Era: Starting from divorce from female college student

Chapter 202, Kinmen Construction Donates to Causeway Bay (asking for monthly tickets)
December 16, 1959, Wanbang Building, Central, Hong Kong Island, Hongyuan Holdings.

Zhao Mancang frowned and looked at Wei Shoucheng, Orlyfax and others, and kept repeating in his heart, stay calm!
The thing is, after Zhao Mancang finished handling the business of the Hong Kong and Kowloon Daily and other matters, he came over from the Qifa Building.

Because of the relationship with the Liberty Press, Zhao Mancang also knew that Johnston of Jardine Matheson and Thomas Chater of Hong Kong Holdings were targeting him, so he was mentally prepared.

However, only after Orlyfax and the others finished speaking did he know exactly what had happened.

At the end of last month, Zhao Mancang made simple arrangements and left Hong Kong and Kowloon after successfully acquiring Hutchison Whampoa for HK$152 billion.

But he didn't expect that as soon as he left, Jiang Sidun and his men's revenge plan came into effect.

Changda Real Estate was participating in an auction for a piece of land in Tsuen Wan. Whenever Changda Real Estate wanted to bid for the land, Jardine Matheson would always make trouble.

The most crucial thing is that Wei Shoucheng and his men didn’t know if they were stupid or what, but they were cheated three times and had to spend millions in vain to buy those pieces of land.

Is a few million Hong Kong dollars a small amount of money?

This amount of money is enough for Zhao Mancang to pay several months' salary to all employees of Changda Real Estate and other companies.

Then it was spent by Wei Shoucheng and others. The key point is that they felt quite aggrieved.

Because Zhao Mancang said that they should take over as much land as possible, so they really took it over without worrying about the cost.

In the long run, these extra millions are actually not a big deal, because these lands can definitely be earned back in the future.

But from the current perspective, it is really a big waste to spend about one million more for a piece of land for no reason.

Zhao Mancang was helpless and really couldn't do anything about these people.

"Alright, let's just take this as a lesson. Be more careful next time. We don't get along with Jardine Matheson and Hong Kong, so we have to be more careful when doing things."

After a pause, Zhao Mancang continued:

"By the way, you didn't give the other party any trouble over there in the underwater tunnel, did you?"

Wei Shoucheng and the others' expressions suddenly changed, and they quickly said that they would strictly follow the standards and would not allow them to cheat.

As soon as he heard what they said, Zhao Mancang knew that they were definitely going to make things difficult for the construction workers of Jardine Matheson.

Then he sighed and said:

"It's no use making things difficult for those frontline workers. They're just getting a salary. This matter ends here. Don't make things difficult for them anymore."

"The undersea tunnel is a government project, and they will send supervisors to oversee it. As long as the quality is up to standard and the construction is carried out according to standards, then it's fine. Don't be overly picky."

Zhao Mancang was very clear about this. Making things difficult for the front-line workers would not benefit their long-term real estate development. On the contrary, it would increase the difficulty of poaching employees from Jardine Matheson in the future, which would not be worth the loss.

If we want to fight back, we should fight back against the shareholder group of Jardine Matheson instead of wasting time on these trivial matters.

Anyway, Jardine Matheson and Hong Kong Land Development are giants in the real estate industry in Hong Kong and Kowloon, so there are plenty of opportunities to cause trouble for them.

In the future, they will definitely continue to bid for some buildings or land. There is still a long time to go. Let’s see who can defeat whom!

Although from this perspective, Zhao Mancang's acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa can be regarded as providing ammunition to Jardine Matheson and others, allowing them to recover.

But now that Zhao Mancang is back, he will definitely take advantage of his illness to kill them.

Jardine Matheson has many subsidiaries, as does the Hong Kong Land Development, so Zhao Mancang can start from here and continue to "provide bullets" for them.

After all, they are really short of money now, so it is normal for them to sell some businesses.

For example, the dairy company that Zhao Mancang has always been thinking about is a very good company.

