The Birth of the Hong Kong Island Family.

Chapter 294 [International Stage]

Lin Zhichao came to the site at No. 141-143 Des Voeux Road. There are three five-storey tenement buildings that need to be demolished and rebuilt.This building can still build a 32-storey first-class Grade A office building, which is about the same value as the Midea Building at No. 71 Des Voeux Road Central.

In this way, Lin Zhichao owns three buildings in Des Voeux Road Central and six buildings in the entire Central.Although these buildings are not considered "famous buildings" in later generations, they are still valuable. Maybe the "Poly Building" is better, after all, it is the famous "Doctors' Building" in the previous life.

"Deputy General Manager Huang, Zeshi Building is looking for a good design for this site. It is necessary to build a first-class building with a height of more than [-] floors. The progress is normal!" Lin Zhichao told Huang Changhong beside him.

Huang Changhong nodded happily, and said, "No problem! Our company is already familiar with commercial buildings, and we will definitely be able to create a first-class building in Hong Kong."

He is happy for the company. In just five or six years, a large number of commercial buildings have been built, which is very prestigious.Although the boss is relatively low-key, there are always people who know how many commercial buildings Cheung Kong owns, and he is the well-deserved leader among Chinese-invested real estate developers.

In fact, Lin Zhichao felt a little headache when he looked at the site at No. 141-143 Des Voeux Road Central.

Because when this building was built, it was really during the bank run crisis, or after 1965; at that time, real estate in Hong Kong had plummeted, and rents would naturally plummet.

Therefore, it is destined that this building will not make much money in the years from 1965 to 1968.

But it doesn't matter, long-term development is the top priority.

Overall, Lin Zhichao was very satisfied with his quick response and quick strike this time.

Not surprisingly, it's time for Zhang Yuliang's family to die!
The strength in this life should be cut in half compared to the previous life.Even if he can become the major shareholder of Wheelock Group, then the other assets of the Zhang family will not be much.

You know, in the 80s, the Zhang family sold at least several billion in assets and then immigrated to Australia.These assets are all buildings, including residential buildings and commercial buildings; but these assets do not include the sale of Wheelock's stock.

In late April, Lin Zhichao started his overseas trip. His itinerary for this trip was London-Paris-New York-Tokyo.Accompanying him was Xu Caiying, so it was as if he was traveling with her.

With the popularity of jet planes, it only takes less than two days to travel from Hong Kong to London, which is mainly a waste of time for connecting flights.Of course, the situation is much better than the previous three days, or even longer.

Maybe in a few years, direct flights from Hong Kong to London, Hong Kong to New York, and Hong Kong to San Francisco will be opened, and the flight can be completed in just thirty hours, which will undoubtedly save Lin Zhichao a lot of time.

After traveling all the way, when she arrived at the London airport, Audrey Hepburn came to greet her personally at the airport.

"Husband, Second Sister"

The cry is quite sweet, this foreign girl has been with everyone for a long time, and she is already a Chinese.

"Three Sisters"

Xu Caiying also smiled brightly, and then the two women walked together arm in arm, towards the garage.

In the car, Audrey Hepburn vividly introduced a London manor she bought, which caused Xu Caiying's eyes to shine.

Of course, Xu Caiying is not jealous, after all, a London manor, in the words of Lin Zhichao-sprinkling water is enough to buy several.

The convoy was driving steadily, heading towards the estate purchased by Audrey Hepburn.

This year, Audrey Hepburn established her own investment company, but did not buy hotels and office buildings in the United States because Lin Zhichao found that they were too expensive.It's not worth buying now.

Therefore, simply let Audrey use part of the dividends from this year's toy company to buy a London manor, which can be regarded as a property investment.As for office buildings and hotels, wait until the speculation of IBM is over before investing.

Less than an hour later, the car began to drive onto the country roads. At this time, the environment in London had been greatly improved; and these places were in the suburbs, so the environment was still very good.

Soon, the car drove through the gate of the manor, and then entered the manor.

According to Audrey Hepburn, this manor has 150 acres and has a big castle.

Of course, in fact, there is not much grandeur, it is just a farm in the countryside, nothing more.

After Audrey bought it, Lin Zhichao didn't plan to buy it anymore, and he just lived here in the future.If you buy too much, you still need to hire people to live for free, and you have to pay wages. It is not worthwhile to think about it.

