Chapter 1014: Support from patriotic overseas Chinese

Although he expected Li Laisheng to support him, Xia Yu couldn't help but smile when he saw his positive attitude.

With the support of the 'rubber king,' the operation of his plan would be much simpler.

He thanked him, saying, 'Mr Li, thank you for being so understanding. No wonder the Li family's business is getting bigger and bigger!'

Li Laisheng beamed, saying modestly, "Mr Xia, you are too kind. What you mentioned is a win-win situation, and I should support it.'

In a good mood, Li Laisheng asked, "By the way, Mr Xia, what was the second thing you were talking about?'

Xia Yu pondered for a moment, and said with a solemn expression on his face, 'Mr Li, this second matter is that I hope you can help me with one thing.'

Li Laisheng's smile faded slightly, and he nodded gently, saying, "Mr Xia, you may speak freely.'

Xia Yu looked Li Laisheng directly in the eye and said sincerely, "Mr Li, as far as I know, your family's Kepong Group holds 5.2% of the shares of Hong Kong's Swire Pacific Group. I hope you can bear the pain of parting with it and help me! This stake is very important to me!'

Li Lai-sheng pondered for a moment, and a lot of information came to mind.

Then he replied, 'Mr Xia, there is actually an inside story about the origin of this stake. I'll tell you later.'

'I would like to ask, are you planning to fully acquire Swire Pacific, or are you simply looking to invest and participate?'

Xia Yu did not hide anything, and did not think he could deceive Li Laisheng, so he said frankly, 'My goal is very clear, which is to acquire Swire Pacific Group in its entirety.'

'However, the Swire consortium and the Sze Ya-wai family have a relatively tight grip on Swire Pacific Group, so in order to be as successful as possible, I need to acquire as much equity as possible before the attack, so I need your help!'

After a pause, Xia Yu said sincerely, 'Mr Li, Hong Kong belongs to the Chinese after all. The British have been bullying us for too long. Malaysia has already driven out most of the British, so the living environment and business environment for the Chinese have improved tremendously. I hope that Hong Kong will also see the light again!'

Li Laisu was moved by Xia Yu's words, which stirred his patriotic feelings.

For a moment, he was overwhelmed with emotion.

He had experienced the British colonial period, so he had a deep understanding of what Xia Yu had said, and Xia Yu had only touched on part of the story.

Malaya (the Malay Peninsula) and the territories of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore had been colonised by the British since 1785. Then, from 1942, they were colonised by the island country for three years, and then in 1945, after the end of World War II, they were returned to Britain.

During the colonial period, all sovereignty over Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singa City was taken away by the British, who were superior. Even the wealthy and influential Chinese families in the region were inferior to the British and had to do as they were told.

The British occupied all the lucrative industries, and the Chinese, even though they were industrious and intelligent, had to face enormous pressure and unfair competition from the British.

If it weren't for the independence of Malaya in 1957, followed by Sabah, Sarawak and the city-state of Singapore in 1963, joining Malaya to form Malaysia and regain national sovereignty, and the subsequent withdrawal of the British, their family would not have been able to grow to its current status, and he would not have become the 'rubber tycoon'.

Before Malaysia gained independence, the situation in Hong Kong was relatively better, but after Malaysia gained independence, Hong Kong's actual environment was inferior to Malaysia's.

Li Laisheng knew very well that it was because Hong Kong had gathered too many wealthy Chinese people and families that the overall strength was strong enough to barely withstand the British oppression.

After Xia Yu appeared, he repeatedly struck a blow against the British's arrogance, weakened the strength of the British-funded consortia, and opened up a broader world for the Chinese.

So now Xia Yu is bluntly trying to do the Swire Group again. Although he must have selfish reasons, it is undeniable that if he succeeds, it will definitely further optimise the living and business environment for the Chinese in Hong Kong.

And Hong Kong is one of the economic centres of Southeast Asia, so this will also enhance the status of the Chinese in Southeast Asia as a whole. So this is beneficial to the entire overseas Chinese people.

Not to mention the help it provides to the motherland.

During the War of Resistance Against Japan, his father Li Mingxing responded to the call by overseas Chinese leader Tan Kah Kee to launch the 'Donate Planes to Save the Nation' campaign, and his father took the lead in donating a plane worth US$100,000. Even now, the family ancestral home still has hanging in it the plaques inscribed 'Public-spirited and Good-natured' and 'Patriotic Pioneer' awarded by the Nationalist government at the time.

