In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 344: Finding a Successor for the Landmark Group
He made money. Lin Haoran made a fortune from this investment.

The total amount of money he invested in the Hong Kong Land Group was only about HK$30 billion.

However, the value of the properties of the Hong Kong Swire Properties is now nearly HK$20 billion. If this isn’t crazy profit, then what is?
It is no wonder that so many Chinese tycoons will covet the Swire Properties in the future.

Who wouldn’t want to get such a high-quality real estate company?
Of course, if the Swire Group continues to invest blindly like this, there will be great risks.

In another world, by the time the Hong Kong real estate crisis broke out in September 1982, the Swire Group had already owed HK$9 billion in debt.

And these debts, of course, have to be repaid.

When the real estate bubble hit, no matter how many real estate properties he owned, it was difficult to cash them out. Even if he did, he had to sell them at a loss, which resulted in a huge loss.

But there is no way to avoid huge losses, after all, debts need to be paid off!
It was also because of this that the Swire Group was in deep crisis at that time.

Fortunately, the real estate crisis gradually recovered after just two years. Otherwise, even if the Keswick family took over again, the Swire Group would probably not have survived the crisis and would have been at risk of bankruptcy due to a broken capital chain.

Now that Lin Haoran has taken control of the life and death of the Real Estate Group, he will naturally not allow this situation to happen to him.

Looking at the plans in front of him, Lin Haoran knew that it was time to find an outstanding leader for the Land Group.

The Jardine Matheson Group is too huge, much larger than the Wanqing Group. As a rookie in corporate management, he has no idea where to start.

Although he knew that he had to stop the Jardine Matheson Group from continuing to expand blindly, there had to be a manager, a manager who could manage the Jardine Matheson Group properly. He only needed to be in charge of the overall situation behind the scenes, and if he found any problems, he could step in to stop them in time!

But who else can take on the role of executive director and general manager of Ketian Group?
Perhaps the generals that Lin Haoran was familiar with were those of Li Jiacheng.

In the future, Kenneth Ho may be able to do so, but he has not grown up yet. If Kenneth Ho were transferred to the Hutchison Whampoa Group, he would be more suitable to be an assistant general manager rather than the general manager.

Since Huo Jianning is not suitable, there is another one. The one Lin Haoran is more familiar with is the Hutchison boss who used to be a mercenary - Ma Shiming.

In his previous life, Lin Haoran once read a book titled "Ma Shiming's War Diary: From a Titan to a Business Giant".

This book is Ma Shiming's autobiography, and Lin Haoran was deeply shocked after reading it.

Ma Shiming is a man full of wisdom and courage, with perseverance, unremitting struggle and self-improvement.

His brilliant success in business is undoubtedly due to his extraordinary personal qualities.

However, this future general of Li Ka-shing does not seem to be in Hong Kong now.

According to his understanding of Ma Shiming, he should have just resigned from Jardine Matheson and was preparing to establish his own financial company, Davenham Investments, in a joint venture with the Rothschild family.

I just don't know how the other party is prepared now.

Ma Shiming is definitely a person whose business management ability has reached the world's top level. Even Mr. Ren Zhengfei calls him a life mentor.

Therefore, if the Jardine Matheson Group and even Jardine Matheson were taken over by Ma Sai Ming, Lin Haoran would definitely be able to rest assured.

However, the biggest problem Lin Haoran is facing now is that he has no idea where he is now!

However, it shouldn't be difficult to contact him.

After all, Ma Shiming had just resigned from Jardine Matheson not long ago.

In addition to Ma Shiming, Lin Haoran has another candidate.

He is Mr. Wesley, the former boss of Hutchison Whampoa.

Mr. Wery's talents are outstanding, which is why he is known as the "company doctor".

So, what is a "corporate doctor"? In short, it is someone who is good at solving corporate problems, especially those that are suffering from heavy losses.

Once he is asked to take over as the leader of a company, the company can often quickly turn losses into profits.

Because of his ability, Weeley was spotted by the Hutchison Whampoa board of directors, represented by Bank of Hong Kong, in 1975 and was hired as the head of Hutchison Whampoa.

The result lived up to expectations. In just two or three years, Hutchison Whampoa, which was originally mired in losses, successfully achieved profitability under the leadership of Weeley.

Hutchison Whampoa and Jardine Matheson are both among the four major trading companies. Although Jardine Matheson is larger than Hutchison Whampoa, the two are of the same magnitude.

Since Weedle was able to put the terminally ill Hutchison Whampoa in good order in such a short period of time, he would naturally be able to manage the Jardine Matheson Group and even Jardine Matheson with ease.

So, judging from these, Wei Li is obviously a very suitable candidate.

Why would Li Jiacheng drive away such an excellent professional manager?
The reason is actually quite direct. Lin Haoran attributed it to the following three points:
Differences in business philosophy: Li Ka-shing and Wesley have different business ideas. Wesley is good at corporate restructuring and turnaround, while Li Ka-shing pays more attention to the long-term development and strategic planning of the company. This difference may lead to conflicts between the two on key decisions, which in turn affects the overall operation of the company.

