Chapter 445: Acquisition War

When this news came out, the world's financial market was shocked. Although foreign commentators have always believed that China's banking industry is low, they will not doubt their strength. China's financial system has always been known for its closure and xenophobia. As a state-owned monopoly enterprise, the four major banks enjoy the dividends of China's economy in 20 years of reform. Although their business level is not as good as their foreign counterparts and their profitability is very poor, the accumulated assets are astronomical.

As two major state-owned banks, overseas investors roughly estimate that their assets are at least about 100 billion US dollars, which is a huge thing wherever they are placed. Now these two giant beasts suddenly stand up for the Zhongxing Group. Coupled with the vague covetousness of Zhongxing International for Fuji Bank, the hidden meaning behind it is not too much to associate. Yang Xing’s opponents’ camp is naturally in chaos and terrified!

But Yang Xing obviously did not give his opponent a breath of time to think, and what was even more shocked was his next series of actions. On February 10, Zhongxing Group had reached a lightning package agreement with the British Virgin Group in London, announcing that it would form a long-term strategic alliance to cooperate extensively in logistics, transportation, film and television entertainment, e-commerce and other aspects that cross the business areas of the two parties, and jointly invested in the establishment of a foundation that invested in high-tech, with a start-up capital of nearly US$5 billion, which was an astonishing huge sum.

In addition, Yang Xing and Branson were interviewed by Bloomberg, a reporter from the internationally renowned financial news media, on Hong Kong and Nickelode Island, respectively, and both said that this was just a preliminary intention to cooperate. If the cooperation was pleasant, the two sides still had room for further cooperation. This is another large multinational enterprise that was pulled onto the China Star Wars Chariot after signing a US$10 billion long-term cooperation agreement with Hitachi Production Co., Ltd. Although this business news is too small for the general public, it is undoubtedly a blow to the opponents who care about Yang Xing's trends.

Rong Xinyou and Gu He, who were paying attention to several companies under Zhongxing Group in London, were preparing to go public in London, both felt unbelievable when they heard that, but after hearing that the bosses of both sides had negotiated this big business while on vacation in the Caribbean, could only sigh at the injustice of fate. Yang Xing even led the beauty to the Caribbean Hutian and Hudi to sign such an important contract with Virgin Group boss Branson. His love luck is really against the will of heaven!

Immediately afterwards, Zhongxing Group held a press conference in Hong Kong and officially proposed a solemn acquisition of Hong Kong Telecom. In order to challenge the bid of Singapore Telecom, the only acquirer of Hong Kong Telecom, which was previously reported, Zhongxing Group proposed a bid of as high as US$13 billion, which is 20% higher than Singapore Telecom’s bid!

As soon as the news came out, the chins of people all over the world fell to the ground, completely confused by Yang Xing's "magic boy" breaking the routine. Previously, the market was rumored everywhere in the market to hinder the acquisition of South Korea's Daewoo Group, so it changed its goal. According to the scam discussed by Yang Xing and others, many rumors were reported that Zhongxing Group was interested in Fuji Bank. Coupled with the joint statement of four ministries and commissions, and the large-scale overseas listing plan of Zhongxing Group's affiliated companies, the self-savvy market analysts speculated that Zhongxing wanted to retaliate against the opponent in the Daewoo acquisition case. But now Yang Xing suddenly shot Hong Kong Telecom directly, which was completely beyond everyone's expectations.

You should know that the merger between Hong Kong Telecom and Singapore Telecom was recognized by industry insiders as a foregone conclusion. No one expected that Yang Xing would make a half-way disrupt the situation. These two major communications companies are among the best in the industry in Asia, with assets of over 10 billion US dollars. In addition to promoting several mergers and acquisitions in the United States last year, Zhongxing Group did not act as frequently as during the Asian financial crisis. Everyone thought that Yang Xing was focused on the production of its subsidiaries. Unexpectedly, he still prefers to make a comeback in the financial market. He made a big move and attracted attention from all sides.

It is rumored that Yang Xing had a sudden idea after seeing the acquisition case between Hong Kong Telecom and Singapore Telecom in the newspaper and took out the money that was originally used to deal with Fuji Bank and turned it over to deal with Hong Kong Telecom, because this was too sudden and there was no sign of it!

Only the person involved, Yang Xing, was smirking in private. He was hesitant about the acquisition of Hong Kong Telecom, mainly because he was worried about the enormous impact of the Nasdaq stock market crash on the IT communications industry. Unexpectedly, the central government was very wary of Hong Kong Telecom, which was related to Hong Kong communications foundation, and could only ask Yang Xing for assistance. Since there was the above guarantee, Yang Xing was of course willing to stand up and let go. He also took the opportunity to win many affordable conditions from the central government. The joint notice of the four ministries and commissions and the statements of the two major state-owned banks were just the two simplest requirements of his request.

However, Yang Xing's performance in the acquisition war of Hong Kong Telecom is enough to become a model in business textbooks. In order to challenge Singapore Telecom, which is backed by the Singapore government, Yang Xing wants to persuade Hong Kong Telecom shareholders to change their minds by the end of February, not just having money.

