Chapter 408: Frenzied Cake-Cutting
"Thank you for your concern, Mr. Wang. I'll definitely come by for a cup of tea when I have time… Alright, see you next time!"
After ending the call, Xia Yu's smile faded, and his gaze grew deep as he pondered many things.
The call was from Wang Ping of the Xinhua News Agency's Hong Kong branch. It was clear that Wang Ping had been keeping a close eye on him, as Xia Yu received his call almost immediately after returning. During their conversation, besides expressing concern, Xia Yu also detected the hidden message in Wang Ping's words: he considered Xia Yu one of his own, had cleared away any traces, and assured him that the British would not discover anything, so he needn't worry.
Xia Yu only partially believed Wang Ping's assurances. He wasn't sure if Wang Ping's people had actually managed to erase all traces or if they merely pretended to have done so to curry favor.
It was impossible to verify this conclusively. Even if he had Ma Qianjun call his contacts over, there was no certainty about the traces left. After all, nothing is absolute!
What mattered was not the result but the sentiment!
"It seems it's almost time. Once things are stabilized, it's time to make contact. The earlier, the better."
"With just over a month until October 1st, the Xinhua branch will surely hold a celebration party. I'll probably receive an invitation, so I'll go then!"
"For now, let's continue to seize more opportunities!"
With that in mind, Xia Yu promptly renewed his focus on his grand feast!
Over the next few days, Ma Lihao received reports from MI6, revealing no clues pointing to Xia Yu. The assassins couldn't be found.
Moreover, news of the assassins confessing somehow leaked, and the media made a big splash with it. The entire Hong Kong was aware.
There was no choice; the matter had to be wrapped up this way. At least it provided a way out. Ma Lihao instructed Shi Lirong to announce the closure of the case to the public and initiate the trial of the assassins.
On the third day, Charles Kessick finally "died of his injuries," as expected. With the Kessick family's main line completely wiped out, the various branches within the family, which had been eager to act, lost their final restraint. Fueled by secret support and encouragement from various parties, the fierce battle for the family's wealth began.
Various entertainment tabloids were ready, diving headfirst into digging for explosive news, hoping to attract a large number of readers to their newspapers.
After Charles Kessick's death, Xia Yu took immediate action, swiftly buying back shares of the Kowloon Warehouse.
The Kessick family branches had to agree; otherwise, they would face attacks from the Jiuding Financial Group, leaving the remaining family members to pick up the scraps.
Moreover, Xia Yu had already secured over 67% of the shares, gaining full control of the board. The process of privatization was unstoppable.
As for Niu Bianjian, he was exhausted. After Charles Kessick's sudden death, he finally couldn't hold on any longer.
He couldn't tolerate the Kessick family's disgusting behavior and chose to resign directly, without resistance. The other Kessick branches didn't try to keep him, and many even secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
The once powerful and imposing Yi He Group, now fallen to this end, evoked much sighing from people.
Of course, after the sighing, the rush for profit continued. The most important thing was profit!
With threats and temptations, combined with the fierce internal competition within the Kessick family, other big players avoided offending Xia Yu and dared not touch the Kowloon Warehouse shares held by the Kessick family.
Thus, Xia Yu acquired 18.9% of the Yi He Group's shares at a very low cost, buying each share at only 14.5 HKD!
The 18.5 million shares cost Xia Yu only 267 million HKD.
Additionally, with the continued acquisition of 18.85% of the shares during this period, Xia Yu spent 318 million HKD.
In this way, Kowloon Warehouse was successfully and fully privatized. Xia Yu's Galaxy Fund now held 100% of Kowloon Warehouse Group's shares, allowing him to remodel the group without any hesitation.
Thinking carefully, from the initial planning to finally acquiring Kowloon Warehouse Group, Xia Yu spent a total of 1.555 billion HKD. At the beginning of the downturn, Kowloon Warehouse Group's total market value was 1.33 billion HKD.
Acquiring Kowloon Warehouse Group, Xia Yu paid only about 17% above its market value for complete privatization. Xia Yu made a huge profit!
Of course, the low acquisition price was largely due to Xia Yu's repeated planning, along with favorable timing and circumstances. Otherwise, it would have been nearly impossible!
If anyone else had done it, even if they completed 100% privatization, it would have cost at least 3 to 4 billion HKD.
In the previous life, Bao Yugang spent over 3 billion HKD and only managed to acquire just over 40% of the shares.
Xia Yu's actions were remarkably fortuitous; no one but him, a reborn person, could achieve this.
