The Industrial Giant Reborn

"Whampoa Group's land in the old port of Hung Hom?" Zhou Jiayang naturally knew the land under Hutchison Whampoa, thought for a while and said: "Chen Sheng, this land is indeed very good, with a large area and close to the sea, but it It is an industrial land. Richard and I have also discussed this land. According to him, as early as a few years ago, Qi Dezun wanted to develop this land, but if the industrial land wants to be converted into a commercial land, he needs to pay a huge amount to the Hong Kong government. Regarding the price difference, Qi Dezun also sent people to communicate with the Hong Kong Government Real Estate Bureau many times, wanting to convert this land into a commercial land at a cheaper price, but the Hong Kong government refused to let go of it at all, and finally let it go."

"The income from land auctions is the largest fiscal revenue for the Hong Kong government. Is it a dream come true for Qi Dezun to want the Hong Kong government to lower the price?" Chen Zhiwen smiled and said, "I don't need to ask the Hong Kong government to lower the price. Just give as much as it should be." gone."

In the global market, Hong Kong is famous for its low taxation. Except for those few specialized tax havens, normal countries or regions can rarely achieve the low tax rate of Hong Kong.

Excluding unnecessary defense expenditures, the wealth effect brought by the high-quality port itself, and the dividends brought about by being a springboard for the mainland and the Western world, the core reason why the Hong Kong government can maintain low taxes is the fiscal revenue brought by the land auction.

Every year, 30%-50% of the Hong Kong government's fiscal revenue comes from real estate auctions. In order to compete for land, various real estate companies send a large amount of wealth to the Hong Kong government.

The industrial transfer business is a competitor of the real estate auction. If the cost of the industrial transfer business is lower than that of the real estate auction, then who will go to the auction and fight?

Therefore, although the Hong Kong government will not forbid the "industry-to-business" land, it needs to pay a huge price difference. In the end, the cost will be higher than real estate auctions, unless the land is very special, so special that real estate auctions If there is no such land in China, then there is the value of industrial transfer.

The Huangpu port in Hung Hom naturally has a worthwhile value.

"Chen Sheng, although I haven't calculated it carefully, but according to the current land price in Hung Hom, the difference we need to make up is probably about 400-500 million yuan." Zhou Jiayang said: "In addition to the funds needed for the development of such a large land It is very large, even if it can pay back in the future, isn’t the investment a little too big?”

"You mean 500 million, how about investing it elsewhere?" Chen Zhiwen asked with a smile.

"Yes, investing in other land or buying property is much safer." Zhou Jiayang nodded.

"In the final analysis, it's just a risk. It's not true that Qi Dezun couldn't afford a price difference of hundreds of millions. It's just that he found out that he invested too much money later, so he didn't dare to play." Chen Zhiwen said with a light smile.

For a land of 2 million square feet, the price difference between industrial and commercial transfers is indeed not small, but the cost of follow-up development is even higher, so high that Qi Dezun, who is not afraid of anything, dares not make a move. He has been hesitating, and finally gave up. Funds are diverted elsewhere.

Tai Koo Shing of the same nature is less than half the size of the land of Whampoa Group. The huge investment made Swire Group not dare to borrow too much, so they could only sell a lot of other land to obtain development funds. Although this is in line with their conservative management style It is relevant, but the investment in a super-large community is indeed huge, so large that it is difficult for the consortia at the level of the four major foreign companies to afford it.

"It can be said that we will not lose money in the end, but if such a large investment is invested in other places, we may get higher profits." Zhou Jiayang said.

"I agree with you thinking so." Chen Zhiwen picked up the pen on the table, turned over a piece of second-hand paper, and wrote a few numbers: 1968 1972 1976 1980, then pointed to 1968 and said: "If we go back to 1968 now, and Huang is also ours, do you think it is too risky for us to commercialize this land, then build properties, and then sell them all before 1972? Or invest in other projects, can there be such a high profit?"

"This?" Zhou Jiayang instantly understood what the boss meant, so he said, "Chen Sheng thinks that in the next few years, the real estate market will replicate the bull market of 1968-72?"

"It's only high but not low, so we need to turn this land into a commercial property as soon as possible. In four years, almost all of it can be developed." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

For him who knows the history, he knows that the madness of the real estate market in the next few years will be much more terrifying than the last time. In terms of prices, in this wave of bull market in 1968-72, the average house price has increased by about three times, while in 1976-82 It has increased by 5-6 times. If the next bull market is pushed back, from 1985 to 1997, it will increase by almost 15 times. The high housing prices will only become more and more outrageous.

At the peak of the last bull market, the market capitalization of the five tigers in Hong Kong’s Chinese real estate industry was around 300-500 million Hong Kong dollars. By 1981, none of the top ten real estate companies in Hong Kong was less than 3 billion Hong Kong dollars. It is so large because real estate appreciation has magnified their wealth.

