Chapter 116 - Cooling Down the Market
Lin Haoran, completely unconcerned about the recent events, gradually felt his mood lighten.
Early the next morning, just after he got up, the servants had already prepared breakfast for him, along with several newspapers.
As expected, major newspapers like the Oriental Daily, the South China Morning Post, and the Hong Kong Securities Times all prominently featured major news regarding Qingzhou Cement Company.
The focus of the reports centered on the interview with Securities and Futures Commission Chairman Mike Smith, who publicly stated that a letter had been sent to Qingzhou Cement Company recommending that Mr. Lin Haoran purchase all shareholder stock at the highest transaction price from the past six months, thereby advancing the company's privatization process.
This news was bound to attract close attention from the general stockholders.
The reports detailed Qingzhou Cement Company's stock price movements over the past half-year, noting that it had peaked at 6 Hong Kong dollars per share, while yesterday's closing price was 3.86 Hong Kong dollars — a stark contrast that made investors see a significant profit opportunity.
Clearly, the media were intentionally heating up the story, aiming to spark broader social interest and discussion.
Seeing this, Lin Haoran's mind flashed with inspiration — a clever scheme silently formed in his mind.
Since they were so enthusiastically and freely helping him hype up Qingzhou Cement Company's stock, he certainly wouldn't let their "kindness" go to waste.
He decided to use this opportunity to make some money.
What was he most lacking now? Funds!
At the same time, he could use this opportunity to completely extinguish any desire people had to speculate on Qingzhou Cement Company's stock.
At nine o'clock in the morning, Lin Haoran hurried to Huanyu Investment Company.
"Everyone, we have work to do!" Lin Haoran convened a quick meeting with Su Zhixue and the others before the market opened.
The meeting's content was simple: today, Qingzhou Cement Company's stock would undoubtedly surge. Once it rose enough, they would sell!
At this point, Qingzhou Cement's stock was trading under 4 Hong Kong dollars, and many investors were clearly eyeing it greedily.
However, there weren't many shares left on the secondary market.
Lin Haoran and Wan'an Group collectively held 68.4% of the shares, while eight other board members collectively owned another 24.1%, meaning the board controlled 92.5% of all shares.
The remaining shares — held by ordinary retail investors — accounted for only 7.5% of the total share capital.
Assuming the company had 50 million shares outstanding, that meant just 3.75 million shares were floating freely.
The influence of those major newspapers was undeniable, and news of Qingzhou Cement Company's pending privatization rapidly spread across Hong Kong, sparking widespread market discussions.
Many investors quickly realized that if they could buy shares at below the expected privatization price, they stood to make substantial profits when Lin Haoran bought them out at 6 Hong Kong dollars per share.
Once the market opened, the few existing sell orders for Qingzhou Cement shares were immediately snapped up.
The stock price climbed steadily under buying pressure, stabilizing only after reaching nearly 5 Hong Kong dollars per share.
However, despite the noticeable price increase, actual trading volume remained relatively limited.
Most transactions came from retail investors who hadn't withdrawn their sell orders in time.
After ten minutes of trading, despite being a hot stock, Qingzhou Cement's volume was only around 200,000 shares — surprising and frustrating many retail investors and would-be market manipulators.
Many speculators grew anxious.
With so much attention on the stock, how could they not exploit the opportunity?
At this moment, Lin Haoran's Huanyu team made their move.
They began continuously releasing sell orders for Qingzhou Cement shares, pricing them all around 5 Hong Kong dollars.
For investors hoping to later sell at 6 Hong Kong dollars, a 20% short-term profit margin was very tempting.
The market responded enthusiastically: almost every sell order placed by Huanyu was immediately snapped up.
This frenzy wasn't just due to the widespread media reports — word of mouth among investors had made the news omnipresent.
Additionally, several naive but wealthy speculators caught wind of the "opportunity" and jumped into the buying spree, eager to profit.
With multiple factors converging, trading volumes skyrocketed, and the market atmosphere reached a fever pitch.
Throughout the morning, Huanyu successfully offloaded an astonishing 11.86 million shares of Qingzhou Cement.
After deducting fees, the team still netted approximately 59 million Hong Kong dollars.
As for Lin Haoran himself, he originally held about 34.2 million Qingzhou Cement shares through Wan'an Group.
After this round of selling, he had reduced his holdings by 11.86 million shares, leaving him with 22.34 million shares — maintaining a 44.68% stake, still enough to control Qingzhou Cement Company securely.
