Li Family Manor. Study!
On the sofa, Li Yi and Li Futao sat facing each other. On the small coffee table between them sat a purple clay teapot and two small teacups.
At that moment, steam was rising from the cups, and the entire room was filled with the rich aroma of tea.
Li Yi took a gentle sip of the premium Fuding white tea, then asked, “Old Li, I’ve pretty much worn out those foreigners over on my end. How’s it going on your end?”
“Things are going well on my end. While those foreigners were focused on you, my people successfully purchased 8.2 million shares of New World Warehouse Center stock. Our current stake has reached 8%!” Li Futao replied.
“Did they notice?”
“They shouldn’t have. I bought them in small batches using multiple accounts, so they shouldn’t have noticed!” Li Futao said.
“That’s good. But 8% is still a bit low. To take control of New Territories Warehouse Center, we need at least 51% of the shares!” Li Yi said.
“Hmm, but since we’ve been trading quite frequently, New Territories Warehousing’s stock price has risen rather quickly over the past couple of days. We entered the market at just 65 Hong Kong dollars per share, and now it’s already up to 72—a gain of over 10%!”
Li Futiao continued, “If we keep buying up large blocks of shares, not only will it be hard to keep our intentions hidden, but it might also cause New Territories Warehouse Center’s stock price to skyrocket.”
Li Yi thought for a moment and said, “It doesn’t matter. New Territories Warehouse Centre’s stock is severely undervalued right now; a slight increase is no big deal.”
Li Yi was well aware of New Territories Storage Centre’s value. This company, with over 70 years of history, had long been a core business of the Jardine Matheson Group and was once known alongside Wharf Holdings as the “Two Wings of Jardine Matheson.”
Within the entire Jardine conglomerate, the group’s chairman also served on the board of New Territories Warehouse, underscoring the company’s status within the Jardine Group.
Under the Jardine Group’s leadership, New Territories had developed renowned properties such as New Territories Pier and Da Di Centre, yet its operational approach left much to be desired.
They clung to the philosophy that building and leasing properties was their primary profit model, renting only and never selling. This led to slow cash flow, with rent increases lagging behind rising land prices. Consequently, the company’s earnings were mediocre, its stock price remained low, and its assets were severely undervalued.
Furthermore, as a British-owned conglomerate, the Jardine Group harbored reservations about the mainland and maintained a consistently pessimistic outlook on Hong Kong Island’s future, leading to a gradual decline in its influence on the island.
“So what should we do next? Should we launch a full-scale offensive against them, or proceed cautiously?” Li Futiao asked in a low voice.
“I don’t have the time to get bogged down in a protracted battle with them. Right now, New Territories Warehouse Center has a market capitalization of only about 7 billion Hong Kong dollars. With the funds we have on hand, plus those from the Ho and Lo families, we’re already approaching 5 billion Hong Kong dollars—enough to secure a 51% stake in New Territories Warehouse!” Li Yi said.
“So you plan to launch a full-scale assault?”
“No, a full-scale assault!”
Changing the subject, Li Yi continued, “But before launching the all-out assault, I think we should reach out to those small shareholders. Ideally, we’d acquire the scattered shares of New Territories Warehousing Center from them!”
Based on preliminary equity investigations, Li Yi discovered that to alleviate its financial crisis, New Territories Storage Center had chosen to sell large quantities of bonds to raise cash.
The result of this was that the group became heavily indebted, its credit rating declined, and its stock lost value.
To date, Jardine Matheson held only about 9% of New Territories Warehouse’s shares. Of the remaining 91%, 30% were floating shares on the market, while the bulk—61%—was scattered among hundreds of shareholders, large and small.
The severely undervalued stock, the massive potential for revaluation, and the relatively dispersed ownership all provided an ideal environment for Li Yi’s acquisition.
Li Futao nodded immediately and said, “Leave this to me. You’ll have news within three days at most!”
“Agreed!”
“Old Li, don’t go at it alone. Get the He and Luo families to pitch in as well. There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world!” Li Yi said.
“Alright!”
