Chapter 1000: The insurance company's assets exceed 3 billion

In the next few days, the talk of the town was about the change of ownership of Cathay Pacific and related news.

After Jiuding Industrial Group took over Cathay Pacific, Wei Li successfully took over HX Aircraft Engineering Company and HX Airport Ground Services Company.

Needless to say, Hong Kong Airport Ground Services Co. originally held a cumulative 66.5% stake on Xia Yu's side, and of the remaining 33.5%, 4% was in Cathay Pacific's hands, so the only stake that truly belonged to Swire Pacific was 28.5%.

Once Cathay Pacific changed hands, Wei Li directly transferred the 4% stake in Hong Kong Airport Services held by Cathay Pacific to the hands of Jiuding Industrial Group.

In this way, Swire Pacific completely lost control of Hong Kong Airport Services and was at the mercy of Wei Li.

As for Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company, although it is a listed company and it is relatively difficult to collect its shares, who let Xia Yu do a good job in the early stage?

Originally, companies such as Jiuding Industrial Group held 44.12% of the shares, and together with Cathay Pacific's 23.42%, they also passed the two-thirds mark.

In fact, the Sze Ya Huai family has lost control of the troika of companies under Swire Pacific.

The day after taking control of Cathay Pacific, Wei Li communicated with Wang Qi to disclose their shareholdings to the stock exchange.

After seeing that the Jiuding consortium had actually accumulated control of over two-thirds of the shares in Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company, and combined with Welly's announcement that there would be no privatisation and that the company's stock price was seriously overvalued, the stock price of Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company fell even faster, and Swire Finance's losses further increased, much to the dismay of the Sze family.

Just as the outside world's attention was drawn to these news,

Xia Yu quietly arrived at Jiuding Insurance Co., Ltd.

He had rarely visited his insurance company, Jiuding Insurance Co., Ltd., far less frequently than he had visited Jiuding Bank and Jiuding Securities Co.

But that didn't mean he didn't care about Jiuding Insurance Co., Ltd.

It was just that Jason Gregg had given him great peace of mind, and the future 'Dutch Wolf' was able to make the company's business flourish without much help from him.

Seeing Xia Yu arrive, Jason Gregg quickly came over to greet him, respectfully saying, 'Chairman, welcome!'

Xia Yu smiled and nodded, and as he walked with Jason Gregg inside, he asked, 'Jason, what are the latest developments in the company's business?'

Jason Gregg thought for a moment to gather his thoughts, and then spoke eloquently about the company's current situation: 'Due to the intensity of competition and market capacity, despite the support of the entire group, the resources within the group have been fully absorbed, and the pace of business development outside the group has slowed down in Xiangjiang.'

'Therefore, the company's development focus has been officially adjusted, and the globalisation strategy has been accelerated. It was just discussed and decided on the sixth of last month to expand the company's market throughout Asia by acquiring local insurance companies in various countries.'

'At present, we are still doing preliminary screening work, which is going very smoothly thanks to the data from Jiuding Newspaper Company. It is expected that the acquisition plan can be officially launched next month.'

Xia Yu nodded in satisfaction and commented: 'You're on the right track, but be careful, mergers and acquisitions are not the key, the focus should be on the digestion of resources after the merger.'

Jason Gregg immediately replied: 'Understood, in the preconditions for the acquisition, I will put the availability of resources first.'

Xia Yu gave him an appreciative look and continued walking.

If the global insurance industry develops as it normally has in the past, it will experience a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the late 1980s.

A series of mergers and acquisitions will result in the emergence of a series of global insurance giants, with the strong getting stronger.

Insurers that are unable to participate in the merger and acquisition wave due to capital constraints will either be swallowed up or left far behind, with their market share being taken away.

In the insurance industry, the larger the insurance company, the greater its advantages, and it is really difficult for small insurance companies to compete.

Although now, on the basis of the original, with the help of the resources of the entire Jiuding Group, Jiuding Insurance Co., Ltd. has consolidated its leading position in Hong Kong, Xia Yu knows very well that Hong Kong is just a small place with a population of a few million people, and even if it makes a name for itself here, it is insignificant in the world.

Therefore, before the current wave of global mergers and acquisitions in the insurance industry, Jiuding Insurance Co., Ltd. was able to take the lead and expand its business through mergers and acquisitions, strengthening its foothold in Asia. Then, relying on the foundation of its Asian business, it will be able to compete with European and American insurance giants with confidence.

Because of this, Xia Yu supports Jason Gregg's current plan from the bottom of his heart.

After a while, Xia Yu arrived at the office.

After sitting down, Xia Yu wanted to know the current situation of the company's business in Hong Kong. He asked Jason Gregg, 'Jason, have the development statistics for the second quarter been calculated yet?'

