The birth of the Hong Kong Island family

It’s Spring Again (1975).

In an office building in Tower B of the Far East Financial Center, Lin Qingxia curiously looked at this office building with thousands of square feet. She didn't know why her man brought her here.

"Brother Chao, why did you bring me here?"

Lin Zhichao smiled and said: "This will be your investment company's office building from now on, and you will be the boss!"

Lin Qingxia said in surprise: "I want to be the boss?"

Lin Zhichao nodded and pulled Lin Qingxia to sit on the sofa. Feeling the charm of her young body, he felt a sense of accomplishment. This woman has been cultivated by him for almost a year, and now she is getting more and more beautiful. It is time to gradually retire from the entertainment industry.

"Do you know how much the stock you bought has appreciated?" Lin Zhichao asked with a smile.

Lin Qingxia lay in the man's arms and said with enjoyment: "I don't know. I just know that the price has risen very much in the past two months. I should have made a lot of money."

Lin Zhichao smiled and said: "Girl, you really act as a hands-off shopkeeper, you don't even care about this matter."

Lin Qingxia said coquettishly: "I don't understand. Besides, with my man watching, I will definitely not lose. Brother Chao, I seem to have grown up again!"

Women, once they fall in love, they will inevitably be very desperate.

Lin Zhichao laughed loudly, and then the two of them struggled on the sofa.

Afterwards, Lin Zhichao simply hugged her on the sofa and enjoyed this young time.

"How many are they? A dozen or dozens?"

Lin Qingxia is still very curious about this question. This man is so romantic and charming, and it is difficult for girls to escape his 'magic grasp'.

"What are you talking about! There are only five of them in total. Do you really think that I am very romantic? I am very restrained. I don't know how many women pounced on me!"

Tell the truth!

The ones that are really effective are Tang Caiyun, Xu Caiying, Audrey Hepburn, Zhao Yazhi and Lin Qingxia.

Lin Qingxia was indeed a little surprised. She had been prepared for this man to be very romantic. She did not expect that this man had only had five "women" in his love life of nearly thirty years, which showed that he was still very "keep your integrity."

She lay quietly in Lin Zhichao's arms and said softly: "Brother Chao, I believe you!"

Lin Zhichao choked, it was important whether he believed in this woman or not. Any woman he wanted to get would be a sure shot. There were only women in this world that he didn't want to mess with and couldn't afford to mess with. There was no woman that he, Lin Zhichao, couldn't get. This It’s a cheating life.

"By the way, your stocks should have doubled, that is, eight million has become sixteen million."

"Huh? So many!"

When Lin Qingxia heard the news, she stood up immediately, not caring about the mess on her body, and looked at Lin Zhichao in surprise.

"Yes, when you bought the stock market at the bottom, the Hang Seng Index was only around 170 points. Now the Hang Seng Index is already around 330 points, so doubling is certain."

"It's only been three months! I've easily made 8 million Hong Kong dollars?"

"It's originally a money grab, but the method is different! But I'm warning you, any investment in the future must be approved by me."

"Yeah, thank you, Brother Chao!"

Next, Lin Qingxia was still not calm. She didn't expect it to rise so much.

In fact, Lin Zhichao was also surprised. Since the beginning of the year, driven by factors such as the sharp interest rate cut in the US dollar and technical "oversold" factors, the Hang Seng Index has rebounded sharply, from 188 points at the beginning of the year to 330 points now (early March). The skyrocketing price is not an exaggeration.

Of course, this surge still cannot change the fact that the average transaction volume is only one billion Hong Kong dollars per month. After all, many of those leeks have been washed away.

"Qingxia, what you have to do now is to sell out all the stocks immediately. Then set up an investment company and use all the funds to buy low-priced properties."

"But I don't know these things, Brother Chao!"

"It doesn't matter. I have already identified a few talents for you. They are the elites of the Changshi Group. You have to reward me well today!"

