Chapter 111: The tragic victory of Kowloon Wharf (6K monthly ticket required)
Shen Bi was also very envious of Liu Zhicheng's development. From a small electronics factory, it has developed to its current status, which is enough to shake the British capital.

"Why do you think Liu Zhicheng was able to reach this level in just a few years?" Shen Bi asked.

After thinking for a moment, Fake said, "Internationalization, many of Liu Zhicheng's industries are aimed at overseas markets."

Shen Bi nodded and said, "Yes, it is the overseas market. Hong Kong is too small and has limited room for development. Europe and the United States have a huge population market. If each person spends one dollar, it can generate hundreds of millions of sales."

"But not everyone who wants to go global can go global, and there are not many electronic products that can succeed in this field around the world," said Fak.

"That's right, Liu Zhicheng is a freak, which is not a good thing for us." Shen Bi shook his head and said.

Although HSBC is unlikely to be acquired, it does not care whether Chinese or British capital is larger. As long as it can gain the greatest benefit, HSBC will provide financial support.

But this is premised on the fact that HSBC can control it, because HSBC also needs safe and stable profit returns.

Fake added: "Mr. Shen Bi, judging from the current situation, it will not be beneficial for us to confront Liu Zhicheng. In other words, instead of trying to suppress him, it is better to develop ourselves quickly."

"You mean, we should make HSBC international as soon as possible?" Shen Bi immediately understood what his most capable subordinate meant.

HSBC has always had the idea of ​​internationalization. During the era of Sanders, it intended to expand into the British mainland, but the plan was suspended due to the outbreak of the oil crisis.

After Shen Bi took over, he also sought ways to expand overseas, but he had no partners.

"Yes, we should go international as soon as possible. I suggest we choose North America. Its market size is a hundred times that of Hong Kong. Any achievement we make will lead to greater achievements in Hong Kong," said Fak.

Shen Bi thought about it, nodded and said, "What you said makes sense. I'll leave this matter to you."

Fake nodded to show that he understood.

A few days later, under the mediation of HSBC, Jardine Matheson Land and Liu Zhicheng reached a consensus to exchange 14% of their shares with each other.

At this point, Jardine Matheson Holdings’ shareholding in Hong Kong Land reached 39%, and Shanfeng Investments’ shareholding in Wharf Holdings reached 49%.

In addition, Shanfeng Investment also holds a 12% stake in Hong Kong Holdings and a 9.8% stake in Cheung Kong Holdings, with a total investment of HK$24.5 billion.

With the unprecedented unity of British capital, Liu Zhicheng won a tragic victory, exhausting Orange Technology's cash flow of HK$11 billion (the cash of Whampoa Group was not used) and increasing its debt to Citibank by HK$13.5 billion.

Through this incident, Liu Zhicheng realized that rebirth is not omnipotent, and the British capital must be peeled off layer by layer, otherwise it will hurt himself.

Moreover, some bottleneck projects must be controlled by themselves. Just like this time, if China Power had not threatened Liu Zhicheng's cash cow, this result would never have happened.

Citibank granted a credit line of US$8 million, but Liu Zhicheng did not dare to use it casually because Citibank's interest rate was as high as 15% per year.

In the days that followed, Liu Zhicheng had to tighten his belt, otherwise he would not be able to bear the interest from Citibank.

Liu Zhicheng led Han Chunxi and Yuan Tianfan to participate in the board of directors of Hutchison Whampoa.

When they entered the venue, Newbyjian naturally did not give them a good look, and he did not even care about basic face.

Liu Zhicheng certainly wouldn't care. He entered the venue as a winner and of course ignored the existence of a loser and pretended not to see Niu Bijian.

Liu Zhicheng smiled and greeted other Wharf directors, including those from Jardine Matheson Group, external hires, and of course management.

Except for the directors from the Jardine Matheson Group, everyone else greeted Liu Zhicheng, especially the directors who also served as management members, who were very enthusiastic.

They were worried that Liu Zhicheng would carry out a major purge after acquiring Hutchison Whampoa, so now was a good opportunity to make friends with him.

The meeting begins.

