Chapter 352: Hong Kong Electric is also in my hands?
"Bill, you want to resign suddenly. Is there any difficulty?"

"If you have any questions, you can tell me and I will do my best to help you."

At the desk, Li Jiacheng looked at Wei Li's resignation application and asked in surprise.

Wei Li shook his head and said calmly, "No, I'm just tired from working at Hutchison Whampoa and want to take a break."

I have to say that one good thing about Li Jiacheng is that he treats people with sincerity.

Wei Li was sure that Li Jiacheng definitely didn't like him, but every time he talked to him, he had a gentle smile on his face, spoke slowly and softly, and his attitude was extremely gentle.

This person almost never loses his temper and is always gentle to everyone, including the company's cleaning staff.

At first glance, you will think he is a very kind person, but if you really think so, then you must have been deceived by him.

Li Jiacheng's attitude always reminds Wei Li of those hypocritical politicians in Europe. In front of the public, they always appear to be harmless and speak for the people.

But in private, after tearing off the disguise, they are ruthless when it comes to harming the people and undermining national interests.

This is no longer just a simple performance, perhaps it is their nature, an acting skill engraved in their bones.

"Bill, have you really decided?"

"If it's a question of treatment, you can raise it. I will meet all your requests."

Li Jiacheng looked at Wei Li's firm attitude and asked in a deep voice.

"I want to control the land, can you give it to me?"

Wei Li complained silently in his heart, then shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Li. I have carefully considered this decision."

"Well, it's a pity that we couldn't go on together. In fact, I hoped that you would always be in charge of Hutchison Whampoa."

"But since you have made your decision, Bill, I can only wish you a bright future."

At this moment, Li Jiacheng happily signed Wei Li's resignation application, thus ending the agency relationship between Hutchison Whampoa and Wei Li.

Seeing Wei Li turning and leaving, Li Jiacheng sighed.

He did not try to retain him too much because he understood that once someone of Wei Li's level asked to resign, it would be impossible to keep him.

Professional managers at this level rarely leave their jobs on impulse. Most of them leave only when they have obviously made new arrangements or found a better next job.

Otherwise, why didn't Weedle leave when he first took over Hutchison Whampoa?
He was so dissatisfied with himself in the media, but in the end he chose to stay.

To put it bluntly, if you don't have a good buyer, you will just lose money if you leave.

However, in Hong Kong Island, there are not many people who can convince Wei Li. Is that possible?

Thinking of the huge monster that had just changed hands, Li Jiacheng was thoughtful.

But soon, the news gave him the answer.

[Hutchison Whampoa boss William Wells jumped to Hong Kong Land and became the new head of Hong Kong Land]

[The new head of Hong Kong Land has appeared, and it turns out to be him]

【Poaching from Hutchison Whampoa, Hong Kong Land will make big moves】

Now, the land is the focus of journalists, and any slight movement will be immediately reported in the news.

And it was natural that they would not miss such a big event as Wei Li's joining the company.

After all, this is the new person in charge of the property.

At the same time, on the other side, in a luxury house at the foot of Mount Taiping, Li Changhe was looking at the list of shares owned by Swire Properties.

Swire Properties is a large company and in addition to its own business, it has many subsidiaries.

For example, Dairy Farm International is a subsidiary of Hong Kong Holdings Group, and Dairy Farm International itself holds 50% of the shares of Maxim's Group.

That’s right, it is the Maxim’s Group in later generations that eats Maxim’s mooncakes but promotes Meicheng mooncakes.

In addition, Wellcome Supermarket, Mannings Pharmacy and Mandarin Oriental Hotel are also under the control of Hutchison Whampoa.

These are considered subsidiaries of Hutchison Whampoa.

But in addition to this, Hutchison Whampoa also holds shares in many other companies.

These shares are not many, but they are very diverse. Jardine Matheson has acquired many companies before, and the shares of these companies are scattered among several companies under its name.

For example, Hong Kong Holdings previously held 5% of Wharf Holdings Group's shares. In addition, it also held shares in many other companies, including Jardine Matheson Insurance, Jardine Motors, Gammon Construction, etc.

