A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

At the end of May, Hang Seng Bank went public, issuing a total of 10 million shares with a par value of HK$10 per share. Of these, 2.5 million shares were offered to the public at HK$80 per share, raising HK$200 million.

In Ping An Investment's trading hall, Chen Wensheng was directing traders to buy Hang Seng Bank shares as soon as the market opened. The trading method at this time was still telephone order placement—the securities company would call the exchange's inbound stockbroker, who would then report market information to the company via the outbound phone at their trading desk.

"The market is open! The market is open!"

The phone rang soon after, and the trader picked it up.

"Acquired 500 shares of Hang Seng Bank at a price of HK$96 per share."

The stock opened up only 20%, which is obviously because the share price is too high. If a stock split were implemented, the opening price could have been as high as 30%.

Chen Wensheng immediately said, "Keep eating."

With Hang Seng Bank's listing, Ping An Bank's shareholding will be only 37.5%. Although Chen Wensheng believes that Hang Seng Bank's founders pushed for the listing for their own profit-taking or corporate development, Ping An Bank will not gamble on whether they intend to regain control of Hang Seng Bank.

Therefore, Ping An Investment, a sister company of Ping An Bank, became the 'helmsman' in absorbing the shares.

"The rise is very slow."

"Keep eating"

"Eat in"

"Eat it all up, eat it all up"

As the morning session was about to close, a trader reported to the supervisor: "The price has risen by 40%, to 112 yuan per share!"

Chen Wensheng then said, "Let's stop buying for a while this afternoon, let the market sit, and see how things go."

"Okay, Mr. Chen."

It's very simple. A 40% increase on that day is already the 'peak of the peak' for listed companies. If Ping An Investment stops buying in the afternoon, there is a high probability of a pullback.

The Ping An Index has now risen to 560 points, a 40% increase in the first five months. A slight adjustment is possible in the near future.

In the offices of Hang Seng Bank, founding members such as Ho Sin-hang, Ho Tim, Li Kwok-wai, and Leung Kau-kui are gathered together.

He Shanheng said with a smile, "I said before that Ping An Bank would not loosen its control over Hang Seng Bank, and even if HSBC were to be brought in, it would not succeed. This morning, the stock surged by 40%, which shows Ping An Bank's determination."

Li Guowei blushed slightly; it was his suggestion: to list Hang Seng Bank, introduce new investors, and dilute Ping An Bank's equity. However, judging from the market performance this morning, Ping An Bank is clearly very focused on Hang Seng Bank and won't give it any chance.

He Tian nodded and said, "Ping An Bank may seem to be leaving Hang Seng Bank alone and giving us the reins, but in reality, they value controlling interest very much. So, there's no need to create conflict with them. Let's focus on development from now on!"

Currently, neither Ho Sin-hang nor Ho Tim's children have the ability to join Hang Seng Bank as successors; the second generation of management is destined to fall into the hands of the younger Li Guowei. Therefore, Ho Sin-hang, Ho Tim, Leung Kau-kui and others are thinking of cashing out a portion of their Hang Seng Bank shares when the opportunity arises, and using the money to develop family investments.

Therefore, Ping An Bank's acquisition of shares at this time actually helped them, because it could raise the share price.

Seeing that the founding members were already discouraged, Li Guowei stopped insisting on his own ideas and said, "Okay, I understand!"

He Shanheng comforted his "beloved disciple" Li Guowei: "Although Ping An Bank's strength is not as great as HSBC's, the power of the Chen family behind it far exceeds that of HSBC. So some things are not worth forcing."

"Yes"

Since the end of the war, He Shanheng and others had dealt with the Chen Guangliang family and were well aware of their formidable power.

The strength of He Shanheng and others was also greatly weakened by Chen Guangliang. For example, Dachang Trading can now only be considered a medium-sized trading company in Hong Kong, and its scale cannot be compared with that of Global Trading.

In the afternoon, without Ping An Investment's buying, Hang Seng Bank's stock gradually lost its high price of HK$112 and once fell to just over HK$100.

However, Chen Wensheng was not stingy. In the last hour of trading, he made another large-scale purchase, directly pushing the stock price up to HK$115 per share, with a daily increase of over 40%.

After the market closed, Chen Wensheng went to Chen Guangliang's office to report the situation.

After learning the details, Chen Guangliang said, "Next, we will acquire the shares over eight months to increase our stake to over 51%."

He wasn't sure if the Ping An Index would continue to plummet until March of next year, but he wouldn't care about such details; because he could roughly estimate the peak of the second round, so there might be some adjustments later.

