In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 693 At the foot of Taiping Mountain, is the city Li Jiacheng's city?

Inside the Hutchison Whampoa chairman's office, Richard Li continued to say to Li Jiacheng: "Mr. Li, I heard from my subordinates that Hong Kong citizens' admiration for Lin Haoran has been growing day by day recently, and most young people regard him as an idol."

After all, he defeated British giants as a Chinese, breaking the monopoly of British banks on Hong Kong's financial industry, which made you Chinese people very proud, thus increasing the business volume of his companies.

This is not a good thing in the long run. So, regardless of whether the actions taken against you by Hongkong Land Group's businesses were instigated by Lin Haoran, we cannot sit idly by. Although Hutchison Whampoa is a large company, it is very easy to fall into losses if it is not managed well.

Just like Hutchison Whampoa a few years ago, when it was in a state of severe loss, Mr. Wylie led us to fight hard for two years, cutting off the severely loss-making businesses and only keeping the businesses with great potential and high profits, which finally made Hutchison Whampoa turn a profit.

"If the revenue from these high-quality businesses declines significantly, Hutchison Whampoa will inevitably fall into losses again sooner or later. The Hong Kong market is only so big; if Lam Ho-yin's company takes away most of the business, we will find it difficult to gain a foothold in Hong Kong!"

As a veteran who personally experienced Hutchison International's period of severe losses, Richard Shin is very familiar with the development of Hutchison Whampoa in recent years. Precisely because of this, he is genuinely worried about the future direction of Hutchison Whampoa.

Moreover, once Hutchison Whampoa falls into a state of loss, then these old generals left over from the Wayne Lai era will inevitably become scapegoats, and thus be openly and legitimately kicked out by Li Ka-shing.

He certainly didn't want to leave Hutchison Whampoa, after all, it was a very good platform for career development.

If he really wanted to leave, he would have resigned long ago when his predecessor, Mr. Wellington, resigned.

Therefore, Richard Shin is unwilling to see Hutchison Whampoa fall into a loss-making state again, no matter what.

After listening to Richard's words, Li Jiacheng nodded slightly, deeply agreeing with them.

Indeed, Lin Haoran's business empire in Hong Kong continues to expand, and his influence grows ever stronger, which undoubtedly squeezes the living space of other companies step by step.

Even if Lin Haoran might not have intended to target him, he still needed to come up with a solution as soon as possible, not to mention that he now felt that Lin Haoran was deliberately targeting him.

The overlap between Hutchison Whampoa and the businesses under Lin Haoran is too great. Basically, there is no industry that Lin Haoran's companies are not involved in.

This has led to direct competition between the two companies in multiple areas.

Now that Lin Haoran's company has seen a surge in business, his competitors have naturally been affected to some extent.

Looking back to when he first acquired Hutchison Whampoa, he was full of vigor and ambition, determined to become the next richest Chinese person in Hong Kong.

At the time, he even felt that as long as Huifeng Bank fully supported him, he would have a chance to become the richest man in Asia.

This goal sounds ambitious, but it's not entirely impossible to achieve.

After all, in his mind, Huifeng Bank held an invincible position in Hong Kong.

Especially when he took over Hutchison Whampoa, some media reported: "At the foot of Victoria Peak, the city belongs to Li Ka-shing; the port belongs to Pao Yu-kong."

These words were deeply imprinted in his heart.

Although he claimed in media interviews that it was just media exaggeration, wasn't it also a dream he had always cherished deep in his heart?

This statement fully reveals his ambition.

However, the moment Lin Haoran defeated Huifeng Bank, his former ambitions vanished like bubbles.

To say that Li Jiacheng owns a city is already a load of nonsense.

In Hong Kong today, Lin Haoran is the true business tycoon, far ahead of other business conglomerates. Whether it is a British-owned conglomerate or a Chinese-owned conglomerate, none of them are his match.

It would be more accurate to say that it is the city of the Lin family.

A hint of resentment flashed in Li Jiacheng's eyes as he thought of this, but he quickly regained his composure.

Lin Haoran and Li Jiacheng knew in their hearts that they had always underestimated this young man.

Three years ago, Lin Haoran was just an unknown ordinary investor, a speculator in the stock market, and reportedly the owner of a small cement factory.

Although he knew Lin Wan'an, Lin Wan'an's Wan'an Real Estate Company was not very powerful, and at that time he really looked down on him.

Not to mention that Lin Haoran is only Lin Wan'an's youngest son.

If it weren't for Bao Yugang's mediation and persuasion to give up on Qingzhou Yingni, he would never have met Lin Haoran.

But who could have imagined that in just three short years, this young man would rise to prominence as rapidly as a comet streaking across the night sky?

He first used swift and decisive measures to drive Jardine Matheson out of Hong Kong, and then he utterly defeated the powerful Huifeng Bank.