Some of these shares are large, some are small, some are less than 10%, and some are 20 to 30%. It is very messy.

Now, what Li Changhe has to do is to cut ties with Jardine Matheson and negotiate the disposal of these shares. Li Changhe has the right of first refusal to the companies behind many of these shares.

For example, Jardine Matheson acquired the largest car dealership in Hong Kong Island, Jardine Matheson, which sells cars.

But now that Jardine Matheson is planning to withdraw from Hong Kong Island, there is naturally no need to keep this company.

"Golden Gate Construction should talk to Jardine Matheson. We'd better stay."

"Shanghai Land is a real estate company. We want to expand into overseas markets, so it is very necessary to have our own construction company."

Li Changhe saw the company list on the shares and said to Jim.

"Golden Gate Construction? This is a private company of Jardine Matheson, but many of Hong Kong's businesses are indeed being constructed by Golden Gate Construction. I also think that we can buy this construction company."

Jim said seriously.

"What is this Electric Power International?"

"It is Hong Kong Electric. Power International is the parent company of Hong Kong Electric."

Jim explained to Li Changhe.

"Um, Hong Kong Electric?"

Li Changhe was a little surprised after hearing this.

Isn’t this another big acquisition for Li Jiacheng in the future?
It turns out that some of HK Electric's shares are now in the hands of Jardine Matheson. "Today, Hong Kong Land is the major shareholder of Power Generation International, holding 17% of the shares, because HK Electric itself was founded by the original founder of Jardine Matheson."

"But in our opinion, 17% of the shares are not safe in today's stock market. If we keep this company, then we must buy back other shares of HK Electric in the market. At least more than 30% is needed to ensure a safe line."

"The current share price of HK Electric is around HK$5, but it has issued a lot of shares. If we want 2% of the shares, we will have to buy back almost million shares, which is close to HK$ billion."

Jim had some knowledge of all the companies under the control of Swire Properties, so he quickly gave Li Changhe accurate data.

"Well, keep it. When we come back, we will buy back the shares of HK Electric."

Li Changhe said with a smile at this time.

He did not deliberately keep HK Electric because of Li Ka-shing's acquisition, but HK Electric was indeed very important.

Hong Kong Island’s current power supply system is provided by two companies, one is China Light and Power and the other is Hong Kong Electric.

China Light and Power supplies the Kowloon and New Territories area. In other words, the electricity used in Kowloon and the New Territories is from China Light and Power's power grid. The company is backed by the British Jewish Kadoorie family, who also own the Peninsula Hotel.

The electricity supply to Hong Kong Island and Lamma Island belongs to Hong Kong Electric Company.

That is to say, the electricity supply to the most prosperous commercial areas and club institutions in Hong Kong Island, such as Causeway Bay, Central, Victoria Peak, Deep Water Bay, Jockey Club, and Yacht Club.

All of it belongs to HK Electric, and the power supply to the most prime and wealthy areas of Hong Kong Island belongs to HK Electric Group.

Therefore, if you control Hong Kong Electric, you will have a big enough advantage in the commercial competition on the main island of Hong Kong - control electricity!

It’s like when a competitor’s business is in the middle of running, at a critical moment in the competition, there’s a sudden power outage?
Is this nonsense?
This is an invisible business competitive advantage. Although it cannot be used frequently, it is absolutely sufficient as a killer weapon at critical moments.

In comparison, profit is secondary. HK Electric can make money, but not much.

For this kind of grassroots livelihood service, the Hong Kong government has now agreed on the usage price with Hong Kong Electric and China Light and Power, controlling your profit margin, so electricity prices cannot be adjusted at will by those in control.

But on the other hand, this kind of company has very stable profits, and just like collecting rent, it hardly makes a loss every year.

What's more, controlling Hong Kong Electric Company has another benefit, which is that it can get involved in the power industry.

Apart from anything else, the country's power industry will be expected to flourish in the next few decades. Economic development is inseparable from electricity consumption, and the title of "electricity tiger" is not an exaggeration.

