The birth of the Hong Kong Island family

A New Year Comes (1976).

After New Year's Day, Lin Zhichao came to Victoria Harbor Center and was about to enter the building when he met a reporter.

"Mr. Lin, when you invest in Manhattan office buildings in the United States, are you not optimistic about Hong Kong real estate?" The reporter rushed to the side and shouted.

Lin Zhichao's bodyguard saw that he was a reporter and blocked him, but he would not do anything rude that would affect the boss's reputation.

If this question is left unanswered, it may become overly publicized.

Therefore, Lin Zhichao signaled to his bodyguard and accepted a simple interview.

"This investment in Manhattan office buildings is the main investment of Universal Group, and Cheung Kong Group only participates in a very small part of the equity. As for Universal Group's investment in Manhattan office buildings, the decision was based on sufficient cash flow and the fact that shipping has been declining year by year. Personally, I am very optimistic about Hong Kong's real estate. The recovery at the end of last year is a good proof. Thank you!"

Then, he left.

The reporter wanted to ask more, but was stopped, but he was already satisfied that he could interview Lin Zhichao today, and he would not be able to get away with a late salary increase.

When he arrived at the office, Lin Zhichao sat in his seat, reading the newspaper and thinking.

Every move he makes now has attracted much attention. It's not the 1980s yet. By then, every overseas investment he makes will probably attract much attention and speculation.

Of course, Lin Zhichao will still stick to his decision and will not be affected by public opinion.

If Hong Kong wants to invest, so should overseas investors, and the mainland will also invest.

The investment in Manhattan office buildings this time involved a huge amount of money and indeed had a great impact, so it caused some public opinion. Of course, this public opinion will soon stop.

During a high-level meeting in the morning.

Lin Zhichao said: "In the new year, Cheung Kong Group will continue to invest heavily in its Hong Kong business and should not be affected by this investment in Manhattan office buildings."

Huang Changhong said: "Based on our company's financial situation, it is extremely healthy, with a very low debt ratio. It is just the media's remarks to gain sales."

Everyone expressed their views one after another. Everyone did not care that Cheung Kong Group invested 230 million Hong Kong dollars in Manhattan office buildings (accounting for 20% of the shares), because all the money was loans.

Zhou Fuzhao said: "Last year, Cheung Kong Group's profit hit a new high, reaching HK$180 million. We really don't need to be distracted by these small things."

The additional profit of 30 million comes from rental and sales profits from multiple acquisition projects.

After stabilizing the morale of the army.

Lin Zhichao began: "In the new year, we will continue to look for target acquisitions, make full use of the stock market, and increase the company's real estate heritage."

Everyone began to express their opinions one after another, showing quite confidence. After all, Cheung Kong Group still has 170 million Hong Kong dollars in cash flow and only 280 million Hong Kong dollars in debt, but its assets are worth more than 3 billion Hong Kong dollars, and real estate has picked up.

Hu Zhaoxu said: "The Hong Kong government's land auction plan has increased significantly this year. This is our opportunity!"

Lin Zhichao said: "Well, East Tsim Sha Tsui has a good geographical location and huge development potential. If the Hong Kong government auctions it, we can pay attention to it."

In East Tsim Sha Tsui, 17.4 hectares of land were reclaimed in the 1960s and 1970s. Later, there were about 20 commercial projects in this area.

Lin Zhichao plans to invest in two pieces of land to build a shopping mall and a five-star hotel, of course in the name of Cheung Kong Group. From the moment Cheung Kong Group went public, Lin Zhichao would use listed companies for almost all of his future real estate activities.

After the high-level meeting, Lin Zhichao called three carriages and Lin Ruihuan to the conference table in his office.

"There are two major acquisitions this year. The first is a US-owned company - Yonggao, and the second is Qingzhou Yingni!"

The four of them were immediately surprised!

Zhou Fuzhao immediately said: "Qingzhou Yingni is a publicly listed company. Is the boss planning to secretly purchase the stock and then control it according to the rules?"

Lin Zhichao said: "Not bad! As for Yonggao Company, go talk to their two founders and we will buy their shares at a premium. The two projects are going on at the same time. Ruihuan, you are responsible for secretly purchasing Qingzhou Yingni's shares. It will take a long time. It doesn't matter, the important price is lower. Manager Zhou, you and Lawyer Li contact the two shareholders of Yonggao Company to negotiate."

"Okay, Chairman!"

After making some arrangements, everyone immediately started working in the new year.