After a while.

"Brother Chao, you can't be here!" "Qingxia, it's okay, it's very safe here."

After a while, Lin Zhichao and Lin Qingxia staged a 'Shuanglin Office War'. To be honest, it was very comfortable and fun.

Lin Zhichao asked Lin Zhichao to cash out his stocks not because he was worried that there would be a sharp decline, but Lin Zhichao speculated that the subsequent market should be sideways, with the Hang Seng Index reaching a maximum of 380 points.

In this way, Lin Qingxia can use funds to buy low-priced properties, and then mortgage the properties to obtain loans to speculate in stocks.

After some operations, Lin Qingxia's investment company is no longer weaker than Zhao Yazhi, who has been struggling for more than two years.

No way, Lin Zhichao's favorites in his previous life were Lin Qingxia, Guan Jiahui, and Li Jiaxin. As for Zhao Yazhi, he should just pick one up.

In a large conference room in Central, World Shipping, Swire \u0026 Co., Jardine Matheson \u0026 Co., Hutchison \u0026 Co., and Wharf Group are holding a memorandum of cooperation. The five companies will cooperate to establish the ‘Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminal Co., Ltd.’.

Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminal will invest in the construction of an air cargo terminal building at Kai Tak Airport to provide airlines with a comprehensive air cargo handling system.

Lin Zhichao also attended this meeting. He serves as the chairman of the board of directors of World Shipping, so he naturally wants a share of the pie.

Originally, good things like this were divided up by British capital in this era. However, regarding the air cargo terminal, there must be no way around Lin Zhichao, a Chinese-funded tycoon.

First of all, as one of the two major airlines in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Airlines is naturally eligible to participate;

Secondly, Hong Kong Airlines’ parent company, Worldwide, has HSBC as its second shareholder, accounting for 40% of the shares, so it is naturally eligible for a share of the pie.

Finally, with Lin Chi-chao's influence in Hong Kong and his financial resources, the Hong Kong government would not dare to favor British capital too much even if they were competing alone.

The final result is, of course, that everyone cooperates to avoid vicious competition.

In fact, where there is competition, there is also cooperation. This is a shopping mall. For example, in his previous life, Bao Yu had just made a hostile acquisition of the Wharf Group, and at that time he was also cooperating with Land to develop real estate projects.

In this cooperation with Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminal, Worldwide holds 20% of the shares, which is considered fair; after all, Cathay Pacific's parent company, Swire Pacific, only holds 20% of the shares.

On the contrary, it is the Jardine Matheson Group, which accounts for a total of 45% of the shares (Jardine Matheson and Wharf Group); as for Hutchison Matheson, it is difficult to protect itself now, and it has a symbolic participation of 15%.

The signing of the memorandum this time was attended by the heads of major foreign companies. It was a rare 'big shot meeting'.

"Henry Taipan, I heard that you plan to return to London to govern. It seems that I have lost another competitor! Haha!" Lin Zhichao said with a smile to Henry Keswick.

Henry Keswick responded: "Mr. Lin is really well-informed! But we don't seem to have competed directly, at most it was at the auction house. I think that kind of competition is too boring. On the contrary, I heard that Mr. Lin once wanted to compete with the milk company Cooperation, the result is that I achieved my goal, what do you think?"

What he meant was that bidding for the 'Central District Land King (Victoria Harbor Center)' at the auction house was nothing more than competing with who had more money, and there was no difficulty. Both parties coveted the milk company. Lin Zhichao came back in vain, but he successfully won it.

Seeing that the two sparks collided, the top managers and senior executives of the surrounding foreign companies all looked around to watch the fun.

Lin Zhichao spread his hands and said, "Well, Mr. Henry really puts me at a disadvantage in the art of acquisition."

Seeing Lin Zhichao take the initiative to 'admit defeat', Henry Keswick could only say: "Mr. Lin's grasp of timing is what I am willing to defeat."

