July 18, 1975, Hutchison Building:

Hundreds of Hutchison Group shareholders from different parts of Hong Kong came here to attend the shareholders' meeting held by the new major shareholder. At the same time, representatives of Hong Kong and overseas banks such as HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of East Asia, Guangan Bank, Sun Hung Kai Bank, Sanhua Bank of Japan, and Development Bank of Singapore were also present, among which Shen Bi of HSBC came in person.

Many reporters from Hong Kong media also came to the Hutchison Building, but they were not allowed to enter the site of the shareholders' meeting, which also caused many reporters to complain, but the shareholders' meeting is a private meeting and is not obliged to be open to reporters.

For this meeting, Hutchison Group temporarily renovated a large conference room, and hundreds of people were led by Hutchison staff to take their own seats.

"Chen Sheng, the view of this office is really good, except for the Connaught Building, there are few such scenery in Hong Kong." In Chen Zhiwen's office, Shen Bi looked at the scenery in the distance and said with a smile.

"No way, it's not as tall as the Recreation Building." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said, Shen Bi came in person, naturally he couldn't be treated the same as others, Chen Zhiwen personally invited him to his office, and representatives of other banks were also arranged to go to the VIP lounge, and only when it was time for the meeting would they go to the scene.

"Chen Sheng could consider building the tallest building in Hong Kong." Shen Bi said with a smile.

"What's the use of building the tallest building without a good location? In the real estate industry, the most important thing is always location, right? Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"So, Chen Sheng wants to build a super building in Central?" Shen Bi asked.

Chen Zhiwen smiled and asked, "Who doesn't want to?" I heard that HSBC is also preparing to build a new building? ”

"Yes, but the design hasn't come out yet." Shen Bi nodded and said, this is not a secret, HSBC has long been the first consortium in Hong Kong, if it were not for the hat of "official central bank", HSBC would not be able to invest in businesses other than finance, otherwise, the so-called four major foreign banks would not be enough for HSBC to fight.

"I've heard of it, but I wonder if HSBC is considering listing Harbour Engineering as a construction contractor?" Chen Zhiwen said suddenly.

"Chen Sheng started looking for new business for Hutchison Group so soon?" Shen Bi said with a smile.

"No way, Hutchison now has tens of thousands of employees, so there must be a business to support it." Chen Zhiwen said with a light smile.

"The main business of the harbor project seems to be the development of ports, tunnels, and roads, and it is not good at large office buildings, right?" Shen Bi asked.

"It's not that I'm not good at it, it's just that the focus of the business is different, and the Hutchison Building is a masterpiece of the harbor project, and I can only say that the person who came up with this name back then was an idiot." Chen Zhiwen said.

Hutchison Engineering is a construction company under Hutchison, Hutchison's main business is the port, after the scale is large, the demand for new port construction and later maintenance is higher, so it set up its own business company, that is, the harbor engineering, very good at port construction, and then slowly began to involve real estate construction business, Hutchison Building is the harbor engineering design and construction.

But with the word "harbor", the first impression seems that it is not a conventional construction company, which belongs to the self-cutting meridians, so it can only be mixed in the port.

"I need to think about it." Shen Bi nodded and said.

"Okay, but even if the new HSBC building can't cooperate, other parties can cooperate in the future." Chen Zhiwen said, HSBC's new building, is a chicken that lays golden eggs, it is estimated that it is more difficult to get in, this is the world's most expensive building, HSBC is also a global construction company bidding, not to mention the harbor project, is good at building buildings of the Golden Gate Building, it is estimated that it will not be able to get, but HSBC will not only build headquarters in the future, maybe there will be opportunities for cooperation in the future.

"Okay, but that's not something to discuss today." Shen Bi said with a smile: "Although Chen Sheng is already the largest shareholder of Hutchison, the problems that Hutchison is facing now still need to be solved. ”

"Yes, so I need Mr. Shen Bi's support." Chen Zhiwen said.

"I've always supported you, but I also want to know how Chen Sheng can get Hutchison out of his current predicament." Shen Bi asked.

"In the second step, I will inject HK$200 million into Hutchison alone, so that at least within half a year, at least the bank's loan repayment will not be a problem." "Half a year later, we will look at Hong Kong's economic situation and the internal situation of Hutchison before making the next step. ”

"If that's the case, of course that's fine, but what's the first step?" Shen Bi asked curiously.

"The first step, I'm going to privatize Hutchison today." Chen Zhiwen said.

"Privatization?" Shen Bi was taken aback, which showed that Chen Zhiwen was very optimistic about Hutchison, so he wanted to privatize it, and what surprised him was that even if Hutchison was like this, privatization would require hundreds of millions of funds, plus the 200 million Hong Kong dollars that needed to be injected into Hutchison, adding up to almost 100 million US dollars, which was almost the maximum limit of Citibank's credit limit before.

