The Birth of the Hong Kong Island Family.

Chapter 290 [New Year]

Time flies, and it is 1962 in a blink of an eye.

After New Year's Day, Cheung Kong Industrial Headquarters (floor 13-17, Universal Building).

Lin Zhichao is sitting in a spacious office, looking through assets and financial statements.

Cheung Kong's assets are divided into three parts - development real estate, commercial real estate, and comprehensive business (doll face).

Among them, commercial real estate assets include (currently valued at about 2.5 to 3 million Hong Kong dollars):

Central: Yingzhi Building, Poly Building, Global Building, Midea Building (under construction);
Causeway Bay: Walden Building (Daimaru Department Store), Xintiandi Building (Xintiandi Shopping Center);
Kowloon District: Miramar Hotel, Miramar Shopping Centre, Lychee Garden Amusement Park, Kwun Tong Factory Building

Singapore: Daimaru Department Store Center
Among them, the assets of the development of real estate are (currently worth 3.5 to 3.7 million):

Properties under construction - Xiyun Street (five buildings sold, two buildings left), Ferry Street 'Telford Garden' (8 buildings, 3000 residential units).

Reserved land - approximately 120 million square feet of urban land in Hong Kong and Kowloon.

That is to say, all property assets have reached 6-6.5 million Hong Kong dollars, and the appreciation has been rapid.

This is because:

For example, the 20 square feet of land in Telford Gardens is worth less than 4000 million based on the current land price; but if calculated based on 3000 residential units, the total value is more than 1.6 million.

Moreover, all properties and land have appreciated greatly.

In the past year, Cheung Kong Holdings sold a total of 990 residential units, earning a profit of approximately 3500 million yuan, commercial real estate income of 2200 million yuan, stock market income of 1000 million yuan, and Poly Construction making a profit of 500 million yuan (its own projects are also included), Excluding stone mining enterprises (investment stage), the total profit was HK$7200 million.

The land return funds are 400 million (Xiyun Street land), and the total return funds are 7600 million.

In terms of expenditure:

Generally, only the expenditures for commercial buildings and the purchase of land are calculated. The construction cost of the Midea building is 2000 million, and the purchase of land is about 2000 million.

As for the construction cost of Telford Gardens, because it adopts the model of "sale of uncompleted buildings", it is generally directly calculated as profit, and the construction cost is not considered as expenditure (a small amount of loan mode is used in the early stage).

In the end, Cheung Kong had a cash flow of 8800 million, of which 1000 million Hong Kong dollars received to Liao Chongxing Bank, and the Liao Liewen brothers had already paid off through property sales.

In other words, after Liao Baoshan's death, the Liao Liewen brothers continued to sell part of the property to repay the debt.

"Boss, it's meeting time!"

"Okay, I'll come right away!"

Afterwards, Lin Zhichao withdrew his thoughts and walked towards the meeting room.

Almost a dozen senior executives of Cheung Kong Industrial Co., Ltd. gathered together. Everyone was very happy, and it was another bumper year.

The important thing is that after the 'Liu Chong Hing bank run', Hong Kong's real estate quickly returned to normal and continued to climb.As if nothing happened, everyone has forgotten, after all, it is not their own bad luck.

"let's start!"

As Lin Zhichao sat down, the high-level executives made speeches and summed up one after another.

If Cheung Kong is listed now, its market value will definitely not lose to Hongkong Land Company, and it is still not counting the reserve land.

After all, although Hongkong Land owns seven or eight buildings in the core area of ​​Central, they are all old-fashioned buildings that have not been rebuilt, so there is nothing to worry about.

On the other hand, Cheung Kong Holdings holds the retail business in Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, and also owns four buildings, and they are high-rise residential buildings, not to mention the dominance in the field of real estate development.

Although only 990 residential units were sold last year, only 10800 residential units (first-hand) were sold in Hong Kong, accounting for about 9%.

Of course, if Cheung Kong Holdings was listed in 1972, it would definitely have to exclude office buildings, reserve land and other properties.

Jason (Jason), the general manager of Miramar Hotel, reported: "Last year, the occupancy rate of Miramar Hotel was 85%, mainly from tourists visiting Hong Kong, followed by local customers. The current competitors in Kowloon are The Peninsula Hotel and the Ambassador Hotel, among which the Peninsula Hotel has only 220 rooms and is an established luxury hotel in the local area, so it is not a direct competitor; while the Ambassador Hotel in Kowloon is a luxury hotel that opened this year. Although there are more than 400 rooms in a four-star hotel, the grade and area are much inferior. This year, the occupancy rate of Miramar Hotel will exceed 90%.”

