The Industrial Giant Reborn

"Okay, in this way, the funds in Hutchison's hands are close to 600 million U.S. dollars." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

Why did you have to work hard to acquire Hutchison?

It is because when the land price and stock price are very low, even if the debt is extremely serious, as long as the land price rises in a few years, the wealth will increase by ten times. Although Hutchison is not a listed company now, but the various aspects Finance has entered a period of healthy development, and is a very high-quality customer in the eyes of all banks.

The Whampoa Garden project developed in the past three years also turned a piece of useless land into a cash flow of nearly 1.5 billion Hong Kong dollars, plus other businesses, cash in its own hands, and US dollar loans from the bank, and finally had almost 600 million US dollars. funds.

The 600 million US dollars was one of the most important purposes of Chen Zhiwen's acquisition of Hutchison. It is much more than the arcade machine has earned in the past few years. This is of great significance in the upcoming "gold futures".

"Most of Hutchison's own funds have been converted into U.S. dollars, and there are still about 400 million Hong Kong dollars left. It is estimated that it will take about half a month." Zhou Jiayang said again.

"Okay, just continue to exchange, and I won't need it right away." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

Hong Kong has realized the freedom of exchange between Hong Kong dollars and U.S. dollars a long time ago, but it is not free to convert billions of Hong Kong dollars into U.S. dollars in a short period of time. Therefore, a long time ago, Chen Zhiwen arranged for Hutchison, Xinghe, and Hengyi to The company converts Hong Kong dollars into U.S. dollars. As for Midea, Xinghe Trade, etc., they have a lot of U.S. dollars themselves.

And with such a large amount of funds to do long gold, it also needs to be done in batches, so it doesn't matter if the later money is in place later.

"Chen Sheng, since the funds have been collected, how should He Huang develop?" Zhou Jiayang asked again. He knew a long time ago that the boss was preparing for today's fundraising, and many real estate properties of He Huang Project development is based on this time as the control node. Now that it has passed, what should be done next? Still need the boss's order.

"It's still mainly about real estate. The land owned by us and Huang can be developed if it can be developed. If the funds are not enough, we can cooperate with Huazi to develop it. In short, let's convert the land in our hands into cash as soon as possible." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.

Compared with Wharf, although He Huang has more land in his hands, there are actually not many real golden locations, that is, as long as you have money, you can buy it, so you should take advantage of the high housing prices in the past two years. If it is developed, it will be developed, and when the next round of real estate crisis occurs, it is enough to buy other land at a low price, or even buy a property or land in a better location.

"Okay, I understand." Zhou Jiayang nodded and said.

"In addition, invest a little more in retail. I heard that there are a few Top 100 supermarkets in Wanwan, and the results are mediocre?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"Yes, it's not very good." Zhou Jiayang said: "The main reason is that there are already many local supermarkets in Wanwan. Even if we sell at a discount, it will be very difficult to win over their customers, it will be a slow process.”

"How big is the local supermarket in Wanwan? It's about the same size as ours in Hong Kong?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.

"It's about the same size." Zhou Jiayang said.

"Actually, there is a chance. Wanwan is very similar to Hong Kong now, but there is one difference. The urban area of ​​Wanwan is far stronger than that of Hong Kong. Generally, these cities expand from the inside out. , the population is increasing, and it will become a city similar to Europe and the United States. In this way, you and Wu Weibing will go to the United States together to see how the local Wal-Mart supermarket does business, learn from them, or you Let colleagues in the United States find a few Chinese workers who work in Wal-Mart through an intermediary, and the future supermarket model of Wanwan may be more like Wal-Mart." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.

The topography of Hong Kong, next to either the sea or mountains, all towns are separated, otherwise the Hong Kong government will not be idle and have nothing to do and invest huge funds to build new towns in other places. After all, normal cities in the world The expansion mode is to expand from the inside to the outside. For example, the mainland in later generations will develop step by step from the second ring to the third to the fifth and seventh rings. This model is much easier than the Hong Kong government building a town.

However, due to the structure of small towns, the heavy traffic and the lack of cars, Hong Kong is basically not suitable for the large supermarket model. On the contrary, Parknshop, a medium-sized supermarket covering a radius of about one kilometer, is the most popular.

