"Don't mention it, Dragonair has not yet opened, and it has already been suppressed by the British. Fortunately, I am only one of the many shareholders, and when the sky falls, there is a tall man on top of it, so I will not work as hard as Cao Guangbiao. Boss Huo shook his head and smiled bitterly, and said with emotion: "It's a shame to say that we old men have been fighting with the British for decades, and we have struggled in their cracks until now; On the other hand, you have eaten Jardine Matheson, the largest British-funded foreign company, without any delay, and digested it in an orderly manner, which is really incomparable. ”

Tang Huan waved his hand, "Actually, it's not a big deal, it's nothing more than a diamond when it's hard, and it's comparable to a spring breeze when it's soft." ”

"You're modest, but how do you implement this strategy?" Boss Huo asked with interest: "For example, how to solve the current situation of Dragonair?" ”

It can be said that Dragonair has been stumbled by the current Hong Kong government, which is a representative embodiment of the competition between Chinese and British capital under the new situation.

In business, Dragonair's founding was driven by Article 9 of the Annex to the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which stipulates that "the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will maintain Hong Kong's status as an international and regional aviation centre." Airlines registered in Hong Kong and with Hong Kong as their principal place of business may continue to operate in civil aviation-related industries. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) will continue to follow the private aviation management system previously implemented in Hong Kong. ”

According to this provision, once the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is established, the localization of airlines will be extremely important.

In other words, Cathay Pacific, which currently monopolizes the aviation industry in Hong Kong, may lose its long-term hegemony in the future, and as long as there is a competitor belonging to Hong Kong who dares to jump out and launch a challenge, there is a great chance that it will take its place.

You must know that Cathay Pacific is not yet a listed public company, and there are only two major shareholders, one is the Swire Group, one of the four old British foreign banks, which accounts for 70 percent of the shares, and the other is HSBC, which accounts for 30 percent of the shares.

With its monopoly on Hong Kong's airline industry, Cathay Pacific has generated considerable profits for Swire and HSBC.

In 1984, last year, Cathay Pacific carried 3.6 million passengers, 458 million ton-kilometres of cargo, and generated HK$6.82 billion.

Otherwise, how to say that the colony of Xiangjiang is a money bag that the British want, and it has earned hundreds of years of income, but now it plans to slip away, and it is very badly beaten!

What is particularly ironic is that Cathay Pacific, which is not publicly listed, can neither represent Hong Kong nor pay a special monopoly tax to the Hong Kong government, but enjoys the full support of the Hong Kong government and has become the de facto representative airline of Hong Kong at this stage.

And this care has recently been reflected in the fact that as soon as a potential competitor of Dragonair emerged, it was suppressed by the Hong Kong government.

First of all, the founding of Dragonair and its investment background, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong and Macau International Investment Co., Ltd., have Cathay Pacific and the Hong Kong government on their backs.

This parent company was established in March 1985, and its shareholders include 31 well-known businessmen from Hong Kong and Macao, including Cao Guangbiao, Bao Yugang, Li Ka-shing, Fok Ying-dong, An Zijie, Feng Bingfen, and Ma Wanqi, as well as Chinese-funded institutions such as Bank of China, Huarun Company, and China Merchants Bureau.

Among them, Bank of China holds 22 percent of the equity, and Huarun and China Merchants hold 30 percent of the equity. Obviously, it has a strong Chinese color.

Soon after the establishment of Hong Kong and Macau International Investment Co., Ltd., in late May 1985, it founded Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Co., Ltd., with a registered capital of 100 million Hong Kong dollars, and quickly formed a team of crew members, leased a Boeing 737, applied for a business certificate from the Hong Kong Air Transport Licensing Authority under the Hong Kong government, and launched regular charter flights to eight mainland cities, including Hong Kong-Beijing and Hong Kong-Shanghai. At the same time, consultations were initiated with the Civil Aviation Administration of China on charter services.

This directly moved Cathay Pacific's cheese, because after China began to implement the policy of reform and opening up, air transportation between Hong Kong and the mainland became more and more frequent. In particular, the two major routes of Hong Kong-Beijing and Hong Kong-Shanghai are quite tight in terms of transportation resources, and the price of air tickets is extremely high.

As a result, Cathay Pacific, or more precisely, the Swire Group behind it, let the Hong Kong government make a stumbling block, and at the same time went into battle himself, rolled up his sleeves and quarreled with Dragonair with a blushing neck.

