Chapter 169 Solving the Crisis
At the end of September, Liu Zhicheng received news that the Kadoorie family had formally complained to the China Securities Regulatory Commission that Shanfeng Investment had violated the regulations on tender offers for listed companies.

The Hong Kong government is discussing whether to formally launch an investigation.

Liu Zhicheng knew that the Kadoorie family wanted to muddy the waters and profit from the upcoming CLP shareholders' meeting.

As the legal representative of Shanfeng Investment, Liu Zhicheng had no choice but to face the investigation.

Friday, September 10st.

Liu Zhicheng was invited to the Hong Kong government, and his old acquaintance Luo Bishi received Liu Zhicheng.

Roberts was assigned by MacLehose to ask Liu Zhicheng about the acquisition of the Kadoorie family in order to determine whether to initiate a formal investigation.

"A few days ago in London, Mr. Shao, the tycoon, was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen. Did you know about this great event that honored the family?"

This was Luo Bishi's opening remarks, which left Liu Zhicheng confused.

Anyway, being invited to the Hong Kong government today must be nothing good, so Liu Zhicheng had no choice but to follow Luo Bishi's words and joked.

"Since a week ago, all the media in Hong Kong have been reporting on Mr. Shao's news. My newspaper also published the front-page headline. How could I not know?"

From now on, Hong Kong people will have to collectively change their address to Sir Shaw when they address Mr. Shaw.

In the eyes of Hong Kong people, the title of "Sir" is extraordinary, as it is a sign of progress towards nobility.

Looking throughout Hong Kong, there are only a handful of celebrities who are worthy of the title of "Jazz".

People from other places may disdain the title, but people in Hong Kong take it very seriously.

It has been a week since Sir Run Run Shaw has been on the headlines every day.

Liu Zhicheng was curious and asked Luo Bishi out of curiosity, "What title was conferred on Shao Sheng? I saw in the newspaper that it was not a knighthood."

The British Empire has a strict hierarchy. The most traditional hereditary aristocracy is the 'Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and Baron' known to the whole world. These titles are only conferred within the British royal family, and outsiders are not eligible.

The most common honor awarded to civilians is knighthood, which has five levels. The first level is the Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE), and the second level is the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE). Only those who obtain these two levels can be awarded the title of "Sir".

The third to fifth level commander medals BE cannot be called "Sir".

Liu Zhicheng knew that Shao Daheng had been awarded an honor by the Queen of England in 1974. At that time, he was awarded the third-class Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), which was not enough for the title of knight.

A few years later, Shao Daheng was knighted, but the title was not a knighthood, and it seemed that it was not from the same system.

That is why Liu Zhicheng raised this question.

Luo Bishi did not answer Liu Zhicheng's question first. He just said, "We originally considered you this time and were going to confer a title on you, but you had a problem, so we only conferred it on Shao Sheng."

From what Luo Bishi said, it seemed like being conferred a title was a great honor for Liu Zhicheng.

But Liu Zhicheng did not need it. He even deliberately avoided having too close nominal contact with the British government.

His main purpose is not to be labeled, which would make him somewhat passive in future activities, but in reality it is often unavoidable.

Therefore, he would avoid public activities like awarding honors and official positions whenever possible.

However, Orange Technology's market is in Europe and the United States. For business considerations, he will not refuse a series of public relations activities such as investment, friendship and charity in the European and American markets.

However, he will try to keep these activities low-key and downplay the colors as much as possible.

"Shaw Brothers is the most influential entertainment company in Asia, and Mr. Shaw is a businessman whom I respect very much. I am very happy that he was noticed by the British government and was given a knighthood.

As for myself, my achievements in Hong Kong are not as good as Mr. Shao’s, so I dare not have any delusions. "

Seeing this, Luo Bishi also smiled and said, "Don't be modest. Your achievements are obvious to all. It's just that the Walkman and home game consoles have set off a trend around the world.

It is enough to make your influence surpass that of Mr. Shao, and you own the best-selling newspaper in Hong Kong. Sooner or later, you will make Mr. Shao look dim and dull, there is no doubt about that. "

Just the media, toys, and sports controlled by the city group are all manifestations of soft power and the key to controlling the discourse power of public opinion.

In the past, RB penetrated the world with its culture through animation, and the United States penetrated the world with culture through Hollywood.

Don’t underestimate these movie and animation toys. In fact, they play a very important role. They can subtly influence many aspects and establish the glory and positive energy of the creative group.

