and China Light and Power will completely lose its defense capability.

Once this situation occurs, it will be meaningless even if the Kadoorie family keeps the hotel. China Light and Power will then be invaded by outsiders. This will be a matter of picking up sesame seeds and losing watermelons.

"We hold 40% of the shares of China Power and have Exxon as an alliance shareholder. To use a Chinese proverb, China Power is the ironclad kingdom of our family that no one can break."

This speech has a certain morale-boosting factor. No matter how confident Lawrence Kadoorie is, he understands that interests will always be the number one enemy in breaking such an alliance.

If someone tempts us with huge benefits, our ally Exxon is likely to sell us out.

But the hotel was his family's foundation, and he would never give it up easily. As the head of the family, Lawrence Kadoorie would never give up easily.

Horace Kadoorie spread his hands helplessly and asked, "So, brother, how should we deal with Robert Kuok's acquisition offer for the Grand Hotel?"

Lawrence Kadoorie said: "We must fight back against the takeover and force Robert Kuok to continuously raise the offer price and increase his acquisition costs. Only in this way can we force him to withdraw, because capital is always seeking profit."

Lawrence Kadoorie had obviously considered the possibility that someone would take the opportunity to block China Power, and the family's cash must not become cannon fodder.

He turned his head and looked at the HSBC Building next door. The business bank of China Light and Power and the Grand Hotel is HSBC, which is the staunch financial group of the Kadoorie family.

Lawrence Kadoorie said slowly, "I'm going to visit Shen Bi at HSBC."

After a while, Lawrence Kadoorie went to the HSBC headquarters while being photographed by many media.

Shen Bi had received the call a long time ago. When Lawrence Kadoorie entered the office, Shen Bi had already arranged for someone to prepare coffee and wait for his arrival.

Lawrence Kadoorie didn't say anything too polite and said directly: "Mr. Shen Bi, you should know the current situation of the Grand Hotel. I don't have the specific information about Robert Kuok yet.
But its financial strength is probably greater than that of my Kadoorie family, so I need to borrow some money from HSBC to keep the hotel."

"How much do you need?" Shen Bi asked.

Lawrence came to see him naturally to borrow money, which was also the most important business of the bank itself.

As long as it is within a reasonable range, HSBC will lend him money without hesitation.

Especially for this kind of emergency loan, the interest rate is generally much higher than that of normal commercial loans. As for risk control, HSBC has its own assessment process.

"One billion Hong Kong dollars." said Lawrence Kadoorie.

"That's too much! Qingshan Power, a subsidiary of CLP, borrowed HK$26 billion from HSBC and other banks to build a new oil-fired power station."

Shen Bi shook his head and continued, “The oil crisis in the past two years has led to high crude oil prices, and China Power has been making losses. If it weren’t for the livelihood infrastructure projects,

I'm afraid we couldn't sustain such a loss long ago. Now you want so much money. For us at HSBC, the risk is too great."

Shen Bi tactfully rejected Lawrence's request for a loan of HK$10 billion.

Although HSBC is Hong Kong's quasi-central bank and the leading British bank in the Far East, it also has to prioritize the safety of its own funds.

"Then how much financial support can HSBC provide?" Lawrence Kadoorie asked with a frown.

"How about I give you 5 million Hong Kong dollars first?" Shen Bi replied.

"Is there any communication channel between HSBC and Robert Kuok? I would like to talk to them," Lawrence Cardinal said again.

CLP Power has indeed suffered huge losses in the past two years. Fortunately, the Hong Kong real estate market is quite hot now, and CLP Power has actively participated in it and made a little profit, which has prevented CLP Power from collapsing.

Now the big hotel group is being targeted again. In this situation, even if they win, they will suffer serious losses. If they can negotiate, that would be the best outcome.

"When Sanders was the head of HSBC, he worked with Robert Kuok, who later acquired a stake in a Malaysian bank.
I have never cooperated with HSBC again, but I can pass on a message. I think he will still give HSBC face. "Shen Bi thought for a while and said.

"Okay, I'll wait for good news from HSBC," said Lawrence Kadoorie.

Now that he had gotten what he needed, Lawrence Kadoorie immediately said goodbye and left, as he had been too busy recently.

After Lawrence Kadoorie left, the general manager of Waldo, Fake, came in and reported: "Mr. Shen Bi, I have sent a message to a bank friend in Malaysia, and he will pass our message to Robert Kuok."

"Okay, but I don't think the possibility of negotiation is high. I've heard that Robert Kuok wanted to build a hotel in Hong Kong, but I didn't expect that he would directly acquire a big hotel." Shen Bi said.

"It is a bit strange. According to the normal operation of the Shangri-La hotel chain owned by Robert Kuok, if it were to invest in hotels in Hong Kong, it would be more cost-effective to build one itself."

When Fake said this, his eyes suddenly lit up, as if he had thought of something. He glanced at Shen Bi and continued, "Could it be that Liu Zhicheng was behind this?"

Shen Bi was also somewhat puzzled when he heard what Fake said, and asked in surprise: "Why?"

"Because Liu Zhicheng wanted to take revenge, he and Robert Kuok had already cooperated to build the Xiangjiang Shangri-La Hotel.

If they secretly collude and Liu Zhicheng takes the opportunity to acquire China Power, how can Lawrence resist? "Fake continued to analyze.

From Fak’s words, we can see that there is a reason why Hong Kong is an international financial center.

(End of this chapter)