My 1999

Xu Liang shook his head.

"Our previous strategy was very good. There is no need to operate convenience stores in person.

If you want everything, you often can't get anything.

At this stage, the main goal of Taihua Supermarket's business is hypermarkets and supermarkets. As for convenience stores, they are all named. For the convenience stores acquired from China Resources Vanguard, we will ask the employees within the group who want to contract and sell them to them according to the conditions."

Hearing this, Lu Jue couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

But he had been prepared for a long time, so he wouldn't be too disappointed.

"I agree with the strategy of membership stores and boutique supermarkets, but they can't be too big at once. First, open two in Beijing and Shanghai to accumulate experience and optimize the supply chain.

Then slowly move towards the whole country.

Also, different businesses need different brands.

You can re-register two sub-brands directly under Kelong."

"Mr. Xu, we have thought of two names. The membership store is called 'Suguo' and the boutique supermarket is 'Jiashijie'."

"They are all old brands that were acquired by Kelong before."

From the initial Suguo to now, there are nearly 20 supermarket chains of all sizes that have been acquired by Kelong.

Home World is one of them.

"Old brand, new vitality."

Xu Liang nodded.

"Let's call it that. ... How do you plan to integrate the remaining formats of China Resources Vanguard?"

In addition to the convenience stores that occupy the majority, Huarun also has three formats: large comprehensive supermarkets, comprehensive supermarkets and life supermarkets.

The average area of ​​large comprehensive supermarkets is about 15,000 square meters, which is a traditional hypermarket with a full range of goods to meet consumers' "one-stop" shopping needs to the greatest extent.

Comprehensive supermarkets are between 2,000 and 8,000 square meters and mainly deal in fast-moving consumer goods.

Life supermarkets are less than 2,000 square meters, relying on community residents and emphasizing convenience.

The number of hypermarkets under China Resources Vanguard is at least 117.

Comprehensive supermarkets are second, with 382.

Life supermarkets are the most, with 619.

In contrast, the division of Kelong supermarkets is not so detailed.

Hypermarkets are those above 8,000 square meters, and life supermarkets are those below 8,000 square meters.

After so many years of mergers and acquisitions and new stores expanded by the company, Kelong has 506 hypermarkets and 1,124 supermarkets.

The different divisions have brought certain obstacles to integration.

"Mr. Xu, we plan to adopt the division method of China Resources Vanguard, establish three brands of Kelong Department Store, Kelong Supermarket and Kelong Life Supermarket, refine the operating formats, formulate more detailed operating strategies, and lay the foundation for the future."

"Department store?"

"It is called a department store, but in fact it is a smaller version of a shopping center. The first and second floors still maintain hypermarkets.

The third floor is for catering and children's entertainment, and the fourth floor is for cinemas and leisure and fitness. The main focus is on affordable and discounts, not mid-to-high-end."

Xu Liang has also seen this kind of hypermarket.

Because of its small area, coupled with the poor design of the traffic flow and the outdated layout when it was built, it is difficult to attract more customers.

The supermarkets on the ground floor are often crowded, and the leisure and entertainment facilities on the upper floor are not crowded.

"Unless you can own the property, it will be difficult for you to operate this 'Kelong Department Store'."

There are two main reasons why so many companies in the department store industry have closed down.

Online retail squeezes customer flow, and rising rents raise costs.

If you can self-hold properties, you can effectively reduce costs and maintain operations.

"Mr. Xu, we plan to self-hold properties in first- and second-tier cities, and select some direct-operated properties with better qualifications in third-tier cities. If the rest cannot be maintained, we will give up."

Xu Liang nodded. The industry's rent is definitely the highest in first-, second- and third-tier cities. If first-, second- and third-tier cities are directly operated, then the revenue from here can balance the rental costs of fourth- and fifth-tier cities.

"I agree with your strategy, but change the name.

Don't call it 'Kelong Department Store', just change it to 'Kelong Shopping Center'."

A small shopping center is also a shopping center.

Lu Jue agreed.

He silently calculated in his mind.

If the integration is carried out in this way.

Under Taihua Retail, excluding small department store business, there are a total of 213 Kelong Shopping Centers, 725 Kelong Supermarkets, 1,201 Kelong Life Supermarkets, and 8,019 Kelong Convenience Stores.

"Mr. Xu, after integrating China Resources Vanguard and MixC, Taihua's total debt has exceeded 35 billion US dollars."

"I remember that it was just over 28 billion at the end of last year. How come it's 350 so soon?"

"The acquisition of China Resources Vanguard and MixC has added almost 3 billion US dollars in debt to us. In addition, this year, Taihua Commercial has acquired 21 plots of land in China and Southeast Asia, and Fuhua Real Estate has acquired 29 plots of land, plus the expansion of Fuhua Apartment Group and retail business.

Without counting the acquisition of China Resources Vanguard and MixC, we have spent almost 8 billion US dollars in the eight months from 2006 to now.