Lin Zhichao nodded, and then said: "Jardines and Peninsula Hotels will not let it go, and Wharf may usher in changes. Generally speaking, the opportunity for the development of Hong Kong's hotel industry has arrived, and more hotels will appear. Of course , this is not a bad thing, it shows that the hotel industry market in Hong Kong is huge.”

Everyone listened carefully.

Although Jason speaks English and can't understand Chinese, everyone can understand English.

For this kind of meeting, Jason only needs to pay attention to the Miramar Hotel he is in charge of, and there is no need to understand the others.Moreover, he usually seldom attends meetings, and rarely attends weekly company meetings. Huang Changhong notifies him of the meeting, and he comes.

The Miramar Hotel has indeed developed well, creating an occupancy rate of 85% in the first year. It can be seen that the overall environment is very good. In addition, the hardware and software facilities of the Miramar Hotel are full.Therefore, it is estimated that in the five years from 1962 to 1966, an average occupancy rate of 90% can still be maintained.

The hotel industry in Hong Kong can achieve a rate of return of 8-12% when the market is good, while the rate of return for the hotel industry in other countries is only 6-8%.When the market is average, it is even only 5~6%, just collecting interest.

The reason why everyone likes to invest is probably because the cash flow is high and it is easy to borrow.The reason why Lin Zhichao invested is nothing more than "good face". Of course, he also knows that the rate of return of Hong Kong's hotel industry is still the highest in the world.

"Manager Hu, how does your sales department plan to allocate the real estate plan?"

Hu Zhaoxu was a little curious, after all, didn't the boss say it himself?
But he still answered seriously: "Currently, Cheung Kong has two sites under construction - Xiyun Street and Ferry Street, and a mansion in the mid-levels of Causeway Bay that is being planned. Xiyun Street and Ferry Street have a total of 3360 residential units. It is planned to be sold in three years, that is, the average annual sales are about 1120. As for the luxury houses in the mid-levels of Causeway Bay, each unit can be sold for almost 15 Hong Kong dollars, which is expected to be 128 residential units.”

This real estate in Causeway Bay has an area of ​​3.9 square feet and uses caisson technology to build a luxury residential building.Each unit is about 1500 to 1800 square feet, which can be considered a mid-level luxury home, with swimming pools, clubs and other facilities.

Lin Zhichao said: "The real estate in Causeway Bay Mid-Levels will be used for rental in the future! Then the plan to sell 1100 houses per year is similar. But this year is definitely a year of real estate explosion. The Hong Kong government will take out a lot of land for auction. We can take another two It is a small site, and it will be developed immediately as a supplement, and it is still necessary to sell 1500 houses a year."

If we did not acquire land during these three years from 1962 to 1964, it would not be justified at all. Therefore, we would simply acquire two small sites every year and develop them as soon as they are acquired. Although the profit is not as high as hoarding land, it should still be more than 35% a year.

Hu Zhaoxu nodded and said, "Okay, I wrote it down!"

If Lin Zhichao is not in Hong Kong, it may be that Huang Changhong and Hu Zhaoxu jointly go to shoot the land. He is very decentralized now.On the other hand, if there is a high-quality central commercial building site, Lin Zhichao may have to fight for it.

As for the annual supply of 1500 residential units, it is not a lot, only 15% according to last year's standard; and Lin Zhichao predicted that the supply of residential units in Hong Kong will gradually increase from 1962 to 1965 to nearly 1965 in 30000.

This is because the Hong Kong government will propose to reduce the plot ratio by 20% this year, that is, the same land should be built with 20% less area, and it will be officially implemented in 1966.

Because of this, home buyers with land began to rush to finish the construction before 1966, and banks also desperately invested funds in real estate.

After a meeting, all high-level executives have a common idea - that is, the boss is really stable!

The plans for the next three years have basically been drawn up.

John Keswick, the senior manager of Jardine He, once again took his son Henry Keswick to Miramar Shopping Center for inspection and visit.Since the listing of Jardine Matheson last year, the Keswick family has completely controlled Jardine Matheson Group. Before that, it was more like a multi-family Hopewell Company.

