The birth of the Hong Kong Island family

Chinese line.

Since the HSBC Building was opened last year (1986), the Chinese Bank Building has become the headquarters of the Octopus Financial Group.

In his office, Lin Zhichao listened to work reports from Hang Lung Bank President Lin Benfeng and Overseas Trust Bank President Sanders. Hang Lung Bank controls 80% of the shares of Overseas Trust Bank, so Lin Benfeng is also Sanders’ direct supervisor.

Lin Benfenghui reported: "Currently, Hang Lung Bank has made a profit of HK$800 million on the Nikkei 225 Index. We strictly follow the guidelines set by the boss and purchase equal contracts in each period."

Lin Zhichao nodded with satisfaction. In September last year, the Singapore Exchange launched the Nikkei 225 Index, which caused a certain diversion of trading volume in the Japanese securities market. At this time, there were no Nikkei 225 futures even in Osaka, so the Nikkei 225 trading in Singapore was very active.

Overseas Trust's investment department in Singapore is equivalent to an important investment channel for Lin Zhichao, and it also strengthens investment banking business.

For the Nikkei 225 index futures, the operation method couldn't be simpler. Set a fixed investment amount at the beginning and buy a similar amount of funds in each period; then, just wait for the Nikkei 225 index to rise all the way.

You only need to 'buy' the Nikkei 225 futures index until the September contract of this year (1987) expires, and then 'short' the October futures contract; after that, continue to 'buy', and you will win more and lose less. Just make a lot of money.

The increase in the Nikkei Index this time is really scary. Before the "Plaza Accord", it was still 10,000 points, and now it is 20,000 points, less than a year and a half later; but Lin Zhichao knows that this wave seems to be able to reach 39,000 points, which means there is still a double increase.

Therefore, the Nikkei Index futures have to be operated continuously. Lin Zhichao arranged for Horizons Investment and Hang Lung Bank to invest, but they were all done in the investment department of Overseas Trust.

The reason why Hang Lung Bank is arranged to also do Nikkei Index futures is because Hang Lung Bank is not listed on the market and is equivalent to Lin Zhichao's private wealth.

Lin Benfeng continued to report: "Currently, Hang Lung Bank has assets worth HK$7.6 billion. In the three and a half years since it was acquired by Octopus Financial Group, the boss has injected a total of HK$3 billion. Of which comes from investment business (foreign exchange, futures) "

When acquiring Hang Lung Bank, Lin Zhichao injected 500 million Hong Kong dollars into it. The rest of the support was mainly that Lin Zhichao deposited 1 billion US dollars into it, but he still had to pay interest to Victoria Harbor Investment as normal. The advantage was that he could lend it out and earn considerable profits. profit.

When acquiring Overseas Trust, Lin Zhichao injected another 2 billion Hong Kong dollars into Hang Lung Bank, and Hang Lung Bank invested in Overseas Trust and obtained 80% of the equity. Today, the market value of Overseas Trust has increased to HK$4 billion. Not only did Hang Lung Bank gain a book profit of HK$1.2 billion, but the original shareholders were also happy (normally, they would be bankrupt and would not get a penny).

The reason why the market value of overseas trusts has skyrocketed several times is not only the capital injection of 2 billion, but also the huge profits from "Japanese yen currency/foreign exchange".

Subsequently.

Saunders Report reported: "Last year, overseas trusts made a profit of HK$1.6 billion, and the total loss dropped from HK$3 billion to HK$1.4 billion, of which 1 billion in profits from Japanese yen foreign exchange/currency, and HK$600 million from normal business such as loans. According to The current situation is expected to turn losses into profit growth in 1988. In one and a half years, we recovered HK$425 million in bad debts, and currently there is still HK$160 million that has not been recovered. The current net assets of Overseas Trust are HK$4 billion. about."

The net assets of the two banks have reached tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars, which is already standard for large banks. What's more, there are still more than 50 billion in deposits (Victoria Harbor investment accounts for more than 40%).

Lin Zhichao said: "Well, Overseas Trust does not need venture capital now, it only needs to maintain deposit and loan business, as well as investment banking business. Later, I will consider merging the two banks."

"Okay, boss!"

Lin Zhichao’s idea was to wait until after the August 7th stock market crash to let Hang Lung Bank privatize Overseas Trust Bank; the two banks would then merge and become a new bank——

He did not expect the 'Family Bank' to absorb a lot of deposits and develop into a large commercial bank; because the 'Family Bank' mainly absorbed the deposits of the Lin family and developed investment banking business.