If it weren't for the increasing income and Fuhua Real Estate's ability to sell pre-sale properties, our debt would be even higher.

And the annual interest repayment for a 35 billion US dollar loan is as high as 2.8 billion US dollars.

It's too much."

Xu Liang: "Since you can develop through debt, it means that Taihua's finances can withstand such a high debt. You can continue."

Lu Jue took the initiative to bring this up, not for this sentence.

"Mr. Xu, Taihua's debt scale is still too high after all. Even after Kelong Supermarket acquired China Resources Vanguard, its market value did not exceed 20 billion Hong Kong dollars.

So do you think it is possible to let Hanhua make an investment plan for Taihua?"

Xu Liang turned his head.

"After talking for a long time, you, a guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes, seem to have set your sights on me."

Lu Jue hurriedly said: "Mr. Xu, you are the world's top investment expert, punching Soros, stepping on Buffett, and being the world's number one.

Our Taihua is your direct line, you can't favor one over the other."

Last year, all the debts of Fengshou Agriculture, Denong Agriculture and other companies were repaid by Hongyan and Hanhua, and they were able to go into battle lightly, which almost made him envious to death.

He didn't expect to get such treatment.

It's unrealistic.

The big boss didn't agree either.

But the big boss used Taihua's spare cash flow for investment and recovered part of the funds from the capital market to repay the debt, right?

"Old Lu, I haven't seen you for a while. You've become better at flattering people."

"Boss Xu, I'm speaking from the heart."

Lu Jue patted his chest with a sincere look on his face.

"Okay, be careful not to give you a heart attack."

"Haha, how could that be possible."

Although he said that, he couldn't help rubbing his chest.

Just now, he used too much strength to show his determination.

"During this period, you ask Taihua Finance Department to open investment accounts in JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland, Deutsche Bank, and UBS.

When you're done, I'll tell you how to do it."

Lu Jue was overjoyed.

"Boss Xu, I knew you would not ignore our Taihua."

"I'm not being nice, let me tell you something."

Looking at the boss's sudden serious look, Lu Jue also became serious instantly.

"From today on, you keep one eye on China and the other eye on CapitaLand."

"CapitaLand?"

Xu Liang nodded slightly, "Although Taihua has also made real estate investments abroad in the past two years, the time is too short and the funds are limited, which is still much less than that in China.

The acquisition of CapitaLand will not only make up for Taihua's lack of overseas business, but also strengthen domestic real estate and retail businesses."

Lu Jue was happy.

CapitaLand is not a small company, but a large-scale comprehensive real estate group with a majority stake held by the Singapore government, involved in almost all real estate investment models such as commercial complexes, shopping centers, industrial real estate, logistics real estate, commercial offices, apartments, residences, hotels, etc.

Although its total assets are not as good as Taihua, its real estate business in Southeast Asian countries is several times that of Taihua, and because of its early entry, it is generally good.

"Mr. Xu, are we really going to acquire CapitaLand?"

"Why, you don't want to?"

"How is that possible? CapitaLand is one of the largest diversified real estate groups in Southeast Asia. If we can acquire it, we can definitely improve Taihua's business structure in Southeast Asia.

However, in recent years, CapitaLand's mainstream business has shifted from traditional real estate business to real estate investment management companies similar to Blackstone Group, Hans, and Prudential.

Four real estate investment funds, including Ascott and Singapore Commercial, have been established in succession.

CapitaLand's main business is shifting from a traditional real estate company to a real estate investment management company.

This business model is fundamentally different from our Taihua.

How should we integrate if we acquire CapitaLand?"

"Just buy the assets in the real estate investment fund." Xu Liang said.

Although the future trend of commercial real estate is light assets, Taihua is not a complete real estate group.

It is a comprehensive commercial group that uses commercial real estate as a platform to carry a variety of businesses such as hotels, trendy clothing, retail department stores, and children's playgrounds.

As for apartments and residential real estate, both will always have a market, but after the bonus period, residential real estate will enter the stock market, and it will be impossible to invest blindly like now.

But this will happen ten years later, so there is no need to worry about it in advance.

Facing the generous boss, Lu Jue was full of admiration.

"Mr. Xu, don't worry. I promise to keep one eye on CapitaLand when I sleep."

"The most important thing is to find out the operating conditions of all assets under CapitaLand. I want not only data, but also on-site investigation."

"Yes. ... If CapitaLand finds out, how do we explain it?"

"No need to explain, just express the intention to acquire it directly."

The acquisition of CapitaLand Group was mentioned to General Li as early as 2005. Although the other party never responded in the end, CapitaLand's management must have known about it.

"Besides the investigation, do we need to do other preparations? For example, buy some shares in advance and attract some shareholders?"

"You don't need to do anything, let alone buy CapitaLand's shares."

What a joke, the subprime mortgage crisis that almost killed the US real estate industry is coming. Buying shares of real estate companies at this time will only cause trouble.

"Understood."