By taking control of HK Electric, we can use HK Electric to purchase some components for the country's power development, and at the same time carry out technical exchanges and cooperation. There are too many invisible benefits.

"As for Jardine Matheson Insurance, let's see if we can separate the Hong Kong Island business from the Jardine Matheson Insurance Group and let us do it ourselves."

"As far as I know, Chase Manhattan Bank has insurance business, right? Perhaps we can cooperate?"

At this time, Li Changhe circled another company with a pen and spoke to Jim seriously.

Jardine Life Insurance is an insurance company under Jardine Matheson. Swire Properties does not hold many shares in the company, and even if it wants to keep all of them, Jardine Matheson probably will not be willing to do so.

After all, Jardine Matheson's business is not limited to Hong Kong Island, they also have business in Southeast Asia and the UK.

However, Li Changhe felt that if he simply discussed the business in Hong Kong with Jardine Matheson, perhaps it might be possible.

"Vic, Hong Kong Island is too small. To be honest, I don't have the confidence to convince the higher-ups."

Jim shook his head and spoke softly at this moment.

Metropolitan Life Insurance, owned by the Rockefeller family, is one of the largest insurance companies in the United States. MetLife has a deep connection with Chase Manhattan.

If Li Changhe wants to develop the insurance business, cooperating with the other party is a better choice.

In the next twenty years, before China and the United States completely broke off relations, the Luo family was actually considered a "relatively friendly" financial group toward China.

Regardless of whether the other party is after the huge market or for other reasons, overall, Li Changhe believes that the Luo family is an object that can be won over and united in the early stages.

As for the future, we will turn against each other when the time is right.

Moreover, Luo Jia has another advantage, that is, he is not actually a Jew as rumored on the Internet, and he is not actually Anglo-Saxon.

The Morgans are a typical Anglo-Saxon family, but the Rockefellers are an American German family.

The Germans are the second largest white ethnic group in the United States, not inferior to the British, so the Luo family is actually trying to maintain the second place and strive for the first place in the United States.

This also determines that in the future, both Morgan and the Jews will try hard to win over the Luo family.

Li Changhe's information may not be completely accurate, but if we want to develop some modern business now, it is necessary to rely on European and American forces.

Therefore, if he wants to be a general among the short people, he must find a force to cooperate with.

It just so happened that Bao Yugang had a good relationship with the Luo family, and he could use this as a springboard.

As for insurance, in Western capital, insurance is a very important part of banking finance.

For many American families, insurance is even more important than banks.

Because the United States has very strict restrictions on the banking industry, funds are stored in the bank, and the banks cannot take the money in the bank out for foreign investment at will.

On the other hand, investment banks are only responsible for investment, and you cannot accept deposits. This was the restriction on banking tycoons that the Jews came up with together with Roosevelt in order to fight back against Morgan in order to dismantle Morgan's hegemony in the banking industry.

Therefore, in order to solve the cash flow problem, various banking chaebols began to vigorously develop another business, that is, insurance!
Insurance, in disguise, has the attribute of "storage", but it does not belong to a bank itself. It can both absorb cash flow and make various external investments.

Therefore, insurance companies have become the money bags, sources of cash flow and channels for capital outflow for many large families.

Li Changhe cannot run a bank at the moment, so he must try his hand at insurance.

"Jim, we need to look ahead. If you only look at Hong Kong Island, it is true that a market of several million people is only about the same size as a city in the United States."

"But think about it, to his north, there is a market of one billion people."

"Even if they don't open up the financial sector, our insurance business can't get in, but they will at least open up channels for people to go out. Won't the rich people inside come out to buy?"

"And if one day it opens up its financial market, will we have the opportunity to enter that market first?"

"Do you think it would be better to use the name of Metropolitan Insurance or the name of our local insurance company in Hong Kong Island?"

Li Changhe said to Jim with a smile at this moment.

Jim began to think for a moment.

"Vic, I understand. I think your reason has a great chance of convincing the higher-ups. I'll talk to them when I get back."

(End of this chapter)