Chapter 117: Weren't You Going Private? Now You're Making Us Hold the Bag?
Seeing this, Burton immediately instructed everyone to clear the venue.
At that moment, the reporters were completely dumbfounded.
Wasn't Qingzhou Yingni supposed to be going private?
How had things suddenly turned out like this?
Now that the controlling stake had been reduced to below 50%, what private buyout was there to talk about?
Moreover, Lin Haoran had openly admitted that he simply didn't have the money. Even if he wanted to take the company private, he couldn't afford to do it.
This was huge—an absolute bombshell.
The investors in the stock market had made a massive misjudgment. Lin Haoran had never intended to privatize the company in the first place.
If that was the case, where would the dream of a HK$6 buyout price come from?
As the reporters left, the news spread like wildfire. Within half an hour, nearly every investor at the Stock Exchange—and indeed throughout Hong Kong—had heard about it.
Inside an office building in Tsim Sha Tsui, the five British shareholders also received the news.
The three Chinese shareholders heard about it as well.
They were stunned.
Completely stunned.
What happened to the promised privatization?
As Lin Haoran's entire speech circulated through various channels, more and more people learned the full details.
Almost immediately, countless investors began cursing.
They had only wanted to make a quick 20% profit.
Instead, they were now trapped holding overpriced shares.
"We have great confidence in Qingzhou Yingni?"
"You've done a fantastic job as chairman?"
"You're going to reinvest all the company's profits? Isn't the company losing enough money already?"
"What the hell? We just got turned into bag holders!"
"Who the hell bought Qingzhou Yingni because you're the chairman? I only wanted to make that extra one dollar per share! Was that too much to ask?"
...
No matter how loudly they complained, it was useless.
After all, their own greed had gotten them into this situation.
The once-booming stock market immediately began to collapse.
HK$4.90...
HK$4.70...
HK$4.50...
HK$4.00...
The share price quickly fell below HK$4.
And it kept dropping.
HK$3.90...
HK$3.80...
HK$3.70...
No one had expected that less than thirty minutes after the announcement, the latest trading price would once again plunge below HK$3.50.
Meanwhile, Lin Haoran was closely monitoring the market.
Seeing the sharp decline, he immediately called Su Zhixue and instructed the Universal Investment team to begin accumulating shares again.
The target was 2.65 million shares, while keeping the average purchase price below HK$4 per share.
There was naturally a careful calculation behind this decision.
After his earlier share sale, Lin Haoran's stake in Qingzhou Yingni had fallen to 44.68%.
By repurchasing an additional 2.65 million shares, his ownership would rise back to approximately 49.9%.
This perfectly positioned him just below the mandatory takeover threshold while leaving himself maximum strategic flexibility for future moves.
Before 4:00 p.m., Lin Haoran returned to Universal Investment.
"Mr. Lin, here's today's report," Su Zhixue said. "We've successfully completed the assignment. We acquired 2.65 million shares at a total cost of HK$9.75 million, with an average purchase price of approximately HK$3.68 per share."
"Excellent," Lin Haoran replied with an approving smile.
"Your team's efficiency and execution exceeded my expectations."
Money saved was money earned.
With that, the shares under his control had once again reached the critical 49.9% threshold.
If he wanted to launch a privatization offer in the future, he could do so whenever the timing was right.
Lin Haoran knew full well that this move had offended a great many retail investors.
Many of them were probably cursing him behind his back.
But he didn't care in the slightest.
After all, those people had only bought the stock hoping to profit at his expense.
If that was their goal, why should he show them any mercy?
The shares he had sold earlier that day would soon be bought back.
And he would repurchase them at prices far lower than the HK$5 per share at which he had sold them.
As long as the average price difference remained around HK$1 per share, this round-trip transaction alone would net him well over HK$10 million in profit.
It was an incredibly easy way to make money.
Better yet, other people had practically forced him into making it.
Originally, he hadn't planned on doing this at all.
As for taking Qingzhou Yingni private—it had now become inevitable.
Lin Haoran knew that, at present, no one outside the company understood Qingzhou Yingni's true financial condition.
Naturally, the market had no confidence in the company under his leadership.
But once everyone eventually discovered that Qingzhou Yingni's finances weren't merely improving—but had improved dramatically—the stock price would undoubtedly soar.
Although he could use the company's profits to fund future investments, once the true financial statements became public, the remaining eight shareholders would also realize how valuable the company had become.
By then, they might no longer be willing to sell.
Instead, they would choose to keep their shares.
That was the last thing Lin Haoran wanted.
Therefore, while everyone still distrusted him, this was the perfect time to privatize the company.
However, he intended to do it at the right moment.
This time, he planned to first acquire all of the eight remaining major shareholders' stakes before dealing with the shares still circulating in the public market.