Lin Haoran had no intention of abandoning the privatization plan.
Rather, he aimed to privatize Qingzhou Cement completely.
However, before doing so, he intended to capitalize on the current situation to extract some gains from those attempting to profit at his expense — a move that deeply satisfied him.
The inspiration for this operation came from those newspaper reports.
By keenly sensing the subtle emotional undercurrents in the market, Lin Haoran decided to act against expectations, using investors' greed and fear to turn the so-called "smart players" into mere pawns.
Moreover, his previous share purchases had been at relatively low prices — especially his last batch, bought at an average price of just over 3 Hong Kong dollars per share.
Only the shares acquired from Li Jiacheng had been slightly more expensive — a necessary premium to eliminate Li Jiacheng's designs on Qingzhou Cement.
Thus, not only did this maneuver not cause him any losses, he actually made a tidy profit.
Meanwhile, in a high-rise building near Tsim Sha Tsui, the five British shareholders had also gathered.
Seeing the news reports and the stock's performance, they were ecstatic.
Their plan had succeeded — Lin Haoran would have to privatize Qingzhou Cement, meaning they could sell their shares at a handsome price, at least 6 Hong Kong dollars.
"Haha, looks like our strategy worked!" one shareholder laughed, slapping the table.
"In this situation, Lin Haoran will definitely be forced to convene a board meeting to ask us to sell.
When that happens, we must hold the line — no compromise on price!
At least 6 Hong Kong dollars per share, or we refuse to sell!"
"Exactly, we cannot back down!" another chimed in, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction.
"Six dollars a share is more than acceptable.
We must make Lin Haoran understand that our shares are not easily taken."
Laughter filled the room — a mix of joy at the profits they were about to realize and confidence in their grasp of the situation.
...
Wan'an Group Building, Huanyu Investment Office.
"Boss, should we continue selling this afternoon?" Su Zhixue asked after summarizing the morning's operations.
"Let's pause for now.
I have another plan.
If I want to continue, I'll call you," Lin Haoran replied with a smile.
Holding onto the current stake was sufficient.
Selling more might attract unwanted attention toward Qingzhou Cement.
Meanwhile, Lin Haoran called Burton at Qingzhou Cement Company, instructing him to arrange a press conference in an hour.
Given the media frenzy, many reporters had already been trying to find Lin Haoran — at either Qingzhou Cement or Wan'an Group — without success.
When news broke that Lin Haoran would be holding a press conference, the media were thrilled.
Within an hour, dozens of reporters had gathered at Qingzhou Building.
At 1:10 PM, Lin Haoran sat on the podium, gazing at the crowd of reporters, feeling a wave of emotion.
The last time he held a press conference had been when he became chairman of Qingzhou Cement — and the turnout then had been even larger.
Still, today's turnout was impressive, especially considering that no formal invitations had been sent.
Most reporters had come on their own initiative.
"Recently, there's been a lot of noise surrounding Qingzhou Cement Company," Lin Haoran began.
"As chairman, I prefer to keep a low profile, but since everyone is curious, I will make a statement."
"Yes, yesterday we did receive an official letter from the Securities and Futures Commission.
Since my direct and indirect holdings exceeded the 50% threshold, the Commission recommended that I launch a full acquisition and privatize Qingzhou Cement."
"However, due to my own financial constraints, I realized I lacked the funds to proceed.
I personally visited Chairman Mike Smith of the Securities and Futures Commission for advice."
"Mr. Smith informed me that to avoid triggering privatization, I would need to reduce my holdings below 50%."
"After returning from that meeting, I made a reluctant decision: to reduce my holdings below the trigger threshold."
"This morning, we successfully sold a portion of shares.
Only now do I realize how enthusiastic everyone is about Qingzhou Cement.
It shows your trust in my leadership, and for that, I am both proud and deeply pressured."
"I thank all investors.
Today's trading results show that everyone has confidence in Qingzhou Cement's future — proof that I have been successful as chairman."
"Therefore, I have decided that Qingzhou Cement Company will not be delisted.
Instead, we will continue as a publicly listed company."
"Moving forward, the company's profits will be invested in various projects to create greater value for our shareholders."
"Please trust my vision.
I firmly believe that Qingzhou Cement's future will not disappoint you."
"That's all I have to say today.
Goodbye."
With that, Lin Haoran quickly left the stage — giving the reporters no chance to ask questions.
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 20 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Albino1