Now, Lin Haoran has become someone he needs to look up to!
On the surface, he and Lin Haoran are both among Hong Kong's top tycoons.

But in reality, it's clear to anyone with eyes to see that even among the top billionaires, the differences between them are vast.

It could even be said that Lin Haoran has already established himself in his own right, significantly outpacing others.

Li Ka-shing stood up, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, and stared intently at the street scene of Victoria Harbour.

Central was as bustling and vibrant as ever, but he had no interest in appreciating it at the moment.

Looking down at the intersection below, where the crowds were growing larger and larger as they waited for the traffic lights, he vaguely felt that it was as if Lin Haoran's business empire was expanding with an unstoppable momentum.

These people seemed to be stumbling blocks for Lin Haoran, who kept kicking them away.

“Mr. Richard, you’re right.” Li Jiacheng turned around and looked at Richard, saying, “We can’t sit idly by any longer. Lin Haoran’s rise has indeed squeezed our living space, but in the business world, there are no permanent enemies, only permanent interests.”

Uniting with other forces to compete with Lin Haoran might be our best option right now. Furthermore, since the Hong Kong market is limited, we must explore new battlegrounds. Hutchison Whampoa, it's time to accelerate our expansion into overseas markets.

"Mr. Li, increasing investment in overseas markets is indeed a good idea, but we must be clear that our foundation is in Hong Kong and our core businesses are almost all concentrated there. If we want to expand our overseas presence, it will take a long time."

Look at Jardine Matheson; it took them decades to establish a foothold in overseas markets. And then there's Huifeng Bank, which also began its overseas expansion early on, but never managed to shake off its dependence on the Hong Kong market. And that's precisely why it was ultimately defeated by Mr. Lin Haoran!

At this point, Richard couldn't help but feel deeply sorry for Huifeng Bank.

It's important to understand that Richard, a British man, made Huifeng Bank a dominant force in Hong Kong's business world, a source of immense pride for the British.

It can be said that Huifeng has always been a representative of Hong Kong's financial sector and enjoys a certain degree of global recognition.

But who could have imagined that even with its glorious past, Huifeng Bank's business empire would collapse at its peak!

Alas, it's truly a pity!
Upon hearing this, Li Jiacheng did not say anything, but in his heart he agreed with Richard's statement.

His brows furrowed even more.

As Richard Shin said, it is by no means easy to expand overseas and reduce dependence on the Hong Kong market.

Taking Huafeng Bank as an example, since its inception, it has embarked on a path of overseas expansion with foresight, establishing branches in important cities such as London, Bangkok, Yokohama, Japan, and even San Francisco in North America. It has weathered more than a century of trials and tribulations.

From the late 1950s onwards, HSBC made frequent moves, successively acquiring the Bank of England in the Middle East and HSBC.

In the past two years, it has also acquired US-based HSBC Bank in quick succession, demonstrating the importance it attaches to its overseas expansion.

However, despite its painstaking efforts, Huifeng Bank still struggles to break free from its heavy reliance on the Hong Kong market, which accounts for over 90% of its profits.

In contrast, many of its overseas businesses have consistently been operating at a loss, forcing Hui Fung Bank to continuously withdraw funds from the Hong Kong market to cover the losses in overseas markets.

In this way, if the Hong Kong market encounters setbacks, this seemingly large and solid banking empire will collapse instantly, like a building crumbling.

In terms of the initial results of its overseas expansion, Huifeng Bank was actually inferior to Jardine Matheson.

After all, Jardine Matheson had long since achieved its goal of having more overseas assets than Hong Kong assets. Even though its Hong Kong business ultimately suffered a devastating blow from Lin Haoran, Jardine Matheson was still able to stand firm thanks to its overseas markets.

However, neither Jardine Matheson nor Huafeng Bank possessed the foresight and competitive advantage of Lin Haoran.

The reason why Lin Haoran's overseas expansion has been so successful is actually quite simple: he knows the general direction of the world in the future.

Just as he knew that Japan would experience an economic bubble in the 1980s, he also roughly knew which high-quality American stocks would see astonishing gains in the future...

This crucial information is not something that others could have predicted in advance.

Therefore, for a company whose core business is Hong Kong, reducing its dependence on the Hong Kong market is extremely difficult and requires a long period of planning.

But Lin Haoran is a unique exception!
After all, he's a time traveler.

Although he did not experience life in the 1970s and 80s in his previous life, the knowledge he gained through books, the internet, education, and other means was vast.

In that era of knowledge explosion, he already had a certain understanding of the trajectory of global economic development over the past few decades. If a time traveler didn't possess any extraordinary abilities, then this time travel would have been a complete waste.

"Yes, I understand that setting up overseas markets is by no means easy, so I strongly agree with your proposal to unite with other forces to jointly fight against Lin Haoran. Sitting idly by and waiting for death is not in my nature."

