The Industrial Giant Reborn

Although there is already a successful template for the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan Expressway, it will naturally be different in a different place. And this time, it needs to cross several large cities. How to take the route will involve a lot of problems. It is estimated that the benefits will not be determined in a short period of time.

Chen Zhiwen is naturally not in a hurry. The biggest problem with these expressways is actually confidence. Once you have confidence, you can go to the bank for a loan, whether it is domestic or foreign. After all, one side is the mainland government and the other side is yourself. There are not many Banks will be reluctant to cooperate.

"Sheng Chen, you said before that Hisense Bank can lend to domestic projects. I wonder if you can apply for projects in some cities." Director Pan said suddenly after waiting for a while.

"Of course we can discuss it. I don't know what kind of project it is." Chen Zhiwen asked. If it is a large amount of commercial real estate, it must be profitable. In Shanghai, there is no possibility of losing money on such an investment, especially after the 1990s. Even if there are unfinished buildings now, they will become popular in the future.

"It's a project of urban construction." Director Pan said: "Chen Sheng, I think you have been to many places in Shanghai. What do you think of some of the inland rivers in Shanghai?"

"Inland river? It's not very clean." Chen Zhiwen glanced at Director Pan, understood a little, and asked: "You mean, the funds for river management?"

"Yes, many inland rivers in Shanghai are in urgent need of management. It not only affects the city's image, but also harms the health of many people. Over the years, many foreign businessmen who have visited abroad have expressed concern about our environment. Quite frankly, the Municipal Party Committee has been discussing for a long time and will definitely solve this problem once and for all. The central government is also very supportive, but there will be some difficulties in terms of funding. It is also difficult to squeeze out a large amount of funds from the Shanghai Municipal Government's fiscal revenue." Director Pan said.

"Then how much funding do you need?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.

In later generations, Shanghai City can be said to have a beautiful environment and greenery everywhere, but this was not the case in the 1980s. On the contrary, Shanghai City had one of the worst environments in the country.

Since ancient times, Shanghai has been one of the places with the highest concentration of industry in the mainland, even in the 1950s and 1960s. Unlike the industrial powerhouse in the Northeast, the industry in Shanghai is very concentrated, and the industry will inevitably cause a lot of pollution. , the solid ones can be transported away, the gaseous ones can be discharged directly into the atmosphere, but the liquid ones can only be discharged into the river.

From the edge of Jiangsu Province to the entire western part of Shanghai, a large amount of industrial wastewater is discharged into rivers and ditches, and finally collects on the Yangtze River. It is conceivable that the quality of the water source in Shanghai is poor, but there is nothing that can be done to develop industry.

“The preliminary plan is to spend US$200 million to clean up many rivers that are in direct contact with a large number of people.” Director Pan said: “In fact, we are also cooperating with the World Bank, but their process is slow and they have many requirements. "

"Loans are OK, but what's the collateral? Such a large sum of money always requires collateral, right?" Chen Zhiwen said.

In previous cooperation with domestic companies, although Hisense and even its own industrial companies also participated in loans or borrowings, they were all actually mortgaged. Even for some factories that supplied AMC, the collateral was actually the contract between AMC and them. , in international trade, it is also very common to use the purchase contract of a large company as collateral.

"We have also talked with the World Bank and Japanese banks before. They can accept our municipal government's borrowing in the form of bonds, which is equivalent to us using fiscal revenue as collateral in the future." Director Pan paused and said : "I heard that your Hisense Bank also lent money to Shenhai City last year, and the collateral was Shenhai City's financial revenue. It's the same thing."

"It's not impossible to use fiscal revenue as collateral, but this is a loan without physical collateral. In addition, the purpose of your loan funds is not commercial. According to the rules of Hong Kong banks, the interest rate will not be low." Chen Zhiwen He paused and said.

Last year, Shenhai City needed additional funds to renovate a large flat land to facilitate the expanding industrial needs. After communicating with Hisense Bank, Hisense Bank loaned HK$500 million. What is guaranteed is the deep sea city itself. From the perspective of the banking industry, the risk is somewhat high. No matter how good the confidence is, it cannot compare with the actual actual collateral.