For this reason, he mobilized almost all kinds of resources to help. First of all, Hong Kong Telecom is an old communications company and has many similarities with Singapore Telecom in technology. Singapore Telecom is the largest telecom operator in Asia except the top ***, and has natural advantages. On the other hand, Zhongxing Group has a certain communication hardware foundation and sells well with mobile phones, but has no experience in operating any telecommunications networks. Moreover, the acquirer of this time is StarDong Network Company, which has only been listed on Nasdaq for more than half a year. It is a typical acquisition of snake swallowing elephant.

To this end, Yang Xing wanted to impress the shareholders of Hong Kong Telecom. Not only did he promise that after the acquisition, he would not make major adjustments to Hong Kong Telecom's assets and turn them into small pieces for profit, he also secretly showed the confidential part of the content of the cooperation agreement document signed by him and Virgin Group in the UK. Stardust Communications, as a mobile communication equipment manufacturer, mainly customized mobile phone providers for Virgin Communications, a subsidiary of Virgin Group, and the conditions for opening up the Asian and European communication markets by Virgin Network, have obviously tilted the balance in the hearts of Hong Kong Telecom's board members to Zhongxing International.

The current consensus in the international telecommunications industry is that the next generation of mobile communications standard 3g will undergo a major reshuffle of the entire industry. In the European region where the most active implementation of the 3g standard, many countries have auctioned 3g licenses at amazingly high prices, and many European telecom manufacturers have also taken this opportunity to frequently launch acquisition wars to enhance their strength in future competition.

The world's largest merger case started last year between two European communication giants. On November 19, 1999, Vodafone Telecom, one of the world's largest mobile phone companies, announced in London that the company would bid 124 billion euros (about 129 billion US dollars) to acquire German Mannesman. This broke the acquisition record of American Online's just acquired Warner Film Company and became the largest corporate merger case at present.

You should know that German corporate culture is similar to ***. German banks and insurance industries have widely participated in large enterprises and like to fight in groups. They generally do not allow outsiders to get involved in the mergers and acquisitions of domestic enterprises. Before that, none of the large-scale mergers and acquisitions from foreign enterprises were successful. They all blocked the "malicious mergers and acquisitions" attempts of foreign enterprises under the resistance of the German corporate alliance. Because Vodafone proposed the acquisition amount this time, the national leaders of Britain and France came forward to express their opinions. Mannesman was unwilling to be suppressed by Vodafone, and he also tried his best to resist.

But the facts have proved that nothing is eternal in the face of the huge power of capital. Just before Yang Xing announced the acquisition of Hong Kong Telecom, on February 3, Mannesman, who had been fully resisting the Vodafone offensive for three months, finally lowered his head and announced his agreement to merge with Vodafone. At this point, the world's largest communications giant was born.

Under the influence of the Vodafone acquisition, world communication companies have joined forces one after another. As a century-old British colony, Hong Kong Telecom's major shareholder Dadong Company is a veteran British-funded enterprise. He has a very good impression of the Virgin Group industry from the British Peninsula. Yang Xing's cooperation statements undoubtedly made Hong Kong Telecom's shareholders hesitate in both technical and emotional aspects.

In fact, Hong Kong Telecom agreed to Singapore Telecom's acquisition request, which was considered in this regard. The era when Hong Kong Telecom monopolizes the Hong Kong telecom market has long been gone. The "Orange Communications" company established by Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Company in the UK is Vodafone's biggest rival in the UK. It was also acquired by Mannesman in 1999 for more than US$10 billion. The Li family made a lot of money in this business. Zhongxing International also secretly bet on Vodafone in the acquisition contest between Mannesman and Vodafone, making a lot of money, laying a good foundation for Zhongxing Group's business in Europe.

Of course, the most important thing in the acquisition war is the offer. On February 24, a group of major banks including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Hong Kong) and Bank of China Hong Kong branch, Hong Kong HSBC, Standard Chartered, Citigroup, Paris National, France, etc., came forward to provide a loan commitment of US$12 billion for StarDong Network to acquire Hong Kong Telecom. This is less than 13 days longer than StarDong Network's formal application for acquisition of Hong Kong Telecom's board of directors, and less than 24 hours before StarDong Communications applied for loans to major banks. This efficiency made Hong Kong Telecom's financial experts feel incredible.

Such huge amounts of money can be obtained in just over a dozen days, which can no longer be described as a miracle. This undoubtedly puts down a heavy weight on the psychological balance of the members of the board of directors of Hong Kong Telecom and has put a lot of pressure on Singapore Telecom. Should we fight with Zhongxing Group?

The answer was soon revealed. On February 29, the board of directors of Hong Kong Telecom, the major shareholder of Hong Kong Telecom, officially announced that it would abandon the acquisition agreement previously negotiated with Singapore Telecom, officially recognized the acquisition plan of Xingdong Network, a subsidiary of Zhongxing Group, and sell Hong Kong Telecom for US$12 billion.
Chapter completed!