Chapter 353 Commercial Complex Concept

"I read in the newspaper that you poached William, the boss of Hutchison Whampoa?"

Inside Bao Yugang's study, Bao Yugang asked Li Changhe with a smile.

Hearing this, Li Changhe smiled and nodded: "Uncle, have you heard about this?"

"It's not a rumor. Li Jiacheng called me this afternoon and politely apologized for what happened before."

"As the saying goes, ignorance is not blame. At that time, he didn't know that you were the one behind the acquisition of the land. As a successful businessman, it is normal for him to have thoughts when he sees an opportunity to intercept."

"Although you have acquired the Hong Kong Land, you should not be too arrogant in the business world. In Hong Kong, the underworld and business are equally important. In many cases, human relationships are still important."

"What he meant was that the two families should end the matter here and shake hands and make peace."

"what do you think?"

Bao Yugang said to Li Changhe with a smile at this moment.

Of course Li Changhe would not object. Since Bao Yugang had spoken, it meant that he was willing to be the middleman. In that case, how could Li Changhe refuse?

"Since my uncle has asked, of course there is no problem. In fact, I have never thought of doing anything to Li Jiacheng."

"We had no choice but to look for Wee Li. Currently in Hong Kong Island, there are not many professional managers who can manage a company as large as Hong Kong Land. Wee Li is the most suitable one. He has been in Hong Kong Island for many years and has been in charge of Hutchison Whampoa for many years. He has experience in managing large financial groups."

"Besides, I knew that Wei Li and Li Jiacheng didn't get along well, and they would go their separate ways sooner or later, so I took action."

Li Changhe explained simply.

In fact, poaching Wei Li did have an impact on Li Ka-shing's management of Hutchison Whampoa, but the impact was not that great. After all, it has been almost a year since Li Ka-shing took over Hutchison Whampoa, and he has a general understanding of the entire company's situation.

Even if there are some minor details, without Wei Li's transition, it would at most just cost him some effort. After all, he is the major shareholder and has the power of life and death.

"This is a coincidence. He was planning to attack you, but he didn't do it. You poached his boss, so you responded to him."

"Now that he has taken the initiative to call, I think you should stop holding a grudge against him."

"Maybe you'll have a chance to work together again in Hong Kong Island in the future."

Li Changhe nodded: "Yes, I understand."

In fact, to put it bluntly, there is nothing about Li Jiacheng now that is worthy of Li Changhe's covetousness.

Li Changhe cannot touch Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa, and he does not have much capital in other things now.

Hong Kong Electric is now in the hands of Li Changhe, but it is still too early to talk about the future of Canada's Husky Energy.

Besides, at that time, it was all about business competition, no grudges.

As for talents, Li Changhe was too lazy to recruit them.

Talent, in many cases, depends on the platform. The bigger the platform, the greater the chances for talent to stand out and the easier it is to demonstrate their abilities.

Just like Tang Jun, he was called the Working Emperor because he worked for Microsoft. If he didn’t work for Microsoft, he would just be a worker.

The same goes for Canning Victor Li. Because of the reputation of Hutchison Whampoa and Li Ka-shing, Canning Victor Li's abilities were reported.

In the future, when Li Changhe becomes the richest Chinese or the richest man in the world, Wells's positioning will also be reported.

This is the truth that when one person succeeds, everyone around him will benefit.

"By the way, Uncle, which company are you going to put the Wharf shares in?"

Li Changhe asked Bao Yugang again at this time.

Li Changhe took over 1500 million shares of Hutchison Whampoa from Jardine Matheson, which is almost % of the shares, making him a major shareholder of Hutchison Whampoa.

However, he had no interest in Wharf Holdings. There was no value in keeping the shares of Wharf Holdings, so it would be better to sell them to Pao Yu-kong.

"I have registered an investment company in Europe. When the time comes, I will sell Wharf Holdings' shares to this investment company. I can use the US dollars you earn to trade and bring the money back to Hong Kong Island."

"With these shares, Wharf is infallible."

Together with this 15% stake, the Bao family holds more than 65% of Hutchison Whampoa shares, which is already an absolute controlling stake.

"Well, I will buy these shares for 200 million US dollars."

"No, uncle, your price is too high. Just give me the original price."

2 million US dollars, which is close to 75 yuan per share. Li Changhe only bought it for 54 yuan per share. This share has appreciated by nearly half. The price he gave was too high.

"It's different. If I were to buy it on the market, I don't know how long it would take to receive so much. Besides, a lot of these US dollars were earned with your help. It doesn't matter if the price is higher or lower."

"I have discovered that the funds are much more useful in your hands than in mine."

"That's it!"

"Two hundred million dollars is too much. One hundred and fifty million dollars will do."

1.5 million US dollars, equivalent to 8.4 million Hong Kong dollars. Li Changhe spent a total of 8.1 million Hong Kong dollars to buy it from Jardine Matheson and made a profit of about million.

Seeing that Bao Yugang was about to speak, Li Changhe hurriedly continued: "Uncle, if you think it's inappropriate, why don't you ask Kowloon Wharf to sell me a piece of land!"

"Hmm? Selling land?"

"You still need land?"

