"Ho Sir, the police fund has vetoed the project to invest in the Yau Ma Tei ferry two days ago."

Half a month later.

Oriental Bank.

Office of the President.

"The foundation accepted the proposal and instead invested in the Star Ferry." Qiu De even put a document in front of the big boss, folded his hands, sat upright, and waited for the big boss's opinion. After opening the file and reading it carefully for ten minutes, the big boss put down the file and said with a smile: "How is the Tianxing Ferry doing?" ”

"It's a mess."

Eight years ago.

When Ho Ting-yin acquired the Yau Ma Tei Ferry, he valued the monopoly of the ferry company, not only spent millions to buy the license, but also spent millions to replace the passenger ferry of the Yau Ma Tei Ferry.

The Star Ferry has also fought a price war with the Yau Ma Tei Ferry for eight years, during which it has launched activities such as "Spring Festival Free Ticket" and "Holiday Family Ticket".

Fortunately, the population of Hong Kong Island is growing rapidly, and the two ferry companies serve as the only passage from the New Territories and Kowloon to Central.

It's hard to make a profit.

"The good days are coming to an end, though."

Ho Ting-yin held a cigarette in his hand and said in a deep voice: "The Urban Renewal Department has officially formulated the cross-harbour tunnel plan half a year ago, and will open a 1.86-kilometer-long, four-lane sea tunnel in Hung Hom to connect Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. ”

"This plan will undoubtedly significantly reduce the profits of the ferry companies."

Qiu De nodded: "Yes." ”

"After losing the monopoly, the transportation attributes of the ferry company will be reduced, and I am afraid that the future will not be good."

With a car to ride, who wants to take a boat?

What's more, the tunnel is placed there, open to traffic day and night, and the traffic volume greatly exceeds that of small ferries, which is a big dividend for the development of the Kowloon Peninsula.

If you want to be rich, build roads first, and be wise. The inland sea is also impassable for large cargo ships. But those who have vested interests, who is willing to give up the cake in their hands? The Star Ferry Company strongly opposed the tunnel plan, but could not withstand the Governor's determination to pull the economy.

Investing in the Star Ferry Company, anyone with a discerning eye knows that it is a loss-making business, but before the Red Ferry was opened to traffic, the annual report of the Star Ferry was still very beautiful, and no one dared to say that the Star Ferry would fall. Ho Ting-yin asked the Police Fund Council to do the work and let the investment project pass, which was to pull the then chairman of the fund, Barton, into the fire pit. Of course, the Star Ferry will not fall, but it will certainly be reduced from a monopoly to a supplementary position. The entry of the police fund at a high level will only give the Chinese police fund a chance to harvest.

With a sickle in hand, you can cut it if you want.

He Dingxian nodded: "Don't look at the net profit of the Star Ferry, the monthly increase, in fact, it is already the last glory, as soon as the tunnel is opened to traffic in a few years, the passenger flow will be sucked away by the bus line, but the bus company will make a lot of money." ”

"It's a pity that Kowloon Bus is operating very well, and the three license plates have already been shining, and there is no possibility of interfering in the short term." The completion of the Red Sui is indeed a turning point in the bus industry on Hong Kong Island, allowing the bus lines that are divided into blocks to be strung together into one line.

He Dingxian didn't have a chance to start with the license plate that was shining before World War II, so he had to watch with his eyes, but Huxiantang Real Estate was already planning to bid for the Red Sui project, hoping to get a share of the Red Sui incident.

Seeing that the cash cows were not being squeezed out, the Star Ferry Company could only step up its efforts to make money

"As far as I know, the board of directors of the Star Ferry is very nervous, and there are great calls for higher fares internally." "Including the Yau Ma Tei Ferry Company, a number of management members also want to increase ticket prices. ”

"The previous refusal of the two ferry companies to raise prices was not because of the conscience of the capital, but because there was a competitive relationship, which benefited the citizens. Now the Star Ferry sees that the industry prospect is not good, and has to give up the price war with Yau Ma Tei Ferry. ”

"The whole industry is going to lose half a life, what's the point of a price war? Of course, the ghosts want to make an extra sum of money before the opening of the red with the traffic, and the red with the opening of the traffic will be at least seven or eight years, how much can you earn by raising the fare of one cent (cent)? After all, the route from Tsim Sha Tsui East to Central is good, and people in a hurry must grit their teeth to accept it, otherwise, taking the Yau Ma Tei ferry to North Point is also called taking a rickshaw, and the price will be slightly more expensive. ”

"The line in hand is good, and the price increase is more confident."

"Besides, the Star Ferry Company also believes that the Yau Ma Tei Ferry will keep up, so there is no need to worry about losing passenger flow." A Hung Hom tunnel project can immediately create a foundation for cooperation and trust between two rival companies.

Sure enough, enemies are important, otherwise, the nature of animals will fight each other. He Dingxian didn't say a word, his face was thoughtful, and after a while, he said: "Tell the management of the Yau Ma Tei Ferry that we must wait until the Tianxing Ferry increases the price first, and then we will raise it." ”

"To do business to be stable, not to mention, we have a dangerous goods transport license, do not do passenger transport specializing in energy transportation, the company's profits will not fall, unlike the Star Ferry, not to do passenger ferries can only do cruise ships."

