Chapter 722: Standard Chartered Bank Acquisition Plan Change

'Wing Lung Bank is going public?'

Xia Yu's eyebrows shot up, and he muttered to himself, his mind racing.

He remembered that Wing Lung Bank was a medium-sized bank in Hong Kong, and it was not too high up among medium-sized banks. The bank was controlled by the Wu Yee Sun family.

However, Wing Lung Bank had a relatively solid foundation. It had been established for more than 40 years, and it had a 25-storey building with an area of more than 145,000 square feet on Des Voeux Road Central, which connected to Connaught Road Central in the Central and Western District of Hong Kong Island.

In 1975, it built another banking centre on Nathan Road in Mong Kok, a 300-foot-tall building with 25 floors and a total area of more than 245,000 square feet.

It can be said that the current building is even better than Jiuding Bank's.

It seems that in a previous life, Wing Lung Bank was later wholly acquired by China Merchants Bank for more than 30 billion Hong Kong dollars, and the bank's total assets reached more than 20 billion U.S. dollars.

Overall, although Wing Lung Bank is only a medium-sized bank, it is a high-quality bank with very stable development.

It has excellent conditions for listing, so it is no wonder that Standard Chartered Bank wants to push for its listing.

It's just that although he had understood it before, Xia Yu's memory was a bit fuzzy, so he asked Wang Qi.

'In which year did Standard Chartered Bank invest in Wing Lung Bank? What is the shareholding ratio?'

Wang Qi had obviously done some relevant work beforehand, and immediately replied, 'Standard Chartered Bank invested in Wing Lung Bank in 1973, and now the shareholding ratio is 20%.'

After saying this, Wang Qi added, 'Originally, when Jiuding Bank had not yet risen to prominence, there was a struggle between the HSBC and Standard Chartered banks in Xiangjiang. However, after Jiuding Bank rose to prominence, it had a certain impact on Standard Chartered Bank, and the influence of the Standard Chartered Bank faction weakened somewhat. Therefore, Standard Chartered Bank planned to list Wing Lung Bank to enhance the influence of the Standard Chartered Bank faction.'

'Standard Chartered's customer base overlaps with HSBC's, and it overlaps even less with Jiuding Bank, so it mainly competes with HSBC. Regarding the listing of Wing Lung Bank, Standard Chartered did not agree to let HSBC be the underwriter, so the Wu family approached us in order to push up the share price as much as possible.'

'Although Standard Chartered Bank had some opinions, the Wu family was already unhappy with Standard Chartered Bank for preventing them from getting HSBC to be the underwriter, so they didn't stop them out of politeness.'

Xia Yu nodded slightly, understanding the Wu Yisun family's approach.

When any company goes public, it is necessary to find a strong securities firm or financial company as the stock underwriter, so that the stock price can be made as high as possible, and the confidence of shareholders can be strengthened, so that the company can maintain a high stock price after listing.

At this time, Jiuding Securities Company is the most powerful and influential securities company in Xiangjiang. It has underwritten the listing of many companies before and after, and has achieved good results. Its reputation is quite good, so it is not surprising that Wing Lung Bank came knocking on its door.

It was a good thing that Wing Lung Bank came knocking on the door, proving that Jiuding Securities had a good reputation. They were sending money, and Xia Yu could not turn them away.

However, after Wing Lung Bank went public, its stock price rose high, and Standard Chartered Bank, as one of the major shareholders, would definitely benefit from it, which would also drive up the stock price of Standard Chartered Bank.

This was what made Xia Yu frown.

Because when he was in London in May, he had already formulated a two-year plan to acquire Standard Chartered Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland.

At this point, Bright Fund had already made a move. If the share price of Standard Chartered Bank rises, it will inevitably increase the acquisition cost. The profit from underwriting the listing of Wing Lung Bank will definitely not be able to cover the increased acquisition cost, and overall it will be a loss.

Moreover, the listing of Standard Chartered Bank's shares will increase its influence, which will definitely have an impact on his acquisition plan.

