The Industrial Giant Reborn

"Yes, Chen Sheng, our Zhang family will clear out the Wheelock stocks in our hands this time." Zhang Yuliang nodded and said: "But I have a request, and Chen Sheng also knows that the Malaysian Chinese tycoon Qiu Teck Puat, from John Ma Teng acquired 14% of the shares. Now Qiu Deba has publicly prepared to acquire Wheelock Company. I hope that after I sell Wheelock shares, Chen Sheng can completely take over Wheelock Company and let him and Kowloon Like a warehouse, it is still in the hands of us Hong Kong Chinese."

"You should hold more than 30% of the shares, right? Why don't you continue to acquire it yourself? If it's a funding problem, it shouldn't be difficult to use the equity in your hands to mortgage it with any bank to obtain additional funds sufficient for the acquisition. Besides, there is a vote With the power of veto in hand, no matter how powerful Qiu Deba is, he can't change the world." Chen Zhiwen also asked curiously.

Owning 30% of the stock, under the current legal regulations in the Hong Kong market, is basically impossible to be forcibly acquired by outsiders, because if the acquirer wants to have more than 30% of the say, it will easily violate the 34.9% acquisition invitation regulations. Under normal circumstances, , not many people would be like Chen Zhiwen, willing to acquire a company wholly, most of them just want management rights, and if the controlling family owns 30%, they are basically invincible.

"We in the Zhang family have not had actual management experience for many years, so we do not plan to personally participate in the management. We still know this." Zhang Yuliang said with a smile.

"It's actually a good idea to have this idea. We are not afraid of the rich second generation spending money randomly, but they are afraid that the rich second generation will seek advancement." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. This law has really been proven to be a good thing in the mainland in later generations. For example, the prince is happy and happy every day and feels uncomfortable, and Princess Wei works hard to run the family business and is faced with many crises.

"This is the ancestral motto of our Zhang family. Unless the descendants of our family are able to make a career on their own, otherwise we will hand over many companies to professional managers, or we will only be the investors behind them. , investing in capable people." Zhang Yuliang said: "We chose Wheelock because we also took a fancy to Hong Kong's fourth largest foreign bank and John's ability. We just didn't expect that we trusted him so much that he would actually do it. Without saying a word, he sold all his shares."

"Maybe it's because I want to cash out in a hurry." Chen Zhiwen said.

In recent years, due to the impact of the Hong Kong real estate crisis and the main shipping crisis, Wheelock's stock price has been depressed for several consecutive years. In addition, Chen Zhiwen has successively acquired Hutchison Whampoa and Jardine Matheson. Among the four major foreign banks in Hong Kong, the only one that is normal is Swire. .

The equity structure of Wheelock is a bit different from that of ordinary companies. The Zhang Yuliang family controls more than 30% of Wheelock's equity. However, the Zhang family is now the third generation in power, and the entire family basically does not participate directly. business, they have been trying to maintain the assets of their ancestors. Therefore, the management rights have been handed over to John Bench, who has been managing Wheelock. The latter only has 14% of Wheelock's shares.

John Horse's business strategy is similar to that of the former Keswick family or Newbijian. He only cares about the scale of assets he can control, rather than being like the Chinese family, who would rather have a small company but also ensure their absolute control. Secondly, The unique patterns of people work well together.

It was just that the Hong Kong real estate crisis and the global shipping crisis in the early 1980s hit Wheelock and made the entire company difficult to operate. The "Joint Convention" at the end of last year even hit many British capitals in Hong Kong. Except for a few British capitals such as Swire. Capital company, many others want to run away. The original historical Jardine Matheson also transferred its registration place. HSBC also transferred a large amount of the company's assets through several international mergers and acquisitions in the 1990s.

Although this John is British, he has been in Asia for most of his life and knows many rich people in Asia. The Malay tycoon Qiu Teck Puat is one of them. The two of them did not know how long they discussed it. Finally, John Sell ​​all his stocks and leave. This will probably make the Zhang family angry to death.

However, Chen Zhiwen understood John's approach, because John knew that the Ma family actually had the same idea as him. The two major shareholders of Wheelock both wanted to cash out and leave. As for Wheelock's future, no one had any idea. I don't care, as long as I can cash out and leave.

Although the Ma family is Chinese, they have been under British management for too long and tend to be managed by the British. Otherwise, John Ma Shi only has 14% of the shares, and the Zhang family has more than 30%. The shares acquired by Qiu Deba would not be able to do so. The Ma family was angry because John Mashiro ran away first, leaving himself with a lot of trouble. But if John hadn't run away, it would have been the Ma family who ran away first.

