Chapter 383 This Young Man's Ability to Raise Money Is Astonishing
Next, Lin Haoran headed to HSBC to sign the privatization mandate contract with Hotholly Company. As long as he entrusted this task to Hotholly, he would have no further worries about the privatization of the Land Group. After all, he had successfully privatized Qingzhou Cement and Wan An Group through Hotholly previously, and he trusted the company's capabilities very much.
In the field of listed company privatizations, Hotholly was the best in Hong Kong. Although he had been displeased with HSBC's previous actions, he clearly understood that business was business—facing benefits, people would always act in their own best interests.
HSBC's efforts to block his takeover of Jardines Matheson had been obvious. Just like how HSBC had helped the Chinese merchant Bao Yugang to wrest Wharf Holdings away from Jardines Matheson, it was understandable.
After all, Hong Kong's business circle was small. Even if there were occasional conflicts, maintaining civility on the surface was essential.
Moreover, Lin Haoran himself was a member of HSBC's board and a shareholder, holding 1% of the bank's shares—acquired for HKD 80 million. The potential future value was enormous, especially knowing that forty years later, HSBC's market value would surpass HKD 1 trillion, making his stake worth hundreds of millions.
Thus, despite previous frictions, Lin Haoran believed that commercial competition was separate from personal respect and cooperation.
Arriving at HSBC headquarters, Lin Haoran first visited Chairman Shen Bi.
Shen Bi was clearly a little surprised at Lin Haoran's appearance, but after learning of his purpose, he immediately understood and was very welcoming.
After all, whether the Land Group stayed public or went private didn't matter much to HSBC anymore. It was better to do Lin Haoran a favor and let Hotholly handle the privatization.
Both Lin Haoran and Shen Bi tacitly avoided mentioning their previous disputes over Jardines Matheson, acting as if nothing had happened.
In the business world, there were no eternal enemies or friends—only eternal interests.
Lin Haoran was used to this duplicity.
Shen Bi personally called in Hotholly's general manager to discuss the Land Group privatization project with Lin Haoran.
With the help of Huanyu Investment's legal counsel, after more than two hours of discussion, Lin Haoran officially signed the privatization mandate with Hotholly.
From now on, the complicated aspects of the Land Group privatization would be handled by Hotholly.
Lin Haoran's only role was to provide the funds.
When the Hotholly general manager and Shen Bi learned that Lin Haoran had the funding ready to reclaim the 30.2% Land Group shares from Jardines Matheson, they were both stunned.
It was over HKD 3 billion worth of shares!
According to company law, holding over 90% of a company's shares allowed for a mandatory takeover of the remaining shares.
Thus, once Lin Haoran reclaimed the 30.2%, the forced privatization would face no real obstacles.
In addition to the 30.2%, about 10% of Land Group shares were still in the hands of public shareholders. Acquiring these would cost another HKD 1 billion.
In total, Lin Haoran needed to prepare over HKD 5 billion for the privatization!
Where did he get so much money?
Even after selling his 19% stake in Jardines Matheson to the Keswick and Rothschild families for HKD 1.9 billion, there was still a huge gap.
Moreover, a few months ago, he had just borrowed HKD 2 billion from HSBC, which had been used to secretly acquire Jardines Matheson and Land Group shares.
Thus, Shen Bi couldn't help but be shocked—this young man's ability to raise money was far stronger than he had imagined.
Even if he obtained loans from other financial institutions, it demonstrated Lin Haoran's extraordinary strength.
Being able to arrange such massive funding at once was power in itself!
During their negotiations, Lin Haoran's pager vibrated. He called back and, just as expected, it was Citibank's Hong Kong branch manager informing him that the HKD 3 billion loan had been deposited into his account.
Relieved to hear this, Lin Haoran could now officially proceed with the Land Group privatization.
After signing the mandate with Hotholly, accompanied by his lawyers and bodyguards, Lin Haoran prepared to leave HSBC.
Before he left, Shen Bi called out to him:
"Mr. Lin, if you ever need a loan, HSBC's doors are always open to you. Don't forget—you are a shareholder and a board member here.
If you need loans using your shareholdings in various listed companies as collateral, I can approve a very generous credit line for you, with a particularly favorable interest rate!"
Lin Haoran paused, turned back, and smiled politely:
"Thank you, Mr. Shen. If the need arises, I will certainly contact you."
With that, Lin Haoran left HSBC, not taking Shen Bi's words too seriously.
With the top-quality assets he now controlled, it would be easy for him to get loans from any bank.
It took him less than ten minutes to return to the Concord Building.
Soon, he was standing at the door of Ma Shiming's office.
However, Ma Shiming was not there, still busy handling the handover with Jardines Matheson.
Lin Haoran picked up the phone on the desk and dialed Niu Bijian's office.
Soon, Niu Bijian answered.
"Hello, who is this?"
"Mr. Niu, this is Lin Haoran. Is Mr. Ma Shiming there? Could you please let me speak with him if he's nearby?" Lin Haoran said politely.
"Oh, Mr. Lin. Mr. Ma is right here. I'll transfer you," Niu Bijian said calmly.
Now that Lin Haoran had no connection to Jardines Matheson, Niu Bijian's arrogance had returned.
For Niu Bijian, having to call Lin Haoran "boss" during the Jardines Matheson takeover had been a humiliating memory.
Now that Lin Haoran was no longer his superior, he felt relaxed and even a bit superior again.
Soon, Ma Shiming's voice came over the line.
"Mr. Ma, how's the handover going?" Lin Haoran asked.
"Boss, everything is progressing smoothly, but given the massive volume of assets and documents involved, there's some disorganization that needs sorting.
Some asset certificates have been misplaced and need to be located.
It will take at least a week to fully disentangle Land Group from Jardines Matheson.
My tasks are almost complete. From now on, the various departments of the Land Group will manage the details, and I'll oversee the big picture.
Also, because Jardines Matheson and the Land Group are planning a joint press conference, I'm staying over here for now," Ma Shiming explained.
"A joint press conference? Perfect! I was just thinking of holding one myself.
Now there's no need—I'll head over to Jardine House directly!" Lin Haoran laughed.
Originally, he had intended to have Ma Shiming organize a press conference anyway.
After all, now that he held over 50% of the Land Group's shares, if he didn't publicly announce the privatization, the Securities and Futures Commission might find ways to trouble him.
Lin Haoran had dealt a heavy blow to the British consortiums, humiliating them internationally during the Jardines Matheson saga.
The SFC chairman was probably looking for any excuse to punish him.
Thus, Lin Haoran had to ensure everything was by the book—perfectly above board.
"Alright, boss. I'll be waiting for you at Jardine House," Ma Shiming replied.
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