In 1886, Dr. Wilson of Great Britain founded the Dairy Farm Company. After more than half a century of development, it now owns the Causeway Bay Cattle Farm, the Ice House Street Ice Factory, the Spring Garden Street Ice Factory, the Causeway Bay Ice Factory, the Pok Fu Lam Second Cattle Farm, etc.

At this time, the milk company had already been listed, and the person who served as the chairman of the milk company was Zhou Xinian.

Zhou Xinian's grandfather came to Hong Kong to do business and settle down in 1860, and he himself was born in Hong Kong and Kowloon in 1903.

In 1923, Zhou Xinian graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, and then went to study in Great Britain and Austria. He had accumulated a lot of wealth before World War II. In 1930, he purchased a garden house covering an area of ​​more than 20,000 square feet on Hatton Road in the Peninsula.

However, due to family reasons, Zhou Xinian did not like to do business or become a doctor. After returning to Hong Kong, he continued to build up his reputation and became the president of the Hong Kong and Kowloon Medical Association and a member of the Medical Bureau.

And in 1939, Hong Kong appointed him as a non-official Justice of the Peace.

At this time, his uncle Zhou Shaoqi had already become a Justice of the Peace, and their Zhou family had already become a wealthy family in Hong Kong and Kowloon.

Because Zhou Xinian is famous and comes from a wealthy family in Hong Kong, many large companies like to invite him to be a director to maintain their reputation, and he never refuses any offer.

Zhou Xinian has served as chairman of dozens of companies, including the Dairy Farm, Kowloon Motor Bus, Repulse Bay Development Co., Ltd., Far East Insurance Co., Ltd., Xiyuan Rubber Factory, Wellcome Limited, and Nianfeng Rice Shop.

However, since Zhou Xinian became a director of the milk company, he became evil-minded and set up a secret market to buy shares of the milk company.

By the time Zhao Mancang started paying attention to the milk company, Zhou Xinian had already acquired 18 percent of the shares.

In addition to Zhou Xinian who holds 18% of the shares, Jardine Matheson, Hong Kong Land Development and others also hold a few percentage of shares. Although not much, it is definitely there.

Because ever since Dairy Farm was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, as a British company, basically everyone would "support" it.

Last month, after the Central No. 1 site became the land king, many people began to pay attention to the land in Hong Kong Island.

Causeway Bay has not yet become a prosperous city, but the streets there have begun to prosper.

There is indeed a distance from Central to Causeway Bay, but it is only less than three kilometers.

Despite being so close, a dairy company has occupied a lot of land because its Huangshan Cattle Farm, Causeway Bay Ice Factory, Ice House Street Ice Factory, etc. are all prime land.

Therefore, sharp-eyed businessmen have all set their sights on the listed company, Dairy Farm.

However, everyone was smart and they also quietly entered the village without firing a shot and secretly bought up shares of the milk company.

In addition to the dairy company, Jardine Matheson owned quite a lot of land, including a lot of land in Causeway Bay, because Jardine Matheson had purchased a large amount of land near Causeway Bay as early as 1841.

Unfortunately, Zhao Mancang is just jealous now. It will be difficult to snatch it from Jardine Matheson!
However, Zhao Mancang still instructed Orley to let Hongyuan Holdings' "American" investors, who had been deceived by several layers of fraud, send an invitation to Jardine Matheson to acquire the land.

"It's a little expensive, but that's okay. We can buy in bulk. When the time is right, we can contact the Governor's Office and lobby the Governor to help persuade us."

Zhao Mancang wants to purchase a large piece of land in Causeway Bay in order to build an auto parts factory here.

Automobile parts factories are labor-intensive enterprises, and are also extremely high-end but very scarce enterprises in Hong Kong and Kowloon. If such enterprises are settled in Hong Kong and Kowloon, the economic boost to the entire Hong Kong and Kowloon will be very obvious.

In later generations, Causeway Bay became a world-renowned commercial center, but in this era, it was just an ordinary town market.

"Okay, BOSS!"

Orley nodded and said that he was an executor and only needed to implement the boss's orders perfectly.

The boss will naturally make arrangements for subsequent management and other matters.