Newby is currently the chairman of Hutchison Whampoa. After saying some polite words, he started to sound sarcastic, which made the meeting room a little tense for a moment.

In fact, Newby was hiding his fear. After losing the property development rights of the Central and Admiralty subway stations last time, the Keswick family had begun to be dissatisfied with him.

Now he is about to lose Hutchison Whampoa. Although it is not his fault, it will also be a reason for him to step down in the future.

If it were you, you wouldn't have a good attitude either. Liu Zhicheng could fully understand that. If it wasn't for his status, Niu Bijian might have scolded someone on the spot.

But in the end, Newby offered to resign, perhaps to maintain his last bit of dignity.

His proposal was quickly approved by the board of directors, and Liu Zhicheng was successfully elected as the new chairman.

The next day, Liu Zhicheng officially convened the first management meeting as the head of the team.

After the Wharf Holdings Group was acquired by Shanfeng Investments, there were few overall changes in the management, with only four people from Jardine Matheson leaving.

Liu Zhicheng immediately transferred the old man Su Kui as deputy general manager, director, responsible for financial affairs, and appointed Yuan Tianfan as deputy general manager, director, responsible for administrative affairs.

As for the Chief Executive Officer, he was taken over by the former Deputy General Manager Tony Dank, who was responsible for the entire Wharf Group.

After only a few days, everything was on track and Liu Zhicheng started his inspection of Hutchison Whampoa.

The Wharf Group is not only a listed company, it also has two listed subsidiaries.

One is the Star Ferry and the other is a tram company. Both are transportation companies, and the land of the tram factory is the most valuable.

The Causeway Bay Tramway Depot, located on Russell Street in Causeway Bay, was previously built by Wharf Holdings into a Hong Kong landmark: Times Square.

In addition to the above, there are also a lot of high-quality land that has not yet been developed. For Hong Kong, where every inch of land is valuable, almost every part of Hutchison Whampoa is a treasure.

Among them, the Star Ferry became a famous check-in spot for internet celebrities in the past life.

Liu Zhicheng is currently lacking in water transportation, as projects like the Discovery Bay development and the Whampoa Resort Hotel in Lantau Island currently require him.

Previously, the tram company had always been under the control of Jardine Matheson. In 74, in order to facilitate management, Jardine Matheson asked Wharf Holdings to acquire the tram company. As a result, after the change of ownership of Wharf Holdings, it became a bargain for Liu Zhicheng.

Liu Zhicheng decided to inspect the Star Ferry assets and Harbour City (Star Ferry property). The Star Ferry property was the famous Harbour City in later generations.

The Star Ferry is a passenger ferry that travels between the two sides of Victoria Harbour. The piers are concentrated on both sides of Victoria Harbour, where every inch of land is valuable.

On the Kowloon side are the Tsim Sha Tsui Pier and the Hung Hom Pier, and on the Hong Kong Island side are the Central Pier and the Wan Chai Pier.

The route will shuttle between these four terminals in accordance with the route specified in the license, but Liu Zhicheng plans to apply to the Hong Kong government for the opening of routes to Heung Kong Tsai, Discovery Bay and Whampoa Resort Hotel on Lantau Island.

Liu Zhicheng was inspecting the Star Ferry's terminal assets throughout the morning. At noon, the Star Ferry assigned to Liu Zhicheng docked at the Star Pier, ready to have lunch and continue inspecting Harbour City.

The current Harbour City is still called the Star Ferry Property, and there are four major building complexes on the entire land.

The first is the Ocean Terminal, which includes 64.8 square feet of office space, a 1200 square foot shopping mall and 1964 parking spaces. It opened in .

The second is the Ocean Center, which also has the architectural style of an office building and a shopping mall, but most of the first floor is a parking lot and is currently under construction.

The third is the Marco Polo Hotel, which is a single five-star hotel. It is just a stone's throw away from the Star Ferry Pier and opened in 1965.

The fourth is the Gateway Hotel, which is still nowhere to be seen and now consists of just a few old residential buildings standing on the beach.

Liu Zhicheng stood next to the future Gateway Hotel and looked at it again and again. It was still a residential building and looked very dilapidated.

