On Monday, Lin Zuhui came to Canary Wharf.

"Mr. Lin, welcome to Canary Wharf!" Richman, the president of the Canary Wharf Group, received him warmly.

Lin Zuhui said with a smile: "Haha, Mr. Richman, every time I come to London, I will have an office here. For the development of Canary Wharf, I have always watched it, and I am very satisfied with your leadership for so many years. I believe that Canary Wharf, under your management, will become the 'Wall Street' of Europe." ”

Richman is a project planner, and if he hadn't expanded wildly, he would have been a giant in the real estate industry.

And the Canary Wharf project, under his development over the years, has achieved great success:

In 1995, London's new financial and business district was established.

In 1996, Citibank signed a pre-lease agreement for 56,000 square meters of office space (Canary Wharf currently has a total of 1.1 million square meters of office space, and some of the land is still undeveloped).

In 1997, the Anglo-French summit was held at Canary Wharf.

This year, HSBC signed an agreement for a 110,000-square-meter headquarters office building.

Meanwhile, the Canary Wharf project already has 80 shops and restaurants, and 20,000 people are working again.

At this time, Canary Wharf has the 'DLR Wharf Light Rail Line' and the 'Airport Line', and by next year (1999), there will be three railway lines: the Jubilee Metro Line (Canary Wharf Station), the DLR Extension Line, and the Jubilee Line Extension.

The leasing rate of the entire Canary Wharf has been 60% (including pre-lease), and it is believed that once the subway opens, the leasing rate will soon reach more than 90%.

Because of this, the acquisition of the other 50% of the shares by New Era Group will cost nearly 13 billion Hong Kong dollars (about 1.3 billion pounds); The other 50% of the equity is mainly held by Citigroup, HSBC, Richman and others.

Citigroup and HSBC are also big tenants of Canary Wharf, of course, their rents are very low, and the lease period is as high as 10 years; Because of the introduction of such a financial giant, Canary Wharf's 'European Wall Street' is worthy of its name.

Lin Zuhui's Bank of Bahrain also moved its headquarters here, leasing a 30,000-square-meter building. The Bank of Bahrain doesn't need so much office space, but Lin Zuhui's other companies have settled in this building, and there is no waste at all.

The crowd was inspecting and talking at Canary Wharf.

Looking at Canary Wharf, which is already on the right track, Lin Zuhui is more determined to acquire the idea of wholly-owned acquisition, of course, Canary Wharf will still be listed, otherwise how to expand in the future.

You know, Canary Wharf can also build 500,000 square meters of commercial area; At the same time, due to the commercial status of this area, there is also a large amount of land around it, which is dozens of times larger than the canary CBD, which can be used to develop residential apartments, commercial buildings, etc.

In fact, it is equivalent to creating a 'new city' in this area, and now that the business is close to success, Lin Zuhui will naturally participate in the later projects.

"Mr. Richman, assuming that after the New Era Group and the various consortia reach an equity purchase agreement, I want you to continue to lead the project, and as a bonus, when the Canary Group goes public, you will receive a 2% stake."

The Canary is now worth £2.6 billion, and a 2% stake is at least £50 million, which is obviously a very big bonus. This is also Lin Zuhui's consistent style, that is, to use 'local talents' so as not to cause unadaptability. Canary Wharf will have important developments such as investment promotion and the second phase of the project, and it is very important to retain Richman.

"Thank you Mr. Lin for your trust, I am willing to continue to manage this project!" Richman said without hesitation.

If it weren't for Lin Zuhui's help, he would not have obtained 10% of the equity of the Canary Wharf project, and he also hoped to complete the entire Canary Wharf project, so he could be regarded as a complete explanation to himself.

Lin Zuhui nodded and said, "Okay, after we sign the agreement with the various consortia, we will sign the specific agreement with you." By the way, I plan to start the second phase of the project after the acquisition, especially the remaining two high-rise buildings, which need to be built one after another. ”

There are a total of three skyscrapers in Canary Wharf, and only one has been completed. The entire Canary Wharf is planned: 6 buildings of more than 90,000 square meters, 12 buildings of 3~60,000 square meters, and 10 buildings of less than 30,000 square meters.

A total of about 1.6 million square meters of property, which is about 30% larger than the 12 million square feet of property in Manhattan that Lin Zuhui won that year.

Richman was stunned for a moment, and immediately said: "Do you have to wait any longer, the current occupancy rate is only 60%, although many financial giants are interested in leasing, but it is estimated that it is also after the millennium, and everyone is waiting for the subway line to open." ”

Lin Zuhui said: "If we buy your equity with 1.3 billion pounds, then the entire Canary Wharf Group is equivalent to no debt, and it can borrow to complete the rest of the project." At the same time, we are all very confident in this project, since this is the case, it is natural to complete it ahead of schedule, which is more conducive to leasing. Moreover, once listed, the group will have a large amount of capital available for the trend, and at that time, it can acquire land in the surrounding area and enter the development of real estate. ”

Richman listened very carefully and admired Lin Zuhui, to put it bluntly, Lin Zuhui used the Canary Wharf Group to carry out real estate activities in London and build a British real estate giant.

