A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

In December, Chen Guangliang arrived in London to reunite with his third wife.

Now, Chen Wenou is about to become a father. He married an American woman named Lisa, who is now five months pregnant.

In his London estate, Chen Guangliang enjoyed the bliss of family life.

"Dad, this year Orcon is expected to exceed $8 million in sales. At the same time, in order to maintain market popularity, we have adopted a limited production strategy to create scarcity. We plan to expand the global market by adjusting the skin tone version later," Chen Wen'ou reported to his father.

In the first year, sales reached $400 million in nine months, and in the second year, sales reached $800 million. Cabbage Babies definitely made money off of people's intelligence.

Chen Guangliang nodded, handing the initiative to Chen Wenou: "What do you plan to do next?"

Chen Wenou said with a strong sense of self-determination: "I think we should sell my 50% stake to Mattel so that Mattel can manage this IP in the long term."

Mattel already owns Barbie, My Little Pony, Transformers, and has a 50% stake in Cabbageplant Doll.

“That works! You will serve as the executive director of Mattel Group, handling Red Bull while also participating in the group’s operations.”

"Yes, father"

Mattel has made a lot of money over the years, but it hasn't distributed any of it as dividends. Instead, it has invested most of it in real estate. As a result, it has accumulated considerable assets, and its market value has exceeded US$50 billion, making it a truly large corporation.

Audrey Hepburn held 36.5% of the shares, and Chen Wenjin also held 11%, with the Chen family remaining the largest shareholder.

On the sofa, pregnant Lisa also participated in this family meeting.

This American girl was still blonde and blue-eyed, with fair skin and a voluptuous figure. It's surprising that these guys, without any restrictions, all seem to like 'foreign women'.

Of course, in the eyes of these foreign women, the Chen family is a sure-fire "golden goose," and a high-quality target that is both rich and good-looking.

Although Lisa rarely saw her father-in-law, she still felt the power of this family's 'spiritual totem'; a few words from him could invigorate her husband.

Chen Guangliang turned to look at Lisa and said, "Lisa, looking at your belly, it feels like you're having twins?"

At this point, 3D color ultrasound was not yet available, so naturally nothing was detected during the physical examination.

Lisa said happily, "I also feel that there are two lives inside, but I haven't dared to be sure."

After she finished speaking, she stood up gracefully and showed off her belly.

Chen Guangliang was also quite happy and said, "If so, that would be a good thing. It would be like having twins in our Chen family."

Chen Wen'ou stood up happily and placed his hand on his wife's belly. The second generation of the Chen family had a particularly strong sense of family, and the most important thing for them was to continue their lineage.

So sometimes, they get married with this in mind, they just don't say it out loud.

These guys started dating in college, initially following Chen Guangliang's advice: "There's nothing wrong with dating more; it will make you more level-headed." So, they probably changed girlfriends every year. By the time they were 23 or 24, they would start looking for suitable marriage partners and gradually give up being 'playboys'.

Unfortunately, there was a time when someone (Chen Wenjin) didn't listen to her family's advice about marriage and almost lost her status as the 'heir'.

For Chen Guangliang, failing to raise one son successfully would certainly be painful, but it wouldn't make him despair. Simply put, he's in good health; he can easily have another child and raise another.

Just like Yoko Tsukasa in Japan, who worries that her daughter-in-law 'Junko Tokugawa' cannot conceive and is always ready to have another child for Chen Guangliang, every member of the family has the idea of ​​'passing on the torch'.

Of course, by the third generation, they basically no longer exist. Each business has at least three male heirs, meaning there are at least 33 male third-generation members.

Next, Chen Guangliang looked at Chen Wenxi, who was about to turn 23. He had already been working at Audrey Hepburn's private investment company for a year and a half, which instantly made Audrey Hepburn feel more at ease.

Sometimes, even if she wasn't immediately entrusted with important tasks, it was enough to put Audrey Hepburn at ease.

Her private investment company has total assets exceeding $8 million, including $6 million in European securities and $2 million in real estate.

"How is the progress of your gold investment?"

Chen Wenxi, who was assisting his mother, said, "Father, we have already bought 100 tons of gold, which are stored in the vaults of banks in London and Switzerland. The cost is less than 5 million US dollars."

It turns out that while the family office was hoarding gold (approximately US$8 million, or about 160 tons), the third family's private investment companies were also hoarding gold, all of which were physical gold.

As for second and fourth wives, they hoard very little gold because the US and Japan do not have relaxed channels for physical gold hoarding. Hong Kong is a free port, and restrictions on gold were lifted in 1974; London and Switzerland, needless to say, have always been important gold trading centers in Europe.