Of course, with Chen Zhiwen's prophetic ability, there is definitely no risk, but he will not take the initiative to speak for Shenhai City, thus reducing the profits of his bank.

The same is true for the current Shanghai Stock Exchange. Of course he knows that there is no risk, but from the perspective of anyone else's business, he can do whatever he wants. His golden fingers are not for others to take advantage of, even if they are Not even in the Mainland, unless there are special circumstances, such as saving people or helping a large number of people get out of poverty, etc.

"How high will it usually be?" Director Pan asked. In fact, as long as the finance is used as collateral, the Shanghai Stock Exchange will not worry about not being able to get a loan, but the World Bank or Japanese banks will put forward many requirements that have nothing to do with the loan. It's very unpleasant. In fact, not only this project in Shanghai, but also in other cities, including Baosteel on its own territory, has been cheated a lot by Little Japan, both in terms of itself and in terms of loans.

"Generally, the interest rate is 20% higher than that of normal loans." Chen Zhiwen said.

"20%?" Director Pan thought for a while and asked, "What if we have suitable collateral?"

"What kind of collateral? As far as I know, except for Shenhai City, commercial transactions are still not allowed on land in other cities in China, right? Without transactions, there is no value." Chen Zhiwen asked.

Although it is currently possible to acquire inland land beyond the deep sea by investing in factories, hotels or specially negotiated projects, these cannot be traded and can only be used for designated purposes, which means they have no value. This is the current law.

"It's like this. We have a very special idea here. Chen Sheng can listen to it. If it works, then of course it's good. If it doesn't, let's talk about it another time." Director Pan said.

"Please tell me." Chen Zhiwen asked curiously.

"I heard that Chen Sheng's Land Company is seeking to invest in a five-star hotel chain in China?" Director Pan asked.

"Yes, there is such a thing." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. Landmark has a Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which is the only hotel chain brand in Hong Kong. Several other hotels, such as large hotels, are just single hotels. .

In today's era of rampant international hotels, it is almost impossible for a new brand to rise against the trend. Jardine Group once only expanded the Mandarin Oriental Hotel to Macau, and then stopped expanding outside, because even if it spends Going global at a high cost, the time, energy and money spent may not be recouped. This is definitely not due to lack of ability. Even today’s Chen Zhiwen also acquiesces to this attitude and wants to compete overseas with Intercontinental, which has been operating for decades. Hilton’s competition is too difficult.

But there is a blank blue ocean market in China, and considering that the land prices here are very cheap, Mandarin Oriental Hotel also has the opportunity to counterattack. As long as it builds hotels on a large scale in China in the early stage, it will definitely gain a very large market. , and at the same time, it can also capture a large area of ​​high-quality land, because in this era, foreign and domestic capital cannot buy land.

"Chen Sheng, you just said that Shanghai used to be an international city. Nowadays, there are many overseas tourists coming to Shanghai, and even more and more domestic tourists come to Shanghai. They also need good hotels, so we are going to Shanghai. Shanghai City also sincerely invites you to invest in hotels. In terms of quantity, you have decided that Shanghai is so big, I think it is enough for you to build several hotels." Director Pan said with a smile.

"Oh, any number of hotels? I'm afraid this will require you to pay a lot of money, right?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"No, our municipal committee has discussed it. We can learn from the model of the Red Bull Food Factory in Shanghai. As long as you promise not to transfer the profits within ten years into foreign exchange, and choose Shanghai for reinvestment, then we can agree Let you build a five-star hotel with your sole proprietorship." Director Pan said with a smile.

"Sole proprietorship?" Chen Zhiwen thought. This was really a very tempting policy for him.

The large-scale construction of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in the mainland is an important step in Chen Zhiwen's planning, because the hotel can be used to invest in the domestic real estate industry. In addition, in this era, there is a general shortage of hotels in the country, and it is basically possible to repay the capital in less than ten years. Earn it back with profits, and you can also rely on hotel chains to hammer a nail in every big city. After the capital market becomes relatively free, you can use this as the core to expand outward.

