Wolf of Xiangjiang

Time came to 2009.

After New Year's Day, Lin Zhengjie came to the office on the 70th floor of Taifook Group Center. As long as he was in Hong Kong, he would basically arrive at Taifook Group for work on time in the morning.

In the spacious office, Lin Zhengjie turned on his computer and browsed the news on the Internet, feeling quite relaxed. Taifu Group could actually operate normally even without him, so sometimes he would not be in the company for half a month, and everything was normal.

In the new year, Chen Weizhong officially retired, and the group is temporarily led by two veterans, Tang Yanjian and He Fangtang, and Lin Wendong. Of course, under them there are many core senior executives who are the "helmsmen" and "rulers" of the group.

After reading the news, Lin Zhengjie leaned back in his chair, thinking about the development of Taifook Group.

In terms of business division, Taifook Group's businesses are divided into: real estate and hotels, media and entertainment, clothing and sports, and food and beverages.

In terms of real estate, the layout has been completed and bottom-fishing operations are being carried out around the world, so you can rest assured about collecting rent in the future.

Media and entertainment: as Hong Kong's entertainment industry becomes more and more developed, the status of media groups has been challenged, mainly in economic entertainment business, TV station business, and even gaming business; fortunately, media groups have a strong foundation and can enjoy unlimited use of many copyrights, so they will still be very powerful in the next ten years, but it will be a downward process.

Clothing and sportswear are mainly fast-moving clothing brands and sportswear brands. The fast-moving clothing business currently has a larger share in Asia than Uniqlo; sportswear brands are mainly Fila, the world's third largest sports brand, and the Xtep brand developed in the mainland.

Food and beverage, this business basically relies on the mainland market, including a series of brands such as Wanglaoji, Nongfu Spring, and Master Kong, and the business has actually become very large.

There must be no problem with the four major businesses combined, and Lin Zhengjie does not need to consider deliberately expanding the scale. Of course, Taifu Group has sufficient cash flow, and if there is a suitable opportunity, it does not mind expanding further.

Currently, the market value of Taifook Group is only HK$8000 billion, which is nearly 50% lower than its peak. However, considering the sufficient cash flow, the subsequent market value may return to HK$ trillion this year.

"Boss, the meeting at Wheelock is almost over!" the assistant came in and reminded.

Lin Zhengjie nodded, looked at his watch, then stood up and prepared to go to the meeting at Wheelock Group.

Both companies are headquartered in the Taifook Center, which is very convenient.

As Lin Zhengjie walked into the headquarters of Wheelock Group, he saw a mixed work scene with Chinese and foreigners, with quite a few foreign employees and managers. When he walked into the conference room, foreign senior executives accounted for about 50% of the total.

This is actually the result of Lin Zhengjie's blood transfusion and increase in Chinese management in the past decade or so. After all, he was a foreign company himself in his early years.

Everyone sat at an oval conference table, and next to Lin Zhengjie was Wheelock's president Yuan Tianfan.

Yuan Tianfan was born in 1952 and is only 57 years old this year. He can work for another ten years without any problem. Moreover, at his level, the work is relatively easy and the annual leave is enough for him to rest.

Lin Zhengjie's second son, Lin Wenliang, is only 25 years old this year. There should be no problem for him to take over in ten years. After all, the descendants of the Lin family are extremely intelligent.

"During the financial crisis, how should Wheelock Group buy at the bottom? Let's discuss it today!"

As soon as Lin Zhengjie finished speaking, everyone expressed their opinions. Many of the people who came today were presidents of a certain business unit and had considerable autonomy.

Of course, the group's overall investment strategy has always been in the hands of Lin Zhengjie and Yuan Tianfan.

Energy and minerals, telecommunications and the Internet, shipping terminals, and retail cosmetics and pharmaceuticals are the four major businesses of the Wheelock Group.

Mike Lynch, president of Energy and Minerals, suggested: "We can increase our investment in the mining sector, even if it is just a stake, it is a very good prospect."

In fact, Wheelock's energy and mining business once reached its best state, that is, it owned energy and mining giants such as Husky, Noranda, and Falconbridge, and also held equity in Brazil's Vale and Australia's FMG Ore.

But at its peak, Wheelock sold Noranda and Falconbridge, which naturally reduced its strength.

Of course, looking at it now, the sale is completely right. After all, Noranda and Eagle Bridge were sold for more than 180 billion, with a net profit of 120 billion US dollars. If it were in the hands of Husky Energy, it might not be able to make back the profit in years.

Today, Wheelock still holds a 62% stake in Husky Energy Group, and Husky Energy still has large oil and natural gas reserves.

But now, global energy and minerals have become the "national heavyweights", and it has become difficult for their private enterprises to expand and develop.

