1977: The beginning of the blind date with the daughter of the king

Chapter 560 The TV station is here!
Li Ka-shing never thought of taking over Hutchison Whampoa because he knew very well that this was an impossible thing in Hong Kong Island.

If there was a shareholding crisis in the previous Jardine Matheson Holdings Group, it would allow others to see the possibility of seizing shares.

But now that Bao Zeyang controls the land, there is not even the slightest possibility of equity plunder.

The shares that Bao Zeyang acquired himself plus those sold to him by Jardine Matheson definitely exceeded 40%, or even more.

Li Jiacheng even speculated that Bao Zeyang's control over the property was more than 50%, but a lot of the shares were dispersed.

Putting aside the fight for equity, there is even less hope from a business perspective.

At least one third of the most prime real estate in Central, Hong Kong Island, is in the hands of Hong Kong Land, and most of these are already built Grade A commercial buildings.

This is the most prosperous commercial area in Hong Kong Island and also the area with the highest profits.

Even if it does nothing every year, Swire can still make a lot of money just by collecting rent, not to mention that there are still many undeveloped lands under Swire.

Therefore, it is impossible to overthrow Jardine Matheson.

What Li Jiacheng really needs is Shen Bi to stand on his side.

As long as Shen Bi stood on his side, Li Jiacheng would have the upper hand in Hong Kong's business community.

Because the commercial essence of Hong Kong Island is all in the hands of British financial groups, and now, with the developments on the mainland, the British financial groups are retreating.

Just like Maersk and ENCL, the reason why they sold off their shares in Hyundai Cargo is not because they are not making money, but because they are afraid.

They are afraid that Hong Kong Island will become the place where war breaks out, and that the mainland will attack, retake Hong Kong Island, and even confiscate their property, in which case they will lose everything.

Jardine Matheson and HSBC are already examples of precedent in this regard.

The Sassoon family, which was known as the real estate king in Shanghai at the time, fell into a slump.

You know, forty years ago in Shanghai, the wealth of the new Sassoon Company was valued at US$1.5 billion.

(The Sassoon family split up. The old Sassoon & Co. returned to Britain in the 1920s. The new Sassoon & Co. was also a member of the Sassoon family, but it had almost no dealings with the old Sassoon & Co.)
When Victor, the head of the new Sassoon Company, died twenty years ago, the fortune he left behind was only about two million pounds!
(Data from "The Sassoons: The Rise and Fall of a Jewish Business Empire", written by descendants of the Sassoons themselves)
In just 20 years, a family once known as the "Oriental Rothschild" has completely fallen into the status of a small wealthy family at the bottom of society.

There are many reasons for this, but there is no doubt that the confiscation of the bulk of their assets was one of the core reasons why they suffered heavy losses.

But in Li Jiacheng's eyes, this is an opportunity!
As the British financial consortium withdraws, their assets will inevitably be sold off, not just Maersk and British Shipping.

It is said that the current Rediffusion Television Company is also selling its TV station, namely Rediffusion Television.

Even the fact that Bao Zeyang was able to take over Swire Properties was also due to Jardine Matheson's own reasons. They were also worried about repeating the same mistake, so they did not firmly resist Bao Zeyang's acquisition.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, he simply sold it, exchanged it for a large amount of funds, and then withdrew from Hong Kong Island.

One core force that cannot be avoided in the sale of these British companies is HSBC.

Li Jiacheng believes that HSBC has a very important say in the sale of these British companies.

As long as HSBC stands on his side, there is no doubt that Li Jiacheng will be able to eat the fattest meat in the upcoming feast of the withdrawal of British capital.

It’s a pity that some of the infrastructure companies in Hong Kong Island are already owned by others. One of the two major power companies is owned by Bao Zeyang, and the other is owned by the Kadoorie family.

As for the gas sector, only China Gas has fallen into the hands of Li Ka-shing.

These companies not only represent a steady stream of income, but also represent a large amount of high-quality land.

Let’s just talk about Hong Kong Electric Company, which is responsible for supplying electricity to the entire Hong Kong Island. Naturally, its power plant is also on Hong Kong Island. And its office buildings, staff dormitories, etc., a lot of the land here is in Central.

Swire Properties' acquisition of shares in HK Electric has actually increased its land reserves in Hong Kong Island in disguise, and the land reserves are in the prime Central area.

