A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

On this day, Yan Zuhe took his wife and children to Villa No. 78 Deep Water Bay.

"Brother-in-law, I brought you a pair of little trinkets—a pair of Qing Dynasty Yongzheng period rouge-red famille rose lychee-patterned cups!"

Chen Guangliang laughed and scolded, "You're thanking the wrong person, aren't you? Your sister lent you money, your nephew is your partner, and yet you're sending things to me."

Yan Zuhe said with a smile, "I couldn't think of anything good to offer, but it just so happens that we have this nice thing at home!"

Chen Guangliang didn't look at the contents of the box, but said, "Then I can't accept it even more. It's my father-in-law's collection. I'm just using it to do you a favor. Please return it!"

Yan Zuhe said sheepishly, "My father gave it to me; I didn't ask for it!"

Seeing that her younger brother was embarrassed, Yan Renmei picked up the item and said, "Keep it, it's nothing valuable! Here's the deal, I'll pay one year less interest on the 500 million I lent you!"

In fact, the porcelain should be worth at least one or two hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars.

As for Yan Renmei's offer to lend money with interest, she was certainly serious; that's just how things are in business.

However, Yan Renmei borrowed 5 million from her younger brother, and it has been three years. The annual interest rate is only 500%, which is much cheaper than the 10-15% interest rates outside.

"The eldest sister has the final say."

Yan Zuhe found a threshold to accept, but he actually knew that his brother-in-law lacked nothing and didn't care about his little things.

However, this time, his brother-in-law's family did their family a great favor. If he didn't know his manners, his father would have to teach him a lesson. In the stock market alone, they at least recovered nearly ten million in losses (including the profits made later). They also partnered with him in the real estate business, which earned them more than six million. If you include not selling the properties during the real estate downturn, that's several million more.

Chen Guangliang didn't take it to heart, but asked with concern, "What are your plans for the next step?"

This time, the eldest son, Chen Wenjie, did his uncle a great favor, giving Yan Zuhe the capital to start a business and preventing him from becoming a spoiled brat.

In Chen Guangliang's view, his brother-in-law was no fool; borrowing money to speculate in stocks only showed that he was too reckless. He was sure he had learned a profound lesson this time.

Yan Zuhe said, "Let's make some small investments in real estate, proceed cautiously, and try not to repeat the same mistakes we made last time."

Chen Guangliang nodded, then thought for a moment and said, "I have a business opportunity here. I wonder if you'd like to go into it with me?"

Yan Zuhe's expression quickly turned to surprise and delight, and he hurriedly said, "I want to do it. If I could get guidance from my brother-in-law, I don't know how many years of detours I would avoid!"

My brother-in-law is different from my sister and nephew. My sister lent him money, and my nephew gave him money in a roundabout way, but in the end, he was just helping him out of pity.

But if my brother-in-law were to give me some pointers, it could be a lifelong benefit!

Chen Guangliang said, "A new catering model has emerged in the United States—fast food, which is simply convenient dining. McDonald's and KFC are representative examples. This model is still in its early stages, but its chain model has a very large potential. Of course, I'm not suggesting you start a Western fast food business, but rather a Chinese fast food business. I have some detailed ideas here, but you still need to go to the United States to investigate McDonald's and KFC first, and then come back to discuss it with me!"

Yan Zuhe looked completely bewildered and asked, "Is it a restaurant?"

Chen Guangliang said, "Go and investigate first. In short, if this business grows big, it will be quite substantial. If we find the right opportunity to go public, the company's future looks very bright."

"Okay. I'll go to the US to do some research soon!"

Yan Zuhe finally got excited.

Chen Guangliang didn't seem to care much. To put it bluntly, he just wanted to offer an idea and give Yan Zuhe some pointers.

Of course, he also needs to own 5% of the shares.

He himself looked down on this small business, but if his brother-in-law had nothing else to do, it would be suitable for him to do it.

Time flies, and three months have passed in the blink of an eye, bringing us to 1961.

Over the past two years, the Hong Kong stock market has been on a continuous upward trend, with the index increasing approximately fivefold.

Of course, the 'index' during this period was not very representative. It wasn't until the 'Peace Index' appeared last year (1960) that the Peace Index rose from 100 to more than 260, more than doubling in one year.

In this environment, Chen Guangliang decided to list 'CK Asset Holdings' on the stock exchange.

Because Cheung Kong Holdings has accumulated tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars in debt from developing commercial real estate in recent years, and Chan Kwong-leung is unwilling to use his own money to subsidize it.

The conference room of Cheung Kong Holdings.

Senior executives from CK Asset Holdings and Ping An Investment are currently engaged in pre-IPO discussions.

