Chapter 304 A Traitor Within, Ambition to Seize Land Development Corporation Exposed
In the following days, the rise in Aimeigao Company's stock price finally slowed, eventually stabilizing around a market capitalization of 2 billion Hong Kong dollars.
At this valuation, Aimeigao Company now ranked just over the thirtieth spot among listed companies in Hong Kong.
As the newly crowned chairman of a listed company, Liu Luanzhong naturally basked in endless glory, frequently giving interviews.
After raising 200 million Hong Kong dollars, Liu Luanzhong discussed plans with Lin Haoran and decided to make a major push into manufacturing, no longer limiting themselves to producing just fans and a few other products.
Additionally, they aimed to further expand and fully establish the Aimeigao brand.
Lin Haoran fully supported Liu Luanzhong's ambitious plans because he had never intended to hold onto his Aimeigao shares for too long.
The fact that Aimeigao Company's valuation could stabilize around 2 billion Hong Kong dollars had already exceeded his expectations.
It was much better than he had initially anticipated.
Originally, Lin Haoran thought that a valuation reaching over a billion would have been satisfactory.
Now, with the valuation around 2 billion, it meant the 40 million shares he held in Aimeigao Company were worth 800 million Hong Kong dollars!
And two years ago, he had only invested 1.2 million Hong Kong dollars.
Over the past two years, he had already received more than 300 million Hong Kong dollars in dividends from Aimeigao Company, not to mention that his shares were now worth another 800 million.
Next, his task was simple: find a suitable buyer and sell his shares in Aimeigao Company!
After all, if nothing unexpected happened, by next summer, Aimeigao Company's profits would drastically decline.
At that time, if the company's monthly profit shrank to only two or three million Hong Kong dollars, the 2 billion Hong Kong dollar market cap would inevitably fall as well, and a plunge to just a few hundred million would be normal.
Of course, finding a buyer wouldn't be easy, given how much money would be involved.
However, he wasn't in a rush.
At least not within this year.
If worst came to worst, he could slowly offload shares on the market, though it would be more difficult.
At that time, restrictions on shareholders cashing out were not as strict, and since Lin Haoran was not an executive of Aimeigao Company, selling his shares was completely legitimate.
Before the listing, Lin Haoran had discussed with Liu Luanzhong, who hoped he would take up the role of vice-chairman.
However, Lin Haoran had no interest at all and only agreed to be a board member.
After all, he had already planned to sell his shares — why compete for a position?
In fact, if he really wanted to, taking over Liu Luanzhong's position wouldn't have been difficult.
Both of them held 40 million shares each.
Liu Luanzhong was ultimately new to the capital game and lacked defensive awareness.
If Lin Haoran had secretly acquired a few more shares on the open market, he could have easily surpassed Liu Luanzhong and taken control.
But he had no interest in managing Aimeigao Company anymore.
Since he planned to sell, why bother fighting for control?
It was much more worthwhile to think about how to sell his shares at their current high valuation.
However, since he held too many shares, if he dumped them quickly on the secondary market, it could drag down the stock price and hurt Aimeigao Company's market cap.
Thus, finding a willing large buyer would be the best approach.
Lin Haoran speculated that if he discreetly put the word out, there would likely be interested parties.
But doing so immediately after listing would look suspicious.
He needed to wait for the right opportunity.
It was now September, and there was no need to rush.
Since Aimeigao Company had successfully listed and exceeded expectations, he could temporarily put Aimeigao matters aside.
Days passed quickly, and soon it was September 24th.
In the morning, Lin Haoran woke up in bed with Guan Jiahui lying next to him.
Her father, Guan Shan, was away on a business trip, and since yesterday was the Mid-Autumn Festival, she had voluntarily come over to spend the passionate holiday with him.
Lin's parents were on vacation in Southeast Asia, so he didn't return to the Deep Water Bay villa for the festival.
Having someone to share a lively festival night with was a pretty good life.
After breakfast, Lin Haoran had Li Weidong drive Guan Jiahui back to school.
With no urgent matters today, Lin Haoran wasn't in a hurry to go out.