"If this is the case, we will indeed make a lot of money, and we may even pay off all of Hutchison's debts at once." Zhou Jiayang's eyes lit up immediately. Although the land is the largest, if it is really developed, it can be repaid. All the debts of Qinghehuang are also super cost-effective. Otherwise, if a piece of land is not developed, it will be in vain. If Hutchison Huang has no debts, or only a small part, then the assets are so strong that the entire Hong Kong is estimated to be apart from HSBC. And Hongkong Land, no one can beat it.

"So, next, the focus of your work is to coordinate with the Hong Kong government to transfer the industrial and commercial use of this land. Naturally, the price can be lowered a little. For some other non-commercial core land in Hutchison, we still implement the previous plan. , try to cooperate with Li Jiacheng or other Chinese-funded real estate companies, cash out if you can, and keep some good land left." Chen Zhiwen continued.

Hutchison and its subsidiaries have quite a lot of land. It is impossible to develop all of them. No company has such energy. Even Landmark acquired Dairy Milk International in 1972. It took more than ten years Time has slowly developed the land.

"Okay, then I'll prepare the relevant materials. It's just that Mr. Chen, did you repatriate the funds for the business transfer from overseas? Or borrow from the bank?" Zhou Jiayang continued to ask.

"Which bank do you think would dare to give Hutchison a loan for this project? In theory, Galaxy's two previous projects have already defaulted on the loan." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

The land of the Xinghe headquarters building is a loan, and the future construction cost is also a loan. This is a proper violation. However, it is normal for HSBC to do this kind of thing. In the original history of 1979, Cheung Kong Industrial Co. Hutchison Whampoa acquired 22.8% of the shares of Hutchison Whampoa for 620 million Hong Kong dollars. Li Jiacheng only needs to pay 20% first, which is about 124 million Hong Kong dollars. This is already an incredible operation. In other words, Li Jiacheng spent 120 million Hong Kong dollars. Acquired Hutchison Whampoa with a market value of HK$2.5 billion and total assets of over HK$6 billion.

But this is not the most outrageous thing. The most outrageous thing is Li Jiacheng's 120 million Hong Kong dollars, which was also lent to Li Jiacheng by HSBC a few days before the announcement of the transaction. Got Hutchison Whampoa.

However, for Comrade Lao Li to receive such good benefits, there must be a price unknown to outsiders. The most basic one must be to meet the needs of HSBC in all aspects in the future. Naturally, it is impossible for Chen Zhiwen to do this. Besides, HSBC did not This ability really controls him.

Moreover, it is not four years from now. Even if HSBC is optimistic about this project, it is estimated that it will not dare to invest so much money, because although the risk is not great, if it really happens, plus the debt of Hutchison itself, it is enough to pull HSBC into the bottom of the sea up.

"But Chen Sheng, you don't have so many credit lines overseas, unless we mortgage Red Bull?" Zhou Jiayang said with a frown.

"Red Bull can't do it. There will always be other ways in the future. It will be up to the time, and with the efficiency of the Hong Kong government, even if we start talking today, it will probably take half a year to settle down. In such a long time, there are still a lot of variables. Yes." Chen Zhiwen said.

Although Red Bull is not profitable, as long as the financial statements are presented, any Wall Street banker can see that Red Bull is not unable to make profits, but chooses not to make profits. The purpose of everything is to monopolize the market as soon as possible.

With Red Bull's current popularity and sales, if you really take it out as a mortgage, you can easily obtain a quota of hundreds of millions of dollars, but doing so is very risky. Although the current outside world thinks that Red Bull's profit margin will not be low, But basically no one knows how much it is, not even inside Red Bull.

But once this financial report is given to Wall Street, Coca-Cola and Pepsi will definitely know. Although these two companies are currently fighting to the death for their main business, the cola market, after knowing the profits of energy drinks, even if they take part of their resources to enter the market If it competes with Red Bull for the market, Red Bull will suffer heavy losses. Even if it still wins in the end, it will be very laborious. It will waste a lot of money, delay its own development, and may promote the birth of a new brand, which is too bad.

The best way is to use the stock of Wal-Mart, the cash cow. There is no way, the Walton family is really powerful. When they open a shopping mall, they immediately become popular. Banks line up to send money to Wal-Mart for new store expansion. Raising the rating of Wal-Mart stock several times will naturally increase Citibank's credit line to Chen Zhiwen.

However, from the perspective of risk sharing, Chen Zhiwen didn't want to borrow too much from one bank, no matter if the bank was HSBC or Citigroup.

"Richard has recently been communicating with many companies to sell various businesses of Hutchison. If it goes well, they may be able to obtain a lot of funds within three to six months. Hundreds of millions should not be a problem. " Zhou Jiayang thought for a while and said.

