The birth of the Hong Kong Island family

After mid-August, the Hong Kong market finally became panicked. On August 28 alone, the Hang Seng Index fell 689 points in a single day due to market panic.

As the decline hit the program selling orders of institutional investors, the Hang Seng Index fell again by 766 points the next day. As a result, at the end of the month, the Hang Seng Index closed at 15,900.22 points, down significantly from its peak of 18,625 points, with a drop of 14%.

Following the decline in August, it continued to fall in September.

Until October, some investors had already reacted. As the financial turmoil had caused huge and serious damage in Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, some investors in Hong Kong realized the seriousness of the matter and foresaw that Hong Kong might become an international The target of speculators.

As expected, US-funded international hedge funds, which have always regarded Asia as a 'cash machine', have already identified the weakness of the Hong Kong dollar's 'linked exchange rate', which has always been regarded as the cornerstone of Hong Kong's economy and finance, and have begun to move to Hong Kong. The financial 'First War' is coming.

New York.

Soros was sitting in the office of Quantum Fund, looking very relaxed and calm. At this time, his assistant came to his office.

"BOSS, everything is ready for Xiangjiang's work, and the major Wall Street institutions are also fully prepared. Just waiting for your order, Xiangjiang's finance will plummet in response!"

Soros nodded and said: "Hong Kong has the world's third largest foreign exchange reserves. Obviously it cannot be like Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia. So our initial target is not the Hong Kong dollar, but the Hong Kong stock market."

The assistant smiled and said: "We have set traps in many places in the foreign exchange, stock, and futures markets and shuttled them flexibly. The Hong Kong government will not be able to cope with it no matter what, so Hong Kong will be like Southeast Asia."

Soros shook his head and said: "Dealing with Xiangjiang cannot be done in one fell swoop, so I have already predicted that Xiangjiang will need to be attacked multiple times in order to truly cause its financial collapse. Of course, I am very confident that Xiangjiang is still ours on Wall Street. 'Cash machine'. I want to see what the former world's richest family can do in the face of Hong Kong's financial collapse!"

In the shadow of a famous tree, Lin Chi-chao's family is the business representative of Hong Kong. Soros also knows that Lin Chi-chao is not only good at industrial investment, but also good at financial investment.

The assistant said: "Lin Zhichao has retired, and now his five sons are in charge of the five major group companies!"

Soros smiled and said: "Then hit the younger ones first, and the older ones will come out naturally."

The assistant laughed loudly and said: "Haha. Hong Kong is the old trough of the Lin family. If we penetrate the economy, I believe the Lin family will be greatly affected. However, according to our investigation, the Lin family's enterprises have experienced a decline in the past year. , has frequently cashed out Hong Kong investment assets, fearing that the bubble has burst."

Soros nodded and said seriously: "Lin Zhichao's name is also very famous in the West. He has been successful in Japan, Southeast Asia, and even Europe and the United States. He can be described as a very cunning hunter."

The assistant said: "Maybe he will join in this sniper attack on Hong Kong. After all, he is a good fisher in troubled waters!"

Soros smiled and said: "That's very welcome!"

Destroying the Hong Kong economy, destroying the Asian economy, and allowing capital to flow back to the United States is what Wall Street and the U.S. government want to see.

In a blink of an eye, a new week has arrived.

On October 21 (Monday), international speculators began to launch a fierce attack, selling Hong Kong dollars and shorting Hong Kong stocks, thereby raising the interbank interest rate in Hong Kong, which caused extreme anxiety and panic among investors. The Hang Seng Index plummeted in response, and it plummeted on Monday. 630 points.

The next day, Morgan Stanley, which echoed the sentiments of international speculators, publicly stated that it would reduce its investment proportion in the Asian market, and pointed out that Asian stock markets were already in a dangerous downward cycle, and the second wave of decline in Asian stock markets would even be driven by Hong Kong.

Sure enough, the Hong Kong stock market plummeted 570 points again that day, and panic spread again.

At the same time, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has only responded passively by raising short-term loan interest rates, selling US dollars to absorb Hong Kong dollars, and raising interbank interest rates. Rising interest rates will increase the cost of speculation. Therefore, although this move is passive, it also puts some restrictions on international speculators.

On Wednesday, the Hang Seng Index plunged another 760 points.

However, hedge funds did not defeat the Hong Kong dollar in the first round of sniping. This is an ironclad fact.

In an office building in Central, international speculators gathered together to discuss tomorrow's strategy.

Soros of Quantum Fund also came to Xiangjiang in person.