The harbor property he has received now looks very messy without the Gateway Hotel, and its overall value has shrunk by nearly half. He must demolish and rebuild it before he can truly own Harbour City.

Because, the Harbour City brand was established in the past only after the reconstruction of the Gateway Hotel.

The rebuilt Gateway Hotel has five super-high Grade A office buildings and a large shopping mall, which raises the grade of the Star Ferry property.

Liu Zhicheng would not deliberately change the course of history. Whether to rebuild in advance depends on the actual situation.

Liu Zhicheng came to the Marco Polo Hotel, preparing to have dinner here and inspect the hotel's work.

Liu Zhicheng already has three hotels under renovation, scheduled to open in the first half of this year, and there are also three planned hotels in Huangpu City.

The hotels under renovation are located on Des Voeux Road in Sai Wan, Wharf Road in North Point, and Whampoa Plaza in Yuen Long.

Although a professional hotel management company has been established, it is basically a makeshift team and the renovation of the three hotels is almost completed.

Next, there must be a professional management team to take over, otherwise there could really be trouble.

So Liu Zhicheng will inspect the Marco Polo Hotel today to see if he can solve these problems at the same time.

Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel is located in Harbour City, Hong Kong's premier shopping, entertainment and commercial district. It takes only a few minutes to reach the Central business district by taking the world-famous Star Ferry.

The hotel has a total of 664 rooms and suites, and the room area is one of the largest in Hong Kong. The VIP room on the sixth floor provides personalized services for business travelers, making them feel at home.

Hotel General Manager Fang Guangyuan received news that the new owner Liu Zhicheng would come to inspect the hotel today, so he made some special preparations to leave a good impression.

As soon as Liu Zhicheng's motorcade arrived at the hotel entrance, Fang Guangyuan was already standing at the door to greet them, with a smile on his face like a flower.

After Liu Zhicheng arrived, the two sides had a brief communication, and then, under the leadership of Fang Guangyuan, he visited the hotel and was introduced to the hotel facilities.

"Mr. Liu, the hotel facilities include a business center, swimming pool, large banquet hall and luxurious multi-functional hall."

"In addition, there are many restaurants with unique flavors, including Café Marco Polo and the Lobby Lounge." The whole hotel looks very classy and high-end. Liu Zhicheng just listened and did not express any opinions.

After all, he is a complete layman in hotel management, so professional matters should be left to professionals.

Finally, Fang Guangyuan invited Liu Zhicheng to the hotel’s conference room to report on the hotel’s financial and brand building situation.

This is also a part that Liu Zhicheng must listen to whenever he inspects a place. Although the report may not be so detailed, at least he can grasp the basic situation.

"Mr. Liu, the hotel's revenue has been steadily increasing in recent years, and this year's profit is expected to be around 700 million Hong Kong dollars."

Fang Guangyuan looked at the boss and continued, "In recent years, the hotel has been continuously training its employees and working hard to improve its service level, making service the hotel's signature."

"We will also arrange for sales personnel to visit key customers and do our best to increase the hotel occupancy rate..."

Fang Guangyuan gave a detailed report on the hotel's business policy, service philosophy, and operating income. Liu Zhicheng nodded as he listened.

"Yeah, that's good. While improving the service, the hardware facilities must also be improved. Hotels are a service industry, and both are indispensable."

"Hong Kong is an international tourist city. We must pay attention to brand image building and strive to spread our brand awareness through word of mouth among tourists."

"Hong Kong's tourism industry has been developing rapidly in recent years. Our hotel is located by the Victoria Harbour and has convenient transportation. I think our business will only get better and better."

Fang Guangyuan took a pen and took notes while nodding and saying, "Please rest assured, Mr. Liu, I will definitely work hard to make this a world-class hotel."

Liu Zhicheng drank the tea and continued, "The head office has built three more hotel properties, all with the Huangpu logo. I hope Marco Polo can take over the management. Is there any problem?"

"Mr. Liu, this is a good thing. Does Marco Polo also need to change its logo?"

"This is not necessary. After all, these are two different companies. Huangpu Hotel will have to pay you management fees in the future."

