The Industrial Giant Reborn

It is a great deal to exchange a risk-free loan with a normal interest rate for the opportunity to build a wholly-owned hotel in Shanghai, a first-tier city in the future. Not to mention, the loan itself is also a normal business for Hisense Bank. But because it’s normal, it may not be so profitable.

After Director Pan left with a satisfied expression, Chen Zhiwen immediately arranged for his subordinates to contact Dong Youwei, the head of the real estate company who was still in Hong Kong, and asked him to come to the Shanghai stock market immediately.

However, the order arrived quickly, but the efficiency was not that high. There are indeed flights from Hong Kong to Shanghai in this era, but they are very sparse. There is often only one flight every few days. It is not that Hong Kong or Cathay Pacific They do not pay attention to the mainland, but most of the people who go to the mainland from Hong Kong go to Shenhai City or other places in eastern Guangdong, or to the capital Yanjing. In other places, including Shanghai, it can be said that there are not many tourists, so what about aviation? The company is not stupid enough to increase flights.

Fortunately, this matter was very important, but not too urgent. At noon on the third day, Dong Youwei came to Shanghai, and Chen Zhiwen treated him to a light meal at the Peace Hotel.

"Old Dong, I have decided to give you a plane!" Chen Zhiwen suddenly said.

"Huh? Airplane?" Dong Youwei was shocked after hearing this. It was normal for the company's top executives to allocate houses and cars, but he had never heard of an airplane? Even his own boss bought a private jet. Before this incident, Hong Kong's business giants did not do this, including Pao Yugang, the former richest Chinese man, or members of the Keswick family of Jardine Matheson Group or Taipan, etc. They all take normal commercial flights. At most, if you have money, you can fly first class. If there is an emergency, just ask Cathay Pacific to charter a flight, but it is usually very rare unless it is a group trip.

Chen Zhiwen's net worth far exceeds that of the rich Hong Kong family. Buying a plane is not outrageous, but equipping his subordinates with planes seems a bit too extravagant, right? Dong Youwei, Zhou Jiayang, Lei Shengli and others had only flown on the boss's private jet.

"Don't be too surprised. It's not common in Hong Kong or Asia for senior executives of large companies to have private jets, but it's quite normal in the United States and Europe. Especially in the United States, many CEOs of Fortune 500 companies have their own planes. "Chen Zhiwen said: "The main thing is that your time is precious. If you all take commercial flights, sometimes you may have to wait for a flight a few days later if you have urgent matters, and you also need to wait for a few hours at the airport. If you only have a few flights a year, The first time is okay, but the more times, the more resources are wasted.

Besides, an airplane is not for one person. Not only the CEO, but also the company's top department heads or shareholders can use it. As long as it is used a lot, if it is spread evenly, plus the time saved, it is not It's expensive.

For us, there is more than one company. In addition to Land, companies such as Hutchison Whampoa, Midea, Red Bull, Hisense Bank and even Wharf and Hong Kong Electric can be used. Hong Kong can be said to be half an island. You need a plane to go anywhere. Really use it It still seems very efficient. "

"That's true. What Chen Sheng said makes sense." Dong Youwei nodded. He suddenly received the order from his boss and quickly arranged for someone to buy tickets. However, the next flight was in three days and there were no tickets left. , or the assistant spent some time and entrusted Cathay Pacific insiders to contact the passengers who had already purchased the tickets, and then bought a second-hand business class ticket at a high price. Otherwise, they would have to wait a few more days or take the land route. Shanghai.

This is too much of a waste of time for the CEO of a large company. Even Land, a company whose main business is rent collection, is currently busy with the development of several land parcels, many trivial matters at Disneyland, and Admiralty New Land King Shangfang Wenhua. Plaza projects and more. Wasting a week because of traffic problems is not worth the gain. Global companies like Midea and Red Bull are even busier and require more frequent business trips.

"This is just a small matter. After you go back this time, discuss it with Lei Shengli, Zhou Jiayang and others to see which model of aircraft is more convenient to buy. Nowadays, many business aircraft companies in the world generally have two or three ranges. It’s a thousand kilometers. This distance, with Hong Kong as the center, can basically cover most of Asia. If it’s farther away, it’s enough to refuel once in the middle. It may not be convenient to go to Europe and the United States.” Chen Zhiwen added.

