Chapter 156: Sensation in Hong Kong
Monday, October 2004, .

It's a new week, and the Hong Kong stock market opens.

It was supposed to be a very ordinary day, but on this day, Zhou Shan Capital issued an announcement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, officially raising its stake in Golden Harvest Entertainment Group.

At the same time, Zhoushan Capital and Jiahe held a joint press conference.

At the press conference, Zhong Lifang announced on behalf of Zhoushan Capital that it had purchased 21.6% of Golden Harvest’s shares held by Mr. Zou Wenhuai, becoming the largest single shareholder of Golden Harvest.

At the same time, Zhong Lifang also officially announced that Zhoushan Capital currently holds a total of 40.6% of the shares of Golden Harvest Entertainment Group, which has exceeded 30%, and will launch a tender offer for Golden Harvest.

In the afternoon, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange also officially issued an announcement that due to major changes in Golden Harvest’s shareholders, its shares were officially suspended.

Trading of Golden Harvest shares on the Stock Exchange was suspended from 3:00 p.m. on October 6.

In just one day, the various changes surrounding Golden Harvest caught the media off guard.

As time went on, the news that Golden Harvest was about to change its owner caused an uproar in Hong Kong.

No one expected that the Hong Kong film giant, which has been in operation for 34 years and has been prominent for 30 years since its establishment in 1970, is about to change hands.

Although everyone knows that this day is only a matter of time when Jiahe is in a half-dead state now.

But when this day really comes, it still makes people sigh.

Especially those who grew up watching Golden Harvest Films feel a little reluctant, because no one knows whether this brand can be retained after Golden Harvest is acquired.

However, after everyone sighed, they became very interested in Zhoushan Capital, which acquired Jiahe.

Not only ordinary people, but also major media in Hong Kong have long begun to search for information about this investment institution.

But they searched for a long time and found no valuable information. It felt like this company seemed to have appeared out of thin air.

However, some media that have relatively frequent exchanges with the mainland immediately learned some information about Zhoushan Capital.

This investment company bought the bottom of three major portal websites during the Internet bubble. Now, as the stock prices of these three websites continue to soar, this has become a good investment story of Zhoushan Capital.

Some media outlets are even more resourceful and have discovered that the big boss behind Zhoushan Capital is none other than the famous mainland director Liu Zhou.

The person in charge of its mainland film and television studio is Zhong Lifang, who is also the spokesperson for Zhoushan Capital in this acquisition.

When this news came out, not only the Hong Kong financial community and media were shocked, but the Hong Kong entertainment circle was also in an uproar.

No one expected that the young director was actually a hidden tycoon!

This news has crossed the strait and started to spread to the mainland, spreading rapidly.

Mainland media also began to report on this extensively. After all, this is a relatively rare case of mainland capital acquiring a Hong Kong listed company.

The southern media were almost praising Liu Zhou to the skies, and were even about to give him the title of the number one person in the mainland film and television industry.

This is just the media level. For people in the industry, it is extremely shocking.

Huayi, Wang Zhongjun’s office.

The Wang brothers and Feng Kuazi looked at each other in silence and could only smoke non-stop.

Finally, Wang Zhongjun sighed and said:

"It seems that we underestimated him. We didn't expect him to be so well hidden."

"Brother, should we continue to target him?"

"Stop all your actions for now. Since he secretly acquired Jiahe, he is not the kind of person without ambition.

We were all deceived by his small studio before. After he acquired Golden Harvest, he has grown stronger. We should not confront him head-on for the time being."

Wang Zhongjun knew clearly that the combination of Liu Zhou and Jiahe had officially surpassed Huayi in terms of both size and strength.

Huayi will soon have no advantage over Liu Zhou!
In the new scene, Zhang Weiping and Zhang Yimou looked at the newspapers in their hands and looked at each other in confusion.

Is this still the young man who was chatting and laughing with them a month ago?
On the set of a film crew, Huang Xiaoming was shocked at first when he heard the news, but then he couldn't help but reveal a wicked smile.

It seems that my previous decision to join Liu Zhou Studio was absolutely correct.

In Hong Kong, Andy Lau quickly called Liu Zhou to confirm the truth of the news.

Du Wenzhe, who had a lot of grudges with Liu Zhou, was still shouting, but his voice was a little lower.

