Started from Hong Kong Island

Chapter 402 400 [Win another round]

After entering 82, the downward trend in shipping had already been completely formed and there was no possibility of reversal.

Tung Chao Yung and Chao Cong-yen, two of the five shipping magnates in Hong Kong, did not believe that shipping would decline. For example, in 80, Tung Chao Yung still ordered the launch of a 56.5-ton Japanese-made oil tanker. This tanker was still the largest supertanker in the world in the early 21st century and cost tens of millions of dollars.

Today, the Dong family's fleet is unprecedentedly large, with 149 ships and a total tonnage of 1100 million tons. The Zhao family's Huaguang Shipping Company owns ships of nearly 700 million tons, while the charter king has reduced most of his ships, and a large amount of funds has been converted into land, hotels, and shopping malls.

Shipping magnate Xu Aizhou had already reduced his fleet and set up China State Construction Engineering Corporation in the 50s. The family's iconic building is the China State Construction Building in Central. Another shipping magnate Cao Wenjin decided to reduce his fleet as early as last year and recovered a large amount of funds. However, no one knows which projects the money was invested in.

The tonnage of ships under Wheelock Company only retained more than 100 million tons of new ships, and the rest of the old ships were all sold. Li Wendi's private shipping company actually controlled only 23 ships, all of which were small-tonnage ships with only 38 tons. Most of the ships had transportation contracts with Cheung Kong Group, Wharf Holdings, and Electric Light Company, and of course a lot of them were allocated to Wheelock Shipping Company.

According to the memories of his previous life, Li Wendi knew that Tung Chao Yung insisted on his own opinions and left a huge disaster for his descendants. The Tung family's Orient Overseas Container Company was taken over by the Huo Yingdong family, and his son Tung Chee-hwa became a debtor. Although the Tung family recovered in the 90s with the recovery of the shipping industry, the crisis in the 80s was enough to scare people to death.

The Zhao Congyan family's businesses were not all ships, but also real estate, hotels, and a large number of antiques. Eventually, most of the assets were sold, and only then were they able to barely retain control of the Huaguang Shipping Company.

Now Dong Haoyun and Zhao Congyan are still struggling, and have not reached the end of their rope.

Li Wendi was very interested in the antiques, hotels and real estate in Zhao Congyan's hands. These old families in Hong Kong all had some hidden treasures.

Changxin Group Office

Zhang Wentao reported to Li Wendi on the factory construction in Shekou Industrial Zone and the negotiation of Shekou Hotel in Shenhai City. "Our engineering team has entered Shekou Industrial Zone in Shenhai City and is now cleaning up the construction site. It is expected that the next step of foundation construction can be carried out before the Spring Festival. According to the plan, the main building of the garment factory will be completed in the second half of this year."

"There are some problems with the construction of Changxin Hotel in the negotiations with Shenhai City. Government Z still insists on demanding 51% absolute controlling rights. They can hand over the management rights to us. They provide the land, and we will bear the rest of the expenses."

Li Wendi thought for a moment and said, "Put aside the construction of Shekou Changxin Hotel in Shenhai City for now. Immediately order all the negotiating personnel of the group to withdraw. This project will be shelved indefinitely. As for the factory building construction project in Shekou Industrial Zone, put it aside as well. Withdraw half of the construction personnel and extend the construction period by half. It can be completed before 84."

Li Wendi hates the behavior of "wanting the horse to run but not letting it eat grass". This is obviously a win-win project. I don't know why they always want to control it? If they are given the controlling rights, can they control it normally?
"Yes! I will implement it immediately." Zhang Wentao has already felt Li Wendi's anger.

"The group's Central Bus Terminal land tender has been submitted to the Hong Kong government. I heard from officials that the result will be announced before the end of get off work this afternoon," Zhang Wentao reported.

"Have you found out the prices of other companies?" Li Wendi asked.

"I did find out the price offered by Sun Hung Kai Properties, which is 39 billion yuan. As for other companies, there is no news, but there is a false news from Cheung Kong Holdings, saying that their price is 37 billion yuan." Zhang Wentao replied. Sun Hung Kai Properties is not very interested in the bidding for this project, and the funds involved are so huge. They prefer to develop more properties and implement the principle of "goods are in rotation", so it is easy to find out the price.

As for Cheung Kong Holdings, it is impossible for Li Jiacheng to make such a low-level mistake. As Zhang Wentao said, this is fake news.

Of course, now that I know the price tag is meaningless, it’s just for psychological comfort.

The trajectory of many things has changed significantly. Li Wendi is not sure whether the price of the Landmark Company will remain the same as in the previous life, 47.55 billion yuan. If the Landmark Company raises the price recklessly, he can only take the risk of acquiring the entire Landmark Company.

Li Wendi secretly breathed a sigh of relief and began to ask about other things. "How is things going in Singapore? The important thing right now is the acquisition of Tiger Balm International."

Zhang Wentao understood and replied, "The shares of Tiger Parr International are still being secretly purchased. We already hold about 18% of the shares. However, there are fewer and fewer scattered shares on the stock market. It is easy for us to expose our acquisition purpose. I am worried that if we acquire less than 20% of the shares, we will be discovered. Should we be prepared to launch an acquisition at any time to catch Huaguang Bank off guard?"

Li Wendi shook his head. "We don't have much money left. It's a bit difficult to launch another large-scale acquisition war."

“I suggest that we sell part of the interests in the shopping mall while the current price is high, and then buy it back when the group has sufficient funds.” Zhang Wentao suggested, but he felt a little uneasy.

Li Wendi thought for a long time and said, "Okay, but we can sell it to a sister company or a listed company under it so that we can recover the rights and interests in the future."

"Yes! I'll confirm it later." Zhang Wentao breathed a sigh of relief. His original intention was not to sell it to a sister company, but a real sale.

"We have acquired 9.9% of Yeo Hiap Seng Group's shares and should be able to hold 10% by tomorrow. Although there are not many scattered shares on the stock market, the head of the Yeo family, Yang Tianen, is currently recovering from an illness and should not pay too much attention to these things. I suggest that we can take bigger actions so that we can have greater advantages," said Zhang Wentao.

Li Wendi said, "No need. Let's make the acquisition low-key and cautious. Although we don't want to acquire Yeo Hiap Seng Group, the Yeo family has great influence in Singapore. We should not easily alarm them."

At around 5:20 p.m., Zhang Wentao called and said that Cheung Kong Holdings Group had won the bid with a price of 55 billion yuan, while the second place was the Land Development Company with 52.88 billion yuan. Although it could not be said to be a narrow victory, there was still a hint of danger.

After Li Wendi hung up the phone, he smiled and said, "Another victory! Next, we are ready to launch the biggest attack."

That’s right, Li Wendi wanted to acquire all of Hutchison Whampoa’s properties and land in Causeway Bay under the guise of acquiring Hutchison Whampoa.

(End of this chapter)