Therefore, at present, Hongyuan Holdings has three things to do. The first is to continue looking for suitable acquisition targets. The second is to help absorb more Dairy Farm shares and complete the acquisition of Dairy Farm as quickly as possible. The third is to complete the acquisition of Jardine Matheson's land near Causeway Bay.

Changda Real Estate also has three current tasks: one is to continue to acquire and hoard land and industrial buildings, the second is to supervise the construction of the undersea tunnel, and the third is to continue to expand its construction team.

After Orley finished speaking, Wei Shoucheng suddenly made a suggestion:
"Boss, can we acquire Golden Gate Construction Company?"

Zhao Mancang heard this and asked in surprise:

"Don't you know this company is British-owned? How could they possibly be willing to sell it?"

British companies of this era were quite arrogant.

Some time ago, when Angel Bay Venture Capital, the "American capital" representative of Hongyuan Holdings, wanted to acquire Wharf Holdings, Jiang Sidun of the Keswick family was so disgusted.

It was obvious that they had no money left. The series of events that Zhao Mancang had caused some time ago had dried up their cash flow, and they also needed to raise funds to deal with the acquisition of the Central No. 1 land, which was the king of land.

Even so, Jiang Sidun was still very arrogant and still wanted to save face. He refused to give up his face as a "British gentleman" and firmly rejected the acquisition offer from Angel Bay Venture Capital.

But faced with the urging from the Governor's Office and the pleading from Thomas Chater, Jiang Sidun had no choice but to sell the Wharf Group to Angel Bay Venture Capital.

The Hong Kong Land Development is actually a subsidiary of Jardine Matheson, and the Chater family's shares in it are already negligible.

If Thomas Chater's ability had not been just passable, he would have had no chance of becoming the boss of Hong Kong Land Development.

All British-owned enterprises in Hong Kong and Kowloon are almost the same.

Gammon Construction Company was the head office founded by John Gammon in India in 1919. Its main business is Hong Kong construction and civil engineering. However, since the construction of Hong Kong and Kowloon Kai Tak Airport in 1955, Gammon Construction Company has become independent.

As an independent company, Gammon Construction is not currently listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, so acquiring it would not be easy.

"Boss, we could actually ask a question first. After all, this company's construction team is quite mature and they have experience building airports. Didn't you plan to build an airport on the outlying island? Why don't we seize this opportunity to acquire this company?"

Wei Shoucheng said excitedly.

He knew that Zhao Mancang was rich, or rather, everyone in Hong Kong knew that Zhao Mancang was rich. After all, the Liberty Press said every day that Zhao Mancang had more than ten billion Hong Kong dollars in cash. Who didn't know that?

With so much cash, it would be much easier to acquire others.

Of course, if Hongyuan Holdings personally takes part in the acquisition, it is very likely that the acquisition will fail.

Because others may take advantage of Hongyuan Holdings and ask for an exorbitant price, and if the Jardine Matheson Group knew about this, it would definitely come out to stir up trouble.

What's more, the shareholders of Kinmen Construction Company may go directly to Jiang Sidun and ask him whether he is willing to acquire them.

After all, in this case, if Zhao Mancang and Jiang Sidun compete in bidding, wouldn't Kinmen Construction Company be able to sell for a good price?

There is no doubt that the people from Kinmen Construction Company will make such a plan.

"Okay, Orley, you heard it. If the price of Gammon Construction Company is not expensive, then buy it. I will be in Hong Kong and Kowloon for the next two days. If you are undecided, you can ask me."

After saying that, Zhao Mancang stood up and left Wanbang Building.

Zhao Mancang has always been in a laissez-faire attitude towards his companies, and seems to not care much about their life or death.

But in fact, the salaries of Wei Shoucheng, Orley, Chen Liangsheng and others were all signed by Zhao Mancang. They could only get high salaries if they did their job well.

Otherwise, what right do they have?
It’s impossible for Zhao Mancang to come to the company to work every day, right?

Focusing on the big and letting go of the small, trusting people when employing them and not waiting for them if you doubt them are the simplest principles. How could Zhao Mancang not know this?

