Chapter 2334: A Tender Offer?

After the meal, Xue Yuanfang naturally had to leave.

Having sent someone to escort him back, Zhao Fusheng and Zhang Qian strolled through the neighborhood.

Around them, bodyguards loomed indistinctly.

“Can he be trusted?”

Zhang Qian suddenly spoke.

He was, of course, referring to Xue Yuanfang.

“Probably.”

Zhao Fusheng smiled. “Profit is often the thing that most moves people’s hearts. For him, the greatest benefit lies in cooperating with me, so naturally there won’t be any betrayal.”

He dared not trust anyone.

Especially business partners.

For Zhao Fusheng, trusting them was like handing over his own head.

He could only choose to bind them with interests.

Only then could he ensure he wouldn’t be harmed.

Of course, Zhang Qian was undoubtedly an exception.

He was one of those he trusted most.

Or rather, from beginning to end, the few people Zhao Fusheng trusted most were those who had followed him from Ninghai to the capital.

No matter the time, people always distinguish between close and distant.

Dong Chenxi, Zheng Yao, Zhang Qian, Dong Guoxiang—these people had followed Zhao Fusheng from nothing, from obscurity to their current success.

For Zhao Fusheng, they were the ones he trusted and felt most at ease with.

To put it bluntly,

if one day Zhao Fusheng felt his end was near, the people he would choose to entrust with his affairs would surely be among them.

This was something even Jiang Wen and Yu Feihong couldn’t match.

Because they were more or less influenced by those around them in the entertainment industry.

But in the hearts of Dong Chenxi and the others, Zhao Fusheng’s interests were their interests.

Of that, there was no doubt!

That was why Zhang Qian had asked Zhao Fusheng that question.

But since Zhao Fusheng said Xue Yuanfang could be trusted, he naturally wouldn’t take any further action.

For Zhang Qian, Zhao Fusheng’s words were commands.

He had to obey.

“During this time, strengthen the security measures around me.”

Zhao Fusheng instructed Zhang Qian. “Also, arrange people around Zheng Yao and Dong Chenxi—don’t give anyone an opening.”

He had his reasons for doing this.

One must not have the heart to harm others, but must have the heart to guard against them.

Who knew whether Ren Zhi might be scheming behind the scenes?

If something happened due to his carelessness, it would be too late for regrets.

Zhao Fusheng would never allow such a situation to occur.

He would rather something happen to himself than to his friends because of him.

This was a fundamental principle of being a person.

Zhang Qian naturally understood his meaning and nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ve already arranged people to protect them.”

Zhao Fusheng’s friends were also Zhang Qian’s friends; he naturally knew what Zhao Fusheng was thinking.

Hearing Zhang Qian’s words, Zhao Fusheng nodded in satisfaction.

This was what he appreciated most about Zhang Qian—he could always guess what he was thinking.

That was why Zhang Qian had earned his greatest trust.

A capable, loyal, and sufficiently intelligent subordinate—what leader wouldn’t like that?

Unless Zhao Fusheng had gone mad.

Otherwise, he would certainly trust Zhang Qian implicitly.

After seeing Zhao Fusheng back to his residence, Zhang Qian left the villa.

…

…

The next day.

Just when everyone thought things were calm,

the stock market opened.

“Chairman, something’s wrong!”

Ren Zhi’s secretary rushed into the office in a panic.

“What’s the panic!”

Ren Zhi said irritably. “The sky hasn’t fallen yet!”

Though he knew it was likely about the stock market, he still forced calm and asked, “What exactly happened?”

“Since this morning, someone has been heavily buying up our stock.”

The secretary said to Ren Zhi with a wry smile.

Ren Zhi’s expression changed slightly. “What’s the situation now?”

“It’s not clear yet. The funds seem to be hot money. Our stock has already risen three percent and is still climbing. The other side seems to be buying as much as they can.”

The secretary reported what he knew to Ren Zhi.

Ren Zhi’s face darkened.

He knew this must be related to Zhao Fusheng.

No one else would target him so crazily.

But the question was, why was he doing this?

