The Russo-Ukrainian war is still continuing, and it is difficult to say whether it will change the world pattern, but at least it shows the position of various governments on wealth, and even the situation of "double standard" has emerged.
On February 24, the United States announced a new round of sanctions against Russia, freezing the assets of Russia's second largest bank, the Russian Foreign Trade Bank. In Germany, the Hamburg city government confiscated a yacht from Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov. The yacht is the world's largest motor yacht in terms of gross tonnage, valued at about US$600 million .
Press releases
CCTV financial channel reported that since March 4, Italian police have seized the assets of a number of Russian billionaires in Tuscany, Sardinia, the Ligurian coast and Lake Como, with a total value of 140 million euros, about 940 million yuan. Includes two yachts and two villas.
Most surprisingly, Switzerland, which has always prided itself on being neutral and the safest to store assets, has also begun to be unsalent. According to media reports, Switzerland froze the assets of several Russian officials at Swiss banks. According to Russian sources, about $5 billion to $10 billion flows into Swiss banks every year.
Although the United Kingdom has not yet moved, it is also relatively hungry. According to media reports, the British government has released the wind and is considering confiscating the properties of Russian "oligarchs" associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin in britain, and is also preparing to use these properties to resettle Ukrainian refugees.
Of course, these news have little to do with Chinese enterprises and businessmen, we can wait and see, and the new news of Li Chaoren, who has been dormant for a long time, may make us pay more attention.
01 What is the reason for Li Ka-shing's divestment from the UK?
On March 4, according to the latest bloomberg report, Li Ka-shing is in the process of buying up negotiations or will sell UK Power Networks, led by Macquarie Group and private equity giant KKR. It is understood that the valuation of the British power grid company is as high as 15 billion pounds (about 126 billion yuan).
After the news came out, combined with the recent sanctions imposed by European countries on Russia's rich, the media generally speculated that Li Ka-shing was afraid that once the general environment changed, he would become the next "Abu", so he quickly slipped away early.
But in fact, Li Chaoran's dumping of British assets began before the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in 2020.
Li Ka-shing initially emptied 29,000 communications devices in Europe and cashed out 147 billion yuan in 2020.
In 2021, Li Ka-shing continued to sell, selling his London building to a South Korean company for about £1.25 billion, and then selling his 125 aircraft and two airlines to Carlyle Group in the United States, cashing out HK$33.2 billion.
He also wanted to sell 16,000 mobile base stations he held in the UK, intending to cash out 71.8 billion yuan, which was later investigated by the British antitrust.
The author believes that Li Ka-shing's escape from the UK is mainly due to the epidemic, which has led to the economic downturn in the UK.
After Brexit, the pound sterling depreciated sharply, causing Li Ka-shing's British assets to shrink sharply, and once lost the position of The richest man in Asia.
Subsequently, it was hit by the epidemic. In 2020, the Uk economy shrank by 9.8 percent, the biggest GDP decline in 300 years, and Li Ka-shing's investments in the UK also lost money.
It is understood that The British bar greene King, which Li Ka-shing spent 43 billion yuan to acquire, has been unable to operate normally for a long time, losing 1.9 billion yuan in the first half of 2020 and helplessly closing 79 stores. According to the 2021 semi-annual report of Cheung Kong Infrastructure, due to the impact of the epidemic, the profit contribution of the UK business was HK$526 million (about 430 million yuan), down 44% year-on-year.
According to Statistics UK data, the UK's CPI in January increased by 5.5% year-on-year, higher than market expectations, and hit a new high since 1992, and the Pace of Interest Rate Hikes by the Bank of England may accelerate. Once monetary policy tightens, it will inevitably be bearish for the large number of real estate investments held by Li Ka-shing.
Of course, this time the United States and some European countries tore the face of Russia and froze or confiscated the personal wealth of Russian rich people for various reasons, which is naturally a loud wake-up call for rich people like Li Ka-shing.
In short, maybe it's a profit cash-out, maybe it's already seen through, maybe he just wants to retire.
02 Word of mouth reversed, there is no need to retain
Li Chaoren's reputation in the mainland reversed in 2015.
Since 2013, Lao Li has successively sold off assets in the mainland. According to incomplete statistics, from January 2014 to April 2015, Li Ka-shing cashed out nearly 80 billion yuan through the transfer of assets or other means.
In August 2013, Li Ka-shing first sold The Duhui Plaza and parking lot in Guangzhou's Xicheng for 2.578 billion yuan, and in October of that year, Li Ka-shing sold the entire Oriental Huijing Center in Xiaolujiazui for a transaction price of 7.16 billion yuan.
