The Industrial Giant Reborn

"Haha." Simon Keswick did not reply, but said: "Niubijian, let's not talk about whether there is any problem with Chen Zhiwen's loan. You have finally spent half of the 3 billion Hong Kong dollars you got in just one month. Have you not considered the above, if the money is spent and the market has not recovered, what should you do? Go to Hisense to borrow 3 billion?"

Hold a shareholders' meeting to discuss whether to pay dividends? That is making yourself unhappy. From an investment perspective, if the company's management has higher investment efficiency, it should not pay dividends, or if the company has financial difficulties, it should not pay dividends because it requires working capital.

But in this world, most ordinary people are short-sighted. They only want immediate profits. The stock dividend model that Hong Kong has formed over the years is for this reason, not a legal requirement.

If you hold a shareholders' meeting to discuss this issue, and you oppose it while Newbi insists on supporting it, you will be standing on the opposite side of all shareholders. This will be very detrimental to your future actions. Many people will not care about the company after it pays dividends. Whether you are short of money or not, let’s get it first.

It cannot be said that the shareholders are wrong, but this is indeed not in line with the overall interests, but there is no way. As far as he knows, currently the entire Hong Kong, namely Wharf and Hong Kong Electric owned by Chen Zhiwen, have directly publicly stated that they will not pay dividends, which has also led to The two companies are not favored by investors, which indirectly makes the stock price low.

With this relationship, it naturally makes other companies dare not not pay dividends. Even in the difficult situation in early 1983, Carnegie still wanted to pay dividends to protect the stock price. It was because the stock price fell and the value of the collateral was insufficient. , you may face pressure from banks.

Over the years in Hong Kong, only Chen Zhiwen has been able to ignore this unwritten rule because he has sufficient funds and does not need any loans at all.

"I believe that Hong Kong's economy will recover soon. Simon, you have been in the UK for a long time and you should know the decision-making in the UK. This matter will be settled soon." Newbijian said calmly.

In fact, he also knew that Simon Keswick wanted him to stop paying dividends while he was in office. In this way, he would offend many shareholders and the stock price might fall, which would cause greater losses to shareholders, plus possible reminders from banks. Debt, therefore, no matter how great the pressure is, we have to issue this dividend.

Of course he knew that the money in Land's hands was very important, but in order to keep his position, he had no choice but to hold on.

"The decision has been changed. I don't know how the talks will go later?" Simon Keswick said coldly.

He naturally knows that during the previous Hong Kong dollar exchange rate crisis, the British government came under strong pressure. Many domestic consortiums in the UK had investments or cooperative interests in Hong Kong, pressure from the mainland, pressure from other consortiums around the world, etc., and more The important thing is that if there is an economic collapse under British management, the international image of the entire United Kingdom will plummet.

Although after many efforts, the Hong Kong dollar exchange rate crisis is over, it has also led the UK to know that it can no longer continue to manage Hong Kong. Therefore, negotiations with the mainland have also become how to smooth the handover, such as how to ensure the interests of British capital. etc.

Although there are still many disputes, the trend is finally getting better. However, no one knows how long this will take. If it takes a few years, Hong Kong's economy may still be able to sustain it, but Land's debt will definitely not be able to.

But obviously Newbijian still believed that this matter would end soon, and Simon couldn't provide any rebuttal evidence.

"Whether it is the mainland or the UK, they will not sit back and watch Hong Kong's economy continue to sink. I am very confident in my judgment." Newbijian said confidently.

In fact, it is not important whether he has confidence or not. What is important is that he can only go to the dark side in one way. If the confidence is gone and the management of the real estate changes, then Simon Keswick will be given a chance to drive him away as soon as possible. , this is absolutely unacceptable to him.

"Hmph, I'd like to see how you deal with it if you encounter a problem." Simon Keswick was a little angry and had a toothache. Jardine Land was once an asset of his family, but now it has been taken over by several professional managers. He was controlled by the company and made decisions he disagreed with, but he had no choice because the Jardine family only held 10% of the shares in Jardine. Without operating rights, there was no way to change the board of directors with this small amount of shares. decision, and the entire board of directors has naturally been controlled by Newbijian.

