The Red Era: Living in Seclusion in a Siheyuan as a Boss

Chapter 620: Deep Water Crocodile!!!

If you want to enter the shipping industry, of course you must first have a ship.

All the wealth Bao Yugang had at that time was the hundreds of thousands of yuan he and his father had saved together. This amount of money was not enough to buy an ocean-going cargo ship.

In desperation, Bao Yugang had to apply for a loan from the bank.

At that time, it was not easy to get a bank loan in Hong Kong. You needed a guarantor.

The Bao family had just arrived in Hong Kong and had no relatives. The only people they knew were some fellow villagers from their hometown in Ninglang.

Most of them have no extra money, not even as good as the Bao family!
Bao Yugang was extremely helpless and suddenly remembered George Madden, the head of the Wheelock Madden Group, whom he had once met.

So, Bao Yugang took the trouble to travel all the way to London to ask him for help in getting a loan.

But Ma Deng told him, "Young man, shipping is a dangerous industry. If you are not careful, you will lose your last shirt."

Bao Yugang is not a person who gives up easily. Once he sets his goal, he will never look back.

After much persuasion, Ma Deng finally agreed to provide him with 60%-70% of the loan.

He also used Bao Yugang's loans to help him contact a second-hand cargo ship called "Lord Granston".

After getting the boat, Bao Yugang was ecstatic.

But when he took the contract and took a look at it, he felt disappointed.

why?

This is clearly an old, decrepit ship with no shipping value whatsoever.

This foreign guy Madden has no good intentions. It's obvious that he wants to take the opportunity to blackmail him!

Foreigners really can’t be trusted!
Of course Bao Yugang didn't want to be a sucker, so he rejected the deal.

Of course, the relationship with Madden also became strained. It is conceivable that Bao Yugang had a hard time when he had a strained relationship with the foreigners in his most foreign turf.

However, how could Bao Yugang be defeated by the difficulties he faced? Otherwise, he would not have become the "Hong Kong Shipping King" later on!

After that, Bao Yugang made many efforts and finally learned that the Williamson Company in Country Y had an old ship that was about to be sold.

Moreover, this slim boat is priced at only 22 pounds, which is cheaper than the "Lord Granston".

Although it was cheap, Bao Yu had just borrowed money from everywhere to raise 20 pounds, which was still not enough.

However, the price of 22 was quoted by the intermediary company, and there must be a commission in the middle.

“There must be room for mediation!”

Thinking of this, Bao Yugang went directly to London to negotiate face to face with Williamson Company.

Originally, Williamson Company handed over the ships to intermediary companies for handling, which was the rule.

But Bao Yugang impressed them with his sincerity and persistence, and finally got his first ship for 20 pounds.

Although this old ship has been in use for 28 years and has a displacement of only 2800 tons, it is in much better condition than the "Lord Granston" and is much cheaper.

Bao Yugang was very satisfied with it and named it "Jin'an".

After owning the first ship, Bao Yugang's shipping business became prosperous. Soon he had one, two, three ships... and gradually grew bigger.

In the mid-1950s, Bao Yugang founded his own "Global Shipping Group Co., Ltd."

He also reached an agreement with a Japanese shipping company to sublease the "Jin'an" to the company on a long-term lease to transport coal from India to Japan.

At that time, almost all ship owners rented out their ships on a traditional short-term basis.

Compared with long-term rentals, short-term rentals not only have faster settlement, but also have higher charging standards and can be raised at any time.

The world-famous shipping magnates Onassis and Nicholas, Samuel Ludwick, and the old generation Hong Kong shipping magnate Tung Ho-Yun, all did this.

So, when Bao Yugang rented his boat to others for 3, 5 or even 10 years;
Some of his colleagues in the shipping industry were laughing at him, mocking him for not knowing anything about the shipping business and saying that he was totally an outsider.

Bao Yugang was unmoved. He had his own ideas. He felt that only long-term rental could establish real trust with customers.

The establishment of trust is the most important foundation for doing business.

Bao Yugang once said to someone: "My motto is, I would rather make less money than take risks."

He is not short-sighted and is seeking long-term, stable income.

This is exactly the business approach that Bao Yugang uses with an eye toward the future.

It didn't take long for Bao Yugang's approach to produce great results.

A year later, the Egypt-Israel War broke out. Due to the closure of the Suez Canal at the time, there was a serious backlog of goods and the shipping business was booming.

Some people advised Bao Yugang, "Why not take this opportunity to make a fortune?"

