Far Eastern Group's stock price plummeted in response.
Around 1 p.m., Qiu Degeng was taken into custody by the police.
However, 60-year-old Chiu Te-ken was spared charges by claiming he had Alzheimer's disease, but the incident dealt him a huge blow. The public outcry forced him to make a tough decision, abandoning some assets to save the Far East Group.
...
"Mr. Qiu, we can help you sell your ATV shares to Wujiang Group!"
Zhou Anping then approached Qiu Degeng and revealed his purpose.
Qiu Degen had a vague feeling that things had happened too suddenly, especially since the short-selling forces were very powerful, as if they had planned it for a long time, catching him off guard and leaving him with no power to fight back.
His trusted confidant, Wei Xiuqi, had already secretly fled, and no one knew where he had gone.
At this moment, Zhou Anping suddenly came to his door, which made Qiu Degen suspicious.
"Mr. Zhou, impressive skills! Did you do this?" Qiu Degeng asked tentatively.
Zhou Anping feigned ignorance and said, "Mr. Qiu, what are you talking about? I don't understand."
"Didn't you short-sell the Far East Group and expose the news about my accounting fraud?" Qiu Degeng questioned.
Zhou Anping smiled faintly and said, "Mr. Qiu, you're probably overthinking it. Do you have any evidence to prove that we did it?"
"intuition!"
“Intuition is sometimes wrong!” Zhou Anping laughed, adding to himself, “Intuition is sometimes right!”
“Mr. Qiu, what you should be thinking about now is how to recover your losses, not worrying about who exposed your falsified accounts. Besides, do you think your falsification of accounts is flawless? Absolutely not. Are the police all idiots who can't see through your falsification? Your falsification of accounts was bound to be exposed sooner or later; it was just a matter of time!” Zhou Anping said, showing no sympathy for the other party.
Qiu Degen nodded dejectedly. What good would it do to find the person behind the scenes and expose them?
What's done is done; there's no going back.
The mistake was that I shouldn't have falsified the accounts, which gave others a handle to use against me.
“Selling it to Wujiang Group is also an option. How much are you prepared to pay for it?” Qiu Degeng asked.
Zhou Anping stated, "Wujiang Group is willing to invest HK$600 million to acquire Asia Television in its entirety!!!"
This price is very fair.
In their previous life, Lim Pak-sin and Cheng Yu-tung purchased two-thirds of ATV's shares, and the following year they spent another HK$237 million to purchase the remaining shares.
This shows that ATV's market value at the time was around HK$600 million.
In 1982, Chiu Tak-keng spent HK$100 million to acquire a 50% stake in ATV, and in 1984, he spent another HK$50 million to purchase the remaining shares from an Australian consortium. From then on, Chiu had full ownership of Asia Television. However, ATV thrived under Chiu's leadership, and its market value naturally increased.
In five or six years, the initial investment of 150 million yuan turned into 600 million yuan, earning a profit of 450 million yuan, which is actually a decent return.
After thinking for a moment, Qiu Degen said, "I can sell ATV to Wujiang Group, but you must help Far East Group resolve the crisis as soon as possible!"
Zhou Anping smiled and nodded, saying, "No problem!"
The biggest crisis facing the Far East Group is the massive short-selling activity orchestrated by Wujiang behind the scenes. If they simply stop short-selling and release some positive news about Wujiang's cooperation with the Far East Group, the crisis will be easily resolved.
At around 4 p.m. that day, Qiu Degeng and Zhou Anping arrived at ATV and, witnessed by ATV executives, signed the ATV acquisition agreement.
The Far East Group issue was urgent, and Qiu Degeng couldn't afford to wait.
The ATV executives had complicated expressions. They had lost Qiu Degen, but Qiu had become an even more powerful super-power. Should they be happy, or should they be happy?
After signing the contract, Zhou Anping turned to the ATV executives and said, "The chairman is very satisfied with ATV's development over the past few years. Therefore, after Wujiang acquires ATV, he will not dismiss you. On the contrary, he will increase investment to build ATV into a truly Asian television station, making its influence cover the whole of Asia!"
...
In the evening, Zhou Anping arrived at No. 1 Victoria Peak Road with the acquisition agreement.
"Boss, this is the acquisition agreement for ATV transferred by Qiu Degen. However, he requires us to help Far East Group resolve its crisis immediately," Zhou Anping said with a smile, handing the ATV acquisition agreement to Zhao Ye.
Zhao Ye opened it and began to read.
He then instructed Zhou Anping, "We have achieved our objective; we can stop shorting now."
"OK."
Wujiang made tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars from this short selling of the Far East Group alone. He could have made even more by continuing to short sell.
But leave room for maneuver in others; don't push things to the extreme.
For Qiu Degen, the loss wasn't significant. Although he lost ATV, he gained a substantial return. As for the Far Eastern Group's stock price, it will gradually recover. If he has confidence in his company, he can use the proceeds from selling ATV to buy back shares at a lower price.
At this point, the Hong Kong media had stopped paying attention to Chiu Tak-kwan's case.
The news of Wujiang Group's acquisition of ATV quickly caused a huge sensation in Hong Kong...
The following day, major newspapers reported on the incident.
Ming Pao: "What changes will the takeover of ATV by the prestigious Wujiang Group bring to ATV? Is TVB's dominant position teetering on the brink of collapse?"
Sing Tao Daily: "Uncle Shaw is panicking! Even if TVB and Shaw Brothers Studios are combined, their assets are still less than one-tenth of Wujiang Group's! Wujiang's takeover of ATV will definitely overwhelm TVB!"
Oriental Daily News: "A sudden gust of wind ripples the surface of a spring pond. Wujiang Group's powerful takeover of ATV ignites the entire Hong Kong entertainment industry!"
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