Unless major problems arise in Jardine Matheson Land, it will be difficult for the current management to be leveraged. Even if Land is now heavily in debt, it will not be able to shake their position.

Although Ximen himself hopes that there will be problems with Land and Land, so that he can have a chance to rise to power, as Jardine Land is their family's asset, he still hopes that problems will break out sooner, because the sooner, the pressure he will face after taking over Jardine Land will be lower. The smaller it is.

Unlike Newbijian and the others, they are entirely for the benefit of their non-fixed management team.

"I think this day will never happen again. As long as the economy improves, all problems will be solved." Niubijian said with a smile.

Indeed, as long as housing prices recover, even if they have not yet reached their previous peak, as long as there is hope, it will be enough for all banks to no longer worry about debt problems, and investors will have confidence in the stock market again. With large amounts of capital entering the market, real estate can return to normal. , even if it is difficult in the early stage, it will not be like now. This is the only hope he can count on.

"I have invited the British third-party auditing company Gregg. They will conduct a comprehensive financial audit of the entire Jardine Matheson and Land Group. They are expected to come to Hong Kong after Christmas. You should be prepared." Simon Kaiser Ke also knows that wasting words is useless. Without management rights, what he says is meaningless. However, it is also difficult to gather shareholders to stand on his side. When a group of people from Newbijian controlled Jardine Matheson Land for nearly 10 years, too many People have been kidnapped by their interests. If there are no absolute mistakes, it is impossible to overthrow them. The purpose of financial auditing is for this.

"No problem, we welcome the review of major shareholders at any time." Newbijian said nonchalantly.

This kind of thing happens to every big company, including Jianing. But in the end, it is not that easy to find the problem. Big companies hire so many top financial personnel not just to pay taxes, but more importantly. other purposes.

Of course, some small problems can still be discovered, such as some subordinates being involved in corruption, etc. This kind of discovery is also a good thing for senior executives, and really smart senior executives basically don’t worry. There are actually too many ways to make money. Yes, only a fool would directly manipulate the company's accounts.

…

Hong Kong, Hutchison Building.

As Chen Zhiwen's largest capital investment group in Hong Kong, Hutchison Whampoa's scale is getting bigger and bigger. Of course, it may still not be comparable to Land in Hong Kong. After all, it is a century-old company and has been working in this city for a long time. Even if Hutchison Whampoa has With money, you won’t be able to buy many high-value properties like Land’s assets in a short period of time. However, if overseas industries are included, Hutchison Whampoa's scale must be larger.

Especially the discovery of the Christmas Creek iron ore in Australia. Although it is currently impossible to calculate its value because the development cost and transportation cost are not yet clear, based on the similar configuration of the same type of iron ore, plus rough transportation calculations, it can be calculated that the Christmas Creek If the iron ore in Xixi is mined in large quantities, it is estimated that one ton can earn a net profit of about US$2. The larger the scale, the higher the net profit per ton. Based on this calculation, if we mine 20 to 30 million tons a year, we can make a net profit of more than 100 million Hong Kong dollars.

"It seems bluffing, but the result is not as good as collecting rents from several Hong Kong buildings!" Chen Zhiwen shook his head and smiled after reading the approximate figures analyzed.

It’s no wonder that all the capitalists in Hong Kong have invested in the real estate industry. It is really easy to invest and there is no threshold, and the income is stable in the end. Even during the current real estate crisis, the annual rent of three Central buildings is almost 100 million, and more than half of the rent is Profit, this is much better than opening an iron mine.

"Actually, you can't say that. Such an iron ore has a great influence. During this period, people from OOCL have approached me several times. They all hope to win the transportation rights of our future iron ore." Zhou Jiayang said with a smile.

"OOCL? It's really not easy for the Dong family. The old man is desperately trying to get into debt, and now his son is desperately trying to save the entire company." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

The founder of the Dong family is also one of the top ten shipping kings in the world. In the 1970s, he was named the seventh shipping king in the world by Time Magazine. This can be said to be a great honor, but Dong Haoyun was not satisfied because it included Yugang is number one, and Bao Yugang is still his junior in the shipping market. He asked him for advice many times decades ago, but now he is number one in the world, with a scale that is 2.5 times his.