Li Jiacheng was envious when he saw it.

such a pity.
While Li Jiacheng was having a secret conversation with Shen Bi, Wei Li was also talking to Li Changhe about HK Electric in Li Changhe's office in the Landmark Building in Central.

And the purpose is very clear, which is land.

"Boss, I think we can relocate the Hong Kong Electric power plant, transfer this part of the land, and then apply to the Hong Kong government for a change in land use."

"This way we will have a large amount of land in Central and Wan Chai. Whether we sell it in the future or develop it ourselves, I think it is extremely suitable."

In the office, Wei Li was holding his plan and analyzing it seriously with Li Changhe.

Many times, the visions of business tycoons are actually similar. What Li Jiacheng can see, Wei Li can also see.

Currently, HK Electric has two power plants on Hong Kong Island. The first power plant is in North Point and the second power plant is in Wan Chai.

These are not just the two factory sites, but also include some street land outside the factory sites, all of which belong to Hong Kong Electric Company.

Therefore, without continuing to build the Exchange Square, Weedley began to integrate the various land resources under the Hong Kong Swire Group, and the land of HK Electric fell into Weedley's sight.

At this time, Li Changhe took the drawing handed over by Wei Li. On it was a floor plan of Hong Kong Island, with the land belonging to Hong Kong Electric Company circled.

Among these, only North Point is relatively remote now. Central and Wan Chai are the most prime commercial districts. Even in North Point, housing prices will not be low in the future.

"Bill, your idea is not wrong, but for now, we can't take care of these lands."

"It's not that simple to relocate a power plant. Where do you plan to relocate it? Lamma Island?"

Li Changhe remembered that Li Jiacheng later moved the power plant to Lamma Island.

He did not copy Li Jiacheng's ideas, but for Hong Kong Island, the most suitable location for relocation was Lamma Island.

Lamma Island is located in the south of Hong Kong Island. It is a small island with an area of ​​13 square kilometers. Although it is not large, it is more than enough for a power plant.

Most importantly, it is close to Hong Kong Island, much closer than the larger outlying islands.

So if HK Electric's power plant wants to relocate, Lamma Island is actually the most suitable location.

"Yes, Lamma Island. We can build a new high-power power plant there to directly cover the electricity supply of the entire Hong Kong Island."

"I think we can also take this opportunity to ask the Hong Kong government to raise the electricity price. After all, this is a brand new power plant with brand new costs and supply efficiency."

Wei Li said to Li Changhe with a smile.

He has always felt that the electricity price in Hong Kong Island is too low. People living on Hong Kong Island are either rich or noble, and the big companies with offices in Central are also well-known companies.

In this case, the electricity price can be appropriately raised.

"As for the electricity price, it's up to you. You can also apply to the Hong Kong government for building a power plant on Lamma Island, but I don't think you can negotiate it in a short time. It depends on your ability."

"But don't rush to develop these lands, and don't rush to change the land use. The land prices in Hong Kong Island are too high now. If we change it now, we will have to pay a high amount of land compensation."

The nature of the land on Hong Kong Island can be changed, but the prerequisite for the change is that you have to pay the land transfer fee to the Hong Kong government. For example, the land in Central of HK Electric Company needs to be changed from dormitory to commercial land.

Then the real estate company will have to make up the difference in the original land transfer fee according to the price of commercial land, which is a huge amount of money.

However, the Hong Kong government does not have the final say on this amount; it is adjusted based on the market price in Hong Kong Island.

The Hong Kong government issues an official land transfer price list every year based on market prices, including various prices for commercial land, industrial land, agricultural land, etc.

The calculation of the supplementary payment at that time will be based on this form.

It just so happened that Li Changhe was very clear that the real estate market would collapse starting in 82, and by 83, the prices would have been more than halved.

If he applied to change the land use at that time, the land transfer fee he paid would be half or even one-third of the current amount. Li Changhe would not let Wei Li waste the money at this time.

"Boss, it seems that you are really pessimistic about the real estate in Hong Kong Island. Do you think it will plummet?"

"But this year, the real estate situation here is still very good."

"We delayed the construction of the trading square, and many people inside the company, not to mention those outside, did not understand."

"Boss, do you really think that Britain will be at a disadvantage in the negotiations in Hong Kong?"

Wei Li asked curiously at this time.

He used to be a little disdainful of this view, but now seeing that Maersk, Yinglun, and even Rhythm Shipping have begun to withdraw, he feels that his idea may be a little simple.