But Bao Yugang still transports cargo for his old employers in Southeast Asia at the old rents to avoid direct competition with powerful Western shipowners.

Sure enough, more than a decade later, after Egypt and Israel signed a truce, a large number of Western merchant ships had nothing to do and had to spend staggering amounts of money on repair and management.

Bao Yugang's fleet is still firmly established in Southeast Asia, and his business is booming.

When the Egypt-Israel War broke out, Bao Yugang's lease with Japan's Yamashita Company had just expired.

At that time, because of the war, shipping around the world was extremely tense.

Yamashita Company had no choice but to renew the lease, and the renewal price doubled.

It was with this rent that Bao Yugang bought a second second-hand ship and leased it to a freight company for 4 years.

In this way, in just a few years, Bao Yugang already owned 7 second-hand ships and had considerable rental income.

Now that he has money, Bao Yugang hopes to have a boat of his own.

At that time, it cost at least 100 million US dollars to buy a huge ship.

Although Bao Yugang could afford it, if he spent all his assets on buying ships, it would be tantamount to locking up the funds and preventing them from circulating.

“Only liquid funds can make money.”

So, Bao Yugang negotiated a business deal with HSBC Bank. He mortgaged an old ship to HSBC and obtained a small loan.

Afterwards, he approached HSBC's credit director, Alex Sanders, and planned to borrow $75 from him.

But at that time, there was a tacit rule in the banking industry not to invest in high-risk industries such as shipping, aviation and the film industry.

Moreover, considering the long payback period for this money, banks need to take the risk.

Since Sandas had a good relationship with him, he was a little hesitant and couldn't bear to reject Bao Yugang.

He said to Bao Yugang: "Hey, man, if you want to get a loan, you must find a guarantor."

But where could Bao Yugang find a guarantor at that time?

Bao Yugang thought about it and suddenly came up with an idea. He asked tentatively: "If a Japanese bank issues a credit card, would HSBC be willing to lend me money?"

"Of course, I hope you can succeed!" Sanders agreed readily.

Sanders believed that given the shrewd and cunning habits of Japanese businessmen, it would be wishful thinking for a mere Bao Yugang to get a credit card from a Japanese bank.

But Sandas overestimated the Japanese merchants and underestimated Bao Yugang's determination.

In order to get a credit card from the Bank of Japan, Bao Yugang promised the pirates: "If my ship is wrecked at sea, all the insurance compensation will go to you, and I won't take a penny."

This was a sure-win deal, so of course the Bank of Japan agreed.

Back then, marine insurance premiums were expensive, and if an accident occurred, the insured could receive a large sum of compensation.

If Bao Yugang gave up the compensation, it would be equivalent to him taking the initiative to cut off all his retreat routes.

Just like that, Bao Yugang successfully obtained a Japanese credit card and a loan of US$75 from Sanders.

Of course, this is a win-win deal.

Bao Yugang used his experience to buy his first ship and gradually built his own shipping empire.

Sanders was the first to support the shipping industry and was soon promoted to head of HSBC.

Two years later, Sanders tasted the sweetness and cooperated with Bao Yugang again. HSBC invested in Bao Yugang's company.

With the authoritative endorsement of HSBC, Bao Yugang has been making great progress.

In 7 years, the number of ships he owned expanded to more than 50, with a total value of more than 3 million US dollars.

Moreover, Bao Yugang's career was not only in shipping, but he also got involved in many industries. In 1971, the influential Bao Yugang joined HSBC and became the first H person to join the board of directors of HSBC.

Because Bao Yugang has a strong business acumen, under his guidance, HSBC has gained strong momentum and started to take a diversified investment route, gradually leaving Standard Chartered and Yili behind.

Therefore, HSBC also provides strong support to Bao Yugang.

With the support of HSBC, Bao Yugang purchased a large number of ships and owned more than 40 giant ocean-going cargo ships in a few years.

The assets in hand are like a snowball, getting bigger and bigger.

Bao Yugang is thus a world-renowned shipping tycoon, and he is also the shipping tycoon who rose from scratch in the shortest time.

As a result, his influence spread all over the world.

One year, the world-famous "Daxia" shipping magnate Onassis visited Bao Yugang in the United States.

Onassis said to Bao Yugang humorously: "Although I started the fleet earlier than you, compared with you, I am just a peanut."

This "Daxia" shipping king is not complimenting Bao Yugang. In the new ranking of world shipping kings announced by Gibson Shipping Company, Bao Yugang took the top spot in the world's shipping king.