"Hehe, set up the chess in advance, and you will be much more calm in case of trouble."

He Dingxian smiled lightly, no wonder the bigwigs always put forward-looking on their lips, and the forward-looking ability in business is not a small profit that will be effective in one or two years, but a big benefit that will be obtained in five years, ten years, and twenty years.

"I understand, He Sheng." As the head of Oriental Bank, Qiu De has won the nickname of "Huataipan" in the business world, although it is not as self-employed as in history, but it is more famous than in history, and has become as famous as HSBC, Citigroup, and Standard Chartered.

"Remember to give the Tianxing Ferry some wind, just say that we will follow the rise." He Dingxian saw Qiu De get up and leave, and gave a fluttering order.

Qiu De bowed and said, "Yes." ”

In recent years, the main investment direction of the Police Fund and the China Police Fund is actually in the real estate industry, since the beginning of the 60 years, the real estate industry has entered the first wave of upswing, resulting in the income of the two funds is very bright, to all police officers to bring a lot of salary subsidies.

Judges have basically purchased properties in Kowloon, Hong Kong Island and other places, regardless of their positions. Although the income of low-level police officers is not enough to join the army of property speculation, it is not a big problem to buy a self-owned house.

The hot money of foreign banks and Chinese-funded banks has also poured into the real estate industry, and the price of houses in good locations has more than tripled. Huo Xiantang Real Estate Company intends to launch pre-sale, that is, pre-sale of real estate in advance, first, it can extend the sales period of new projects and bring back funds faster, and secondly, if the pre-sale amount is sufficient, even use the owner's funds to build a building, reaching a high turnover of more than 100%. It can be said that once the pre-sale system is launched, it will not take three or five years to push the goods Xingtang Real Estate to the leading position of real estate enterprises.

However, after several negotiations with Huo Guantai, He Dingxian finally relied on his feelings to suppress the "pre-sale" system, not because he felt that it was wrong to financialize the property market. Because, the financialization of the property market is the direction of the Hong Kong government, although the "off-the-plan" system is sharp, it does not mean that others do not think that sooner or later there will be other financial means on the market. For example, the "installment loan", "house ticket" system, etc., Huo Xiantang does not engage in pre-sale, and has other people.

The key is that Chinese-funded banks such as the Bank of East Asia, Oriental Bank, and Hang Seng Bank are all flocking to the real estate industry, not to mention HSBC, Standard Chartered, etc.

Foreign banks have the right to print money, huge customers, a large number of corporate shares, and the support of the parent company, do Chinese banks have it? Now that the reserve fund pool of Chinese-funded banks has fallen to a low point, except for the Oriental Bank, which consciously controls it above the safety line, HSBC and East Asia are all crazy.

Crazy in a thriving market!

Every project makes money, who will put money in the vault, why not take it out and make money? However, the aggressive investment strategy of the Chinese-funded banks is tantamount to depriving all Chinese-funded factories of capital protection, and if something goes wrong, the Chinese-funded banking industry will suffer a heavy blow.

He Dingxian didn't want to further stimulate the property market, and of course he couldn't change the direction of the property market, so he could only reach an agreement with Huo Guantai, and two years later, he would release the "pre-sale". Huo Guantai himself was actually a little unhappy, and he reluctantly agreed for the sake of brotherhood. After all, in two years, he had to earn tens of millions less.

It is difficult for the police fund to accept investment failure when its returns continue to rise, so the newly appointed Barton sir, if his performance is not good, I am afraid that he will have to give up the position of chairman of the fund.

Naturally, he sat in the position of deputy director for a short time.

October.

The Star Ferry Company officially submitted an application to the Hong Kong government to increase the price of the first-class ticket from 2 jiao to 2 jiao 5 sen, and the third-class ticket price remained unchanged. As soon as this news was announced, the whole Hong Kong public was in an uproar. Although, the Star Ferry's price increase plan is very cautious, not to make a fuss about the third-class tickets that are purchased by the most people, but to increase the price of first-class tickets instead, trying to avoid most customers and start with those who have spending power.

However, they underestimated the sensitivity of Hong Kong Island citizens to livelihood industries, and although the economy of Hong Kong Island developed rapidly in the 20 years after the war, many bosses were fattened and many citizens were fed. However, Hong Kong Island has continued to receive new immigrants, and the population of hundreds of thousands that has increased in the past five years has not eaten the previous dividends, and has become other people's dividends, and they have to work hard with their bare hands. For them, it is impossible to accept a price increase of 1 sen, let alone an increase of 5 sen.

Wen Wei Po, Ta Kung Pao, and Oriental Daily all published editorials on this, hoping that the Hong Kong government would control ticket prices, but the shares of the Star Ferry rose in response. It can be seen that the capital is ready, and it is impossible for the Star Ferry Company to give up the application for a price increase easily.

Citizens also have no resistance to capital, and if there is no one to take the lead, they can only passively accept the price increase. In the history of Hong Kong Island, the "Star Ferry Fare Increase" kicked off, and this time there was only one large-scale riot caused by rising prices, also known as the "Kowloon Riot".

At the end of the year, the Hong Kong government announced the appointment of personnel.

(End of chapter)