"What specific ideas do you have in mind regarding how to unite forces like CLP Power, Standard Chartered Bank, and Jardine Matheson to counter Lin Haoran? Please elaborate," Li Jiacheng continued.

"Mr. Li, CLP Power's main business is not in competition with Hongkong Land Group, and it is not even in direct competition with HK Electric Group. The two power companies are separated by Victoria Harbour, one in the south and one in the north, each responsible for the power supply of their own areas, and have always lived in peace and without interference from each other."

However, Mr. Li, you should also know that the Kadoorie family, which controls CLP Power, also owns another important business – the Hong Kong Shanghai Hotel Company.

The company owns the Xiangjiang Grand Hotel and the Xiangjiang Peninsula Hotel, both of which are among the oldest existing luxury hotels in Hong Kong. The Peninsula Hotel, in particular, has consistently held a benchmark position among the world's top hotels since its opening.

However, my investigation revealed that in the past month, both the Xiangjiang Grand Hotel and the Xiangjiang Peninsula Hotel have experienced a significant decline in visitor numbers.

The beneficiaries are the numerous Mandarin Oriental and Oriental hotels under the Mandarin Oriental Hotels Group, so Laurence Kadoorie must be quite troubled by this now.

If we propose cooperation to them to jointly devise a strategy to counter Lin Haoran, I believe they will respond positively, after all, the Kadoorie family has always attached great importance to the Hong Kong Shanghai Hotel Company.

After listening to Richard's analysis, Li Jiacheng's eyes flashed with a sharp light, and he said, "What you said makes sense. The Kadoorie family has a solid foundation in Hong Kong and has a close relationship with the Governor's Office."

If we can win their support, our chances of winning will be much greater.

"Let's talk about Standard Chartered Bank, Mr. Li. I don't need to say much about them, right? They are the biggest competitor of Lin Haoran's banks, and naturally they don't want their financial market share to be taken away by Hang Seng Group little by little."

Moreover, your two major companies are the most important clients of Huifeng Bank. Now that Huifeng Bank has been acquired by Standard Chartered Bank, you are also indirectly an important client of Standard Chartered Bank. They will never sit idly by and watch your Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa have their market share gradually eroded by Lin Haoran.

"They maintain a good relationship with Lin Haoran on the surface, but they're just waiting for the right moment to make their move," Richard said meaningfully.

Li Jiacheng nodded thoughtfully, tapping his fingers rhythmically on the table, and said in a deep voice, "Indeed, a fierce battle will break out between Standard Chartered Bank and Lin Haoran sooner or later."

He was also aware that the relationship between Standard Chartered Bank and Hang Seng Group, owned by Lin Haoran, was currently delicate. On the surface, things seemed calm, but underneath, there were already undercurrents and crises lurking everywhere.

Just a few days ago, the Governor's Office publicly announced its support for Lam Ho-yin to serve as the president of the Hong Kong Bankers Association in front of a large number of reporters.

Li Jiacheng learned from reliable inside information that after returning home, Brown was furious and threw a tantrum in his office, smashing many things to pieces.

"As for Jardine Matheson..." Richard's lips curled up slightly, revealing a meaningful smile, "Although they were forced to abandon their core industries in Hong Kong and completely withdraw from the Hong Kong market by Lin Haoran, as the saying goes, even a starved camel is bigger than a horse."

Jardine Matheson's global footprint remains considerable, and its strength should not be underestimated. Moreover, they harbor deep resentment towards Lin Haoran.

As far as I know, Lin Haoran's companies, such as Hongkong Land Group, Hong Kong Electric Group, and Wanqing Group, have also made significant investments in overseas markets, especially in Southeast Asia. Relying on the Guo family, the richest family in Southeast Asia, they have invested a huge amount of money and their development momentum is extremely rapid.

Jardine Matheson also held a significant market share in Southeast Asia and had its own allies there.

Although Lin Haoran's ally in Southeast Asia is the Guo family, the richest family in Southeast Asia, the Guo family is not invincible in Southeast Asia, and they also face competitors.

Therefore, we can fully leverage the power of Jardine Matheson to restrain the development of Lin Haoran's companies in Southeast Asia, thereby weakening their overall strength!

Li Jiacheng tapped his fingers rhythmically on the table, his eyes gradually sharpening like an eagle's: "So, you mean that by uniting the Kadoorie family, Standard Chartered Bank, and Jardine Matheson, we can jointly counter Lin Haoran?"

“That’s right, Mr. Li.” Richard nodded solemnly. “It’s much better than us fighting Lin Haoran alone. I believe Mr. Li knows that it would be very difficult for us to compete with Lin Haoran on our own.”

"If we could form such an alliance, at least in the Hong Kong market, we could create a system of checks and balances. Of course, if Mr. Li could bring in more allies, that would be even better."