It would be fine if only one of these companies did the same, but if all of them did the same, it means that their top management must have received some news.

At least on the issue of Hong Kong Island, these forces were not optimistic, so they began to withdraw at the same time.

This forced Wei Li to think seriously about this issue.

"In fact, we don't need to think so much, we just need to wait and see."

Li Changhe smiled and shook his head.

There were some reasons that did not need to be explained to Weedle. Although he was his subordinate, he was also a British citizen at heart.

"Boss, in this case, we have too much idle funds in our account. We must put these funds into operation."

Wei Li said helplessly at this time.

The construction of Exchange Square has been suspended, and construction in Causeway Bay has not yet started. In addition, the Golden Gate Building was sold last year for more than 1 billion Hong Kong dollars.

There is a lot of money in the account of the property at the moment. Wei Li feels that it is not a good idea to keep the money idle.

That's why he had his eyes on HK Electric's land.

"Bill, I think there's something else we can consider."

"Why don't we plan and re-list the milk company?"

Li Changhe said to Wei Li with a chuckle.

The current system of the Dairy Farm Company is already very large, including Wellcome Market, Wellcome Convenience Store, Mannings Pharmacy, Maxim's Group and a series of retail and catering companies. It is also one of the largest companies in Hong Kong Island.

It is actually inappropriate for such a company to be listed under Swire Properties, as it is not conducive to its expansion in scale.

Moreover, the Dairy Farm Company was originally a listed company, but it was delisted after it was forcibly acquired by Swire Properties.

“Re-listing?”

"Boss, I've actually thought about this. Dairy Farm is a listed company, and it has always been under the control of Landmark Land. This is actually suppressing Landmark Land's development in disguise."

"But I think there is no need for us to list the milk company. If that happens, the market value of the entire company will be too large."

“How about we turn the dairy company into a holding group and then take the Wellcome brand public?”

"We will integrate supermarkets and their supply chain companies into one group and then list them as a package. As for the rest of the retail-related businesses like Maxim's Group and pharmacies, we will still put them under the Dairy Farm Group."

"The advantage of this is that even if we subsequently transfer the shares of the retail group, what we transfer is actually only the shares of the Wellcome retail brand, not the entire dairy company."

"But to the outside world, Dairy Farm is now Wellcome, and Wellcome represents Dairy Farm."

“This allows Wellcome to maximise its value.”

Wei Li told Li Changhe about his ideas.

In fact, what he meant was to inject the brand value of the dairy company into Wellcome. In this way, only the retail company Wellcome would be listed, but it would come with the brand value of the entire dairy company.

Even if only a portion of shareholders agree, it can push up Wellcome's stock price.

This is actually using intangible assets to expand the market value of the entire company and raise the overall value of Wellcome.

Of course, this is subject to the prerequisite that they give up the brand of the Dairy Milk Company.

Li Changhe had no objection to this.

"That's fine, you can watch and do it."

"If Wellcome goes public, Dairy Farm will have its own cash-raising channels instead of having to keep subsidizing us."

Today's milk company is a wholly-owned subsidiary, which means that Swire and Li Changhe are using their own money to help it expand.

What Li Changhe hopes more is that it can run on its own.

"Jingle Bell"

At this moment, the phone on Li Changhe's desk rang.

Li Changhe took a look and saw that it was the internal phone on the table, which meant that the call was from Catherine.

"Boss, Mr. Shao Weiming is here."

"Bring him in!"

Li Changhe instructed Catherine.

"Then boss, I'm going down first!"

Seeing someone was coming, Wei Li said tactfully.

"Okay, you can make a plan and see how to integrate the milk company. We'll see and choose the right time to list it."

“Only after going public can we expand better.”

Li Changhe gave instructions to Wei Li.

What he hopes to build is a world-class supermarket like Carrefour and Walmart, not to mention all over the world, but at least all over Asia.

Therefore, the independence of the retail sector is inevitable.

"Understood. I'll arrange someone to do it next!"

At this moment, Shao Weiming also walked in led by Catherine.

"Mr. Weir"

Shao Weiming greeted Wei Li and then walked in.

"Boss, I wonder if you have something to ask me?"

After Wei Li and Catherine left, Shao Weiming asked Li Changhe curiously.

Li Changhe came out from behind his desk and said, "Brother Weiming, Rediffusion TV is for sale. How about it? Are you interested?"

(End of this chapter)