"We will consider whether to establish a hotel group when the time comes. There will definitely be more hotels to be built in the future. I hope you can strengthen your talent pool and build a high-quality team so that you can always call on a team at a critical moment and be able to take charge."

"Don't worry, Mr. Liu, I will complete the task."

Liu Zhicheng finally solved his hotel management problem and was finally able to put his worries to rest.

After the meeting, Liu Zhicheng had a simple meal and then set out to inspect the Kwai Chung Terminal property of Hutchison Whampoa.

Hong Kong has a superior geographical location on the East-West maritime trade routes and has now become an important hub port on the Asia-Europe and Asia-America container liner routes.

The world's top five container liner companies all have branches in Hong Kong to handle their businesses.

The Kwai Chung Container Terminal in Hong Kong is one of the busiest ports in Asia and is even famous around the world.

Later, due to the reform and opening up of the mainland, it became one of the world's busiest container ports before 2004. Whoever owned terminal assets at Guichong Port was equivalent to owning a money printing machine.

It also opened the door for future entry into shipping. After all, where there is trade there is shipping, because most of the earth is ocean.

Therefore, the Kwai Chung terminal is currently the most core and valuable asset of Hutchison Whampoa. Liu Zhicheng just came to take a look today.

There are now five piers in Kwai Chung, the first four of which have been put into operation, and piers 1 to 3 all belong to Wharf Holdings.

Pier 4 belongs to the Whampoa Group, and Pier 5, which is under construction, also belongs to Hutchison Whampoa.

Liu Zhicheng stood at the edge of the dock and imagined the future. Now he controls all the properties of Kwai Chung Dock, basically forming a monopoly. He also looks forward to getting a share of the future shipping market.

In fact, Wharf Holdings has many high-quality plots of land, such as the plot of land at Lung Pan Road in Diamond Hill, which was Plaza Hollywood owned by Wharf Holdings in its previous life, and the Kowloon Warehouse in To Kwa Wan.

These can all be developed into high-quality rental properties, which are all very coveted.

Other scattered plots of land may be abandoned, but it must be a calculated choice.

Liu Zhicheng's choice was very simple. He planned to use the land to unite a group of Chinese investors so that he would not have to fight alone on the road ahead.

The acquisition process of Hutchison Whampoa lasted a total of three months, and the storm gradually dissipated over time.

From the moment Li Chaoren started to take action to the moment Liu Zhicheng succeeded in the end, many Hong Kong citizens also enjoyed talking about this melon.

The media also saw how eye-catching this was and opened up a special page to follow up on the report.

However, in terms of popularity, it is not much greater than Liu Zhicheng's previous acquisition of Huangpu Group.

After all, this was the second time that Chinese capital had successfully blocked the four major foreign banks, and the citizens had become much calmer.

If there is a third and fourth time in the future, the public's attention will become more normal because people will gradually get used to it.

After Yuan Tianfan selected three plots of land with medium locations and sizes, Liu Zhicheng invited Chinese real estate investors in Hong Kong to cooperate in the development.

Liu Zhicheng first invited Li Chaoren. Although he had been on guard against him before the ambush, Li Chaoren's magnanimity afterwards was beyond his expectations.

Therefore, the first person Liu Zhicheng thought of was Li Chaoren. He also invited Li Zhaoji, Zheng Yutong and others to have tea and then discuss the cooperation plan.

Liu Zhicheng's original plan was to cooperate with them on several plots of land. As for which plot of land to cooperate with whom, they would discuss and decide among themselves.

However, during the discussion, it was found that no one was willing to give up the best land, so Li Chaoren simply proposed that everyone form a joint venture company to jointly develop the land.

Since Wharf Holdings urgently needed funds to develop the Harbour City project, Liu Zhicheng injected several pieces of land into the joint venture, and then used bank loans to pay Wharf Holdings for the purchase of the land.

For the subsequent civil engineering works, the construction company will advance the funds and pay for them. The joint venture company only needs to pay a small amount of cash. After the pre-sale conditions are met, it will use the pre-sale properties to repay the money.

You only need to develop one piece of land to quickly obtain a large amount of funds, and then develop the other pieces of land.

