The Birth of the Hong Kong Island Family.

Chapter 192 [Up to a level]

Golden autumn October.

Invited by Li Mingze, Lin Zhichao came to Lee Garden Hill to investigate.

The two have become friends since the transaction in the embassy building; and Li Mingze has just been appointed as an unofficial member of the Legislative Council and is about to be appointed as an unofficial member of the Executive Council, which can be said to be popular.

Of course, although Lin Zhichao did not enter the two councils, those who are familiar with him know that it is not that Lin Zhichao is not qualified, but that Lin Zhichao refuses public office.After all, in terms of the influence of the Chinese in Hong Kong, I am afraid that few people can compare with it. Five or six thousand employees under his command are enough to make Lin Zhichao's influence large enough.

"Lin Sheng, I heard that you own many properties in Causeway Bay!" Li Mingze said with a smile as the two stood on the grounds of the Lee Garden Hotel.

"Yes, I do own some land in Causeway Bay and plan to rebuild it in the future." Lin Zhichao replied.

Just now, Li Mingze took him to inspect the real estate sites of Lishi in Causeway Bay, which is indeed very large; if Lin Zhichao owns one or two "shoulds" in Causeway Bay, then Ricci's real estate sites probably have more than five or six "shoulds".

Li Mingze saw that Lin Zhichao was very straightforward, so he asked: "I have a question, is Lin Sheng waiting for the best opportunity for real estate before rebuilding?"

Lin Zhichao looked at Li Mingze. He was wearing a pair of glasses. He was well-mannered and had a good temperament.In his previous life, he knew that the "Li Hysan Family" made their fortune from opium, but the second generation, Li Mingze and Li Xiaohe, were indeed proper patriots; Established friendship, has always been more inclined to the mainland, may be more restrained; and Li Xiaohe is also a person who has made great contributions to the Anti-Japanese War and served as a diplomat in the Republic of China.

In short, Lin Zhichao has no dislike for Lee's.

"Li Sang, you are now an unofficial member of the Legislative Council. Have you heard any rumors that the buildings in Hong Kong may be developed to high places?"

Li Mingze was startled, and quickly said: "No, the rumor did not come out. Could it be through some channel, Mr. Lin?"

Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "I don't have a public job, how could I know about it! However, I guess it will develop like this, otherwise how can Hong Kong's 260 million people have roof tiles?"

There is no need to hide this kind of thing now, he said it as a chat between friends.

After thinking for a while, Li Mingze said, "It's really possible! This year's Tuzhi buildings have been built to seven floors, so that a large number of people can have houses to live in. However, the Hong Kong government plans to plan for 50 people. If the buildings are built in vain, there are still 200 million people who will have to cover their heads with tiles. If Hong Kong’s buildings develop to a higher level, it may be a solution! Lin Sheng invented stratification and stages, so that Hong Kong’s real estate will have opportunities for vigorous development No wonder Lin Sheng has been absorbing land and old buildings, so he was waiting for an opportunity!"

Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "It's not like waiting for an opportunity. After all, the market was sluggish a few years ago, so it's not a good opportunity!"

Li Mingze nodded, then he pointed to a land opposite, and said: "Since Lin Sheng is so optimistic about the prospects of the real estate, I intend to sell the land opposite the Lee Garden Hotel. I don't know if you like this small land. Land?"

Lin Zhichao looked at the land on the opposite side, and estimated that it might be possible to build a commercial and residential building on the land, which is not too much, and it happened that he also wanted to buy another land recently.

"How much area?"

"2.1 square feet"

"How much silver paper?"

"How about 125 million Hong Kong dollars?"

"make a deal"

In just a few words, a deal is concluded.

The land in the Tsim Sha Tsui business district has reached 110-120 Hong Kong dollars per square foot. Naturally, Causeway Bay is much worse, because it is not a commercial area at all, and just over 60 Hong Kong dollars per square foot is very reasonable.

Li Mingze sold Lin Zhichao, a real estate powerhouse, with a plan:
First, he needs funds to rebuild the land of Lee Garden Hill. In this era, not everyone dares to sell off-plan properties. Many real estate companies adopt the investment method of rebuilding properties and leasing out funds.If everyone dared to venture forward, those big foreign firms would already be invincible.

Second, the land sold by Li Mingze to Lin Zhichao is located next to and opposite Li's other properties. If Lin Zhichao develops it, it will drive the surrounding land and properties to rise.

