"Sheng Chen, I don't want to see Yihe confronting you in the mall? This will only benefit other companies." Newbijian frowned and said.
"Shopping malls are free and everyone competes fairly. Niubijian, your words won't scare anyone." Chen Zhiwen said lightly: "But what you said is not bad. Neither you nor I have invested too much in the retail market." With more funds, everyone can make money at this time. I can acquire Wellcome Supermarket and its properties at a 20% increase in market price. Although it is not much, it is tens of millions. With these funds, Jardine can completely develop other industries. , such as real estate.”
After saying that, Chen Zhiwen glanced at Bao Fuda behind Newbijian and asked with a smile: "Mr. Bao Fuda, I think as a professional, you should believe that the income from real estate exceeds retail sales, right?"
Bao Fuda said: "Although real estate is profitable, we at Jardine cannot be just one real estate company."
"This is my sincere offer. You two can consider it for a while. If it is a price issue, we can discuss it again. But if you want Hutchison Whampoa to step back and not enter the retail market, that is absolutely impossible." Chen Zhiwen was decisive. said.
Newbijian frowned and said, "Then we can only see the real thing in the mall."
"Then it's fair competition. Who can reach the end depends on which of us is stronger." Chen Zhiwen said calmly.
"Okay, in that case, let's say goodbye. Unfortunately, we did not achieve perfect cooperation." Newbijian nodded, stood up and said.
"No." Chen Zhiwen stood up lazily and watched Niubijian and Bao Fuda leave.
Zhou Jiayang on the side said: "As we predicted, Niubijian will not give in so easily."
"Normally, how could a company like Yihe back down just because someone comes to compete? Then it would be laughed to death by outsiders." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile: "If this were the case, Yihe would not be able to develop to the scale it is today."
"Then we can only accept the challenge. We have the cheap supply chain of Galaxy Trade behind us, so we are not afraid." Zhou Jiayang said.
"The advantage of the supply chain will come later. The first step now is to compete for good locations to open stores. As long as we win a large number of such locations, we will basically win without a fight." Chen Zhiwen said.
The business principles for opening supermarkets in Asia are completely different from those in Europe and the United States. Except for some big cities in Europe and the United States, most people live in scattered places and everyone has cars, so supermarkets only need to be in the suburbs and have huge parking lots. .
But in Asia, the population is densely populated and there are basically not many cars. Therefore, supermarkets need to be opened in city centers or places with a large number of residents. In such places, there is little room for choice. Basically, if you are the first to move in, you will win, and the latecomers will win. It takes several times the cost to succeed, which is basically impossible.
Zhou Jiayang said: "Then we need to invest a lot of money to buy suitable shops first. This will be a direct confrontation with Land."
"It doesn't matter if you fight. The scale of Land Land is larger than ours, but there are also more places to spend money. It depends on who dares to fight harder." Chen Zhiwen paused and said, "Immediately discuss with the bank we cooperate with and use the maximum leverage amount , allocate funds to us, and I will do my best to acquire shops suitable for opening supermarkets in the Hong Kong market."
"Okay, I'll get in touch right away." Zhou Jiayang agreed.
Outside Hilton Hotel:
Newbijian and Bao Fuller didn't speak until they got into the car.
Bao Fuda said: "Niubijian, Chen Zhiwen is determined to fight against us. I think we still need to spend a special amount of money to fight with him."
"However, in terms of funding, our credit line is no longer high. The coal mines in South Africa are now losing hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong dollars every day. We have used the credit line due to the increase in Hong Kong real estate prices this year. Land's Central Street and Wharf The Harbor City also needs a lot of funds. At this time, wouldn’t it be against Jardine’s interests if we spend hundreds of millions more to burn money with Hutchison in a new market?” Niubijian said with a frown.
"This is true in the short term, but in the long term, once we control Hong Kong's retail market, it will be permanent wealth." Bao Fuda added.
The previous retail market in Hong Kong was scattered, mainly consisting of mom-and-pop shops and some foreign brand department stores. Of course, Jardine and Co looked down on this unplanned industry before, but when supermarkets became popular in Europe, America and Japan, they spread. After arriving in Hong Kong, Land naturally had ideas.
"Okay, let's make an investment first. Hutchison Whampoa is now so heavily in debt and has to develop projects like Whampoa Gardens. I don't believe that Chen Zhiwen can make so much money overseas." Niubijian nodded and said, Hutchison Whampoa's situation, even if If it were to be placed on land, almost all resources would have to be spent to develop Whampoa Garden. In theory, even if Chen Zhiwen had income overseas, he would need to invest most of it in Hutchison Whampoa.
Bao Fuda smiled and said: "Then let's try to see if Chen Zhiwen is real or fake."
Early the next morning, as soon as Bao Fuda arrived at the office, his assistant Alice hurriedly walked in and said: "Mr. Bao Fuda, this is today's newspaper from Hong Kong Economic Times. Hutchison Whampoa Group officially announced that it will launch a Hong Kong-wide Purchase 5,000-20,000 square feet of shops at 120% of the price.”
"What? Public acquisition in the newspaper?" Bao Fuda was stunned for a moment and almost shouted.
Publicizing it in newspapers, doesn't this mean that these shops will increase their prices for no reason? Once the information is announced, there is no way to lower the price. Otherwise, the seller can lower the price without knowing the buyer's mentality.
But now, as soon as the news is announced, this type of real estate will immediately rise a lot.
"I'm going to find Newbikin." Bao Fuda quickly took the newspaper and read it as he walked.
Their offices were also on the same floor. They arrived in less than half a minute. When Newbijian saw Bao Fuda, he motioned for him to sit down and said, "Chen Zhiwen's move is targeting us first, right?"
"Yes, it depends on whether we follow. This move is really unexpected. Even if it increases the cost of acquisition, it will put pressure on us." Bao Fuda nodded and said.
He already somewhat understands Chen Zhiwen's intention. Although such an acquisition by Hutchison and Huang's family will increase the acquisition cost, it can also improve efficiency. For some entrepreneurs who care about time costs, it is not unacceptable.
But this poses a problem for Jardine. If they follow, then the two top giants in Hong Kong will enter the market. I am afraid that the price of this type of real estate will skyrocket and the acquisition cost will increase significantly. But if they don’t follow, it will be equivalent to advancing the I gave up and even tried to follow them secretly, because in terms of time efficiency, there was a huge difference in speed between Yihe contact slowly and Hutchison direct newspaper promotion.
"This is another small problem." Niubijian said: "In fact, spending more money to buy a shop is not a problem, but Chen Zhiwen's attitude clearly means that he will force us to retreat."
"But if we keep up, Chen Zhiwen may also increase his investment, and then we will be in a tug-of-war. Moreover, if we acquire a large number of shops at a price that is much higher than the market price, the Keswick family may also be held accountable. Bao Fuda said with a frown.
Although a group of them snatched the management rights of the Jardine Department from the Keswick family, the Keswick family has been running the Jardine Department for hundreds of years, and the internal relations are complicated. Many people still tend to favor the Keswick family. And no matter what, the Keswick family is also the major shareholder of Jardine Matheson, and they have the right to supervise the board of directors.
"However, from another perspective, the fact that Chen Zhiwen is so optimistic about the retail market also shows its potential. In this way, we cannot give up. If we give up, Hutchison Whampoa's retail business will do very well, and the Keswick family will They can cause trouble, so just ignore them." Niubijian said calmly.
Bao Fuda thought about it and agreed, so he said: "Then tomorrow, we will also publish it in the newspaper."
(End of chapter)