In the late 1970s, Pao Yugang discovered the impending shipping crisis and decided to abandon the ship and land. Later, he and Chen Zhiwen plotted to acquire Central Electric Power, which not only had a large amount of real estate, but also had stable power generation income. Dong Haoyun actually also saw that shipping market problems, but he judged that the trough period would not last long, and that the trough period was the best time for major expansion.

As a result, the Dong family's OOCL placed large orders with Japanese shipyards many times, bought shipping companies in the United Kingdom and the United States, and became a major customer in the global shipbuilding market.

Unfortunately, Bao Yugang is right. The advent of the shipping crisis has caused freight costs to plummet to 30% of their peak. Ships that were once bought at high prices lost all their money. Many ships lose money even if they are opened, and they will lose money if they are not opened. Because of large-scale A boat is different from a house. Even if you leave it alone, it still requires a lot of maintenance fees, berth fees, labor, etc. every day.

As a result, the Dong family has fallen into a huge debt crisis. The company has a market value of HK$1.4 billion and a debt of HK$5 billion. It is still losing money every day. Hutchison Land back then and now are much better than Orient Overseas.

"The freight price offered by the Dong family is very cheap, but it will take at least two or three years for our mine to be opened, so I didn't agree." Zhou Jiayang said.

"The Dong family wants to sign such a contract with us, and then deal with the bank group demanding debts." Chen Zhiwen said that if OOCL has a relationship with Chen Zhiwen, there will be more or less many banks. A little confidence.

"I think so too. In fact, Orient Overseas also contacted Hisense Bank, but Huo Jianning rejected it." Zhou Jiayang said with a smile.

"Well, let's leave it alone for now and see about it later," Chen Zhiwen said. Although the Dong family can get out of the crisis in the future, it will take a long time, at least until the 1990s, so there is no point in investing. Buying a random piece of land in the deep sea of ​​Hong Kong is more cost-effective.

However, considering the future status of the second generation of the Dong family, some help would be fine, but it is not now, the time has not come yet.

"Understood." Zhou Jiayang said.

"Rio Tinto hasn't completed the valuation yet?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.

"Their valuation is between US$1.5 billion and US$2 billion, while ours is valued at US$2.5 billion. There is still some dispute and it may take some time to wait," Zhou Jiayang said.

Valuation is very easy in the real estate market. Just look at the nearby housing prices and then look at the condition of the building, decoration, flow of people, etc., and it's almost the same. However, the grade and total tonnage of minerals are fixed, and the development cost is also fixed. Not bad, the only problem is the transportation cost.

The pricing of transportation costs is in the hands of Rio Tinto, so they naturally want to make more money. This is also normal business behavior, and the two parties are still negotiating.

"Negotiations with other mining companies cannot be left behind. There must be someone who can lower the price." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. He would not interfere too much in unprofessional matters, but it is never wrong to have more choices.

"We are also negotiating with Australian mining groups. Their pricing is a bit higher than Rio Tinto, but if we cooperate with them, the transportation cost will be higher. Which side is more cost-effective needs to be calculated clearly to determine." Zhou Jiayang replied .

"Okay." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

"There are two other things." Zhou Jiayang added: "The first is that the mainland has agreed to mobilize iron ore workers from China to Australia, and they have also promised to try their best to provide engineers with some technical or academic qualifications, but they also hope to lock in Part of our future iron ore is expected to be produced by Baosteel, which is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, next year, and the price must be favorable."

"It's okay if you get a discount. Baosteel's production capacity is quite large. It's worth locking in a big customer. As for the price, it's fine if it's discounted according to market conditions. As for these workers, we can't treat them badly." Chen Zhiwen nodded and asked again: " Then can Australia allow so many Chinese to enter and work?"

"This is not a problem. The population of Western Australia is very small, and there are no people to mine. Transferring people from outside will only create wealth for Australia. It is too late for them to be happy. However, the Australian government requires these people not to apply for immigration, let alone go to eastern Australia. Looking for a job." Zhou Jiayang said.

"Of course." Chen Zhiwen nodded. The eastern part is the core area of ​​Australia. Foreigners can go in unless they do jobs that the locals are unwilling to do.

"The second thing is that the British government sent us an invitation to invest in the UK." Zhou Jiayang added.