Chapter 344 Voting Decision
After saying goodbye to Su Cheng, Nui Bijian left in a hurry.
Although they talked with Su Cheng, and Su Cheng agreed to acquire their shares if the conditions were met, the result was not good news for Tui Bijian.
Really, Su Cheng was too cruel.
However, there is no other way to twist the wall.
Now, the news can only be told to the board of directors, who then hold a meeting and vote to decide whether to trade.
Jardine Matheson’s decision to sell Wharf shares is now very urgent, and they can’t wait to turn the shares into funds immediately.
It would be better if Wharf was still under their control. They would insist on holding Wharf shares no matter how difficult it is.
However, a listed company that is not under their control has not only caused them heavy losses, but is now also facing operational difficulties for Jardine.
Under such circumstances, they naturally chose to sell Wharf.
Stay and look for opportunities to take back the Wharf?
If it were someone else, they would still believe it.
But now the world's shipping king is in control of Wharf, and there is Huifeng Bank behind him, so they don't have the confidence.
Although the British capital has always looked down on the Chinese capital, they still know how much they weigh.
Looking at Nui Bijian leaving, Su Cheng smiled, stepped out of the Governor's Mansion, and asked the driver to drive directly back to the Su family villa.
The next morning, Su Cheng still had no intention of going out and continued to stay at home.
With two beauties, Gillian and A Mei, waiting for her, Su Cheng is not bored at all at home.
A conference room in the Jardine Group headquarters building was already full of people.
There are more than thirty people on the board of directors of Jardine. At this time, everyone is here, and they are basically all foreign faces.
As the leader of Jardine Matheson Group, the meeting was chaired by Ni Bijian.
"Dear gentlemen and ladies, I believe you all know the reason for convening today's meeting. Let me repeat it again. Jardine Matheson Group and Land Group hold a total of 29.87% of Wharf stocks. Now our group has competed since the last time. After the defeat, we are now facing operating difficulties. Therefore, after discussion at Jardine Matheson Think Tank, we can only successfully tide over the difficulties by selling Wharf shares. Otherwise, we will continue to sell our high-quality properties. , this is very detrimental to our future development.
However, currently, there is only one person in Hong Kong and even the world who is most likely to be able to acquire our shares, and that is Hutchison Whampoa Taipan Sioux City. Sir, after I talked with him yesterday, he was willing to acquire our Wharf shares, but he was only willing to pay HK$500 million.
So, the reason why we held a board meeting today is to vote. Whether you agree with the sale plan or not, when the voting begins, please raise your hands if you agree, and do not raise your hands if you disagree.
What I want to emphasize here is that if we do. If you don't agree, we can only continue to sell our properties, such as our Golden Gate Building, Tai Koo Building, Prince's Building, Connaught Building and other very important properties in Hong Kong. This can solve our operating problems in a short time. , the disadvantage is naturally that our assets will be severely reduced
Now, I will give you 10 minutes to think about it, and after 10 minutes, we will vote.”
Guan Bijian stood on the throne and spoke seriously to all the board members.
Whether it is Golden Gate Building, Swire Building, Connaught Building or Prince's Building, they are all very important properties in Jardine, and they are also the most valuable properties in Central District.
Especially the Hong Le Building, which is now the tallest building in Hong Kong. If it is sold, many people will be interested.
Among them, Prince's Building is the headquarters of Global Shipping Group, the chartering king. The chartering king has been interested in acquiring Prince's Building many times, but Jardine Matheson has been unwilling to sell it.
These properties are located in the core areas of Xiangjiang. The annual rent is enough to make Jardine Matheson a huge profit.
It is for this reason that Jardine Matheson has always been unwilling to sell these properties.
No smart person would sell a hen that lays golden eggs every year.
So, for Jardine Matheson, it is impossible for them to sell these core properties until they are desperate. By keeping these properties, they can continue to collect high rents every month.
If you sell it, it’s really gone.
Wharf's stocks are no longer so important to them.
For an uncontrollable company, the future development direction of its shares is unclear, let alone the expectation of huge dividends from it.
It is precisely because of this that Nui Bijian specifically emphasized this matter.
As the head of Jardine Matheson, he naturally does not want Jardine to sell off all his most important properties.
In the conference room, everyone was whispering and talking.
As members of the board of directors of Jardine Matheson, they are proud of their British consortium.
Many of them are unwilling to sell Wharf stocks at low prices, but what can they do?
We can only face reality.
Ten minutes later, Tui Bijian looked at the time on his watch, stood up again and said, "Well, now that the time has come, everyone begins to vote. If you agree, please raise your hands. If you disagree, please don't. You need to raise your hand."
After saying that, Nui Bijian took the lead and raised his hand.
As the chief executive of Jardine, he has great authority within Jardine Matheson.
So, by raising his hand, he was taking the lead.
The Henry Keswick family, the major financier behind Jardine Matheson and Co., the actual controlling family, also has representatives here.
Last night, after Tui Bijian returned to his family, he immediately contacted the Henry Keswick family in the UK.
After weighing the pros and cons, we received the support of the contemporary patriarch of the Henry Keswick family.
Therefore, after Gui Bijian raised his hand, the representative of the Henry Keswick family in Hong Kong also raised his hand.
Some people who had already thought about it also raised their hands.
When some board members who were originally hesitant saw that Taipan and the Henry Keswick family supported the sale, they no longer hesitated and raised their hands directly.
The rest, only a small number of people, chose to oppose.
Looking at the voting site, Gui Bijian already knew the outcome.
The trend is irreversible.
The meeting secretary has also begun to carefully count the number of people one by one.
After the meeting, the meeting secretary handed the data to Nui Bijian.
"Everyone, let me announce the voting results of this meeting." Nian Bijian stood up and said.
Everyone fell silent instantly. Everyone knew the result, but the process still had to go.
"At this meeting, 38 people should be present, but 38 people were actually present. The voting results were: 32 people agreed and 6 people opposed. This meeting decided to pass the sale of 29.87% of Wharf's shares to Sioux City for a total price of HK$500 million. Sir." Ni Bijian announced the results of the meeting in a formal manner.
For Jardine Matheson, a British-owned group, the result of this meeting is shameful, but there is nothing we can do about it!
(End of this chapter)