If he is complacent, he will definitely not be praised by the people around him, but ridiculed by the people around him.

You know, Lin Zhichao's grasp of timing, whether in shipping or real estate, is absolutely top-notch, and this is recognized. Although it does not have the "superb acquisition art" like Henry Keswick, last year the Cheung Kong Group also acquired two cities in a row - Chinatown and Metropolis Real Estate.

Especially for the China Bank Building, when it was put up for sale, Real Estate was already in a situation of insufficient funds and missed opportunities.

After a simple exchange, everyone became harmonious. Lin Zhichao also took the opportunity to say hello to Jardine's successor Niu Bijian and Land's successor Pau Fuda. Newbikin is an old man from Yihe, while Bao Fuda just joined Land this year and turned out to be from the Hong Kong government department. It is these two people who will put the Jardines family in crisis in the future, not to mention the loss of Wharf. After all, this is the mess left by the Keswick family. But later, Landlord became the 'debt king', and Bao Fuda had to be mentioned. His ability to achieve great success was due to his crazy expansion and unclear vision of the situation, which was the culprit later. Of course, Niubijian was also involved in this.

Henry Keswick is about to return to London to engage in politics, and Newbigan and Bowfull are about to enter the stage of history.

"Mr. Lin, Swire Properties is planning to sell a piece of land. It is located at the West Lake site on Brammar Hill Road in North Point. It covers an area of ​​864,000 square feet. I wonder if the Cheung Kong Group is interested again?" During the chat, Shi Yoke from Swire \u0026 Co. talked about something. .

At this time, Hong Kong's real estate was in a downturn, and the average residential price in Hong Kong and Kowloon dropped from HK$220 per square foot in 1973 to HK$176 per square foot at the end of 1974, a drop of about 20%. Residential properties in the New Territories fell by 30%, and land also fell by 30%.

At this time, most companies are unable to buy the bottom, because they have exhausted all their strength during the peak period of real estate.

Only Cheung Kong Group is known to everyone as the "rich man". Not only does its profit not fall, but it has also opened up multiple channels for raising funds, making it the largest player.

Lin Zhichao said: "If you are interested, I will ask my colleagues from the company to negotiate with Swire Properties later!"

Since you take the initiative to come to the door, there is no need to hide your head and show your tail.

Shiyue nodded and said, "OK!"

Taking advantage of this period, Lin Zhichao also praised: "The 2.3 million square feet real estate project developed by Swire Properties in Taikoo Dockyard can be said to be another large-scale private housing estate after Hong Kong's Mei Foo Village. It will definitely become a benchmark project in real estate in the future."

There is no longer any competition with Swire \u0026 Co., so it is time to ease the relationship. After all, everyone plans to develop in depth in Hong Kong.

After hearing Lin Zhichao's praise, Shi York said humbly: "Swire Properties is considered a newbie in the industry. For the Taikoo Shing project, we have worked hard to realize Mr. Lin's expectations."

In order to develop the 2.3 million square feet of land in Taikoo Dockyard, Swire Pacific adopts a relatively conservative method of raising funds. The first is to raise funds through listing, and the second is to sell land to raise funds.

In the past few decades, Swire \u0026 Co. sold a lot of land. For example, in the 1960s, it sold the Taikoo dormitory lot in Quarry Bay. Later, it built overcrowded pigeon-style residential buildings such as "Haishan", "Seaview" and "Fook Cheong". ; It also sold the Far East Headquarters Building in Central and built the current Furama Hotel; in the early 1970s, it sold the land on the east side of Hualan Road and built Crown Automobile Dealers, Renfu Industrial Building, Baofeng Court, Hui On Court, etc. buildings.

Now, in order to develop the Taikoo Shing project and prepare to sell the Saixi Lake land, one can't help but lament that these British-owned foreign companies have never stopped being wary of the mainland.

It's not that these British-owned foreign companies don't have money, but they like to take part of the money they earn to develop in Europe.