It’s okay to buy an airplane for your subordinates and enjoy it a little bit. As a senior executive of a large company, as long as the results are good, you don’t have to buy a Boeing 747 like yourself. From a practical point of view, the range of one airplane is An aircraft with a distance of two to three thousand kilometers is enough, and such a small aircraft is much more portable than the 747. It can take off and land at any small airport.

As for going to Europe and the United States, it’s actually not impossible, it’s just a bit of a hassle on the road. Furthermore, going to Europe and the United States is planned in advance. If it’s really not possible, you can go on commercial flights. Only major battlefields like Asia can do it regularly. The need for assault flights.

"Okay, no problem." Dong Youwei agreed. This in itself is also a good thing for them. Who doesn't dream of having a private jet or private yacht? As a migrant worker, even if you have a high income, you may be able to afford a yacht, but it is basically inappropriate because it is a bit too high-profile. However, airplanes are not purely enjoyment tools. They also have business value. If the boss buys them, they will also It’s ready to use.

"Well, how's the negotiation going at Disneyland?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.

Land's most important task at present is its cooperation with Disney. Even if it is building a hotel in China, its importance cannot be compared. A hotel can be built at any time. At most, it is a matter of making more or less. But Disneyland It needs to be negotiated as soon as possible, because once Hong Kong's real estate market really starts to explode, it will become more and more unfavorable to Land and Disney in the future, and the Hong Kong government will definitely be able to raise prices on the ground.

"At present, we have reached an agreement with the Hong Kong government on the site selection, which is located in Sai Kung District, close to Kwun Tong, and not far from the seaside. People from Hong Kong Island can also go directly to the location of our future paradise through the Hung Hom Cross-Harbour Tunnel. The location is not too detoured, and the same is true for the New Territories area." Dong Youwei said: "There are still some problems. The land area we need has been negotiated with the Hong Kong government, and it is about 1.1 square kilometers. However, Disney has not yet finalized which projects to build in Hong Kong.

The second issue is the price. We also want to try our best to lower the price. The Hong Kong government naturally also wants to increase the land price. There is still a gap of almost 600 million Hong Kong dollars. We try our best to control the price within 2 billion Hong Kong dollars.

The third is some traffic problems, mainly on the Disney side. They are not very satisfied with the surrounding traffic. They hope that the Hong Kong government will repair or expand new roads leading to Disney in many places in Hong Kong. This will be a big problem for the Hong Kong government. There is a certain amount of financial pressure, so it is still under discussion. "

"In terms of roads, there is no need to really ask the Hong Kong government to build all the roads, as long as they can cover most Hong Kong people. Those who live in places with inconvenient transportation are unlikely to be potential customers of Disneyland, so there is no need If you care too much about these things, in the future, if the economy in these places really improves, the local transportation will naturally improve." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.

If the increase in land prices in the future is not very large, then Chen Zhiwen is not in a hurry and can slowly negotiate with the Hong Kong government. But now, there is no need to affect Xigua for some small sesame seeds.

"Okay." Dong Youwei nodded in agreement.

"The land price needs to be determined as soon as possible. If it cannot be lowered to 20, then try to keep it within 22." Chen Zhiwen added: "There is no need to continue to delay for the sake of 100 or 200 million, build the paradise as soon as possible , we can also make profits early.”

There used to be some jokes about real estate transactions in the Mainland in later generations. This happened in Yanjing in 2010. A buyer bought a house and finally lowered the price for 50,000 yuan, but the seller refused to give in. As a result, the house price rose the next day. 100,000. The buyer was anxious and ended up paying 150,000 more than the price on the first day. This incident once became one of the top ten jokes on the Internet in the mainland that year, but it was a real incident. Even those in the mainland did not know it at that time. How many times has it happened.

Today's Hong Kong is about to enter such a stage. Chen Zhiwen doesn't want this to happen, losing money and being treated as a joke. In fact, if it weren't for Huaying still negotiating for Hong Kong last year, he would have invested earlier.

"I understand, Chen Sheng." Dong Youwei said with a smile: "But if we make some concessions, I would like to negotiate with the Hong Kong government and take advantage of the situation to get another piece of land near Disneyland. No matter what, we can't lose."

"Okay, you figure it out, we have to solve it quickly anyway." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile, this is actually a step down, just like when you can't bargain with the price when buying vegetables, you can only grab some garlic by the way. . Business negotiations may be a little more advanced, but that's human nature.