On July 9, more than a month after the establishment of Dragonair, the Civil Aviation Department of the Hong Kong Government suddenly issued a new regulation, stipulating that "all airlines based in Hong Kong must obtain permission from the Civil Aviation Department before discussing air transport services with foreign civil aviation agencies", which came into effect on July 26. Prior to this, representatives of Dragonair had already agreed to charter flights with Chinese civil aviation companies.

On the day the new regulations came into effect, the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department (CAD) issued a strongly worded letter to Dragonair, warning it that it must comply with the new regulations and not engage with China's civil aviation without authorization, otherwise it would not be able to obtain approval from the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department to operate charter flights.

In addition, the letter also requested Dragonair to give up its charter flights from Heung Kong to Beijing and Shanghai in exchange for the support of the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department for Dragonair to operate other charter services in Chinese mainland.

On August 17, the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department officially rejected Dragonair's application to operate the Hong Kong-Beijing and Hong Kong-Shanghai routes, on the grounds that "Cathay Pacific already has a license to operate the designated routes".

Of course, Dragonair could not accept such a seemingly impartial decision, but in fact it was not negotiable, so it issued a statement at a subsequent press conference, accusing the Hong Kong government of clearly favoring Cathay Pacific and sent a letter to the governor to protest.

At the same time, Cathay Pacific also issued a statement refuting Dragonair's accusations and demonstratingly presenting itself as the airline designated by the Hong Kong government.

Subsequently, the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department (CAD) made another move to revoke its application for eight regular regular flights between Hong Kong and the mainland in July, citing the issue of Dragonair's aircraft.

In response, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has also notified Cathay Pacific to cancel its application for two new Hong Kong-Beijing flights.

At this moment, Cathay Pacific immediately wilted, and since then has not jumped out to publicly make any comments related to this.

Obviously, everyone has reached the point where they are fighting, the anger is getting bigger and bigger, and the political meaning of the whole incident has begun to deepen.

However, Hong Kong is still the British who say that Dragonair cannot twist its arms and thighs, and must meet the requirements of the other party, that is, "provide proof that the majority of the shares are owned and controlled by British persons in order to qualify as a designated airline representing the British side under the China-British Airways Agreement." ”

To this end, Dragonair had to carry out its first large-scale recapitalization since its establishment: the company's capital was increased from HK$100 million to HK$200 million, which was injected by Pao Yugang, who has obtained British citizenship, and Cao Qiyong, the son of Cao Guangbiao, who acquired 30.2% of the shares of Dragonair, became the largest shareholder and became the chairman of the company; Cao Qiyong holds a 24.7% stake in Dragonair, becoming the second largest shareholder; The equity held by the original parent company, Hong Kong and Macau International Investment Co., Ltd., was reduced to 24.99%, and the remaining 20.11% was held by other minority shareholders.

To further enhance its strength and prestige, Dragonair has even invited Chung Sze-yuen, the current Chief Non-official Member of the Executive Council, to join the board.

As a result of this shareholding restructuring, Dragonair has transformed into a "Hong Kong-based" airline owned and controlled by a majority of British nationals, and has finally obtained the same qualification as Cathay Pacific Airways to operate scheduled flights.

However, the development of Dragonair has not been smooth, and the constraints of the Hong Kong government are still waiting for it.

In November 1985, just last month, Lai Chi Pang, former chairman of the board of directors of Cathay Pacific's parent company, Swire Group, and now the financial secretary of the Hong Kong government, announced a new aviation policy that "a route can only be operated by one airline, and the airline that is licensed to operate first can be granted exclusive operating qualifications".

This special care is simply a red fruit, and it is not disguised at all, because high-profit, high-volume routes, such as Hong Kong-Beijing, Hong Kong-Shanghai, Hong Kong-London, etc., have been operated by Cathay Pacific, which has a first-mover advantage; The remaining routes are basically low-profit, low-flying, and the wide-sports airliners owned by Cathay Pacific are not operating efficiently and coldly.

This month, the last month of 1985, the Hong Kong Air Transport Licensing Authority (HKAA) began public hearings on Dragonair's application for flights between Hong Kong and Xi'an, Xiamen, Hangzhou, Haikou, Zhanjiang, Nanjing, Guilin and Guangzhou.

It is entirely to be expected that the Hong Kong Government will certainly pretend to approve these unpopular domestic routes, and as for the international routes such as Hong Kong and London, some will be noisy, and it is very likely that they will continue to be stuck.