Just a week after New Year's Day, international gold plummeted, falling from US$140 per ounce to less than US$130 per ounce. Upon seeing this, Lin Zhichao immediately arranged for investment in Victoria Harbor and began to invest in physical gold again.

The last time, he invested 160 tons of gold, made a profit of more than 3 billion Hong Kong dollars, and took back a profit of 5.2 billion Hong Kong dollars. Now he plans to spend another 5.2 billion Hong Kong dollars, and at most another 200 to 300 million Hong Kong dollars, to invest in 200 tons of physical gold.

Over time, the initial investment of HK$1.8 billion in gold has grown from 160 tons to 200 tons. This is equivalent to him making a wave of T's.

The gold investment this time is 100 tons in Switzerland, 50 tons in London, and 50 tons in Hong Kong. It will be stored and invested according to this ratio. It is relatively easy to invest 50 tons of gold in Hong Kong. This is because Hong Kong already allows free trade in gold, and the world's five largest gold merchants have come to Hong Kong to set up business.

On this day, Lin Zhichao made an appointment with Zheng Yutong to have dinner at the Shangri-La Hotel, mainly asking for advice on investing in gold in Hong Kong.

"Lin Sheng, the hotel industry seems to be picking up a lot this year?" During the dinner, Zheng Yutong asked humbly.

There are two five-star hotels in the New World Center, so Zheng Yutong had the opportunity to ask Lin Zhichao for advice when the project started. After all, Lin Zhichao was the first Chinese to own a five-star hotel in Hong Kong (Miramar Hotel), even two or three years before Jardine's Mandarin Hotel.

Lin Zhichao said: "This is natural. Although the oil crisis has had a great impact on the world, Hong Kong will definitely be the fastest recovery area. Therefore, the hotel occupancy rate has begun to increase. Unsurprisingly, the first phase of the New World Center opened , the hotel will definitely win a lot of praise.”

Zheng Yutong immediately said happily: "I am not as strong as you. This project is very important to the development of the new world!"

Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "The New World Center is located close to the sea and is in the Tsim Sha Tsui tourist area. Zheng Sheng only spent more than 100 million in land fees when he won this project. Let me tell you, in another five years, the land fees alone will be Gotta be worth a billion.”

When talking about Zheng Yutong's most proud project, he was also in high spirits. During the period, he and Lin Zhichao discussed some of the layout and planning of the New World Center, and they learned from each other.

Lin Zhichao once owned many New World Development stocks, but he cashed out at the peak in 1973 and made tens of millions. The stocks I own now were all repurchased at the end of 1974, accounting for only 3%.

"Zheng Sheng, how many tons of gold did Hong Kong import last year?"

"Well, I haven't calculated it yet, but it should be around 100 tons."

Lin Zhichao couldn't help but sigh in his heart. He was a big fish in the gold spot market. One purchase was 200 tons of gold.

"I want to invest in 50 tons of spot gold. Does Zheng Sheng have any good ideas?"

Zheng Yutong looked at Lin Zhichao in surprise, and immediately understood that the so-called 'four major real estate families' were completely unjustifiable. This person was powerful enough to crush everyone. This investment in Manhattan office buildings is the best proof.

"There are many ways. We happen to know the five major gold merchants and can match them. After Lin Sheng purchases it, he can deposit it in the safe of HSBC Bank."

Lin Zhichao nodded. He also wanted to buy directly from the five major gold merchants.

Then, Zheng Yutong asked curiously: "Lin Sheng thinks gold will rise?"

He admired Lin Zhichao's vision very much, and he was in the gold business, so he couldn't help but ask.

Lin Zhichao said: "I think it will still rise in the next few years, and it should at least be more reliable than depositing in banks."

Zheng Yutong said: "Lin Sheng was a master of gold speculation back then. Now it seems that Lin Sheng's prediction is definitely not wrong."

In the gold and silver trading market back then, Lin Zhichao was indeed a master of gold speculation, and he escaped unscathed.

Lin Zhishenshan doesn't care that Zheng Yutong is also collecting gold. This is a good thing. If you have money, everyone can make money together.

Hong Kong Evergreen Company is a company invested in Asia by two American businessmen, John John and Alvin, in the late 1950s. This company successively invested in Hilton Hotels and Hyatt Hotels (ownership rights) in Hong Kong and Bali. ).

Among them, the Hilton Hong Kong Central Hotel opened in 1963 and became the first hotel in the world to introduce minibars in all hotel rooms in the 1970s; the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Bali only opened in 1973.