In fact, New Era Group has developed several residential projects in London, providing almost 1,300 residential units. Moreover, because London house prices have risen well in recent years, these projects have a very good rate of return.

"I see, Mr. Lin's idea is very good!"

Lin Zuhui nodded, he could not interfere with Richman's specific work, but the general direction must still listen to himself. According to the three-year construction period, the second phase was completed in 2001, and I believe that full rent is not a problem.

Three days later.

New Era Group reached an agreement with Citigroup, HSBC and other consortiums to acquire their shares in Canary Wharf at a total price of 13.5 billion Hong Kong dollars. These consortiums invested in this project, with an annual return of about 16%, which is obviously very cost-effective. They are not real estate developers themselves, and they will not always hold shares in the Canary Group, so they want to cash out through listing.

For a time, it set off a lot of public opinion in Europe.

In the UK, major newspapers have reported that the overall public opinion is very positive about the New Era Group's large-scale investment in the UK; What's more, the British people still miss Xiangjiang, and now the New Era Group has invested heavily in the UK, which makes these people have something to say.

As for Lin Zuhui's large-scale overseas investment, the mainland officials are not jealous, of course, there is no such thing.

Lin Zuhui is already a world businessman, and global investment is his hallmark, and he will not be limited to a certain country.

What's more, mainland officials also understand that Lin Zuhui's investment in the mainland is huge, and the New Era Group alone has about 70 billion; Not to mention, the investment of Xiaomi Technology, LEIT Group and other companies.

.......

In an office building in London, Lin Zuhui was holding talks with Yuan Tianfan, Morris, president of Times Shipping, and Wang Tianming, vice president.

Morris is the CEO of shipping giant 'Mediterranean Shipping Company' and has 20 years of rich management experience in this industry, which is exactly what 'Times Shipping' needs. Wang Tianming is the former president of Heung Kong Shipping, and belongs to the prime-age faction and returnee faction of the New Era Group.

The predecessor of Times Shipping was 'Heung Kong Shipping', and after reorganization, it will start again and will be committed to becoming a world shipping giant. At present, its business includes maritime and container terminals, of which the container terminal is the Asian Container Terminal Company, which can only be regarded as an associate company.

"How's the deal going on with the acquisition of Port Thames?" Lin Zuhui asked.

Morris hurriedly said: "The British side said that it has the conditions to consider leasing it to us, and the lease period is 25 years, and the specific conditions are ......"

Lin Zuhui listened to it a little and felt that there was no problem, so he said: "Promise them to complete the signing as soon as possible!" ”

Maurice nodded and said, "Okay, boss." ”

The current New Era Group is a high-roller wielding a 'banknote stick', and what it wants is the effect of 'buying, buying, buying'.

The acquisition of Port Thames is the acquisition of Times Shipping as the acquirer, and in the future, Times Shipping will develop the port business and no longer use the name of Asia Container, after all, there are too many shareholders of Asia Container.

Times Shipping has formed an overall plan, with three core businesses: shipping/air transportation, port/tugboat, logistics/transportation, and the three sectors complement each other and develop in a coordinated manner.

In terms of ports, in addition to the joint venture company, Asia Container, the next step will be the acquisition of global ports as a sole proprietorship, forming a port network in Europe, America, Asia and Africa.

Lin Zuhui said: "Then the port business of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the port business in South Korea, and the port business in the Americas must be carried out as soon as possible. There is an old Chinese saying that 'the three armies go first before the grain and grass are moved', since we want to develop shipping and logistics, the port business must naturally go first. ”

Morris said seriously: "Okay, the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands is not a big problem. As for the ports in South Korea and South America, they are also good opportunities due to the impact of the Asian financial crisis. Taking into account some factors, it is okay if you can hold a controlling stake first, and then consider full shareholding later. ”

Lin Zuhui said with satisfaction: "Yes, Times Shipping is the core of sea transportation, and port flow and logistics are auxiliary effects. In terms of shipping, it involves route channels, so it has to be acquired. At the same time, the impact of the Asian financial turmoil will continue to affect the shipping market, I predict that 1999~2001 is the trough of the world's shipping, if we build a large fleet during this time, once the shipping price rises, we will be among the world's top ten shipping giants. ”

Everyone listened heroically, the world's shipping giant is not decades or hundreds of years of development, but its own boss is like building a shipping giant for a few years, which is obviously an anomaly.

Of course, New Era Group has this strength.

The acquisition of Port Thames is more or less related to Lin Zuhui's influence.