A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

Time flew by and it was now 1970.

Early February, during the Spring Festival.

The Chen family gathered in Deep Water Bay, Hong Kong, to celebrate a traditional Chinese festival.

The Chan family owns four villas in Deep Water Bay—numbers 80, 79, 77, and 75—so the area doesn't feel crowded at all. However, for security reasons, there are numerous hidden security posts in the area, and reporters who try to take pictures there will face trouble.

On Lunar New Year's Eve, the Chan family took their annual family photo on the lawn of 79 Deep Water Bay.

Chen Guangliang's mother, Yang Hui, and Chen Guangliang sat in the middle of the first row;

Yan Renmei, Jiang Meiying, Audrey Hepburn, and Si Yezi sat on either side of the first row.

The second row consists of members of the second generation of the family (married daughters do not return) – Chen Wenjie and Zhuang Yuanzhen, Chen Wenjin and Kelly, etc., who are also holding the baby of the third generation.

In front of Chen Guangliang, Yang Hui, and others, there were older children of the third generation standing or squatting.

As of now, there are 15 members of the second generation of the Chen family, including 11 men and 4 women. Of these 15 family members, 7 are already working, including Chen Leyi, who is married. The remaining 8 second-generation family members were born after 1952. The oldest, Chen Wen'ou, is only 18 years old. Chen Mengyi and Chen Wenhai are the same age. The youngest is Chen Yayi, the daughter of Si Yezi, who is only three years old.

The third generation of the family already has 17 members, not counting grandsons; the eldest grandson, Chen Zerui, is already 12 years old this year.

Unbeknownst to many, the family now has thirty or forty members, and its global reach is beginning to take shape.

Please smile.

The photographer was the housekeeper of 79 Deep Water Bay. She was very excited at that moment, thinking that this was one of the world's richest families and a true Chinese tycoon.

"All right"

As the photographer's voice rang out, the Chen family members dispersed with smiles.

Chen Wenjie walked up to the housekeeper and said, "Thank you for your help, Sister Qin."

Aunt Qin's face beamed with joy as she replied, "What trouble! I'm happy to see the family doing well. Here, young master, I'll go arrange today's matters!"

"Sister Qin, you've worked hard. Now you go ahead with your work."

Chen Wenjie amiably took the camera from Sister Qin's hand. He wanted to personally go to his family's company's photo lab to develop the photo, and he would carefully preserve the negatives later.

If the photos are leaked, it will be a big deal. It's normal for people in the world to know about the members of the Chen family, but exposing complete photos is no small matter.

Big Year.

Inside the Ping An Bank building, a meeting was being held in the 'Chen Guangliang Family Office'. Attendees included Chen Guangliang, his four wives, and his six sons who were working.

Chen Guangliang has each of his sons temporarily share the responsibilities of the family office, so there's no need to recruit too many staff for now. It's not about saving money, but rather about delaying recruitment as much as possible, allowing them to explore and become familiar with the family office's operations before gradually hiring more staff.

Chen Guangliang looked at his wife and children and said, "Currently, our family office has HK$5 million in funds. It's not a lot, but we are still in the preparation stage."

Initially, he only invested HK$2 million, and has made a lot of money from investments over the years.

Yan Renmei then spoke up, "How about injecting some more funds from each of the companies? After all, they are one of the foundations of the family business?"

Thinking of her husband's wish, she was naturally happy to make it happen.

According to the husband's idea, once the family office begins to operate independently, the entire Chen family will be bound together.

Jiang Meiying also chimed in, "I can inject a lot of cash into this place, since it's an idle asset anyway."

Audrey Hepburn also said, "It's here too. Mattel's dividends over the years are still sitting in American banks."

Si Yezi also said, "I have some here too."

The six sons dared not speak. They could sense that their four mothers were trying to please their father. If they said anything at this moment, they would be scolded by their own mothers when they got back.

Chen Guangliang said with a smile, "I'm only sixty this year, not seventy or eighty, so it won't happen that fast. Therefore, the investment in this family office will be done step by step. In the seventies, I am confident that I can turn it into more than 20 billion, so everyone doesn't need to worry about the funding issue."

Of course, although the second, third, and fourth bedrooms have been separated, the main local property is still tied to him. Cheung Kong Holdings is a listed company, so its funds cannot be used, but Chen Guangliang also has an unlisted Cheung Kong Property Holdings, whose assets include nearly a thousand tenement buildings; he will definitely withdraw a lot of funds from Global Group, and it is impossible for all of them to be injected into the future 'Chen Guangliang and Chen Wenjin Trust Fund'; Cheung Kong Industrial Group is also a cash cow, and Chen Guangliang can also take it; Chen Guangliang can also take a portion of Ping An Bank's annual profits, and give the other part to Ping An Investment.

At this point, Chen Wenjin said, "Hong Kong is still too small. It can increase its overseas investment, especially in the United States."

In fact, he also understood that Hong Kong was indeed small, and more importantly, its investment channels had been divided up by four Chen-owned companies.