Therefore, Zhao Mancang only needs to come here occasionally.

If the company encounters any operational crisis, the year-end bonuses and other bonuses of management such as Wei Shoucheng will be affected.

Zhao Mancang might even fire them and hire someone else.

After coming out of the Wanbang Building, Zhao Mancang looked at the bustling streets, briefly felt the afternoon time in Hong Kong and Kowloon of that era, and drove to No. 66 Deep Water Bay.

Along the way, he discovered that he was being followed.

So after the car arrived at the door of Villa No. 66 in Deep Water Bay, Zhao Mancang called the villa's security and asked them to deal with those people.

As a result, the security guards were not effective and failed to drive the man away.

The reason is simple: those ruffians won't leave without money.

Seeing this, Zhao Mancang frowned, then returned to the villa, picked up the phone and called the Senior Processing Director of the Police Department, Mai Bianchen, and took control of the other party.

"Mr. MacBenson, I would like to donate five million Hong Kong dollars to your police department. Would you be willing to do so?"

Spending money to avoid disaster is always the simplest and most effective way to solve problems.

In Hong Kong and Kowloon, are there any bodyguards who are more powerful and more legitimate than the police?
No!

Although those bodyguards can provide 24-hour personal protection, does Zhao Mancang need it?

He didn't need it, and he had no family in Hong Kong and Kowloon, so he wasn't worried that those robbers with ulterior motives would kidnap his family to threaten him.

As long as the security guard could give the warning in advance, Zhao Mancang would be able to survive before the police arrived.

Zhao Mancang could even apply to the police station to set up a police station or police station near his home to protect himself.

Otherwise, Zhao Mancang could be a coward, often disguising himself and not giving others any chance at all.

"Really?"

On the other end of the phone, Mai Bianchen was very excited, and Zhao Mancang seemed to hear the sound of a stool falling.

This is a very good opportunity.

Who doesn’t know that Zhao Mancang holds more than one billion Hong Kong dollars in cash?

So, after hanging up the phone, McBenson rushed to Villa No. 66 in Deep Water Bay without stopping.

As soon as he arrived at the place, Mai Bianchen saw the vagrants, problem teenagers and others wandering around the villa. He knew clearly in his mind: the reason why Zhao Mancang called him to inform him to donate 5 million Hong Kong dollars to the police station was probably because he wanted him to help deal with these minions?
Considering the recent smear campaign against Zhao Mancang by the Liberty Press, MacBenson became more certain of Zhao Mancang's intention to donate HK$5 million.

Even so, McBenson had no intention of "taking advantage of the situation".

Because Zhao Mancang also knew other senior officials of the Police Department, and even the Governor, but why didn't he contact others but contacted him instead?

Maybe it’s because he is relatively young and his career prospects are brighter?

In short, no matter what, Mai Bianchen will not let go of Zhao Mancang. He must hold on to him tightly and not give others a chance.

McBianchen still remembered that Zhao Mancang had a very good relationship with Alex, the senior inspector.

But Alex is a very short-sighted person and actually wants to take over Zhao Mancang's company.

He was just promoted to senior superintendent and then was 'exiled' back to Great Britain. It is said that he contracted an illness and died not long after.

Although McBenson was puzzled by Alex's death, he did not link his death to Zhao Mancang.

After all, Zhao Mancang had previously told Alex about his idea of ​​building a hospital, but it has not been implemented yet.

He didn't even know that Zhao Mancang possessed superb medical skills, otherwise, Mai Bianchen might really have thought of these things.

"This is a check from HSBC, Senior Assistant Director McBenson. I believe you should be very clear about what you should do next, right?"

A check was placed in front of Mai Bianchen, and Zhao Mancang said with a faint smile.

The former was very excited and quickly expressed his gratitude.

"Mr. Zhao, please rest assured. We, the Royal Hong Kong Police, will never let any criminal go. Maintaining public order in Hong Kong and Kowloon is our duty."

It sounds righteous and high-sounding, but in fact it is all because of the five and a string of zeros on the check. The deterrent power of five million Hong Kong dollars is so strong.