At that moment, Li Futiao changed the subject and added, “By the way, Brother Li Yi, Xinghua sent the latest update from New York this morning. He said the international gold price has dropped to $545, and we’ve already made $850 million.”
“However, the rate of decline has slowed significantly in recent days—especially over the last few days, with prices dropping only one or two dollars a day. He asked for instructions on whether to liquidate our positions and close out the trade.”
Li Yi replied immediately, “It’s not time yet. Tell them to stay calm and keep a close eye on it!”
“Brother Li Yi, what’s your target price for dxmbang? I want to let them know so they can prepare themselves!” Li Fu asked.
“We absolutely cannot close the deal until the international gold price drops below $300!” Li Yi said firmly.
“You have to understand, this is the only opportunity to trade gold in the next twenty years. If we miss this, it’s gone for good.”
“Whoa!”
After drawing in a sharp breath, Li Futiao asked again, “Could the international gold price really drop below $300?”
“It’s highly likely!”
“Alright, I know what to do!” Li Futiao said, suppressing his inner excitement.
He knew full well that Li Yi had shorted gold at a price of around $596.
With five times financial leverage, every $1 drop in the gold price would yield them $17 million in profits.
If the international gold price really did fall below $300, their profits would reach a staggering $5 billion—equivalent to nearly 40 billion Hong Kong dollars.
Even for a prominent family like the Lis, their combined assets didn’t amount to that much—and that was wealth accumulated through generations of hard work.
Yet Li Yi was able to generate this much money from a single investment. Such astonishing investment acumen is truly admirable.
This only strengthened Li Futao’s resolve to deepen his collaboration with Li Yi!
Over the next few days, to keep the British-funded group in check, Li Yi continued to lead his team to the stock market daily, waiting for opportunities to launch attacks on the group’s listed companies.
Meanwhile, Smith and his team focused their efforts on maintaining a tight defense against Li Yi, and the two sides engaged in round after round of fierce battles in the stock market.
Since both sides were well-prepared, the British Capital Group suffered minimal losses after several rounds of clashes.
Although Li Yi and his team’s attacks did not inflict major losses on the British Capital Group, they did tie up a significant portion of their attention.
Meanwhile, Li Futiao’s elite team seized the opportunity to buy up large quantities of New Territories Warehouse stock from retail investors through multiple accounts.
At the same time, Li Futao, He Dongying, Luo Jindong, and others stepped forward, frequently meeting with the Chinese shareholders of the New Territories Storage Center and offering high prices to acquire shares from some of them.
In just three days, they acquired nearly 28 million shares from other shareholders.
By this point, Li Yi and his associates had secured 36% of New Territories Warehouse’s shares—more than double the stake held by the largest shareholder, Jardine Matheson.
Although a 36% stake made them the largest shareholder of New Territories Storage Center, they had not yet achieved a controlling interest. Therefore, Li Yi had no choice but to continue having Li Futao and others step forward to acquire shares in New Territories Storage Center.
Unfortunately, the British-funded group had already sensed something was amiss.
Although Li Futao’s team had gone to great lengths to keep the acquisitions low-key, the rapid rise in the stock price had still caught the attention of retail investors and the senior management of the Jardine Matheson Group.
They quickly deduced that someone was secretly snapping up shares of New Territories Warehouse.
Upon learning of the situation, Jardine Matheson was on high alert and immediately sought assistance from the British-owned group.
The British-owned group’s leadership did not dare to delay; after losing Wharf Holdings, the New Territories Storage Centre had become particularly crucial.
If it were also acquired, they would likely lose their shipping, warehousing, and part of their real estate businesses.
In light of this, the British executives immediately convened another meeting at Castle Manor to discuss the matter.
After some deliberation, they decided to launch an immediate counterattack: while reassuring both major and minor shareholders, they would immediately raise the price and repurchase New Territories Warehouse shares from the stock market to increase Jardine Matheson’s stake.
With the British-owned group’s fate hanging in the balance, the two sides—who had been locked in a fierce battle for nearly ten days—were finally about to come to blows…
……..