"Since the opening of Hong Kong, a lot of capital has been born, the most dazzling of which is Hutchison, Jardine Matheson, Wheelock and Swire Pacific, the four major foreign firms, they almost monopolized two-thirds of Hong Kong's commercial market in the 20-50s, from real estate, finance, docks, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure and other industries almost have their shadow.

However, since the 60s, the influence of the four major foreign banks has gradually declined, and the Chinese capital tycoons have risen in adversity, among which many Chinese businessmen such as Bao Daheng, Huo Daheng, and Sir Zhou have been born.

Despite this, the four major foreign companies have always been the largest behemoth hanging over Hong Kong, but in the 70s, especially after the outbreak of the stock market crash in 73, the four major foreign companies were more or less implicated, and Hutchison was the most seriously implicated.

According to this newspaper, since 1971, Hutchison & Co. has invested in many industries, most of which have suffered serious losses, among which it spent a huge amount of money to auction off an official land located in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon before the outbreak of the stock market crash in 73 years, and the original auction price of this land was 350 million yuan, but now affected by the stock market crash, Hong Kong's land price and housing prices have been greatly reduced, and it is conservatively estimated that Hutchison & Co. has lost more than 100 million yuan in this investment.

It was precisely because of this failed investment that Hutchison had a shortage of capital and had to start selling assets to repay its debts, and its subsidiaries continued to lose money due to the impact of the stock market crash......

In the middle of last month, Huanyu Company, which is owned by Fok Yiuwen, acquired the shares of Hutchison & Co. and became a shareholder of Hutchison & Co., the first Chinese director and the first Chinese chairman of the board of directors.

It is not difficult to see that the era of the four major foreign banks is quietly leaving, while Chinese capital is rising step by step.

I don't know if Huo Yaowen's successful investment in Hutchison & Co. this time will lead to more Chinese businessmen in the future, looking at those once unattainable British-funded foreign firms, and successfully buying shares or acquiring them.

But I know that if we say when the era of the four major foreign banks ended, then the first stop must start with Huo Yaowen's shareholding in Hutchison Foreign Bank!"

——Sing Tao Daily

......

With the first newspaper "Sing Tao Daily" reported that Fok Yiuwen Huo Yaowen became the chairman of the board of directors of Hutchison & Co., and it was the time when Hutchison & Co. and Whampoa Dockyard were merged to become Hutchison Whampoa.

As soon as this news came out, it immediately caused a sensation in the entire Xiangjiang!!

The sensation caused was not only in the business world, but also among ordinary citizens.

The four major foreign companies have been inherited in Hong Kong for more than 100 years, and the elderly know that almost all businesses in that era were controlled by the British, from real estate technology to clothes and matches.

Even if a large amount of mainland capital poured into the country after the war, it could not resist the four major foreign companies, and on the contrary, many companies founded by Chinese businessmen were swallowed up. Especially in the mid-to-late 40s, almost all of the factories opened by a large number of Chinese businessmen were OEM for the four major foreign banks.

The situation did not improve until the early 50s, and it was at that time that a large number of Chinese business tycoons rose, but they were still condescending.

These are the four major foreign companies in the eyes of the older generation, and among the new generation of young people, they only know that when Jardine Matheson bought the dairy company a few years ago, even an old Chinese tycoon like Sir Zhou could not resist, let alone the rest of the Chinese businessmen.

This made ordinary citizens see the strength of British-funded foreign banks.

But suddenly, all the newspapers in Hong Kong reported that Fok Yiu-man had become a shareholder of Hutchison & Co. and became the chairman of the board of directors of Hutchison & Co., one of the four major foreign companies, which surprised everyone at once.

It's just that this surprise was not because Huo Yaowen became a shareholder of a foreign bank at first.

In the eyes of most citizens, Huo Yaowen is just a very talented writer and writer, even if he has a very big reputation in the world, he suddenly invested nearly 200 million Hong Kong dollars in Hutchison & Co. and became the largest shareholder.

From writer to tycoon?

This sudden change is what surprises everyone.

But with the articles of major newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong, they told about the experience of Jardine Matheson, Hutchison, Swire and Wheelock in Xiangjiang for a hundred years, and the experience of the four major foreign companies that had to be windy and rainy, only then did the citizens who completely eat melons understand: Oh, it turns out that Huo Yaowen is so powerful when he becomes a shareholder of Hutchison Foreign Company!

"Ta Kung Pao" even typed in the newspaper: "The era when the four major foreign banks dominate Hong Kong may decline in the hands of Fok Yaowen!!"

......

After more than half a month of newspaper bombardment, almost the whole of Hong Kong knew the news that Fok Yaowen's Huanyu Company had taken a stake in Hutchison & Co.

It's just that the outside world has not known how many shares Huo Yaowen holds in Hutchison & Co., but from the fact that Huo Yaowen was elected chairman of the board of directors, some people speculate that at least 10% or more, otherwise it would be impossible for him to be elected as the chairman of the board of directors as soon as he came.

Huo Yaowen naturally knows some of the many controversies in the outside world, but he doesn't have the energy to deal with these things now, and the acquisition of Hutchison & Co. was an idea that he had already had last year, and he had also made a lot of preparations during this period, and he also thought about the follow-up of failing to acquire shares as he wished.

But when I really invested in Hutchison & Co., I realized how difficult it is for Hutchison & Co. to do so!

Since the official signing of the shareholding in August, it has been almost November now, and in the past three months, Huo Yaowen has been almost busy with his head and feet, and he has been implementing reform plans in the company.

In order to better control the company and facilitate him to continue to increase his share value in the future, in addition to merging and splitting some companies with serious losses, it is more about personnel changes.

In this way, he was busy until the end of December, and immediately entered 1976, when Huo Yaowen finally merged Whampoa Dock and some serious loss-making companies into the renamed Hutchison Whampoa.

Because of the elimination or sale of a lot of bloated non-performing assets, although the new Hutchison Whampoa looks much worse than before, the industrial company has become fewer, and the assets seem to be a little less, but relatively speaking, it can be regarded as a light battle, starting again with a new company name.

......

Because the New Year is approaching, Huo Yaowen has to continue to deal with Hutchison Whampoa's official affairs, Yaowen Book Publishing Company, Huanyu Film, Huanyu Newspaper, Phoenix TV, etc., all have various things that need to be signed with him or dealt with.

This also made Huo Yaowen, who was already tired, even busier again.

"Why don't you have a good rest for a few days? Anna stood behind Huo Yaowen, pinching his shoulders while looking at the mountains of documents on the table, and couldn't help but say a word.

In the past few months, she could see Huo Yaowen returning home tired every day, taking a shower after eating, falling asleep, not only concerned but also a little worried.

"It's good to be busy for this time. ”

Huo Yaowen put down the documents in his hand, raised his head and sat up straight, closed his eyes, enjoyed Anna's massage, and said, "I'm going to merge several of my companies, so you don't have to report everything to me when the time comes." ”

"Merge?" Anna frowned.

Huo Yaowen opened his eyes, nodded and said, "Well, set up a group." ”

In recent days, he has been pondering whether to merge the publishing company, the film company, the Universal Newspaper and other companies.

The merger of the company into a group undoubtedly facilitates management, and at the same time, it can also reduce the pressure on Huo Yaowen in the recent period.

It's just that after some considerations, he has not made up his mind for a long time.

After much thought, Huo Yaowen finally decided to merge these companies together to form Huanyu Group.

...