Yonggao Company went public in 1969 and received 77 million Hong Kong dollars in funds, which were used to invest in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Bali. It is this investment that currently affects the profits of the entire company.

Yonggao Company's profit last year (1975) was about 18 million Hong Kong dollars, almost 90% of which was generated by the Hong Kong Hilton Hotel. This undoubtedly proves that Hong Kong’s hotels have the best return rate in the world.

When 1976 arrived, Changshi Group sent Zhou Fuzhao and Li Yeguang to make contact with the two founders of Yonggao Company.

John Qiao and Alvin hold a total of 10.48 million shares, accounting for 56% of Yonggao Company. The current share price of Yonggao Company is only 8.6 Hong Kong dollars per share.

In the conference room.

John Qiao said: "Could it be that Mr. Lin feels that our Hilton Hotel in Central poses a huge threat to his Shangri-La Hotel, so he is preparing to acquire the entire Yonggao Company. After all, I really don't understand. Mr. Lin needs two A five-star hotel is in Central, what’s the investment sense?”

What he said makes sense. After all, if two five-star hotels are in the hands of the Lin family, who is the point?

And when he raised this question, it was naturally helpful to the purchase price.

Zhou Fuzhao said: "As far as I know, the Shangri-La Hotel has a higher occupancy rate, and there is no problem if the two hotels operate at the same time in Central. However, through our investigation, we found that investing in office buildings in Hong Kong is better than investing in hotels. The rate of return. Therefore, we are actually interested in the land of your Hilton Hotel in Central."

John Qiao and Alvin were surprised. They did not expect that Changshi Group would make such an investment.

“You want to tear down the Hilton Hotel?”

Zhou Fuzhao said: "We have no such plan for the time being. We are making long-term investments based in Hong Kong and are optimistic about the possible appreciation potential of this land."

This is true or false. The boss really wants to demolish the headquarters building of Cheung Kong Group, but the time seems to be after the 1980s, so there is no rush.

Therefore, for this acquisition, the instructions given by the boss are that a reasonable premium, a good-faith acquisition, and everything will happen naturally.

All acquisitions by Cheung Kong Group are good-faith acquisitions, such as the previous Wasion Development. The key is to take advantage of the poor market conditions to make good-faith acquisitions.

John Qiao and Alvin looked at each other. They had communicated before, that is, if the price is right, they would place the offer. This is because: first, their business suffered a lot in the oil crisis, but Hong Kong was the best place to invest; second, they were also worried about their business in Hong Kong, which would eventually suffer losses. They will suffer more losses.

At the same time, the Hang Seng Index climbed from 370 points at the beginning of this year to more than 430 points in late January. This was due to the impact of interest rate cuts in the United Kingdom and the United States and other countries, which made investors extremely ambitious. The stock price of Meigao Company also recovered a lot, reaching 8.6 Hong Kong dollars per share.

"We only want cash, so what price are you going to offer?" John Qiao asked tentatively.

At this time, Li Yeguang said: "We are a very sincere and well-intentioned acquisition. We can consider a premium of 30%, based on yesterday's closing price of HK$8.61 per share."

He participated in this kind of negotiation because he was hired by Changshi Group. Whether the transaction was successful or not, the law firm would receive a consulting fee.

Of course, what's more important is that Li Yeguang is now one of Lin Zhichao's advisers, and the relationship between the two is extraordinary.

John Qiao and Alvin were both happy. The price was good, and it was still a preliminary quotation, and there was still room for negotiation.

"I think this price is not enough to win our shares. The reason is that the Hong Kong stock market is currently warming up, and our Yonggao stock will soon rise higher. Therefore, I hope you will ask Mr. Lin to give you a higher price. After all, The two of us have invested a lot of money and many years of hard work in Yonggao Company."

The two invested 20 million Hong Kong dollars back then, and now the stocks in their hands can be sold for more than 100 million. Coupled with dividends during the period, the return rate is actually more than 15%.

Investing in Hong Kong has the highest rate of return in the world, this is what Qiao John and Alvin believe.

Zhou Fuzhao reminded: "You two, the location of the Hilton Hotel is not very good. In addition, there is competition from the Shangri-La Hotel. According to this situation, the 30% premium is definitely a sign of our sincerity."

Since its opening, the Shangri-La Hotel has taken the lead in Central, Hong Kong, and has had a great influence on the Mandarin Hotel, Hilton Hotel, and Furama Hotel. After all, it is more luxurious and has the largest number of rooms. Even the Queen stayed at the Shangri-La Hotel when she visited Hong Kong.

