The Industrial Giant Reborn.

Chapter 451 Internal strife in Yihe
"Are we going to acquire Rio Tinto?" Zhou Jiayang asked.

"No, this is just an investment. If we acquire a company like Rio Tinto, we can only waste it. It has no meaning." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said, Rio Tinto is currently ranked among the top ten mining companies in the world, and it is far from To be ranked among the top three in later generations, this also shows that it will develop very well in the next few decades and is worthy of investment.

Of course, this income is far behind the technology industry or the real estate industry, but your own group always needs to diversify its investments, not only for risk issues, but also for the expansion of influence. In the future, Rio Tinto will have a global presence It can be said that its influence far exceeds that of Cheung Kong + Hutchison in history. It is not on the same level at all.

However, acquisition is impossible. If it is acquired, Rio Tinto will not become the Rio Tinto of later generations. Chen Zhiwen's time travel golden finger, but I don't know how Rio Tinto developed. I can only know this company because of the mainland. There has been a shortage of iron ore since 2006, and companies such as Rio Tinto, Vale, and BHP Billiton have only entered the media spotlight.

You only need to invest to follow. If you have the opportunity, you can get a director seat, as long as the interests can be bundled together.

"Okay, I will send people to the UK to deal with Rio Tinto, but here in Hong Kong, the bigger the debt of Land, the better for us, but if it is acquired, the debt will be ours." Zhou Jiayang thought of this Click, and said helplessly.

"Haha, that's right. It is indeed a bit stressful in the short term, but in the long term, it will definitely be a great deal. Besides, if it weren't for the high debt, we wouldn't have this opportunity." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said, "We'll see next year. If you don’t have enough funds, it doesn’t matter if you buy shares later. A company like Rio Tinto cannot develop very fast.”

Unlike the real estate and technology industries, the development speed of the international mining industry is very slow. Even if there are merger plans, it will not affect its investment value. Unless for some reason, there is a special shortage of a certain mine, which will reduce the value of the enterprise that owns this ore. There has been a sharp rise, but this is also short-term, and Rio Tinto's main business is still coal mining and iron ore. These two items will not see much movement in the next ten years.

Previously, Hutchison Whampoa had acquired more than 3% of Rio Tinto's shares from Jardine Matheson. If it adds a little more later to reach 10%, it will be considered as a preliminary completion of its plan.The three mining giants of later generations can participate a little bit if they have the opportunity, but the other two have no chance yet, so there is no need to spend money here for the time being.

……

Hong Kong people, most ordinary people, don't care about Christmas. In their hearts, the New Year is the most important thing in their lives. However, Christmas is coming, and there is still some atmosphere.

Every supermarket and supermarket has put up Christmas promotion signs, even at the airport.

At Kai Tak Airport, a middle-aged white man with blond hair and blue eyes came out of the VIP exit with a group of followers, and there was another group of white people in front of him, who were obviously here to pick him up.

"Sister Wei, those are Newbijian and Bao Fuda. They actually came to the airport to pick them up in person. Could it be that high-level British government officials have come to Hong Kong?" A female reporter who was reviewing some news materials at the airport suddenly saw something in front of her. After a group of ghost guys came out, he quickly said to his colleagues around him.

In the whole of Hong Kong, the two top executives of Jardine Matheson Group could come to the airport to greet him. Such people do not exist in the business world. It is only possible in the political world.

"I have never heard of any British high-level officials coming to Hong Kong recently. And if British high-level officials come to Hong Kong, the Hong Kong government will also send people." Sister Wei thought for a while and said: "Could it be the Keswick family, the major shareholder behind Jardine Matheson? People? I have some gossip that the Keswick family is very dissatisfied with the current debt situation of Jardine Land and wants to change the management!"

"What? Jardine Land is changing its manager? This is big news." After saying that, she picked up the camera and took a few pictures, but the distance was a bit far and the pictures were not clear. When they wanted to get closer, these Everyone was ready to turn around and leave.

"It's a pity that I didn't take a picture of that person's face. Otherwise, if we go back and check, we will know whether he is a member of the Keswick family." Sister Wei said regretfully.

"Yeah, what a pity. Maybe it will even be on the front page."

"Let's go, let's go do our thing." Sister Wei greeted. Such big news sometimes just depends on luck.

……

Although Newbijian and Bao Fuda were both in the car, Simon Keswick didn't seem to consider whether these two people had time to accompany him. He directly told the driver and asked to drive around more. He hadn't been to Hong Kong for a long time. I want to see the changes in Hong Kong over the years.

"Ximen, there are still many important things in the group. It's not good for us to wander around like this. Why don't you wait until the business is finished and you look around again?" Bao Fuda said slightly angrily, which made it clear that he would not Several people took it seriously.

"I want to take a look first. If you are busy, you can go back to the company first. There are many cars here." Simon Keswick said calmly. "Okay, then let's stay with Mr. Keswick." Newbijian didn't care and said with a smile: "It's the same as talking about things in the car."

Bao Fuda glanced at Niubijian and could only give up.Simon Keswick also didn't say anything. He looked at the scenery outside seriously. It was completely different from when he came here ten years ago. Except for some buildings of Land, it is enough to show the development of Land in the past few years. Very unsatisfactory.