There are housekeepers and servants in the manor. These people are people who live and eat for free and receive wages.

"Butler Ramsey, this is my family. They will also be the masters here in the future!" Audrey Hepburn introduced to a 50-year-old butler.

Lin Zhichao observed the butler named Ramsey, but if the butler showed any expression that made him unhappy, he would only be dismissed.As a person close to the Lin family, there must be no dissent.

Ramsey stretched out his hand with a gentlemanly smile, and said, "Welcome Mr. Lin home, and you can give me any order you want in the future!" Then, he also called Xu Caiying "Ms. Xu" without any overstepping.

This is because he has seen Audrey Hepburn's two children, both of whom are of mixed race, which means that the child's father is an Asian; now that he sees Lin Zhichao again, he is already fully prepared.

As for more things, he felt that as a housekeeper, he could not inquire without authorization.After all, the two sides have not yet established trust.

Afterwards, everyone formally lived in the villa.

After dinner, there was inevitably a movement of one dragon and two phoenixes, east and west, and finally the three of them lay down very satisfied.

"Audrey, are you already familiar with the investment company?" Lin Zhichao lay in the middle, and at this time he was already a saint in the world.

Audrey Hepburn rested her head on Lin Zhichao's arms, her blush faded slightly, and she said, "I'm already familiar with it, and I've also learned a lot about investing, my husband, you are really amazing. It’s falling, and now it’s only $580 per share.”

For the first time, she felt how powerful Lin Zhichao's financial methods are. After all, the skill of buying stocks to rise is a lot of luck; but to be able to get out of the stock market before the stock market plummets, it is obvious that this is the "stock god".

Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "It's just good luck, but I'm already scared by the increase, so I think I should be careful!"

Audrey Hepburn asked: "When will I go in and buy the bottom?"

Lin Zhichao smiled and said, "There's no rush, just wait! By the way, Audrey, I plan to put 4000 million US dollars in your investment company, and buy IBM like you, which can be regarded as borrowing your channel."

Audrey Hepburn smiled and said: "No problem!"

All three of them believed that everyone would not fall out with a mere 4000 million US dollars, including Xu Caiying. She probably knew her husband's net worth, and the value of global shipping alone was close to 4 million US dollars.

Lin Zhichao nodded and said, "Okay, since you are an American, you should make money by speculating in U.S. stocks! I will transfer the funds to you later, and you will transfer them to your investment company account. As for when to buy the bottom, I think it's still a matter of time." We have to wait until the second half of the year, and it is even possible for IBM to fall to $400 at the beginning of last year.”

It fell to 400 US dollars per share, and the market value is 320 billion to 350 billion US dollars. This market value is 1900 billion, which is a five-fold increase; that is to say, during the period from 1962.10 to 1968.5, IBM increased by more than five times.

And the cost of 8000 million U.S. dollars, accounting for less than 0.3% of the equity, is completely feasible to buy the bottom in October, and it will take three months.

After spending four days in London, Lin Zhichao ordered an 4-ton bulk carrier at a British shipyard. This ship is semi-automated and has advanced performance.

Of course, the purpose of Lin Zhichao's shipbuilding couldn't be simpler, that is, to befriend the British political forces. Anyway, it is only a mere two million US dollars, which should be regarded as a regular payment of protection fees.

In addition to shipbuilding, I also visited some friends from the political and business circles in the UK, and the schedule was very hasty.

After the trip to London, Lin Zhichao, his vice president Bobby Blair, and his two women came to Paris to attend the meeting of the International Tanker Association.

He is already an important member of this association, and this time he is competing for the position of chairman of the association, so this trip is very important.

Paris.

Paris in May is extremely charming, and every corner exudes a romantic atmosphere.The soaring Eiffel Tower, the majestic Arc de Triomphe, the poetic Seine River, and the passionate Parisian girls... This dreamlike and picturesque city attracts thousands of people every day. Tourists and business travelers linger and forget to return, fascinated.

Such a tourist city, it is no wonder that the "Disney" of later generations have stumbled here.

After playing with the two girls for two days, Lin Zhichao finally withdrew his mind and prepared to join the 'International Tanker Association'.This is an international organization that brings together global oil companies, shipping companies, shipyards, etc.

