The next day, Chen Zhiwen summoned several top executives from Hutchison, Wharf and Galaxy to sit together. These companies can be said to be his real estate, infrastructure and various heavy investment companies. In addition to Galaxy, Hutchison and Galaxy Wharf was acquired through acquisitions, and there is actually a lot of overlap in many businesses. Chen Zhiwen had already had the idea of re-planning these three companies, but his main focus before was still on gold futures in the United States. Now, Now, it's better to rearrange it.
"Sheng Chen, we have acquired 30% of KMB's shares, and we have also obtained the management rights of Kowloon Bus through the shareholders' meeting, but we have not touched the management team." Zhao Lilinhui, general manager of Wharf Group, reported.
"Okay, I will find a suitable time in the future to increase the shares to 34.9% and then operate normally." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.
A small company like Kowloon Bus is not even ranked among the top 100 listed companies in Hong Kong. Chen Zhiwen has no interest in how to acquire it. He can just let his subordinates figure out their own solutions.
Therefore, in the past few months, Wharf has been entrusted with profiteering, looking for the existing shareholders of Kowloon Bus, and breaking through them one by one. Finally, it directly acquired enough shares, and it was natural to take ownership.
This is also a benefit of Hong Kong's capital society. Even if Chen Zhiwen lost face to HSBC when he acquired Wharf and Hong Kong Electric, as long as he makes money and profits, as the most important investment company under HSBC, he doesn't care who he does it for. Serve.
"One more little thing. Many minibuses owned by Kowloon Motor Bus are very old, and many of them are working while sick. In addition, many minibuses don't even have air conditioning. Many customers have complained deeply. The previous KMB has been unable to do so due to financial problems. Change, after we took over KMB, some small media also called on us to update some CMB." Zhao Lilin said.
"Replace it when it's time. It's important for us to make money, but the safety of our employees or customers is more important. Air conditioning should be made standard. In addition, the Star Ferry is very old now, so you can consider replacing it. The air conditioner also needs to be replaced. Yes, otherwise it would be too hot to death in summer," Chen Zhiwen said.
"The previous Star Ferry was open, connected on all sides, and not enclosed. If you want to buy a fully enclosed one, the cost will increase a lot. Most importantly, the carrying capacity may also be affected. The Hong Kong government's view of the Star Ferry There are also restrictions on the pricing of small boats, and we may not be able to recover our money." Zhao Lilin thought for a while and said.
"Then let's book a few high-end ones first, which can be regarded as VIPs. The Hong Kong government also has restrictions on the pricing of ordinary Star Ferry. But if I add services and charge high prices, it will be similar to first-class cabins on airplanes. It should be fine, right? Hong Kong There are millions of people, many of whom have to take ships, and not everyone is just looking for cheap, right?" Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.
The Hong Kong government’s pricing for the Star Ferry was still in the 1960s. At that time, the per capita wealth in Hong Kong was very different from what it is now. Especially in the past five years, I don’t know how many people have become rich beyond their dreams by relying on the appreciation of their houses. People, but rich people can buy cars, but they can’t buy boats? Although there is the Hung Hom Cross-Harbour Tunnel, Hong Kong is not small. You can’t just drive around in a big circle. Besides, Hong Kong has more islands than just Hong Kong Island.
"That should be fine. I'll consult the legal department later." Zhao Lilin nodded and said.
"Actually, whether it is the Star Ferry or Kowloon Bus, they are just small businesses in Wharf. We don't need to rely on these two companies to make any big money, as long as we don't lose money, public service companies are important to the public. The impact is huge. If a large number of people can have a favorable impression of us by adding air conditioners, it will be worthwhile. Take KMB, for example. If there is no air conditioner, many people may be too lazy to stay at home in the summer. If there is one, After they come out, they may go to Harbor City to spend money, and we can make more money," said Chen Zhiwen.
Not all businesses are aimed at making every penny. This kind of public service company can also gain a better reputation if it can provide good services. Besides, as a public service company, Hong Kong Electric is obviously used to make money. A lot of money, but even so, the service aspect still needs to be improved. If you make money from the people, you must also provide good service.
"Okay, I'm already planning to increase the frequency of flights from various places to Harbor City and Huangpu Plaza, and the Star Ferry will do the same," Zhao Lilin said.
"Not only that, but a certain consumption amount is set. As long as you consume a certain amount, you can be exempted from the minibus or ferry fee on the same day, similar to a parking space." Chen Zhiwen added.
In later generations of China, many shopping malls or large supermarkets have fixed free shuttle buses. Although they have been losing money, they just bring people to places to consume. Even if there are free prostitutes, as long as they make more, it will be fine. But now that I control the bus, it is even more convenient.
"Okay, I understand." Zhao Lilin nodded and said. Wharf Group's current main business is Harbor City and its real estate development. Many of its other businesses are not small in scale, but the profits are far behind. CMB Or whether the Star Ferry makes money or not, it has little impact on Wharf. If it can make Harbor City's business better, it will be more profitable overall.
