The Industrial Giant Reborn

When Chen Zhiwen heard the news, he was still a little dazed, but he figured it out soon.

It is not a day or two for the ship king to seek to abandon the ship and land. After seeing the background that the global shipping market will inevitably shrink on a large scale in the next few years, Bao Yugang naturally wants to dispose of the ship in his hand. Yugang is also gradually disposing of the old boats in his hands, selling those that can be sold, and dismantling those that cannot be sold.

This process is not very intense. After all, the shipping crisis will not come immediately, and it has not yet reached the point where you need to cut off your arms to survive. At the same time, this also involves many workers' work problems and contract issues with existing customers. It will take time. Straighten out slowly.

From the outsiders' point of view, Bao Yugang's disposing of the old ship was a normal behavior. Only Chen Zhiwen, after accidentally knowing about it, could tell that the ship lord was about to abandon the ship.

Although it is not easy to abandon the boat, it is still possible as long as you take your time, but it is not so easy to land. The entire Hong Kong real estate market has long been controlled by traditional British capital and a dozen Chinese real estate upstarts. Bao Yugang's family is indeed It is possible to enter the real estate market, but without experience, talents, and land, it is basically impossible to succeed if you start over. Besides, Bao Yugang is not too young, so it is impossible to start a new business in another field.

He wanted to land, not to create another glory in the real estate market, but to leave a stable family property for his four daughters and son-in-law.

As for Jardine, because Chen Zhiwen has been unwilling to forcibly buy it at a high price in the stock market, Jardine's Wharf stock failed to take the opportunity to sell at a high price. After being changed hands by Wharf, the stock price fell again. At this time, Not to mention selling it in the stock market, even the second shareholder holds close to 20% of the shares. If it goes down, the stock price will fall into a penny stock, and Jardine will suffer heavy losses.

Therefore, finding a suitable buyer has become the latest goal of Jardines. Chen Zhiwen actually knows that Jardines is looking for a successor through Huodoli.

In this case, it is normal for one to have money and need to buy Hong Kong assets, and the other to sell a large number of stocks in his hands.

But what Chen Zhiwen couldn't figure out was why Hongkong Land had to sell the two buildings in his hands. The Prince's Building is located in a prime location in Central, which is more valuable than the Commonwealth or International Building in Chen Zhiwen's hands. As for the Duke of Windsor Building in Tsim Sha Tsui, it is not bad. location.

The general manager of Wharf, Zhao Lilin, also naturally received the news, so he came to Chen Zhiwen, and Xu Jinhong from Xinghe came with him.

Zhao Lilin asked: "Chen Sheng, Chartered Shipping King has acquired 20% of the shares of Wharf. According to Hong Kong law, he will become one of our directors. Do we need to formally invite him over?"

"Let's invite, 20% of the voting rights are just for us. It doesn't matter to us. Even if he sends people to participate in the management, it's okay. Those who are capable will use it, and those who are not can just raise a few idlers. It doesn't matter." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

In fact, Chen Zhiwen doesn't care who will buy the 20% of the shares in Jardine's hands. He holds 40% of the shares and has obtained the right to operate. There is no way to drive him away, even if the company loses money. No one could do what Hutchison did back then.

This is the advantage of holding the management right. In the battle between Bao Yugang and Jardine in the previous life, Bao Yugang held 30% of the shares, and Jardine only had 20%. But because Jardine had the management right, Bao Yugang There was nothing they could do about Jardines, and in the end they had to resort to tough measures to buy Wharf shares at HK$105 per share, gaining 49.9% of the shares, and then gained control, but the price was so high that it was difficult to estimate.

If Chen Zhiwen also held 30% before, then he might also fall into a tug-of-war with the Jardine Department. I am afraid the process will not be much better. After all, when he has 40%, even the Jardine Department has no confidence. .

And as long as the right time comes, Chen Zhiwen will reinvest in Wharf to obtain a total of 49.9% of the equity, and complete the absolute control that is impenetrable.

Besides, he also believed that Bao Yugang was a smart person, even if he wanted to log in, he would not choose to fight against himself, because it was completely unnecessary.

"Okay, then I will officially invite the charter king in the name of the board of directors," Zhao Lilin said.

"Actually, I don't care that Bao Yugang became a shareholder of Wharf, but Hong Kong Land sold two buildings, which is a bit strange." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.