The Keswick family, after acquiring the shares from the Jardine family, the founder of Jardine Matheson, in 1958, has been controlling the entire Jardine Matheson, Land and Wharf. However, in the mid-70s, due to internal reasons within the family, overseas investments failed. , causing the Keswick family to lose the management rights of Jardine Matheson Land, and regressed into a major shareholder who could only occasionally intervene.

Four years ago, after Wharf was forcibly acquired by outsiders, Simon Keswick once organized a counterattack, hoping to get back the management rights of the entire group. Unfortunately, it failed due to various reasons.Today, the debt of the entire Jardine Land Group is almost on the verge of collapse. He has also received another opportunity, but this opportunity also brings a crisis to the entire Keswick family.

Although the Keswick family has more than just the same assets as Jardine, the core is here. If Jardine Land is forced to close down by debt and all equity is cleared, the Keswick family will also decline.

"That's the headquarters of Galaxy Group? Where is Chen Zhiwen's office?" After arriving at Admiralty, Simon Keswick pointed to a tall building and said.

"Yes, that's generally the case. However, Chen Zhiwen owns a lot of assets and is not sure where he will work. But there is a high probability that it will be here, unless their new planned Midea Building is completed, which may change." Niubijian nodded and said.

"When I left Hong Kong, I had never heard of this person. I didn't expect that in less than ten years, I was already very familiar with him in the UK." Simon Keswick said with emotion: "Such a person appears. What a misfortune we have in Hong Kong!"

"No one can stop this kind of thing, but currently Jardine Matheson Land has mutual control. According to the current Hong Kong government's regulations on triggering acquisition invitations, no one can threaten our control of Jardine Matheson Land." Niubijian was a little arrogant. He said that he actually looked down on the Keswick family. Maybe the first generation was okay, but now, they are just a group of people who rely on the legacy of their ancestors' assets to achieve their current style.I can’t say it’s useless, but I definitely can’t control a large group like Jardine Land.

Back then, he also worked hard to wrest control of Jardine from the Keswick family. Now, no matter what the situation, he will not give up.

"But Land's debt is now so heavy, have you ever considered it? We don't just think about whether we will be acquired. Land's debt is too big, which will also lead to the collapse of the entire group." Simon Keswick said coldly. He knew that just now The "we" that Newbikin mentioned does not include him.

"Land is developing very well now and there are no problems." Bao Fuda said.

"What's going on with Landmark? You can hide it from Hisense Bank, but do you think you can hide it from me?" Simon Keswick said. Although the Keswick family has left the top management of Landmark Jardine, there are still many people within the company. They support them and have formed a faction. Although they have been suppressed by Niubijian in recent years, the people who control important departments are not able to be bullied at will by an outside big class.Maybe Newbijian can hide it from outsiders, but major matters such as the company's debts and assets cannot be hidden from the Keswick family.

"We didn't want to hide it from you, Ximen. You are the major shareholder and can completely check the accounts. We can't falsify all the accounts." Niubijian said with a smile.

"Then you think that your little cleverness will be useful to Chen Zhiwen? Even ordinary people in Hong Kong have doubts about the Land situation. Chen Zhiwen actually agreed to borrow 30 billion Hong Kong dollars. Don't you doubt it?" Simon Keswick questioned.

"30 billion has been obtained. This is a fact. Moreover, Chen Zhiwen also took the opportunity to ask us to buy a Central building. Needless to say more. Besides, even if you come to my position, what else can you do?" Bi Jian said lightly, it would be natural to doubt them, but from the perspective of their professional managers, no matter whether Chen Zhiwen had any special purpose or not, they had to accept the money, otherwise they would soon be joined by the people in front of them. The board of directors drove him away.

"The deal is done, and there is no point in pursuing accountability." Niubijian avoided the question and said, "But I heard that you are planning to pay dividends to shareholders and continue four large-scale projects such as the Exchange Plaza?"

"Of course, I know that the company's funds are tight, but if these projects are delayed for a long time, the losses will be greater later. And once they are stopped, it will be equivalent to telling the world that there is a problem with Land's funds. In this way, the stock price will inevitably plummet. But you have to know that we mortgaged 70 billion Hong Kong dollars with stocks, and all the banks have already given up face and stopped collecting debts. What we are fighting for now is confidence. Once the stock price plummets and the project stalls, Land's credit will immediately collapse, and all banks will If we come to collect debts, we will face a more dangerous situation than Hutchison Group, and when the time comes, Chen Zhiwen can also acquire it." Niubijian explained.In fact, this is one of the reasons why he is willing to take over Hisense's loan. If Land really cannot bear it and goes bankrupt, the result may still be the same. There is no way to solve Land's debt problem now. He can only hope that the entire Hong Kong real estate market will recover as soon as possible. That would solve all problems.

"I naturally know that in this case, the project cannot be stopped, but it can never be started normally. Just maintain a minimum speed and save costs." Simon Keswick added: "I can barely accept this reason, but Why should we pay dividends to shareholders, which will cost HK$6 to 7 million? With such a large amount of funds, we can stabilize the company's debt for a longer period of time."

"This is my decision." Niubijian said calmly: "If you don't agree, can we hold a shareholders' meeting to discuss it?"

(End of this chapter)