"How is the recent flow of people in Harbor City?" Chen Zhiwen asked again. Half of the purpose of acquiring Wharf was for Harbor City, and this is also a representative of collecting rent while lying down.
“It has always been very good. Whether it is gold and silver, clothing or catering, business is very good. Many people originally like to shop in Central and come to Harbor City, especially in rainy weather. When the weather gets hotter in the summer, I guess it will be the same." Zhao Lilin said with a smile.
"Okay, but we can't just be satisfied with this. If Harbor City wants to go further, it needs to attract a large number of overseas tourists. Their spending power is stronger than that of Hong Kong locals. We need to talk to more travel agencies and give them some advice." The advantage is that they can send people to Harbor City and the Hong Kong entry airport. They can send people to distribute leaflets and advertise, or directly buy advertising space in the rear seats of the plane from Cathay Pacific. In short, they want to send people Attract it." Chen Zhiwen continued.
I have to say that the Jardine Department is still very capable. The Harbor City project they built is very well designed. Many people fell in love with it after visiting it once. This is the case for locals in Hong Kong, but the number of locals in Hong Kong It’s always limited. Many people just come to have fun and don’t spend or spend very little. But it’s different for overseas tourists. It’s rare to come to Hong Kong, so you have to buy something, right? At least have a good meal, right?
"I understand." Zhao Lilin said.
"In addition, Wharf also has a port business, and we have to cooperate with Hutchison Wharf in this area. However, the focus of Wharf is no longer on the port. You can negotiate internally and find a suitable price with Hutchison Wharf. The port has been acquired, and Hutchison Whampoa will focus on the port business in the future," Chen Zhiwen added.
Wharf's former business was port terminals. After the terminal began to be containerized, Wharf also obtained the No. 1 berth of Kwai Chung Terminal. However, in the original history, the chartering king family did not invest much in the terminal. , was later surpassed by Hutchison Whampoa, and by the 21st century it was basically not famous.
Now both of his companies have this business. Although there will be no conflict, operating them separately will only consume more resources. At least for now, Hutchison has a much stronger financial advantage. The port business is also what Chen Zhiwen defined for Hutchison. One of the main businesses.
"Sheng Chen, the port is also one of Wharf's main businesses. Even if it is sold to Hutchison Whampoa at a normal price, I am afraid it will cause some gossip. How about we privatize Wharf and then trade internally?" Zhou Jiayang suggested.
"Okay, then let's privatize it first, so that the expansion of many businesses in the future will be much easier." Chen Zhiwen agreed after thinking for a moment.
Regarding Wharf, he has always wanted to privatize it. He did not privatize Wharf when it was originally acquired because the stock price was too high during the takeover war. It would be too much of a loss to privatize it at that price. Now, the stock price is lower than before. , and considering that the future income of just one Harbor City will be very high, if it costs more than one billion to privatize, I am afraid that the rent will be earned back in the next few years.
Zhao Lilin nodded and said: "That's fine. The Hong Kong government's previous acquisition offer forced me to slowly sell off the stocks, which caused the share price of Wharf to fall. This is fine. If we fully privatize, the cost will increase. Lower."
"This is also an unexpected benefit." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
The 35% takeover triggering offer set by the Hong Kong government to protect British capital is for all companies under normal conditions. After all, the Hong Kong government's changes to stock market laws can only be in the name of considering shareholders.
The new regulations require that any person or legal entity holding more than 35% of the company's shares needs to launch a comprehensive takeover offer, including former major shareholders. This will naturally benefit British capital, because even British-owned family businesses in Hong Kong Basically, no one holds more than 30% of the shares. The only one is the Swire Group. It is headquartered in the UK and is not listed in Hong Kong. Hong Kong regulations cannot control it.
This has resulted in many Chinese-owned companies needing to sell off their shares. However, the new law also stipulates that controlling shareholders can increase their shares to 40% after holding the company's shares for more than two years. This is currently the highest proportion of listed companies in Hong Kong. .
Chen Zhiwen's previous shareholding in Wharf was as high as 49.9%, but due to the new law, it had to be changed. At that time, there were rumors in the market that Chen Zhiwen might privatize Wharf, which caused the stock price to rise again, and the main funds at that time Still in the United States, Chen Zhiwen didn't bother to care. He could just slowly reduce his shares in accordance with the law.
"Sheng Chen, should Taohua Datong also be privatized? Their hot sauce is selling well in the United States, and they have recently begun to launch new ketchup and cheese sauce. The market in the United States should be huge." Xu from Galaxy Group Jin Hong asked.
"No, there is no need to privatize everything." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said. He would privatize only those whose profits are very high and do not need to be shared with others. Others should be listed on the market.