In short, Lishi owns such a large land, and selling a few small Kara is nothing.

But Li Mingze probably doesn't know that in the future, the leader of Causeway Bay will no longer be the Li family, but the Lin family.Of course, Lin Zhichao will be very low-key.

Cheung Kong acquired a 2.1-square-foot piece of land in Causeway Bay, and another 2.2-square-foot piece of land on Kimberley Road (that is, the east-west street of the Miramar Hotel, which belongs to the non-core business district of Tsim Sha Tsui). The price is HK$180 million.

Of course, the two pieces of land only cost a mere HK$300 million, which to Lin Zhichao is like sprinkling water.

But there is no way. Although many properties and land are sold in Hong Kong every year, it is difficult to find a suitable land; the most important thing is that Lin Zhichao does not want to look too ugly in real estate.

After all, if he devotes all his efforts to developing real estate now, he will simply beat up a group of children. After all, the most powerful children are only worth a few million or in the early tens of millions.

And Lin Zhichao can easily come up with tens of millions, plus he can "empty glove white wolf (off-plan sales)", which is enough to beat a group of people.

But obviously, there's no need to go overboard!

This year (1954) about 5000 buildings could be built in Hong Kong, but they were all five-storey buildings, providing less than [-] residences (including commercial buildings and industrial buildings).

And next year it may double!
林志超的想法是，在1955~1957年区间的两年时间段里，每年提供2500~3000个住宅，占据25~30%左右的市场份额。

before lunch.

Li Gaofu came to Cheung Kong, and Lin Zhichao met him in the office.

He obviously came here on business, and shortly after he sat down, he said, "Lin Sheng, do you want to clear out the tenants for the land on Kimberley Road?"

Lin Zhichao knows that Li Gaofu is obviously a kind of "exploration". He now owns five or six small pieces of land, all of which can be rebuilt into a building. One of them is still located in Sheung Wan (near Central), which can be used to build office buildings. .

He bought so much land that he almost used up his funds, but he didn't choose to rebuild; obviously, he knew to wait for the opportunity.

"Why, do you really want to cooperate with me? I'm famous for being an empty-handed white wolf. If you pay for the land and I pay for the construction and other expenses, I might be able to make money without spending a penny!" Lin Zhichao said with a smile.

In fact, he doesn't care whether Li Gaofu cooperates or not. He also has several small lands under his banner.

Li Gaofu immediately said: "That's your skill! In fact, I want to learn some skills secretly. How to operate this land will allow me to operate other lands in my hands. I always feel that if I can build high-rise buildings, the first floor will be successful." How big is it, is it going to be sold to one person? If it is divided into many units, wouldn’t it be impossible to do the land deed? There are too many problems, and I don’t know how to do it at all.”

Really, it seems that the stratification and staging have come out, but once the high-rise buildings are built, various problems will come one after another.It is nothing to Lin Zhichao, but to others, it is a blind spot.

For example, the current strata land deed has not been formally legislated by the Hong Kong government, and the land deed on the first floor is notarized by a law firm.In short, the Hong Kong government still only grants one title to one building, but the law firm is responsible for revising a 'strata title'. This approach has been publicly recognized by the Hong Kong government as valid.

Stratified titles have not yet been legislated, let alone sub-units. If there is no accident, next year will be linked with the "high-rise residential" legislation to announce the "hierarchical titles", or even "sub-unit titles".

In short, there are still many unresolved and complicated issues in Daodao here.

Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "To be honest, I also think that the opportunity is coming soon, but I haven't received any news! Since the place is dilapidated, the tenants should be cleared as soon as possible. Anyway, there is not much money."

Li Gaofu nodded, already knowing in his heart that there is still hope for high-rise buildings, and he didn't bother to rebuild them.

"Well, do you have time at noon to have a meal together? A chef from Shunde has opened a new Fengcheng restaurant, which specializes in Shunde cuisine, and the taste is not bad!"

Of course, Shunde has gourmet food, and it is also well-known in Cantonese cuisine. Dishes include Daliang fried fresh milk, fish cloud soup, fried chicken, shrimp toast, lettuce wraps, etc.

Shunde cuisine has a characteristic, that is, it is very delicate, the frogs are carefully deboned, and the lettuce wraps should be even.