The current structure of Hutchison Whampoa is still that Richard is the top class, responsible for all businesses except real estate and retail, and he, Zhou Jiayang, is naturally in charge of these two.

This is the division of labor model that was discussed when he and Huang first merged. Zhou Jiayang didn't understand many businesses of Hehuang, but Richard's team in real estate didn't understand either, so they each did their own thing. As for the retail business, it was Chen Zhiwen. I want to come here specifically. In fact, Watsons' retail business is very small now, not very big. It's just that there will be a big development plan in the future, and now it is only slowly groping for preparations.

"Well, I almost forgot, remind me next time we have a meeting, I will urge him to return the funds as soon as possible, instead of dragging around for more money." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said.

Richard is considered a capable person. In the past few months, Hutchison and Huang have been stabilized. Although many people have left their jobs, they have not caused any major problems, and they are also very concerned about the core business of cleaning fees formulated by Chen Zhiwen. Due diligence is always trying to sell at a better price, which leads to lower efficiency.

But he can't be blamed for this. The thinking of these British ghosts is that Hutchison Huang has no urgent capital chain crisis at present, so they should take it slowly and sell it at a good price.

Moreover, because Chen Zhiwen doesn't understand Hutchison's various businesses, he basically can't ask too much. In the past few months, apart from discussing the real estate business with Zhou Jiayang, he hasn't come to Hutchison very often, except once a week. The high-level meeting at the meeting, as promised at the beginning, gave Richard enough rights and freedom.

"Okay, I'll let you know before the next meeting." Zhou Jiayang promised, "The next high-level meeting, do you want to tell everyone about Hung Hom?"

"No, just tell Richard alone, and try to keep it secret when negotiating with the Hong Kong government. If it really leaks out, it will not be good for Hutchison's other business." Chen Zhiwen said.

Once the public knows that Hehuang is going to develop this piece of land, it must know that Hehuang is short of money. Just the project that Li Jiacheng has been cooperating with Hehuang may be bitten by the other party. Even Richard has been selling all kinds of land. The branch and marginal business of the company will also be affected. Not only will the money be reduced, but it may also be delayed.

The most troublesome thing is the bank. If the banking group, especially HSBC, does not allow Hutchison to make such a large financial investment, then it will be troublesome. Although the possibility of trouble to this point is unlikely, it must be guarded against.

"Okay, then try to keep it a secret first." Zhou Jiayang nodded and agreed, "Is it the Hong Kong government?"

"The Independent Commission Against Corruption has only been established for two years. It is unlikely that these people would dare to leak secrets for money. But if they really can't control it, let's take one step at a time." Chen Zhiwen said.

As long as we survive another half a year, the Hong Kong real estate market will pick up, and the return on our overseas investment will be higher, then the risk will be further reduced, and the problem of funds will also be much better. Now we just need to keep it as secret as possible this year.

If it wasn't for the fact that the land price is getting higher and higher, the price difference that needs to be paid will become even greater if the delay continues. At the same time, obtaining the funds generated by this land as soon as possible will further facilitate his future planning. Once stable, take this move.

"Okay, I'll try my best to control it." Zhou Jiayang nodded, and said, "Chen Sheng, there is one more thing. Before you arranged for me to contact Time Life Company to buy the TVB stock in their hands. They have already made an offer, but the price High."

"How much higher?" Chen Zhiwen asked. If you don't sell this kind of people who take the initiative to ask to buy stocks, it's fine. If you can sell them, you will definitely be killed! He will do the same.

"According to the current valuation, the TVB stock in Times Life's hands is worth about 40 million Hong Kong dollars, and they quoted 60 million! I have arranged for people to talk to them several times, and it has only dropped to 57 million." Zhou Jiayang said .

"50% is a bit too much." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, the general market in the industry is a 30% price increase, unless the other party is caught in a takeover war, then it is 100% possible.

Zhou Jiayang went on to say: "My idea is to pretend to contact HSBC, and then let the life of the times pass. This small foreign bank is actually no longer viable. As long as we secretly pass the news to them, they will not be in a hurry."

"There's no need to really pretend, just get in touch with it. If it's suitable, even HSBC will buy it." Chen Zhiwen said.

At the beginning, because the funds were too tight, HSBC didn't let HSBC know about it. Now it's better, so it doesn't matter. Although the wireless TV station is worthless, it has high strategic significance. Even if Hehuang is still heavily in debt, the acquisition should still To be acquired.

And it is also the most suitable time. If we really wait for a few more years, the scale of Red Bull Midea will be several times larger than it is now, and He Huang will completely get rid of debts. In addition, he will do something to Wharf. Perhaps Shen Bi will not be foolish. I am the enemy, but I will never let my strength become stronger.

"Okay, then I will also contact the investment department of HSBC." Zhou Jiayang nodded and said. He also knew that the boss had a good relationship with HSBC, but for such a trivial matter, he couldn't let the boss follow his favor, right?

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