Because other families and shareholders were not optimistic about the prospects of Hong Kong, the Keswick family, with the support of three commercial banks in London, acquired part of the shares of other people and completely became the controlling family of the Jardine family.

"Father, this Lin Zhichao is very wealthy and very smart. Now he actually owns the hegemony of retail business in Hong Kong and Kowloon, and even owns such a luxurious hotel in Kowloon. It can be said that he has a lot of money." Henry Keswick praised.

John has two sons—Henry and Simon. Henry Keswick has just returned to Hong Kong from Australia to serve as a director of Jardine.

"Although he has good brains and wealth, it's a pity that he doesn't have a good land. We own Wharf, and the location is better than here in all aspects. Therefore, investing in a shopping center at Wharf Pier 1, then you can Cut off the passenger flow here." There was a hint of contempt in John Keswick's tone, but also some complacency.

Wharf Wharf's Wharf [-] has a very large area, and cruise ships arriving in Hong Kong will drop off passengers there.At the same time, it is bordered by the sea on three sides and has a unique location, which is indeed a good place to build a shopping center.

Henry Keswick said: "I'm afraid Wharf's funds cannot spend tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars to build large shopping malls. However, this kind of thing is great for Hong Kong's economy and the scenery on both sides of Victoria Harbor. We can turn to the Hong Kong government for help.”

John Keswick's eyes lit up, and he said: "Okay, it's up to you to plan this matter, raise funds as soon as possible, come up with a plan, and build a shopping center that is bigger and more expensive than Miramar Shopping Center. And you said That's right, the Hong Kong government can help with this matter, and they won't refuse, because this is the landmark building of Victoria Harbour."

He is very satisfied with his son's ideas, and he has been worrying about money recently.Although the Jardine Department has two flagships and Hong Kong real estate is also very prosperous, Wharf and Landmark are not very profitable at this time.

Although Jardine has just raised more than 4 million yuan, more of these funds will be invested overseas.The Keswick family wants to build Jardine into a worldwide group, not a big foreign company in the Far East.

The confiscation of 3000 million pounds that year was due to the fact that the assets were too concentrated in the Far East.

Henry Keswick said: "No problem!" Then he said: "This Miramar Hotel is also doing very well, and Wharf will also develop the hotel industry there in the future."

John said: "Step by step! The Mandarin Hotel in Central will open next year, and Kowloon will be temporarily delayed."

Henry Keswick nodded and said, "I see!"

After discussing work matters, Henry Keswick said: "Lin Zhichao, a Chinese, has strong financial strength and rapid development, which is really incredible!"

After all, John Keswick has experienced many things, including the confiscation of Jardine's assets, and has seen too many brilliance, so he said: "It may not be a good thing for him to develop too fast, and the debt ratio must be high. Once shipping has If there is a big risk, then the family will go bankrupt.”

After all, it is not listed, how do these people know how much assets Lin Zhichao has.

To put it simply, everyone does not know whether the Yangtze River Industries Group will make money or whether it will lose money; the same is true for shipping companies. Everyone does not know how much money Lin Zhichao has, let alone how much debt he has.

When Henry Keswick heard his father say this, he soon dismissed Huazi as well.The Jardine Department has established a model with Wharf and Landmark as its wings. All three companies have strengths far exceeding those of Chinese capital, and they are still listed companies. Funds can be raised through various channels.

At this time, Lin Zhichao also guessed that once the Miramar Shopping Center opened, it would soon cause a reaction from Wharf.The Ocean Terminal could be built more than a year earlier, putting pressure on the Miramar Mall.

Of course, Hong Kong's economy and tourism are also developing, so there is room for competition.There is an impact, but not too much.

The time to really work with British capital was in the 70s.

mid-December.

"Lisheng, how about the Paterson Street we plan to build?" Lin Zhichao showed off to Li Mingze in a friendly tone.

The two got acquainted in the early 50s because of buying and selling the "Embassy Building". Later, Li Zeming took the initiative to sell it to Lin Zhichao at the former site of the "Huaxin Building" at No. 2 Hysan Avenue.

Li Mingze looked at the bustling Paterson Street, and immediately said with admiration: "I didn't expect that Causeway Bay would have today's prosperity. Undoubtedly, Changjiang Property is the biggest changer. Paterson Street, Xiyun Street, Huaxin Building, all It drives the development of the surrounding area. Especially here on Paterson Street, the traffic flow of Daimaru department store shows me the development prospect of Causeway Bay.”