Lin Zhichao looked at the time on his watch and went to the appointment happily.

Time flies, and more than 20 days have passed in a blink of an eye.

After 53 days of voyage, the four oil tankers of World Shipping finally arrived in New York Harbor eight hours ahead of schedule and successfully completed the mission.And Lin Zhichao himself also came to New York Harbor to witness this moment.

"Mr. Lin, we are very satisfied with this cooperation. We are willing to cooperate with you around the world and sign a two-year contract with these four oil tankers." Niu Deng said happily to Lin Zhichao.

Long-term leasing of ships for global shipping can save 15-20% of freight, which is still compared with Greek ship owners; therefore, Exxon's executives have agreed to cooperate with global shipping.

And everyone knows that Lin Zhichao is a large ship owner with at least 50 million tons of deadweight, enjoys a high reputation in the Far East, and is worthy of cooperation.

Lin Zhichao agreed and responded happily: "It's so wonderful! To tell the truth, Mr. Niu Deng, our business in Asia is already huge, and we urgently need your business in Europe and America. Please rest assured that we do not only rely on price to break into European and American oil. For transportation business, we will insist on first-class service and efficiency.”

I'm really happy. Being able to do business with Europe and the United States is a great breakthrough in my career: first, the business in Europe and the United States is huge and abides by the contract; second, the prices in Europe and the United States are relatively high, and the profit margin is high; Improve the visibility and reputation of the enterprise.

Niu Deng nodded and said, "So, Mr. Lin, please stay in New York for a few more days. I plan to hold a reception for you, and I will invite charter managers from companies such as Shell, Texaco, and Incomparable Petroleum."

This is the American way of doing things. If they get to know you at the beginning, they will question you and guard against you carefully; but once they recognize and understand your strength, they will become good partners and their prejudice against you will disappear.

Lin Zhichao readily agreed to the reception three days later!
Subsequently, Lin Zhichao began to supervise the unloading of oil in New York Harbor, and personally boarded the ship to inspect the hull.

New York Harbor is a large deep-water port in the world, so there is no need to worry about accidents nearby. Otherwise, the richest man in the world will not be able to afford compensation in case of an accident.

Generally speaking, all the oil spill accidents in the previous life were caused by the grounding and the breakdown of the oil tanker by the rocks on the bottom of the sea.So after the 90s in the previous life, the bottom of the tanker began to be designed as a double-layer mechanism.

three days later.

In a hotel in New York, Exxon Petroleum Company held a reception for Lin Zhichao and others, and invited senior executives of major American oil companies to participate.

In terms of generosity, it is much more noble than Japan's entertaining of Lin Zhichao in a geisha hall.The most important thing is that at the reception, Lin Zhichao could get to know the chartering department managers of many oil companies.

"Mr. Lin, this is Mr. Mister from Clamker Petroleum, and this is Mr. Miller from Texaco Petroleum." Niu Deng warmly introduced Lin Zhichao.

"Hello. Hello." Lin Zhichao was very confident and modest to get to know everyone one by one.

Self-confidence comes from one's own strength, which is conducive to the trust of customers;

Modesty is his moral character and an excellent Chinese tradition.

It is Lin Zhichao's style of doing things in a high-profile manner and in a low-key manner.

Mister asked very straightforwardly: "Mr. Lin, I heard from Niu Deng that you own fifty or sixty ships and can achieve global information instant communication. This is really remarkable. However, I heard that your ships are all Second-hand old cargo ships, is it real?"

Is this making things difficult?Of course not, Americans are very straightforward, if you are weak, they will expose you to your face.

Lin Zhichao did not directly answer this question, but said: "We have started to build new ships and carry out a business transformation. Of course, Mr. Meister should not underestimate these second-hand ships. In recent years, they have laid a solid foundation for me. Financial strength gives me the ability to build new large tankers."

People around showed expressions of appreciation.

There is no mistake in starting with second-hand ships, including Onassis, who bought second-hand ships to start; the important thing is that second-hand ships cannot be used all the time, otherwise there will be no breakthrough in business.

Niu Deng said: "Everyone knows each other today. Maybe when Mr. Lin's new tanker is built, we will cooperate as a matter of course. You may not know that Mr. Lin owns a maritime academy, and their seamen are systematically trained Yes. The important thing is that he is willing to extend the lease for two years, and the rent is much cheaper than a one-way short-term rental.”