Coincidentally, the shares he had just sold would provide him with enough cash to purchase those eight shareholders' holdings.
Now, the question was how to make those eight shareholders come to him voluntarily.
After causing such a commotion, it was obvious they desperately wanted to sell their Qingzhou Yingni shares.
What they wanted was simply a better selling price.
Unfortunately for them, Lin Haoran had no intention of giving them what they wanted.
Inside a commercial building in Tsim Sha Tsui, the five British shareholders gathered once again.
"The situation has reached this point," one of them said first, breaking the silence.
"What should we do now?"
"I really regret not selling this morning," another sighed bitterly.
"Back then, we could still have gotten HK$5 per share."
"Exactly," a third shareholder agreed.
"Who could have imagined Lin Haoran would pull something like this? Now there are millions of shares waiting to be sold in the market. It'll be even harder for us to get out."
"Why don't we invite the other three Chinese shareholders as well?"
"They also own shares, and they're probably just as anxious to sell."
"After all, the five of us were the ones who planned this entire scheme."
"If it had succeeded, they would've benefited without lifting a finger."
"That's hardly fair."
"Good point," another shareholder nodded.
"There are plenty of clever Chinese businessmen. Perhaps they'll come up with a new solution."
"Then it's settled."
"I'll contact them."
"I still have all their contact information."
"It shouldn't take long to gather everyone."
...
An hour later, all eight shareholders had assembled.
When the three Chinese shareholders learned that everything over the past two days had been orchestrated by the five British shareholders, they were astonished.
That morning, they too had considered selling when the stock reached HK$5.
Trading volume had been enormous.
However, believing Lin Haoran would eventually buy them out at an even higher price, they had chosen not to sell.
Both the five British shareholders and the three Chinese shareholders had shared exactly the same expectation.
Who would have thought the outcome would be completely different?
None of them had expected Lin Haoran to act so decisively by dumping such a huge number of shares, completely destroying their plan.
"Harold is right," one British shareholder said sincerely.
"Now we're all in the same boat."
"If anyone has ideas, we should discuss them openly."
In truth, the five of them had already exhausted every possible option they could think of.
None had produced a satisfactory solution.
That was why they had placed their hopes on the three Chinese shareholders, expecting fresh perspectives.
At that moment, one of the Chinese shareholders spoke.
"Considering Lin Haoran's massive sell-off today, Qingzhou Yingni's trading volume exceeded ten million shares."
"I'm almost certain that the vast majority of those sell orders came from him."
"That means he has already cashed out more than ten million shares."
"He should now have at least HK$50 million—perhaps even HK$60 million—in cash."
"All eight of us combined only hold around twelve million shares."
"From a financial standpoint, he absolutely has enough money to buy us out."
"The real question is..."
"How do we persuade him to do so?"
After pausing briefly, he looked around the room before continuing.
"At this point, we've already given up on selling at a premium."
"Our priority now is simply finding a reasonable price and cutting our losses."
"So we need to pool our ideas and figure out a plan that convinces him to take our shares while allowing us to cash out as quickly as possible."
His words made the atmosphere in the conference room even heavier.
Everyone began seriously considering this difficult reality.
"That's true," one shareholder said first.
"Lin Haoran sold a huge amount of stock today at HK$5 per share."
"He must now be sitting on an enormous amount of cash."
"But the key issue is how to persuade him to buy our shares."
"Judging from today's events, he no longer seems interested in taking Qingzhou Yingni private."
"Otherwise, he never would have sold so many shares."
"Even so, with the stake he still controls, his position as the company's controlling shareholder remains completely secure."
"Even if all eight of us join forces, our influence on the board is practically negligible."
"He definitely intended to privatize the company before," an older shareholder said.
"Otherwise, he wouldn't have quietly accumulated so many shares."
"But because of everything that's happened, he seems to have abandoned the idea."
"Perhaps we should take the initiative and speak to him directly."
"I agree."
"Let's simply call a board meeting."
"We'll put everything on the table."
"With everyone present, maybe we can persuade him to offer us a reasonable price."
"Young people are always overly ambitious," another shareholder joked.
"They all think they can run a company better than anyone else."
"He probably wanted to privatize the company because he didn't want to share future profits with shareholders."
"Perhaps we can guide him into seeing that buying us out would actually benefit everyone."
"Ever since he became chairman, he has barely shown up at the company."
"I have absolutely no confidence that a chairman like him will accomplish anything."
"I even heard him say at today's press conference that he plans to use the company's profits for investments."
"There's no point in continuing to hold shares in this company."
"The sooner we sell, the better."
"In that case, it's settled."
"I'll contact Lin Haoran personally."
"We'll arrange a board meeting."
"Then everyone can work together to persuade him to buy our shares."
(End of Chapter)
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