"For three consecutive days, we have sold nearly 60 billion Hong Kong dollars. However, Hong Kong has a lot of foreign exchange reserves, so the Hong Kong dollar has not collapsed yet. Tomorrow we will launch another fierce attack to make the Hang Seng Index fall by at least 1,000 points." Soros said calmly.

A group of international speculators are extremely excited. Defeating the "Four Little Tigers" in Asia is not a real achievement. Defeating the "Four Tigers" in Asia is the real achievement. Therefore, defeating Hong Kong is an exciting thing.

"No problem, let's launch a fierce attack today. Let's work together to defeat the Hong Kong exchange rate and the Hong Kong index."

Everyone showed cruel smiles.

Faced with all this, the Lin Zhichao family did not jump out, because Lin Zhichao, who was sitting behind the scenes, understood that since the bubble was too big, it should be burst, but it should not be allowed to land hard.

As the local emperor of Hong Kong, he is not allowed to completely destroy the Hong Kong economy, so Lin Zhichao sets his sights on the second and third rounds of sniping next year.

In mid-November, international speculators reluctantly launched the Hong Kong financial market, leaving the Hong Kong financial market in a mess. The Hang Seng Index only had 11,000 points left.

Different from the previous life, the Hang Seng Index has never been below 11,000 points, and in the previous life it fell below 10,000 points.

The stock market plummeted, and the real estate market plummeted immediately. Property speculation activities almost disappeared, and defaults (defaults) were very common. Including Taikoo Shing, Whampoa Gardens, Harbor Plaza, Laguna City, Grandview Gardens, Kingswood Villas, etc., the sales price of second-hand houses has fallen sharply from the high in the second quarter, with a drop of more than 30%. Most of them have returned to the price in early 1996, that is, It is equivalent to the peak level in the first quarter of 1994 (HKD 7,000-8,000 dropped to HKD 5,000-6,000 per square foot).

this day.

The citizens of Xiangjiang got up early one after another. Their moods were very heavy, even panicked and anxious, like zombies walking around.

The same is true for Li He and his wife. The house they just bought with a loan in June has now been attacked by international speculators at Xiangjiang Finance, and they have simply carried it home.

"Husband, what should we do with the properties we invested in? We still have more than 300,000 yuan in stocks. Do you want to sell them today!" Li's wife said in panic.

Li He looked at his panicked wife, his eyes were bloodshot, and it was obvious that he had not slept well recently; however, he was also very agitated and had no intention of comforting his wife.

"I'll buy a newspaper and talk about it later!" After saying that, he hurried out, leaving Li's wife with a worried look.

"Those international speculators who kill thousands of people are harmful to people!" Li's wife cursed.

On the other side, Li He was also thinking about whether to sell stocks while going downstairs?

But is this important?

Obviously it's not the most important thing. He is now concerned about whether house prices will fall. After all, the house is worth 8.5 million, and the stock is only more than 300,000. In fact, it was more than 500,000 at the beginning.

"If I had known earlier, I should have cashed out the stocks and bought a house. This would have saved me a loss of 200,000 yuan!" Li He complained to himself.

"The company has also suffered a lot of losses recently. Nothing will happen! What should I do? What should I do? Once the company cannot sustain itself, my job will be gone. How will I be able to repay the mortgage!"

Everything he has is based on the salary offered to him by the company is 100,000 Hong Kong dollars a month. If there is no job, he will have no choice but to go bankrupt.

Li He was walking like a zombie, and there were many such people on the street.

People in Xiangjiang like to gamble, so they like to put their money in the stock market and real estate. Because of this, the market value of the Xiangjiang stock market reached a maximum of 5.5 trillion this year, which is much higher than that of Singapore (population and area are about the same).

But now, the stock market crash and real estate crash are coming, and so many people are affected!

Lin Zhichao came to Hengfeng Plaza in Central, which is the financial headquarters of the Lin family and has an outstanding status.

Hang Feng Plaza was the land king in Central at that time. Together with HSBC Bank Building, Cheung Kong Group Center and Bank of China Building, it was listed as the "Four Feng Shui Buildings in Central". They are also famous buildings in Hong Kong.

Hang Feng Plaza is a ‘twin tower’, standing like an open book in Central, Hong Kong.

Octopus Financial Group and Hengfeng Bank are both headquartered in Hengfeng Plaza. In addition, a large number of international financial institutions rent office buildings in Hengfeng Plaza, making it a gathering place for finance in Asia.

Today's Octopus Financial Group's businesses include: Hengfeng Bank (commercial bank), Barings Bank (investment bank), and Pengli Insurance. All three companies have securities businesses, forming a huge financial empire.

"boss"

Group president Lin Benfeng came to Lin Zhichao's office respectfully.