Audrey Hepburn added, "This $500 million is all loans, partly secured by some of my Mattel shares and partly by European properties."

Chen Guangliang nodded. As long as it was a project he approved for investment, he was willing to take out any loan amount.

"This wave of gold price increases is going to be huge. Vincent, from now on, you need to learn about real estate investment, even if you have to participate in investment projects yourself, you need to be professional. Audrey, when you have time, give more support to Margaret Thatcher, I think she can win the election for British Prime Minister in two years."

"it is good"

Chen Guangliang is making a long-term investment. This round of gold investment by the third wife could yield billions of dollars in profit. This money could then be used to participate in Thatcher's privatization plan and reap huge profits.

At the same time, there was also an exchange of interests; the third wife would also support Thatcher's 'Canary Wharf Project' opportunity in the 1980s to create 'European Wall Street'.

In this way, Chen Wenxi's future career will be a comprehensive business of real estate, finance and investment, with the focus on developing it in the UK before expanding to Europe and overseas.

Chen Wen-ou, on the other hand, is very flexible. He has dual British and American citizenship and his business spans across Europe and America—Red Bull and Mattel Group.

Time flew by and it was now 1978.

Just after New Year's Day, Chen Wenming, Vice Chairman and CEO of Global Group, and Chen Wenbo, Deputy General Manager, received an invitation from Jardine Matheson's patriarch, Newbikin, and Hongkong Land's CEO, Bedford, to meet in the boardroom of Jardine Matheson Building on Beacon Street.

Newbikini cut to the chase, saying, “Mr. Chan, Jardine Matheson wants you to relinquish your shares in Wharf Holdings. In return, we are willing to transfer our objective properties from Hongkong Land to you.”

Although Hongkong Land lost 'Kang Lok Building', 'Star House', and 'Landmark Plaza' (not all properties were taken, but the plaza was built first, so Hongkong Land couldn't merge the Jardine House and Gloucester Building on both sides of the street into a commercial complex) to the Chan Kwong Leung family, it still has ten high-quality properties in Central, Hong Kong, all in prime locations.

Chen Wenming, however, showed ample patience and composure regarding this request, saying, "This suggestion is indeed quite good! In that case, we want Hongkong Land's Gloucester Tower, Swire Tower, and Prince Edward Building!"

"Using the most elegant tone to say the most unladylike things," is Newbikin's assessment.

Newbridge and Bedford stared in disbelief, as if a giant python had opened its mouth wide during a pregnancy test.

“Impossible,” Newbikin sneered several times, firmly denying it. Then, Newbikin offered his own suggestion: “At most, it can only be the Golden Gate Building, a 5.3-square-foot site of the Duke of Windsor Building (41 floors, 81 square feet floor area) under construction in Causeway Bay, and some residential buildings in the Mid-Levels.”

They are also extremely reluctant to give up their core properties in Central.

The Golden Gate Building, located in Admiralty, Central, was acquired by Hongkong Land in the early 1970s. After acquiring the Golden Gate Building, it was renamed the Golden Gate Building.

The Duke of Windsor House, the site of the acquisition of the Dairy Farm, is still under construction.

Chen Wenming and Chen Wenbo were also dumbfounded. This was too stingy. Who were they trying to get rid of with this little bit of property?

"Hehe. Then we'd rather make a long-term investment in Wharf Holdings!"

Newbjörn angrily said, "This is robbery!"

Chen Wenming replied, "Wharf Holdings is a listed company. We invest in securities and Wharf Holdings within the rules."

Newbikini reiterated, "We already have the backing of HSBC, you can forget about a successful acquisition!"

Chen Wenbo replied, "This is a strategic investment for us."

This was meant to lull the Jardine Matheson Group into a false sense of security, though Newbikini wouldn't believe it, given the sheer size of the Universal Group.

Newbikin and Bedford were also somewhat uneasy, because HSBC had not yet provided substantial support, offering only a loan of 2 million and then falling silent.

The two sides broke up unhappy.

March 1, 1978, in the conference room of Cheung Kong Holdings' headquarters in Poly Plaza.

Chan Man-kit, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of CK Asset Holdings Limited, held the most exciting press conference since CK Asset's listing. The usually composed Chan Man-kit announced in an excited tone:

"Without affecting Cheung Kong Holdings' existing business, the company has made a greater breakthrough—Cheung Kong Holdings has acquired 9000 million ordinary shares of Hutchison Whampoa Limited, a long-established British conglomerate, representing 22.4% of the company's shares, from HSBC at a price of HK$6.1 per share."

Most of the reporters present couldn't help but applaud.

A reporter asked, "Why does Cheung Kong Holdings only purchase ordinary shares held by HSBC, and not its preferred shares?"