After all, driving up Huayuan Real Estate’s stock price now would mean Zhao Fusheng would have to spend even more money if he later dumped the shares. Wasn’t he afraid that if the stock price fell to a certain level, his own costs would suffer?

Thinking about this, Ren Zhi was baffled.

That Zhao Fusheng, after all, was still a businessman.

But since he was a businessman, how could he not understand how big the problem was?

The principle of killing a thousand enemies while losing eight hundred of your own—

he couldn’t possibly not understand!

“Chairman, what do we do now?”

The secretary asked Ren Zhi in a low voice.

The situation now was that Huayuan Real Estate’s stock price kept rising, but everyone knew this wasn’t a good thing.

Once the other side accumulated enough shares to trigger a tender offer, they might launch a takeover of the company.

A so-called tender offer, designed to protect the interests of small and medium investors and prevent institutional investors from manipulating stock prices, according to the Securities Law, requires an investor holding five percent of a listed company’s issued shares to file a written report with the securities regulatory authority and the stock exchange within three days of that fact, notify the listed company, and make a public announcement, as well as fulfill other legal obligations. In the industry, this is called a tender offer.

In China, tender offers are common.

Previously, there were insurance-funded tender offers; now, there are quasi-tender offers by the China Securities Finance Corporation, sparking a craze for tender-offer concept stocks.

In the operational patterns of the stock market, tender offers often occur during the transition from a bear to a bull market, and share increases are generally interpreted as positive signals.

After an investor makes a tender offer, the shares they hold are locked up for at least six months.

Most companies listed on Chinese stock exchanges have state-owned or legal-person shares accounting for sixty percent of total share capital, which are currently not tradable by law. A few large state-owned or legal-person shareholders determine all major matters of these companies.

For companies where non-tradable shares account for more than half of total share capital, no matter how many tradable shares an investor buys on the secondary market, they cannot determine major company matters. Therefore, control transfers in these companies are mainly conducted through off-market negotiated transfers between state-owned or legal-person shareholders and large investors, generally unrelated to the tradable stock market, making tender offers impossible.

But Huayuan Real Estate was different.

Huayuan Real Estate was not a state-owned enterprise; it was Ren Zhi’s private company.

In other words, once Zhao Fusheng’s shareholding reached a certain number, he could make a tender offer to acquire the entire Huayuan Real Estate.

And that was precisely what Ren Zhi could not accept.

Generally speaking, a tender offer is a good thing—it means large funds are optimistic about the company’s development, indicating a high probability of future stock price increases.

Such shares generally cannot be transferred in the short term, effectively locking up some of the chips.

It’s considered a small positive.

But things must be viewed separately, analyzing the price and market conditions at the time of the tender offer, because it involves many interests and may involve insider trading or illegal activities.

So it can’t be generalized. Under current market conditions, a company subject to a tender offer at least has some of its chips locked up, which from a pure chip perspective is beneficial for future stock prices.

Moreover, tender offers also have drawbacks.

First, it depends on who is making the offer.

For example, if a large company like Future Investment, a well-known investment firm, makes a tender offer, Huayuan Real Estate’s stock would certainly keep rising.

But the problem is, when Future Investment pulls out, the stock price would also plummet.

Furthermore, a tender offer has a significant impact on the company.

In the Vanke-Baoneng equity dispute back then, Vanke’s stock price rose and then fell.

It can actually be seen as a positive—a successful tender offer implies a restructuring of the listed company’s assets.

If after restructuring, high-quality assets are injected or the structure is optimized, a tender offer is basically positive, especially a successful one; after a successful tender offer, the stock price usually rises significantly. But ultimately, stock prices must follow fundamentals—a company actively generating profits is the real driving force for stock price increases.

Moreover, if a competitor makes a hostile tender offer to fight for control, it is detrimental to the company’s stability.

Clearly, if Zhao Fusheng made a tender offer, it would obviously not be with good intentions.

Ren Zhi knew this very well.

“Convene the board of directors immediately.”

Ren Zhi gritted his teeth and finally made up his mind.