Chen Guangliang said, “I already have a plan. The reason I’ve gathered everyone here is to prepare five global headquarters for the Chen Guangliang family office—Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, London, and Zurich. Investment companies will be established in these five regions. Wenjie, you’ll be in charge of Hong Kong; Wenjin, you’ll be in charge of New York; Wenming, you’ll be in charge of Zurich; Wenhua, you’ll be in charge of London; and Wensheng, you’ll be in charge of Singapore. Wenkai, you have a science and engineering background, so don’t worry about these things. Focus on your technology and industry.”

The six sons replied in unison, "Yes, Father."

Then, Chen Guangliang said, "Wenjie is in charge of Hong Kong, mainly investing in newly listed companies, including real estate, hotels, construction, industry, public utilities, and finance, with a fund of 1 million. Ping An Securities can act as the brokerage firm here. At the same time, we will take out 1 million to invest in physical gold, depositing it in the form of gold bars into the vault of Ping An Bank, to be completed in a year and a half."

Chen Wenjie said seriously, "Okay. Although Hong Kong has gold controls, CK Asset Holdings has Lane Crawford Jewellery, which has its own gold distribution channels. A year and a half is plenty of time."

He didn't need much explanation. The government controls the import and export of gold, but there are just too many channels, including smuggling.

Chen Guangliang continued, “Wenjin’s New York investment mainly focuses on bottom-fishing in US stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen from 965 points in May last year to 800 points now, a drop of about 15%; however, it will continue to decline in the first half of this year, with the total decline expected to reach more than 30%. Based on this view, we will start buying below 700 points and continue for about a month, because the Dow Jones will definitely fall below 700 points in this wave. Here, I plan to invest HK$100 million to buy stocks such as Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Upjohn, and Schering-Plough, which are healthcare and consumer stocks. In addition, I will allocate another HK$50 million for holding physical gold, which will also be completed in a year and a half.”

Chen Wenjin nodded and said, "No problem."

Chen Guangliang then added, “You second wives, remember this: this wave of US stock market declines will inevitably fall by more than 30%. Therefore, Mei Ying and Wen Hua, your investment companies can consider buying the dip below 720 points. Moreover, the types of stocks you two invest in should be separated. Mei Ying, your investment company has sufficient funds, so you can invest in traditional stocks. Wen Hua, as a listed investment company and a personal investment company, can choose to invest in emerging industries. By the way, Wen Jin, if you have the idea of ​​private securities investment, you can invest in food and beverage consumer stocks like McDonald's and Coca-Cola. In the future, everyone should plan the types of US stocks they invest in carefully to avoid too much overlap.”

"Okay, I've written it down!"

Chen Guangliang continued assigning tasks: "Wenming, Wenhua, you're in charge of London and Zurich, mainly purchasing physical gold and depositing it in local banks. As for securities, we already hold them, so we don't need to buy any for now. Allocate HKD 1 million to each location." "Yes, Father."

"In Singapore, we'll consider investing in some properties to get things started. As for the remaining funds, I'll cover them myself, so you don't need to worry about that."

Everyone nodded, and the investment portion of the meeting concluded.

Later, everyone also shared their own ideas and suggestions regarding the construction of the family office.

For example, Chen Wenjie suggested: "In the future, we will rely on these five regions to establish the five global headquarters of our family office, with the core still in Hong Kong."

Chen Wenjin also suggested: "In the future, every member of our family who enters the workforce should work part-time in the family office to work together to develop and grow the business, and gradually improve the system and management. Once the family office is on track, for example, when the annual profit is more than ten times the operating expenses, and the operating expenses account for about 6% of the annual revenue, we can gradually hand over the management of the family office to professional family office managers."

Chen Wenhua also suggested: "The family office can set up an external board of directors as a supplement. Of course, this external board of directors should invite 'family veterans' like Uncle Yan Kuan, and can also include brothers-in-law and future brothers-in-law, similar to trust supervisors."

"Okay, we'll keep all your opinions in mind and work together to develop this family office."

"Yes, father"

Chen Guangliang was very satisfied with everyone's enthusiasm and sense of belonging, which truly reflects the cohesion of the family.

After the Spring Festival, Chen Guangliang arrived at the Universal Building on Des Voeux Road.

This 12-story building, constructed in the mid-1930s, is now quite old. Chen Guangliang intended to rebuild it during the Sino-British negotiations in the 1980s, firstly because he considered that buildings in the 1970s would begin to modernize and become computer-controlled (integrated circuits), and secondly because the real estate market was expected to slump for three years in the early to mid-1980s.

The World Trade Center occupies an area of ​​20,000 square feet, which is considered a relatively large site in Central. It can accommodate about 30 to 40 stories.

Inside the building, the office space is mostly used by the Global Group, with only the first and second floors rented out as shops or offices.

"elder brother"

57-year-old Chen Guangcong looks much older than his older brother Chen Guangliang. Chen Guangliang is 60 years old this year, but he dresses like he is only 40, while his actual physical age is only in his thirties.