He warmly introduced Lin Zhichao.

When Mister heard it, he immediately said: "If there is a ship, you can come to our company to talk, Mr. Lin!"

Lin Zhichao was overjoyed immediately, and said, "Of course, Mr. Mister is very straightforward in his work."

Everyone exchanged business cards one after another, and everyone also had some knowledge about global shipping.

However, Lin Zhichao did not tell everyone that Global Shipping was planning to order a batch of [-]-ton oil tankers.Because Lin Zhichao considered that after the oil tanker was built, the Suez Canal crisis might not have erupted, so naturally he could not sign a long-term contract, and could only run a one-way short-term lease first, or park at the port for a period of time.

Lin Zhichao, who returned to Hong Kong, immediately contacted HSBC Bank. After some exchanges, the two parties reached an agreement: to jointly establish the "Universal Shipping" company, with Global Shipping accounting for 60% of the shares and HSBC Bank accounting for 40%. A 5.6-ton German oil tanker.

At the same time, Lin Zhichao also decided to put all his eggs in one basket and build four more 5.6-ton German oil tankers in the name of Global Shipping.

In the recent period, Global Shipping has dispatched several waves of management and technicians, and has been communicating with Hamburg Shipyard in Germany to prepare for the order of oil tankers.

It can be seen that Lin Zhichao is very determined.

Lin Zhichao's request was to complete eight 5.6-ton oil tankers in 20 months, and the Hamburg shipyard in Germany readily agreed.Although the task is heavy, it is not a big problem for the Hamburg shipyard.

For global shipping, the total price of the eight oil tankers is nearly 6000 million U.S. dollars. Leaving aside the 1200 million U.S. dollars from HSBC, global shipping also needs to spend 4800 million U.S. dollars.

However, Lin Zhichao did not worry about funds. By July 1956, Global Shipping should have a working capital of about 7 million US dollars; even if it spent 6000 million US dollars, there would still be about 4800 million US dollars left, which could be used for future shipbuilding business.

Hamburg shipyard, Germany.

Franz warmly received Lin Zhichao and his party. He originally planned to let Germany send at least one deputy prime minister to welcome Lin Zhichao. After all, the order of eight large oil tankers can be said to be a very important force to revitalize the German economy and solve a large number of jobs. , It is a great contribution to the industry of the entire Federal Republic of Germany.

However, Global Shipping specifically reminded that the signing of the contract does not require great fanfare. In the future, when the oil tanker is launched, at least senior officials at the level of deputy ministers must be arranged to participate in the launching ceremony.

In the conference room, lawyers, technicians, and management from both sides sat together, waiting for Lin Zhichao and Franz to formally sign the contract.

"I heard that Global Shipping has reached a cooperation agreement with Exxon Petroleum Company. Congratulations, Mr. Lin!" Franz was well informed.

Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "It is not easy to cooperate with second-hand oil tankers. I am very much looking forward to the new large oil tankers."

In fact, Franz didn't understand Lin Zhichao's "foolish behavior" in his heart. If he ordered so many ships at once, wouldn't he worry about losing money?
This is a gambling behavior!
But as a shipyard, he didn't care how Lin Zhichao managed the ship after he bought it.

All he needed to know was that worldwide shipping was highly profitable and backed by HSBC, and that was enough.

Afterwards, Lin Zhichao signed his own name in a chic way, and two world-class deals were successful.

The eight oil tankers need a down payment of 2072 million U.S. dollars. It is already November, and the funds for global shipping are certainly sufficient, not to mention that HSBC also needs to pay more than 11 million U.S. dollars.

"Mr. Lin, happy cooperation"

"Pleasant to work with"

The two parties signed the contract and took pictures as souvenirs.

The first tanker will be launched in early 1956 and the last in August.Every time a ship is delivered, World Shipping needs to pay off the capital of a ship.

As for the loans provided by shipyards, bank guarantees are generally required, or some agreements can be reached, such as completing a long-term lease with a shipping company in the country, and using that money to guarantee repayment ability.

Of course, Lin Zhichao doesn't know how to do that. After all, the initiative to sign the contract is in the hands of others. Isn't it true that he can't make money at the peak.

After signing the contract, Lin Zhichao was still received by the German Chancellor, and he is now gradually making friends with dignitaries from various countries.

(End of this chapter)