Chapter 353: The British Consortium Has Not Yet Given Up on Jardine Matheson
With mixed feelings, Niu Bijian returned to the main office of Jardine Matheson.
He had just arrived when the phone rang.
Although Niu Bijian didn't know who was calling, he still picked up the receiver as quickly as possible.
"Hello, Mr. Niu Bijian? You finally answered! I've been trying to reach you for ages—no one was picking up," the voice on the other end said before Niu Bijian could speak.
The voice was extremely familiar—Niu Bijian immediately recognized who it was.
Sure enough, it was none other than the renowned former taipan of Jardine Matheson, Mr. Henry Keswick.
"Mr. Henry, is there something I can help you with?" Niu Bijian asked, slightly surprised that his former superior was contacting him.
Compared to himself, Niu Bijian felt that Henry Keswick was the one who had suffered the greatest blow.
After Lin Haoran abruptly declared his takeover of the Hongkong Land Group and indirectly seized control of Jardine Matheson, at the very least, Niu Bijian remained as the acting taipan of Jardine.
Henry Keswick, on the other hand, had completely lost his voice within the company.
This was mainly because Lin Haoran had secured a dominant grip over Jardine, holding 49.1% of its shares—enough to maintain absolute control.
Though Henry still owned over 10% of the shares, in the current situation, that stake was no longer significant.
Just like when Henry had previously allied with other shareholders on the board to remove Lin Haoran from the board of directors—reducing him to an ordinary shareholder—now, even though Lin hadn't formally expelled Henry from the board, Henry's influence had essentially dwindled to that of a regular shareholder.
Henry had lost his authority, while his once-rival now held supreme control.
Given the circumstances, how could anyone expect Henry to still have any say in the company? That was clearly impossible.
"Mr. Niu Bijian, are you free right now? I'd like to have a word with you—preferably without anyone else knowing," Henry said.
"I'm free, Mr. Henry. Just give me a location, and I'll head there right away!" Niu Bijian replied without hesitation.
Now, he was still the taipan of Jardine Matheson. As long as Lin Haoran didn't interfere, he was effectively the boss. Even if he went out during work hours for personal matters, no one would question him.
Besides, he was very curious—what exactly did Henry want to talk to him about?
It had been a week since Lin Haoran took control of Jardine and the Hongkong Land Group.
At first, Niu Bijian thought that Henry and the other British consortiums would surely launch a counterattack soon.
But a whole week had passed without a single move from them.
Just as Niu Bijian began to suspect that Henry and the others had completely given up on Jardine Matheson, he unexpectedly received this call.
Now, he wondered—what exactly did Henry want?
"In that case, I'll wait for you at the Atlantic Café, next to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Central," Henry continued.
The Atlantic Café was a coffee chain owned by the Keswick family.
It was a modest brand, primarily operating in the UK. In Hong Kong, there were only two branches, and they had no ties with Jardine Matheson.
Precisely because it was family-owned, Henry chose it as the meeting location.
"Alright, Mr. Henry. I'll be there in twenty minutes," Niu Bijian replied.
"I'll be waiting!" Henry said before hanging up.
Niu Bijian, who had just returned to his office and hadn't even warmed his chair, got up and left again.
Before he left, he told his secretary, "I'm heading out for something. If anything comes up, wait until I get back."
About ten minutes later, Niu Bijian arrived at a private booth in the Atlantic Café.
The room was filled with the rich aroma of coffee, and there sat Henry Keswick, who had been silent for a week, calmly sipping his drink.
When he saw Niu Bijian, Henry stood up and shook hands with him.
"Mr. Henry, I thought you had already left Hong Kong and gone back to the UK," Niu Bijian said with a smile.
"Not until I take back Jardine. How could I possibly go back to the UK without a fight?" Henry replied.
"Mr. Henry, given Jardine's current situation, you still haven't given up on it?" Niu Bijian asked in surprise.
Although he had guessed beforehand that Henry was planning a counterattack, hearing it firsthand still surprised him.
After all, the Keswick family only held about 12% of Jardine's shares. Lin Haoran, on the other hand, controlled 49.1%, nearly 50%.
In such a scenario, Niu couldn't fathom how Henry still had any means to reclaim the company.
"Although Jardine wasn't founded by the Keswick family, we've been involved with it for many years. I'm the fifth generation, and under my leadership, the company reached its peak. So unless it's absolutely unavoidable, how could we possibly give it up?" Henry sighed.
Losing control of Jardine was a disgrace to the Keswick family. He could already imagine the ridicule they'd face back in the UK.
To be forcefully stripped of Jardine Matheson by a Chinese businessman—who could endure such humiliation?
"So then, Mr. Henry, why have you come to see me? Surely you know that even with a change in ownership, I'm still the taipan of Jardine," Niu Bijian asked with a smile.
"Mr. Niu, although you're still the taipan of Jardine, I've heard that Mr. Ma Shiming is now the taipan of the Hongkong Land Group. And since Lin Haoran declared Hongkong Land to be Jardine's parent company, that means your former subordinate is now your superior. I imagine you're not too thrilled about that, are you?" Henry said with a faint smile.
He had chosen this moment deliberately to reach out to Niu Bijian—to persuade him to return to the British camp.
Niu had served as taipan of Jardine for many years and remained highly influential. Otherwise, his position wouldn't have remained so stable.
During the past week, Henry had not been idle. He'd been running around, working relentlessly to reclaim control of Jardine.
As for Hongkong Land, he had completely given up on it.
Forget Hongkong Land—if he could reclaim Jardine, that alone would be a massive victory.
Over the past week, Henry had worked tirelessly to rally support from British interests, and his efforts had revealed a glimmer of hope.
If he could also win Niu Bijian over, that glimmer would become even brighter.
Therefore, even though Niu had once declared his allegiance to Lin Haoran, and they had even clashed internally—Henry had tried to oust him before—he was now willing to extend an olive branch for the greater good.
If convincing Niu meant swallowing his pride temporarily, then so be it.
A true leader must be able to bend when necessary—compromise was worth it for the sake of final victory.
Of course, Henry couldn't say he held no resentment toward Niu Bijian.
After all, it was Niu who had proposed the mutual-control policy between Jardine and Hongkong Land, which allowed Lin Haoran to indirectly take over Jardine.
So, in many ways, Niu bore significant responsibility for Jardine's current predicament.
What infuriated Henry even more was that his former protégé—the taipan he had groomed—had been the first to publicly support Lin Haoran.
Such a betrayal was nearly unforgivable.
Yet, even so, he had to endure it.
The bigger picture came first.
If there was a future opportunity to reclaim Jardine, he could deal with Niu then.
"No hard feelings. I've already reached an understanding with Mr. Ma Shiming—we'll run our respective domains. He handles Hongkong Land, and I'll focus on Jardine," Niu said with a smile.
But behind that smile, only he knew if there was any bitterness buried deep inside.
He simply didn't want to show that dissatisfaction in front of Henry.
From the moment he chose to support Lin Haoran, Niu knew he was no longer aligned with Henry and the others.
Still, he had no regrets.
He was just a professional manager. Whoever the boss was, that's who he served.
Loyalty to a boss, for him, was just a part of the job.
"Mr. Niu, I'll be blunt—I've gained some confidence in retaking Jardine. I came here today hoping for your support," Henry said solemnly, getting straight to the point. Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
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