Chapter 228: The Collector of Public Utility Listed Companies
When Kwok Tak Seng said those words, it signaled that he had decided to give up the acquisition of Kowloon Motor Bus and would instead focus on China Motor Bus. The gap between the two companies was not significant, and capturing China Motor Bus was certainly better than a total failure in this acquisition attempt.
"Then, shall we discuss how to arrange the stock exchange between our two sides?" Lin Haoran said with a smile. He was already eager to acquire the Kowloon Motor Bus shares held by Sun Hung Kai Properties. Once he took over that portion, his holdings would surpass those of the current largest shareholder, Lui Che-woo. Although he would not immediately gain controlling rights, he would become the largest single shareholder. With a little more effort, he could fully take control of Kowloon Motor Bus and become its new owner.
Kwok Tak Seng, having made his decision, clearly didn't want to waste any more time on Kowloon Motor Bus.
"I have a proposal," Kwok said, smiling. "Let's exchange our shares at the acquisition cost price. What do you think?"
Stock-swapping was a win-win plan; there was no need to profit from each other. In fact, Kwok was slightly at a disadvantage because Sun Hung Kai had invested considerable effort into acquiring Kowloon Motor Bus shares. On the other hand, Huanyu Investment's purchase of China Motor Bus shares was only a recent move. They had deployed only a few traders and in just one trading day had already acquired 4.82% of China Motor Bus.
Of course, this success was largely due to favorable conditions. China Motor Bus had low trading volume, and the number of sell orders far exceeded buy orders. Simply absorbing the available sell orders allowed them to acquire a significant position. In contrast, Kowloon Motor Bus faced fierce competition, with high trading volumes and rising prices, making acquisition increasingly costly.
"Mr. Kwok is truly straightforward. Then it's settled. Why don't we finalize the transaction today? That way, tomorrow we can each focus on our respective targets," Lin Haoran said cheerfully.
"Of course!" Kwok nodded in agreement.
"Mr. Kwok, may I use your phone? I need to call my securities manager," Lin Haoran said, rising.
"Ping Cheung, take Mr. Lin to the next room," Kwok instructed his son.
"Please come with me, Mr. Lin," said Kwok Ping Cheung respectfully.
Twenty minutes later, Su Zhixue rushed over to Sun Hung Kai's headquarters carrying the necessary documents.
After Su Zhixue, representing Huanyu Investment, and Sun Hung Kai's team completed the stock transfer paperwork, Lin Haoran shook hands with Kwok Tak Seng. "Mr. Kwok, may our cooperation be a success!"
"And may you successfully acquire Kowloon Motor Bus!" Kwok said with a hearty laugh.
"And I wish you success with China Motor Bus!" Lin Haoran replied with a smile.
At that moment, it seemed that both public utility companies had already fallen into their hands.
With the deal done, Lin Haoran and Su Zhixue returned to Wanqing Tower.
"Boss, our holdings in Kowloon Motor Bus have now reached 31.33%. I think we should go on the offensive — officially announce a takeover bid for Kowloon Motor Bus. Sun Hung Kai is no longer a competitor, which is good news for us. But Eagle Group is still lurking, and we don't know how many shares they hold," Su Zhixue suggested in Lin Haoran's office.
Before Lin Haoran became the largest shareholder, the top stakeholder in Kowloon Motor Bus was Lui Che-woo, holding about 22%. However, Lui was only a director, not the chairman; his main focus was on his real estate company, Kowloon Development. Chairman duties at Kowloon Motor Bus remained with one of the founders, Tang Siu Kin, though he held relatively few shares himself.
The founding families — the Lui family, Lam family, Tang family, and Tam family — jointly held about 35%.
Thus, even though Lin Haoran was now the largest single shareholder, with 31.33%, he had not yet secured full control. To truly dominate Kowloon Motor Bus, he would have to surpass the collective holdings of the founding alliance.
After some thought, Lin Haoran made his decision. He needed to raise his stake a few more points. Once he did, he would have undisputed control.
Since the Lui family focused mainly on Kowloon Development and not on Kowloon Motor Bus, and the other founders lacked the funds or inclination to increase their holdings, the path forward was clear.
