We are all reborn, who wants to be the richest man?

After Hong Kong Finance reported on the wealth list, everyone knew that Luo Nianzhong still had such a large amount of liquidity.

The whole world is watching to see where the money in his hands will go.

Through these, we can analyze the potential of this industry and see if we can follow the trend and drink some soup behind the richest man.

More than 10 billion US dollars? Two billion US dollars is not a problem for Luo Nianzhong now.

He really wouldn't invest this money in his hands, but he had more important things to do before that.

In the office of Far East Group CEO Welch, in addition to Welch and Luo Nianzhong, there is also Li Xiang, the president of Watsons.

"So, Pfizer wants to bring in new companies?" As soon as he sat down, Luo Nianzhong asked to know the specifics of the pharmaceutical layout.

"Yes, both companies agreed to our plan, but they felt that our shareholding was too high and wanted to bring Bristol-Myers Squibb in."

Welch briefly talked to Luo Nianzhong about the progress of Far East's plan to enter the pharmaceutical industry in the past two months.

"Bristol Squibb, I remember this company is also one of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies in China, right?"

Welch nodded and gave Luo Nianzhong a detailed introduction.

"This company is a major manufacturer of morphine and penicillin, and they have made great achievements in cosmetics, medical devices, etc., which can completely complement Watsons.

Then there are their channels in Europe and South America. Once merged, these channels will overlap with Pfizer's. They can be sold to Watsons, allowing Watsons to completely complete its global layout. After that, they only need to consolidate their development."

"Where are the drawbacks?" This is what Luo Nianzhong is most concerned about. He doesn't believe there are no drawbacks, otherwise Welch wouldn't have to rush to find him.

"The disadvantage is that once we agree to the four-party merger, our shares will drop to less than 30%. Although we are still the largest shareholder, if those three companies join forces, they will suppress us on the board of directors."

The pros and cons have been explained clearly to Luo Nianzhong, and now we are waiting for his decision.

"What's your judgment?" Luo Nianzhong was not in a hurry, but still wanted to hear Welch's opinion.

As for Li Xiang on the side, he had no right to make a decision at all. The reason he was called here today was because the matter was related to the Watsons.

Welch thought for a moment and said, "I'm inclined to say yes to them.

The first is that they are not monolithic, they all have their own interests, and it is not easy to get together. We only need to win over an ally to completely control this company."

The second point is that we can use this as a condition to split their daily chemicals, cosmetics and Bristol-Myers Squibb channel resources to Watsons, allowing Watsons to complete its transformation.

If we follow normal procedures, we will definitely pay a high price if we want to win these. This is an opportunity."

This area is really too tempting. After Watsons was acquired by Luo Nianzhong, it began to invest heavily in rapid development in Asia.

If we win the marketing channels in other regions through this cooperation, we will directly rise to the global retail giant industry, and the rest will be determined by the product.

"Okay, let's decide."

Luo Nianzhong agreed to Welch's plan.

In fact, even if Welch objects, he will agree because he has plenty of opportunities to increase his stake.

Just when the entire group's resources began to be tilted towards this major merger in the pharmaceutical industry, Luo Nianzhong finally took action on the financial industry in Hong Kong Island.

Banks on Hong Kong Island can be divided into two major categories, namely banks registered locally on Hong Kong Island and banks not registered locally and operating branches on Hong Kong Island.

The former is represented by local banks such as HSBC and Hang Seng, while the latter is represented by Standard Chartered and other banks from European and American island countries.

Although foreign banks are coming fiercely, as far as the savings business on Hong Kong Island is concerned, they can't even catch up.

HSBC and Hang Seng alone account for nearly half of the savings on Hong Kong Island. Together with many Chinese-owned banks, it can be said that they basically account for more than 80% of the savings on Hong Kong Island.

Needless to say, it is impossible for foreign banks to let Luo Nianzhong acquire it.

And Hang Seng’s major shareholder is HSBC. Don’t even think about it. At least it’s impossible now. What Luo Nianzhong can target are the weaker Chinese banks.

Now, there is an excellent opportunity, that is, Wan Guo Baotong intends to sell Far Eastern Bank.

Far East Bank, from its name, do you think it has something to do with Far East Group? Actually not, it was established much earlier than the Far East Group.

It was founded by Hong Kong businessman Qiu Dekan.

In the early 1950s, Qiu Degen, who was born in Shanghai, came to Hong Kong Island with his wife.

First, I worked part-time at a friend's place. After establishing myself, I returned to my old business and opened a movie theater.

Since all the good trouble spots at that time were occupied by people, he found another way and set his sights on the countryside.

Sure enough, his theater was very popular as soon as it opened, and the theaters were full.

After making money, he began to replicate this model and opened theaters one by one to every village, which made him earn his first pot of gold.

After getting money, Qiu Degen knew that this was not a long-term solution. Sooner or later, this kind of old and small theaters would be ended by the big theaters, so he set his sights on the banking industry.

Like theaters, the banking industry at that time was keen on doing business for wealthy people in urban areas and did not bother to develop in the countryside. This gave Qiu Degen an opportunity.