If we don't invest and develop in these cultural fields, we will have to accept being criticized. Therefore, this is one of the reasons why Liu Zhicheng is devoting all his efforts to developing the cultural industry.

Roberts said: "It is precisely because of Mr. Shao's pioneering spirit in the Asian film market that he has been given the noble honor of being knighted."

In this era, the influence of Hollywood movies has not yet reached Southeast Asia. The current mainstream is Hong Kong films, and the representative figure who carries the banner of Hong Kong films is Shaw Daheng.

In terms of global film production and exports in recent years, Hollywood ranks first, followed closely by Hong Kong.

That is why the media jokingly calls Hong Kong the 'Hollywood of the East', and it is indeed worthy of the name and has been recognized by the Southeast Asian market.

Tycoon Shao can be said to be the creator of Eastern Hollywood, even though his wealth is not ranked high in Hong Kong.

But the British government singled him out as a representative and gave him a title of nobility because of his influence, and they wanted to use it to win over a group of people.

There are many businessmen in Hong Kong who are close to the British Empire and want to get the title of knight. In his previous life, Superman Li spared no expense to invest in the British Empire market in order to confer the title of knight.

In his previous life, Li Chaoren was knighted again in the millennium, and the knighthood notice given by the British Empire clearly stated this.

It is to commend Li Chaoren for his huge investment in the British Isles over the years, which has created millions of jobs for local citizens.

In the previous life, in the next few years, all the prominent families and celebrities in Hong Kong, as well as the top talents in Hong Kong's business, technology, art, sports and other fields, would be knighted by Britain.

The purpose is to win them over, put a mark on them, and make them remember their former master forever.

Liu Zhicheng was awarded a title called "Justice of the Peace". Gentlemen and knights belong to different systems.

In the last century, in order to manage Hong Kong, the British established a 'British Hong Kong Security Council', and these security officials were justices of the peace.

At first, justices of the peace were all British. Later, in order to facilitate the management of the Chinese, the British government appointed a group of Chinese justices of the peace.

Its purpose is to maintain order in Hong Kong, allowing Hong Kong people to focus on economic development and create more tax revenue for the British Empire.

Essentially, the British government bestowed medals on representatives of all walks of life in Hong Kong in order to maintain order, but it only maintained the order of people's hearts. In fact, when Roberts invited Liu Zhicheng to the Hong Kong government today, he had a different purpose, which was to talk to Liu Zhicheng about visiting the mainland less and visiting the British government more.

After Liu Zhicheng heard Luo Bishi's half-concealed words, he said in a tone of rejection:

"Investment should be gradual. I have just invested in a port in the British Empire, and I don't have any new investment plans for the time being."

Luo Bishi heard Liu Zhicheng's refusal and persuaded him: "Mr. Liu, there is a famous Chinese saying, 'honest words are unpleasant to the ear'. You may not like to listen to what I say.
But I am giving you honest advice from a friend's perspective, and as a friend, I have an obligation to be honest with you."

Liu Zhicheng thought, who is your friend? You are only friends with rich and powerful people. If I were not the richest Chinese in Southeast Asia, would you, as a British executive, be so humble and pretend to be loyal?

But no matter how fake this "loyalty" is, since the other person can say it without any hesitation or blushing, Liu Zhicheng has to cooperate with him out of courtesy.

"I like my friends' frankness, so please give me your advice."

Roberts smiled and said, "The British Sun has set up a unique investment environment specifically for business geniuses like you.
I understand your desire to serve your compatriots, but the mainland is not suitable for doing business, and investing in the Hong Kong market will only make you richer and richer.

After hearing this, Liu Zhicheng said with a half-smile, "Commander Luo, do you want to teach me how to do business?"

Luo Bishi was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "You are the most successful entrepreneur in Hong Kong. I dare not teach you how to do business. You are definitely more professional than me in how to make the company profitable."

Liu Zhicheng replied decisively: "Since you know my ability to make money, you should trust my judgment.
Every step my companies take is carefully considered and is designed to maximize profits.”

Liu Zhicheng's statement was just a subtle statement that he would continue to expand investment in the mainland in the future.

But he will not give up the British-Style Market because of this. As a businessman, he will not completely offend any one party.

Moreover, it was now at a critical moment in the acquisition of China Power, and bleeding was inevitable, so he had to continue speaking.

"I own a city group that focuses on sports development and aims to expand the global sports market. I want to sponsor the British Olympic team."