But the problem is that Chen Zhiwen can mobilize a large amount of funds or use bank loans to maximize financial leverage, but this is not possible in the mainland. Currently, the demand for five-star hotels in the mainland is very high, and there are few foreign capitals that can invest. The infrastructure industry requires joint ventures, which means that while you invest, you also need the mainland to spend the same amount of money.

This is the most troublesome thing. Otherwise, Land Land can just choose a good location in any domestic city and invest directly. However, the reality is that many places are waffling on investment issues. Currently, Land Land has settled on Guangdong City. One location has been selected, but other locations have not yet been negotiated. This may be because Real Estate wants to build a larger building, but the total investment will be high.

"Yes, sole proprietorship. As long as the foreign exchange balance is maintained, you can build as many hotels as you want in Shanghai." Director Pan said with a smile.

"So, if the Shanghai Municipality relaxes its restrictions on joint ventures in five-star hotels, allowing Land to invest heavily in hotels here, the requirement is that Hisense lends the Shanghai Municipality US$200 million?" Chen Zhiwen nodded.

I have to say that this is a good idea for the Shanghai Stock Exchange. First of all, the inland rivers of a big city are definitely a top priority and need to be dealt with urgently. Therefore, funds must be available. In order to raise various issues in overseas banks, While this is an excessive requirement, it is indeed much easier to find a bank in Hong Kong, but there are not many in Hong Kong who can easily withdraw US$200 million. HSBC is fine, but there may also be ghosts behind HSBC. Even if it doesn't, the asking price will definitely be high.

Due to the demand for internationalization, the demand for five-star hotels in Shanghai is also very high. However, whether it is built by itself or attracts foreign investment, this requires Shanghai to invest a large amount of funds, which puts too much pressure on the finances. Even if the hotel can make money in the future, it will be in the future and cannot solve the current problems. Even if there are financial methods to transfer future funds to the present, it will be risky and costly, and it is not in line with domestic current economic development model.

As long as the "joint venture" requirement is abandoned, a large amount of foreign capital can be introduced to invest in insufficient hotels, and a large number of jobs can be created. On this condition, a loan with no additional conditions and normal interest can be obtained. It has completely solved the financial problems of Shanghai City in these two matters. Even a large amount of hotel investment can bring a lot of financial revenue. After all, you may not have to pay taxes when building a hotel, but a large number of infrastructure orders still It can stimulate many related enterprises.

"That's about it. We also know that Chen Sheng is very interested in investing in domestic infrastructure. Joint ventures are required for highways. This is the policy of the Central Ministry of Transport and we can't change it. But in terms of hotels, we still have some projects in Shanghai. Autonomous." Director Pan said with a smile: "This is a win-win situation for both of us."

"It's a win-win situation. Well, I agree in principle to this matter." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

In fact, there is definitely no risk in lending to the Shanghai Stock Exchange, but Chen Zhiwen will not be very active at will, because this is not in line with normal business logic. As long as the Shanghai Stock Exchange comes up with appropriate conditions or other concessions, Then he almost agreed.

But he didn't expect that the Shanghai Stock Exchange would actually provide this condition for his five-star hotel to be a sole proprietor, which would give him a lot of room for maneuver.

You must know that the nature of land in the mainland in later generations is mainly industrial, residential and commercial. Commercial includes office buildings and hotels. In other words, an office building can be converted into a hotel. There is no need to go through any change procedures. You only need to follow Just say something from the government.

So now you can freely build a wholly-owned hotel, which is equivalent to building an office building in Shanghai. Although it will be the same in five or six years, the opportunity of five or six years will allow you to grab a lot of high-quality locations first. .

Of course, there are differences. You can find a large piece of land to build a large group of office buildings. The opposite is true for hotels. Each building must be far away from each other. However, Shanghai is so big that even if one building is built some distance apart, in the current situation A lot of buildings can be built in several prosperous areas. This is equivalent to the large-scale construction of buildings in Central, Tsim Sha Tsui, Causeway Bay and other places in advance in Hong Kong in the 1950s and 1960s. (End of chapter)