After chatting with the foreign banks for a while, Lin Zhichao said goodbye. Seeing Lin Zhichao's high-spirited appearance, the heads and management of the major banks couldn't help but feel a kind of fear in their hearts.

Precisely because of the emergence of Lin Zhichao, Hong Kong was no longer dominated by British companies very early on. Swire Pacific lost Hong Kong Airlines, and Land lost the "Central Land King (Victoria Harbor Centre)". These all show that this Chinese has already had the strength to compete with everyone.

The important thing is that 20 to 25% of HSBC's profits now come from shipping, which is the company that cooperates with Lin Zhichao. With the support of HSBC, this Chinese-funded tycoon is even more powerful.

For example, in this case of air cargo terminal, it is impossible to exclude Hong Kong Airlines.

Cheung Kong Holdings.

Lin Zhichao called for three carriages: Huang Changhong, Hu Zhaoxu, and Zhou Fuzhao.

“In this Slender West Lake project, let Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce participate in half of the shares!”

The three of them were stunned, and some couldn't understand why the boss cared so much about the Canadian Commercial Bank. After all, Changshi Group was not short of money and did not need to please any bank at all. The boss himself said that he could also provide loans to Cheung Kong Group.

Huang Changhong said: "This Slender West Lake project covers an area of ​​856,000 square feet. It can build a luxury house project. If done properly, the profit can reach tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars. What kind of return should the Canadian Imperial Bank give to the boss for making such a large investment? What about us?"

He was conservative. This project could earn hundreds of millions.

Lin Zhichao said: "It can help us enter Canada. It won't hinder us. It's just one more person making money. Cheung Kong Group will have many good projects this year."

I see!

The boss has begun to look forward to the global business landscape. This vision is really long-term, and the three of them have no doubts.

Indeed, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is the best bridge for Cheung Kong Group to enter Canada, so Lin Zhichao is willing to let them make money in Hong Kong; from the financial company they cooperated with last year to the current cooperative real estate project, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce can make money in Hong Kong. Hong Kong found its feet and made money.

In return, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce will also allow Changshi Group to gain a foothold in Canada in the future.

Starting this year, Cheung Kong Group will have to consider continuing to invest in Hong Kong while also looking to North America.

Then, Lin Zhichao said: "After winning the Slender West Lake project, we will continue to purchase land, including exchanging land rights and interests, and increase the land reserve."

"Okay, boss!"

In fact, Changshi Group now has financial strength but no channels to acquire large projects. This Slender West Lake is barely considered one, worth about 80 to 90 million Hong Kong dollars.

It cannot be said that there are no channels for large projects. After all, 550 million was spent on acquiring projects last year, but this included 300 million Hong Kong dollars to acquire the Yangtze River Plaza site (Admiralty).

After the three men left, Lin Zhichao also began to think.

This year, Cheung Kong Holdings should also participate in investing in Manhattan office buildings, but of course it will join forces with Universal Group and the two parties will jointly establish an investment company.

The oil crisis has had a great impact on the United States, so the office buildings in Manhattan in the past two years are very worthy of investment.

Of course, the main body of investment must be Universal Group, not Cheung Kong Group. This is determined based on financial strength. Cheung Kong Group will still be based in Hong Kong, and overseas investments will only be dabbled in for the time being.

Cheung Kong Group's globalization strategy needs to be implemented step by step, after all, it is now a listed company.

At the end of the month, a joint venture between Cheung Kong Group and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce acquired the Slender West Lake site for HK$85 million, covering an area of ​​864,000 square feet.

Of course, although the land area is large, the actual developable area is not large. Cheung Kong Group plans to build a high-end residential community on 10% of this land, with about 1,000 high-end residences ranging from 1,200 to 1,700 square feet. For the other 90% of the area, a playground, scenic spots, and public areas will be built to collect rent (tickets) on a long-term basis.