The venue was held in a five-star hotel. Hundreds of people attended the meeting, all of whom could influence global oil tanker transportation.Among the Hong Kong shipowners who attended the meeting, besides Lin Zhichao, there was also Dong Haoyun, but he was just an ordinary member.

At this time in the world shipping industry, Lin Zhichao's influence has far surpassed Dong Haoyun, a veteran ship owner.

The total tonnage of Lin Zhichao's oil tankers is the largest ship owner in the world. Even if you don't know this news, everyone must know that Lin Zhichao is the person who owns the most "ships with the largest tonnage in the world", because every time there is a ship with the largest tonnage in the world Oil tankers (7-10-13 tons) are recorded, and their owners are all Lin Zhichao.

"Lin Sheng, when did you come to Paris?" Dong Haoyun took the initiative to say hello when they met.

If it is said that the two are in a competitive relationship, it cannot be completely correct; this is because Lin Zhichao's strength is far superior to him, and Dong Haoyun has to admit that he is not as good as Lin Zhichao; on this point, it is different from Bao Yugang in the previous life .And Lin Zhichao's fleet in this life is an existence that makes him desperate.

Secondly, there are many kinds of competitive relationships. The two belong to people who have not had any direct conflicts, not to mention that their markets are overseas; in this case, they should all belong to the Hong Kong camp, and their competitors are Greek shipowners and so on.

"I've been in Europe for about ten days, and I've played everywhere, including Paris for two days!" Lin Zhichao said with a smile.

Dong Haoyun's expression suddenly froze. He knew that this man's business was huge, and he had two more industries, namely industry and real estate. Now, luckily, he was so busy that he still had time to travel around.

Immediately, he smiled and said, "Then this meeting is over, shall we have a private gathering?"

Lin Zhichao said cheerfully: "No problem! I will contact you later!"

After a brief chat, the two started chatting with other people again. This is not the time to engage in small circles, but more to communicate with people and get to know more friends from different countries.

"Mr. Lin, let me introduce you, this is the Greek ship magnate 'Onassis'!"

Just as Lin Zhichao stopped, he saw Weilong, an old acquaintance of Chamco Petroleum Company, who has now been promoted to vice president; he brought Onassis to Lin Zhichao's side.

"Mr. Weilong, Mr. Onassis and I are already old acquaintances! Mr. Onassis, what do you think?" Lin Zhichao said in a personable manner.

Onassis felt very complicated at the time. Lin Zhichao, whom he despised at the beginning, is now recognized as the shipowner with the most new and largest oil tankers in the world.In terms of strength, he is no longer as good as Lin Zhichao.

He even invited President Kennedy and his wife to his yacht party.The young president also said, 'Mr. Onassis, do you know Mr. Lin Zhichao from Hong Kong? ', in the words, it seems that Lin Zhichao is still relatively familiar.

This made Onassis jealous!

He really couldn't understand why an American president was so familiar with a Hong Kong ship owner!
Of course he would not understand that Lin Zhichao had already expressed his support for Kennedy before he ran for the election.

"Of course, we have known each other for a long time!" Onassis also quickly adjusted his mood, and then said heartily.

Of course Weilong was not so kind in his introduction, he was just using Lin Zhichao to suppress Onassis's price.

In fact, Onassis's fleet is already in many places and lacks sufficient competitiveness, that is, the price is expensive, because the salary of Greek seamen has risen very fast since the late 50s.

Sure enough, Weilong quickly said: "Mr. Lin's fleet has developed rapidly. In recent years, seven or eight [-]-ton oil tankers have been launched every year! Mr. Lin, there should be some this year, right?"

Lin Zhichao smiled and said: "Yes, I hope President Weilong will take care of it."

Weilong responded immediately: "It's easy to say!"

Onassis' mood sank. He was only used to short-term rentals, so he must have been unable to beat Lin Zhichao's price.Now Lin Zhichao and his team launch so many oil tankers every year, which is a shock to the shipping of the entire Western countries.

Originally, the rise of Lin Zhichao, a Hong Kong shipowner, was enough to shock the Western shipping industry; but now there is a general saying that Hong Kong will be the third star of shipping, and Dong Haoyun seems to have appeared.

"Mr. Lin, are Japanese-made ships really reassuring?" Onassis said deliberately.

Lin Zhichao saw that Onassis was so unmannered, and there was something in his words, so he just said lightly: "Many European and American shipping companies have gone to Japan to build ships. I think everyone's behavior has explained everything. Onassis might as well go for a walk, as an open Take a look."

