Chapter 290 Letting the Wolf In, Becoming the Largest Shareholder
One day later, Lin Haoran successfully obtained the investigation data he needed.
As expected, careful preparation yielded rich rewards.
After thoroughly comparing the materials, he confirmed that the information President Liu had provided was genuine, with no signs of forgery.
Additionally, Lin Haoran had the investigation company conduct a detailed probe into the main shareholders of Supplee Logistics Company, focusing especially on the latest movements and situations of the second and third-largest shareholders.
As for the current Chairman of Supplee Logistics—who was also the company's largest shareholder and founder—further investigation revealed it would be difficult to acquire shares directly from him.
This Chairman highly valued his control over the company and had even refused an acquisition proposal from Royal Mail out of fear of losing his dominant position.
To maintain control, he had established an AB share structure at the time of the company's IPO.
AB shares meant issuing two classes of stock: A shares and B shares, with different voting rights and dividend entitlements.
This structure allowed the founders and top executives to retain control even after the company went public.
It was similar to how companies like Wheelock & Co. in Hong Kong operated.
However, now that the company was in crisis, perhaps there would be a change of heart—but that would only become clear through future negotiations.
Supplee Logistics had a history spanning nearly thirty years but only went public three years ago.
Thus, a large proportion of the founding shares were still intact.
The founder currently held 26% of the shares and, thanks to a large holding of B shares, controlled about 40% of the voting rights—thus retaining dominant control.
The second-largest shareholder was a British angel investment consortium, holding 12%, mainly providing funding without participating in daily operations.
It was thanks to this consortium that Supplee had successfully gone public.
The third and fourth-largest shareholders were also co-founders, each holding about 10%, although the fourth-largest shareholder had sold his stake to President Liu after the IPO, making Liu the current fourth-largest shareholder.
These four made up the core of Supplee Logistics' shareholder structure.
Through the investigation, Lin Haoran discovered that the angel consortium was looking for a buyer for its 12% stake.
They lacked confidence in Supplee's ability to compete against the powerful Squid Capital backing DHL.
It was revealed that this consortium had contacted several potential buyers, but negotiations fell through due to low bids.
Thus, acquiring their shares seemed highly feasible.
With this information, Lin Haoran made a decision:
He intended to control at least 50% of Supplee's shares—or at the very least, secure over 40% to surpass the founder's voting rights.
On the morning of August 19th, Lin Haoran appeared at the London branch president's office of Citibank.
His goal was to commission Citibank's securities division to start quietly accumulating shares in Supplee Logistics.
His relationship with Citibank was solid.
To secure support, he even called Walter Wriston, the head of Citibank in New York, right in front of the London branch president.
After the call, the branch president's attitude changed dramatically—becoming extremely respectful and attentive.
Lin Haoran's strategy was clear:
He wanted Citibank's securities team to discreetly buy up as many shares as possible without alerting the market or artificially inflating the stock price.
For Lin Haoran, acquiring a company with a total market value of just 50 million pounds was no big deal.
After all, he had borrowed 2 billion Hong Kong dollars from HSBC not long ago—his cash reserves were abundant.
Moreover, the Supplee Chairman had been actively seeking financing, providing Lin Haoran with the perfect cover.
Of course, the Chairman could never have imagined that this financing would essentially be inviting a wolf into the house.
After arranging the stock acquisition plan, Lin Haoran felt relieved.
He decided he would control Supplee before returning to Hong Kong.
Given he only planned to stay in the UK for about two more weeks, time was tight.
Leaving Citibank, Lin Haoran immediately called President Liu.
The call quickly connected.
"Uncle Liu, it's Haoran," he greeted with a smile.
"Haoran, have you decided about the financing?" President Liu asked eagerly.
"Uncle Liu, after two days of consideration, I've decided to agree to the financing terms.
However, you know I won't be staying in the UK for long, so I hope the process can be expedited.
I can't afford to wait too long," Lin Haoran said directly.
"Excellent! I'll immediately report to Supplee's Chairman and ensure everything is settled within three days!" President Liu said, overjoyed.
With Lin Haoran's 10-million-pound investment, Supplee would have the strength to compete against DHL for at least another year.
Naturally, the stock price would rebound.
"Thank you, Uncle Liu," Lin Haoran said before hanging up.
As for the second-largest shareholder, Lin Haoran planned to approach them quietly after he officially became a Supplee shareholder.
Once he acquired their 9.6% stake, he would be within reach of controlling over 40% of the company—and thereby the company itself.
Three days later, Lin Haoran arrived at a fifteen-story building on the south bank of London.
Through the rear glass windows, he could see a huge logistics warehouse, bustling with trucks coming and going.
In front of the building were dozens of journalists from Britain's major media outlets.
This was the headquarters of Supplee Logistics.
Today, Lin Haoran sat at the head table.
Seated beside him were the other four major shareholders—including President Liu.
But from today onward, Supplee would have five major shareholders.
"We are holding this press conference to announce a major event:
Mr. Lin Haoran from Hong Kong will be joining us as a new shareholder.
He will invest 10 million pounds through a capital increase, securing a 20% stake in the company.
At the same time, to combat malicious competition from outside forces, we have decided to invest the entire amount into operations.
Starting tomorrow, we will offer 50% discounts on our logistics services—willing to operate at a loss if necessary until the competition ceases.
Let it be known: Supplee Logistics is not afraid of any malicious competition!"
Chairman Bill Stevens declared boldly.
With the new funds, his confidence had clearly rebounded.
He was eager to reclaim lost market share.
Despite offering a 50% discount, Supplee still had several advantages over DHL, such as a better-established network and faster delivery speeds.
Thus, Stevens was confident for the year ahead.
The announcement caused a sensation among the reporters present.
Originally, many in the market had predicted that Britain's logistics sector would soon be dominated by three major players, with Supplee dropping to third place due to DHL's aggressive entry.
However, Supplee's bold response suggested a fierce fight was still to come.
The next morning, the news spread across Britain via newspapers and television.
Lin Haoran's name entered the public eye for the first time.
Previously, although his acquisitions of Hongkong Electric and Towngas had been reported occasionally in British media, they hadn't attracted much attention—those were Hong Kong companies, after all.
But now, he had become a major shareholder in a high-profile British company.
With this move, Lin Haoran officially held 20% of Supplee Logistics, making him the second-largest shareholder.
The original major shareholder's stake dropped from 26% to 20.8%.
The second-largest shareholder fell to third place, with their 12% shrinking to 9.6%.
Meanwhile, the original third and fourth-largest shareholders, each holding 10%, saw their stakes diluted to 8%.
This news caught investors' attention, and Supplee's stock price surged by 8% that day.
Meanwhile, Citibank's securities division, acting on Lin Haoran's behalf, quietly acquired another 3.8% of the stock during the trading frenzy.
Although the stock price rose, Lin Haoran didn't mind at all.
Taking advantage of the buying activity, he stealthily became the largest shareholder in Supplee Logistics.
His next target:
the angel investment consortium leader.
If he could acquire their 9.6%, he would easily surpass 40% control.
Taking full control of Supplee Logistics was now within reach!
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