"Given the chaotic public security situation in Deep Water Bay, I will send police to set up a police station here, and will later move the Deep Water Bay Police Station nearby."

Zhao Mancang was very happy about McBenson's 'understanding' and laughed along:

"Don't worry, MacBenson, as long as we maintain social order and stability in Hong Kong and Kowloon, we, as citizens of Hong Kong and Kowloon, will definitely support your work."

A word of support speaks volumes!
MacBenson happily left with the check. As for the evil spirits near Villa No. 66 in Deep Water Bay, they all disappeared in less than half an hour.

A team of twenty uniformed police officers appeared near Villa No. 66 in Deep Water Bay. Within a 500-meter radius of the villa, no more idle teenagers could be seen. Anyone who didn't live nearby was approached by the uniformed police and asked, "What's your name? Hand over your ID card for a quick inspection!"
In this way, Zhao Mancang gained peace of mind, and the so-called "troubles" soon disappeared.

On the 17th, afternoon tea time at the Peninsula Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon Peninsula.

Zhao Mancang met with Hobbs Nardelli, the boss of First Citibank, and had afternoon tea with him here.

"Hobbs, thank you for your support to Angel Bay Ventures during this period. I hope our friendship will last forever."

The reason why he wanted to meet with the other party was because Zhao Mancang was planning to do something that might make the other party hostile, so he had to take precautions in advance.

why?
Because Zhao Mancang needs to acquire a bank to help him handle some gold and US dollar cash.

Although he was not worried that Sam's Intelligence Agency would really find him after digging through the US dollar cash, he still needed to use some channels to deal with the funds to avoid any real problems.

Zhao Mancang is afraid of any trouble.

Compared to being visited by SAM Intelligence Agency to inquire about the source of the US dollar cash, Zhao Mancang would rather handle the funds through the bank.

After all, banks absorb reserves from the public, so isn’t it normal for such US dollars to appear?

As for who brought it to the bank, who the hell would register this?

It was 1959, and there were no computers yet. Even if there were computers, they were only available to top institutions such as national laboratories. Not many ordinary companies could afford them.

Hong Kong and Kowloon are a technological desert, so it is unlikely that many companies can afford to spend that much money to buy computers.

Hobsnadderley looked puzzled and didn't quite understand why Zhao Mancang invited him to dinner until the latter said he wanted to acquire a bank. Only then did he realize what was going on.

"Haha, I was wondering when you would start a bank, but I didn't expect it to be now. Sure, no problem. Which bank do you want to acquire? I might be able to help you."

Hearing the other party's words, Zhao Mancang was stunned for a moment, and then burst into laughter.

Maybe the other party thought he was just making a small fuss, so they didn't take it seriously.

Zhao Mancang didn't explain too much and followed the other party's instructions to name several small banks, some of which were Chinese-owned and some were British-owned.

Regardless of the capital provider, the assets are around tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars, which is a very small bank.

"Haha, which company do you want to acquire? Let me help you with some advice."

Hobbs laughed out loud, and Zhao Mancang shook his head and said that he wanted to acquire all six banks. The former's smile froze instantly.

This expression is almost identical to that of HSBC boss Pu Weisi and Standard Chartered Bank boss Fu Nak.

Because if all six banks are acquired, it means that Zhao Mancang will spend at least nearly 500 million Hong Kong dollars.

This is 500 million Hong Kong dollars, a huge amount of money.

Use all of it to acquire banks?

Among the banks in the colonial city of Hong Kong and Kowloon, they are ranked in the lower middle level.

More than ten minutes later, Hobbs left with a forced smile, and as soon as he walked out of the Peninsula Hotel, he started cursing.

Fake!

As a major depositor of their No. 1 Citibank, his deposits were going to be reduced, so of course he, as the boss, was very unhappy.

At Kai Tak Airport, a plane landed and several accounting teams from Wall Street arrived in Hong Kong and Kowloon smoothly.

This is the accounting team that Zhao Mancang asked Randolph Daniel, the head of the New York branch of "Women's Health", to help contact. This is also Randolph's first time to visit the Far Eastern city of Hong Kong and Kowloon.