In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, due to the 'embargo' policy implemented by Western powers against the new China, Li Laisheng tried every means possible to sell a large number of rubber products and semi-finished products through third-country channels for re-export, in order to support the economic construction of new China.

It can be said that the Li family has a special affection for the motherland and the Chinese nation, and has made an indelible contribution to the motherland.

Compared with Li Laisheng, although someone with the same surname will be more powerful in the future, in some ways, they are not even qualified to hold Li Laisheng's shoes.

Getting back to the matter at hand, there is no reason for Xia Yu not to support anything that benefits the motherland and the nation.

Just as Li Laisheng was feeling emotional, he felt someone touch his foot. He looked around and saw his eldest son giving him a look before silently pouring tea.

Li Laisheng said apologetically to Xia Yu, 'Mr Xia, I'm sorry, I was just thinking about something and got a little distracted, so I kept you waiting.'

Xia Yu smiled faintly and said, 'It hasn't been a long wait. I suddenly came to talk to you about such an important matter, and Mr Li wasn't prepared, so it really required some deliberation.'

Li Laisheng smiled and suddenly said cheerfully, 'Mr Xia, there's no need to deliberate. I'm willing to sell you the shares!'

'I also hope that you can defeat the Taikoo consortium!'

Xia Yu smiled broadly and thanked him repeatedly: 'Mr Li understands the greater good. Thank you for your help. You have done me a great favour, and I will definitely remember it. Thank you!'

Li Laisheng waved his hand and said modestly, "It's not a big favour. This is just a normal business cooperation.'

Since Li Laisheng had agreed, the rest was just a matter of details. Xia Yu thought back to what Li Laisheng had just said and asked of his own accord, "Mr Li, you said just now that there was some inside information. I wonder what it is?'

Li Laiseng immediately said, 'That's right.'

'Mr Xia, you have investigated Swire Pacific Limited and should know about the industrial structure of the group.'

Xia Yu nodded in agreement, indicating that he knew.

Li Laiseng continued, 'Many of these companies have direct business dealings with our family, such as Taikoo Paints Limited, Taikoo Rubber Limited, and so on.'

'At that time, for our family, the Swire group was a major customer, and the Swire group also needed a stable and affordable supplier. So in order to deepen the relationship between the two sides, our family and the Swire group mutually held shares.'

'At that time, the Swire group transferred 5.2% of its shares to our family's Kepong Group, and we also transferred 5.5% of Kepong Group's shares to the Swire group, and we also made up some additional cash.'

'Nowadays, the business relationship between Swire Pacific and our family has actually become ordinary.'

'I hope that after you acquire Swire Pacific, you can sell back the 5.5% stake in Kepong Group that it holds to us.'

Xia Yu immediately nodded and said, 'That's no problem, this can be written into the contract.'

Li Laiseng nodded with a smile and replied, 'I'm relieved to hear that from you, Mr. Xia.'

'The rest is just a matter of price.'

Xia Yu took the initiative to hand over his bid to Li Laisheng and asked softly, 'Mr Li, please name your price.'

As the seller, Li Laisheng felt that it was not good to name a high price, as it would hurt his face, and if he named a low price, he would lose out.

So he lightly kicked the ball back to Xia Yu.

He said with a warm smile, 'Mr Xia, I don't know the recent situation of the Swire group, so why don't you name a price? If it's suitable, I'll sell. After all, the aim is for everyone to be happy.'

'Business is temporary, but friendship is long-lasting.'

'Mr Li is right. Meeting you is the greatest gain I have made from this trip to Kuala Lumpur, and compared to that, everything else is secondary,'

Xia Yu added.

After that, he pondered for a moment, worried that Li Laisen would ask De Beers about it afterwards, and that since his acquisition of De Beers' stake in Swire Pacific was equivalent to a 35% premium, he could not offer the Li family a lower price.

Furthermore, the value of Swire Pacific Limited is very different from that of Swire Pacific Limited, and based on the percentage of shares held by the Lee family, even if the premium is 35%, it won't be much more.

Since the money is coming from the Song family anyway, there is no need for him to make Li Laiseng feel resentful.

Thinking about this, he said solemnly, 'Let's do it this way, Mr. Li. The market value of Swire Pacific Limited fluctuates around 2.14 billion Hong Kong dollars, so I will use this price as the basis.'

'Then a 35% premium, your family's 5.2% stake is worth HK$115,022,000, and I'll round down the remainder to give you HK$150,000,000.'

'I'm offering the same premium for Mr. Deacon Chiu's stake, and I respect you and him equally, so you'll be treated the same.'