After all projects are developed and completed, all property funds are recovered, the balance to the builders and the bank loans are settled, all that remains is profit.

To put it bluntly, this is a way of getting something for nothing. Of course, Liu Zhicheng can also use this tactic himself, but his purpose is to unite with Chinese capital.

Again, this is a fairly aggressive plan, and if anything unexpected happens during the implementation process, it could fail.

In order to get more profits, Li Chaoren picked up a pen and paper on the spot to calculate the profits for everyone, and guaranteed that these projects could make a profit of 5000 million Hong Kong dollars.

Li Chaoren's guarantee won the support of several people. He was responsible for all development matters, and Li Ka-shing and Zheng Yutong provided an appropriate amount of initial funds.

In the final distribution of shares, Liu Zhicheng obtained 50% of the profit distribution rights because he provided developable land.

As the actual operator, Li Chaoren obtained 20% of the profit distribution rights, while Li Zhaoji and Zheng Yutong each obtained 15% of the profit distribution rights.

After the contract was signed, several people established a new joint venture. One week after the land was injected, Hutchison Whampoa received 8000 million yuan in funds from the joint venture, which was used to purchase three plots of land.

Due to the acquisition of Wharf Holdings, the construction of the entire Harbour City was basically suspended. After Tony Dank received the funds, he immediately started to restart the construction of the Harbour City project.

Now that the funds are available, the construction of the Ocean Center has been accelerated so that it can open in the shortest time possible. Liu Zhicheng also instructed to start the construction plan of the Gateway Hotel.

Even though the Hong Kong Gateway Building is small, demolition work takes time, so the preliminary preparations must be carried out in advance.

Lu Zhihe, who got the news, also ran over and found Liu Zhicheng and said, "Mr. Liu, why are you cooperating with Li Chaoren and his people for the land of Kowloon Wharf? It's also possible with Daya Real Estate Company?"

"Mr. Lu, your funds should not be recovered until August, right?" Liu Zhicheng asked with a smile.

"Almost. The property projects near the Central and Admiralty subway stations will not be available for pre-sale until August. Since housing prices are rising so fast, I estimate that I can make a lot of money, with a net profit of 8 million Hong Kong dollars." Lui Chi-ho said with a smile.

Liu Zhicheng said: "I am optimistic about the future potential of Wharf's Star Ferry property project, but now it is constantly sucking blood from Wharf. I must complete the entire project as quickly as possible, open it as soon as possible, and restore Wharf's position as one of the top ten financial groups in Hong Kong."

"I know you are in urgent need of cash now. Wait until the project I am working on is finished in the second half of the year, and then we will develop the land of Hutchison Whampoa together. By then, Daya Real Estate will have sufficient funds, and we can easily make a few hundred million." Lu Zhihe said after thinking for a while.

"Okay, we'll talk about it when the time comes." Liu Zhicheng nodded and said.

The money just received from Li Chaoren and others is only enough for Harbour City to complete the construction of Ocean Center. If the Gateway Building is to be built, a large amount of funds will be needed.

By then, the land will definitely need to be developed, and it would be better to use the funds from Daya Real Estate. In any case, Liu Zhicheng will make money, and make several profits.

Liu Zhicheng currently has one thing that he must deal with personally, which is the electricity problem in Yuen Long Industrial Park.

Although there is no power outage at present, power rationing has been implemented, which has seriously affected the production work in the park. It is for this reason that Liu Zhicheng gave up blocking the land.

Now the industrial profits of the Yuen Long Industrial Park are Liu Zhicheng's cash cow. Since the threat of power outage, Liu Zhicheng has had several plans in mind.

First, they prepared to carry out industrial transfer and also thought of blocking China Electric Power. However, since Dao Jiali's controlling stake in China Electric Power was relatively stable, it would not be possible to succeed all at once.

Both the industrial transfer plan and the blocking plan require a long time to prepare. The only option currently available is peace talks.

Recently, Liu Zhicheng got in touch with John Sze and Doyle through Swire taikoos, and agreed to go to Fanling to play golf together this Sunday.

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(End of this chapter)