Reborn Tycoon Rise

After the real estate crisis broke out, most banks in Hong Kong began to shrink their front lines and withdraw funds from the real estate market. Even if some companies were not forced to repay their debts immediately, it became extremely difficult to approve loans for new projects. This actually had a negative impact on the entire real estate market. It’s even worse.

Without the support of banks, how many real estate companies can develop projects with their own funds?

Companies such as Land, Cheung Kong Holdings, Sun Hung Kai Properties, etc. have all been affected. Among Xiangjiang's top real estate giants, Hang Lung Group has been hardest hit.

In the 1970s, Chinese capital emerged, of which five were the largest, namely Cheung Kong Holdings, Sun Hung Kai Properties, Hopewell Properties, New World Group and Hang Lung Properties.

The founder of Hang Lung Properties is Chen Zengxi. He founded the company in the 1960s and went public in 1972 to raise HK$200 million, becoming an upstart in the real estate market. In terms of operations, compared with Cheung Kong Holdings and Sun Hung Kai Properties, one of the most obvious features of Hang Lung Properties is that it is very Paying attention to the development of huge residential projects and investing all funds and resources into a large residential building is a very risky behavior in business operations. Once a problem occurs, the entire company will be in trouble. However, the greater the risk, the higher the profits. From 1976 to 1982, land prices in Xiangjiang continued to rise sharply, and this operation brought extremely high profits to Hang Lung.

However, when problems occurred in the real estate market, Hang Lung also paid the price.

"Chairman, this is Mr. Chen Zengxi, the chairman of Hang Lung Properties." Yuan Tianfan introduced.

"Hello, Xu Sheng." Xu Zhi met Chen Zengxi in the top-floor office of Hutchison Building.

Xu Zhi smiled and said: "Chen Sheng, it must have been a long time since we last met."

"It's been almost three years." Chen Zengxi recalled that three years ago, several of them met at Huo Yingdong's home. At that time, Xu Zhi was just a newcomer in the wealthy circle of Xiangjiang, and they only chatted a little. A few words.

In the following years, we met twice at some large cocktail parties, but because there was no business connection, there was no communication.

"Please take a seat." Xu Zhi smiled.

After the three of them sat down, the secretary brought some coffee.

Chen Zengxi said: "Xu Sheng, do you come here today to ask for something?"

"Please tell me." Xu Zhidao.

Chen Zengxi said: "The real estate market in the past year has not been very good. One of our projects at Hang Lung Real Estate has had some funding problems, so I hope to borrow some funds from the Bank of East Asia to turn around."

Xu Zhi asked: "How much?"

"1.5 billion Hong Kong dollars." Chen Zengxi reported a figure.

"This is not a small amount of money." Xu Zhi paused and said, "Chen Sheng is here for the property projects along the Hong Kong Island MTR, right?"

"Yes, Xu Sheng is right." Chen Zengxi admitted.

"I've heard of this project." Xu Zhi nodded and said.

Two years ago, in 1981, Hang Lung Group's various investments were gradually recovered and its business entered its peak period. Chen Zengxi was ambitious and intended to defeat Land and become the largest real estate company in Hong Kong. Therefore, the three major consortiums headed by Hang Lung joined forces to participate. The property development rights at 9 subway stations along the Hong Kong Island MTR line were auctioned. The entire development plan includes 8 commercial buildings and 8,000 residential properties, with a total building area of ​​up to 7 million square feet (700,000 square meters).

The locations of these properties are all prime commercial locations, and with the help of the subway, it can be said to be the largest project in Hong Kong at that time. The construction cost alone was as high as 7 billion Hong Kong dollars. According to the housing prices at the time, the total property value was as high as 18 billion Hong Kong dollars. If If the development goes smoothly, Hang Lung can benefit from HK$4 billion.

Historically, if this project succeeds, its scale and revenue will exceed Comrade Li's Huangpu Garden a few years later.

Unfortunately, history has no ifs. In September 1982, Mrs. Thatcher fell down in BJ, which kicked off the negotiations between China and Britain on the future of Hong Kong. The real estate market in Hong Kong plummeted, and Hang Lung Properties also paid a heavy price. .

Hang Lung acquired the 9 subway station business. In 1982, it invested heavily in developing the first phase, but it was difficult to wait until it could cash out the funds by selling off-the-plan properties (HK's pre-sale rule is 8 months before the completion of the entire project, which is not allowed. Houses were pre-sold before they were even built), land prices plummeted, and a large number of new houses were left unattended. Hang Lung's capital of nearly one billion Hong Kong dollars was trapped in an instant.

