The Industrial Giant Reborn

The news of the acquisition of Land has not only become a hot headline in Hong Kong, but also in many overseas countries. Especially the media targeting Chinese people have used many reports to describe and explain the matter, including the history of Jardine Matheson, Land and Land The scale of the company and the rise of Chen Zhiwen, a business tycoon, etc., each of which has become a relished reading material for many Chinese.

Some media in the United States have even claimed that the era of British capital in Hong Kong is over. Not only in the Sino-British negotiations, the British government has given up on what it once strived for, and even in matters such as how to hand over, it has been restrained by the mainland. In the business field of Hong Kong, several major British-funded giants were defeated by the Chinese. One media even joked that the major British-funded conglomerates in Hong Kong were just the products of a group of successful people relying on policies. When the Chinese After capital began to have a relatively fair environment, all British capital was a bunch of waste. It was also suggested that Hong Kong should not continue to protect HSBC and should be completely market-oriented.

The international media in the West cannot be all monolithic, and there are many internal conflicts. Naturally, many media are unhappy with the UK. Now that they have this opportunity, of course they will laugh a little more, and some of them even extend to the UK itself. The industrial situation is also in a mess. After losing the protection of the British government, there is no competitiveness at all.

Some officials in the British government were naturally furious after seeing these reports, but they knew that at times like this, they would be unable to reply. Although Hong Kong is still under their control, the mainland is also keeping an eye on it. If there are any problems, they will be magnified immediately.

Hot news, like a slap, requires both parties to work together to make it sound. Once you reply, no matter what the reply is, whether it is correct or not, these media will find out various problems like nitpicking, and then amplify them. Create greater hotspot traffic. And if you treat it as if you don’t know, then fewer people will pay attention to it, and naturally no one will report it anymore. Media people are not fools, and they will naturally not care about it if there is no traffic.

"These Americans are really good at playing." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile after reading a batch of American newspapers.

Although he has been in Hong Kong for a long time, many of his businesses are in the United States and some other countries, so he still pays some attention to international news. In addition, it has been ten years since he traveled back in time, so he can still remember some major events, but Many young people cannot recall them unless they actively see them. By watching various major news events, these memories may be promoted.

"It's said to be business news, but it was reported by an entertainment newspaper. The Americans probably saw this as an entertainment thing." Zhou Jiayang said with a smile, and Huo Jianning on the side also nodded lightly.

"Well, Americans are generally not interested in overseas affairs, and they don't pay attention to what happens in Hong Kong." Chen Zhiwen said nonchalantly: "But one thing is that this newspaper said that many industries in the UK have It’s no longer possible, and the British government has previously invited us to invest in the UK, so after Jardine Land’s matter is over, we can consider this matter.”

As the first country in the world to have an industrial revolution, Britain has been the number one in the world in industry for many years. More than 100 years ago, the purpose of so many colonies was to obtain a larger market to sell too many of their industries. production capacity.

However, times have changed, and by the 1960s, British industry has begun to decline. In terms of scale, it is far inferior to the United States on the other side of the ocean, and in terms of technology, it is not as good as Germany, not to mention that Japan is still competing for it. The global market and the entire British industry rely largely on preferential import taxes from the UK and several Commonwealth countries.

However, the existence of the EU is the need for mutual exchange. Under the requirements of the international environment, the British government has to reduce domestic import tax rates and open the market. The result is that it is beaten by various European industrial products, not to mention Germany, but Italy. , France are stronger than Britain.

This is why, by the end of the 1970s, the British economy fell into a severe recession, and the oil crisis hit it hard. After the Iron Lady came to power, she tried to revitalize the industry many times, but unfortunately nothing worked, so she started a large-scale The privatization of huge state-owned enterprises. This process has enriched the pockets of a lot of private capital, but the mess is still a mess and cannot be easily solved by changing owners. Therefore, attracting foreign investment has become an important thing.

"After receiving the invitation from the British government last time, I investigated some situations in the UK. In fact, there are not many assets that are suitable for us. There are some that are OK, but it is estimated that they are unlikely to be sold in the UK." Zhou Jiayang replied road.

"Which ones?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"I'm interested in several ports in the UK." Zhou Yang said with a smile.

"Port? That's unlikely. This thing can guarantee a harvest despite droughts and floods. Even if the British government wants to sell state-owned ports, it won't be our turn. At least it will be difficult to succeed now." Chen Zhiwen smiled and shook his head and said: "There are two areas that I am still optimistic about. , The first is part of the automobile industry, but this has nothing to do with you, I will let AMC in the United States handle this matter, and the second is the local shipbuilding industry in the UK."