Finally, Lin Zhichao said: "There will be a land auction in Central next month. It is the former site of the Central Fire Station and covers an area of ​​22,600 square feet. You bid in the name of Hang Lung Bank, as long as the total price does not exceed the 'reserve price' At 90%, we can win it. Later, we can use this land to build a new bank headquarters building."

Lin Benfeng said: "Well, I wrote it down!"

Although he is not a professional real estate professional, he has dealt with people in the real estate industry, and he is already 90% sure that he will not pay a premium to the "base price". Generally speaking, if the reserve price exceeds 40%, the real estate market is good; if it exceeds 60%, it has caused great competition; if it exceeds 80%, it is almost a sure win.

Hang Lung Bank and Overseas Trust Bank have no shortage of stores. After all, there are so many buildings owned by Lin Zhichao. They also have no shortage of headquarters office buildings, but they only have one signature headquarters building.

The Chinese Bank Building can be renamed, but after all, it is a historical building, and Lin Chi-chao has no intention of doing so. The International Building on Des Voeux Road can also be renamed, but there is really no suitable solution.

But no matter what, let’s get another piece of land and build a headquarters building!

As for waiting for the Garden Road King in the late 1980s (Wanguo Baotong Plaza in his previous life), Lin Zhichao also felt that it was unnecessary. After all, his bank was not very powerful and there was no need to build too huge a building.

Therefore, just this time, the Central Land King is expected to cost 8.9 billion Hong Kong dollars in land fees, but Hang Lung Bank can afford it. After all, it has a net asset value of more than 7 billion.

After the two left, Lin Zhichao sat in the office and thought.

He easily built a tens of billions of syndicates, thanks to his strong financial resources (loan profits) and his investments in risky financial projects (yen foreign exchange, crude oil, Nikkei index).

In the future, there will be many black swan events from which he can operate and make a profit. Take the 'Nikkei Futures Index' as an example. First of all, this wave can reach 39,000 (bubble). In the middle there is the '87 stock market crash', the 'Kobe Earthquake'/'Bahrain Bank Incident' in January 1995, and the 'Bahrain Bank Incident' in 1997. The Asian financial crisis in July, the Internet bubble in March 2000, and the U.S. subprime crisis (global financial crisis) in August 2007 can all be profitable.

Therefore, the purpose of developing the Lin family's bank is not to develop a large multinational commercial bank. That is not what a family bank can do. It must be backed by the state. The Lin family's bank only needs to become a large local Chinese-owned bank. Its main overseas business is investment banking, as well as a certain basic commercial banking business.

In this way, Lin Zhichao actually has three "financial investment companies" in his hands - Victoria Harbor Investment, Family Office, and Octopus Financial Group.

at present:

The asset value of Lin Zhichao's family office is approximately US$3 billion, and almost all of its assets are stocks, including US stocks, British stocks, Japanese stocks, and Hong Kong stocks.

The asset value of Victoria Harbor Investment is over 25 billion U.S. dollars. Its assets include U.S. stocks, Hong Kong stocks, Japanese stocks, British stocks, and Singapore stocks, as well as real estate investments in Japan and Hong Kong, as well as a large amount of cash flow (about 6 billion U.S. dollars).

Huge wealth makes Lin Zhichao feel very accomplished.

Of course, he also began to prepare to privatize more companies, such as Uniqlo and Overseas Trust Bank.

In the end, only three companies (Cheung Kong Holdings, Hutchison Whampoa, and Hong Kong Electric) will be left, namely Wharf Group and Cheung Kong Holdings. This is because the market value of these companies is too high. If privatization requires huge cash flow, Lin Zhichao does not want to tell everyone. , he is so rich.

Overall, it is enough for each of the three houses to control a listed company.

In the conference room of Universal Building, Lin Zhichao represented Universal Group and Rongzhi represented CEFC Group (Hong Kong). The two parties signed an equity transfer agreement under the witness of their lawyers.

The general content of the agreement is: CEFC Group (Hong Kong) invested HKD 620 million to acquire 12% of Hong Kong Airlines’ equity from Universal Group.

After the signing of this agreement, the equity situation of Hong Kong Airlines is: Universal Group holds 48% of the shares, HSBC holds 20% of the shares, Hong Kong wealthy people hold 20% of the shares, and CEFC Group (Hong Kong) holds 12% of the shares.

At the same time, Hong Kong Airlines is about to go public and become a publicly listed company.