Foreign newspapers have devoted a lot of space to introducing Bao Yugang, with the title "Greater than Onassis and Niarchos - Sir Bao of Hong Kong".

This year, the total tonnage of Bao Yugang's fleet reached 2100 million tons, which was larger than the total tonnage of the fleets of "Uncle Sam" and "Polar Bear"!

Due to his important position in the international shipping industry, Bao Yugang has become a guest of honor in countries around the world.

The Queen of Country Y knighted him, and the King of Belgium, the President of Pakistan, the President of Padang and others all awarded him high medals.

Bao Yugang has a wide range of friends. He was a close friend of the Thatchers when they were young. Kissinger is his trusted friend. He was invited by Reagan to be a special guest at his inauguration ceremony. David Rockefeller is also one of his friends...

The benefits of Liu's family being able to establish good relations with such a person who has a wide influence throughout the world can be imagined.

Later, the shipping industry developed rapidly, and many bigwigs plunged into it and expanded their scale.

But Bao Yugang suddenly withdrew from the competition.

He predicted that the development of the world shipping industry has reached its ceiling and there is no room for further development.

So he decided to reduce the number of ship landings and sell a large number of cruise ships at low prices.

Other bigwigs laughed at Bao Yugang, thinking that he had lost his mind after becoming rich and was doing stupid things.

With one less competitor, Shipping King Dong was secretly delighted and began to expand aggressively, indulging himself in the desire to be the world's number one.

As a result, just as the expansion was underway, Dong Chuanwang died of a sudden illness due to overwork, causing an uproar in the industry.

Soon, a global shipping disaster struck, leaving the land in ruins, with some going bankrupt and others in debt.

Now everyone realized that they were the only ones swimming naked. Bao Yugang had already steered the boat into a safe harbor and escaped the disaster unscathed.

After withdrawing from the shipping industry, Bao Yugang set his sights on another gold market.

Over the past century, Y-funded enterprises have used their power to seize large amounts of cheap land in Hong Kong.

Later, a banking crisis broke out in Hong Kong and the real estate industry was reshuffled.

During this period, many properties were sold at low prices, and H merchants took the opportunity to buy them in large quantities.

With this, the "Five Tigers of H-funded Real Estate" came into being, and the Li family claimed to be the general of the Five Tigers.

At that time, Wharf Holdings was the largest port in Hong Kong, and Wharf Holdings held a large amount of land assets in Hong Kong.
In other words, whoever takes over Wharf Holdings will get most of Hong Kong's shipping business.

All the H-funded consortiums are eyeing the Wharf covetously, wanting to take over Hutchison Whampoa, and so is Li Jiacheng.

But at this moment, he is negotiating with people from Country Y and preparing to acquire Hutchison Whampoa.

At that time, Wharf Holdings was controlled by Jardine Matheson, but Jardine held less than 20% of the shares.

In other words, if Li Jiacheng can manage to acquire 20% of Hutchison Whampoa's shares, he will be able to compete with Jardine Matheson.

So, Li Jiacheng was the first to launch a secret attack. He absorbed Wharf Holdings shares through retail investors. Within a few days, he bought 2000 million shares of Wharf Holdings.

At the same time, Bao Yugang, who had "abandoned ship and landed", also set his sights on "Wharf Holdings" and began to snap up stocks. He also took the same action as "Liu's Overseas Investment".

This is why the three companies joined forces, first helping Bao Yugang take over "Wharf Holdings" and then helping Li Jiacheng seize "Hutchison Whampoa".

The Bao and Li families charged forward, with the well-funded "Liu Overseas" providing ammunition from behind. The three families worked closely together and finally achieved their respective goals.

This move was a brilliant one. It took only over an hour from the official start to the end of the acquisition. Bao Yugang acquired 49% of the shares and became the first Chinese chairman of Hutchison Whampoa.

In 1985, Bao Yugang acquired the shares of Y-funded group Wheelock for 5 million Singapore dollars, becoming the second Hong Konger to acquire the four major Y-funded trading companies after Li Jiacheng took over Hutchison Whampoa.

What’s interesting is that no matter whether it’s “Wharf Holdings”, “Hutchison Whampoa”, “Wheelock”, “Cheung Kong” or “World Shipping”;
Anyone who pays close attention will find that the second largest shareholders of these famous large group companies in Hong Kong are all the same company - "Liu Overseas Investment". It is really terrifying when you think about it!
A year later, Bao Yugang acquired 14.5% of the shares of Standard Chartered Bank, another note-issuing bank in Hong Kong, becoming the bank's largest individual shareholder.

