The birth of the Hong Kong Island family

London.

The headquarters of the Canary Wharf Group welcomed government officials headed by Thatcher for inspection. Lin Zhichao took Thatcher to explain in front of the ‘Canary Wharf Sandbox’.

There were reporters specially filming the scene, and the whole scene was a bit 'abrupt'. Because almost all of the dozens of people in the room were white, and only Lin Zhichao was Asian.

However, it is this Asian and their Prime Minister Thatcher who are the two absolute protagonists today.

There are already 200 employees in Canary Wharf, almost all of whom are local talents in the UK, including President Combs; Lin Zhichao is only involved in this project as the boss, and of course his participation is very high.

Lin Zhichao pointed at the sand table seriously and said: "For the first phase of the Canary Wharf project, we have planned a total of 22 buildings with a total commercial area of ​​13 million square feet. Among the 22 buildings, 3 are skyscrapers. It has the tallest building in London. It is expected that by 1992, 6 office buildings will be built, including the tallest 'Hong Kong Center Tower One'."

Thatcher listened very carefully. She believed in Lin Zhichao's ability very much and felt that only Lin Zhichao could complete this project. If once completed, it will be a brilliant achievement in her ruling career.

She asked: "What about the public transport situation?"

Lin Zhichao pointed to the middle and said: "This is the central hub of the entire transportation. Our current light rail plan is to carry 6,000 people per hour to and from Canary Wharf and the London Financial Center. Later, the entire light rail system will be: up to 30 The 'Docklands Light Rail Line', which is 5 km long and consists of 5 light rail branch lines, will be led by the Canary Wharf Group. It is expected to be completed in 1992 and will be able to be connected to London's most developed subway line."

Thatcher said with satisfaction: "Your idea of ​​placing the transportation hub in the commercial center is very creative!"

Transportation in this area will be a huge government expense, such as subways, port roads, etc. Now the Canary Wharf Group has shown great sincerity and invested huge funds to build the "Docklands Light Rail Line", which makes the London government very happy. At the same time, the port area road (500 million pounds), which has the largest cost and the most complex planning, has also been approved.

Only the progress of the subway line has not been achieved. When it comes to such huge government public expenditures, Thatcher was unable to directly solve the problem.

After visiting the sand table, Thatcher asked: "When will the construction start?"

Lin Zhichao said: "Construction will start in March next year, and you will be invited to preside over the groundbreaking ceremony at that time."

Thatcher said without hesitation: "Of course, it's an honor."

At this time, in the eyes of the British, Lin Zhichao is buying a huge political guarantee by investing US$7 billion in the Canary Wharf project. Because of this, Lin Zhichao is still very happy in London.

Of course, Lin Zhichao did not invest US$7 billion, but only US$100 million, intending to complete this project.

Today's Canary Wharf Group, with a fortune of 2.5 billion US dollars, made more than 1.2 billion US dollars just by shorting Bren crude oil; it only bought British stocks and cleared 40% of its positions during the '87 stock market crash'. He also made a wave of futures, and after a few moves, his wealth had grown to 2.5 billion US dollars.

Currently, Canary Wharf has purchased a large number of British stocks, and Lin Zhichao plans to cash out his position in the first half of 1989. As for the start-up capital for Canary Wharf, he has sought a low-interest loan of US$800 million (8.5%) from a consortium of banks including Chase, HSBC, and Barclays.

According to Lin Zhichao's prediction, US$2.5 billion will be at least US$3 billion in wealth in one and a half years. After that, you have to follow Soros and take a sip of soup - short the pound and make another $500 million.

Isn’t this half the investment cost?

On that day, Thatcher government officials praised Canary Wharf Group one after another. Especially when they saw that Lin Zhichao, a Hong Kong native, used local employees, they immediately praised him.

Of course, at this point, Lin Zhichao is actually very good at it.

It is good that he hires all local employees, but the management must strictly obey him, otherwise he will be fired. Even if the project was messed up, he would not allow any employees to challenge his authority.

Fortunately, the management headed by Combs still respects Lin Zhichao very much.

The next day, Lin Zhichao held a meeting with the management of Canary Wharf in the conference room.

In the conference room, he said: "Canary Wharf Group is positioned as more than just a construction and development company. I plan to divide the group's business into four parts: Canary Wharf Co., Ltd., Canary Wharf Contractors Co., Ltd., and Canary Wharf Contractors Co., Ltd. Canary Wharf Management Co., Ltd., Canary Wharf Intelligent Incubation Co., Ltd."

He redefined the Canary Wharf Group and was a huge inspiration to his staff.

Combs asked: "BOSS, what is the business of the intelligent incubation company?"

Lin Zhichao said: "It is a business incubator and the most connected technology community in the world. It supports corporate development in a variety of ways, providing world-class excellent customers, talent training and exchanges, and infrastructure optimization services."

Although most of the Canary Wharf Group is composed of British local talents, there are actually a small number of professionals recruited from the United States; at the same time, Lin Zhichao also involved Lin Ruihuan and Malisi. This time, the construction technology introduced two important American technologies. Of course, the builder was a contractor incubated within the Canary Wharf Group.

Combs nodded and said, "I understand. Let's come up with a comprehensive plan as soon as possible according to BOSS's plan!"

Lin Zhichao said with satisfaction: "Hello everyone, Canary Wharf Group will not just develop this 1.22 kilometers of land, but will also participate in the development of the surrounding 29 kilometers of land in the future. We will even become a great investment company once the company is listed. , I will also give you option rewards!"

It will definitely go public, after all, it still needs financing in the later stage.

Lin Zhichao was confident that he could earn US$3.5 billion for Canary Wharf Group in 1992, which was half of the funds raised. But in fact, this amount of funds is still not enough.

Canary Wharf will not be truly profitable until 1998, and the previous income may only cover operating expenses.

After ten years of investment, Lin Zhichao had to try his best to make money and try not to let the Cheung Kong Group inject another penny.

Lin Zhichao stayed at Canary Wharf Group in London for a full week before leaving with satisfaction. When getting along with these managers, Lin Zhichao also discovered that he has a kind of personality charm that makes even foreigners surrender to him.

There is both visible true ability and an invisible charm. In short, this charm is conducive to the overseas expansion of his career.

Combs is a top talent. If he can be completely conquered and become a "loyal lackey" of the Lin family, this will be very important for future investment in the UK. (End of chapter)