At that time, China's housing prices were at a high level, and the society was optimistic about the overall economic situation. There is no interpretation of Li Ka-shing's divestment other than commercial. Over the next year, The pace at which Li Ka-shing's companies dumped renminbi assets accelerated significantly.
From 2014 to 2015, Li Ka-shing continued to sell high-quality properties in Nanjing, Beijing, Shanghai and other places. At the same time of the sale, all the registered places of the listed companies under Li Ka-shing's name were moved out. Behind a series of spin-offs, Li Ka-shing moved his company's registered office from Hong Kong to well-known offshore financial centres such as the Cayman Islands and Bermuda.
On September 12, 2015, the "Lookout Think Tank", a think tank owned by Xinhua News Agency, published an article titled "Don't Let Li Ka-shing Run", and in the same year, the People's Daily said that "the Si people have gone and do not have to be retained."
At that time, his reputation in the mainland had fallen to the bottom.
However, most of Li's wealth accumulation comes from Chinese mainland, and his main means of relying on it is "hoarding land".
After the reform and opening up, at the gracious invitation of the government, Li Ka-shing frantically took prime locations throughout the mainland. Relying on the "Land Hoarding Law", Li Ka-shing has made a lot of money in China for many years.
Over the past 30 years, Li Ka-shing has developed nearly 30 projects in the inland, of which only 1/3 has been completed, the development speed is as little as three or five years, and more than 20 years, Shanghai, Chongqing, Dongguan and other large and medium-sized cities in China can find the "rotten tail project" left by Li Ka-shing.
According to reports, one of Li Ka-shing's projects in Beijing, which was acquired in 1993 and only completed in 2018, has risen from 2,000 yuan per square meter to more than 40,000 yuan, including other projects, and any one of them can calculate profits in tens of billions of units.
Li Ka-shing took the land at a low price, covered it for a long time, and sold it at a sky-high price after doubling the land price dozens of times, not creating any job, only earning the price difference of the middleman, relying on the unique vision of the businessman and the preferential land price of the government, becoming the "richest man in real estate" who made a fortune by speculating in land.
This is Li Ka-shing's way of doing business, taking advantage of the loopholes in the early mainland real estate regulations that did not impose a developer's development cycle to make a lot of money.
However, what is slightly surprising is that in the past two or three years, Li Ka-shing has begun to invest in domestic assets again.
According to the data, Cheung Sil Group spent HK$10.28 billion in early 2021 to acquire the only remaining golden land at Hong Kong's Kai Tak Airport. Earlier, Li Ka-shing also spent money to win Chengdu Jingronghui and Shanghai Sanlin Impression City. In addition, Li Ka-shing also reached a cooperation with State Grid Power and invested 2.5 billion yuan to build new energy projects.
03 Invest in the UK
The flowers bloom in two, one on each side.
On another timeline, starting in 2010, Li Ka-shing restocked the UK.
In October 2010, the Li Ka Shing family, through the Electric Energy Industry, Cheung Kong Infrastructure, li ka shing foundation and Li Ka Shing (overseas) foundation and other institutions, acquired the interest in the UK grid assets held by the French power energy company EDF Energy for 5.8 billion pounds (about 48.7 billion yuan), and established the current British Power Grid Company. Among them, Changjiang Infrastructure Group and Electric Energy Industry each hold 40% of the shares, and Cheung Kong Industrial Group holds 20% of the shares.
From 2010 to 2011, Li Ka-shing successively invested in the acquisition of the British power grid, the largest water company in the United Kingdom, the British gas distribution network company and the Western Utilities Company, etc., and his assets in the United Kingdom covered the ports and terminals, power energy, natural gas, medical and other industries, and was said to have "bought half of the United Kingdom".
Li Ka-shing is said to control about 1/4 of the UK's electricity distribution market, nearly 30% of the natural gas supply market, nearly 7% of the water supply market, more than 40% of the telecommunications market, nearly a third of the UK terminals, and more than 500,000 square meters of land resources.
According to media reports, the Queen of the United Kingdom has twice awarded Li Ka-shing the title.
As early as 1989, Queen Elizabeth II awarded Li Ka-shing the CBE title. In 2000, he was again awarded the Order of Commander of the Knighthood of the KBE. Li Ka-shing was awarded the title of British nobleman twice, which shows the importance that the British government attaches to Li Ka-shing!