After that, John Qiao insisted that the stock market was booming and the price should be higher.

In this way, the first trial between both parties came to an end.

Back to Cheung Kong Group.

After hearing Zhou Fuzhao's report, Lin Zhichao smiled and said: "It's okay. This stock has skyrocketed for a month or two at the beginning of the year, and then it has to go sideways. I just talked with them slowly, and we can finally reach an agreement. As for the premium, we can't do it per share." If it exceeds HK$12 per share, you should continue to be responsible."

Zhou Fuzhao said confidently: "Okay, boss. In fact, looking at the two shareholders, it is very obvious that they want to sell."

The first quotation was very sincere.

Lin Zhichao's purchase of properties is to 'take advantage of low prices', but not to 'take advantage of others'. If the property owner wants to put the property on the market when the market is at a low, he will offer a premium purchase (only for stocks). This is because the market value of many listed companies currently on the market is generally lower than the net asset value.

"By the way, Huai'an has performed well in the past few years. I plan to promote him to Changhong's deputy, specializing in real estate development, and join the board of directors in a year or two. By then, you and your son will be dual directors."

Zhou Fuzhao said quickly: "Is he promoted too quickly? He is only thirty years old."

Lin Zhichao smiled and said: "You know me, what do you think I consider when making this decision? You are colleagues in the company, not father and son!"

Zhou Fuzhao said: "The boss doesn't care about the relatives of the mediocre people. He doesn't want any of them. When Huai'an was studying, he had to be trained by his boss. He was quite successful. He went to a prestigious school and studied law. After returning to Hong Kong, he was trained by his boss. I want to be respected by my boss. I will be the company spokesperson first and then work on real estate development projects. My reputation is pretty good."

As a father, he still made a fair evaluation.

Lin Zhichao nodded and said, "Well, it's good that you know. Huai'an's skills are not inferior to yours, and he can be responsible for real estate development and land auctions in the future."

Zhou Huai'an is Zhou Fuzhao's eldest son. He is thirty years old this year and is a talent that Lin Zhichao has been cultivating. In fact, he has always paid close attention to the children of these veteran ministers. If he finds any children who are good at studying, he will start to pay attention to them, send them to study abroad, and then return to Hong Kong to join Lin's enterprise.

It seems that Lin Zhichao is ‘nostalgic’, but in his companies, talent is the key. Zhou Huaian can stand out from so many second-generation players because his ability is deeply recognized by Lin Zhichao.

Zhou Fuzhao was shocked. He knew that Changshi Group had three core senior executives:

Responsible for real estate development and land auctions, such as Huang Changhong. However, due to the comprehensive business of Cheung Kong Group, Huang Changhong has a lot more work, but his core job is still real estate development and participating in land auctions;

He is responsible for financial planning;

Hu Zhaoxu is responsible for real estate sales, external public relations and other work.

Now that his son is listed in the position of real estate development and land acquisition, it is obviously recognized by the boss, and he is still very happy in his heart. Of course, it is not that his son can take over Huang Changhong's position, because he knows that the boss's eldest son Lin Ruihuan is, and may take over the position of general manager (currently Lin Zhichao is also the general manager).

In this way, in the future, the chairman of the board of directors will be the boss, the spiritual support and commander of everyone; Lin Ruihuan will be the general manager and vice chairman of the board of directors, responsible for managing the company's affairs; the following are the three cores, namely real estate development and financial planning , sales public relations.

As for other senior executives, most of them are general managers of subsidiaries, such as Liang Guangchang of Yangtze Commercial Real Estate, Li Paulo of Poly Construction, and Lin Shaodong of RT-Mart Retail Company.

"He is what he is today because, boss, you have been nurturing and encouraging him since he was a student."

"Haha, I don't dare to take credit for this. Okay, that's it."

Lin Zhichao was in a good mood. There were already two people in the second generation management of Changshi Group - Lin Ruihuan and Zhou Huai'an.

Of course, Cheung Kong Group has been established for less than 29 years now, and its oldest executive is only 58 years old (Huang Changhong), and can still be in business for about three to five years, so everything is stable and stable.

His eldest son Lin Ruihuan, 27 years old this year, will take over as general manager in three to five years.

Of course, as long as Lin Zhichao serves as chairman for one day, the real power is actually in his hands, and the general manager is just an executor. But big things can be decided by him. The general manager executes big things and decides small things.