At that time, he was thinking that although the country people were poor, they could save money, and there were so many of them. As long as one person saved a little money, it would be a huge number.

In this way, in 1960, Qiu Degen founded the Far East Bank, which ranked first in the New Territories in terms of deposits, and there was no one to compete with him.

After having a large amount of mobilizable funds, Qiu Degen began to develop real estate and made an earth-shattering decision, claiming to build the tallest building in the New Territories.

Soon after, the high-rise building he named the Far East Bank Building broke ground. It took four years to complete the construction. Its 17-story height made it stand out in the New Territories.

At this time, the New Territories also ushered in a development boom. A large number of factories were built, which also brought a large number of depositors to the Far East Bank. They were no longer country people without much money.

So Far East Bank opened branches in the New Territories. He was also known as the New Territories banking giant and the richest man in the New Territories.

But the good times did not last long. In 1965, a bank run occurred on Hong Kong Island. The crisis soon spread to the entire Hong Kong Island, and Far East Bank was not immune to it.

Although Far East Bank survived and did not go bankrupt, its strength is not as good as before.

Misfortune never comes singly. Two years later, the Hong Kong Island incident made Qiu Degen unable to bear it any longer. In 69, he sold 76% of his shares to Universal Bank, which is also known as Citibank.

After the two parties experienced a honeymoon period, conflicts began to emerge. Qiu Degen ran Far East Bank as a family business and had monopoly power.

But the current major shareholder is indeed Citigroup, and it still controls absolutely.

They were dissatisfied with some of Qiu Degen's decisions, saying they were inconsistent with the rules of North American banks.

But Qiu Degen was also very tough and told them "this is Hong Kong Island."

This tit-for-tat confrontation also prompted Citibank to exercise its major shareholder rights and reorganize Far East Bank's top personnel, which completely touched Qiu Degen's bottom line.

Two years ago, the two sides faced off against Bo in court, but it was difficult for a strong dragon to defeat a local snake. Even though Citigroup had a controlling stake, in terms of personnel rights, the court's decision was more favorable to Qiu Degen.

If nothing else, more than a year later, this four-year lawsuit ended with Citigroup selling its shares back to Qiu Degen.

As for it taking so long, it's because there's simply no one to take over.

With Hang Seng, HSBC doesn't need Far East Bank at all.

Those other consortiums on Hong Kong Island are either afraid to enter the banking industry due to HSBC and others, or they cannot take over because of Qiu Degen's face.

What about foreign banks? Do you think anyone will become the second Citigroup after seeing the current situation?

But Luo Nianzhong can do it. In terms of influence on Hong Kong Island now, ten Qiu Degens are not enough to defeat Luo Nianzhong.

He and Qiu Degen didn't know each other, so there was no need to give him face. Moreover, there was no pressure from Luo Nianzhong from HSBC, and he was still scheming against each other.

Luo Nianzhong also knew that after the stock market crash two years later, Far East Bank still did not escape the turmoil.

Rather than being sold cheaply by Qiu Degen at that time, it would be better to take over Far East Bank while it still has certain assets.

Things went very smoothly. It only took three days from the time Luo Nianzhong sent someone to contact Citibank to the two parties reaching a deal.

Even Citibank made some concessions on the price, but I don't know if no one is willing to take over, doesn't want to let go of Luo Ninzhong, who is interested, or just hates Qiu Degen.

Qiu Degen, who was originally cheerful, turned green after hearing the news and didn't eat all day.

After knowing that he could not monopolize power in Far Eastern Bank, he approached Far Eastern Group.

Welch received him and gave him face. Luo Nianzhong even asked Welch to give him a promise that Far East Group would be willing to help him if he had difficulties in the future.

Qiu Degen can be regarded as a wise man who understands current affairs. He knows that his little arms cannot hold up Luo Nianzhong's thigh in Hong Kong Island. Now that he has such a promise, he no longer talks nonsense.

Finally, Far East Group fully acquired Far East Bank for HK$1.3 million, and also had its own settlement center.

After the news was made public, HSBC's senior manager Shen Bi immediately called Luo Nianzhong.

The two chatted a lot, but inside and outside the conversation, he was inquiring about whether Far East Group had any plans to enter the banking industry.

Luo Nianzhong also told him clearly that he had no such idea now.

The acquisition of Far East Bank was only part of the group's strategy. He also told Shen Bi that he had been promised that HSBC would become the payroll bank of the Far East Group and would not change.

After the two parties made an appointment to play ball together when they were free, Luo Nianzhong put down the phone and informed the finance department that the future employee year-end bonuses of Far East Group would be given to Far East Bank, and he spent 300 million Hong Kong dollars to start Far East Bank's expansion in Hong Kong Island. road.

On the other side, Shen Bi also began to ask people to pay close attention to Far East Group and Far East Bank.

After Luo Nianzhong found out about this incident, he and HSBC had already become estranged, but he didn't care.

If the Luo family wants to develop the financial industry and HSBC will eventually fight to the death, he has many ways to slowly eat away at HSBC's various privileges on Hong Kong Island.