Changes in the power structure: As Li Ka-shing's shareholding in Hutchison Whampoa increased, his voice also increased. As the former leader, Wei Li's position and influence may be challenged. In order to consolidate his position and drive the company forward, Li Ka-shing may think it is necessary to adjust the management to better implement his business philosophy and strategic blueprint. Personal grudges and workplace competition: After Li Ka-shing successfully acquired Hutchison Whampoa, Wei Li publicly expressed his dissatisfaction and called Li Ka-shing "making money out of nothing". This public dispute undoubtedly exacerbated the tension between the two sides. At the same time, as a professional manager, Wei Li may also feel the workplace pressure from Li Ka-shing, which has led to the idea of ​​leaving.

In Lin Haoran's view, the above three points are the main reasons why Li Ka-shing decided to let Weedle leave Hutchison Whampoa.

However, all this has nothing to do with Lin Haoran.

In fact, even if he hired Wei Li, it would be a short-term job, for example, two or three years. Once a suitable candidate was found, he would also replace him with a more suitable candidate.

In addition, with the massive expansion of the Jardine Matheson Group, there are Jardine Matheson Group's development projects everywhere. How to deal with these projects that are already under development is also a problem, and Wei Li is obviously very good at this.

For projects that can be completed and pay back before 1982, they should naturally continue to be held to make a profit.

However, for those real estate projects that take two to three years to complete, they should be transferred in a timely manner to avoid encountering a real estate crisis when the project is completed, which would result in failure to recoup the investment or even losses.

Therefore, in the current real estate market boom, the best strategy is to transfer the development rights of these long-term projects as soon as possible.

At this critical moment, maintaining sufficient cash flow is crucial!

The less debt you have, the better.

Even Lin Haoran doesn't want the Swire Properties Group to be burdened with any debt when the real estate crisis comes!

Lin Haoran was a little embarrassed as to whether to choose Ma Shiming or Wei Li.

Both of them are excellent.

As for why Chinese professional managers are not considered?
The reason is very simple. There are very few outstanding Chinese professional managers in this era. Chinese professional managers like Chen Shoulin who are recognized by British financial groups are extremely rare in Hong Kong.

But Chen Shoulin needs to continue to preside over the Hong Kong Electric Group, and Lin Haoran has no plan to transfer him away from the Hong Kong Electric Group.

Therefore, whether it is Jardine Matheson or Swire Properties, it is better to hire foreign professional managers in recent years.

In the future, his companies will gradually discover more talented Chinese people, and these foreign talents will gradually be replaced.

So, who should we choose as a professional manager?
Lin Haoran slumped in his chair and began to think.

Wei Li's shortcoming is actually quite obvious, that is, he is too ambitious for power. Although this shortcoming is not considered a shortcoming in Lin Haoran's eyes, it is still a shortcoming after all.

On the contrary, Ma Shiming is so outstanding.

Perhaps, he could give priority to Ma Shiming. If he could not get Ma Shiming to give up the idea of ​​starting a business and instead take charge of the Jardine Matheson Group for him, then he would choose Wei Li?

A simple idea quickly formed in Lin Haoran's mind.

If it were someone else, finding Ma Shiming might be difficult, but now Jardine Matheson is under his control, and Ma Shiming has worked in Jardine Matheson for more than ten years. Jardine Matheson has almost all his information, so it is almost not difficult to find him.

At this time, my stomach started to growl.

I looked at my watch and realized that it was almost seven o'clock in the evening.

The streets in Central outside and even the high-rise buildings in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon across the street are already lit up.

"It's time to go back!" Lin Haoran murmured to himself.

Anyway, now that Jardine Matheson and the Swire Group can't escape, he is not panicked at all.

Standing up from the desk, Lin Haoran stretched, and was about to take the handbag beside the desk and go back to Shi Xundao Villa.

At this time, there was a knock on the door.

Lin Haoran walked over and opened the door. Standing outside was Niu Bijian, the boss of Jardine Matheson.

"Boss, let's go have dinner together so we can chat more!" Niu Bijian said with a smile.

At this moment, if it weren't for the fact that his loyalty level remained at 62, Lin Haoran would have really thought that Niu Bijian had completely surrendered to him.

However, regardless of loyalty, Lin Haoran naturally remained wary of this Jardine Matheson boss.

"Okay, then let's go have dinner together and talk about my future views on Jardine Matheson and the Hong Kong Land Group." Lin Haoran nodded.

It doesn’t matter where we eat. Now that he has successfully taken control of Jardine Matheson and the Hong Kong Land Group, I really need to communicate with him more.

Especially for Jardine Matheson, Niu Bijian is still indispensable at the moment, and his role at this stage is still crucial!

(End of this chapter)