Rebirth: The Era of Hong Kong Tycoon

Chapter 169 [The power of capital]

Universal Pictures had reached an acquisition agreement with Cathay Pacific before listing: Universal Pictures acquired 5500% of Cathay Pacific for HK$80 million, and the transaction was completed within three months.

At the beginning, a film studio under the Cathay Pacific Organization, now reverse acquisition of the parent company, can not help but become a legend in the market.

The 5000 million Hong Kong dollars raised by Universal Pictures in the IPO just paid for this cost.

Huanyu has only been established for 2 years, but it can raise 5000 million Hong Kong dollars (25% of public shares) in the stock market, and Shaw Brothers has only raised 5000 million Hong Kong dollars after decades of establishment.

Of course, Shaw Brothers was listed in 1971, while Universal Pictures was listed in 1972, and the stock market is not as prosperous; and there is another reason, Universal Pictures is Lin Rongheng's company, and Lin Rongheng is the company in recent years. The hottest Xiangjiang businessman is highly sought after by stockholders; vividly speaking, even if Lin Rongheng listed Café de Coral fast food, he would be sought after by stockholders.

In terms of actual assets, Universal Pictures is still inferior to Shaw Brothers, but that's how the capital market is.

Lin Rongheng summoned Zou Wenhuai in the office, and said: "The filming of "Enter the Dragon" has been completed, you and Bruce Lee can discuss the plan for the next work!"

Zou Wenhuai said worriedly: "The total investment of "Enter the Dragon" is more than 300 million US dollars, and we contributed 200 million US dollars; Bruce Lee has a high vision now, and the investment in the next movie may not be less than 300 million US dollars; should we wait for "Enter the Dragon"? Let’s make a decision after the box office of “Enter the Dragon” comes out?”

"Enter the Dragon" is the same as history. It is a Hollywood blockbuster jointly funded by Universal Films and Warner. Its release time is scheduled for New Year's Day in 1973, seven or eight months earlier than history.

Lin Rongheng said confidently: "Don't worry, the global box office will not be less than 2000 million US dollars, I have this confidence! And we have to take advantage of Bruce Lee's lack of funds to cooperate once or twice, otherwise he may not be willing to let us in the future. Make a lot of money."

After finishing speaking, Lin Rongheng thought to himself, it would be a pity not to leave a few more films for the world while Bruce Lee was alive!

Currently, in addition to filming the original historical "Brother Tangshan", "Fist of Fury", "Way of the Dragon", "Enter the Dragon", Bruce Lee has also filmed a movie "Dragon's World" that did not exist in the original history.

Of course, people in Xiangjiang are tired of watching Bruce Lee's movies. "A World of Dragons" only took in 350 million Hong Kong dollars at the box office; Several times the investment.

Not only that, the copyright of these films has always been owned by Huanyu Films, and they can earn a lot of copyright fees in the future.

Zou Wenhuai thought for a while, and then said: "The company's finances are a little surprised. Recently, it has acquired Cathay Pacific, invested in theaters and properties in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, and has to build Universal Studios!"

The relationship between Zou Wenhuai and Lin Rongheng is strictly a cooperative relationship. Of course, Zou Wenhuai admires Lin Rongheng's capital ability and vision for movies, so he has always respected Lin Rongheng, but he will also point out Lin Rongheng's "adventurous" behavior .

Lin Rongheng knew that Zou Wenhuai was implicitly pointing out that the company's financial situation was not good, and that the company's best business activities were too aggressive. It was a good thing to have such a professional partner.

Therefore, Lin Rongheng patiently explained: "Those stockholders outside have gone crazy. I am afraid there will be a big market for the stock market. I predict that the market value of Universal Pictures will rise to 5000 billion Hong Kong dollars, which is what this year will be. At that time, I plan to issue New shares, another [-] million Hong Kong dollars will be raised; although this will dilute our shares, it will actually obtain the maximum development funds at the minimum cost. So, you don’t have to worry about funds!”

Hearing Lin Rongheng said easily that he could raise 5000 million Hong Kong dollars for the company, Zou Wenhuai was a little dazed.

To be honest, he has been engaged in the film business all his life, and it is already very good to earn hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong dollars for a film. If he earns 100 million Hong Kong dollars, there are only one or two movies a year.And Universal Pictures has raised 5000 million Hong Kong dollars this year, and now it can still raise 5000 million Hong Kong dollars. I really don't know how many "Shaw Brothers movies" it takes to make money. Can this film make money?
Zou Wenhuai deeply feels that in the field of capital, this person is simply a genius, especially in just over two years, this person has built a real estate giant with a market value of 25 billion Hong Kong dollars, which is already incredible; even more incredible Yes, this guy took advantage of loans and the stock market to forcibly match the annual profitability of Evergrande Real Estate with that of HSBC. This is something that the citizens of Xiangjiang have been talking about recently.

For Hong Kong, HSBC is a 'quasi-central bank'.

Zou Wenhuai nodded and said, "Well! I recently discussed with Bruce Lee about the new film! Xu's film has already been settled. We will invest 80 Hong Kong dollars in the new film, and the profit will be [-]%."

Xu Guanwen's "Ghost Horse Double Star" made 800 million Hong Kong dollars at the box office this summer, breaking Bruce Lee's box office record of 550 million Hong Kong dollars; according to the prior discussion, Xu Guanwen received 70% of the profit, which was almost [-] Hong Kong dollars.

Logically speaking, Xu's Films already has the strength to make films independently, but Xu Guanwen also knows that it will be very troublesome if he does not cooperate with Universal Films: First of all, Xu's Films is an independent film company without strong theater support. The relationship is not good, and the scale of other theaters is too small, so it is impossible to avoid the support of Universal Cinemas; But after all, investment is risky. If you lose money, wouldn't you be back before liberation.

Lin Rongheng nodded and said: "They will be even more inseparable from us in the future, as long as our theater chains are rolled out. The newly built theater chains of Huanyu are all first-class hardware theaters, and the software services are first-class in the industry. If things go on like this, those old theater chains There is only one way to innovate and go bankrupt. Therefore, our investment in theaters is very cost-effective!"

On this point, Zou Wenhuai also very much agrees.

Lin Rongheng is no longer involved in the specific business of the film company. At present, Lin Rongheng has discovered Bruce Lee, the Xu Brothers, Seven Little Fortunes, etc. for the company, which is basically as stable as Mount Tai; There is basically no opponent in the world.

Now the only one is a TV station, and the TV station can only buy Li's TV station, and the Hong Kong government will definitely only agree to sell 50% of the shares, because the Hong Kong government wants to guarantee the interests of British capital.

As for applying for a TV station, don't be kidding. The Jiayi TV station in the previous life survived for two or three years before it was finished. There were too many restrictions.

Of course, 50% of the shares is already quite a lot, and the major shareholders of Wireless are HSBC, Hutchison and other British firms!
Although it is only possible to acquire 50% of Li's shares, after the Sino-British negotiations are over, the British capital will naturally take the initiative to sell their own shares, and sooner or later they will still be able to occupy the majority of the shares.

Therefore, Lin Rongheng planned to start contacting the parent company of Li's TV station, Husheng Group (British capital), from 1975.

(End of this chapter)