Li Ka-shing with the Queen of England
There are only a handful of foreigners who have been awarded by the British government in the past century, and even the founders of the UK's home-grown mega-enterprises do not have such an honor.
The reason why the Queen of England awarded Li Ka-shing the title twice is because Li Ka-shing's contribution to Britain is so great that it has to be expressed by the British royal family. In the circular to the British Royal Family, which awarded Li Ka-shing two knighthoods, I would like to thank Mr. Li Ka-shing for his significant investment in the UK over the years, creating millions of jobs, including operating container terminals (Port Felisdu, Port Harwich, Port Thames), investing in the British telecommunications business (60% of the national share) and real estate and manufacturing (natural mineral water, natural gas, crude oil), etc.
I don't know if Li Chaoren himself has calculated how many jobs have been created in China?
04 Controversial image
Whether in the mainland or Hong Kong, Li Ka-shing's image in the minds of the general public may be a bit difficult to say. The label of him, including his own definition of himself, is "a shrewd businessman." Note that just businessmen, not entrepreneurs, not social elites, not people of insight who serve the country through industry, the only standard of life that businessmen believe in is "profit maximization."
Li Ka-shing's own positioning of his "businessman" has also become his words of relief in many cases. "Profit maximization" is vividly reflected in him.
If you talk to him about "serving the country through industry", his reason is: I am a Chaoshan native, also a Hong Konger, or a Chinese, and I am also a Canadian national, and in the end we are all residents of the global village. I love my hometown, my hometown, my homeland, and I love the earth we live on.
When the state media said, "Don't let Li Ka-shing run," he said: I'm a businessman, and I hope you don't want to put on any hats for me, whether tall or short. Because I am not a moralist, an educator, still less a conspirator, a politician, I am just a businessman.
Former Singaporean President Lee Kuan Yew said of Li Ka-shing's business empire:
"Li Ka-shing's empire has produced countless goods, but there is no world-class brand, he invests in real estate, buys ports, relies on monopolies and alliances, he is rich and invincible, but he has no role in economic development and social progress."
The author believes that objectively speaking, it cannot be said that there is no role, but there is no corresponding level of role.
For a business genius like Li Ka-shing, many admire his extremely sensitive and correct market judgment. In his life, he has almost never lost his hand, always entering and exiting high, and successfully withdrawing before the avalanche comes.
When the general public despises his "mercenary" or "exquisite self-interest", in fact, it should also be seen that the richest man has a certain contribution in the field of charity.
According to incomplete statistics, li ka-shing donated assets to the Li Ka-shing Foundation, at least more than 200 billion yuan, of which 87% were spent in China, and only 13% were spent in other countries of the world, and really used. Shantou University, for example, is the only public university in the world that is continuously funded by a private foundation, the Li Ka Shing Foundation.
In 1981, Li Ka-shing donated funds to establish Shantou University in his hometown, and has pledged and donated a total of HK$6 billion to Shantou University (including Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business).
In addition to Shantou University, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business is also an educational undertaking donated by Li Ka-shing, as well as the Western Education and Medical Program, the Yangtze River Scholars Award Program, the University of Hong Kong and so on. This includes a program to help patients with terminal cancer, which currently offers 20,000 places per year. Earlier, Li Ka-shing himself also said that the Li Ka Shing Foundation is his third son, and he will put 1/3 of his assets under the name of the foundation.
According to statistics, 45% of the Charitable Donations of the Li Ka Shing Foundation are used for education, 38% for medical treatment, 11% for cultural education and religion, and the remaining 6% for other public welfare.
05 Where to place the "wealth"?
In short, it is difficult to determine a person in one sentence, and at the same time, we believe that everyone has their own evaluation criteria.
But no matter which country the nationality is, no matter which country the majority of the assets are put into, this does not change his original identity as a Chinese.
For his evaluation, whether it is the richest man, businessman, exquisite egoist, or philanthropist, etc., can be divided into two. Li Chaoren is also right, "I am just a businessman."
It is right or wrong, left to posterity to comment. As a businessman, Li Ka-shing is undoubtedly successful. However, in the sweat and youth of history, how to record the giants of this era is an ultimate question left to him personally, and it is also his personal choice.
In the old age of people, hundreds of billions of assets are not the most critical "wealth", why not return to some feelings of home and country that are related to the future of the nation?
Li Chaoren, now 94 years old, where should he put his wealth this time to be safer, more valuable and more meaningful? Believe he already has a choice.