No matter what, this couldn’t continue.

That Zhao Fusheng was coming with force; he had to respond.

Otherwise, once the other side completed its layout, what awaited Huayuan Real Estate and himself would surely be a thunderous blow!

Ren Zhi was very clear on this point.

After years of ups and downs in the business world, even though he had backing, his own abilities were top-notch.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been chosen as the leader of Huayuan Real Estate.

Soon, the board members of Huayuan Real Estate gathered in the meeting room.

As soon as they entered, they saw Ren Zhi sitting there with a gloomy expression.

During this time, Huayuan Real Estate’s shares had risen another two percent.

By the morning market close, Huayuan Real Estate’s stock had risen five percent.

Rumors outside said that Future Investment, the most mysterious venture capital firm in the country, would make a tender offer to acquire Huayuan Real Estate.

For a time, investors followed suit.

But as company shareholders, everyone knew that was pure nonsense.

Because just yesterday and the day before, Huayuan Real Estate’s chairman, Ren Zhi, had clashed with Future Group’s CEO Zheng Yao and company chairman Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng had even declared he would bring down Huayuan Real Estate!

Under these circumstances, Future Investment would have to be crazy to make a tender offer for the company.

Wait!

Could it be true?

Suddenly, someone realized the crux of the problem.

What if the other side had done this intentionally?

Imagine: Future Investment makes a tender offer for Huayuan Real Estate, then announces it’s not interested in the company—what would the result be?

Just thinking about it made their expressions turn ugly.

They knew very well that Future Investment absolutely had that influence.

After all, it was one of the most successful investment companies in all of China and even the entire Asian region over the past decade.

Even Sun Zhengyi of SoftBank Group had repeatedly said that in terms of investment returns alone, Future Investment was more successful than SoftBank Group.

After all, SoftBank’s investment model was essentially casting a wide net.

Spreading out hundreds of millions in venture capital, as long as a few companies eventually went public, Sun Zhengyi’s returns would be in the hundreds of millions.

That was their business model.

In contrast, Future Investment was not like that.

Over the years, Future Investment’s projects, as outsiders put it, never missed the mark.

Basically, whenever Zhao Fusheng personally got involved, he rarely failed.

Moreover, many times, the industries Future Investment invested in were ones others couldn’t see the prospects for, yet they resolutely invested.

By the time the companies went public, everyone realized Zhao Fusheng had already laid the groundwork.

Under these circumstances,

Zhao Fusheng’s reputation naturally grew larger and larger.

To be honest, if Zhao Fusheng were a shareholder of Huayuan Real Estate, everyone would naturally be in a good mood.

After all, that would mean the legendary Asian investment tycoon was optimistic about Huayuan Real Estate’s development.

But the problem now was that Zhao Fusheng was not their teammate.

He was their opponent.

That was awkward!

For a moment, everyone’s gaze turned to Ren Zhi.

No one present was a fool.

Everyone knew the whole trouble was caused by him.

Even if Ren Zhi’s starting point was to suppress Future Real Estate and reduce a competitor for Huayuan Real Estate,

the problem was that he hadn’t done it perfectly.

Now, Zhao Fusheng had come knocking at their door.

And Huayuan Real Estate had no means to fight back.

That was the real trouble!

“Chairman, I think we need to respond as soon as possible.”

Soon, someone spoke to Ren Zhi.

They were all businessmen, no fools. At this point, everyone knew clearly the scale of the problem they needed to face and solve.

The issue now was how to deal with Zhao Fusheng’s attack.

Whether to surrender or fight back.

And all of that depended on Ren Zhi’s decision.

After all, he was the chairman of Huayuan Real Estate.

Ren Zhi knew this himself.

Most of these people were just waiting to see him make a fool of himself; in other words, these bastards were waiting for him to take the fall.

Even if he had backing, everyone sitting here had backing too.

They were all about the same; no one was afraid of anyone.

If Huayuan Real Estate emerged victorious, he would ultimately gain nothing, but conversely, if the company ran into trouble, he would definitely be the one to take responsibility.

That’s how these things always went.