Aimeigao Company had been listed for more than ten days, and its stock price had risen to a market capitalization of around 2.1 billion Hong Kong dollars, although there were occasional dips.
The market was still in a bull run, and with Liu Luanzhong constantly giving exclusive interviews and revealing grand plans, the stock continued to have upward momentum despite its already high valuation.
The entire market was booming — there was no way a high-profile listed company like Aimeigao would experience a major crash.
Even Hong Kong Electric's market cap had risen to nearly 5 billion Hong Kong dollars.
China Gas and Kowloon Motor Bus had also each surpassed 2 billion in market cap, both significantly larger than Aimeigao Company.
China Gas's market value had reached around 2.6 billion Hong Kong dollars.
Kowloon Motor Bus had also reached about 2.4 billion Hong Kong dollars.
All three companies ranked in the top thirty among listed companies in Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, Aimeigao Company fluctuated between the thirty-first and thirty-fifth spots depending on stock movements.
At about 9:00 a.m., Lin Haoran thought he would have a quiet morning at home and planned to have lunch before heading out when Su Zhixue suddenly called.
As soon as Lin Haoran answered, Su Zhixue said urgently, "Boss, bad news — our acquisition of Land Development Corporation shares has been exposed!"
"What happened? Tell me in detail," Lin Haoran asked, puzzled.
They had done a good job keeping things confidential.
For over a year, there had been no leaks at Universal Investment Company — how had this gotten out?
"Just now, I found out that today's Hong Kong Times ran a story, explicitly naming Universal Investment Company.
The article claims we've been secretly acquiring Land Development Corporation shares to take over this Hong Kong real estate giant.
Right now, I don't know where the leak came from," Su Zhixue explained.
The Hong Kong Times — the same newspaper that once falsely accused Hong Kong Electric's subsidiary, Fortress Electric, of misconduct.
Although later Niu Bik Kin apologized on television and the Hong Kong Times' credibility collapsed, causing it to fall out of the top ten newspapers and suffer major sales losses, apparently they were still unwilling to give up.
After that scandal, even Lin Haoran stopped subscribing to the Hong Kong Times.
Clearly, the leak had come from within Universal Investment Company.
Even though confidentiality agreements were signed, no agreement could completely eliminate the possibility of betrayal when big enough profits were at stake.
Universal Investment now had many employees; some likely thought they could leak information without getting caught.
Fortunately, both the Land Development Corporation and Jardines Matheson acquisition teams had their tasks segmented — even if information leaked, no one but Su Zhixue knew exactly how many shares they owned.
"Alright, I understand. No need to panic.
Given the amount of stock we now hold, our chances of taking control of Land Development Corporation are over 90%," Lin Haoran said with a smile.
Currently, Universal Investment Company's stake in Land Development Corporation had surpassed 29%.
Including the 6% controlled by Hong Kong Electric, Lin Haoran effectively controlled over 35% of the company.
According to previous investigations, the British consortia and Jardines Matheson collectively controlled only around 30%.
Of course, there could be hidden holdings he hadn't uncovered.
Thus, Lin Haoran had been in no hurry to announce his control, wanting to secure an even firmer advantage.
Now, ironically, someone else had revealed it before he had planned to.
"Boss, what's the plan next? Land Development's stock will probably go crazy today," Su Zhixue asked.
"How many shares does Universal Investment currently hold?" Lin Haoran asked.
"As of yesterday's close, we hold 29.36% of Land Development Corporation," Su Zhixue reported.
"Once the market opens, sweep the market.
Buy whatever shares are listed for sale. Absorb as much as you can. I'll head to the company shortly," Lin Haoran instructed.
Since they were exposed, there was no point hiding anymore.
The battle for control of Land Development Corporation would begin earlier than planned.
"Li Weiguo, go buy me a copy of the Hong Kong Times," Lin Haoran ordered after hanging up.
Li Weidong hadn't yet returned from Kowloon, and since the leak had already happened, there was no need to rush.
"Yes, boss!" Li Weiguo hurried off.
There was a newsstand about a kilometer away; it wouldn't take long.
Five minutes later, Li Weiguo returned with the newspaper.
Lin Haoran quickly found the article and began reading it carefully.
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