Chen Guangcong served as the general manager of Global Shipping and the executive director of Hong Kong Airlines, and was always Chen Guangliang's right-hand man.

"Brother, this is the current financial situation of Global Shipping. Please take a look. Currently, our first batch of VCLL tankers has fully recovered its costs, and the second batch has recovered about 30%. However, if we include the profits earned from the first 5 million tons, we actually have 12 million tons of vessels without debt. Of course, we still have 8 million tons of vessels, which is about 1 billion US dollars in debt and interest. Based on the current market conditions, we can pay it off in 3 to 4 years."

Looking at the financial data of the massive fleet, Chen Guangliang realized that each ship was essentially a separate enterprise with its own independent accounting, though the financial staff remained the same.

According to Chen Guangcong's calculations, before the oil crisis in October 1973, the 20 million-ton fleet of World Shipping was able to operate without any debt, which was simply too perfect.

After a while, Chen Guangliang said, "Starting in March, you and Wenming will be in charge of an important task: signing a five-year contract for our 55 VCLL tankers. This is especially for orders from Europe and the United States, and we can also sign a five-year contract with Japan when it expires. We will use the funds from these contracts to repay the bank loans and interest."

Chen Guangcong immediately understood that his elder brother probably thought that Suez Bank would reopen within three years, so he went to negotiate a five-year contract with them.

However, they were naturally very confident. Chen Guangcong said, "Yes, as long as the price is competitive, we're not worried about European and American clients not agreeing. Some of the VCLLs in Japan are expiring this year (three-year contracts), which will be renewed for five years; others are starting to be launched this year, and I'll sign five-year contracts with them directly."

Throughout the signing negotiations, Global Shipping maintained the upper hand because Chen Guangliang knew the future trend and that the negotiations would ultimately be very advantageous.

Regarding this five-year contract, the client is not betting on a prolonged period of stagnation, but rather on shipping returning to normal, even if it's only slightly better.

Now that Suez has been closed for nearly three years, the market is only slightly better than in 1966. Therefore, they are more interested in the five-year contract because the average price saved over the five-year period is much higher.

Why did Chen Guangliang want to sign a five-year contract?
Simply put, the oil crisis that erupted in October 1973 caused a sharp decline in oil transportation, meaning that the oil transportation market in 1974 was not good, or even in a slump. However, container shipping boomed in 1975, which presented a new opportunity.

Shortly after, Chen Guangcong asked, "Since you've already arranged 55 VCLLs, how should we arrange the oil tankers under 20 tons?"

The eldest brother specifically instructed me to arrange VCLL, which clearly had ulterior motives.

环球航运的55艘VCLL（还有部分今年陆续下水），总吨位是1300万吨出头。与此同时，环球航运还有4艘15万吨、4艘13万吨、12艘10万吨等300万吨出头的油船。

After thinking for a moment, Chen Guangliang said, "We will try our best to complete the contract by the end of 1972, and then start selling it from the end of 1972. In the future, our oil tankers will mainly operate VCLL. At the same time, we will gradually reduce our bulk carriers and focus on operating container ships."

This arrangement meant that by 1974, the fleet of World Wanderers might have been reduced to less than 1800 million tons, marking the first reduction in ships.

By 1980, a second reduction in fleet size will occur, with the ideal scenario being a fleet of 400 million tons, consisting of 800 million tons each of oil tankers and container ships. The fleet size should not exceed 1000 million tons, and the Chen family could also operate within that range.

"Okay, I see."

After discussing these matters, Chen Guangcong hesitated for a moment.

"Just say what you want to say!"

Upon hearing his elder brother's voice, even though Chen Guangcong was already fifty-seven years old, he immediately straightened his back and said, "Brother, it's time to arrange for Wenming to take over the position of general manager. After all, I'm already fifty-seven years old. I hope I can hand over the reins to him when I'm sixty, and I can just be a director or something."

Over the years, Chen Wenming has been in charge of business operations, while Chen Wenbo has been in charge of administration. People in the company don't even know whether Chen Wenming or Chen Wenbo will take over.

Chen Guangliang sighed, "Wen Mingye is 35 years old. What do you think of his performance over the years?"

Chen Guangcong immediately said, “Perfect! In fact, he has always performed well, except for a period of confusion about his marriage outside of work. But since he got married, for the past eight years, he has been working diligently while taking care of his family. Compared to him, Wenbo lacks a sense of the big picture, so he is only suitable for administrative management.”

After thinking for a moment, Chen Guangliang said, "Then let Wenming prepare to fully assist you in your work. We'll see if he can handle the role of general manager in three years. Wenbo will continue to serve as a senior executive at Global and will prepare to become an executive director of Hong Kong Airlines."

"it is good"

Over the years, Chen Guangcong has assisted Chen Guangliang in operating Global Shipping, still holding approximately 15% of the shares, and his net worth has reached around US$200 million. During this period, he has received dividends of around US$20-30 million, so he is actually living off his salary.

Of course, Chen Guangliang, as the eldest brother, also gifted him residential properties in London and Hong Kong during this period. (End of Chapter)