Hysan Land owns a large number of properties in Causeway Bay. If Causeway Bay can develop, they will be the happiest.Li Mingze, who is in charge of Hysan Land, naturally understands this very well. When he sold the site at No. 2 Hysan Avenue, he hoped that Lin Zhichao could come to Causeway Bay to develop.

Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "I didn't expect the passenger flow of Daimaru Department Store. Now the pressure on my Xintiandi Shopping Center has increased greatly. Fortunately, the two shopping modes can promote each other. I believe this summer vacation can be in It's a double hit here."

Walden Building and Xintiandi Building are even connected by a sky bridge, which means that after visiting Daimaru Department Store, you can also go to Xintiandi Shopping Center.

The pedestrian bridge of this kind of building is unique in Hong Kong and is a groundbreaking design.

Li Mingze nodded and said, "I admire Mr. Lin's innovative methods, and his contribution to Hong Kong real estate is definitely the greatest."

Lin Zhichao said modestly: "Haha, I dare not say that, I was forced out."

It can indeed be understood as being forced out, because after the Hong Kong government allowed the construction of high-rise buildings, real estate companies had to solve various troublesome problems if they wanted to sell high-rise buildings, otherwise buyers would have doubts.

Many innovations are produced when certain problems need to be solved.

Later, Lin Zhichao took Li Zeming around Paterson Street. He didn't show off on purpose, but had a reason.

"Lisheng, if Causeway Bay is to become a retail area in Hong Kong, or if Causeway Bay is to really develop, there is a project that must be done."

Upon hearing this, Li Mingze immediately said modestly: "Sheng Lin, please speak!"

Lin Zhichao then threw out a shocking thing, he said seriously: "That is to build a subsea tunnel connecting Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, and the entrance and exit of Hong Kong Island, it is better to choose Causeway Bay. In this way , Causeway Bay will also become more prosperous because of this tunnel.”

Li Mingze was taken aback and said, "The construction of the undersea tunnel is too huge, and the Hong Kong government may not be willing to invest. Could it be that what Mr. Lin said is that you are willing to take the lead in investing in this project?"

Lin Zhichao nodded, and said calmly: "This project seems huge, and the investment may be 2-3 million Hong Kong dollars. However, with the development of Hong Kong's economy, Hong Kong and Kowloon urgently need closer economic links. This tunnel is easy to pay back. It is a very Good infrastructure investment. My idea is to gather Chinese and British capital, build a team together, gather funds, and make full use of bank loans to complete this project.”

After thinking about it for a while, Li Mingze said: "This project is indeed harmless to Hong Kong. Hong Kong Island and Kowloon should be closely connected. I am willing to join this project!"

Lin Zhichao was not just promoting investment, but also promoting popularity, so he said: "Later, after we contact a group of interested investment groups, you can propose to the Legislative Council that the Hong Kong government undertake the construction first. If the Hong Kong government does not intend to undertake the construction, then it will be handed over to the Legislative Council." Private teams will undertake the construction. If it is built by private parties, you can still ask for the 40-year charging rights."

Li Mingze nodded and said, "Indeed! This matter is a good investment in all aspects."

Afterwards, the two had a serious conversation about detailed planning, and finally hit it off.

Lin Zhichao's investment in the Hung Hom Cross-Harbour Tunnel was not for profit. After recovering the cost, he may make a little money and hand it over to the Hong Kong government in the 90s.

After all, if this charging model is too greedy, it will be scolded.

Of course, he is not doing a loss-making business. Maybe he can recover the cost in 10 years, make some profits, and return it to the Hong Kong government in 20 years.

Although it is said that it will invest 70 million yuan, 0.9% of it can be borrowed, and the rest will be shared by various consortiums; the start-up capital of [-] million yuan is not allocated in a year, let alone a consortium.

As for finding those consortiums, Lin Zhichao felt that Wheelock and HSBC should have no problem. Chinese capital plus Lin Zhichao and Li Mingze were almost enough.

It’s okay for Lin Zhichao to take the majority by himself. It’s only a few tens of millions invested in the name of Yangtze River Industry Group. Anyway, there is money there.

As for the time, Lin Zhichao felt that the project was established, planned, and designed in 1962~1964, and built in 1965~1968; in this way, it was four years earlier than in the previous life.

This is of great benefit to Hong Kong!

(End of this chapter)