In order to acquire the six banks, Zhao Mancang did not intend to take it slow, but planned to use a blitzkrieg and achieve a quick victory.

However, in order to maintain confidentiality, Zhao Mancang did not come to the airport to pick up the person in person, but instead sent the person in charge of the Hong Kong headquarters of "Women's Wear" to pick him up.

Zhao Mancang met with Randolph and others secretly at the Peninsula Hotel, and outsiders didn't know about it.

"Boss, it's great to see you again. This is my first time here at headquarters, and I'm so excited. It's a pity you won't let us go to the headquarters office."

As soon as they met, Randolph started to be polite with great excitement.

After a few casual chats, Zhao Mancang got down to business and began assigning them detailed tasks.

Randolph needs to personally lead the accounting team to assist the other acquisition team to complete the acquisition of six banks in Hong Kong Island.

Although they are six small banks, this is Zhao Mancang's first time to be involved in the financial business sector, so he naturally needs to be cautious.

After making the arrangements, Zhao Mancang will continue to pay attention to this matter as much as possible.

On the other hand, Jardine Matheson had received an acquisition offer from Angel Bay Venture Capital. When Jiang Sidun saw the document on his desk, he just took a look at it and threw it away.

When did Jardine Matheson need to sell land to make ends meet?

Jardine Matheson was quite domineering in the Far East, especially in places like Shanghai and Baiyun City.

Although they were forced to retreat to Hong Kong and Kowloon after 1949, this Far Eastern colonial city was also run like an iron barrel by Jardine Matheson.

Jardine Matheson, with its huge assets and large amounts of high-quality land, was the true uncrowned king of Hong Kong and Kowloon.

After being rejected by Jiang Sidun, Orley was not surprised at all, so he immediately asked Angel Bay Venture Capital to contact the Governor's Office.

At the Governor's Mansion, Robert White heard from his subordinates that people from Angel Bay Venture Capital had arrived and hoped to meet him.

Robert Black was still very interested in Angel Bay Ventures, a newcomer from North America, because this company acquired Wharf Holdings not long after it arrived.

I didn't expect that such a short time had passed and I had already found the Governor's Mansion. It seemed that I had encountered some difficulties.

So, driven by curiosity, Robert White met with the head of Angel Bay Venture Capital.

Not long after the meeting, Robert Black was stunned because the other party proposed to acquire the land of Jardine Matheson in Causeway Bay.

Robert Black also knew about those lands. Jardine Matheson had not managed them much since it took them over.

Due to the terrain of Causeway Bay, Jardine Matheson did not develop the land much, but simply rented it out.

At that time, there were not many people living in Causeway Bay, and the market was not that prosperous.

However, smart people would find ways to acquire land, because in November, Hong Kong Land Development, one of the largest subsidiaries of the Jardine Matheson Group, spent a huge sum of HK$300 million to acquire the reclaimed land at One Central, which completely detonated the entire land market in Hong Kong and Kowloon.

This was also one of the reasons why Changda Real Estate spent several million Hong Kong dollars more when it acquired those plots of land in Tsuen Wan.

Land prices are rising across Hong Kong, especially in the two most prosperous areas of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula.

Although Causeway Bay is not located in the most prosperous area, it is less than three kilometers away from Central, so it has also been targeted by many real estate developers.

Unexpectedly, Angel Bay Venture Capital, an outsider from North America, also set its sights on the land here, and it was the land of Jardine Matheson.

Could it be that they are trying to take advantage of Jardine Matheson?
"Why does it have to be Causeway Bay? Can't we go somewhere else?"

"Your Excellency, Governor, we acquired this land in Causeway Bay not to speculate on real estate, but to build an auto parts factory here. We need more cheap labor, so Causeway Bay is the most suitable place."

When Bai Liji heard the words of the head of Angel Bay Venture Capital, his mouth opened wide.

Auto parts factory?

This is awesome!
After inquiring in detail about the scale of this auto parts factory, Bai Liji became even more uneasy.