"Then the only decision left is the Disney Company's decision. It's not easy for me to get involved in this one." Dong Youwei added.

"Well, I will go to Eisner about this matter. However, how to build the interior of the park is our internal matter. We must first take down the land and finalize the entire project to avoid long nights and dreams." Chen Zhiwen said.

"Okay, then after I go back this time, I will reach an agreement with the Hong Kong government as soon as possible." Dong Youwei said.

"Yes." Chen Zhiwen nodded, and then said: "I have told you roughly what happened on the phone before. Shanghai has reached a new agreement with me. Mandarin Oriental Hotel can be a sole proprietorship in Shanghai. , then our previous strategy remains unchanged in other places, but in Shanghai, we need to invest heavily. How many five-star hotels of ours can be built in Shanghai in your opinion?"

"With the current number of international tourists in Shanghai and the daily internal demand, having ten buildings is not a problem at all, but it is impossible for all of them to be ours. I think building five is about the same." Dong Youwei analyzed.

"According to the actual situation, it is about the same, but I still hope to build a little more." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile: "Let's double it. We will build ten hotels in Shanghai. Looking at it now, this is indeed too much. But I believe that it will be completely different in ten years. The number of international tourists coming here will increase exponentially. Also, if the entire domestic economy develops strongly, the number of internal tourists will also be very large. Our hotel You will definitely not lose money.

This is similar to Hong Kong in the 1960s. If you say that we built ten office buildings in places like Central and Tsim Sha Tsui at that time, you might think you couldn't rent them out, but in fact ten years later they were completely full of business. "

In the current Shanghai City, office buildings cannot be built for outsiders. Otherwise, if Chen Zhiwen comes to invest in 30 buildings, it will not be too many in the future. If we can only build hotels, because there is a competitive relationship between hotels, they can only be scattered, so the number Much less, and there will be many other hotels in Shanghai itself. It is impossible for Chen Zhiwen and his family to be alone in this field.

"It is possible, but it will consume a lot of our funds." Dong Youwei said, "Unless we build a smaller hotel."

Previously, Chen Zhiwen's request for the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in the Mainland was to make it as luxurious as possible and have as many guest rooms as possible. This was not only to invest in real estate first, but also to increase the hotel's reputation and win over everyone first while the domestic market was blank. cognition.

The original relevant budgets and Land Land have also been prepared. In the 20 open cities across the country, they will launch 4-5 projects a year, and each one will be a joint venture. In addition, with the rebound of Hong Kong real estate, Land Land's credit line has also increased. To improve, with the use of loans, the demand for funds can be controlled. Now that there are ten new wholly-owned hotels suddenly added, the pressure is completely different.

"It's okay. When investing in large projects in China, I will inject capital into Land separately, just like Disney." Chen Zhiwen said.

Although the scale of the real estate is large, it is not able to bear so many large-scale projects at once. For Disneyland and domestic hotel large-scale investment plans, Chen Zhiwen also specially mobilized funds from accounts in foreign tax havens to return to Hong Kong.

After all, having so much money saved and having to pay interest to others is a trivial matter. Failure to cope with inflation is a major matter. In the next ten to twenty years, if the money is left in the bank and not invested, it will be a blood loss. In the past few years, Chen Zhiwen has been slowly transferring these funds to the Japanese market, where there will soon be a gluttonous feast of capital, but some will also be given to Land or Hutchison Whampoa to allow them to invest in the mainland.

Although generally speaking, the return on investment in the mainland will definitely not be as good as that in Japan in the next five years, some high-quality projects can still surpass it, such as those highways with the largest traffic volume in the future, future super-large ports, and the Yanjing International Trade Center Wait, or maybe today, a luxury hotel can be built in the core of Shanghai.

"Then if that's the case, there will be no problem on Land's side." Dong Youwei added, "But will Shanghai agree? Let's build ten large hotels at once?"

"There is no need to build ten buildings at once. That is crazy. Even the central government may not agree. Build three buildings first, and then go faster and open them within two years. I guess the business will not be bad. Then we can build the next few buildings." , before 1990, all the projects will be implemented." Chen Zhiwen said.

A few decades later, in Shanghai, there were less than 100 five-star hotels, so just occupying 10 of them was enough.

Quantity is not the most important, location is, which is why we should invest heavily in Shanghai now. (End of chapter)