The second phase of development is imminent. When it won the entire project, Hang Lung Group signed an agreement with the Hong Kong government and the MTR Corporation. What must be done within the specified time? The time for the second phase of development is coming soon. Before development, a land price of HK$1.82 billion must be paid to the Hong Kong government.

The funds for the first phase were trapped, and Hang Lung was no longer able to pay the land price of the second tranche of HK$1.82 billion. It could only bite the bullet and suggested to the Hong Kong government to change the land price to HK$1.4 billion.

Of course the Hong Kong government will not agree. If land prices fall, you ask for a price reduction? Then after so many land auctions were completed in the past, land prices have risen again, and no real estate company has come out to make up money for the Hong Kong government, right?

What's even more devastating is that at this critical moment, the Japanese bank that had signed a contract to loan HK$1.5 billion to Hang Lung forcibly defaulted on the contract and paid tens of millions in compensation and withdrew the loan plan, which completely cut off Hang Lung's capital chain.

Chen Zengxi said: "Xu Sheng, since you can decide to invest in the No. 7 Berth Terminal and build Huangpu Plaza, a large-scale real estate project that is extremely rare in the history of global business, you should be very optimistic about the future of Xiangjiang.

As long as the future of Xiangjiang is determined, it goes without saying that the value of Hang Lung Group's subway business is high, so I hope that the Bank of East Asia can lend a sum of funds, and Xu Sheng will definitely not be disappointed in terms of interest! "

Xu Zhi smiled and said: "Let's not talk about interest for now, but I hope we can change the cooperation method?"

Chen Zengxi asked: "What kind of cooperation method?"

Xu Zhidao: "I hope to buy the entire subway project from Chen Sheng!"

Chen Zengxi immediately changed his expression and said, "Xu Sheng, are you taking advantage of the situation?"

"No." Xu Zhi shook his head and said, "This is just a business deal. If you agree, we will do the deal. If you don't agree, I won't force it."

"Sorry, I will not sell this project." Chen Zengxi refused directly.

Xu Zhi smiled and shook his head and said: "Chen Sheng, as far as I know, there is still half a month until the time when Hang Lung and the Hong Kong government agree to hand over the second phase of funds, and the first phase of the project in your hand Not even 1/3 has been sold, and there is simply not enough cash in hand. Once the money expires and cannot be withdrawn, will it be too late?"

The same was true for the Hang Lung Group in history. It visited banks in Hong Kong and Asia, but no one was willing to provide loans. As a result, the agreement defaulted at the specified time. Except for the first batch of developed land, the other land was forcibly seized by the Hong Kong government. After the resumption, Hang Lung Group not only lost HK$400 million in deposits, but also lost more than HK$1 billion in the entire project. At the same time, it was blacklisted by the Hong Kong government for breach of contract. Although Hang Lung was allowed to continue to shoot land, the funds However, the requirements are extremely strict.

As a result, the entire Hang Lung Group became sluggish for a long time, and was gradually widened by companies such as Cheung Kong Holdings and Sun Hung Kai Properties.

"I need to think about it for a while." Normally, Chen Zengxi did not refuse forcefully. If he continued to delay, it would be a trivial matter to lose money. More importantly, he would be blacklisted by the Hong Kong government, which would be trouble.

Xu Zhi nodded and said: "It's okay, but you have to hurry up. I'll be leaving Xiangjiang for a while in a few days. By then, I'm afraid you won't be able to trade even if you want to trade, Mr. Chen."

Chen Zengxi paused for a while and asked, "What price is Xu Sheng willing to pay?"

Xu Zhidao: "Half of your subway project has been built now. The specific price needs to be judged by professionals, but I can give you an option. Hutchison Whampoa can take over the entire project without guaranteeing that Hang Lung will not lose money. I don't know, Mr. Chen What do you think?"

"Not losing money?" Chen Zengxi frowned.

"Yes, according to the current land price, Hang Lung has already lost hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars on this project, and it still needs to hand over the remaining funds to the Hong Kong government at the original price. If Hutchison takes over, I can tell you how much Hang Lung has invested. Return it, as for the Hong Kong government, that is my business." Xu Zhi explained.

Chen Zengxi also understood and said, "It seems that Xu Sheng's game of chess is really big."

"As a Chinese, of course I believe in the future of Xiangjiang, right?" Xu Zhi said with a smile.

Chen Zengxi nodded and said: "I can't make the decision on this matter. I need to go back and hold a board meeting. No matter what the outcome is, I will notify Xu Sheng as soon as possible."

"No problem." Xu Zhi smiled and said.