"Sponsor the Olympic team?" Hearing about sponsoring the Olympic delegation, no company was willing to sponsor in the past. Luo Bishi was a little confused and asked in surprise: "Mr. Liu, how much money are you going to sponsor?"

Liu Zhicheng said: "I plan to sponsor the British Olympic Games, including the athletes, coaches, accompanying officials, and their clothing, accommodation, food expenses, etc.

How much will be spent in total will be borne by my company, and we only need the British Olympic Games department to submit a list.”

This was Liu Zhicheng's initial attempt at sponsorship for the Olympics, with the goal of promoting Orange Technology's Walkman and 361 sports brands to the world.

Not only should we sponsor the British Olympic team, we should also sponsor other Olympic teams. The British Olympic team and the mainland are the participating teams that must be sponsored.

This time, the Hong Kong government wanted to take advantage of Liu Zhicheng's misfortune and complete the task assigned by the British government, which was to persuade Liu Zhicheng to invest more in industries and create more jobs.

Luo Bishi still did not give up and tried to persuade him: "You have to think carefully. You may not get any return in the future if you invest money in the Olympic team.

As a friend, I don't want you to waste your money. I want you to go to England to invest in business. This is a win-win business.

If you don’t have an investment plan for now, it won’t be too late to talk about it next year. Don’t make a blind investment based on my advice, that’s not what I want to do.”

As expected of an official, he is very eloquent and loyal.

Liu Zhicheng smiled and said: "Sponsoring the Olympic team is a brand investment. I will not pursue profit returns. This is definitely not blind, but a set business plan.
I would also like to ask Chief Luo to inform the relevant departments of my willingness to sponsor so that I can send someone to the British Empire for consultation. "

"You don't need to send anyone to the British Empire. You just need me to pass the sponsorship news back to the British Empire. I believe the British Empire Olympic officials will be very happy.

And they will come to Hong Kong to visit you in person. I believe they will agree to all your sponsorship conditions."

After all, this is to reduce the financial burden of the Olympic Organizing Committee, so there is definitely no problem with sponsorship.

"Mr. Liu, I will help you with this matter. I will also invite officials from the British Football Association to Hong Kong.
If you want to run a brand, the exposure in the British football match is higher than that in the Olympics."

Roberts paused for a moment and continued, "I am not trying to persuade you to sponsor the Football Association, but to let you first understand the environment of European and British football.

I personally think that since you have invested in a football team in Hong Kong, it would be more appropriate for you to sponsor football rather than the Olympics. Of course, the final direction of the sponsorship is up to you.”

In fact, Liu Zhicheng not only has the intention to sponsor football, but also plans to acquire the British British Professional Football Team.

Because there are so many die-hard fans in Europe, if the team is well managed, the sponsorship brand can also be managed stably.

Sooner or later, Liu Zhicheng will find out about the situation of the British British Football League.

Since Luo Bishi was so enthusiastic about introducing the officials of the Football Association, Liu Zhicheng would not refuse and would just treat it as doing research in advance.

Liu Zhicheng initially said that he wanted to sponsor the Olympics instead of the European Cup. This was because the European Cup had sponsors and had been commercially packaged very early on.

But the Olympics are not yet commercially operated. If we enter now, it will have a golden period for decades.

Although Coca-Cola sponsored the Olympics half a century ago.

However, the branding effect was not obvious, resulting in any city that hosted the Olympics in the past suffering a huge deficit.

It is a global consensus that hosting the Olympics will lose money.

There were no companies to compete with as Olympic sponsors, which is why Liu Zhicheng decided to sponsor the Olympics.

Having said that, since sponsoring the Olympics would lose money, why would Liu Zhicheng do such a thankless job?

Because in the previous life, the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics would reverse the situation of the Olympics losing money in one fell swoop.

When it officially enters global commercial operations, its exposure will exceed that of the number one sport, the Football World Cup.

Liu Zhicheng will make sponsorship arrangements several years in advance. He will lobby the International Olympic Committee, the British Olympic Committee and Orange Technology to sign long-term sponsorship contracts.

Not only will there be huge gains by 1984, but it can also solve the current crisis faced by the acquisition of CLP.

Because, at that moment, if you can please the British Hong Kong government, no one will care about your other affairs.

After Liu Zhicheng expressed his investment intention, Roberts said he would report to the Governor of Hong Kong.

At least it is guaranteed that no investigation will be initiated before the CLP shareholders' meeting.

In this way, CLP has the opportunity to form an established reality.

(End of this chapter)