Wolf of Xiangjiang

Hong Kong media also quoted the news from The Globe and Mail and reprinted Lin Zhengjie's interview, which immediately became a topic of conversation among Hong Kong citizens.

"Damn it! Everyone in Hong Kong knows that Lin Zhengjie enjoys life. His private jet is worth 200 million US dollars, and his private yacht is worth 200 million US dollars. Now he actually says that he is very frugal!"

"They didn't deny private jets and yachts, they just said that if they have the same functions, they wouldn't pursue brands! Can a private jet worth tens of millions be compared with a private jet worth 2 million dollars? Clothes and watches are naturally different. Although they are only a few hundred dollars, who would say he is poor?"

"That's not right! Although Lin Zhengjie doesn't like to wear expensive clothes and watches, his concubines are collectors of famous brands. For example, Li Jiaxin likes luxury goods."

"This just shows that Mr. Lin Zhengjie is an open-minded person. He is not as rigid as the old-fashioned rich people who set all kinds of rules for their families. He just needs to be himself instead of asking others to be themselves!"

"You're a fan of Lin Zhengjie, right?"

"Yes, millions of people in Hong Kong are his fans."

Do Hong Kong people hate the rich? The answer is yes, but the group that hates the rich is not very large. It is just a small part and the proportion is relatively small.

On the contrary, more people admire people like Lam Ching-kit, especially because Lam Ching-kit has made many special contributions to Hong Kong.

The success of the acquisition of Noranda Enterprises can be said to have greatly boosted the morale of the Hong Kong business community.

Since Lam Ching Kit replaced Lee Kar Shing as the No. 1 person in Hong Kong, those who can be active in the world business all look to Lam Ching Kit. As for Lee Kar Shing, although he has also made some overseas acquisitions, he is far behind.

Of course, Li Jiacheng can barely be considered a world businessman, so this era in Hong Kong is very brilliant!
A new year has arrived.

After New Year's Day in 2005, Lin Zhengjie came to his office on the th floor of Taifook Group Center as usual.

In the morning, Yuan Tianfan came to his office to report on his work.

"Boss, if Noranda wants to acquire the remaining 41% of Eagle Bridge, it will cost about 20 billion US dollars. Of course, if Noranda merges with Eagle Bridge, the assets will be quite rich. The merged company will be the world's ninth largest copper producer, the third largest zinc producer, the third largest nickel producer, and the eighth largest aluminum producer, with total assets of billion US dollars."

It’s impressive enough just to think about it, but I didn’t expect that they completed the acquisition in less than two months.

In the final analysis, it was the boss who chose the right time, and of course he also offered a higher price.

Lin Zhengjie asked: "The debt is also very high, right?"

Yuan Tianfan nodded and said, "After the merger, the debt will be as high as 68 billion US dollars."

This is normal. The price they paid must be higher than the net asset value. However, companies do not only look at the net asset value, but also at the prospects of the industry.

For example, Lin Zhengjie knew that copper prices would rise sharply this year, and even the "National Copper Reserve Incident" would break out at the end of the year.

In November last year, the British Commodity Research Institute predicted that the global copper supply would be in surplus by more than 11 tons in 2005. Most international investment banks also predicted that the copper price would fall in 10 and the market would continue to be in surplus. It was this prediction that helped Husky Energy win Noranda.

The current international copper price is about US$2500 per ton, and it will rise to US$4000 per ton by the end of the year. By next year (2006), the price of copper will soar to US$10000 per ton, a three-fold increase.

"In 2005-2006, whether it is iron ore, oil, or non-ferrous metals such as copper and zinc, they will all experience a surge in price. Therefore, let Noranda boldly merge and acquire."

Noranda originally held a 59% stake in Eagle Bridge Enterprises, the world's third largest nickel producer, and this merger was nothing more than a privatization.

"Okay, I see what you mean!"

Yuan Tianfan felt that working with the boss was very labor-saving, and he didn't have to spend too much energy to examine the prospects of a certain industry, because the boss's vision was rarely wrong. As subordinates, they only needed to run the company well, and they would be successful.

After Yuan Tianfan left, Lin Zhengjie was still thinking about Noranda's affairs.

Husky Energy spent $60 billion to acquire Noranda, but Lin Zhengjie did not plan to hold on to it forever, so he hoped to sell it at the peak in 2006, and conservatively estimated that it could fetch more than $160 billion.

As a result, Husky Energy has made a lot of money in the past few years. It could originally make 50 to 60 billion US dollars a year. If it can make another 100 billion US dollars from Noranda, it will be equivalent to an annual profit of 2005 to 2007 billion US dollars from 80 to 90.