Zhang Shounian (son of Zhang Yuanji), the general manager of Ping An Investment, reported while holding the documents:
"The assets that CK Asset Holdings ultimately decided to list include five parts: real estate development, commercial complexes, infrastructure complexes, hotel assets, and food complexes."

"The real estate development portion includes seven sites under construction or in the planning stage, totaling 1230 residential units. The total value is HK$35 million."

"The commercial complexes include: Cheung Kong Plaza in Central (valued at HK$1.5 million) and Paterson Street in Causeway Bay (valued at HK$1.8 million). Lane Crawford Group, including properties, is valued at HK$1 million with a total value of approximately HK$4.5 million."

"The infrastructure component includes: investments in Hung Hom Tunnel, Poly Construction, and other construction-related projects totaling HK$3000 million."

"The hotel assets include: the Shangri-La Hotel in Central (valued at HK$1.5 million) and the Miramar Hotel in Kowloon (valued at HK$0.7 million), with a total value of HK$2.2 million."

"The food conglomerate mainly consists of Vitasoy Group, with total assets of 1 million."

"In terms of liabilities, the total is HK$0.95 billion."

"Therefore, based on a total share capital of 3000 million shares, our proposal is to offer 25% of the shares, or 750 million shares, at a price of HK$25 per share, raising HK$1.875 million."

Less than previously expected!
The main reason is that a large number of land reserves and residential rental properties are no longer included in the listed assets. These include more than 50 square feet of land on Orchard Road in Singapore, five properties in Ginza, Japan, thousands of 3-5 story tenement buildings in Hong Kong, and the recently acquired 22 square feet of land in North Point (for a film studio).

Chen Guangliang said, "Raising 1.875 million is a huge amount of money, which is quite difficult for Hong Kong to accomplish! So, what is the situation with overseas investors?"

Zhang Shounian confidently stated, "Our Ping An Investment has already conducted preliminary research in Hong Kong. The popularity of Cheung Kong Holdings' stock is no less than that of British capital; if we add Mr. Chen's influence, it will surpass that of British capital. Taking all factors into consideration, we only plan to introduce 5% of the funds from overseas, and the rest will be promoted in Hong Kong. We believe that Cheung Kong Holdings' listing will become the biggest star and major event in Hong Kong's business community."

Everyone nodded in agreement with this prediction. Although British stocks are generally more popular, if Cheung Kong Holdings were to go public, it would certainly surpass British stocks. Perhaps only HSBC could be compared to it.

In fact, among CK Asset Holdings' listed assets, Central Properties only has three properties, which is less than Hongkong Land's.

However, CK Asset Holdings' real estate assets are all high-value-added and belong to the category of 'commercial complexes', including the Paterson Street project, Cheung Kong Plaza, Shangri-La Hotel, Miramar Hotel, etc., all of which are branded properties.

"Then let's go all out to prepare and officially launch in March."

"Ok"

In a short time, CK Asset Holdings Limited embarked on a fresh start, with some changes to its internal organizational structure. New generation management figures such as Lu Xiaoqing and Chen Wenjie were entrusted with important responsibilities, including serving as directors of the listed company, CK Asset Holdings Limited.

Shortly after New Year's Day, Daimaru Department Store on Paterson Street in Causeway Bay also opened.

Chen Wenjie, representing Cheung Kong Holdings, attended the opening ceremony and reception.

Daimaru Department Store was a large building located at the intersection of Paterson Street, Great George Street and East Point Road (next to the later Sogo Department Store). The building was 22 stories high, with the bottom 12 floors being the Daimaru Department Store and the upper floors being office space.

Daimaru Department Store is just one part of the Paterson Street complex project, and the adjacent Causeway Bay Area Shopping Centre will open soon.

This year, the 'Furama' star-rated hotel, also located on the same street, will open, along with office buildings; as for the apartment buildings, they have already been mostly leased out.

Cheung Kong Holdings holds 50% of Daimaru Department Store's shares, which is based on the strength of the Cheung Kong Group; otherwise, like the Cheung Chuk Shan family in the previous life, they only held 49%.

Cheung Kong Holdings has many options, not only owning its own department store group, Lane Crawford Group, but also having deep retail relationships overseas.

Ultimately, we chose Daimaru Department Store because of the comprehensive range and affordable quality of Japanese goods, as well as the commendable service provided by Japanese companies.

So, isn't this also a kind of 'learning'?
Chen Wenjie is 28 years old this year. His mature and steady style is also praised by everyone in Cheung Kong Holdings.

He appeared very composed and at ease on site today, after all, the 'Baidexin Street' and 'Changjiang Square' projects have always been his key projects.

