Hong Kong's new giants

Chapter 694 [Fila]

In late August, the ownership of Sogo Department Store in Causeway Bay was officially announced, and it was 'Calion International' who won the victory.

Jiahui International acquired the Sogo Department Store in Causeway Bay and the management rights of the Sogo Department Store at a price of 36.5 billion Hong Kong dollars.

This price is not high, and Hang Lung even offered a price of 40 billion Hong Kong dollars, but they only want to buy Sogo Department Store, which means that after buying the building, Sogo Department Store will be closed.Obviously, such an approach does not comply with the regeneration procedures of the Japanese headquarters. Although it can get hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars, it is a one-time buyout.

For a while, the media began to frantically explore the background of the company 'Califlor International', and soon the world became clear.

People started talking.

"This Li Jiaxin is too favored!"

"That's right. Last year, Dongying Building was purchased with a huge sum of 11 billion and rebuilt; now it actually takes a stake in Jiahui International. I'm afraid it's an investment of more than one billion."

"What is a shareholding? You can tell from the name 'Calion International'. It is taken from the names of Li Jiaxin and Lin Zuhui. If you look at it this way, I am afraid that it is the property that Lin Zuhui intends to give to others. It is just a retail cooperation with Times. .”

"It makes sense! This Mr. Lin Zuhui is really rich. These confidantes are all worth a lot of money, and they live in super luxury villas."

"It's a pity that I'm not a beautiful woman, otherwise I must post it!"

"Haha, don't you have a daughter?"

Lin Zuhui was once again discussed by the citizens of Xiangjiang, and everyone lamented his wealth and generosity to women.

But Lin Zuhui himself didn't feel the buzz outside, even if he knew he was famous, he wouldn't care.

I have a net worth of about 800 billion U.S. dollars (on the bright side), and I am the richest man in the world. It is perfectly normal for a few confidante around me to be worth a lot of money.

September.

Central, LEIT Building.

Chen Shiwen, President of LEIT Group, and Li Zhenlong, President of Xtep, walked into the boss's office hand in hand.

"boss"

"Well, sit down."

After the two sat down, Lin Zuhui asked, "How is Xtep doing in the Mainland?"

Li Zhenlong immediately sat up straight, and then reported to Lin Zuhui. The executives who are familiar with Lin Zuhui know that when the boss summons you, you must do enough work, and don't waste the boss's time when you report.

"Xtep's development in the mainland is very smooth, with an annual growth rate of more than 40%. Last year, our sales exceeded 6000 million US dollars. This year's sales are expected to surpass Li Ning and become the champion of Chinese sports brands in the mainland."

Li Zhenlong's report was very detailed, but he grasped the main points, and Lin Zuhui had a complete understanding in 10 minutes.

In fact, although Lin Zuhui seldom does such sub-brand work, Xtep's development strategy is completed under his guidance.Coupled with the strong support given by the LEIT Group, it only took Xtep more than four years to surpass Li Ning.

In terms of marketing: before the 1996 Olympic Games, Xtep signed Sun Wen, Kong Linghui, and Xiangjiang stars, and used style stars to promote, and shouted "Xtep, extraordinary feeling", which is even more catchy.Moreover, Xtep used a large amount of funds to accumulate popularity at the beginning, including advertising and sponsoring sports events.

In terms of quality: Xtep has its own research and development room from the very beginning. Although there is no particularly outstanding technology in just over four years, it is much better than domestic copycats.

Management, style, etc., these are not comparable to domestic immature companies, so the development of Xtep is very fast.

Lin Zuhui nodded and asked, "How about the contract with Wang Nan of table tennis?"

Li Zhenlong immediately said: "The six-year contract was completed last year!"

The two subordinates are not surprised that the boss knows about the sports stars in the Mainland, and they are even optimistic about sports stars. After all, Olympic athletes come to Hong Kong every year, and the boss will also give rewards and interviews.

Lin Zuhui's intervention in endorsement is a "small matter" that is very important to him.In his view, the success of a sports brand is inseparable from celebrity endorsements, technical quality, and marketing management. As long as these are achieved, it is impossible to build a successful sports brand.

In fact, before 2012, domestic customers did not pay much attention to technology; but with the prosperity of the domestic economy, people began to have great requirements for the patented technology of sports brands, which is why Anta surpassed Xtep in the previous life.

For a long time, the research and development of domestic sports brands has accounted for about 2%, because in everyone's opinion, customers do not understand technology anyway, and it is not worthwhile to invest so much;

Xtep, a subsidiary of the LEIT Group, set its research and development expenses at around 5% (accounting for turnover) from the very beginning.

The reason for this is that Lin Zuhui knows that Xtep is just a brand he has deployed in the mainland, and he will acquire an international sports brand to realize his dream of a sports brand.

After all, Lin Zuhui has an advantage, that is, endorsement, which is simply a bug.

Lin Zuhui said to Chen Shiwen: "How is the situation at Fila?"

Chen Shiwen knew that the boss had been paying attention to Fila, which meant that Fila had always been the boss's target.