When it comes to the issue of routes, Lin Zhichao has also made plans step by step. In the past few years, he has attracted Hong Kong's richest people to join the game. The purpose is to send a signal to the mainland - Hong Kong Airlines is the representative of Hong Kong's wealthy groups, and the routes must be taken care of.

Now, La Huaxin Group has entered the market again and is preparing to go public. It is to completely regard Hong Kong Airlines as an airline representing Hong Kong.

"It's a pleasure to cooperate," Lin Zhichao said kindly after signing.

Rong Zhi is Lin Zhichao's junior. When they first met, he called him "Uncle Lin".

Lin Zhichao was considered the son-in-law of a wealthy family in Jiangnan, and he looked after Rongzhi as a "nephew"; what's more, Lin Zhichao was a director of Huaxin Group in 1979.

"It's a great honor to be able to cooperate with Lin Sheng. Hong Kong Airlines is a company with excellent management. We, CEFC Hong Kong, are honored to join this company." Rong Zhi quickly held Lin Zhichao's hand and said modestly.

This 'Uncle Lin' is not an ordinary rich man in Hong Kong. There are many second-generation people with rich backgrounds who come to Hong Kong. This 'Uncle Lin' just doesn't care. Of course, many second-generation people who come to Hong Kong are really shameless. They look like Queen Jiuqi, and Hong Kong is their world, which is very annoying.

But they didn't look at Uncle Lin's ability. Even the old man invited him to meet him every year, a person with a lot of connections. What's more, there was nothing wrong with Uncle Lin being a 'shadow governor' in Hong Kong.

"CEFC Hong Kong has huge potential. First, you have a strong financial background, and second, Xiao Rongsheng, you have a practical style!"

"Thank you Lin Sheng for the compliment."

Rong Zhi suddenly felt more proud!

In fact, Lin Zhichao's evaluation of Rong Zhi as a "Chen Qingsong-type character", the only difference is that Rong Zhi really has a background. In the previous life, CEFC Hong Kong had been developing well. With Li Jiacheng's care, it soon became one of the top ten plutocrats in Hong Kong.

However, after the expansion, without Li Jiacheng's care, he immediately returned to his original shape. He suffered huge losses when investing in Australian iron ore, and suffered huge losses when investing in high-risk financial products. He just managed to get himself out of business.

Later, Lin Zhichao invited Rongzhi to his office, accompanied by Lin Ruicheng.

After arriving at the office, Rong Zhi humbly asked: "Uncle Lin, do you have any suggestions for CEFC Hong Kong?"

Lin Zhichao said: "I believe you can lead CEFC Hong Kong to stand firm. If CEFC Hong Kong develops to a certain level, it can be listed on the backdoor."

There are many shells of listed companies on the market, even Lin Zhichao has them.

Rong Zhi's eyes lit up. What surprised him was not that Lin Zhichao reminded him of "backdoor listing", after all, he wanted it too. What surprised him was that if Lin Zhichao was willing to help CEFC Hong Kong advise on the listing, or use Lin Zhichao's connections, this would be a good idea. shortcut.

Taking personal connections as an example, Hong Kong barrister Li Yeguang, securities experts Du Huilian and Liang Botao are all members of Lin Zhichao's "intelligent group".

"Well, I'd like to ask you to give me some advice when the time comes!"

"There is no problem with this. As long as you manage CEFC Hong Kong and meet the conditions for listing, I will be able to advise you on the search for a shell."

Rong Zhi left Lin Zhichao's office happily. Now Chinese-funded institutions want to get on Lin Zhichao's ship, but how many are qualified?

Lin Zhichao is not only Hong Kong's local tycoon king, but more importantly, he is good at financial market acquisitions, which is very important for many companies to gain a foothold in Hong Kong.

After Rong Zhi left.

Lin Ruicheng asked curiously: "Dad, do you think highly of Rong Zhi?"

Lin Zhichao smiled and said: "If we can accomplish something, we won't lose money by supporting him. This is just an exchange of interests. If Adou cannot be helped, why should I mess with him?"

Lin Ruicheng said: "So, he is very powerful?"

Lin Zhichao said: "I can always be great in Hong Kong. Whether I can go overseas in the future is another matter."

In fact, it is difficult for Chinese people to achieve success in world business, and Li Jiacheng was the only one in his previous life.

Things that even Hong Kong tycoons can’t handle, let alone mainland businessmen!

Lin Zhichao has also been studying this topic, and he must make steady progress step by step before he dares to expand overseas. Of course, the topic he studies is business management.