Started from Hong Kong Island

Chapter 264 [Test]

Zheng Yutong attached great importance to this project, so he invited people from the three major families to discuss the matter the next day.

They were also somewhat coveting this project, and in a few words they reached a verbal agreement that each of the five companies would hold 20%, and a new company would be established to be responsible for this project. At the same time, it was decided that Li Jiacheng would negotiate with the foreigners. Even if the amount could not be reduced, the payment of the balance would be delayed to buy some time for everyone to raise funds.

They also discussed when to break ground, how long it would take to complete the building, and how much upfront construction fees would be required.
Li Wendi was not present, but Zheng Yutong was responsible for conveying these things to him. Zheng Yutong knew that Li Wendi had recently spent a lot of manpower and material resources on the Sai Sai Lake project in North Point. When the discussion started, Li Wendi also stated that he would not participate in the construction of the old site of the tobacco company, and would only be responsible for investment and dividends.

In fact, when Li Jiacheng went to discuss with the foreigners, the construction affairs had already been handed over to him, and Cheung Kong Holdings also needed this little reputation.

Mid to late March
Kowloon Motor Bus Company held a board meeting as scheduled. Lei Juekun asked someone to notify Li Wendi. He didn't want to be laughed at for such a trivial matter.

Li Wendi acted contrary to his usual behavior at the board meeting this time and took the opportunity to get to know many directors, even those who were on good terms with Lei Juekun. However, he did not say anything against it at the meeting, which made Lei Juekun feel very strange. It seemed that Li Wendi was holding back a big move.

In fact, Li Wendi felt that there was no need to make trouble at the board meeting because he had no plans to acquire the Kowloon Motor Bus Company at that time. Moreover, people like Lei Juekun were on guard against Li Wendi. He needed to find a big breakthrough so that he could defeat the Lei family in one fell swoop.

However, Li Wendi proposed the "dividend" suggestion at the board meeting. His purpose was not to make the Kowloon Motor Bus Company too powerful, but to just run it in its proper business.

Lei Juekun ignored the directors' approval and firmly opposed it, so the issue of dividends was put on hold for the time being. However, those directors had some opinions about Lei Juekun.

This was also an unexpected effect that Li Wendi received, which planted the seeds of conflict in the hearts of these directors.

There was a problem with the plan of Changxin Real Estate Company to plunder and exchange land rights in the New Territories. Due to the strong acquisition offensive of Sun Hung Kai Properties in the New Territories, the natives found an opportunity to "sell at a high price", so they asked Changxin Real Estate for a 50% premium and increased the penalty for breach of contract several times.

Zhang Wentao reported these problems to Li Wendi, which were less serious than expected.

"We can't open this loophole. Since Sun Hung Kai Properties is unwilling to give them such conditions, we can't give them either." Li Wendi didn't feel sorry for the 50% premium, but he didn't want to arbitrarily disrupt the market rules and the tacit understanding with his peers. Real estate is his base, and he doesn't want to have enemies all over the world.

"We can't proceed in Tsuen Wan anymore, let's move to another place. The rights and interests agreements for other places are the same." Li Wendi made the latest decision.

"The situation in other places is not much different. They all require a premium, but it may not be that high." Zhang Wentao is not very optimistic about the current situation.

Li Wendi glanced at Zhang Wentao and said, "If other real estate developers can afford it, we can afford it too. We will try to acquire as many equity certificates as possible. These are the company's land reserves."

Although the Hong Kong government will not exchange prime land for title deeds, some places are already prime, it’s just that the timing has not yet come.

Moreover, once the land in Hong Kong Island is almost developed, except for some special places such as Tin Shui Wai, other places in the New Territories will become hot commodities.

Nowadays, places like Tiu Keng Leng are considered backward places that are disliked by real estate developers, but in the past life, they were able to develop a large residential area. Li Wendi does not believe that the Hong Kong government can have such a great long-term vision.

Seeing Zhang Wentao nodded, Li Wendi continued, "How many rights books have we acquired in the Tsuen Wan area?"

"We can get about 12 square feet of land from the Hong Kong government," said Zhang Wentao.

The equity book of 12 square feet looks good, but compared with Sun Hung Kai Properties, Cheung Kong Properties is far behind.

"The Hong Kong government releases 8 square feet of land in the New Territories every month to exchange for title deeds. Are there many real estate developers participating in the exchange?" asked Li Wendi.

"Very rarely. Generally, it is Sun Hung Kai Properties and Henderson Land Development that are doing the exchanging. Moreover, most of the land being exchanged are in very remote places, which are not popular with real estate developers at all." Zhang Wentao replied.

Li Wendi thought quietly, "In the future, all the land exchange projects launched by the Hong Kong government must be brought to me for review, and I will decide whether to exchange them or not."

Zhang Wentao's vision is not very good, slightly better than the average real estate developer, but compared with a man with bugs like Li Wendi, it is completely inadequate.

Moreover, the officials of the Hong Kong government are very cunning. Generally, the land they release is rarely high-quality land, and some of them even have good geographical locations but other major defects.

Wheelock and Company was nominally one of the four major trading companies in Hong Kong, but it was completely inferior to the other three. Its main assets were its ships, but Wheelock and Company's shipping business was far inferior to that of the charter king, Tran Line.