So Mike Lynch suggested that it is also okay to participate in the shares!
You know, in the past, Lin Zhengjie still attached great importance to controlling rights.
Lin Zhengjie has more than ten years of insight into the future, so he quickly said: "Iron ore, copper ore, etc. have passed the best investment time. Wheelock Energy Mining can strengthen its investment in lithium mines. In the future, the prospects for new energy vehicles are very good, and lithium ore will become a hot commodity sooner or later."

Yuan Tianfan then added: "Regarding investment in lithium ore, we can also cooperate with Xiaomi Group. After all, they are planning new energy vehicles. We can not only enter the mining and production of lithium ore, but even go to a deeper stage."

"It's feasible. Please come up with this plan as soon as possible. I want to see the report in two weeks!"

"Ok"

Next, regarding the shipping terminal business, Lin Zhengjie directly said: "The shipping cycle is generally very long. This round of shipping trough may last for 8 to 10 years, during which time it is a gradual decline. Even if there may be one or two years of good market conditions in the middle, it will not change the entire shipping cycle. Therefore, in the shipping terminal, we need to develop diversified development, that is, to increase investment in logistics."

At present, Wheelock Shipping still controls more than 500 global terminals and has million tons of container ships and oil tankers. Before the financial crisis, the aircraft leasing business was the most cashed out by Wheelock Shipping, which has basically been cleared out.

Yuan Tianfan nodded and said, "Investment in logistics is mainly concentrated in Asia, namely Greater China."

Taifook Group develops industrial real estate in North America, including logistics, while Wheelock Group develops logistics in Asia and Greater China.

"It's feasible. We can have more exchanges with the parent company, Taifook Group. Both companies attach great importance to investment in industrial real estate and logistics this time."

"Yes"

“Also, aircraft leasing can continue to invest.”

"it is good"

Next, telecommunications and the Internet.

Wheelock Telecommunications has always had large investments. Originally, 3G had been losing money for many years, and the losses were huge. However, before the financial crisis, it recovered a lot of funds by selling its telecommunications business in India and selling part of its telecommunications equity in Italy and Israel and listing them.

Overall, Wheelock Communications currently has large assets in five European countries, in addition to its telecommunications business in Hong Kong.

As for the telecommunications business in Hong Kong, the loss from the acquisition of Hong Kong Telecom was huge, and this was when the company paid several billion dollars less in cash than in the previous life. Of course, at least it did not cause serious consequences.

Why did Lin Zhengjie want to acquire Hong Kong Telecom, knowing that the business was unprofitable? The reason was simple. He regarded Hong Kong as his base, so how could he hand over telecommunications (local fixed-line, international fixed-line, mobile communications) to foreigners, which would cause information insecurity.

Based on this point alone, it would have been impossible for Lin Zhengjie to allow Singaporean capital to acquire Hong Kong Telecom. Of course, it depends on strength.

Through various financial arrangements over the years, Hong Kong Telecom has basically made up for the deficit it suffered in those years. Currently, Hong Kong Telecom is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wheelock Telecommunications and has undergone a merger.

Wheelock Telecom also has a series of businesses such as TOM.com, TOM Cloud, mobile payment, video websites, etc. Even if it is to serve Hong Kong, Lin Zhengjie is determined to develop Internet business. Of course, in fact, Lin Zhengjie attaches great importance to Hong Kong's local Internet business, including webtoon business, which has entered dozens of countries around the world.

Finally, there is the retail cosmetics and pharmaceutical business. Let’s not talk about retail because it is not very big and has limited prospects. Cosmetics groups and biopharmaceuticals are the future of this business.

Now that Wheelock Group has sufficient cash flow, it is bound to invest more in these two businesses.

Finally, Lin Zhengjie said: "We have a lot of cash flow, so we don't need to worry too much about how to invest. Our scale has reached a large level, and it is normal that the cash in our hands cannot be invested. In addition, we have cash flow in our hands, so we can come across new plans and new industries and start them."

Everyone nodded, saying that one should not blindly buy at the bottom, but should wait for opportunities to invest again.

In fact, now that Taifook Infrastructure Group has been "separated", the group will have big moves in the future.

After the meeting, everyone went back to their posts.

Yuan Tianfan came to Lin Zhengjie's office alone and said, "Boss, Wen Liang has been in the company for almost three years. I believe he can also take on the position of director."

Whether it was Taifook or Wheelock, the suggestion for Lam Man-tung and Lam Man-leung to serve as directors was made by their subordinates. After all, they knew Lam Ching-kit's succession plan and were familiar with the level of these two second-generation Lams.

"It's too early. There's no rush. To be honest, Wen Liang is three points less stable than his elder brother, but of course he has three points more drive. But because of this, he should practice more. This matter will not be feasible until at least the year after next."

Yuan Tianfan did not interfere too much in this matter. What he proposed was just a "suggestion", nothing more.

But he went on to say, "Boss, when do you plan to make the three companies independent? The key is that if the three companies are independent, they also have to consider the relocation of their registration."