An automobile parts factory with a scale of up to tens of thousands of people is of great significance to the colonial city of Hong Kong and Kowloon.

The same is true for him as the governor.

He only took up the position of Governor last year. The previous Governor, Alexander Grantham, had run Hong Kong Island for ten years. Although he had retired, he still left many of his confidants, which made him feel uncomfortable when carrying out his work.

On the other hand, Grantham operated here for ten years. Because of 1949, the population of Hong Kong and Kowloon exploded, and so did the economy.

However, not long after Robert Black took over, the real estate economy in Hong Kong and Kowloon began to decline, which made him a little anxious.

So compared to his predecessor, Alexander Grantham, Robert Black felt that his future was bleak.

In fact, in the original time and space history, Robert Black was removed from the post of governor in 1964.

Now, the arrival of Angel Bay Venture Capital has given Robert White a huge opportunity.

Therefore, no matter what, he will encourage Angel Bay Venture Capital to establish an auto parts factory in Hong Kong and Kowloon to boost the economic development of Hong Kong and Kowloon.

The next day, Jiang Sidun, the head of Jardine Matheson, was called over by Robert Black.

After a morning of negotiations, Jiang Sidun was persuaded by Robert.

In fact, it was Robert Black who promised to exchange several plots of land in Sheung Wan, so Jiang Sidun agreed to sell the land in Causeway Bay to Angel Bay Venture Capital.

In fact, the current Causeway Bay is no longer the Causeway Bay of the past.

The Hung Hom Causeway Bay undersea tunnel connecting the Kowloon Peninsula and Hong Kong Island is currently being constructed by a construction company under Jardine Matheson. Once this undersea tunnel is opened to traffic, traffic between the Kowloon Peninsula and Hong Kong Island will become very smooth.

Public transportation such as Kowloon buses and taxis will travel between the two places more frequently, making it more convenient for office workers who live in the Kowloon Peninsula but work in Hong Kong Island.

It is almost foreseeable that with the exit of the undersea tunnel, the economy of Causeway Bay will take off.

So how could Jiang Sidun agree to sell the land in Causeway Bay at this time if there were no better replacement conditions?

In this way, Angel Bay Venture Capital quickly acquired several plots of land in Causeway Bay.

After Zhao Mancang learned the news, he immediately invested money, began to reclaim the land, asked the business tenants to move out, and then began to level the land.

The sign of the Causeway Bay Auto Parts Factory was thus erected. As soon as the factory building is built, the factory will immediately recruit workers, train workers, and produce parts.

Since this place is close to Victoria Harbour, it is entirely possible to build a dock to facilitate cargo transportation.

Victoria Harbour is a very rare natural deep-water harbor. Even on the Causeway Bay side, the water depth can reach about fifteen meters.

The entire Causeway Bay area is 2.4 square kilometers, which is really not big.

Zhao Mancang wants to invest in building an auto parts factory with tens of thousands of workers, but that certainly cannot be compared with those factories that have cheap land.

However, what Hong Kong and Kowloon like most is to build industrial buildings and use them directly as factories, which is also not a problem.

Therefore, Zhao Mancang could only adapt to local conditions and build several tall industrial buildings in areas with small land areas, such as eight-story, twelve-story, fifteen-story, or even eighteen-story buildings.

Of course, fire protection, water, electricity, etc. need to be taken into consideration, otherwise it will be very troublesome if something happens.

After taking care of this auto parts factory, Zhao Mancang no longer paid much attention to it.

On the other hand, the acquisition of six small banks is still proceeding simultaneously, but the progress is not smooth.

Zhao Mancang was mentally prepared for this.

Banks in this era are relatively stable. Although they are not that profitable, they are not that bad either.

Especially in the last one or two months, due to the reclaimed land at Central No. 1, the real estate economy has shown signs of picking up, and many companies are eager to try.

In other words, those who take out loans will usher in a climax.

The housing sales model founded by Henry Fok, which requires a 244% down payment and monthly payments of only HK$, has made loans no longer an unacceptable thing in the colonial city of Hong Kong and Kowloon.

