Hong Kong's new giants

Chapter 666 [London Raiders]

London.

This year, the Canary Wharf Club has ushered in the opening of the 'Docklands Light Railway Extension Line', 'Metro Canary Wharf Station', and the 'Metro Extension Line'. Since then, the only problem that has plagued the Canary Wharf Group - traffic , it will be easily solved.

The entire Canary Wharf currently has 1200 million square feet of commercial properties and 400 million square feet of commercial business under construction. The value of these properties will usher in a skyrocketing rise.

The New Era Group has spent about US$30 billion on this project successively. After more than six years of construction, it is finally ushering in the payback period.At present, the valuation of Canary Wharf Group has reached more than 60 billion US dollars. After all, it holds the entire Canary Wharf property and has the advantage of successively developing surrounding areas.

On this day, the subway station of Canary Wharf was officially opened. Lin Zuhui and London Mayor Peter Lewin attended the grand event. The rest also attended Canary Wharf Group CEO Richman and others.

On the rostrum of the ceremony, Peter Lewin delivered a speech. The Canary Wharf area has been clearly designated as London’s new financial CBD. As early as more than five years ago, the London government wanted to prevent the unfinished project from affecting London’s investment. In order to improve the environment, various strategies have been formulated, and all aspects of work have been carried out from transportation to publicity.

When the London Canary Wharf Group gave a speech, it was naturally Richman who took the stage, and Lin Zuhui was only present as a guest.

Richman’s speech was very contagious. He first said that Morgan, Credit Suisse, and Clifford Chance, the three large groups, have leased three buildings with a total of 180 million square feet of property. Canary Wharf is expected to reach the lease by the end of the year. The rate is 99%; later, Richman said that the Canary Wharf Group will complete the remaining 2002 million square feet of properties in 400; finally, he also said that the Canary Wharf Group will fully participate in the development of the surrounding areas of Canary Wharf building.

Richman's speech immediately described the prospects of Canary Wharf and its surroundings very well, which is naturally what the London government hopes to see.To put it bluntly, Canary Wharf was originally an abandoned wharf. If it weren't for foreign capital, it would still be a mess.

When everyone heard this, they nodded in agreement and admired Lin Zuhui's long-term vision.

Almost all of Lin Zuhui's investments in the UK are real estate and related:
The two shopping centers invested by Amazon Shopping Center are the 'Amazon Shopping Center' in Canary Wharf and the 'Amazon Shopping Center' in White City, London (the site of the 1908 French-English Exhibition).

Second, if you can gain the trust of the British Post Group, it means that there will be another cooperation.As far as I know, the British MEPC plc property investment and property development company still has a lot of shopping centers, and the two companies holding this company are the British Post Pension Fund and the British Telecom Pension Fund.Therefore, winning the 'Broadmarsh Center' is equivalent to continuing to cooperate. "

As for the telecommunications industry, it will be sold this year, so it is not considered.

Lin Zuhui held the design draft in his hand, made gestures on a large area of ​​land, and exchanged opinions with Steven and other high-level executives, which was very professional.

After thinking for a while, Lin Zuhui said: "Well, if you want to cash out, when the lease rate reaches 99%, we are willing to pay you 1.2 million US dollars to redeem the 2% equity you should have received; as for the resignation of the CEO Things, I hope you will give me a certain amount of time to find a replacement."

At present, the asset value of Amazon Shopping Center has reached more than 120 billion U.S. dollars, with an annual profit of more than 7 million U.S. dollars, and a profit rate of 6%, which is a very good performance. 6% is not the rate of return. After all, the assets are more than 120 billion US dollars, but New Times Group has not invested that much money, so the appreciation of assets must be included in the rate of return. Lin Zuhui predicts that the rate of return will be more than 15%, which is very high.

"Okay, I remembered what the boss said!" Steve said very seriously.This boss is not only very professional, but also very good at layout, which he admires from the bottom of his heart.

To sum up, the UK can continue to increase investment for two reasons:
First, it is naturally the origin of Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, as well as the relationship that Lin Zuhui has established in the United Kingdom for a long time;

Steven said: "This time the six consortiums are competing. Although our Amazon shopping center is well-known, we have a little lack of foundation; however, we have more than 80 successful examples in the United States, and I believe it is also very competitive. Nottingham The commercial district of Nottingham will have explosive growth, and Nottingham is located in the center of a transportation hub, with an attractive geographical location, and a population base of 110 million, which is expected to grow by 8% per year in the next ten years, surpassing the national level of the UK.”

Shopping malls in Europe and the United States are relatively short, because there is no shortage of land anyway.

"Mr. Lin, what are your plans for the listing of Canary Wharf Group?" Richman asked with concern.

"If the first phase of the project can build a shopping mall of 180 million square feet, we have to reserve land for future expansion." Lin Zuhui said.

After reading the information in his hand, Lin Zuhui said directly: "We need to keep our spirits up for this project. There are two aspects of it that deserve our best efforts:

Amazon Shopping Center was preparing to enter Europe more than two years ago, and currently has two projects: one is Amazon in Canary Wharf, and the other is Amazon in White City, London.

Lin Zuhui replied: "The second phase of Canary Wharf has not yet been completed and the leasing has been completed, and there is still a large area of ​​land around Canary for development, so the prospect of this company is unlimited."

"It's still early to go public, but if you need to cash out, you can talk to me at any time." Lin Zuhui said with a smile.

Lin Zuhui was taken aback for a moment, then looked at Richman again, everyone seemed to be in their early 70s.

After the ceremony, Lin Zuhui came to Richman's office. The two were not really subordinates, and Richman was more like his partner.

"Well, the land is big enough, no problem at all."