Onassis could only say a few words, then left.

When Weilong left, he said: "Mr. Lin, we may need two ships this year. You can talk to me later!"

After entering the 60s, the demand for oil tankers increased, and now he pays more attention to Lin Zhichao, the owner of the ship. The first is good strength, the second is cheap price, and the third is good reputation.

"no problem!"

Lin Zhichao was on the scene with a certain amount of advance and retreat, and there was an endless stream of people looking for him. His subordinate, Bobby Blair, took the initiative to attack everywhere, and he did not lose the wind in the slightest.

As the vice president of a shipping company with a capacity of 400 million tons, he naturally has enough confidence and pride.

The conference will officially start soon.

This conference has an important agenda, which is to elect a new chairman of the association, and the nominated people are precisely Onassis and Lin Zhichao.

For a time, the duel between the ship kings of the 50s and the ship kings of the 60s immediately attracted everyone's attention.On the whole, both sides have their own advantages and disadvantages. Who can be elected depends on the election of the member units of course.

When it was Lin Zhichao's turn to give a speech, he first thanked the French organizers in fluent French, and then switched to English:

"Since the 60s, a large amount of oil has been exploited in the Middle East, and energy demand has developed rapidly. Currently, oil tankers account for 32% of merchant ships, but this is not the end. Oil will be a product in increasing demand for the development of the world economy."

"At the same time, after the Suez crisis in the mid-50s, it has become inevitable for oil tankers to become larger and super-large. In just six years, the world's oil tankers have exceeded 7 tons, 10 tons, and 13 tons. I believe that oil tankers of 15 tons and 20 tons will also appear in the next few years."

"The standards of classification societies should also develop accordingly. I suggest that oil tankers be temporarily divided into four ship types: Panamax, Aframax, Suezmax, and VLCC. Among them, Panamax VLCC, Very Large Crude Oil Carrier, and VLCC Ships with a deadweight tonnage of more than 20 tons.”

"Finally, I would like to say a word here, that is 'integrity'. In this international society, lifestyles and actions are different from before, but jumping to disco is not a problem; when it comes to business ethics, it is still old. Tradition is good. It must have reputation and credit, and it has a lot to do with it.”

"Reputation is a 'contract signed in the heart'. Signing a contract is an indispensable routine. A contract on paper can be torn up, but a contract signed in the heart cannot be torn up. Friendship between people is established On top of mutual trust.”

"My reputation has a good record!"

Lin Zhichao's speech received warm applause.

His English speech ability did not come from the ordinary English teacher at the beginning. He later hired a teacher from the University of Hong Kong for tutoring. He no longer pursued new words and grammar, but pursued reading aloud and perfect pronunciation. , Fluently read the proposed 'speech'.

Speeches, of course, must be provocative.

Lin Zhichao, as the world's ship king, will have more and more overseas speaking opportunities, so he has specially studied speech grammar.

Onassis's subsequent speech was slightly inferior. Although he was very funny, it was obvious that Lin Zhichao's speech was more professional and was of great help to the entire association.

In the end, Lin Zhichao won the post of chairman of the 'International Tanker Association'. At the age of 34, he shined brilliantly on the international stage.

The 'International Tanker Association' is actually the later 'International Association of Independent Tanker Owners', established in 1790 and headquartered in Norway.The association regularly provides members with comprehensive information services, international regulations, port information and expert opinions on issues related to the tanker industry, and organizes a series of seminars, exhibitions and other activities.

It is the top three important shipping associations in the world. It can be seen that Lin Zhichao has indeed initially demonstrated his strength this time.

After the trip to Paris, Lin Zhichao went to the United States, Japan, and finally returned to Hong Kong in late May.

At present, the Lin Zhichao family does not invest much overseas, only Sing Tao has some factories and commercial real estate, and the United States invests in the stock market.

Although Lin Zhichao has some cash flow in his hands, he does not want to deploy global industries at this time. After all, Hong Kong has not yet established a foothold, so why rush for a while.

At the same time, countries in this era may not be as friendly to foreign capital as they were in the 70s, so it is better to stay still.

By the 70s, when Lin Zhichao's children graduated from college and started working, it would not be too late for Lin Zhichao to flex his muscles overseas.

(End of this chapter)