"The turnover has fallen sharply for three consecutive years. Last year's entry into the luxury goods field also ended in failure, and this year's investment also failed. Therefore, Fila's market value is only a little over 4 million U.S. dollars, and it continues to fall."

Lin Zuhui nodded, already decided to start the acquisition in his heart.

However, he does not intend to let the LEIT Group to acquire, but intends to let Barings Bank to acquire.

After he builds Fila into the world's third sports brand, he will inject Fila into the LEIT Group. In this way, Lin Zuhui is equivalent to increasing his holdings of LEIT Group's shares, which is more in line with Lin Zuhui's personal interests.

At present, the LEIT Group sells the wine business and concentrates on cultivating dozens of brands such as Jeanswest, Giordano, Crocodile, Xtep, IT, Luk Fook Jewellery, Nature Hall, and Ouchi Secret Detective.Among them, Jeanswest has the fastest development speed, with a total of 400 stores, dozens more than Uniqlo.

The profit of LEIT Group is also very good, and it is expected to exceed HK$40 billion this year.

Although the LEIT Group is growing rapidly, Lin Zuhui can see the crisis, which is the rise of mainland brands and the threat of Uniqlo in Asia.Of course, the LEIT Group is known as the 'Hong Kong Stream Group', and with the drive of Hong Kong Stream, it has an advantage in all competitions in Asia.

This is the influence of Hong Kong Stream, which can drive tourism, retail, clothing industry, cosmetics and other peripheral industries.

"Don't worry about the Fila matter. Even if it is an acquisition, it will be operated by my subsidiary Barings Bank. Maybe there will be a chance to merge into the LEIT Group in the future, but the LEIT Group is still doing a good job of the existing brand."

Although Chen Shiwen felt a little regretful, he immediately said, "Okay, I understand."

London, Canary Wharf.

Barings Bank, headquarters building.

Today's Barings Bank has managed assets exceeding 600 billion US dollars, and owns two private equity funds - both of which are Lin Zuhui's money (Hilton, Gucci). It has become a leader in investment banks and is well-known in the world.

Barings has four main businesses: corporate private equity funds, real estate funds, marketable alternative asset management, and financial advisory services.

Of course, Barings Bank also has a certain amount of commercial banking business, with a deposit limit of about 20 billion US dollars, and commercial banking business such as loans; it also has its own corporate investment business, such as investment in San Miguel Group and Samsung Electronics.

Barings has 72 senior investment managers, 72 investment managers, [-] investment consultants, and thousands of employees.

In the eyes of outsiders, it doesn't look like a sole proprietorship at all, because Barings' business is very large.

At the same time, many European and American public funds are safely entrusted to Barings Bank for management; Barings Bank is best at the 'real estate fund' business, after all, there is Lin Zuhui's BUG.

The headquarters of Barings Bank has always had Lin Zuhui's office, although he doesn't come often.

On this day, Lin Zuhui came to the headquarters of Barings Bank in London and had a meeting with Andre. Rooney, a senior investment manager, was also present.

"Is the data investigation finished?" Lin Zuhui said directly.

Rooney immediately said: "The investigation has been completed! Fila is currently experiencing a sharp decline in performance, with a market value of 4.2 million U.S. dollars, and the prospects are not optimistic."

After listening, Lin Zuhui said, "Are you confident that the acquisition will be successful at US$4.5 million?"

Rooney immediately said: "It's not a big problem! After all, if the boss is willing to wait another year, the acquisition may be completed within 4 million U.S. dollars."

Lin Zuhui said: "That's not necessary. Our acquisition is not to sit back and watch Fila's performance continue to decline, but to reverse the downward trend and make Fila the third sports brand in the world."

For a while, the pressure on Andre and Rooney increased greatly. The boss's ambitions were not small, but they were the ones who did the work.

The market value of Nike is more than 140 billion U.S. dollars, while Fila is only 4 million U.S. dollars, and Fila is only 16 billion U.S. dollars at its peak, which is a far cry.

Rooney can only say: "I will look for an excellent CEO, and recruit excellent talents, and remodel Fila."

Lin Zuhui nodded, and said: "You only need to recruit a professional manager from the United States while making the acquisition. You must have rich experience and outstanding performance before you can become the CEO of Fila."

"Ok!"

"Report the acquisition situation directly to me at any time, and I am very concerned about this matter,"

"Yes, boss."

The twelve senior colleagues of Barings Bank also include President Andre, Vice President Harold and Liang Botao. These twelve are equivalent to partners of other investment banks.

After Rooney left, Lin Zuhui listened to Andre's work report and gave some analysis of his own.

"When the Internet bubble burst, commercial real estate in the United States will also be greatly affected. Therefore, the real estate fund of Barings Bank will suspend investment in the US market first."

Andre naturally admired Lin Zuhui, so he immediately said, "Okay."

In fact, Lin Zuhui is avoiding the impact of the September 911 incident next year. According to his estimation, after September 911, US real estate will drop by at least 20%, so there is absolutely no need to touch it in the past year or so.

Keep the funds and buy the bottom at the end of next year to get a higher rate of return.

(End of this chapter)