Dividends must be distributed in large amounts, after all, Wheelock and Carrie Lam hold 70% of the shares. If the dividend is 70 billion US dollars a year, Wheelock can distribute more than 43 billion US dollars, and Carrie Lam can also distribute more than 5 million funds.

Speaking of which, Lin Zhengjie really treats his sister like a daughter.

First of all, Lin Jiaxuan is a director of the Taifook Group, in charge of the hotel business. In the past two years, she has also taken over the position of chairman of the board of directors of the "Hong Kong Hotel" from Lin Zhengjie. In terms of wealth, she is also not inferior. She holds 1% of the Taifook Group, which is worth 8 billion Hong Kong dollars; and 200% of Husky Energy, which is worth billion.

In other words, Lin Jiaxuan's net worth is already over 300 billion.

As for brother-in-law Zheng Haibing, he is the head of the administrative department of the "Lin Family Office".

Over the years, the two have even served as Lin Zhengjie's "will witnesses" and "will executors". Yes, Lin Zhengjie has always had the habit of making a will, although he would rewrite it every other year and then leave it with his lawyer, and have "will witnesses".

I am afraid that something unexpected will happen and the children will fight over the family property. Although if I die too early, there is a possibility that they will fight over the family property.

Half a month later, Lin Zhengjie invited Yuan Tianfan, He Fangtang and Liang Botao to a party on his yacht.

These three generals have one thing in common, that is, they are presidents from the financial field and are good at corporate acquisitions and restructuring.

The four of them sat in the living room and talked. Lin Zhengjie proposed a plan: "I want to reorganize all of Taifook's infrastructure businesses. First, merge Power Assets, China Motor Bus and Kowloon Motor Bus, three listed companies. Then merge 'Taifook Infrastructure' and 'Power Assets' to eventually form Taifook's infrastructure business. What do you think?"

At present, there are too many listed subsidiaries of Taifook Group, and Lin Zhengjie needs to carry out the reorganization step by step. Of course, it will take him a long time and he has to do it step by step.

Ho Fangtang said: "China Motor Bus and Kowloon Motor Bus have long been kicked out of the blue chip stocks. There has been no new growth point in the development over the years, and the market value is lower than the asset value. It is indeed a bit useless for the group. It is better to merge with Power Assets to increase the asset value of Power Assets and strengthen the strength of investment in European infrastructure. There is no problem in merging these three companies. As for Taifook Infrastructure, many of the infrastructure projects it invested in have already lost nearly half of their management rights, and the market value has not increased. Restructuring is imperative!"

Taifook Infrastructure, which mainly invested in highways, power plants, bridges, etc. in the mainland, had a market value of more than 300 billion (1997) in the early days, but its current market value is only more than 280 billion.

As Taifook Infrastructure stopped investing in infrastructure in the Mainland, and as the management rights of some infrastructure projects have expired for a long time, the prospects of this company have become worrying.

On the contrary, Power Assets Holdings (formerly HK Electric) has always had growth points. In the 90s, it began investing in power plants and transmission networks in the Mainland, Southeast Asia and Australia. Now, Power Assets Holdings has entered Europe and started investing in water, gas pipeline and other infrastructure.

Yuan Tianfan also said: "These four listed companies should indeed be restructured to avoid wasting too much energy and focus more on investing in European infrastructure."

Liang Botao also added: "The restructuring can be completed within a year. We can directly issue a public announcement of the restructuring and then follow the steps step by step." The three of them discovered the drawbacks in this and agreed.

Lin Zhengjie said with satisfaction: "After the reorganization, the asset value of Taifook Infrastructure Group has increased significantly, and it is preparing for full investment in European infrastructure. Its business involves power, energy infrastructure, transportation infrastructure, water treatment infrastructure, waste management and other infrastructure-related businesses. Although its scale is far behind Taifook Group and Wheelock Group in the short term, it should have great development in the future."

"In fact, I am doing this reorganization for my three legitimate sons. The second son will graduate next year and work with you, Tianfan. Although the third son is less than 18 years old, I hope he will work for Taifu Infrastructure Group in the future. Real estate, non-real estate, and infrastructure are enough for them to learn!"

The three subordinates suddenly realized that their boss was considering the issue of succession.

However, it is obvious that the eldest son is the best, the second son is the second best, and the youngest son is the worst. Of course, it is not ruled out that the boss will buy a lot of infrastructure properties in Europe and build Taifook Infrastructure Group to a larger scale (guess right).

In fact, what we are talking about today is only the first wave of asset restructuring.