"Shipbuilding industry? Do we want to enter this field? But the UK seems to be not very good in this area." Zhou Jiayang thought for a while and said.

"It's not working anymore, but if it's still that strong, do we still have a chance to acquire it?" Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said, "What I'm interested in is not the traditional shipbuilding industry, but the private luxury cruise industry. This industry cares more about the brand. As for the place of production, Europe and the United Kingdom are more suitable. If we invest a little capital, it will not be a problem.

However, the scale of this industry will not be very large. What I want to try more is whether this industry can be moved to Hong Kong. "

Many years ago, Chen Zhiwen actually thought about whether he could leave some industry for Hong Kong's future, not to mention the entire industry chain, but even a part of it would be enough. This is not absolutely impossible, because wages in big cities in Korea and Japan are not much worse than those in Hong Kong, and a large number of industries can be supported.

Of course, it is a large place with a whole industrial chain and a large number of talents, while Hong Kong has nothing. However, in the neighboring Deep Sea City, there will be a large number of supporting industries in the future, which can be regarded as a foundation.

Therefore, Hong Kong needs an industry that is not suitable for common people's products. When this industry has a Hong Kong origin label, some people may be able to accept it. Chen Zhiwen searched for information for a long time before he remembered the private cruise industry.

The particularity of this industry is that it is not an industrial product. Each one is customized. In this way, there is no need for a very complex industrial chain to support production, and the profit itself is very high. Hong Kong's future wages can easily cover it. , and the Shenhai City next door will definitely have this type of processing factory.

In the future, in China and even Asia, after the economy improves, many wealthy people will also have a high demand for cruise ships, but most of them will be purchased from Europe and the United States. Even Japan and South Korea rarely have this industry. Of course, it may be These two countries look down upon it. After all, the output value of the private cruise industry is too small.

But for Hong Kong, it is very good. In the future, Hong Kong will indeed be hollowed out by the real estate and financial industries, but these two industries only serve wealthy people. Even after 2020, Hong Kong will still have Many poor people would be happy to work in factories if they could live a stable life. However, modern large-scale civilian products are not suitable for Hong Kong at all, but some non-standard products with high profits are.

However, whether it can succeed or not depends on fate. Chen Zhiwen can acquire technology and spend money to stabilize quality, but the creation of Hong Kong brands is the most unstable factor. However, Chen Zhiwen still feels that he can give it a try and create multiple small industries. , and secondly, it can also take care of many ordinary people in Hong Kong in the future. Or you can just find someone from the mainland.

This thing cannot be manufactured in the mainland, because in the next 40 years, wealthy people in the mainland are unlikely to choose mainland brands to buy luxury goods, but Hong Kong brands are possible.

"Okay, I will send someone to the UK to investigate." Zhou Jiayang said. Although he didn't know much about it, he also knew that this kind of industry would not be very large-scale, and the acquisition would not cost much money.

"What's going on at Yihe? When will the second voting start?" Chen Zhiwen asked again. In the last vote, for the vote to buy a stake in Jardine Matheson, the party in favor did not get more than two-thirds of the voting rights, but that doesn't matter. They just need to wait a little longer. The remaining people have "considered" it clearly and vote again. That's it.

"One week after the appointment, I have also arranged for people to communicate with many shareholders who have not voted before. They either agreed to vote or expressed their acceptance of our acquisition, but I have not yet negotiated the price, because if In the end, there are enough people to vote, so we don’t need to buy these people’s stocks at high prices.” Zhou Jiayang replied that the easiest way to control a company is to directly invest in shares and obtain enough equity to control the company. If you buy from other shareholders, the premium is certain. If you buy shares and then buy on the stock market, the cost will be even higher.

"Well, yes, this matter is basically a sure thing." Chen Zhiwen nodded with satisfaction and said, even if the vote still doesn't work, then the worst is to acquire it again. Anyway, the market value of Jardine and Land is far less than that of Keswick. The family actually controlled Jardine Matheson with a small amount of capital, and then Jardine Matheson controlled Land and the former Wharf. In this way, they completed the operation of controlling a large consortium with a small amount of capital. However, they played too hard and the proportion in their hands was ridiculously small. In the end, Forced acquisition by outsiders.

"Chen Sheng, Simon Keswick of the Keswick family, he came to me and expressed that he wanted to meet you." Zhou Jiayang said again.