So the eldest brother is laughing at the second brother. This is how it is in shopping malls. If you are not cruel, you will be tricked by others, and you are ready to flee. Whoever runs away first will naturally make the people behind you angry, but you don’t know that you just hate yourself for not running away first.

"No matter what the reason is, it doesn't matter now." Zhang Yuliang continued: "Sheng Chen, you have already acquired Hutchison Whampoa and Jardines. I admire you very much. If you acquire Wheelock again, then the entire British Empire in Hong Kong will Apart from the Swire Group, which is half controlled by the Swire family, and the quasi-central bank HSBC, there are no other companies that have reached scale. This is also the peak moment for us Chinese in Hong Kong."

"A Wheelock is not that powerful." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said: "Wheelock is not worth much. The problem is that my company is not involved in shipping and I don't understand these things, so I don't want to participate."

Although you can find professional people to manage various businesses, such as KFC, Costco, etc., the prerequisite is that you have a strong future. The shipping industry cannot be said to be bad, and its prospects are not lower than those of some real estate industries. If you just want to do this, you must have a sufficient understanding of the fluctuations in the Hong Kong real estate market like Chen Zhiwen.

The volatility of the shipping market has increased, even more than that of the real estate industry. If you buy various ships when the shipping market is at a low point and then sell them when the shipping market is bullish, it will indeed be very profitable. However, the risks involved are much greater because there are a large number of ships. The cost of ship maintenance is very high, unlike the real estate industry where rents can be collected. The most important thing is that Chen Zhiwen has never participated in the shipping industry in his previous life. He only roughly knows that the shipping market will take off when there are problems in the Middle East, and the shipping market will take off when oil prices rise. There will be a downturn, and the global economy and the total tonnage of global ships, etc., can be said to be super complicated, and Chen Zhiwen is too lazy to participate.

"Sheng Chen, there are several Chinese shipping kings in Hong Kong, and there are also a lot of talents in the shipping industry. You can hire a professional team to manage it. Although my Zhang family doesn't know much about shipping, because of long-term investment in Wheelock, I also have a general understanding that the general shipping crisis is the same as the Hong Kong real estate crisis. It only lasts two or three years. This time it started in 1982 and should be almost the same today. After Chen Sheng acquired Wheelock, as long as the shipping market recovers, it will inevitably You can get a lot of benefits." Zhang Yuliang said with a smile.

"Sheng Zhang, there is no need to say any more." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said, "My company already has enough business, and I don't want to participate in the shipping industry."

"Didn't Chen Sheng also invest in Orient Overseas? Why didn't he invest in Wheelock, and this was an acquisition, wouldn't it be better?" Zhang Yuliang asked. He was confused. Some time ago, it was reported in the market that Chen Zhiwen had invested in Orient Overseas. Hisense Bank was also allowed to provide financial assistance, which led many experts in the market to believe that Chen Zhiwen’s next investment industry would be the shipping industry. This is also in line with many people’s logic. Rich people in Hong Kong like to diversify and expand. The former Chen Songqing Although it is a huge scam, investing in shipping after it became developed is just using shipping stocks to defraud money. It may be possible to defraud, which also shows that Hong Kong's financial market defaults to this expansion model.

Zhang Yuliang also decided to find Chen Zhiwen because he knew about this. If Chen Zhiwen himself wanted to enter the shipping market, then his family also wanted to cash out their assets and leave the market. But even if it was a perfect match, he would definitely be able to make a lot of profits. Unexpectedly, he was directly rejected by Chen Zhiwen.

"For Orient Overseas, it is just an investment. Rather than investing in Orient Overseas, I would rather invest in the two brothers of the Dong family. They are very capable. I believe they can run Orient Overseas well." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

People today, not even the Dong family themselves and Huo Yingdong, can imagine the Dong family's future achievements.

"The two members of the Dong family are indeed very powerful. OOCL owes more than 10 billion Hong Kong dollars in foreign debt. I am very impressed that they have been able to persist for more than two years and persuade so many creditor banks." Zhang Yuliang nodded.

Today's mainstream wealthy Chinese families in Hong Kong are basically first-generation entrepreneurs. This is the case with the real estate five tigers. It is not that the previous generation is not good, but that the top Chinese families of the previous generation can only Remaining mediocre, they no longer have the brilliance of their parents. Most of the second generation do not have the abilities of the first generation. However, the Dong family is different. Dong Haoyun is very capable, and so are his two sons.

