Chapter 381 Too Many Debts to Feel the Pressure, Another 3 Billion Loan!
After everything was settled, Lin Haoran, carrying a thick stack of contracts, didn't linger any longer and left Jardine House directly.
The handover work between the Land Group and Jardines Matheson was naturally left to Ma Shiming and the rest of the Land Group's senior management.
"Kin Ning, you've worked hard these past few days. You performed excellently. I'll transfer a bonus to your account as a reward!" Lin Haoran said to Ho Kin Ning while sitting in the car.
"Boss, this was my duty. There's no need for a bonus," Ho Kin Ning said, a little surprised.
He had considered it a valuable learning experience, but he hadn't expected a bonus. Although he didn't know how much it would be, coming from Lin Haoran, it would certainly be substantial.
"You deserve it. That's how it works with me—work hard, and you'll be rewarded. Keep it up. I have high hopes for you.
Hong Kong is only the beginning; your future vision must expand to the world," Lin Haoran said with a smile.
At 29 years old, Ho Kin Ning was already so impressive. In a few more years, he would be a force to reckon with.
No wonder, in Lin Haoran's past life, Ho Kin Ning had joined Cheung Kong Holdings and became a board member of Hutchison Whampoa in his early thirties.
Hearing his boss speak this way, Ho Kin Ning naturally accepted it gladly. After all, who doesn't work for money?
After dropping Ho Kin Ning off near his home, Lin Haoran directed Li Weidong to drive to the Wanqing Building.
Since Ho Kin Ning was still officially on leave from Hongkong Electric, he didn't need to return to work immediately.
Arriving at the underground parking lot of Wanqing Building, the 13 Dark Guards quickly assumed various identities, changing into different outfits to enter the building naturally.
Meanwhile, other guards remained behind to monitor Lin Haoran's Rolls-Royce and ensure no tampering occurred.
Each of the Dark Guards was now equipped with a firearm—and all held legal permits.
After the remote-controlled bomb incident involving Lin Haoran's car, the police, and especially the director Han Yili, had expedited the approval process for his security team's firearms licenses.
This way, Lin Haoran's safety was even more assured.
Lin Haoran didn't go see Wanqing Group's President Burton. Instead, he headed directly to the Huanyu Investment Company's office.
Although the office wasn't very crowded, every employee was busy.
A specialized team was discreetly acquiring Land Group shares in the stock market.
"Boss, you're here," Su Zhixue greeted, setting aside his work.
"How's the Land Group's stock performing today?" Lin Haoran asked with a smile.
"Not much different from before, but our acquisition pace is getting harder. As you know, there aren't many shares available on the market.
Many investors intend to hold long-term. So as we increase our acquisition pressure, the stock price has inevitably risen," Su Zhixue replied.
"That's fine. Keep acquiring at today's price, but do not exceed 105% of the last closing price.
Today will be your final day.
Starting tomorrow, the privatization will be handled by Hotholly Company.
You guys can start preparing to move to New York," Lin Haoran said.
Now that things had reached this point, it was time to let professionals handle the technical aspects of the privatization.
If he still controlled Jardines Matheson, he might have used Jardine Fleming Securities for the task, but now that ties were severed, there was no point.
Moreover, Jardine Fleming Securities wasn't that attractive in his eyes anyway—without much fixed asset support, it was more about market positioning.
If necessary, Lin Haoran could simply poach staff from Jardine Fleming Securities over time.
"Understood, boss," Su Zhixue replied.
By 1 PM, Lin Haoran received two transfers totaling HKD 1.9 billion from the Keswick and Rothschild families for the sale of his Jardines Matheson shares.
Under Hong Kong tax law, share transfers were usually treated as capital transactions.
Since there was no capital gains tax in Hong Kong, Lin Haoran didn't owe any personal income taxes on this transaction.
Combined with the HKD 1.3 billion still in Huanyu Investment's accounts, Lin Haoran now had about HKD 3.2 billion in liquid assets.
However, shortly afterward, he transferred four payments totaling HKD 1.042 billion to purchase shares from the four British shareholders of the Land Group.
Thus, his available funds dropped to just over HKD 2 billion.
Additionally, the 0.85% shares acquired earlier had cost about HKD 90 million.
Even though he had over HKD 2 billion left, acquiring the 30.2% Land Group shares would require at least HKD 3 billion.
Although this money was temporary and he would recover it after the privatization succeeded, he still needed to pay upfront.
And there were still over 10% of shares held by public shareholders, requiring an additional HKD 1 billion-plus to complete full privatization.
Calculating everything, Lin Haoran was short about HKD 3 billion overall.
This shortfall was manageable.
Besides, he didn't want to deplete Huanyu Investment's entire cash reserves—he still needed funds for expansion once the team moved to America.
Huanyu Investment would be targeting strategic stakes in major companies like Intel, Walmart, Coca-Cola, ExxonMobil, and Chevron.
Thus, Lin Haoran needed to keep around HKD 1.2–1.3 billion aside.
So realistically, he needed to raise another HKD 3 billion to complete the Land Group's privatization plan.
This wasn't a problem.
With his corporate holdings, raising HKD 3 billion—or even HKD 10 billion—was entirely feasible.
Moreover, he still had six to seven months before his HKD 2.2 billion loan from HSBC came due, so there was no urgency on that front.
However, Lin Haoran didn't want to borrow from HSBC again, given their recent hostility during the Jardines Matheson negotiations.
Raising HKD 3 billion wasn't easy—only major banks like HSBC, Hang Seng, or Standard Chartered could handle it.
But Lin Haoran had already made his choice: Citibank.
He had collaborated with Citibank several times already, and maintaining good relations would help when Huanyu Investment expanded into the U.S.
Moreover, Citibank hadn't yet fallen under Squid Capital's influence—it would remain relatively "clean" until 1998, after its merger with Travelers Group.
Right now, in 1980, it was still independent and trustworthy.
Later that evening, Lin Haoran personally called Citibank's Chairman, Walter Wriston, in New York.
Surprisingly, even from across the ocean, Walter Wriston was well aware of Lin Haoran's recent major moves in Hong Kong.
Given Lin Haoran's growing reputation as a heavyweight client, Walter Wriston quickly agreed to the new loan request.
Of course, proper collateral would still be required—after all, HKD 3 billion was no small sum.
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