Therefore, even small banks can make a lot of money in the future by cooperating with these real estate companies.

Zhao Mancang was not in a hurry. He planned to acquire these six banks slowly and not let any of them escape.

"How many shares has the milk company acquired so far?"

Zhao Mancang asked in the headquarters office of Hongyuan Holdings in Wanbang Building, Sheung Wan.

The listed company, Dairy Farm, has always been unremarkable, but over the past two weeks or so, its share price has risen by nearly HK$50 cents.

Each company acquired shares secretly without any fanfare.

Zhou Xinian is currently the shareholder who has secretly absorbed the most shares in the milk company. If it were not for Zhao Mancang, then according to the history of the original time and space, the milk company would have been secretly absorbed by the former and put into his pocket.

Now, among the real estate companies of Dairy Farm, Jardine Matheson and Hong Kong Land Development had to swallow their pride due to financial reasons.

After all, Jardine Matheson is constructing an undersea tunnel and needs to advance funds. It is a project worth 300 million Hong Kong dollars, and the amount of funds required is not small. In addition, it has other projects, so funds are quite tight.

Jiang Sidun sold Wharf Holdings to Angel Bay Venture Capital and obtained HK$152 million, almost all of which was lent to Hong Kong Land Development at a low interest rate to pay for the Central No. 1 land.

So, these two companies were big companies on the surface, but they were cheated by Zhao Mancang and their capital chains were almost broken.

If they knew that Angel Bay Venture Capital was the company under Zhao Mancang's name, Jiang Sidun would probably be so angry that he would vomit blood.

In addition to the Jardine Matheson Group, Chinese investors such as Li Ka-shing, Li Ka-shing, and Cheng Yu-tung also secretly bought shares of Dairy Farm.

These real estate businessmen have sharp eyes. Of course, they can see the rising prices of land near Causeway Bay, and naturally they also pay attention to the Dairy Company.

They thought that even if they couldn't take over the milk company, they could still make a lot of money by selling their stocks in time.

This principle is the same as purchasing land or industrial buildings.

It’s just that they all have small capital, with a capital amount of only tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, and they don’t have much power.

"Boss, we've already acquired nearly 5.3% of the shares. If we want to acquire shares faster, we might need to contact those small shareholders."

Orley reported immediately.

Hearing this, Zhao Mancang became interested and asked:
"Who are the small shareholders? Aren't there any major shareholders?"

As everyone knows, when the Dairy Farm Company was first founded, it was jointly established by British doctor Winson and five other British people.

The establishment of this company actually has a lot to do with the chaos in the dairy industry in Hong Kong and Kowloon at that time.

Before the opening of Hong Kong and Kowloon, there was actually no local custom of consuming milk. In the beginning, only a few wealthy officials and businessmen who settled in Hong Kong and Kowloon raised one or two dairy cows in their own yards, and local farmers would occasionally squeeze some buffalo milk to sell in the market.

Dr. Winsun came to Hong Kong and Kowloon from Taiwan in 1883 and participated in the establishment of the Hong Kong School of Western Medicine. He was a famous doctor in Hong Kong Island at that time.

Patients need to drink more milk to increase nutrition for treatment, but they always shake their heads and tell Dr. Wen Xun: There is no place to buy it.

The market had a strong demand for dairy products, and a cup of buffalo milk cost as much as HK$24 cents. However, the monthly salary of an ordinary worker in Hong Kong and Kowloon at that time was only HK$3.

So, Dr. Wen Xun took out 30,000 Hong Kong dollars and founded this milk company with five Hong Kong businessmen.

In other words, from the very beginning, the shareholders of the dairy company were dispersed and not concentrated in the hands of one person.

"It's like this, Boss. We've conducted a thorough investigation and found that there are currently six small shareholders holding over 5% of the dairy company. The majority shareholder, Zhou Xinian, holds 18.9%."

After hearing what Orley said, Zhao Mancang immediately fell into deep thought.

It seems that it will be very difficult to secretly take over the dairy company and privatize it and delist it.

(End of this chapter)