However, since Wing Lung Bank has already initiated the listing process, there is nothing he can do to stop it. Even if he asks Jiuding Securities not to underwrite, Wing Lung Bank can find another securities company.

This is a bit of a headache.

Xia Yu took a sip of tea and closed his eyes in deep thought.

Seeing the chairman's unusual behaviour, Wang Qi sensed that something was wrong and quietly pondered where the problem lay.

'It seems that the plan will have to be slightly changed, and we will have to work on both ends!'

After a long while, Xia Yu's furrowed brow eased, and a thought flashed through his mind.

Bright Fund was far away in London, so they would have to work on the secondary market, as Standard Chartered Bank was listed in London at the time.

But Standard Chartered Bank has been in Hong Kong for so long that many of its shares have been dispersed among many British and Chinese comprador families in Hong Kong. It is unrealistic to expect them to list their shares on the stock exchange and sell them.

Therefore, the best way is to privately trade and unknowingly purchase the shares of Standard Chartered Bank into your own name.

However, it is indeed inappropriate to let Jiuding Securities Company do it. The goal is too obvious, which is likely to cause trouble and alert Standard Chartered Bank.

The best way was to get someone else to do it. Jiuding Securities could sign a private agreement with the other party, and let the other party acquire the shares on behalf of the heir, and wait until the critical moment to strike a fatal blow.

However, this required a meticulous plan, and communication with Guangming Fund had to be good, lest there be problems within the company.

Thinking about this, Xia Yu decided to tell Wang Qi about Guangming Fund's plan.

'Wang Qi, I asked Guangming Fund in London...'

'Go and talk to George Berkeley, and make a detailed plan on your end to coordinate the acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank in the most secure way.'

Wang Qi had no idea that the chairman was still eyeing Standard Chartered Bank, and when he suddenly heard this task, he felt his blood rush.

Standard Chartered Bank, which holds the right to issue Hong Kong dollars, is an old giant bank in Hong Kong. If it can be acquired, the strength of the Jiuding Financial Group will skyrocket, which will be of great benefit to Jiuding Securities.

Furthermore, if Jiuding Bank and Standard Chartered Bank could instantly surpass HSBC in Hong Kong, they would become the financial overlords of Hong Kong.

He felt a heavy sense of trust and responsibility when he was given such an important task.

He nodded seriously and said, 'Chairman, I will do my best to complete this task.'

'Well, this is the phone number of the general manager's office of Guangming Fund, which can directly reach George Berkeley. I will tell him that you will contact him at that time.'

Xia Yu took out a pen and paper and wrote down a phone number on it.

Wang Qi solemnly accepted it and said, 'Okay.'

Just then, there was a knock on the door: "Knock, knock!'

'General Manager, are you in?'

Xia Yu and Wang Qi in the room stopped talking and looked at Wang Qi's questioning gaze. Xia Yu nodded slightly.

Wang Qi then said in a deep voice, "Come in!'

As soon as the words fell, the door opened, revealing a young man in his twenties.

The young man did not expect Xia Yu to be there and immediately said hello: 'Hello, Chairman, hello, General Manager!'

Xia Yu nodded with a smile. The young man confidently walked in and handed the documents in his hand to Wang Qi and said, 'General Manager, this is the action plan formulated by our team.'

'Well, leave it here, I'll come to you after I've read it!'

Wang Qi said.

'Okay!'

The young man replied softly, then nodded and smiled at Xia Yu, ready to exit the office.

Just as the young man was about to walk out of the office, Xia Yu, who felt more and more familiar with this person, suddenly said, 'Wait, what's your name?'

The young man was taken aback, but he was overjoyed, and immediately replied loudly, 'Chairman, my name is Yuan Tianfan.'

'Yuan Tianfan?'

Xia Yu's pupils shrank slightly, and he looked him up and down. The image of Yuan Tianfan from his previous life appeared in his mind, and indeed they looked very similar, the only difference being that the Yuan Tianfan in front of him was very young and full of vitality.