Chen Wensheng said in surprise, "Won't this drive up the price too much? And let the founders of Hang Seng Bank take advantage of us?"

Chen Guangliang laughed and said, "It's about getting them to cash out voluntarily. Even 'sending off the gods' should be easy. As for our costs being too high, I'll find a suitable opportunity for you to buy low and sell high. After all, this wave of price increases will definitely attract everyone to speculate in stocks, eventually forming a huge bubble."

Chen Wensheng admired his father's judgment most, so he said without a doubt, "Okay."

Hang Seng Bank officially listed, becoming the first bank stock to be listed in Hong Kong since the war. This move has made the already heated stock market even more vibrant and exciting.

Unfortunately, about a week later, in early June, the Hong Kong financial market was in chaos, banks stopped setting exchange rates, and the Kowloon Stock Exchange also had to suspend operations.

The Ping An Index experienced a brief pullback.

Los Angeles.

When Chen Wenjin returned to the Amazon Group headquarters from out of town, his colleagues greeted him warmly, showing no signs of unfamiliarity due to his skin color.

Although he is a Chinese-American boss, Chen Wenjin still prefers to employ local white people because it makes many things more convenient; he was originally worried that even if he could manage his subordinates, they might not be of one mind.

After a year of adjustment, he realized he had been overthinking things. The Amazon Group management team was a highly efficient and united team, and was even regarded as a model by many real estate companies.

"Allen, this is the opening information for Amazon's twelfth shopping mall—the Philadelphia Amazon Mall. Would you like to attend the opening ceremony?"

An executive's subordinate immediately approached Chen Wenjin and handed him a document.

Chen Wenjin said, "Let President Andrew go, I don't need to go. But I will go to inspect it after the opening."

"Okay, I'll make the arrangements."

Upon hearing about the twelfth Amazon shopping center, Chen Wenjin's face lit up with pride. It should be noted that all 12 are medium to large-sized shopping centers, with most of them being large shopping centers. Each one is a local landmark and a commercial center.

Amazon Shopping Centers are characterized by more than just being 'shopping centers'; they also have a habit of developing surrounding amenities, such as residential buildings, hotels, and even office buildings near the shopping centers, forming a commercial complex. Therefore, each of these shopping centers typically ranks among the top shopping centers in the US in terms of the population they serve. Back in the office, the senior management of the hotel business also reported the situation to Chen Wenjin.

Although Chen Wenjin is the chairman and CEO of the group, and the shopping mall has CEO Andrew and the hotel management has CEO Cole, the senior management of these two departments still regard Chen Wenjin as the 'backbone' and 'helmsman'.

After finishing work, Chen Wenjin stretched and smiled – tired but happy.

In recent years, his assets have doubled again, with net worth reaching US$5 million; three more shopping malls have been added, bringing the total to 12, and their value is also increasing; the Sheraton Hotels, which he controls, are developing rapidly, and there are currently 108 hotels, including those under construction. Of course, many of the Sheraton hotels are franchises; the Ritz-Carlton Hotels under his control have reached four, including two newly opened hotels, which are doing very well, and another one will open in the second half of this year.

Within the Amazon Group, the shareholding structure of each Amazon shopping mall may vary, but Chen Wenjin holds more than 70% of each, and in some cases even 100%; the same applies to the four Ritz-Carlton hotels; and he also holds a 33% controlling stake in the Sheraton Hotel Group.

More importantly, Chen Wenjin's Amazon Group has a very low debt ratio, only about 20%; this is already unbelievable for real estate companies.

This was mainly due to the strong support from the family at the beginning, as well as my father's advice—it's okay to go slowly, the important thing is to do each project well.

As Chen Wenjin packed up to leave work, he passed by the office building and saw many people preparing to work overtime. He didn't care about them, since his two CEOs would manage these things.

His responsibility is to steer this aircraft carrier enterprise, controlling its speed and direction.

Afterwards, Chen Wenjin returned to his villa in Los Angeles, where the voluptuous Kelly came out to greet him with the children. The two kissed in the yard, surrounded by their four children.

"Honey, dinner is ready."

"Okay, let's finish our meal then."

Chen Wenjin picked up his daughter, took his youngest son's hand, and walked inside. He has three sons and one daughter; his eldest son is already 12 years old.

The children of mixed-race individuals are also handsome men and beautiful women, and they are all highly intelligent.

This made Chen Wenjin very grateful to her father, who created the family's greatest 'wealth'—high intelligence.

