The birth of the Hong Kong Island family

Swire \u0026 Co.'s political influence in London is not strong, this is Lin Zhichao's conclusion after a week of activities in London; on the contrary, he has become a businessman that the London government urgently needs to win over, and on the contrary, he has received many promises.

Therefore, Lin Zhichao formally visited the headquarters of British Overseas Airlines and handed over the acquisition information.

"Mr. Lin, if you acquire Hong Kong Airlines, how do you plan to operate it? Will there be any major reforms?" Manchez asked seriously.

Senior executives of British Overseas Airlines are already supportive of the acquisition initiated by Oneworld Airlines. First, Swire \u0026 Company was not sincere and planned to take advantage of the situation; second, World Shipping was a fully British-owned company and there were no political obstacles.

However, senior executives of British Overseas Airlines are also worried about whether Lin Zhichao, an outsider, can run Hong Kong Airlines well?

After hearing this, Lin Zhichao said: "I think there is no problem with the current management team, and I have no plans to make reforms for the time being. I believe that Hong Kong Airlines' development philosophy has always been correct, and the reason for its unsatisfactory profitability is because The good times for shipping have not yet come. After our acquisition, we have no plans except to add new aircraft at the right time."

Hearing Lin Zhichao's words, Manches recognized it in his heart and felt comfortable listening to it.

Coupled with instructions from high-level officials in London, British Overseas Airlines executives can fairly choose suitable candidates.

"Mr. Lin, your offer is very sincere (2.8 million pounds, 55% equity). We will reach a share sale agreement with you as soon as possible."

"Okay, then I'll go back to Hong Kong and wait for the good news!"

Subsequently, Lin Zhichao left British Overseas Airlines with his men and lawyers.

As for the equity of Jardine Matheson, naturally it will acquire the shares of Jardine Matheson only after British Overseas Airways officially sells its shares to them. After all, British Overseas Airlines holds 55% of the shares, while Jardine Matheson only holds 45%.

Half a month later.

In the dissatisfied and aggrieved mood of Swire Matheson's Shi Yoke, World Shipping officially signed a share transfer contract with British Overseas Airways and Jardine Matheson in Hong Kong.

Oneworld Airlines acquired Hong Kong Airlines for a price of US$14.3 million. At this price, Taikoo \u0026 Co. was unwilling to accept it, so it naturally agreed to Lin Zhichao's offer.

HSBC has no objection to this price. Although the price is several million US dollars higher, World Shipping is a money-making tool after all. The annual profit of more than 18 million US dollars is enough to acquire this asset.

After the acquisition was completed, Lin Zhichao visited the Hong Kong Airlines headquarters. Almost all of them were foreigners, and there were also Chinese employees, but none of them were mid- to senior-level employees.

Lin Zhichao didn't say much. He had only one purpose in going to the Hong Kong Airlines headquarters, and that was to recognize the door.

However, after getting to know each other, Lin Zhichao said to everyone: "Everyone, when Oneworld Airlines takes over Hong Kong Airlines, the first thing we do is to consider improving the remuneration of all employees."

For a while, middle and lower-level staff applauded and welcomed, and senior staff could only join in.

Senior employees may consider rights, but middle- and lower-level employees definitely need to consider benefits. And the middle and lower-level employees here are middle and lower-level management.

Later, Lin Zhichao said to CEO Hill: "President Hill, can you prepare a salary survey report for all employees of Hong Kong Airlines recently?"

Hill knew that he had to cooperate with this work, otherwise he would offend all his colleagues.

"No problem, we will give you a complete salary report as soon as possible!"

Senior executives all understand that although Lin Zhichao is Chinese, he is not easy to mess with. Being able to snatch Hong Kong Airlines from Swire \u0026 Co. Ltd. itself shows that the new shareholder is not an easy person.

Now, Lin Zhichao seems to be giving everyone a salary increase, but in fact he plans to use this reason to interfere in Hong Kong Airlines affairs.

Moreover, it is still justified and everyone has to accept it.

After briefly understanding the situation, Lin Zhichao did not go any further.

He is not in a hurry. He will first spend a year or two getting familiar with Hong Kong Airlines, and then use loans to purchase new aircraft. This will not only further control Hong Kong Airlines, but also increase the competitiveness of Hong Kong Airlines.

Especially the route from Hong Kong to Tokyo, Lin Zhichao predicts that there will be great opportunities, so he plans to add a Boeing 707 to this fixed route in the future.

Cheung Kong Holdings.

In the conference room, Lin Zhichao was having a meeting with senior executives. Tang Caiyun was also present. She is also a senior executive of Cheung Kong Holdings - the chairman of the remuneration committee.

"Preparations can begin for the design plan for No. 9 Zhaolong Street. This is our fourth commercial project of Cheung Kong Holdings."

The Crocodile T-shirt Building, Miramar Hotel, Sing Tao Department Store, and now No. 9 Zhaolong Street are the current commercial projects of Cheung Kong Real Estate.