In the past few years, there have been rumors in the market about the confrontation between the Dong brothers and creditor banks from various countries, which has made many people sweat. Although you have a lot of debt, the banks do not dare to force you too much, but this premise is that you still have a chance to turn around. If you have the opportunity to repay all your debts, once the bank determines that it must be a bad debt, it will definitely pounce on you like a pack of wolves. If you want to maintain it for such a long time, you must be eloquent and capable enough to convince so many creditor banks to believe you. , the difficulty is so great that it is no exaggeration to describe it as "defying the heavens".

"We don't need to say too much about the Dong family." Chen Zhiwen paused and asked, "Sheng Zhang, I would like to ask, are your Zhang family also planning to withdraw from Hong Kong?"

The word "ye" is actually because after Hong Kong was confirmed to return to the motherland in 1997, many wealthy families in Hong Kong began to prepare to run away. Some even wanted some family members to leave. For example, if your children acquire nationality from other countries, or transfer part of their assets, this is the current normal situation in the Hong Kong market. Some people think that Hong Kong’s future will definitely be better, while others think it will definitely not be good and want to run away. Even now, Hong Kong's real estate market and stock market have not recovered quickly because a group of people are constantly cashing out assets and preparing to leave the market. Even if some people are optimistic about investing more, others are selling, and naturally they cannot rise.

"Yes, our Zhang family is still conservative. We don't seek to be as prosperous as Chen Sheng, as long as the whole family can live in peace of mind." Zhang Yuliang simply said, everyone knows what this kind of thing is. At the same time, Whatever thoughts you have, you have already had them, and it is basically impossible to change them.

"Everyone has his own ambitions. In fact, being able to preserve the family wealth of our ancestors is already pretty good." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. The reason why people cannot be rich for three generations is not because people after three generations spend too much money, but because they don't know their own abilities. Don't bet on anything risky. The money earned by an ordinary rich man can at least give the next six or seven generations no worries.

"Make Chen Sheng laugh." Zhang Yuliang didn't say any more. Compared to Chen Zhiwen, even his own parents were far behind.

"Now that the Zhang family is preparing to leave Hong Kong, I can arrange for Land Land to take over many of your family's properties in Hong Kong. The price will be based on the normal market price. How about that?" Chen Zhiwen said again, he would not be able to do it with ordinary small real estate companies. I have personally asked, but this kind of family that has been developing in Hong Kong for decades has very rare and high-quality assets in its hands. For example, the Zhang family holds several commercial street properties in Hong Kong.

The entire street, or at least about half of it, belongs to his family. Even Chen Zhiwen doesn't have many properties like this. Real Estate has more valuable office buildings and shopping malls, and can even continue to build them, but there is no way to copy the commercial street. , just like the mainland in later generations, more shopping malls can be built, but there are only so many commercial streets in one place.

"Sheng Chen, although our Zhang family is considering transferring assets to Australia for some reasons, we will not leave Hong Kong in the short term, so even if we sell the property, it will only be part of it." Zhang Yuliang thought for a while and said, He didn't refuse. Anyway, he would sell it to anyone. If it was given to Land, at least the financial aspect would be smoother.

"That's no problem." Chen Zhiwen nodded and agreed. Some families still want to bet on both sides.

"Sheng Chen, in fact, Wheelock also owns many high-quality properties. A few years ago, we also traded the Federal and International buildings. They are Wheelock's best assets, but they are not the only ones." Zhang Yuliang added He said, obviously he still wanted to seduce Chen Zhiwen. Although these assets were not impossible to dispose of, selling them to one person would obviously be more cost-effective and save energy.

"If you acquire Wheelock, you must be responsible for the shipping company. So, I will discuss it with the shipping king Mr. Pao Yugang. Maybe, he and I can acquire Wheelock together." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said Although Wheelock ranked last among the four major foreign banks, it can develop for a hundred years. Even if it does not pay attention to the real estate industry, it still has a large amount of high-quality land. Especially now that housing and land prices in Hong Kong have not yet taken off, the benefits are definitely very high.

"Okay, then I'll wait for your good news." Zhang Yuliang said quickly. In fact, he also knew that Bao Yugang was suitable to take over Wheelock, but the Zhang family and the Bao family were not familiar with each other, so he came directly to them if they had no relationship. , then even if they agree, they still have to kill themselves, and he and Chen Zhiwen have met more or less a few times, at least they know each other, and the Chen family's financial resources are stronger, which is in their interests.

The next day, Chen Zhiwen invited Bao Yugang here again and told him everything about Zhang Yuliang's visit to him yesterday.

"Wheelock's shipping business is indeed compatible with Global Shipping. They mainly deal in bulk shipping, and I mainly operate oil tankers. There is no conflict." After listening to this, Bao Yugang paused and said, "It's just a bit Risk, I don’t know when this shipping crisis will end.” (End of Chapter)