"The future development direction of Wharf is to specialize in the development of shopping malls. For example, can projects like Harbor City be built in other places? For example, in the Bay Area, Japan or even in the mainland in the future, or build some smaller shopping malls. This In fact, just like retail supermarkets, Costco is suitable for first-tier cities, while Wal-Mart is suitable for ordinary supermarkets. You decide internally how to develop it." Chen Zhiwen said: "When we only have one Harbor City, we have advantages in negotiating with merchants who are stationed there. In fact, it is not very big, but if we have dozens or hundreds of such shopping malls of different sizes, the bargaining power will be a completely different matter. When the density reaches a certain level, the effect of advertising will be limited. The better.”
"Japan's housing prices are relatively high, and its culture is also relatively exclusive. If you want to build a new shopping mall, Wanwan is indeed more suitable. Except for Taipei, other places can be smaller, but the financial pressure will be very high." Zhao Lilin thought for a while and said .
Chen Zhiwen said: "With the pressure of funds, I will give you some funds after privatization, but always relying on me is not a long-term solution. In addition to loans, another way is to use the rising housing prices in the local area to develop yourself.
You can refer to Hutchison Whampoa's Huangpu Plaza. When it was first built, Hutchison Whampoa actually didn't have much money, but because the area was large enough, it was surrounded by residential and office buildings. In the following years, housing prices in Hong Kong soared. After the residential and office buildings were sold, not only The original investment in building Huangpu Plaza was offset and an additional profit was made.
Of course, both Huangpu Garden and Huangpu Plaza own their own land, which is a bit different, but the idea is the same. As long as local housing prices continue to rise, you can buy a larger piece of land and build residences, office buildings, For hotels, apartments, and commercial plazas, we only need to keep the commercial plazas, and the rest can be sold. In this way, as long as housing prices rise fast enough, we might be able to get a plaza for nothing. "
"How can house prices in Taiwan and Japan rise so much?" Zhao Lilin asked, and several others were also curious. This theory can definitely be realized when house prices rise, but once house prices do not rise, then the funds will be blocked. If you live, it won’t be a loss even if you lose money.
"Of course, Wanwan is different from Hong Kong. Here in Hong Kong, the bull market in housing prices is almost over, so I ask all of your real estate projects to pursue the strategy of rapid development and early return of capital. The situation in Wanwan is different. Yes, there is a manufacturing industry there, especially now that globalization has just begun. Many common industries in Europe and the United States need to be relocated. As long as the Bay Area takes a small part, it will not be difficult for the economy to develop continuously for more than ten years, so this is our opportunity. , Besides, in the future, in addition to the mainland, I will also invest in some manufacturing industries in Wanwan." Chen Zhiwen said: "In addition, PARKnSHOP and RT-Mart also need to expand rapidly in Wanwan. Our procurement cost is the lowest. As long as we can maintain With its long-term low-cost advantage, Wanwan’s local retail industry is no match for us.”
Although he had not done much research on the real estate market in Bayan in his previous life, he had never heard of any real estate crisis in Bayan. According to the most basic laws of economic development, when Bayan's electronics industry and export industry developed rapidly , the real estate market is bound to explode on a large scale, and after the rise of the mainland manufacturing industry, a large number of factories moved to the mainland, and the real estate market will calm down when the manufacturing industry in the Bay Area begins to decline.
The 1980s were the decade when Bayan Bay's economy developed most rapidly, and house prices would inevitably develop rapidly. Chen Zhiwen did not need to bring a large amount of funds to speculate on houses, but he could use this opportunity to develop shopping malls, retail and other industries. .
"That's no problem. In the past few years, many retail teams have been trained in Wanwan. When a new store is built, there will be no need to worry about it." Zhou Jiayang nodded and said.
One of Hutchison Whampoa's main businesses is retail, including Watsons cosmetics retail, PARKnSHOP medium-sized supermarkets, and large supermarkets RT-Mart. The former is mainly operated in Europe and the United States, and the latter two are daily retail. The first step is to target Southeast Asia, among which it has already entered into cooperation with Malaysia. The Kerry Group jointly operates the Malaysian market, while Wanwan is actually earlier, but the number of new stores is not many. It has been in a state of cultivating talents and learning experience. Now the time is almost up, and Hutchison Whampoa itself has more funds. Naturally, it can enter a state of rapid expansion.
"Okay, let's conquer the Wanwan market first. After a few years of success, we can then enter Japan or other Southeast Asian markets." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.
The advantage of Wharf is that it has a large amount of land in Hong Kong, which is of high value, but it is still far inferior to Hutchison in terms of talent. In addition, Hutchison has entered into its own management very early, and has been preparing talent reserves for future expansion. plan and more funds. Therefore, Chen Zhiwen decided to hand over complex businesses such as port business and supermarket retail to Hutchison Whampoa.
Shopping malls are much simpler. Under normal circumstances, as long as you are optimistic about the location and invest in building it, you can basically just sit back and collect money. This is also Chen Zhiwen's future positioning of Wharf in his own group system. Of course, it is not just shopping malls. Originally, Historically, Wharf was particularly fond of building super-tall office buildings in China, and it was very comfortable collecting rents.
"No problem." Zhou Jiayang and Zhao Lilin replied almost simultaneously.
(End of chapter)