In the past, Liu Zhou might not have been able to deal with him in the mainland, but now that he is about to take over Golden Harvest and become a local player in the Hong Kong film and television industry, it will be much easier for him to deal with a small actor like him.

In a small corner of Emperor Entertainment Group's Artist Activity Room, Janice Man and Yang Baobei were staring at the familiar figure in the newspaper in a daze.

After a while, Wen Yongshan asked in disbelief:

"Is this Liu Zhou the Liu Sheng from that night?"

Compared to Wen Yongshan, Yang Baobei was more excited and said:

"Yes, it's him! No wonder Mr. Yang respects him so much, it turns out he is so capable."

At this moment, Yang Baobei was not only excited, but also very happy.

Because Liu Zhou had not contacted her before, she had been a little worried and thought that they would never have any contact in the future.

I didn't expect that he was doing something important. No wonder he didn't have time to call me.

At this moment, she couldn't help but look forward to their next meeting.

Whether people knew Liu Zhou or not, their expressions varied when they saw the news, but the only thing in common was shock!

Liu Zhou knew nothing about this and had neither the energy nor the time to care.

His phone has been almost blown up these two days!

At this time, Liu Zhou had just hung up the phone with Han Shanping when Emperor Entertainment Group President Yang called again.

Although a little tired, Liu Zhou still cheered up and answered the phone.

"Boss Liu, you are really tight-lipped. You suddenly did such a big thing!"

"Haha, Mr. Yang, you have to forgive me for this. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, this matter needs to be kept strictly confidential."

"I understand, but I didn't expect that we, Emperor Group, were going to the north to find food, but you, Mr. Liu, went the other way and went south to find food."

"When I come to Hong Kong, I need you to take good care of me, Mr. Yang!"

"Of course, but it can't be called care. We all support each other."

“Yes, support each other!”

"I know Mr. Liu is quite busy now. When you are done with this period, we can call Mr. Han and have a good gathering."
"No problem, I'll arrange it then."

The two chatted for a few more words and then hung up the phone. Liu Zhou immediately stopped smiling and leaned back on the sofa with a tired look on his face.

"Mr. Liu, do you want to take a break?" Zhong Lifang asked with concern.

"No need. Have you completed the transaction with Li Chaoren?"

“It’s all delivered.”

"If that's the case, then let's make it public and resolve the battle as quickly as possible."

"Okay Mr. Liu."

The next day, October 10th.

Zhou Shan Capital once again announced to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it has acquired 12% of the shares held by Li Chaoren, the second largest shareholder of Jiahe.

At the same time, it once again acquired all the shares of several small shareholders of Jiahe, totaling 12.4%.

So far, Zhoushan Capital has acquired a total of 65% of the shares of Golden Harvest Entertainment Group.

Because it holds more than 2% of the shares, Zhoushan Capital officially launched a mandatory takeover offer at HK$ per share, with the deadline being November , for a period of one month.

This news once again shocked the Hong Kong media.

They didn't expect that Zhoushan Capital would be so fast!
No matter what, it is a foregone conclusion that Liu Zhou will take over Jiahe.

But now it seems that Liu Zhou is preparing to delist Golden Harvest completely.

Compared with others, those who hold Golden Harvest shares have the most complicated feelings.

The remaining 35% of Golden Harvest shares are mostly in the hands of retail investors, and there are almost no institutions in Hong Kong that hold Golden Harvest shares.

The acquisition price of HK$2 per share is almost double the previous price.

If someone had offered to buy their stocks at that price before, they would definitely have sold them happily.

But now is a takeover, and this is the best time to fish in troubled waters and watch the stock price soar.

In every takeover war that took place in Hong Kong, was there any time when the share prices of the acquired companies did not rise rapidly?

At first they felt very lucky and thought that this good luck had finally fallen on their heads.

However, no one expected Liu Zhou to be so quick and increase his stake to 65% in one go, instantly eliminating the suspense of the acquisition.

Now you can either sell your stocks to Zhoushan Capital and settle down safely, or hold on to them and gamble on whether they will make your stocks appreciate in value or turn into a piece of waste paper.

Due to the experience of being cheated many times, capital is the least trustworthy, so most people choose to settle down and live a safe life.

Time slowly came to the end of October. In less than a month, Zhoushan Capital officially submitted an announcement that it had acquired 90.8% of the shares of Golden Harvest Entertainment Group.