As for Wharf, he was not going to privatize it. It was just a rent-collecting company. Unlike Hutchison, which held a large number of high-quality businesses with great potential, and land prices were at a low point at that time, the cost of privatizing Hutchison was also high. It is not high. After privatization, we survived the trough period, not to mention the future, that is, today, three years later, the cost of privatization at the beginning has now been earned several times.

But now, Chen Zhiwen is well-known, and many people are also optimistic about Chen Zhiwen's means. At this time, if he wants to privatize Wharf, he will have to be slaughtered by a group of people and vomit blood.

Of course, with the high real estate prices in the future, even if you spend a lot of money to privatize Wharf, you will definitely make some money in the future, but there are too many ways to make money in this era, so there is no need to stick to it here, instead of spending one billion Hong Kong dollars or more If more funds are used to privatize Wharf, it is better to invest in other places. Let alone the upcoming "golden" opportunity, even if you use this billion to buy properties in Hong Kong, you can easily earn several times. By 1983, Hong Kong real estate When the crisis turns to the Japanese real estate market, you can earn ten to twenty times or even more with your eyes closed.

Besides, I hold the absolute control of Wharf, and the funds of Wharf are actually his and completely controlled by him, and he can even take advantage of the opportunity to raise funds in the stock market in the future. After all, the benefits of going public must be great. Otherwise, most of the world's top 500 companies will not be listed.

Only those companies with huge potential are not in a hurry to go public, such as Midea, Red Bull, etc. Wharf, the potential is the same, and the listing or delisting is the same.

Xu Jinhong thought for a while and said: "If I were Niu Bijian, at this time, selling the shares of Wharf and the two buildings in my hand must be because someone needs money urgently. Is it because of Jardine's overseas business? Something went wrong?"

"Not necessarily. Jardine's overseas business has long had problems. They have been selling overseas business. It makes no sense to sell the buildings in Hong Kong. You also know how obsessed the Jardines are with the buildings in Central. In a big crisis, they will not sell the building." Zhou Jiayang said.

Xu Jinhong said: "When we acquired Wharf before, Jardine also wanted to sell the Central Building, but at that time there was too little time, they had no time to find a buyer, and only the crisis of Wharf being forcibly acquired could make Jardine The Central Building is sold."

"Then I guess I learned a lesson from the Wharf incident. It seems that Jardine will also report to Landmark. Otherwise, if there is another problem with Landmark, it will not become a global joke." Chen Zhiwen said lightly.

"Are they going to increase their shareholding in Landmark? That's what happened. It's only this kind of thing that allowed Jardine to sell the Central Building in its hands. Only in this way, the 14.2% of Landmark shares that we will own soon will be lost. It may also be diluted a little, I originally wanted to reach 16% before the end of the year, so that I could become a director of Hongkong Land." Xu Jinhong said with a frown.

"If you can't reach it, you can't. I'm not planning to become a director of Hongkong Land. If I really want to announce this, I'm afraid Jardine will fight me hard." Chen Zhiwen shrugged and said indifferently: "Jardine Land, also It's normal behavior, don't worry about him for now."

The current market value of Hong Kong Land is close to 6 billion Hong Kong dollars. Even if Jardine doesn’t hold many shares in Hong Kong Land, he prepared for a long time in advance and bought it slowly. In addition, he took the opportunity to acquire Hong Kong Land when he borrowed Wharf to release harmful news. so much. It also spent nearly 800 million Hong Kong dollars before and after, and half of Midea's overseas capital reserves were spent.

It was a backup method prepared by Chen Zhiwen for himself before. If the acquisition of Wharf did not go well, then this is a useful pawn, but since it is not used, it is better to keep silent.

And if Jardine really increases its holdings of Hongkong Land, it will also dilute the equity in the hands of other shareholders. With one positive and one negative, Jardine's control over Hongkong Land can be said to be stronger.

This can be regarded as a normal behavior. After all, Wharf has learned from the past. If Jardine is so stupid as to ignore land, it will not be worthy of being the number one consortium in Hong Kong.

In later generations, Landmark declined, and Wharf, under the long-term management of Pao Yugang’s son-in-law, became one of the top ten consortiums in Hong Kong. The scale may be stronger than Landmark, but in the 1970s, Wharf is worse than Landmark now. There are a lot of them. Wharf was robbed, and Jardine's loss is not very big. If the land is gone, Jardine may not be worthy of the four major foreign companies.