No. 9, Chiu Lung Street, has a site area of ​​14,000 square feet and is expected to be able to build an 18 to 20-story office building. This kind of building was classified as a "medium-sized building" in Central Hong Kong in later generations, and its value was also in the range of 6 billion to 10 billion (value around 2015).

For example, the Hong Kong Hotel on Pedder Street can be rebuilt into a "large building" with a future value of HK$20 billion, because the location is also in the heart of Central; while the Crocodile T-shirt Building is a "small building" in Central, with a future value of HK$20 billion. It is in the range of HK$3 billion to HK$5 billion; the building at No. 77 Des Voeux Road Central is also a medium-sized building, and there is no problem that it will be worth HK$8 billion in the future.

The value of the Lam family's building in Central alone is already 40 billion.

Of course, this is just the beginning!

Huang Changhong immediately said: "No problem, we will come up with the design plan as soon as possible! This land is 14,000 square feet, and the plot ratio given by the Planning Department is 13.6. If an 18-storey building is built, each floor can get 10,500 square feet feet of floor area.”

Lin Zhichao said: "Yes. This building does not need to have two or three floors of shops. The office building will be the core, and only the first floor and basement will be used as shops."

Chiu Lung Street is connected to Queen's Road Central and Des Voeux Road Central, and the location is not bad. Although the location is good, considering the current level of Hong Kong's economy, it may not be possible to rent out so many shops.

In the future, the office building can also be converted into a shop. In short, it must be adjusted according to the actual situation.

"OK"

Next, Hu Zhaoxu reported on the land purchase situation. In just two months, Changjiang Real Estate won four cheap properties, and the prices were only 50% to 60% of the peak. One of the characteristics of these properties is that they are properties that real estate developers have ‘liquidated’.

After listening to the report, Lin Zhichao said: "The acquisition of Telford Gardens also needs to be acted upon. By changing houses and adding subsidies, we will increase our land of more than 160,000 square feet on Ferry Street to more than 200,000 square feet." feet, which will help increase the floor area ratio.”

This is a private housing estate site. It is expected that more than 2,500 private housing estates can be built, and the profits may be hundreds of millions.

Hu Zhaoxu nodded and said: "We will come up with a subsidy plan for you to review as soon as possible! At present, high-rise buildings are the mainstream of residential buildings in Hong Kong, and we have prepared good locations and good floors for them to replace them. I believe it will be completed smoothly. Acquired."

Lin Zhichao immediately said: "Patience is the most important thing when buying an old building! And try to avoid becoming a channel for the society's 'nail building' to raise money. In short, this job is difficult to do, so you must be mentally prepared. Therefore, it is best for the company to set up a subsidiary Company, the department responsible for acquiring old buildings in the future.”

As the saying goes, "little devils are difficult to deal with." If you encounter some people who are building nails, even Cheung Kong Holdings may not be able to solve the problem smoothly. The best way is to make some money for the people who are building nails, so that everyone can be harmonious and make money.

No matter how bad it is, as long as a certain proportion of the project is acquired, it can be adjudicated through the court. After all, Hong Kong's land is very small. If it is consumed for a long time, it will have a great impact on urban planning.

Hu Zhaoxu said: "Okay"

Other senior executives also agreed with this view. Huang Changhong said: "There will be a lot of work in acquiring old buildings in the future, so it is necessary to set up a subsidiary to specialize in this aspect. It can also avoid potential dangers, such as damage to the company's reputation. Influence."

Everyone also understands that Cheung Kong Holdings has become a large real estate company and may not be able to surpass Land Corporation in the future.

Moreover, the boss's recent acquisition of a British-owned company has had a huge influence on the Chinese business community in Hong Kong. Even Hong Kong Airlines was taken over by the Chinese, and everyone was very excited.

Next, Lin Zhichao asked: "Manager Zhou, how is the return of our funds?"

Zhou Fuzhao immediately reported: "Our reputation is well recognized by law firms and clients. Currently, installment payments are received on time, and the funds withdrawn from residential projects have reached 70%, which is enough to support the company's commercial project plan."

Cheung Kong has no liabilities and can make loans at any time to acquire sites.

Recently, Lin Zhichao is communicating with the Hong Kong government, banks, and the real estate industry, that is, it will be more reasonable to pay in installments through banks in the future, and banks can charge interest.

In this way, real estate developers can transfer risks to banks; of course, banks are also vested interests because they have added a business. As soon as this idea came out, everyone discussed it, and it was only a matter of time before it became mainstream.

After the meeting, Cheung Kong Holdings started operating at high speed again. After all, it is the leader of Chinese real estate companies in Hong Kong. The top five Chinese real estate companies in Hong Kong combined do not have as high an asset value as Cheung Kong Industries.

The asset value of Cheung Kong Holdings should be around HK$300 million.