The rise of Hong Kong's wealthy families

Time is like water, it can flow forever but never stops.

In the blink of an eye, time came to July 1983.

Chen Songqing took into consideration the debt maturity issue of Jiali Group and asked Yumin Bank to lend USD 4 million to Jiali Group.

Yumin Bank had already lent Chen Songqing a considerable amount of money, which caused serious trouble. But at this time, if there is no capital injection into the Jiani Group, the Jiani Group will inevitably be liquidated, and Yumin Bank can only treat the loan as a bad debt.

In this way, Yumin Bank's senior executives will not be able to escape the severe legal or administrative sanctions imposed by the Malaysian government.

To lend or not to lend is a difficult choice for Yumin Bank’s senior management.

Naturally, Chen Songqing would not give up easily, so he continued to put pressure on the top management of Yumin Bank. Chairman Osman was hesitant, while General Manager Ibarashi was firmly opposed.

On July 18, Chen Songqing and his assistant He Guiquan asked Ibarahi's assistant Qian to have lunch together at a restaurant owned by the Jianing Group. Qian did not dare to agree to Chen Songqing's request without authorization, but revealed that Ibarahi tried his best to prevent it. Loan matters.

On the same day, Ibarashi was strangled to death at the Regent Hotel. The murderer put the body into a bag, transported it out of the Regent Hotel, hailed a taxi to take it away, and finally dumped the body in a banana forest in the New Territories.

A few days later, the police searched the office of the deceased Ibarashi and found a diary with the assistance of his assistant Qian.

This diary revealed that the source of Chen Songqing's huge sum of money was none other than Yu Min Bank (the Hong Kong branch of Bank Negara Malaysia). Chen Songqing did not have a background of a wealthy family, nor was he a personal representative of President Marcos, nor was he a personal representative of President Marcos. Without the background of banks in the Mainland and Moscow, he would only bribe Ibarahi and others to obtain loan facilities, while Chen Songqing had received a loan of HK$4 billion from Yumin Bank.

When such a big incident broke out, the media naturally followed suit and dug into all the bank information that provided loans to the Jiani Group.

By August, the media broke the news that "Jianing Group had borrowed nearly 10 billion Hong Kong dollars from HSBC, Yumin, Huoduoli, Baoheng and other institutions, which caused a sensation in Hong Kong. Investors sent greetings to Chen Songqing's ancestors, but to no avail."

On September 18, the police conducted a comprehensive search of the headquarters of the Jiani Group, the financial consultant Hudoli Company, the consulting law firm, and the residences of those involved in the case. The Securities Regulatory Office also ordered the liquidation of the Jiani Group.

At this point, a legend in Xiangjiang: Jianing Group has come to an end, and at the same time it has cheated countless people, including talents from multiple industries.

Ho Ka-Hao started watching this drama in July, and it took him two full months to get the expected result.

Soon, he heard the news that the typhoon was about to land.

Ho remembers the typhoon that hit Xiangjiang in September, killing 22 people and affecting more than 1,000 people. Some buildings on the seaside did not take protective measures, and it took a whole week to repair them.

Therefore, He Jiahao directly gave all employees of his companies a holiday, except for Towngas Company and China Bus Company, which left on-duty personnel.

The typhoon hit Hong Kong with a speed of 20 kilometers per hour and lasted for 24 hours. It caused heavy losses to Hong Kong, with economic losses exceeding HK$500 million.

He Jiahao directed the bodyguards and Filipino maids to take protective measures at the Deep Water Bay Villa. Unfortunately, some areas such as the carport and garden were in a mess, and two of the cars needed to be returned to the factory for repairs.

Friday, September 23

Rumors are rife in the market that 'RMB will replace the Hong Kong dollar'. A large number of citizens have integrated themselves into banks and want to convert all Hong Kong dollars into US dollars, British pounds, Canadian dollars and other currencies. The financial system is in chaos, and some people even made an exchange of 9.6 Hong Kong dollars. A $1 thing.