Although it also has a lot of real estate and department store businesses, the scale is not large, at most it is a medium-sized company, unlike Taikoo Matheson which has a strong field. Today's shipping has entered its heyday, and John Madden, chairman of Wheelock, is ecstatic. Because Madden and his son are wary of the North, they believe that ships are movable property and can be moved immediately if there is any disturbance. Now they want to further develop Wheelock's shipping business.

In fact, the reason why Wheelock & Company is so weak (compared with the four major trading companies) is that the situation in the north has been turbulent in recent years. Madden and his son were indecisive and bought and sold Hong Kong's business projects and properties many times. This repeated ins and outs consumed a lot of Wheelock & Company's energy and financial resources.

'Make money in Hong Kong and develop overseas' - in this respect, Wheelock and Jardine Matheson are exactly the same.

Li Wendi, who works at a shipping investment company, saw these reports and became more certain that he could make a fortune in shipping. In addition, Global Shipping Company had ordered a large number of ships from Japan, where the cost of ships was low, and was now looking to phase out its old ships. This was a good opportunity for expansion.

Although the shipping investment company is wholly owned by Li Wendi, Li Wendi does not plan to invest too much money because most of the shipping business market has been occupied and it will be difficult for him to get too much business.

Second-hand ships are very suitable for today's shipping investment companies, but their energy consumption will be much higher than that of new ships, and the maintenance costs will not be low, but they can temporarily meet the company's needs.

So Li Wendi made an appointment with the boat charter king based on their previous encounters.

Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Central
"Hello, Mr. Bao! We haven't seen each other for some time!" Li Wendi greeted warmly with a smile on his face.

The charter king is still in good health now, and his face is a little rosy, "Mr. Li, long time no see!"

As soon as they sat down, the waiter served the dishes, all of which were Chinese dishes with a fragrant aroma.

After a few rounds of drinking, Li Wendi felt that the time was right, so he smiled and said, "I heard that Global Shipping Company wants to sell a batch of second-hand ships recently. I wonder if they have all been bought?"

The charter king swallowed the food in his mouth, wiped the corner of his mouth, and asked, "Mr. Li, are you interested in these second-hand ships? Some of them have been bought by Wheelock, and there are still some ships, but they can only be traded in August."

"I have a shipping investment company under my umbrella, which I acquired from Hutchison Group. It's very small, so I want to expand some of its business." Li Wendi explained a little, "Transactions in August are possible. In fact, this meeting with Mr. Bao is not just to buy a ship, but also to ask him about shipping matters."

Bao Yugang naturally didn't worry that Li Wendi could take away his business. The tonnage of Global Shipping Company had exceeded 1300 million tons, while the tonnage of Shipping Investment Company was less than one-tenth of Global Shipping. It was like the difference between an adult and a baby. How could it affect Global Shipping Company?

"Haha!! Mr. Li, just ask me, I will tell you what I know." It has been a long time since the boat charter king met such a studious young man.

An hour later, Li Wendi had asked almost all the questions, so he smiled and asked tentatively, "Mr. Bao is the pride of us Chinese people, but shipping has a cycle, and the shipping company is too dangerous. Have you ever thought about going ashore?"

Hearing this, the charter king paused and said bluntly, "I have considered this, but I haven't encountered a suitable opportunity. How did Mr. Li know that I was planning to go ashore?"

Li Wendi smiled bitterly and said, "After taking over the shipping company, I found that although shipping makes a lot of money, the shipping industry has been in a downturn for a long time. The maintenance costs of the ships are very high. If there is a slight mistake, it is easy to lose everything."

"Mr. Bao is a veteran in the shipping industry. I don't believe he can't see it. Even a novice like me feels scared."

"Mr. Li is indeed a leader of the younger generation. He was able to discover the difficulties of shipping in such a short time, especially during the booming period of shipping." There was some admiration in the eyes of the charter king. Of course, he also noticed Li Wendi's other purpose. This topic was definitely not brought up casually.

"When do you think is the right time? What do you think of Wheelock? It seems to be very compatible with your industries," Li Wendi said half-jokingly.

Hearing about Wheelock, the charter king's expression changed a little, and he said, "Mr. Li, I never like to take away my friends' things, nor do I like to buy other people's companies casually."

Li Wendi quickly apologized, saying it was just a joke.

Li Wendi's purpose was to test Bao Yugang's intentions towards companies such as Wharf Holdings and Wheelock. Although he did not get any useful information, he formed some opinions about Bao Chuanwang's character, which was consistent with the evaluation in the rumors.

Therefore, as long as Li Wendi continues to deepen the cooperation with Global Shipping, he can basically make the charter king give up his thoughts on Wharf Holdings and concentrate on guarding against this guy Li Jiacheng.

Of course, it’s not that they don’t care about the ship chartering king at all. After all, in the face of huge interests, anyone may change their mind. It’s just that the focus is not on the ship chartering king.

As for Wheelock Company, Li Wendi is only interested in its properties such as Kallianford, Wheelock House in Central, and some residential buildings in Central. The others are some not-so-good companies and properties.

(End of this chapter)