Lin Zuhui promised that when the first phase of Canary Wharf reaches a lease rate of 99%, he will give Richman 2% of the shares. After all, it is a wealth of hundreds of millions of dollars, and Richman is naturally very concerned.Of course, he still has an annual salary of 300 million US dollars plus various subsidies, which can be regarded as a lot of income.

Steven and other executives nodded. Although the management of Amazon Mall is in their hands, they understand a truth that the soul of Amazon Mall is the boss.

Steven nodded, feeling confident all of a sudden.

The two quickly reached a verbal agreement, and chatted and laughed happily.

There are also terminal projects. There are two terminals in total, namely Port Phillis, the largest container group port in the UK, and Port Thames.

Richman asked tentatively: "How far does Mr. Lin plan to develop the Canary Wharf Group?"

Other scattered investments are not counted.

Lin Zuhui didn't care about the details, and said directly: "Sincerity and decisiveness are very important for you to make a bidding plan. I hope you can succeed! In the next ten years, European and American commercial real estate will still be in the golden age, so Amazon will not stop expanding. The group can Spend more than 20 billion US dollars in investment every year."

"Haha, we have a win-win cooperation! In the end, I still hope that you will continue to be a consultant for the Canary Wharf Group. I am willing to give you an annual consulting fee of 100 million US dollars, which does not need to take up too much of your energy."

Richman also agrees and recognizes some of Lin Zuhui's ideas and plans; and Lin Zuhui also hopes to continue to use Richman's ability and contacts in the UK for himself, so he gives 100 million US dollars every year consultant fees.

The so-called White City of London is the site of the 1908 French-English Exhibition. Because many buildings here are painted white, it was later called the White City.

On the next day, Lin Zuhui inspected London White City accompanied by Steven, the president of 'Amazon Mall'.

Among them, the Amazon in Canary Wharf is still under renovation and will not open until Christmas this year; and the Amazon in White City, London, is still planning even the blueprint, which is expected to be around 2004.

The Amazon shopping center has an advantage. Compared with the Westfield shopping center, it is much better in terms of advertising and marketing, because there is also Amazon.com, which is an emerging technology company with a market value of 500 billion; while the Westfield shopping center has to spend huge sums of money to strengthen the brand. The reputation of Amazon is far from being as loud as the Amazon shopping mall.

Richman said: "That's true! But with the strength of your group, you don't even have to consider going public, right?"

Lichtman said at this time: "I'm old, and to be honest, I plan to retire, so I not only want to cash out, but also want to resign as CEO of Canary Wharf."

There is also a department store, but under the LEIT Group.

Back then, Lin Zuhui also redeemed 10% of the shares for Richman. Although he later returned to Lin Zuhui, he received at least about 1.5 million US dollars in income.Coupled with the high salaries of these years and the last dividend of 1.2 million US dollars, it is much better than other bankrupt rich people in their later years.

Two projects will naturally not satisfy the Amazon shopping center, and a good opportunity has recently appeared.

Recently, the 'Broadmarsh Center' in Nottinghamshire, England, was open for bidding, attracting competition from a number of commercial real estate companies; among them were six competitors including Amazon Shopping Center and Westfield Shopping Center.

Richman has a lot of power in the Canary Wharf Group. New Era Business Management only dispatched financial audit and supervision, and left him in charge of the rest.

Canary Wharf Group is the flagship real estate group of New Times Group in Europe. He intends to list it in the first half of 2007 and sell some of its properties, so that Canary Wharf Group can own A large amount of cash was used to buy bottoms and was completely promoted to the largest real estate company in Europe.

Richman said happily: "Of course there is no problem! If Mr. Lin hadn't helped me back then, my life would not have been so rich."

First, sniping Westfield Shopping Center to enter the UK and even Europe.As we all know, Nishida established a branch in the UK, but there was no suitable opportunity. There was an opportunity in France that year, but it failed in the end.So as long as we win, it is equivalent to sniping the development of our biggest opponent.

"Why not!"

The Broadmarsh Center is part of the British Postal Staff Pension Fund.

In the conference room, everyone sat together for a meeting.

Sitting in the guest seat, Lin Zuhui was also thinking about it.

Lin Zuhui spread his hands and said, "Maybe so. In short, the future is unpredictable, but I will not treat you, the founder of Canary Wharf, badly."

Lin Zuhui attaches great importance to Richerman's important position in the Canary Wharf Group, because others have been planning this project since 1986, and his ability and connections cannot be easily replaced by others.

There are also Langham Hotel and Ritz-Carlton Hotel, which own several five-star luxury hotels in the UK.

After communicating with everyone about "Amazon in White City, London", everyone returned to the office building for a meeting.

Amazon European headquarters office building.

Then Lin Zuhui said: "As we enter into large-scale shopping centers and self-built shopping centers, we need to pay attention to one problem. Generally speaking, when all commercial real estate builds shopping centers, the focus is on retailers and shopping centers themselves. But I hope that we will always put customers first, and we need to consider the convenience they need when they come to our shopping mall, such as reasonable layout so that they will not feel like walking into a maze, such as resting places, children's play, toilets, etc. A series of problems must be customer-centric."

Second, the UK is an important country in Europe. It is a strategy to use the UK as a bridgehead to invest in the whole of Europe.

Two days on the weekend.

Lin Zuhui was on vacation in a luxurious manor in London, so he was naturally spending time with his family.

As he gets older (34 years old), Lin Zuhui delegates more and more authority to his subordinates. He didn't sign contracts worth billions of dollars before, and now he doesn't sign contracts worth less than 200 billion yuan.Even in some large-scale investments, he rarely participated in them. He probably felt that there was something profitable, so he would not object.

After all, with his current wealth, even if he gave birth to ten prodigal sons, he still wouldn't lose all of them.

(End of this chapter)