The main purpose of relocating registration is to facilitate doing business, and even state-owned enterprises in the mainland do this.

Lin Zhengjie did not move the registration in the early years because he was worried that he would be accused of disrupting the situation and having a bad influence.

As Hong Kong has already gotten through this smoothly, these problems naturally no longer exist.

However, whether it is the independence of Taifook, Wheelock and Taifook Infrastructure (the three are directly controlled by the Lin Zhengjie family) or the issue of relocation of the three companies, Lin Zhengjie is still very cautious.

Yuan Tianfan is not only the president of Wheelock, but also the wise counselor of the Lin Zhengjie family, so it is natural for him to raise this topic.

"Wait a few more years. Anyway, we are still young and can wait for the three brothers to grow up."

What this means is that the second generation has not yet truly grown up, so we shouldn’t rush to achieve these things.

"Um"

Yuan Tianfan said no more, he already had an idea in his mind. He also calculated that the boss's youngest son would also start working this year, and in about five years, the three brothers should be able to take charge of their own affairs.

The Lin family then considered dividing the three companies directly under the Lin Zhengjie family. The boss's three legitimate sons would each be in charge of a branch, and the boss would serve as a backer, thus making the Lin family businesses more stable.

Although these things are the Lin family's business, they are actually their business as well. After all, the boss always communicates his ideas with everyone and hopes that everyone will do a good job in handing over the shift.

Sometimes Yuan Tianfan thought, if Lin Zhengjie didn't value them so much, how could they have worked for so long? Not to mention starting a business, even retirement should be on the agenda.

Lin Zhengjie and the three brothers Lin Wendong, Lin Wenliang and Lin Wencheng were chatting on the lawn of Villa No. 1 Peak Road.

Villa No. 1 Peak Road has always been the ancestral home of the Lin family. Before Lin Wenliang and Lin Wencheng got married, this was their home. Although Lin Wenliang has moved out a long time ago, he still goes home every week to spend time with his parents and grandmother.

"Wencheng, after you graduate, go to the UK and find a job for yourself. Gain experience for a year or two."

Lin Wencheng said in surprise: "Dad, I'm studying in the United States, and you asked me to go to the UK to find a job."

Lin Wenjie said: "Well, the UK and Europe will be the future investment focus of Taifook Infrastructure Group. It would be better for you to work there."

The most important asset of Taifook Infrastructure Group is of course Power Assets Holdings (Hong Kong Electric), but in recent years it has also purchased a number of European and American assets such as water treatment, energy pipelines, and power transportation networks.

In other words, there is no 'Li Jiacheng', but there is 'Lin Jiacheng'.

Lin Wencheng wanted to fight for it again, and at least hoped to intern in the United States for a year or two. However, seeing that his father was unmoved, he realized that it was difficult to disobey his father's order.

"Oh, so any job is fine?"

"Of course, as long as it's a job that pays, you can't do it as a volunteer."

Lin Wenliang was enjoying the fun and was laughing secretly with a gloating look on his face, but was immediately caught by Lin Zhengjie.

"And you, you don't even have a formal girlfriend, can you please hurry up and have enough fun, I'm waiting to hold my grandchildren."

This guy is quite a romantic figure. He has had four girlfriends at the age of 25.

Lin Wenliang immediately stopped talking and whispered, "You have so many sons, it won't be easy to have a grandson!"

Lin Wendong immediately pushed his younger brother, asking him how to talk to his father.

Lin Wenjie didn't act like a feudal patriarch. He just said, "I have so many sons, but only a few of them are my successors? The Wheelock Group is so huge, how can I be assured that you don't even have a formal girlfriend, and you have no intention of getting married and having children!"

Since his other sons did not inherit his business, Lin Zhengjie didn’t care when they got married!
Only these three brothers must get married and have children honestly, and not even have the idea of ​​"having children out of wedlock" because it will not be a good way to raise them.

Lin Wenliang understood that what his father meant was that if he took over the Hutchison Whampoa Group in the future, it would be a worry if he had no offspring.

He dared not rebel against his father, especially when his mother was determined to carry out his father's orders. (After all, Li Zekai's mother died in his previous life, so he was somewhat rebellious.)
"I will definitely get married. Father, give me a few more years and I will find a wife that satisfies my heart."

"Before you turn 30, be honest when you get married. Learn from your elder brother. Family is very important. If I hadn't communicated well with your mother, I wouldn't have had women outside. But you definitely don't have my ability, so don't even think about that kind of good thing."

The three brothers immediately lowered their heads.

They seemed to understand what their father's abilities were, but they didn't dare to ask, and were afraid to ask.

In fact, everyone around Lin Zhengjie knows a little bit, including his daughter-in-law (anti-aging, excellent genes for children, personality charm, etc.), but no one will say it because it is a taboo topic. (End of this chapter)