Chen Wenjie replied, “From an asset perspective, Hutchison Whampoa is indeed a company with great development potential, and its real estate business is completely consistent with our company’s business. We believe that Hutchison Whampoa has a very good prospect. However, since preferred shares only enjoy interest and are not related to the company’s profits and losses, and do not have voting rights, we have not considered them.”

One reporter asked a pointed question: "HSBC and the Chen family are competitors, so why did they agree to sell their Hutchison Whampoa shares to Cheung Kong Holdings?"

There was an uproar at the scene.

The Chan family also runs a bank, and Ping An Bank and Hang Seng Bank together form the largest Chinese-owned banks in Hong Kong, posing a significant threat to HSBC. It's quite strange that HSBC is now helping Cheung Kong Holdings.

Chen Wenjie smiled and replied, “There is competition, and naturally there is cooperation; these are all reasonable business practices. HSBC cannot operate Hutchison Whampoa in the long term because it is a bank and cannot participate in the day-to-day operations of a business. In Hong Kong, there are very few suitable candidates to take over Hutchison Whampoa’s shares, and our Cheung Kong Group is undoubtedly the most suitable candidate.”

Her confident answer drew another round of applause from the audience.

The following day, Chan Man-kit was admitted as an executive director of Hutchison Whampoa's board of directors, while Wylie remained chairman and general manager.

Hutchison Whampoa shares suddenly became a hot commodity.

The small market rallied the larger market, with the flat index surging 29.69 points that day and turnover exceeding 5 million yuan, demonstrating investors' trust in Chen Wenjie.

At this point, Jardine Matheson was in complete disarray.

"How is this possible? HSBC is actually helping its own competitor? Has Sir Michael Sandberg gone mad?" Newbegian exclaimed in his office.

Bedford said, "I'm afraid it's not that simple! There must be some insider trading involved. As far as I know, Sir Michael Sandberg is a very pragmatic HSBC tycoon, and I think the Chen Guangliang family must have given HSBC a bargaining chip they couldn't refuse!"

Upon hearing this, the management of the Jardine Matheson Group was greatly alarmed.

Newbikini immediately said, "In that case, HSBC probably won't help us anymore! Our top priority is to prepare for the acquisition of Wharf Holdings and launch the decisive battle ahead of schedule."

Bedford nodded and said, "Feasible! Let Hongkong launch a takeover bid with a combination of stock and cash."

The share swap is undoubtedly the least costly option, but it will dilute Hongkong Land's equity stake.

If Chen Guangliang were to acquire Jardine Matheson at this time, it would not be too difficult.

The Commercial Evening News described Cheung Kong Holdings' acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa as "like dropping a bomb," causing "the stock market to surge this morning."

The Hong Kong Economic Journal commented: "With such a low price (paying only 20%, or HK$1.025 million for now), Cheung Kong Holdings can control such a large company and own such vast assets. This transaction can be considered a major victory for Mr. Chan Man-kit..."

"The acquisition of these 9000 million Hutchison Whampoa shares is Cheung Kong Holdings' most successful acquisition since its listing, and it is even better than last year's acquisition of Wharf Holdings (using less money to control more assets)."

"The Chen family's sons are all outstanding!"

Chen Wenjie, in his capacity as an executive director, attended the management meeting of Hutchison Whampoa.

At this time, Wei Li did not show any signs of resistance, after all, he was still the chairman of the board and general manager; and the equity of Cheung Kong Holdings was only 22% (in fact, Ping An Investment also had 5%).

After the meeting started, Chen Wenjie didn't speak much. Even when Wei Li invited him, he only said a few polite words.

"Hutchison Whampoa has overcome its difficulties under the leadership of Matthew Chase, which is evident to all. I am not familiar with Hutchison Whampoa's business at the moment, so I listen to everyone's opinions."

These words, however, triggered a chain reaction.

Hutchison Whampoa actually had two waves of management power: Wayne Li was an outsider, and the other was the "Hutchison Whampoa management team from the era of Richard Shin." Now that Chan Man-kit is attributing all the credit to Wayne Li, it has naturally made Richard Shin and others somewhat resentful of Wayne Li.

Of course, these are all minor traces.

Before Chen Wenjie arrived, his father instructed him to let Wei Li serve as chairman and general manager of the board for another 2-3 years. First, this would allow Cheung Kong Holdings to continue to increase its shareholding, gradually increasing it. Second, it would give Chen Wenjie ample time to take control of Hutchison Whampoa.

After the meeting, Chen Wenjie exchanged a few words with the management team, giving the impression of being a 'good guy'. (End of Chapter)