Lin Zhichao nodded happily. He trusted his brother-in-law very much, so he appointed him as the president of Octopus Financial Group to assist him in managing its four major businesses and three major enterprises.

"How much profit have we made on the Japanese yen foreign exchange side?"

When the exchange rate of the US dollar against the Japanese yen was 115 in June this year, Lin Zhichao decisively arranged for Barings Bank to buy US dollars and Japanese yen, betting that the Japanese yen would depreciate significantly.

"The current exchange rate of the U.S. dollar against the yen has risen to 125 due to the Asian financial crisis. Our profit has nearly doubled, which is 500 million U.S. dollars." Lin Benfeng said with admiration.

My elder brother-in-law is a master of finance. Whether it is foreign exchange, gold, or oil, he is foolproof in everything he does.

In the field of commercial banking, Hengfeng Bank tightened credit a year in advance to avoid huge losses.

In the field of investment banking, after the acquisition by Barings Bank that year, it switched to commercial real estate and securities in Europe and the United States, and its achievements were well received in the investment banking industry.

In less than twenty years, Octopus Financial Group has become a financial group with net assets of approximately HK$120 billion. Since they are not listed on the market, these assets will naturally not be counted.

Lin Zhichao nodded and said: "There is no rush for this investment. There will be another wave of Asian financial crisis in the first half of next year, and the Japanese yen will still have to depreciate."

Lin Benfeng said: "Okay, I understand!"

Then, Lin Zhichao said: "International gold fell below 300 US dollars per ounce this month (November). This is an investment opportunity. I plan to let Octopus Financial Group invest in physical gold and futures, especially physical gold, and spend at least 50 Purchased for US$100 million.”

The wealth invested in Victoria Harbor is too great, now it is necessary for Octopus Financial Group to also develop!

In Octopus Financial Group, Lin Zhichao’s five sons each hold 10%, Wei Kong holds 30%, and the family office holds 20%.

Lin Benfeng was stunned and then said: "If you use that much money, you have to invest it through Hengfeng Bank deposits. Although the assets of Octopus Financial Group are worth about 15 billion US dollars, many of them are fixed assets and investments."

The assets of Hengfeng Bank are also considered the assets of Octopus Financial Group.

Lin Zhichao said: "Yes, Hengfeng Bank has always been the main investment force, and it is not listed on the market. It doesn't matter!"

Lin Benfeng nodded. The current deposits of Hengfeng Bank are 280 billion Hong Kong dollars, half of which are deposits from the Lin family and related companies. The real external deposits are actually less than 150 billion.

This is already very good. After all, Hengfeng Bank is not listed and does not disclose its financial affairs to the public (but it needs to be supervised by the Banking Regulatory Office), so its reputation is not as good as that of Hang Lung and East Asia.

But in fact, judging from the public data, what outsiders see is that Hengfeng Bank's deposits exceed those of Hang Seng and East Asia, and all indicators exceed those of East Asia and are on par with Hang Seng.

This is of course thanks to the strong support of the Lin family and related companies!

"Okay, then why don't you call Rui Huan and the others together and have a meeting together? I'll make a plan right away!" Lin Benfeng suggested.

The five Lin Ruihuan are shareholders and directors of Octopus Financial Group. Naturally, they should be notified of such a big matter. Not only should they be notified, but they should also be involved. After all, his brother-in-law trusted him so much that he was a little scared!

No one would have thought that the wealth of Octopus Financial Group is so huge, and 100% of this wealth belongs to the Lin family.

Lin Benfeng sometimes thought that those wealth lists were really impressive. I am afraid that one-fifth of Lin's wealth has not been counted yet. After all, he has been working in Victoria Harbor Investment for a long time, and even the Victoria Harbor Investment in the hands of his brother-in-law is probably extremely wealthy.

"Okay, I'm really not very responsible, just let them implement this plan with you!"

"OK"

After communicating with Lin Benfeng, Lin Zhichao left Hengfeng Plaza.

Octopus Financial Group will be joined by the third generation of Lin's family. After all, the financial industry is a popular one, and many of his grandchildren will choose this major.

In this gold speculation, Lin Zhichao plans to arrange for the participation of Octopus Financial Group and the Lin Family Office to increase the wealth of these two financial groups.

Victoria Harbor Investment has invested in the technology and Internet industries, and its wealth is already so huge, so it should give up part of its wealth to the other two companies.

In fact, Lin Zhichao currently owns four companies: Victoria Harbor Investment, Family Office, Octopus Financial Group, and Lin Zhichao Foundation.

Among them, the Lin Zhichao Foundation is also an investment and charity institution. Although it belongs to the public in name, it can actually provide support for Lin. (End of chapter)