"I also know about Wal-Mart. That model is indeed very good. You can try it at Wanwan, but the car ownership in Wanwan is far less than that in the United States?" Zhou Jiayang said.

"The economy can be developed. Now the economy of Wanwan is the same as that of Hong Kong ten years ago. Cars, if you have money, you have money. And again, we can also provide that kind of shopping shuttle bus service, or sponsor a little money. , let the bus company pass by more." Chen Zhiwen said.

Later generations of domestic cities at the beginning of the 21st century, when the car ownership rate was not high, like to use these two tricks. Those who are rich buy their own buses to send customers, and those who have no money will find ways to get two more bus stop signs.

"Okay, I'll discuss it with Wu Sheng." Zhou Jiayang nodded and agreed.

"In addition, the type of supermarket has changed, and the name has also been changed. Don't call it Baijia anymore, just call it RT-Mart. Chinese people like to post characters." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said: "In addition, there is another small idea, whether it is RT-Mart or RT-Mart. ParknShop Supermarket, no matter where it is in Hong Kong Wanwan, all of our retail stores will purchase high-quality plastic bags with our company’s name printed on them, and then give them to customers for free when they check out. .”

"A good method, a good plastic bag, can be used by many people to store things frequently, so this is our free advertisement." Zhou Jiayang immediately understood what the boss meant.

"Almost." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. In many mainland supermarkets in later generations, using this method is very useful, especially the original RT-Mart, the plastic shopping bags are of good quality. When the economy is not so good and many people still bring their own baskets, this kind of plastic bags are useful. There are too many, and it is easy to carry, and it is very light and waterproof. After a long time, the advertising effect will be great.

"Then I will immediately arrange for people to go to Japan to purchase." Zhou Jiayang said.

"It doesn't have to be Japan. Japanese products should be more expensive. You can try to look for them in the mainland, they may be available there too." Chen Zhiwen said.

Plastic bags seem worthless. In later generations, most of them are free of charge in China. It is because of policy pressure that major supermarkets start charging. The price itself is also very low, but this stuff is in the downstream of the petroleum-chemical industry chain. There are not many companies in the world that can produce this material. Moreover, the quality of the bags is good and the cost is low, which can be regarded as a certain skill. There is no such factory in Hong Kong at present, and most of the plastic bags are imported from Japan.

Although the country is a little poor, the petrochemical industry still pays more attention to it. As long as there are enough overseas orders, the possibility of making it is very high.

"Okay, I'll send someone to contact China Resources." Zhou Jiayang nodded and said, in the past two years, there has been more and more trade between China and Hong Kong. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that there will only be more and more cooperation in the future .

A few days later, Chen Zhiwen went to the United States again, and spent nearly a month with a team of lawyers in New York, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Deutsche Bank and more than a dozen investment banks. Negotiations, review of the details of the contract, and finally signed a long gold contract with each company.

The funds involved totaled US$1.25 billion, and the sources were US$600 million from Hutchison, US$200 million from Midea, US$180 million from Mortgage Land, US$150 million from Galaxy Group, and US$120 million from Hengyi.

Among them, 1 billion U.S. dollars, signed 5 times futures leverage with more than a dozen investment banks, that is to say, Chen Zhiwen borrowed 5 billion U.S. dollars from more than a dozen large investment banks to purchase gold with 1 billion U.S. dollars as collateral.

If the price of gold rises, you can sell the gold at a high price in a certain period of time in the future, and after you repay the loan, you will earn the rest. Because leverage is used, theoretically speaking, the profit you earn will be It is 5 times what you buy directly with your own money.

But in fact, this kind of borrowing requires very high interest, and considering the high benchmark interest rate policy adopted by the United States to suppress inflation, the cost of futures is very high, whether it is long or short, if the price of gold is not If it is very large, all the money earned by the futures will be given to the investment bank.

And if the price of gold falls to a certain extent, the futures will be liquidated. At this time, the position will either be liquidated, or the funds will be invested to protect the position.

The 250 million US dollars other than the 1 billion US dollars is for this purpose. Many major investment banks also think that the futures are too risky. If there is no margin, they dare not lend so much money with confidence. Although it is theoretically possible to close the position, but If the price of gold falls too fast, and it is too late to close the position, part of the loss may go to the investment bank.