“More allies…” Li Jiacheng murmured to himself, as if deep in thought.

If we were to say who would be the most suitable ally for him, it would undoubtedly be Bao Yugang.

Bao Yugang was incredibly powerful and was the richest Chinese man in Hong Kong in the previous generation, in no way inferior to him.

Moreover, the two have a long-standing and deep friendship, and have cooperated closely on many issues over the years.

Unfortunately, fate played a trick on them. Bao Yugang and Lin Haoran were also very close, and the two even joined hands to privatize Wharf Holdings.

This close relationship instantly shattered Li Jiacheng's original idea of ​​winning over Bao Yugang.

After all, it was simply impossible to get Bao Yugang to join him in dealing with Lin Haoran.

Besides Bao Yugang, who else could they unite with?
Hong Kong's business community is neither particularly large nor small.

However, apart from a few truly powerful companies, the others were either driven out of Hong Kong by Lin Haoran, defeated by Lin Haoran, or directly acquired by Lin Haoran.

Of the remaining companies, only Swire and Wheelock remain top-tier giants.

However, it will be quite difficult to win over Swire Group to his group of allies.

Although Swire Group is also a diversified behemoth with considerable strength in multiple fields, its core industries today are only two: real estate and aviation.
In the real estate sector, Hongkong Land's current reduction in investment poses no threat to Swire Properties.

As for the aviation industry, Cathay Pacific, owned by Swire Pacific, directly monopolizes the Hong Kong aviation market, and Lin Haoran's companies have not ventured into this field.

Therefore, there is no direct conflict of interest between Swire Group and Lin Haoran, and it is probably unrealistic to persuade them to join an alliance against Lin Haoran.

Mr. Schjörk of Swire Group is a very shrewd man, and they would not easily offend a rising business tycoon like Lin Haoran.

Swire Group's previous support for Huifeng Bank was out of necessity, as their cash flow was entirely through Huifeng Bank. If Huifeng Bank were to fall into a financial crisis, Swire Group would also be in trouble, so they had no choice but to step in.

But now that the cash flow crisis has been resolved, why would Swire Pacific do something so thankless?
This may also be why Richardson did not mention Swire Group.

As for Wheelock & Co., forget about it.

In an effort to reduce its dependence on the Hong Kong market, Tak Fung Holdings began to continuously use the profits it earned in Hong Kong to purchase large ships, euphemistically calling it the creation of "floating assets at sea".

Thinking of this, Li Jiacheng shook his head helplessly, a bitter smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

The Madden family of Wheelock & Co. has devoted themselves to the shipping industry in recent years, investing almost all of their wealth in building their fleet.

In his eyes, such an aggressive strategy was undoubtedly a desperate gamble.

"It seems that the only ones we can unite with now are the Kadoorie family, Standard Chartered Bank, and Jardine Matheson," Li Ka-shing said solemnly.

“Mr. Li, you might as well try contacting some Chinese-funded conglomerates. Maybe they can become our allies,” Richard suddenly leaned closer and said in a low voice.

“Chinese-funded conglomerates?” Li Jiacheng shook his head directly and decisively.

To be honest, most of these Chinese-owned giants today have real estate as their core business.

Examples include the Kwok brothers of Sun Hung Kai Properties, Lee Shau-kee of Henderson Land Development, the Cheng Yu-tung family which operates in both the jewelry and real estate industries, and the Fok family, among others.

As for Chen Songqing of the Jianing Group?

Li Jiacheng knew perfectly well from beginning to end that this guy was a complete fraud, relying entirely on false financial statements and Ponzi schemes to stir up trouble and create chaos in the stock market.

Therefore, he has never been willing to touch the Jialing Group over the years.

In other words, these Chinese-owned giants are primarily engaged in real estate business.

Since the end of last year, Lin Haoran's businesses have been reducing their investments in the real estate sector, posing virtually no competition to other real estate companies in Hong Kong.

Asking them to inexplicably confront Lin Haoran is utterly absurd; don't even think about it.

The Ho family is another force to be reckoned with.

But nowadays, the Ho family is focused entirely on their casino business in Macau and completely ignores their affairs in Hong Kong.

The people mentioned above encompass almost all the major players in Hong Kong's Chinese-owned businesses.

Li Jiacheng thought long and hard, but he couldn't find anyone he could persuade to join hands with him to fight against Lin Haoran.

Thinking of this, Li Jiacheng couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Perhaps, if he wants to compete with Lin Haoran, he is destined to have no choice but to partner with British companies.

At this moment, Li Jiacheng realized with shock that his influence in Hong Kong's Chinese-owned conglomerates was so weak, and that finding a suitable ally was so difficult!
　I recommend a Hong Kong novel; you might find it helpful if you're looking for something to read.

(End of this chapter)