It was late at night.

Kelly leaned close to his ear and said, "I don't want to waste your genes. I want another child! Look at our father-in-law, he has 15 children. You should at least have a fraction of that, maybe five!"

Chen Wenjin laughed and said, "How can I compare to my father?"

Kelly knew that her husband respected his father very much, but she also loved her husband very much. She said, "Our child is also a descendant of my father-in-law. He's more than happy to have him!"

Chen Wenjin decisively pulled Kelly into the bathtub. He had initially chosen Kelly not only because of his father-in-law's connections, but also because Kelly was a typical blonde, blue-eyed "foreign woman," fitting his ideal of a wife.

"That's great, Allen!"

Kelly was overjoyed. Although she had only been with one man, Chen Wenjin, she knew that this man was physically better than white men, or even black men. This was due to the family's genes. Over the years, she had also noticed some phenomena in the Chen family—her father-in-law was in excellent health and looked remarkably young and resistant to aging, as were her mothers-in-law.

In private, she would naturally ask her husband this question, but he simply said it was due to family genes. She then realized why her husband's physical condition was also above average.

These subtle discoveries naturally made Kelly even more 'loyal' to the family—yes, 'loyal'—and she was willing to make any contribution she could for the family.

With the summer vacation approaching, Chen Guangliang came to the United States. His first act was to gather the members of his second wife's family at his villa on Long Island.

Seeing Chen Wenhua's wife, Alice, with her large pregnant belly, Chen Guangliang laughed and said, "So soon you're having your third child?"

Alice immediately said affectionately, "Father-in-law, I am in good health, and Wenhua likes children, and I like children too, so let's have a third child soon, or even a fourth child before Wenhua turns 33."

Chen Guangliang said with satisfaction, "Good, good, give birth soon so they can grow up quickly."

Chen Guangliang always personally oversaw the issue of offspring for the second generation. Each son was required to have at least four children, with at least two of them being boys. If this requirement wasn't met, they would continue to have more children.

At this moment, Kelly came up and said, "Father-in-law, Wenjin and I are also planning to have our fifth child!"

Chen Guangliang glanced at Chen Wenjin beside him, thinking to himself, "Is this kid a little too competitive?" Chen Wenjin quickly replied, "Kelly wants it. She likes children!"

Chen Guangliang then said, "I'm glad you like it."

His two sons both married blonde, blue-eyed women, showing a man's ambition and desire for conquest. Of course, their offspring are no ordinary people either, possessing six or seven tenths of his abilities, enough to make them look down upon humanity.

He even suspected that if his son had an affair, his daughters-in-law might not have divorced him. Of course, he would try to avoid that situation, since these daughters-in-law had already integrated into the family.

“Dad, I also have a girlfriend. She’s from the same school and grade as me. She’s also a white girl, of Italian descent,” said Chen Wenhai, the youngest son of the second wife.

Upon hearing this, the two daughters-in-law were amazed, thinking to themselves that the men in this family were indeed charming.

Chen Guangliang said, "Okay, Italian is good too, romantic, which complements your personality perfectly."

Chen Wenhai blushed. He was an engineering student and was destined to enter the high-tech field.

Chen Leyi and Tang Wensheng were temporarily excluded from this second-family gathering, as they would arrive the next day, giving the core family members time to arrive.

Although the daughters who were married out were not outsiders, Tang Wensheng and his children no longer bore the surname Chen; while the wives who were brought in, such as Kelly and Alice, all had Chinese names and even took their husbands' surnames.

So when they sat down, Chen Guangliang didn't shy away from his two daughters-in-law and said directly, "In December, start cashing out your second wife's securities one by one, and try to cash out everything by January next year. I always feel that a major war is brewing in the Middle East, and this time it may affect the entire Middle East, including oil."

Chen Wenhua was startled. As the head of the "finance department" in the second branch of the family, he immediately said, "Okay, we'll listen to Father."

Next, Chen Wenjin and Chen Wenhua reported on their work, and overall, the progress was very good.

Finally, Chen Wenhai said, "Dad, I only have one more year until I graduate from university!"

Chen Guangliang thought for a moment and said, "The choice is yours. In short, it's in the electronics field. Gain experience through internships. After accumulating experience, then plan for further development. The future belongs to the technology industry. Personal computers will become widespread, mobile phones will become a reality, and chip technology will advance by leaps and bounds. This is the trend of technology."

Chen Wenhai and the others were all surprised; this father's vision was remarkably sharp and far-sighted.

"Okay." (End of Chapter)