Chapter 131: Evergreen Fund
Now that the stock price of Qingzhou Yingni Company was beginning to rise and could no longer be hidden, Xia Yu decided to take the initiative. He planned to acquire enough shares and then hold steady before finding an opportunity to expose Li Chaoren, making him battle with the Keynes family while Xia Yu reaped the benefits. When their conflict heated up, Xia Yu could sell the stocks to either side or directly to the market, ensuring a profit.
At that point, it would just be a matter of how much profit could be made!
A gleam of light flashed in Xia Yu's eyes as he thought to himself.
"How is the stock acquisition of Kowloon Warehouse progressing?" After inquiring about Qingzhou Yingni, Xia Yu asked Wang Qi about the Kowloon Warehouse stock acquisition.
No matter the outcome, Xia Yu had a way to ensure profit from the Qingzhou Yingni operation. The Kowloon Warehouse was even more critical since it represented a major source of future profits and weighed more heavily in his plans.
"Boss, the stock price of Kowloon Warehouse hasn't shown much fluctuation. We are still the only institution acquiring shares. Since the number of circulating shares is vast, our purchases haven't caused much of a stir. So far, we've acquired shares at a price of 13.5 HKD, which is only 0.2 HKD higher than the previous price of 13.3 HKD."
"We've acquired a total of 9.21 million shares with fifty accounts, totaling 9.4% of the shares, at a cost of 12.3 million HKD!" Wang Qi reported.
Xia Yu nodded slightly, calculating in his mind. The acquisition of Qingzhou Yingni shares cost 15.2 million HKD, and adding the 12.3 million HKD spent on Kowloon Warehouse shares brought the total expenditure to 38.2 million HKD!
The company's liquid funds still amounted to 146.8 million HKD!
"Continue acquiring Kowloon Warehouse stocks and also start acquiring shares of Cheung Kong Holdings. Go ahead!" Xia Yu considered for a moment before instructing Wang Qi.
"Understood, Boss!" Wang Qi was puzzled about why the sudden interest in Cheung Kong Holdings, but he didn't dwell on it, knowing that the boss had his reasons and that his job was to execute the orders.
After Wang Qi left, Xia Yu's lips curled into a faint smile.
His final instruction had a purpose. With over 100 million HKD in funds remaining and the difficulty of acquiring more Kowloon Warehouse shares due to reduced market availability, the acquisition speed would have to slow down.
The remaining funds would take a considerable amount of time to use up; it would definitely take more than twenty days.
However!
Xia Yu could not let the funds sit idle on the balance sheet. After all, using HSBC's tenfold financial leverage meant borrowing over 200 million HKD, accruing interest daily. If the funds were not put to work, Xia Yu would incur losses!
Therefore, Xia Yu needed to deploy the funds as effectively as possible.
The funds had been idle because the timing wasn't right. Accepting some losses was acceptable as long as the plan was expected to recoup them, and now the time had finally come!
Next, Xia Yu aimed to bring Li Chaoren's acquisition of Qingzhou Yingni into the open.
Given Li Chaoren's nature and the fact that Qingzhou Yingni was a strategic target for Cheung Kong Holdings, he would not easily give up.
Therefore, Xia Yu could sell the shares to Li Chaoren. Profiting from Li Chaoren or the Keynes family was still profit. Selling to Li Chaoren could also build some goodwill.
But merely making a straightforward profit did not align with Xia Yu's character; he pursued maximizing profits!
If Li Chaoren succeeded in acquiring Qingzhou Yingni, Cheung Kong Holdings' stock price would certainly rise. This would not only benefit Cheung Kong Holdings but also mark the first victory of Chinese capital over British capital, a distinction that would reflect positively on the stock price and help it surge.
Holding Cheung Kong Holdings' stock at that time would ensure easy profits!
When Cheung Kong Holdings' stock price surged, Xia Yu could use "Jiuding Daily" to assist by giving Li Chaoren a boost, driving the stock price even higher!
Once the stock price of Cheung Kong Holdings skyrocketed, Xia Yu could then liquidate his holdings and have even more funds to acquire Kowloon Warehouse stocks.
This strategy of using battles to produce ammunition or seizing resources from other forces to enhance one's strength is the fastest way to grow!
Waging war to support war!
Xia Yu had already considered every aspect of the Qingzhou Yingni plan, ensuring that no issues would arise.
Whether the funds could see another surge in value depended on this battle!
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Evergreen Fund Management Co., Ltd., a company that had been established for just over a year, was still relatively unknown in Hong Kong. Despite its lack of prominence, it could not be ignored due to its significant connection with Cheung Kong Holdings and its shared backer—Li Chaoren.
In 1977, last year, the companies Hysan and Hutchison Whampoa merged to form the current Hutchison Whampoa. Although Hutchison Whampoa controlled over three hundred companies, the newly formed entity continued to incur losses.
Nevertheless, Hutchison Whampoa held numerous valuable assets, making it a target for many Hong Kong businessmen, including Li Chaoren.
From that time, he began contemplating the acquisition.
Li Chaoren did not engage in battles without assurance. He wanted to acquire at least with a capable acquisition team. Moreover, the financial industry was indeed profitable, and with the recent stock market crash making it an opportune time to buy, he established a fund management company.
Thus, Evergreen Fund Management Co., Ltd. was born.
Given the significant disparity in assets between Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa, with Cheung Kong Holdings holding only about one-tenth of Hutchison Whampoa's assets, a direct acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa would be too blatant, potentially provoking hostility and other negative effects.
So, using Evergreen Fund Management as a cover made things easier.
Since no suitable opportunity had yet arisen, Li Chaoren had only allowed Evergreen Fund to acquire a small amount of Hutchison Whampoa shares, mostly focusing on making money and training the team in the stock market.
Recently, Li Chaoren again discovered that Qingzhou Yingni's value was being obscured. With a land area of hundreds of thousands of square meters in the Redstone Exploration Sea area, Qingzhou Yingni's value would become apparent in a year or two, making it a good fit for Cheung Kong Holdings' medium- to long-term strategic planning.
After some consideration and discussion, he decided to acquire Qingzhou Yingni, and naturally, Evergreen Fund Management Co., Ltd. was once again put into action.
Although progress from the start of the acquisition to now was only average, Li Chaoren was not in a hurry. Good things take time to develop!
No rush! No rush!
Stability is key!