Reborn in Hong Kong: The Tycoon Grows Up

Originally this was a very happy thing. Bao Yugang, Dong Haoyun and Huo Yingdong were all excited to hear that the deal was concluded. Bao Zixuan only used a pile of soil to replace so much industrial equipment. It seems that the value of this soil is really incredible. The Germans are not fools. They must have decided to exchange after seeing the important value. This makes the three of them very optimistic about the future of Bao Huodong Company, and the future must be bright.

Bao Yugang came to the UK after successfully concluding the loan talks with Shen Bi. This time he wanted to inspect his companies in the UK and order several cargo ships. Trading with the Germans requires a lot of shipping capacity, and even if the two major shipping kings join forces, they may not be able to adjust it. I was always in a good mood while in the UK, but the good mood didn't last long. Something happened over there in Xiangjiang. It could be said that there was a fire in the backyard.

The story takes place in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The protagonists are all famous tycoons at that time. The male lead, Bao Yugang, is the world's shipping king. He is one of the most outstanding tycoons in Hong Kong. In 1978, he ranked first among the top ten shipping kings in the world. He was the first Chinese director to join the British-owned HSBC Bank and was knighted by the Queen of England in 1976. The second male number, Jardine Matheson \u0026 Co. (and its subsidiary Land Company), is one of the four major foreign companies in Hong Kong. The third male number is Li Chaoren.

1: Story background

Before the big drama, let’s explain the background.

Let’s talk about Lord Bao first; he was born in a merchant family in 1918. His father, Bao Zhaolong, has been doing business in Hankou all year round. Sir Alex Ferguson was studying in Shanghai at the age of 13 and entered Wusong Merchant Marine College to study shipbuilding, which was a popular major at the time. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, he moved to Chongqing and worked as a clerk in a bank. I returned to Shanghai in 1938 and worked in the insurance department of the Central Trust Bureau. I worked from an ordinary clerk to the vice president of a bank in Shanghai, with a bright future. In 1949, the sun and the moon changed. Sir Alex and his father took hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings and went to Hong Kong to start a new career in the world.

The Duke, who had just arrived in Xiangjiang, started a small business and saved some money. The Duke is from Ninghai. He grew up by the sea. He has a deep love for the sea and proposed to engage in shipping. Although his parents objected, Sir Alex was determined and did not have enough funds to help his friends. He spent 700,000 US dollars and went to the UK to buy an old cargo ship. He brought it back and renovated it, named it "Jin'an", and started shipping! Global Shipping Group was established in 1955.

At that time, the shipping industry generally adopted the short-term rental method. One voyage was settled once, the charges were high, and the price could be raised at any time (sea shipping was very popular at the time). Sir Alex has a unique vision and adopts long-term leasing method, leasing the ship to others in installments of 3, 5 or even 10 years, and collecting rent on a monthly basis. Although this method has low rent, it has low risk and stable cash flow. Relying on his stable business model, Sir Alex has become increasingly prosperous, with abundant financial resources and impressive reputation. He has become the leader of Chinese businessmen and the number one shipping company in the world.

But the flowers are not as red as a thousand suns. In the 1970s, due to the Fourth Middle East War and the civil strife in Iran, two oil crises occurred. Western gentlemen began to drill oil fields in their own country. The North Sea oil fields in Europe and the Texas oil fields in the Americas began to produce oil. Japan began to stockpile oil in the early 1970s. At the end of the 1970s, The oil imports were full, and oil imports began to be drastically reduced. The shipping industry suffered a huge impact. Sir Alex's business had been ups and downs for decades. He was an old driver. When he saw something was wrong, he immediately began to withdraw. In the late 1970s, at the beginning of the depression in the shipping industry, Sir Alex He resolutely sold the oil tanker in his hands at a significantly lower price and rushed to the beach before the huge waves of the ship disaster struck, preparing to land.

Let’s talk about Wharf. The history of Wharf can be traced back to 1871, when the British businessman Paul Standard Chartered founded the Hong Kong Dock and Warehouse Company in Hong Kong. Due to land restrictions in Wan Chai, it moved to the west side of Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon in 1875 and was later renamed the Hong Kong Kowloon Dock and Warehouse Co., Ltd. Referred to as Wharf. In addition to the founder, major shareholders include Jardine Matheson and other major foreign companies. After Standard Chartered failed, Wharf fell into the hands of the Keswick family of Jardine Matheson.

The first person to come out with a horse and a sword was Li Chaoren.

It is said that Li Chaoren coveted Wharf, so he first sent people to spy on the enemy. The spies reported that the Jardine Group held less than 20% of Wharf's shares in total. As long as they secretly acquired 20% of Wharf's shares, they could compete with Jardine. Start fighting. At that time, Wharf issued less than 100 million shares, and its market value per share hovered between HK$13 and HK$14 all year round, making it a penny stock on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. By the beginning of 1978, the market value did not exceed HK$1.4 billion. Considering the large tracts of land and scattered properties at Wharf Wharf, the value could have increased at least several times, which was obviously underestimated. So Li Chaoman set up a lot of black market, quietly absorbed them, quietly entered the village, and shot them all.