For the first time, a reporter also photographed the eldest son of the 'Chen family,' as Chen Wenjie rarely appears in front of the media.

At the cocktail party.

Chen Wenjie handled the hundreds of distinguished guests who came today with ease, displaying a remarkable demeanor.

"Mr. Huo, I'm sorry for the poor hospitality!"

Henry Fok smiled and said, "Mr. Chen, you're too kind. We're here to learn as well. Cheung Kong Holdings is a pioneer among Chinese businessmen in the real estate development field, and there's much we can learn from them!"

Chen Wenjie raised his glass and said, "We should all learn from each other!"

Those around him, including Kwok Tak-seng, Lee Siu-kei, Cheng Yu-tung, and Chan Tseng-hei, raised their glasses in response.

In their minds, Chen Wenjie was from their generation, while Chen Guangliang was a 'senior businessman'. Even in normal times, they had only ever met Chen Wenjie and rarely encountered Chen Guangliang.

Henry Fok generously stated, "At least in Hong Kong, no British-owned company has the boldness to invest in two large-scale commercial projects in Causeway Bay and Central in one go."

Everyone nodded.

At this point, regardless of what everyone thought, they were at least Chinese-funded members of the 'Chinese-British camp'.

Currently, in Hong Kong's real estate market, Jardine Matheson Group has only just invested in the 'Mandarin Oriental Hotel,' which is expected to open in three or four years; as for Ocean Terminal, there is currently no news at all.

Therefore, the Paterson Street complex and Cheung Kong Plaza are representative of Hong Kong's commercial real estate (shopping malls).

After chatting for a while, Chen Wenjie went to entertain others. This scene made the distinguished guests think to themselves, "The second generation of the Chen family is secure!"

With Cheung Kong Holdings' Paterson Street commercial complex and Cheung Kong Plaza about to open, Jardine Matheson, a British-owned company in Hong Kong, is getting restless.

John Keswick, who was in charge of three companies—Jardine Matheson, Wharf Holdings, and Hongkong Land—convened the management team to discuss countermeasures.

At the meeting, he said, "The Shangri-La Hotel is making huge profits in Central, so we need to invest in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel; but now, Cheung Kong Holdings is developing Cheung Kong Plaza, which is Hong Kong's first shopping mall project. So Jardine Matheson cannot fall behind and must develop a shopping mall project!"

A senior executive said, "In Central, although we own several expensive properties, we can't find a suitable site because Cheung Kong Plaza has already penetrated our heart of the city."

A senior executive at Wharf Holdings stated, "Wharf does have suitable land, namely its pier, which could be used to build a large shopping mall. The pier is not only a passenger and cargo terminal for Hong Kong ferries, but Tsim Sha Tsui itself is also a tourist area in Hong Kong, making it suitable in all aspects. However, investing in a shopping mall requires a huge amount of capital, which we cannot afford!"

John Keswick frowned. Jardine Matheson had been severely weakened since the 1950s when it suffered considerable losses in the mainland. On the other hand, the Jardine Matheson Group began to expand overseas, investing much of the money it earned in the Far East abroad.

Therefore, building a shopping mall would be a huge burden for Wharf Holdings, which simply cannot afford that much money.

He quickly thought of something and said, "Wharf Holdings is a Hong Kong landmark and is related to the impression of overseas tourists visiting Hong Kong. If we ask the Hong Kong government for help, we might be able to get their assistance. Therefore, I decided to choose Wharf Holdings to complete this task."

Good heavens, they actually thought of getting funding from the Hong Kong government for Jardine Matheson's business.

This is something that Chinese investors find utterly incomprehensible.

But John Keswick might not be delusional, after all, Jardine Matheson has considerable influence in the Hong Kong government.

Causeway Bay suddenly became a hot commodity, firstly because the Hong Kong Island entrance to the 'Hung Hom Cross-Harbour Tunnel' is located in Causeway Bay, and secondly because of the large-scale commercial complex project, Paterson Street.

This immediately made Causeway Bay a prime investment destination in Hong Kong, and land prices rose once again. In particular, many residential units in Causeway Bay now cost HK$5 per unit.

Of course, before making these investments, Chen Guangliang himself believed that Hong Kong's economy was at least 3 to 5 years more developed than in his previous life, which was enough to support Cheung Kong Group's multiple large-scale real estate projects.

Otherwise, the Paterson Street mixed-use commercial project in Causeway Bay alone would likely be difficult to succeed.

In particular, the 'Furama Hotel' and 'Causeway Bay Shopping Centre' within the Paterson Street integrated commercial project require a certain level of commercial prosperity to achieve success. (End of Chapter)