In fact, Dragonair's major shareholders, Pao Yugang and Cao Guangbiao, have repeatedly publicly criticized the Hong Kong government's unjust behavior of sparing no effort to protect Cathay Pacific's interests. However, if you make trouble, the Hong Kong government will still stubbornly maintain the existing aviation policy.

In short, Dragonair's predicament is unlikely to be improved by bickering. After all, there are too many interests involved, and Swire Group has too many reasons to work hard for it.

The reason why Tang Huan is so clear about the open and secret struggle in the civil aviation industry in Xiangjiang at this stage is also because the interests in it are too great, and he can't help but be unmoved.

The privatization process of monopoly enterprises on the British side is in full swing, and it is time for the profiteering industry in Xiangjiang, which is dominated by traditional British capital, to loosen its fingers.

In Tang Huan's view, Dragonair, a challenger who is not afraid of tigers, jumped out at a very commendable time, and it just played a very effective role in disrupting the situation, so that Cathay Pacific, which felt huge pressure, had to take the initiative to make changes, such as the possibility of abandoning the pattern jointly held by Swire Group and HSBC in the near future, and listing as a public company, so as to have the minimum qualifications to represent Hong Kong, so as not to be really stuck by this problem when the time comes, it is too late to temporarily cram.

The so-called public company, that is, the number of shareholders and the number of shares in circulation have a clear lower limit, so that it can be called "public" and representative.

In other words, Swire and HSBC cannot continue to sing the duo, and must leave room for others to participate.

As for whether Dragonair can develop and grow after it has fulfilled its historical mission as a spoiler, there is no need for Tang Huan to worry about it, as long as it can now charge forward bravely and create pressure on Cathay Pacific Airlines.

After taking the lead from Boss Huo to find out the determination and courage of the shareholders of Dragonair to continue fighting, Tang Huan answered the other party's question with a deep groan, "I don't have any way to break the situation, but I think that Dragonair can't blindly waste its energy on fighting with the Hong Kong government and Cathay Pacific, after all, the other party's intention to maintain popular routes is very obvious." Rather than such a stalemate, Dragonair should think carefully about how to strive for and develop niche routes in Southeast Asia, such as Hong Kong to Thailand, that Cathay Pacific has no time to take care of, so as to generate profits as soon as possible. Even if it is a small one, the key is the meaning and prospect of its representation. ”

"I'm afraid it's hard to take everyone's eyes off the popular routes. After all, Dragonair's background is not bad, and there is no need to work hard from scratch. Boss Huo shook his head.

"Perhaps, from Xiangjiang to Funan, because of the demand for business exchanges, a relatively popular route can be stimulated." Tang Huan explained with some uncertainty: "The business community on the other side of the treasure island has recently implemented a series of projects in Funan, and then personnel exchanges will be intensive. ”

"I found that you know a lot about the civil aviation industry in Xiangjiang, and it seems that you have done some research in advance, so what do you think?" Boss Huo, who came back to his senses, smiled and said tentatively.

"Knowing more information is nothing more than to be able to capture more business opportunities." Tang Huan snorted noncommittally haha.

"Do you think it's a good business opportunity to buy OOCL at this time?" Boss Huo pulled the topic back, he estimated that by taking advantage of this interruption, Tang Huan would form some preliminary ideas in his heart, even if he did not have a final decision.

"It's really hard to say, the gap of more than 20 billion Hong Kong dollars is too glaring." Tang Huan's attitude has obviously become conservative.

"Don't explain to me that you can't afford to have money." Boss Huo quipped: "Just to give comfort to some Hong Kong people who are in a nuclear panic, you have spent 100 million US dollars to buy nuclear protection materials, which shows your strong financial resources." ”

"Okay, then I'll give a bottom." Tang Huan nodded, "I still need to think about this matter, it's not that I don't trust the credibility of the documents brought by Huo Lao, but I also need to refer to intelligence from other angles." ”

"If you think about it seriously, I should be happy." Boss Huo waved his hand understandingly, "Next year, I plan to inject at least $100 million into OOCL, you might as well refer to it." ”

"I'm afraid that even if OOCL is able to tide over the difficulties after this round of bailouts, I am afraid that the controlling position of the Dong family will also be lost, will they accept it?" Tang Huan couldn't help but be a little puzzled. (To be continued.) )