But for this kind of penny stock, Li Chaoren's buying was still very obvious. Wharf's trading volume began to rise sharply, and professional speculators with keen sense of smell began to move out. For a while, there was a loud killing. By March 1978, Wharf's stock price jumped to a record high of 46 yuan per share. At this time, Li Chaoren's position was less than 20 million shares. He felt that the stock price was too high, so he paused for a while, and then increased his holdings in Wharf to 20% at a slightly lower price.

At this time, all fools know that someone is going to set up Wharf, let alone an experienced driver like Yihe. If Li Chaoren wants to win the Wharf, he can only force his bow. However, although Superman was a local tycoon at that time, he was not particularly rich. He did not have enough ammunition, and his opponent was not a good opponent. He was an old foreign company after all. If the opponent organized a counterattack with firepower, Li Chaoren would have lost all his efforts. Therefore, it is still very difficult for Li Chaoren to take over the Wharf.

Looking at Yihe, if someone tries to trick you, can you just stare? cut! The Jardine Matheson Group began to copycats and went to the market to acquire shares held by retail investors at high prices to enhance its control over Wharf. Batt! Jardine Matheson also had insufficient cash reserves and was unable to increase its holdings of Wharf shares to an absolutely safe level. In desperation, it went to Hong Kong's largest consortium, the British-owned HSBC Bank, to move troops. It is said that Shen Bi, the head of HSBC, personally intervened and persuaded Li Chaoru to give up the acquisition of Wharf.

Li Chaoren is a shrewd man and believes that it is not appropriate to make enemies with Jardine and HSBC at the same time. The future development of Yangtze River Industrial will also rely on the support of HSBC. If it loses HSBC's face and supports Jardine Matheson with its loans, there will be no chance of eating up Wharf. After weighing the importance, Li Chaoren finally agreed to Shen Bi to stop acquiring Wharf shares. At this time, Li Chaoren had acquired nearly 20 million shares. Is he the largest shareholder of Wharf? Li Chaoren was confused because Jardine Matheson never disclosed the number of shares it increased.

After Li Chaoren's last failed attack on Wharf, he sold all his shares to Bao Yugang, which temporarily calmed Jardine Matheson's concerns. However, the Keswick family is even more worried. After all, Bao Yugang's strength now far exceeds that of Li Chaoren. They drove away the tigers, so to speak, and attracted the lions. But until there is no better way, I can only endure it.

Don't look at the fact that Bao Yugang just came forward to borrow so much money from HSBC. No matter how good the relationship between Shen Bi and him is, it is impossible to favor him without a bottom line. No matter how big a person's ability is, the credit line is limited.

In fact, according to the original script, the battle for the "Wharf" in Hong Kong was the acquisition of the Wharf by Sir Yukang Bao. It started on June 19, 1980 and ended on June 25 of that year. Wharf belongs to the British-owned Jardine Matheson Group. In Hong Kong in the 1970s, Chinese-owned financial resources were weak. Jardine Matheson controlled the company by holding only 5% of Wharf shares. As land prices in Hong Kong rise, the strength of Chinese-owned real estate has increased rapidly. In September 1978, the Chinese-owned Bao Yugang family already owned 20% of Wharf shares, and he entered the Wharf board of directors as a major shareholder. British capital was unwilling to accept that its position was threatened. In December 1978, Jardine Matheson Land Company's shareholding in Wharf increased to 20%, a number close to that of Pao Yugang. This equity control war went on openly and covertly for nearly two years, and finally broke out in a thrilling battle for equity in 1980.

On June 19, 1980, Land Corporation announced that it would purchase additional shares of Wharf, on the condition that Land shares and a bond were exchanged for Wharf shares, that is, a price of about 100 yuan was exchanged for a share of Wharf stock with a market price of 77 yuan. The Bao Yugang family immediately struck back. On June 22, Bao Yugang announced that he would purchase 20 million Wharf shares in the market at a price of 105 yuan per share in cash. In this way, the Bao family’s shareholding in Wharf will increase to 49%, and the entire operation will cost up to HK$2.2 billion. In just a few hours the next day, Bao Yugang completed the acquisition of 20 million shares of Wharf. Land took the opportunity to sell 10 million Wharf shares to Pao Yukang, worth HK$1.0005 billion. At this point, the Chinese-owned Bao Yugang family has obtained a controlling stake in Wharf.

But now Bao Yugang has already looked for Shen Bi once for Bao Huodong Mining Company. If he is looking for him, no matter how generous he is, it may not work. So after receiving the news, Bao Yugang didn't know what to do for a while.