"Tomorrow after the market opens, start aggressively buying more shares. No need to announce it yet. Set the price cap as you see fit. I want Huanyu Investment's holdings to exceed 36% by the end of trading tomorrow," Lin Haoran ordered.
With 36%, he would effectively control the company. Although still vulnerable to coordinated resistance, it would be much harder for others to seize control. Further small increases could be made slowly afterward.
Thus, Kowloon Motor Bus's share price would naturally spike due to heavy buying pressure.
Although this would drive up the cost slightly, dragging things out would push the price even higher.
Speed was crucial — a rapid assault, much like the "Dawn Raid" style famously used in past takeovers, was the best strategy.
In the future, after Hong Kong's regulations matured and disclosure rules tightened, this method would no longer work.
But for now, the stock market's rules were still full of loopholes — the perfect environment for aggressive, stealthy acquisitions.
Past examples showed that many major takeovers in Hong Kong's history succeeded precisely because they amassed significant stakes secretly before launching official bids.
Even Li Ka-shing had been caught out when his clandestine stake in Wharf Holdings was leaked early, forcing him to sell to Bao Yugang under less favorable terms.
"Understood, Boss. I'll handle it," Su Zhixue said respectfully.
The next morning, May 14th, the market opened at 9:30 a.m. sharp.
Before trading began, Su Zhixue gathered the entire Kowloon Motor Bus project team, merging it with the soon-to-be-dissolved China Motor Bus team.
Today, they would focus all efforts on buying Kowloon Motor Bus shares aggressively.
Lin Haoran didn't arrive at Wanqing Tower until just before noon.
By then, most employees were at lunch, but Su Zhixue remained in his office, analyzing trading data.
"You're not going to lunch?" Lin Haoran asked in surprise.
"I had someone bring me a boxed lunch. It's fine," Su Zhixue replied casually.
Lin Haoran nodded. "How's the buying progress?" he asked, deeply concerned, knowing that success today could significantly shift his power.
After all, acquiring Kowloon Motor Bus would mean adding another major public utility company to his empire.
Combined with Hongkong Electric Group and Hongkong and China Gas Company,
he would hold three major public utilities.
He would no longer just be known as a collector of British-owned enterprises — he would be called the Collector of Public Utility Listed Companies.
"Boss, this morning we didn't move too aggressively, to avoid alarming others.
We simply increased our normal buying volume.
Without Sun Hung Kai competing anymore, our absorption rate has improved dramatically.
In just the morning session, we boosted our holdings by nearly 2%.
This afternoon, we'll continue buying steadily.
Near the market close, we'll sweep up the sell orders in one go to push our stake past 36%," Su Zhixue reported.
Lin Haoran nodded in satisfaction.
If they added nearly 2% by midday,
reaching over 36% by the end of the day would not be difficult.
Meanwhile, over at Eagle Group headquarters, Chairman Lo Ying Shek was also listening to a report from his son, Lo Yuk Sui.
Their strategic acquisition of Kowloon Motor Bus had only been underway for about a week.
Yet, they quickly realized that the trading volume was huge but their absorption rate was disappointingly low.
Initially, they thought it was just a popular stock among retail investors.
But once they started buying seriously, they sensed something was wrong.
"You mean there are other competitors?" Lo Ying Shek asked.
"Yes, Dad.
I consulted with a securities expert.
He's convinced that besides us, other consortiums are also aggressively buying in.
Our current holdings are still small.
If someone else is already far ahead, our chances of success are slim.
Maybe we should shift our focus.
We did study both Kowloon and China Motor Bus, after all," Lo Yuk Sui advised.
Lo Ying Shek paced the office, deep in thought.
After a week of effort, they held only about 3.26% of Kowloon Motor Bus — far from enough.
"What if we try to buy Lui Che-woo's 22% stake directly?
If we can get that, we might still take control," Lo Ying Shek said, unwilling to give up.
Get 30% off on my Patreon and enjoy early access to new chapters.
You can also purchase the next 100 chapters of the novel directly from my Patreon page.
Hurry up! The promotion ends on February 2, 2026.
Read 30 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Albino1