'And you can observe the situation in Hong Kong for the next month or two. You will see that you absolutely made the right decision by selling your shares to me now.'

'Does this price sound acceptable to you?'

Xia Yu spoke so candidly, and the price he offered was indeed not low. Considering the meaning behind Xia Yu's words, it was obvious that the value of Swire Pacific would fall, so there was nothing he could say against this price.

Therefore, he nodded firmly and smiled, 'Mr Xia is so generous, if I'm not satisfied, I'll seem greedy.'

'I have no objection, let's do it your way.'

After saying that, he said with emotion, 'I didn't expect that you went to De Beers for Swire Pacific. Your move is not just big, it's impressive!'

He knew that Swire Pacific's size and market value were more than several times that of Swire Properties, and that Swire Pacific was the core pillar of the Swire consortium.

Xia Yu is now targeting these two companies at the same time, or rather, these are the only two companies he knows about, so Xia Yu must be launching a full-scale attack on the Swire consortium. This kind of financial strength, power and boldness is something the Li family can never match.

He had heard about Xia Yu's legendary experiences before, and had also deliberately collected relevant information. At the time, it was all very shocking, but now that he had seen it with his own eyes, the sense of shock was even greater than before.

At this moment, Li Laisheng suddenly felt that being able to get to know Xia Yu and have a good relationship with him was the rightest thing he had ever done.

'Mr Li, thank you again for your generosity,'

said Xia Yu, rising to his feet and extending his hand to Li Laiseng with a broad smile.

Li Laiseng held out his hand, and the two hands of the old man and the young man shook together tightly.

After they let go, Xia Yu said, 'Mr Li, because I have to try to get back to Hong Kong tonight, I hope we can complete the cooperation as soon as possible now.'

Li Lai-sheng immediately nodded in agreement: 'No problem, then I'll send someone over now. Where is Mr Xia's person?'

'I'll borrow the phone and tell them to come directly.'

'Okay.'

...

Not long after Xia Yu finished making the call, his acquisition team arrived at Li's manor, led by an employee of the local branch who knew the situation.

After some negotiation, a complete contract was freshly prepared, the price was filled in, and the signatures were exchanged.

Xia Yu took out a cheque, wrote the figure of 150 million Hong Kong dollars on it, signed and sealed it, and handed it to Li Laisen, pointing to a middle-aged Chinese man and saying, 'Mr Li, this is a large cheque from Jiuding Bank. This is Su Shanming, the bank manager of Jiuding Bank's Kuala Lumpur branch. You can ask him to take you to the bank later to transfer the money.'

Li Laisen took the cheque, glanced at the figure, confirmed that it was correct, and solemnly accepted it, saying, 'Okay.'

Then he smiled politely at Su Shanming and said, 'Mr Su, I'm going to be troubling you later. Our group has opened an account with your bank, so I'll ask my son to go with you later to transfer this money to our account.'

'No problem. Thank you, Mr Li, for your support of our bank!' Su Shanming said with a slight bow.

After that, Xia Yu took the contract and the certificate of equity, shook hands with Li Laisheng, thanked him again, and then proposed to leave.

'Mr Li, thank you again for your help and support. I would like to chat with you for a while longer, but since tomorrow is Monday and the stock market will reopen, I must hurry back to take charge. I must regretfully take my leave.'

Li Laisheng nodded and said, 'I understand, your business is more important.'

'I won't try to persuade you to stay today, but since we have met, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future. When you come to Kuala Lumpur, you must come and visit me.'

Xia Yu nodded with a smile, 'That's for sure. You've been through more than I have, and I'll definitely come to you for advice when I get the chance.'

'If you ever come to Hong Kong, I must show you around as my host,'

'I will!' Li Laisheng said with a smile.

'Then I'll take my leave.'

'I'll see you off!'

...

After leaving the Li residence, Xia Yu went straight to the airport in Kuala Lumpur and caught the 5:30 pm flight to Hong Kong.

When the plane arrived at Kai Tak International Airport in Hong Kong, it was already past 9:00 p.m.

After having the driver and others drive the car out of the airport garage, Xia Yu rushed back home by car. He felt a bit tired after two days of non-stop running, so after washing up, he fell asleep.

It was the early morning of July 20th in the blink of an eye.

Xia Yu was at home eating breakfast and reading the newspaper. As he read the highly inflammatory news articles, his gaze became deep and his thoughts gradually drifted off into the sky.

The curtain is about to rise...