Lin Zhengjie will look for opportunities to separate Taifook Group, Wheelock Group and Taifook Infrastructure Group and adopt a primary holding model; although he will reduce his shareholding, he will still do it.

He has been thinking about it over the past two years and feels that tying the three children together is not conducive to the inheritance of the third generation.

Therefore, this layout must be completed between 2015 and 2017.

Taifook Group is responsible for the global real estate business, as well as five major businesses: media group, beverage and food, clothing and sports brands, and hotels.

Wheelock Group is responsible for comprehensive businesses including shipping terminals, telecommunications, retail trade, energy and minerals (Husky).

Taifook Infrastructure Group is responsible for power industry, mainland infrastructure and European infrastructure.

It seems that even after the merger this year, the asset value of Taifook Infrastructure Group will only be over 2000 billion. But it is not a big problem. In 07, Taifook Group will sell the properties of Hong Kong Electric, China Motor Bus and Kowloon Motor Bus. The funds can be used to continue to buy up European infrastructure after the global financial crisis. There will be no problem with 5000 billion assets in the future.

Although Taifook Group and Wheelock Group seem to be huge, Lam Ching Kit plans to slim down these two groups between 2007 and 2010.

That is, sell some assets and then pay high dividends to shareholders.

Lose some weight, otherwise you will be too high-profile in the future.

At present, Lin Zhengjie is still the "world's richest man". After 08, he plans to give up the throne. After all, he has been the world's richest man for ten years.

Shortly after the New Year, universities in Hong Kong started to re-open.

Then, a piece of news set off public opinion in Hong Kong: the Lam Ching Kit Foundation donated a total of HK$20 billion to four universities, namely the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The University of Hong Kong received HK$10 billion, which was the largest single donation in history.

The reason why the University of Hong Kong won the first prize this time is that the University of Hong Kong has provided a large number of talents for Hong Kong's biopharmaceuticals and cosmetics. This fund will focus on supporting related majors.

When the news came out, public opinion was in an uproar!
The one-time donation of HK$20 billion obviously shocked many people.

Over the years, the Lin Zhengjie Foundation has been a major donor, donating more than 200 billion in the mainland alone, and billion worldwide. Several universities in Hong Kong have also been beneficiaries.

Hong Kong citizens are talking about it.

"They are rich. Now the University of Hong Kong is probably eager to change its name to 'Lin Zhengjie University', right?"

"You can do that if you have money! Besides, it's not that exaggerated. At most, you can just change the name of a building!"

"I have no money, but the money Lin Zhengjie earns is Hong Kong's money!"

"Their overseas assets exceed those in Hong Kong, so stop hating on the rich!"

"Hate the rich? He is a monopoly, okay?"

For a time, public opinion was mixed.

However, just one week later, the University of Hong Kong proposed to name the medical school as the Lam Ching Kit Medical School in recognition of the generous donations from Lam Ching Kit and his foundation, and the proposal was unanimously approved by the University of Hong Kong's Council.

This decision has aroused the concern and opposition of former students of the medical school!

Lin Zhengjie did not explain these publicly, nor would he oppose the resolution of the University of Hong Kong.

He no longer cares about the outside world's evaluation of him. After all, when wealth reaches a certain level and fame reaches a certain height, there will always be various voices. He also strictly ordered his family not to defend themselves in the media and just do their own things.

Of course, no matter what the outside world thinks of him, Lin Zhengjie will stick to his love for charity.

For the next decade, his goal is to donate more and more of his wealth.

Of course, after the New Year, Taifook Group also announced a restructuring plan for Power Assets Holdings, Taifook Infrastructure, China Motor Bus and Kowloon Motor Bus, which attracted a lot of attention.

The shareholders of these four listed companies did not voice much opposition, and most of them supported the restructuring, which would be beneficial to the next step of development.

After all, in the restructuring plan, Taifook Group has stated that the restructured company will be more conducive to global development.

Of course, it also caused a lot of social discussion.

"Tyfol Group, Wheelock Group, and Tyfol Infrastructure Group, each of these companies is one of the top listed companies in Hong Kong. Especially Tyfol Group and Wheelock Group, they are among the top three in terms of market value in Hong Kong."

"Tyfol Group and Wheelock Group have already achieved global success. Will Tyfol Group be successful globally next?"

"Of course. Don't forget that Mr. Lin Zhengjie is only 47 years old. He is in the prime of his life!"

"That makes sense. The next step is to buy shares of Taifook Infrastructure."

"It is the same if you buy Power Industry shares now" (End of this chapter)