Jason Gregg, who was about to make tea, immediately stopped what he was doing and replied, 'Chairman, they have been calculated. The second quarter's data is included in the first half of the year's development data. I happen to have it in the drawer of my desk. I'll go get it for you.'

Jason Gregg immediately went to his desk, opened the drawer, and took out the company development report that his subordinate had submitted the day before. He then went back to Xia Yu and handed it to him.

'Chairman, you take a look first, I'll go make some tea.'

Xia Yu gave a light nod and started going through the company's half-yearly development report.

In the first half of 1981, the company achieved premium income of 673 million Hong Kong dollars, a year-on-year increase of 14.5%. First year regular premium reached 127 million Hong Kong dollars, a year-on-year increase of 14.2%, of which first year regular premium for ten years and above reached 42 million Hong Kong dollars, a year-on-year increase of 10.1%. Renewal premium reached 433 million Hong Kong dollars, a year-on-year increase of 12.7%. Short-term insurance premium reached 71 million Hong Kong dollars, a year-on-year increase of 23.9%...

Local premium income of HK$433 million accounted for 16.6% of the total premium income in Hong Kong in the first half of the year... Premium income outside Hong Kong was HK$240 million...

Claims paid in the first half of the year amounted to HK$313.56 million...

As of the end of the reporting period, the Company's total assets reached HK$3,154.63 million, and investment assets reached HK$2,996.89 million.

In the first half of the year, the total investment income was HK$342 million, and the total investment return rate was 11.4%, an increase of 1.3% year-on-year; the net investment income was HK$286 million...

Total investment income = net investment income + investment asset trading price difference income + fair value change profit and loss - investment asset impairment loss...

After reading the report, Xia Yu gained an in-depth understanding of the situation of Jiuding Insurance Co., Ltd.

In the first half of the year, after deducting all costs, the net profit reached an astonishing 645,440,000 Hong Kong dollars!

And the company's total assets finally exceeded 3 billion Hong Kong dollars, far exceeding the Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group period.

This result may seem outrageous, but it actually fits the actual situation of Jiuding Insurance Co., Ltd.

Many companies under the Jiuding consortium involve too many employees, and there are quite a lot of insurance policies for these employees, and then there is the influence that radiates.

In terms of car insurance, Jiuding Insurance Co., Ltd.'s market share has skyrocketed, thanks to the consortium's leading position in the local Hong Kong car sales market and its presence in the automotive manufacturing sector.

There is also construction insurance, marine insurance, fire insurance, personal accident insurance, product liability insurance, etc. Relying on the resources of the entire Jiuding consortium, Jiuding Insurance Co., Ltd. has strongly eaten up its competitors' market share.

Under these circumstances, premium income in the first half of the year was able to account for 16.6% of the entire Hong Kong insurance market!

Don't think it's small. Just think that there are as many as 341 insurance companies in Hong Kong, and you can see the value of this proportion for Jiuding Insurance Co., Ltd.

In terms of capital investment, with nearly 3 billion investable assets, the net profit from investment is not as good as the net profit from premium income, but it is not far behind, and it is already far better than most banks, securities, funds and asset management companies.

Overall, he is very satisfied with this development report, and Jason Gregg has indeed lived up to his expectations.

So it is appropriate to let him handle this matter today!

"Jason, the company is developing rapidly, you've done a good job!'

After commenting, Xia Yu talked about the purpose of his visit today: "The company's investable capital is already not small, and the level of its investment business is also very high. There is just one thing I want to ask you to handle.'

Jason Gregg nodded happily and said, "Chairman, please tell me!'

Xia Yu said, 'It's about the communications market.'

'One of the two companies in the communications market in Xiangjiang, Xiangjiang Telephone Company, is already under control, with a cumulative shareholding of 53.2%. Except for a small portion of the remaining shares in the public market, the rest are in the hands of the Hong Kong government and Swire Finance. So you don't need to worry about it.'

'The focus is on Cable & Wireless, and you are responsible for acquiring public shares other than those held by the controlling shareholder and the Hong Kong government.'

Jason Gregg narrowed his eyes and asked, 'Chairman, to what extent do we have to acquire it? Are there any requirements for the operation?'

Xia Yu commanded, 'Suppress the price as much as possible. There is no upper limit on the acquisition of shares. The lower the cost, the better. You can decide on the specific strength.'

Jason Gregg nodded to show that he understood.

But after a moment of silent thought, he frowned and raised his personal concern: 'Chairman, I remember that the parent company of the Cable & Wireless plc, Cable & Wireless Communications plc, held a stake of more than 40%, and the Hong Kong government also held 20% of the shares. If we want to acquire and seize control, it will be difficult to succeed.'