However, I just don't know, does he have any other hole cards?

"Yes, although I am the controlling shareholder, but the situation of Hutchison is too bad, and then I want to operate on the whole Hutchison, although those small shareholders do not have a large share, but if they keep making trouble and opposition, it is still very troublesome, especially on the issue of fundraising, a small part of them do not agree, it will drag down the whole progress, which will only affect the reform of Hutchison more." Chen Zhiwen explained very "officially" that the bigger reason is naturally to enjoy the fruits of future real estate appreciation, and Hutchison is now one of the largest companies in Hong Kong listed companies that owns land, that is, the location of the land is not as good as Hongkong Land.

"As long as your funds are in place, it is naturally not a problem on my side." Shen Bi thought for a while and said: "Chen Sheng, I don't know what kind of mortgage the credit line Citibank gives you, but you have to control the risk of your own company, Galaxy Real Estate itself is also a super-risk operation, and now that the price of industrial land has rebounded, it is a little better, if there is a problem with overseas debts, and this is the case here in Hong Kong, it will only cause even more trouble than Qi Dezun before." ”

"Rest assured, I've been controlling my risk." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

The previous acquisition of Hutchison was funded by the speculation on oil derivatives during the oil crisis, while the privatization of Hutchison and the future capital injection of Hutchison came from Citibank, and the collateral was naturally Walmart stock.

Will there be problems with Walmart's stock? It's almost impossible, now Wal-Mart is expanding rapidly, from 72 to 97 years, the middle is a smooth wind, open 10 new stores at least 9 can make money, especially after becoming a scale, the procurement cost is getting lower and lower, and there is Chen Zhiwen's cooperation, Galaxy Trade will purchase a large number of cheap clothing, hardware, kitchen and bathroom daily necessities from Asia, but also reduce Wal-Mart's procurement cost to a certain extent, otherwise buy in the United States, it will not be too cheap.

Wal-Mart shares can rise by an average of 35-50% a year, and the further they go, the higher the value of the shares in Chen Zhiwen's hands, and the loan he applied for for Hutchison this time will only be less and less risky.

Of course, there is no need at that time, Hutchison will sell a bunch of junk assets, and more or less get back some funds, and the real estate and stock prices will recover, and Hutchison's own risk will be greatly reduced.

"It seems that Red Bull's benefits are really good, and I really looked away at the beginning." Shen Bi saw Chen Zhiwen's confidence and said with a smile.

"Red Bull is a high-end drink, with high profit margins, banks are naturally optimistic, and as long as they occupy the European market again, the value will be even higher." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile, here in Hong Kong, everyone thinks that Chen Zhiwen's funds come from Red Bull, and he naturally pushes it away, and the same is true for Shen Bi, which can be regarded as the benefit of not having the Internet, across the Pacific Ocean, the cost and difficulty of checking the news are very high, not very necessary, no one will toss so much.

"I have to say, admire." Shen Bi said with a smile: "When Bao Yugang started his business, I saw all kinds of perfect perseverance, self-confidence, execution, management ability, and wisdom, which came together to make him the king of the world, but Chen Sheng seems to be able to catch up with him with just one drink." ”

"Sometimes, a lot of inconspicuous little things are the huge wealth they contain, let's just say that the most inconspicuous socks on our body can be made to the world, and that is also the top richest person in Hong Kong." Chen Zhiwen said.

"What about the future of Hutchison? Will it also go international? Shen Bi asked.

"Yes, after Hong Kong stabilizes, it is inevitable to go international, in the simplest terms, Hutchison is good at ports, then my goal for Hutchison is to become the world's largest port operator, and in the future, maybe in this regard, we also need to cooperate with HSBC." Chen Zhiwen said with some "painting cakes", in fact, this goal was achieved by Lao Li in later generations, and there should be this possibility in his hands, but at this moment it is indeed inducing Shen Bi, and now Hutchison, the more support from HSBC, the faster it will develop in the early stage.

"Chen Sheng's ambition is big enough, I like it, and I also hope that HSBC can become an international bank, which you and I have a lot in common." Shen Bi said with a smile.

"Knock knock" An Qi's voice came from outside the door: "Chen Sheng, Mr. Shen Bi, the shareholders' meeting has been arranged, and Richard and Zhou Jiayang are already waiting." ”

"Okay, let's go over right away, and besides, let the representatives of the other banks go to the scene as well." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

"Mr. Shen Bi, the general meeting of shareholders is about to start, please." Chen Zhiwen stretched out his hand and gestured.

"Okay, let's go together, let's go through the door together, maybe it's a lot better." Shen Bi said.

(End of chapter)