The land held by Wharf Holdings is indeed of high quality, but the land held by Swire Properties is in the best location. Li Changhe controls Swire Properties, so why does he still want to buy land from Wharf Holdings?
"Uncle, I want to buy the land in the old factory area of ​​Xgang Tramway Factory in Causeway Bay."

"Landmark has another piece of land in Causeway Bay, right next to the tram depot. If the two are connected, it will be a very large area." "My idea is to connect this piece of land and build a high-end large shopping mall. In this way, it will be located on both sides of the Hung Hom Cross-Harbour Tunnel together with Harbour City. With the traffic and pedestrian flow on both sides of the Hung Hom Cross-Harbour Tunnel, we can occupy the best area and create the most prosperous commercial district."

Li Changhe said to Bao Yugang seriously.

The land in Causeway Bay originally belonged to Jardine Matheson and Swire Properties. Later, part of it was sold to the Lee family, and some of it was sold sporadically. However, Swire Properties still owns some land plots in Causeway Bay.

When Li Changhe was looking at the land area map held by Swire Properties, he happened to see a piece of land right near the X Port Tram Factory.

In fact, the X Port Tramway Factory was originally an asset of Jardine Matheson, but its shares were not in the hands of Jardine Matheson Land Development, but in the hands of Wharf Holdings.

Therefore, the land of the tram factory belonged to Hutchison Whampoa.

The location of this land is very good. In the future, Wu Guangzheng will demolish it and build a commercial center, which later became the famous Times Square in Hong Kong Island.

In other words, the two most profitable commercial centers in Hong Kong Island in the future, Harbour City and Times Square, will both be properties under Hutchison Whampoa.

But now, Li Changhe plans to see if he can buy this land from Bao Yugang, and then build a larger commercial complex together with the land he owns.

Of course, he didn't force Bao Yugang to do this. If Bao Yugang was willing to sell it, then he could sell it. If he wasn't willing, then that didn't matter.

"You mean, the land at the Causeway Bay tram depot?"

Bao Yugang thought for a moment and then asked Li Changhe.

"Yes, I want to connect the two plots of land into one and build a large commercial complex."

Li Changhe said with a smile.

"Commercial complex?"

Bao Yugang was a little surprised when he heard the word "Li Changhe". He always heard some relatively new terms from Li Changhe's mouth.

"This is a general direction I came up with after looking at some of the business plans under Hong Kong Land."

"In fact, it is no longer just about building supermarkets, but integrating supermarkets, hotels, food courts, office buildings, cultural tourism and other elements together, with overall planning and comprehensive layout to create a distinctive urban comprehensive building system."

Li Changhe briefly explained this concept to Bao Yugang. In fact, it is just a relatively new term, and it is not necessarily very advanced as a whole.

The concepts such as the Trading Plaza created by Swire Properties actually have almost the same idea, but there is no complete concept now.

After hearing Li Changhe's description, Bao Yugang's eyes lit up.

"If we follow your idea, I think Harbour City is also suitable for this kind of design."

Bao Yugang said with a smile at this time.

"Yes, but the area of ​​Harbour City is much larger. If it is renovated, the investment will be more."

"And this kind of urban complex actually has a shortcoming, which is that it wastes too much space."

A large area of ​​an urban complex must give way to green landscapes and pedestrian walkways, and sufficient public space must be left for tourists to rest and even enjoy the scenery.

However, this idea is actually not suitable for businesses in Hong Kong Island, because there are many people and little land, especially in commercial areas such as Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui.

Every inch of land has huge commercial value.

Therefore, the first feeling you get when entering many supermarkets and restaurants on Hong Kong Island is that they are crowded. Merchants will do their best to divide up as many commercial areas as possible and then sell goods.

So Li Changhe’s idea is actually very different from the current business philosophy in Hong Kong.

"That's right. With such a prime location, even if you raise the rent, if there is too much wasted space, the total profit will actually decrease."

You have an area that can be used to build 100 shops, but you insist on building of them. Even if the rent increases, the overall loss will still be significant.

Unless you can double the rent of the surrounding shops, your profits will only be broken.

"You knew there was this flaw, but you still designed it this way?"

"what do you think?"

Bao Yugang asked with some curiosity.

Li Changhe smiled and said, "Actually, I just want to give it a try. If it succeeds, it can serve as a template for domestic commercial real estate."

"As long as the economy of any country develops, it is inevitable that real estate will be replaced, just like when people become rich, they naturally want to decorate their homes better."

"Although there is no clear intention for change in the domestic real estate market at present, I think this day will come sooner or later."

“Since Hong Kong Land is a real estate company, it might as well be a pioneer and give it a try at this time.”

Li Changhe said to Bao Yugang with a smile.

After listening to this, Bao Yugang looked at Li Changhe with a complicated expression. It turned out that the other party often considered things from more than just a commercial perspective.

"Changhe, your ideas are often much higher than ours."

"Okay, I'll sell you the land of the tram factory."

"I also want to see what your commercial complex looks like."

At this time, Bao Yugang waved his hand and said with great pride.

"Thank you, uncle!"

Li Changhe bowed and said sincerely.

(End of this chapter)