We're building a super chaebol in Hong Kong

“Mr. Su, let's get down to business. It's like this: last month, I participated in a government-organized auction in the Chai Wan area, near Pottinger Peak. I won a bid for a piece of industrial land as large as 320,000 square meters. The winning bid was 85 million Hong Kong dollars. It's intended for building a large industrial park, and the overall construction cost will be around 100 million Hong Kong dollars. That means the total investment will be about 185 million Hong Kong dollars.

Our group has several investment projects this year, and the capital isn't flowing back as quickly, so we're a little short on funds. But we didn't want to miss out on this development project, so I gritted my teeth and bid for it. It's not easy to find a partner for an investment of nearly 200 million. I've heard a little about your reputation, Mr. Su, and it just so happened that I ran into you at the charity auction, so I wanted to see if you might be interested in this investment project.”

Lin Baixin repeated what he had said at the charity auction, only this time in more detail. At the same time, he took out a stack of documents from his bag and handed them to Su Cheng.

Su Cheng took the documents. The first page was a very detailed map showing the location of the industrial park.

Following that were detailed materials about the land and proof of the successful auction.

Su Cheng picked up the location map and began to examine it.

Compared to Sha Tin, the location is actually better, being situated on the east side of Hong Kong Island, less than ten kilometers from Causeway Bay.

It has even more advantages compared to the current Tseung Kwan O.

Moreover, because it was developed early, the population here has already reached more than a hundred thousand.

Eighty-five million Hong Kong dollars to acquire such a large piece of land is indeed not expensive.

This isn't like Tseung Kwan O, which doesn't have many people. This is an area that has been developed for twenty years and is very mature.

“Mr. Lin, in principle, I am quite interested in this investment. I just don't know how you plan to allocate the investment ratio?” Su Cheng put down the documents and asked with a smile.

“Our two companies can form a joint venture. You can hold up to 49% of the shares. As for the investment and profit distribution, it will also be based on this ratio. I wonder what Mr. Su thinks?” Lin Baixin said simply and clearly.

Lin Baixin's intention was to be the majority shareholder, which was normal, after all, he was the one who secured the land. It was impossible for him to let someone else become the dominant party.

“Basically, that's no problem. How about this, I'll have my Hutchison Properties company contact your company, and we can discuss the details then,” Su Cheng said directly.

Eighty-five million Hong Kong dollars to acquire 320,000 square meters of land is simply too good a deal.

As for the subsequent 100 million Hong Kong dollars to build a 320,000 square meter industrial park, that's naturally not too high either.

The current industrial parks in Hong Kong are not the trendy tin-roofed factories, but rather multi-story factory buildings.

Many small factories, due to a lack of funds, will only rent one floor or half a floor for production and processing.

Most industrial buildings are built with at least five or six floors, and some even have eight or nine floors.

Therefore, the annual rent for each industrial building is very considerable.

Although this piece of land is close to a cemetery, and even has a portion that is mountainous, the land price is really very cheap, cheap enough to ignore its shortcomings.

Of course, Su Cheng is not a professional. The detailed situation will naturally have to be investigated by Hutchison Properties before discussing the details of cooperation.

This kind of cooperation involving hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars cannot be achieved with just a few words.

“Okay, I hope we have the opportunity to cooperate,” Lin Baixin nodded.

He also knew that it wouldn't be easy to succeed in negotiating such a large cooperation.

However, now that Su Cheng had verbally agreed, the next step would basically be further discussions between the two parties.

The current economic environment can only be described as average, and it's not easy to find such a large partner. It's even harder to find a reliable partner.

It's not easy to find a partner like Su Cheng with a lot of capital and strong strength.

“Mr. Lin, may I ask, does your Lai Sun Group have a cinema company?” Su Cheng asked.

The success or failure of a movie depends on the two key aspects of distribution and storefronts, and storefronts refer to cinemas.

The main reason Su Cheng invited Lin Baixin was to target the cinemas under the Lai Sun Group.

“Indeed, it seems that Mr. Su is quite familiar with our Lai Sun Group. We started investing in cinemas in 1975, and now we have 6 theaters. However, theaters are actually not very profitable. Our six theaters are all located in the most prosperous areas of the city center, and the profit they create for us in a year is just a fraction of our real estate business. Investing in this industry is more of a hobby,” Lin Baixin said with a smile.

In the 1970s, the Hong Kong government stipulated that each district in Hong Kong must have a certain number of cinema seats based on the population. After obtaining the land, developers have the responsibility to build cinemas with enough seats in the shopping malls, and they must not be converted to other uses in the future. If they are converted to other uses, they will have to pay a staggering land premium. Therefore, today, the number of cinemas throughout Hong Kong is as high as hundreds.

Lai Sun Group owns six cinemas, which is a decent cinema force.

Moreover, the cinemas under the Lai Sun Group have a very good reputation due to their first-class service, environment, and equipment in Hong Kong. Su Cheng has also heard of this.

This is why Su Cheng wants to take Lin Baixin's cinemas under his own control.

Reputation is very important for a cinema. A good reputation often takes months or even years to build.

In fact, Su Cheng could open new cinemas now. A cinema is not very expensive for Su Cheng, and he can open a small to medium-sized cinema for a few hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars.

However, these small-scale cinemas often don't attract many viewers.

Moreover, the main areas of Hong Kong's urban area basically have cinemas, so adding more would be too competitive. It's better to acquire existing ones.

“I want to acquire all the theaters under your group. I wonder what conditions Mr. Lin has?” Su Cheng asked directly.