As for Hongkong Land, as long as they are Chinese, no one will be indifferent, even if they have a high-tech industry, but Hongkong Land has about 20 buildings in Hong Kong (there are now, not so many in the 21st century), and the cost of rent collection alone , can exceed some of the world's top 500 companies.

However, he still can't eat such a large amount of fat, so he needs to continue to wait. When the real estate crisis breaks out in the 1980s, he may have his own chance.

"Then do we need to continue buying Hongkong shares?" Xu Jinhong asked. After the acquisition of Wharf, Galaxy Group is still using its own and Midea's funds to acquire Hongkong shares, but the speed is very slow, so slow that the market is unlikely. You will find an exception. This is a merger and acquisition that has been in place for several years, just like Wharf back then.

"Go on, just keep it from being discovered. In addition, prepare the shares of Hongkong Land. I need to pledge this part of the shares." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said, it is now the middle of the year, and it is not half a year before the price of gold starts to soar. Funds in other aspects have already begun to come back, except for investments that affect future strategic plans, such as investment in research and development of handheld and home game consoles, other funds are ready to participate in this gluttonous feast.

"Pledge?" Xu Jinhong said: "Chen Sheng, once the pledge is made, we may not be able to hide the news that we hold Landmark shares, unless we find an overseas bank."

"Overseas banks may not necessarily recognize the shares of Landmark, and even if they do, they will not lend a lot of money." Chen Zhiwen said: "We can try to find a bank that does not have a good relationship with Jardine HSBC?"

"You mean Standard Chartered?" Xu Jinhong immediately knew which one it was.

"Let's arrange a meeting with the charter king first." Chen Zhiwen said.

"Okay." Xu Jinhong agreed.

In the presidential suite of the Hilton Hotel, Chen Zhiwen met Bao Yugang in private for the first time.

The reason why this is the first time in private is actually because the two have met in some public places. After all, Hong Kong is such a big place. The Hong Kong government, chamber of commerce, or some rich Chinese will organize regular gatherings, which can be regarded as alleviating conflicts between all parties. a way.

Bao Yugang's main business is shipping, and there is little conflict with the local business giants. Chen Zhiwen's main business is actually the same. Although he also has a real estate company, Hong Kong is worthy of making him a "contradictory". It is a large-scale real estate British-owned foreign firm, and the current Chinese real estate company is not yet considered. Besides, he doesn't send people to participate in the Hong Kong government's auction very much, so it is difficult to think of conflicts.

Therefore, the two of them rarely participated in such gatherings, and they only met twice in a few years, but because there was no intersection in business, everyone just got to know each other for business bragging.

But this time, of course it was different.

"Bao Sheng, long time no see, don't come here without any problems." Chen Zhiwen had been waiting in the hotel early, and when Bao Yugang came, he stood up and shook hands to welcome him.

"Chen Sheng, it's been a long time, but you set off another big firecracker in Hong Kong." Bao Yugang said with a smile: "When Li Jiacheng bought Wharf, I was actually not very optimistic about it, because his background It was still a little bit close, and things were as I expected, but then I heard that you made a move against Wharf. I was still in Egypt at the time. After hearing this, I knew that Jardine was about to lose, and it really didn’t come out. I expected it."

"British capital has controlled the wealth of Hong Kong for so many years. I should spit it out. What I have taken is just the first step. There will be more similar things in the future." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. In the history of Hong Kong business, 80 In the 1990s, it was ten years when Chinese capital and British capital handed over commercial dominance. The most fundamental reason was the fundamental logic of "wealth cannot last three generations". The rich are the first generation. When the cake is eaten by the British capital, the Chinese capital can only rely on forced acquisitions if they want to grow.

"So, Chen Sheng still has a promising prey?" Bao Yugang asked with a smile.

"Not in the short term." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said, the golden opportunity is coming, and the land price in Hong Kong has begun to go crazy. At this time, if a takeover war is launched, the stock price may skyrocket. It is not worthwhile at all, unless it is a negotiable takeover.

"Haha, I understand." Bao Yugang naturally understood the meaning of "short term".

Chen Zhiwen asked again: "Bao Sheng, you should be thinking the same as me. You want to buy a British company?"

"I have this idea, but there is no suitable partner at present." Bao Yugang shook his head and said, "Many British-funded companies are of high quality, but there is no way to get rid of them. Chen Sheng bought Hutchison because of the serious losses of Hutchison at that time. , Wharf was able to succeed also because Wharf has diluted its own stock a lot, otherwise, even Chen Sheng, it would be difficult to succeed, right?"