Chen Zhiwen also knew the historical trajectory of gold, but he didn't know about the short-term fluctuations. If gold suddenly fell for a short period of time, it would be bad, and he thought it was okay for safety reasons.

This is the result of negotiations between the two parties. If gold rises to a certain level in the future, there is basically no risk in the futures that were long when the price was low. At this time, the 250 million US dollars that have not been invested can be reinvested. Go long gold.

In this way, only a little profit will be lost, but the risk can be controlled to the greatest extent.

Of course, Chen Zhiwen also has a second plan. He made an agreement with Deutsche Bank on the condition that Red Bull's entire company should be funded. In real terms, but emergency loans, the figure is not bad.

Last month, that is, the average price of gold in October was 240 US dollars per ounce, but this month it dropped a little to around 220. I don’t know about the next month, but according to Chen Zhiwen’s understanding, the rapid rise of gold was in 1979.

If you buy gold futures at a cost of less than 250 US dollars now, then more than a year later, when the highest price of gold reaches 810 US dollars, the theoretical profit will be 15 times, but this is a theory, and it is definitely impossible to reach 800 in practice. Sell ​​it again, otherwise it will be easy to get caught.

There are also high interest and transaction taxes, but in any case, the high income may only be returned by technology investment companies in the next few years. However, technology companies have to wait until the 1990s to cash out .

New York, Waldorf Astoria:

"Eric, the Middle East is in chaos again. The oil crisis is about to break out again. If you invest in gold at this time, I'm afraid you will make a lot of money again." Henry Morgan said while drinking high-end red wine : "This shouldn't be pure luck, right?"

"It's pure luck." Chen Zhiwen smiled, and raised his glass to take a sip. This is a bottle of red wine worth tens of thousands of dollars, and it is a treasure in the 1920s. Henry Morgan got a few bottles by chance. Bring it to share with Chen Zhiwen.

"Okay, it's luck. Then you say, should I go in and play?" Henry Morgan said with a light smile.

"It's fine, as long as you have money, but it's still the same sentence, take the risk at your own risk, especially if you want to do futures, it really depends on luck." Chen Zhiwen said.

Since the end of the dollar-gold-linked system, gold has been rising. It is not a loss to buy gold, but it is not necessarily so if you do more. The fundamental reason is high interest rates and possible short-term fluctuations.

In fact, after 73 years, no matter which year, if you do long gold with high interest rates, even if you make money, it cannot be said to be a very successful investment, because the rise of gold is very slow, even if you do long, it may not be much better than Investment, such as real estate in Hong Kong.

Of course, if you use higher leverage, you can theoretically earn more, but the risk is also greater. Moreover, investment banks generally do not agree to leverage exceeding 5 times for futures such as non-foreign exchange and international bonds, because this would be harmful to investors. They are also very risky. Before Internet transactions appeared, many investment banks may suffer heavy losses because they did not close their positions in time.

This is why Chen Zhiwen didn't enter the market to do long gold until the end of 1978, because only the high growth rate in 1979 was worth buying, and the rapid growth rate of gold in 1979 was actually because of the outbreak of the second oil crisis. The second challenge to the dominance of the world police has caused countless investors to be pessimistic about the future global economy. When oil rises from $10 to more than $30, it will be difficult for any normal industry to operate, because no one can do without A large number of derivative industrial products of freight and oil.

When everyone is not optimistic about the economy, they will naturally choose the safest investment. In addition, there are a lot of big capital secretly operating behind it, and the price of gold will naturally be copied to the sky.

"You're all over, so I naturally have to follow in." Henry Morgan said with a smile. He knew that Chen Zhiwen was long gold, but he didn't know how much money he invested. It was a secret, and he wouldn't be stupid. Ask, but since Chen Zhiwen has invested, he also thinks he can give it a try.

For smart people, it doesn't matter if they don't know how to invest, just follow those who know how to invest or invest in their company.

"Okay, then I will hand over the Pac-Man in the United States to you, and another arcade machine will be developed in Hong Kong. Next year, if you have time, you can go and have a look." Chen Zhiwen said again.