Chapter 880: Reduction of holdings

In addition, Peninsula Oriental Group has also reached an agreement with Shanghai to invest 1 billion Chinese yuan to build its international logistics distribution center near Shanghai Port.

At the same time, Peninsula Oriental once again signed an order for large container ships worth US$500 million with China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, which will be delivered in the next five years.

Since Peninsula Oriental acquired the LNG business of A.P. Moller-Maersk for US$1.4 billion last year, together with the LNG ships they ordered in China that have been launched one after another, Peninsula Oriental Group now has the world's largest LNG transport fleet.

At the same time, they have been expanding the size of their bulk and container fleets.

Also signed this time was an agreement on Peninsula Oriental's port business. Peninsula Oriental Group will cooperate with many ports in China and participate in the operation and management of these ports in the form of investment.

"Since the subprime mortgage crisis, the global shipping business has entered a relatively sluggish stage, and many shipping groups have had to reduce the size of their fleets."

In an interview, Ed Christian, CEO of Peninsula Oriental Group, said:

"But there are opportunities in risks. We believe that the global economic recovery is coming, and now is a good time to expand. Peninsula Oriental Group attaches great importance to China's business and is one of the earliest shipping companies to enter the Chinese market. As early as the late 19th century, we had entered the Chinese market. Now China's shipping market is developing rapidly. Our Peninsula Oriental Group will also be committed to cooperating with relevant Chinese companies to enhance its technical strength in this business."

...

"Next, Alibaba should have plans for an IPO."

"Yes, the initial plan is to prepare in the second half of next year, but the specific listing time will depend on the stock market situation..."

When Barron arrived in Shanghai, Cameron had already left and went to Rongcheng, China.

In Cavendish Gardens, Andy and Belle were playing with two ponies under the care of the maid.

Fan Bingbing poured tea for Barron and Mr. Ma and sat aside to listen to their conversation...

It can be said that Mr. Ma has been quite successful recently. Not only did he complete the repurchase of Yahoo's shares in Alibaba with a total of US$3.8 billion, but Cameron also met with him specially when he came to Shanghai.

You should know that Cameron's schedule in China was quite tight this time. In addition to attending some business gatherings with many Chinese entrepreneurs, Cameron only took time to meet with two Chinese entrepreneurs alone. One was Mr. Li of Geely Holdings; the other was Mr. Ma in front of Barron.

Cameron met with Mr. Li of Geely Holdings because Geely acquired 20% of the shares of London Taxi Company (LTC) as early as 2006 before acquiring Volvo. Currently, a considerable number of London taxis are produced by Geely in China.

As for the meeting with Mr. Ma, it was naturally because of Alibaba's near-monopoly in China's e-commerce field at this time - and before that, Alibaba's B2B business had already connected many small and medium-sized enterprises in China with orders from overseas companies.

Baron also knew that if nothing unexpected happened, Alibaba would definitely choose to go public in the United States this time. After all, the current Hong Kong Stock Exchange cannot accept a "partnership system" company like Alibaba. With this company system, the possibility of successfully listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is too low.

At this time, the relationship between Mr. Ma and Baron is still relatively close, and of course there is also the reason that Baron promised to reduce some of his shares after Alibaba's listing.

At present, Baron holds shares in Alibaba through DS Holdings (Cavendish Trust) and Rich23 Capital, of which DS Holdings holds 26.79% of its shares and 12h23 Capital holds 26.79% of its shares.

Baron had previously promised Mr. Ma that after Alibaba's overall listing, he would reduce at least 10% of the 12.66% of Alibaba's shares held by DS Holdings within one year.

In this way, after the reduction, the proportion of Alibaba shares held by Baron will be lower than that held by Ma and his team. Even if the voting rights of his shares are no longer given to Ma one day in the future, Ma does not need to worry about the control of the company falling into the hands of others.

Of course, Baron made such a promise for his own reasons.

He knew that in his previous life, Alibaba went public in the United States in September 2014. At that time, the issue price of Alibaba's stock was US$68, and the closing price on the first day of listing was US$93.89, an increase of 38.07%.

In the following two months, Alibaba's stock price rose all the way, and in November of that year, it hit the highest price since its listing at US$119.15 per share.

However, due to the investigation of the Ministry of Commerce of China and its own counterfeit problems, the stock price subsequently fell sharply.

Therefore, at that time, Baron could completely sell some of his Alibaba shares at a high price in DS Holdings, and when its stock price fell significantly, other companies would buy it back - for example, Baron's Tianhe Holdings in China would carry out the task of buying back.

It is worth mentioning that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) does not have a hard lock-up period for U.S. listed companies, but generally speaking, for the stock price performance of the company at the beginning of its listing, the company's original shareholders and employee shares will sign an agreement before the IPO, stipulating a 90-180-day lock-up period. This is a completely market-oriented behavior, the result of the game between the company and the investment bank, and a necessary behavior for the company and the investment bank to gain the trust of investors and improve valuations.

However, with the consent of most shareholders and securities investors, it is also possible to make an exception, or let DS Holdings hold this part of the shares for a minimum lock-up period of 90 days...

I believe that in order to ensure that Barron can sell this part of the shares, Boss Ma will definitely firmly support his request.

Even if it is only a 90-day lock-up period, Barron can make Alibaba listed earlier than the original time and space, so that he has enough time to reduce his holdings of that part of the shares before the investigation of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the occurrence of counterfeit goods.

However, thinking about the listing of Alibaba, Barron looked at Boss Ma with a smile on his face - by that time, he would become the richest man in mainland China, and from that time on, Boss Ma would become a symbol of wealth in China.

That's how "money power" came about...