Although the current residential price in North Point is only 150 Hong Kong dollars per square foot, and the floor area of ​​1.5 million square feet is only more than 200 million; in this way, it seems to be only a very ordinary profit.

But Lin Zhichao knew that by the time this project was sold (in 1977), the price of housing could rise to more than HK$260. After the entire project, the profit will definitely be hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars.

Affected by this news, those powerful real estate companies also began to make moves.

this day.

Lin Zhichao, Li Shauji, Guo Desheng, and Zheng Yutong were gathering in a high-end hotel. The four of them should symbolize the four major families in Hong Kong's real estate industry.

Although Lin Zhichao's wealth far exceeds that of others, he is approachable and willing to help others. Li Shauji, Guo Desheng, and Zheng Yutong have all been helped by him.

As for the other Li Jiacheng, he is not qualified to participate in a gathering of big real estate developers like today.

Companies such as Hopewell Properties, Hang Lung Properties, Dachang Properties, and Carnival Properties all encountered some troubles during the stock market crash and oil crisis.

Hopewell Real Estate's stock price fell as much as 97% (at its worst). Since the stock market crash, it has been unable to raise funds and loans. It has even been despised for housing. It will not be able to recover in a short time, let alone bargain hunting.

Hang Lung Properties acquired two Shaw properties in 1973 for HK$130 million, and the properties had to be delivered by the end of 1973, so the funds were fixed and it was also used as a bargain hunt from 1974 to 1975.

Dachang Real Estate, one of the real estate companies with the largest amount of funds raised by listing, is involved in stock trading, stock exchange, joint ventures, etc. Influenced by his early years, Chen Detai does not have the courage to complete large projects alone, so he can only rely on British-funded foreign companies (Hutchison, Swire), so It’s no longer a cause for concern.

Feng Guozhen of Jianian Real Estate was also a real estate powerhouse in his early years. He also went public to raise funds on a huge scale. However, after raising funds, he invested in a billion-dollar project in Malaysia. However, with the advent of the oil crisis, investment in Southeast Asia fell even further than that of Hong Kong. Hutchison Investments also suffered losses in Southeast Asia. heavy.

During the banquet.

Lee Shau Kee said: "Do you have any interest in cooperating on the Shatin reclamation project?"

Shatin is located in the New Territories. It was originally separated from Kowloon by a mountain. But now that the Lion Rock Tunnel is open, this mountain separation is meaningless. Therefore, the property value of Shatin is almost at the same level as that of Tsuen Wan.

The government made it known this year that it would invite tenders for the Sha Tin reclamation project, with the aim of creating a new town without having to invest too much. After the real estate company reclaims the land, it will obtain part of the land and the rest will be handed over to the Hong Kong government.

The price tag is only 20 to 30 million, but the cost of reclamation is huge, so it is reasonable for Lee Shau Kee to propose cooperation.

Lin Zhichao said cheerfully: "This project is still very good. I, Changshi Group, are willing to take a stake. It just so happens that I don't have to spend energy and ride on Li Sheng's coattails."

Lee Shau Kee was overjoyed, but he was also worried that Cheung Kong Group would not cooperate and wanted to bid alone. It would definitely be the biggest competitor by then!

"Lin Sheng thinks highly of me. I am very willing to be the leader of this project! Guo Sheng, Zheng Sheng, what do you think? Join us. Each of the four companies will have 25% of the shares."

Guo Desheng and Zheng Yutong readily agreed, and then everyone reached a verbal agreement.

This symbolizes the emergence of Hong Kong's new "four major families".

Perhaps the only controversy is whether Lin Zhichao is considered one of the four major families. It is not that he is not strong enough, but that his strength is too advanced.

Of course, if we only look at the assets of listed companies, then everything is reasonable. Although the market value of Cheung Kong Group is high, it is not outrageous.

The Shatin project will not be tendered until next year, so the four of them made a tentative decision and started chatting.