"Liu Overseas Investment" is the second largest corporate shareholder of Standard Chartered Bank, second only to Y Capital Company with a 19.8% stake.

Over the past decade, with the rise of H-funded consortium, it has gradually begun to squeeze out Y-funded territory, and Y-funded companies have gradually withdrawn from the competition.

"Liu's Overseas Investment" took advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hold shares and control numerous Hong Kong listed companies.

The company also owns countless Hong Kong properties, land, and public facilities, and in less than twenty years it has become the uncrowned king of Hong Kong.

As the head of "Liu's Overseas", Liu Shudong has a huge influence in Southeast Asia, no less than Bao Yugang, Li Jiacheng and others.

Later, Liu Shudong and Bao Yugang became deputy directors of the Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee.

In addition, Liu Shudong and Bao Yugang also used their influence to help domestic shipbuilding companies enter the international market.

When the reform and opening up just started, the domestic shipbuilding industry had no status in the world at all.

In order to break this situation, Liu Shudong and Bao Yugang decided to let domestic shipbuilding industry companies build 10 large bulk carriers for their "Global Shipping Group".

After more than 500 days of hard work, the country's first "Great Wall" cargo ship was successfully launched.

At that moment, Liu Shudong, Bao Yugang and others had tears in their eyes.

This news caused a huge response in the world, and from then on, Chinese products began to go global.

With the strong support of "Liu's Overseas Investment", "Global Shipping" and a domestic joint venture established International United Shipping Investment Co., Ltd.

It is the first Sino-foreign joint venture company after the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy in China.

The establishment of the company promoted the development of heavy industry during the reform and opening up period, and became the main platform for Xiaguo's shipping industry to open up to the outside world in the early stage of reform and opening up.

Liu Shudong said: "Only when the country is strong can we H people stand up straight when doing business abroad!"

Soon, Bao Yugang signed a US$1 million export ship contract on behalf of Global Shipping with the relevant departments.

After that, under the organization of Liu Shudong, Hong Kong H-dominated bigwigs such as Li Jiacheng, Cao Wenjin, Zhao Shiguang, and Dong Chuanwang all began to do business or invest in the mainland.

It can be seen that Liu Shudong and these H bosses not only have the vision of businessmen, but also have a patriotic heart.

Moreover, these H bosses not only invest in the domestic market.

Moreover, he is also very willing to do charity activities.

Once, in order to repay his hometown for its nurturing, Bao Yugang donated more than 5000 million yuan in one go in his hometown of Ninglang and founded Ninglang University.

He said: "Ningbo is several times larger than Hong Kong and has a similar population, but it does not have its own university.

When I go abroad and see that they are making progress, I hope that my country can catch up as soon as possible. To modernize, education is the most important thing, so I will be happy to do this well. "

TVb's head, Uncle Shao Liu, is very keen on donating to schools in the country.

Of course, Liu Shudong, the representative of the "Liu Family" in Hong Kong, has also been noticed by the higher-ups for his efforts for the country over the years.

The head of the family, Liu Zhiye, was praised... secretly several times, which temporarily dispelled the improper thoughts of some jealous people.

Today, on the eve of Hong Kong's return to China, "Liu Overseas" has completed its layout in Hong Kong and started to develop in Southeast Asia.

The "Liu Overseas Investment" Group under the Liu family has reached the level of a regional consortium in terms of business scale in Hong Kong alone.

This low-key but powerful consortium has business operations throughout Southeast Asia.

It includes dozens of important fields such as financial investment, banking, real estate development, infrastructure construction, telecommunications operations, maritime trade, mineral resources, energy development, media and entertainment, automobile manufacturing, shipbuilding industry, chemical production, heavy machinery, light industrial products, electronic technology, luxury retail, grain, oil and food, and sports industry.

In many economic centers in Southeast Asia, "Liu Overseas Investment" has a significant influence.

From Hong Kong, Macau to Malaysia and then to Bangkok, its business tentacles penetrate into every key area of ​​the local economy.

Industry insiders often compare Liu Shudong, head of the Liu family, with Li Ka-shing, the richest man in Hong Kong.

If Li Jiacheng is the richest man in the land on the surface;
Then "Liu Overseas Investment" led by Liu Shudong can be called the invisible king of Southeast Asian business world.

(End of this chapter)