Sitting at his desk, Xia Yu drummed his fingers on the table, his eyes lost in thought as he carefully calculated his gains and strength.
After acquiring 62.25% of Kowloon Warehouse Group's shares, Galaxy Fund had originally retained 1.327 billion HKD in liquid assets. However, to fully control Kowloon Warehouse Group, he spent another 585 million HKD on share repurchases.
So, Galaxy Fund's remaining funds were down to 742 million HKD.
Actually, even this amount was no longer available, as Xia Yu had been frantically consuming Yi He Group's assets these past few days.
This time, Xia Yu continuously bought stocks in the market and then resold them to Li Zhaoji, Guo Desheng, and others, earning substantial profit margins.
In terms of stock market acquisition capabilities, Jiuding Securities and Galaxy Fund, under Xia Yu's command, had become very strong.
Now, whether it was Hua Zi or British capital, even Ho Hongshen from Macau had come over, and even the large Chinese families from Southeast Asia and Taiwan Province had brought substantial funds to Hong Kong to share in this feast.
Although Yi He Group had many companies, the number of listed companies still seemed insufficient compared to so many big players and rich people. It was quite normal for several parties to compete for one company!
In this situation, Xia Yu's value was highlighted. When Xia Yu bought stocks and resold them to some big player, that big player was willing to pay a higher price, and they had to thank Xia Yu.
Such easy work brought Xia Yu substantial profits, earning nearly 20 million HKD in just a few days.
Among the Yi He Group's listed companies, the most eye-catching was the Land Development Group, which had skyrocketed to over 6 billion HKD in market value.
Originally, Land Development Group had a market value of about 5 billion HKD. Despite the Kessick family's incident, the stock price didn't drop much because Land Development Group was too large, and its stock price was hard to suppress.
Additionally, many big players had their eyes on Land Development Group. It was impossible to coordinate a consistent effort to suppress the stock price. Faced with the tempting Land Development Group, some people, fearing they wouldn't get enough shares, quickly lost patience and started buying.
As a result, Land Development Group's stock price dropped by less than 200 million HKD and quickly rebounded during the fierce competition, surpassing the 5 billion HKD mark and then rapidly breaking through the 6 billion HKD threshold.
Yi He Holdings owned 35% of Land Development Group's shares. Besides that, only some small shareholders remained, with the rest of the stocks in the hands of public investors and institutions.
With the Kessick family's fall, Yi He Group was like a scattered pile of sand. Without Yi He Group's protection, Land Development Group became extremely attractive, like a naked beauty.
Now, in the competition for Land Development Group, many big players had gone all out.
On the Chinese side, there were Guo Desheng, Li Zhaoji, Zheng Yutong, Bao Yugang, He Hongshen, Dong family, Zhou family, Lin family, Qiu family, and others involved.
On the British side, the Swire Group was the most aggressive, with Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong also rushing in. The remaining British families also joined in.
Hong Kong's largest real estate company was no joke. Whoever acquired it could ensure their family's prosperity for a century.
Even just getting a share would be enough for long-term benefits.
However, Land Development Group was so large that no single family or consortium could absorb it without the support of several banks.
Moreover, Yi He Holdings' 35% stake was not so easily contested. The Kessick family's other branches were not completely foolish and knew which shares could be sold and which could not.
Other companies could be sold, but for Land Development Group, the Kessick family's other branches were almost unanimous in their decision to keep it, as it was crucial for the family's survival.
If everything were sold off, with only money and no business, it would be of no use!
Xia Yu was also tempted by Land Development Group, but after some thought, he chose not to participate.
He had already acquired one wing of Yi He Group, Kowloon Warehouse Group. Although Kowloon Warehouse Group's market value was much lower than Land Development Group's
, it was due to poor management, which had led to a depressed stock price.
In reality, Kowloon Warehouse's value was not much less than Land Development Group's.
He had already completely acquired Kowloon Warehouse Group, and if he were to compete for Land Development Group, it would generate a lot of animosity, and there was no guarantee he wouldn't be jointly resisted.
Moreover, compared to Land Development Group, he preferred Hutchison Whampoa. His liquid funds were insufficient to support the acquisition of these two giants.
Of course, due to Qi Dezun's vigilance, Hutchison Whampoa could not be acquired in the short term. Since he wasn't acquiring Land Development Group, these liquid funds couldn't remain idle.
Yi He Group still had many valuable assets, especially among its unlisted companies. Xia Yu had his sights set on three of them!
Seizing this rare opportunity, he was determined to acquire these three companies and wouldn't let anyone snatch them away!