Rebirth 2006, creating a super consortium

"Hello, Mr. Li!"

"Hello, Mr. An. I didn't expect you to be younger than I thought!"

In the CEO's office at the Yingke Group's headquarters, An Xin finally met Li Zekai, who is known as the "Little Superman" in the Chinese world.

Compared with his father Li Ka-shing's steady and ruthless personality and his brother Li Zeju's low-key and prudent personality, the impression he left on the public is too complicated, with endless gossip, the messy Cyberport, the missed opportunity of Tencent, and Li Ka-shing's son.

An Xin stared at him carefully for a while, then praised him with a smile: "Mr. Li, you look very young and full of energy. You don't look like a 40-year-old at all."

This is the truth. Li Zekai wore a blue casual suit today, paired with white trousers and a pair of black-framed glasses. With his smiling face, he looked really young.

After hearing An Xin's compliments, Li Zekai smiled even more. After politely inviting An Xin to sit on the sofa, he said with a smile, "Mr. An, you are too kind. I am already 40 years old. How can I still be young?"

"Age and actual status are not necessarily linked!"

An Xin explained a little bit first, and then went straight to the point: "Mr. Li, I believe you know why I came here, and I don't like to dilly-dally. What do you think of the acquisition valuation of Yingke Insurance Company, HK$35 billion?"

Li Zekai nodded, then quickly shook his head, and then said with a smile: "Mr. Li, the acquisition valuation of HK$35 billion is indeed a relatively ideal price for Yingke Insurance. I am also willing to sell my 50.2% Yingke Insurance shares at this price, but before that, I hope Mr. An can answer two questions for me."

The drama is coming!

An Xin's heart instantly became alert, but she still had a calm smile on her face: "Oh? I wonder what question Mr. Li wants to ask me?"

Li Zekai didn't hesitate and threw the question out directly: "Mr. An, I wonder what role you play in Yuanfang Financial Group, and is Yuanfang Financial Group willing to accept investment?"

It seems that Li Zekai has set his sights on the upcoming cake of Yuanfang Finance!

An Xin did not answer his question directly, but asked with a smile: "Mr. Li, I wonder if the final results of these two questions will affect Yuanfang Finance's acquisition of Yingke Insurance?"

Li Zekai shook his head directly, and then replied very simply: "Don't worry, no matter what the result is, Yingke Insurance will be sold to you. To be honest, Yingke Insurance is too small and I don't like it very much."

This is true. In 2012, in his previous life, Li Zekai spent 160 billion Hong Kong dollars to acquire ING's insurance business in Hong Kong, Macau and Thailand, and established FWD Insurance Group.

After more than a decade of rapid expansion, FWD Insurance became one of the top ten insurance companies in Asia in 2023, with total assets exceeding US$600 billion and an outrageous market valuation of US$150 billion. This valuation is simply a joke, with mergers and acquisitions every year and losses every year. No matter PE, PB or PS, this value cannot be estimated.

But valuation is always just valuation. As long as it fails to go public, it will be nothing more than a flower in the mirror or a moon in the water.

FWD Insurance’s three consecutive IPO attempts were rejected. It will start its fourth IPO attempt in 3. An Xin is not sure what the result will be. After all, he has been reborn!

But Anxin believes that even if FWD Insurance is successfully listed, it will only become a tool for harvesting in the hands of Li Zekai in the future.

After all, Li Zekai is a big capital player at heart, and he always plays the same game: identify the target, quickly acquire, integrate asset packages, continuously merge and acquire, enrich the asset package, go public to reap the profits, squeeze out the value and give up, and then continue to choose suitable targets. This has not changed in decades.

After thinking carefully for a while, An Xin looked at Li Zekai and said, "Since Mr. Li is so straightforward, I won't hide it. I am indeed the chairman of the board of directors of Yuanfang Financial Group. I personally hold 20% of the shares and hold the remaining 80% on behalf of others. As for who the 80% of the shares belong to, I can't say that. I hope Mr. Li will understand."

Obviously, An Xin was just talking nonsense and even intended to mislead Li Zekai's judgment.

But Li Zekai didn't seem surprised by this answer. He stared at An Xin for a long time, then suddenly stretched out his finger and pointed towards the north. His meaning was very obvious.

Seeing this, An Xin nodded at him!

Since you are willing to think in this direction, I will help you. Actually, it is not wrong. I am indeed from the mainland.

Li Zekai suddenly realized, and then said with a smile: "Mr. An, in this case, it seems that I have no chance to invest in Yuanfang Financial Group?"

An Xin smiled at him apologetically and said, "Mr. Li, I'm sorry, Yuanfang Financial Group is not short of money, nor is it short of financing channels."

Li Zekai nodded in understanding, then said with regret: "It seems that we are not destined to be colleagues."

I don't trust you at all, you're my colleague. If I let you in, what's the difference between that and letting a wolf into the house?

It is possible that Yuanfang Financial Group will be the next "Cyberport" project and become a tool for Li Zekai to make money.

"Haha, it doesn't matter if we can't be colleagues, can't we still cooperate?" An Xin laughed, and then said politely: "Yingke Insurance is our first cooperative project, maybe there will be other opportunities for cooperation in the future."

There are almost no opportunities for future cooperation. Li Zekai neither has nor can provide what An Xin wants.

If it were his father, Li Ka-shing, An Xin would be interested in talking to him. It's because Li Ka-shing is so good at hiding his assets!

Whether you love Li Ka-shing or hate him, he is a well-deserved genius in the Chinese business community, and the title of "Superman Li" is not undeserved.

In addition to the Cheung Kong Group and Hutchison Whampoa, which are on the surface, he has been investing frantically in basic industries and energy and mineral industries around the world through family offices and offshore trust companies for decades. How much this hidden asset is worth is impossible for anyone else to know except Li Ka-shing and his financial team.

In her previous life, when An Xin was working at Morgan Stanley, she took over the acquisition commission business of Li Jiacheng's family office. The acquisition project was a Canadian mining company with a market value of up to 145 billion US dollars. Then Li Jiacheng's family office finalized the investment of 145 billion US dollars within a month, and the payment method was pure cash flow. This operation shocked An Xin and directly refreshed her understanding of Li Jiacheng's wealth...

Li Zekai is a smart man. He obviously heard that this was Anxin's polite remark, but he was not angry. After all, Anxin gave an acquisition valuation of HK$35 billion, and 50.2% is HK$17.57 billion, which is enough to make a big profit.

After all, he only spent about 17.57 billion Hong Kong dollars to acquire Haiyu Group for a backdoor listing, so Yingke Insurance was a free pick-up. Together with the 30 billion Hong Kong dollars this time, he has squeezed out at least billion in profits from Yingke Insurance over the years, which is enough.

After figuring it out, Li Zekai stood up and stretched out his right hand to An Xin, saying with a smile: "Mr. An, 17.57 billion and 50.2% of Yingke Insurance's equity are yours. Happy cooperation!"

Seeing this, An Xin also stood up and shook Li Zekai's hand, saying with a smile: "Happy cooperation!"

Yingke Insurance is available!

At this point, all the core shortcomings of Yuanfang Financial Group have been made up!

Next stop, the world’s financial giant!

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