"Boss, banks like Standard Chartered Bank and Hang Seng Bank have called us and asked us if we agree to let them misappropriate the company's foreign exchange deposits in the bank?" Finance Department Manager Yin Jihong said while sitting upright.

He Jiahao did not answer Yin Jihong immediately, but was considering whether doing so would look ugly.

Tan Zhenzhen, manager of the securities department, encouraged from the side: "Boss, I think they can use it, but they have to pay Hong Kong dollars according to the market exchange rate. We cannot suffer losses."

Finally, He Jiahao nodded and agreed with the two people's opinions.

He clearly remembered that it was not until October 2 that the Hong Kong government averted this huge crisis.

The next day, Saturday the 24th, the Hong Kong dollar crisis officially broke out. People were selling Hong Kong dollars, and there was a run on the bank. The police sent a large number of personnel to maintain order at the door of the bank.

People who could not exchange foreign currency turned to supermarkets and rushed to buy rice, peanut oil and other food products, vowing to exchange the Hong Kong dollars in their hands for physical goods.

This day is called Black Saturday in the financial history of Hong Kong!

For this reason, He Jiahao also promised the employees of all his companies on Wednesday the 21st that the company has prepared a sum of foreign currency and enough physical goods for them so that they do not need to worry.

The employees all know that their boss is the controller of Watson Group, so they naturally do not doubt that what the boss says is false, they just feel that the boss treats them very well.

So no matter how chaotic it was outside in those days, the companies under its umbrella were extremely quiet, and the employees were working hard without being affected by the outside world.

Huamei Real Estate's US$100 million was converted into nearly HK$1 billion. Hutchison Group and Manulife Development both converted at HK$9.6 to US$1, earning 87% profit.

A large number of retail items reserved by Watsons Group were sold out within a few days, earning nearly three quarters of profits and causing a brief rise in Watsons Group's stock price.

Other large supermarkets and department stores also ushered in the peak season, and there were even incidents of fighting over goods. Fortunately, no one was injured.

Jardine Matheson also successfully completed the transfer of control in late September. Nubigian withdrew from the historical stage of Jardine Matheson. Simon Keswick became the new chief executive of Jardine Matheson. At the same time, he cleared out a group of senior executives who were at odds with him. , the Jardine Company headquarters was cleaned.

After Simon Keswick stabilized his position, he immediately hired the famous British "corporate doctor" Davis as CEO of Land Company, and hired American banker Bowser to restructure Jardine Matheson Company.

Land's stock price fell, and investors were concerned about Ximen, fearing that it would bring down Jardine Matheson Land if it could not take on the big responsibility.

In He Jiahao's view, both Jardine Matheson Company and Land Company were at their weakest at this time, which was also the best time for him to take action.

So he ordered Huo Jianning, the chief executive of Hutchison Group, and Shen Dingqian, deputy general manager of Manulife Development Company, to launch a secret purchase operation of Land Corporation's stocks. At the same time, he used the withdrawn Hong Kong dollars to carry out small-scale bargain hunting on high-quality properties. The main focus was on the secret purchase of Land Corporation's stocks. In terms of aspects, this will be a relatively long-term project.

On September 27, the Hong Kong government held an emergency meeting and announced that it would take over Hang Lung Bank, which was unable to repay its debts, bringing the bad situation under some control and preventing it from getting worse.

On October 2, the police arrested Chen Songqing and several other related persons, and several others were at large.

On the same day, the Hong Kong government, together with Merlin, Palita and HSBC, supported the troubled Sun Hung Kai Bank and subsequently announced the implementation of a "linked exchange rate" system pegged to the US dollar.

The media widely reported this announcement, and people in Xiangjiang felt at ease.

A huge banking crisis came to an end. Fortunately, it was prevented in time and did not lead to a catastrophe.

However, there are still a few immigrants who are converting Hong Kong dollars into foreign currencies such as US dollars and pounds, but this does not affect the overall situation.