If the offer deadline had not yet arrived, Liu Zhou could have initiated a full mandatory takeover offer at this time, which means that those who still hold Jiahe shares must be forced to sell their shares to Zhoushan Capital according to the share price before Jiahe was suspended.

Those who originally wanted to wait and see knew that if they didn't sell their stocks, they would become even less valuable.

When it came to November 10, the deadline for the offer period, Zhoushan Capital submitted another announcement, stating that it currently owns 99.6% of Jiahe’s shares and has applied for a full mandatory takeover offer.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange also formally approved Zhou Shan Capital's application.

The remaining Golden Harvest stock owners may not know about the acquisition of Golden Harvest, but it has no impact anymore.

Their shares will be forcibly delivered and the money will be transferred into their accounts.

On November 11, Zhou Shan Capital announced that it had acquired 100% of Golden Harvest’s shares, and Golden Harvest Entertainment Group was officially delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

As soon as this news came out, it was once again reported by major media in Hong Kong and the mainland.

Liu Zhou didn't pay attention to the disturbances in the outside world. Now that the acquisition of Jiahe was finally settled, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"Mr. Liu, it's not time to relax yet. There are many media outlets out there that want to interview you, not only from Hong Kong but also from the mainland and Taiwan."

"If that's the case, why not just hold a press conference? I'm too lazy to accept interviews one by one, and you can ask Mr. Zou Wenhuai if he wants to attend."

Liu Zhou was not intentionally rubbing salt into Zou Wenhuai's wounds, but many media outlets must have wanted to interview him at this time.

Instead of disturbing him all the time, it is better to attend the press conference together and solve the problem once and for all.

"Okay Mr. Liu."

As soon as Zhong Lifang asked, Zou Wenhuai immediately agreed.

On the 15th, Zhoushan Capital and Jiahe held another joint press conference.

The last press conference was rather rushed, and it just ended after releasing some information.

It has been confirmed that Liu Zhou and Zou Wenhuai will attend this time, so there are thousands of media outlets present.

Fortunately, Zhong Lifang had the foresight to directly rent the venue of the convention and exhibition center to accommodate all these people.

"Mr. Liu, why did you choose to acquire Jiahe?"

Liu Zhou responded to this question sincerely:

“First of all, Golden Harvest has a strong foundation which I really need and it can complement my career very well.

Another point is my feelings towards Golden Harvest. I am from Guangzhou and grew up watching Hong Kong movies. When I was a kid, as soon as I saw four squares appear and heard the music "dang, dang, dang, dang", I knew the movie must be good.

Golden Harvest is a great film company, and I feel honored to be able to take over Golden Harvest. We are holding this press conference today to tell everyone that Golden Harvest is back and is back to making movies!"

A reporter then asked:

"Mr. Liu, can your acquisition of Golden Harvest be seen as your official entry into the Hong Kong film market?"

“No, the center of the future film market will be the mainland, and Hong Kong films will definitely move closer to the mainland!
It’s just that there are cultural differences between Hong Kong and the mainland, so it’s not easy to cooperate. The acquisition of Golden Harvest is to build a bridge to better cooperate with Hong Kong’s outstanding filmmakers and directors.”

In addition to Liu Zhou, Zou Wenhuai was also besieged by reporters, but he was more at ease. When faced with reporters' questions about why he sold Golden Harvest, he said with emotion:
“I have been working in the film industry for 50 years, and my brain power and eyesight have declined. I cannot occupy the seat all the time.

My biggest regret now is that the mainland film industry was opened up too late. If it had been opened up 20 years earlier, when I was 20 years younger, I would have had the opportunity to personally experience the rise of Chinese films.”

When asked by reporters whether he felt sad about selling his stake in Golden Harvest, he did not give a direct answer:

"Everything has its end. The most important thing is to find someone you are satisfied with to work with. Liu Zhou is an outstanding filmmaker. His achievements are obvious to all. I feel relieved to hand over Golden Harvest to him!"

After answering a few more questions, the press conference officially ended.

When the news that Liu Zhou had really completed the acquisition of Golden Harvest spread back to the mainland, both the media and netizens went crazy about it.

Jiahe, this is Jiahe!
Liu Zhou actually acquired Golden Harvest!
Golden Harvest is known for its Golden Harvest movies that can be found almost wherever there are Chinese people.

This once most glorious film company in Hong Kong now belongs to Liu Zhou.

(End of this chapter)