A week later, many real estate tycoons in Hong Kong came to a conference room on the top floor of the Hilton Hotel.
"Everyone, everyone who comes here is interested in investing in our Hengyi Group. Here is the basic information before we prepare to go public. You can take a look. The current price is HK$5 per share. Everyone here can get up to 1,000. After reading the information, everyone can decide how many shares to buy. However, there is a requirement for this transaction, that is, half of the transaction requires you to exchange shares with your own company." Chen Tianfu was at the front, smiling. introduced.
The stock exchange was proposed by my son before. Although the main purpose of this listing is to raise money, the real estate crisis they predicted will occur in one or two years. They even prepared so early because they wanted many projects to slowly Cash out, and after this listing, the large amount of cash in Hengyi's hands cannot really be kept to earn interest. It is a very good choice to use it to purchase the top few or even the top dozen real estate companies in Hong Kong. Not only now, but after the funds are obtained after the listing, there will also be investment plans in this direction.
"A total of 800 million shares, Mr. Chen is going to set off a big firework." Zheng Yutong of New World Group said in surprise after seeing the number.
"It's only HK$4 billion. The value of Hengyi is far more than that." Another person laughed and said, it was Chen Zengxi of Hang Lung Group.
"That's right." A few more people echoed. Just looking at the half-year profit of 170 million Hong Kong dollars, this can almost rank among the top five real estate companies in Hong Kong. The market value of the fifth-ranked real estate company in Hong Kong is almost 4 to 5 billion. Hong Kong dollars, and the biggest advantage of Hengyi Group is that it has Chen Zhiwen as its backing. This advantage is even more important than the 2 billion Hong Kong dollars in cash. Not to mention that Hengyi Company itself has a cash reserve of HK$870 million.
Everyone was discussing with each other. Only Li Jiacheng of Cheung Kong Holdings was carefully looking at the information released by Hengyi. As a shareholder who was about to invest, he could get more comprehensive information than ordinary shareholders. However, the specific business There are still no secrets. Generally speaking, it is the approximate profit, number of projects, number of self-owned properties, rental income, etc.
"Li Sheng?" A familiar voice suddenly came from beside Li Jiacheng. When he looked up, it was Hu Yingxiang from Hehe Industrial.
"Hu Sheng, do you have any advice?" Li Jiacheng asked with a smile.
"It's nothing. I see Li Sheng is looking at it so seriously, and it seems that he has discovered something. I am a lazy person. I can't read these too complicated information, just like asking Li Sheng." Hu Ying said with a smile.
"I'm just taking a look. This is my habit, and I look more seriously." Li Jiacheng said with a smile, and immediately changed the subject: "I heard that Hu Sheng has discussed many projects in the mainland recently? Or is it with Chen Zhiwen Chen? Born together?"
"Li Sheng is really well-informed." Hu Yingxiang nodded and said, "I heard that Li Sheng has served as a director of CITIC Group in the Mainland?"
The existence of the Taishan Society is currently known to only a few of them, and they have not been informed to outsiders. However, there must be some traces of their investments, but these have nothing to do with Hong Kong. In theory, no one in Hong Kong should know about it. After all, Right now it's just an investment intention, just a verbal negotiation, but there must be a lot of high-level officials in the country who know about it. As a director of CITIC Group, it's possible that Li Jiacheng knows about this. After all, CITIC Group was actually founded in China to attract foreign investment.
"I'm just an honorary director, how can I compare to Hu Sheng, who has made large-scale investments all over the country." Li Jiacheng said with a smile.
"Does Li Sheng have any plans for Hengyi's investment?" Hu Yingxiang asked again.
"Of course, I want 10 million shares. Where is Hu Sheng?" Li Jiacheng asked.
"Same." Hu Yingxiang said with a smile.
"Although Hengyi does not belong to Chen Zhiwen, it is basically close. If you have the opportunity, of course you have to do it. I also heard that Chen Zhiwen's Costco in the United States is also preparing to raise funds. Unfortunately, we in Hong Kong may not be able to invest." Li Jiacheng shook his head and said regretfully.
"This is normal. Costco mainly develops in the United States and has nothing to do with Hong Kong. Of course, it will not introduce Hong Kong capital. However, if it is listed in the United States, Li Sheng can also buy some." Hu Yingxiang said with a smile.
"We'll see about it then." Li Jiacheng nodded and said.
This gathering achieved a very good result. Almost everyone was willing to invest. Six people directly promised to buy 10 million shares. The others may not have chosen all of them due to financial pressure, but they also promised to inform the purchasers soon. How much to enter.
After the party, Chen Tianfu treated the guests to a sumptuous lunch at the Hilton Hotel. After that, everyone went back to their homes.
Hengyi conducted its only equity sale as planned, but it also received HK$530 million in cash and HK$470 million worth of stocks with strong future potential, including Cheung Kong Holdings, Henderson Land Development, Sun Hung Kai Properties, and New World Group Wait, there are also several companies that historically were severely affected by the real estate crisis in 1983, such as Hang Lung Properties, Great Eagle Group, and Hengyi. They also obtained some shares, and these were sold off around 1982. Now in 1982, these stocks can still rise a bit.
Unlike technology companies on Nasdaq, as a real estate company in Hong Kong, one financing is enough. The next step is to submit information to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and prepare for listing. When the news spreads among the public, even more It has aroused the interest of many people. When various acquisition wars broke out in the past, although there were many opportunities, there were also risks. When a new company is listed, especially in such a good real estate market and Hengyi’s background and profitability, how many People are already preparing funds and are ready to take action when the time comes.
Hong Kong's real estate market and financial market are still rising at a stable rate, but the rate of increase is no longer as fast as in previous years. The Hang Seng Index has also reached 1900 points, surpassing the previous record high in 1973. Not only Hengyi, Many other companies are also waiting in line to go public, and even some large companies are preparing to package their subsidiaries or some businesses into a new company to apply for listing, in an attempt to attract more funds from the stock market.
Chen Zhiwen also saw the madness of the stock market. According to the original history, although Hong Kong's next economic crisis began in September 1982, two years from now, by the middle of next year, the entire market would begin to grow weak. All his previous The arrangement is to allow his real estate companies and Hengyi Lai to slowly transform their businesses to adapt to this change. After all, these companies are ranked high in the real estate business in Hong Kong, and they also have thousands of employees. With tens of thousands of people, it is impossible to prepare to shut down all of them suddenly. We can only slowly eliminate the risks step by step, and at the same time obtain more cash to prepare for bargain hunting in the future.
Professionals do professional things. After Chen Zhiwen gives guidance, he will basically stop worrying about the details. He will only need to know a little bit about the progress for a while in the future.
Far away in the United States, an important thing is about to be completed. The U.S. Department of Commerce has approved Chen Zhiwen's acquisition of AMC (American Automobile Group). The purchase price is US$216 million, and he will also assume the company's foreign debt of approximately US$350 million.
There are some other conditions, such as the union's request that there be no large-scale layoffs. However, in today's environment, the union is not that tough and allows appropriate salary reductions when the company's performance is very poor. This is actually the result that the American negotiation team strives for. Either we don't acquire it, or we have to make appropriate concessions. The main purpose is to save money, but the main purpose is not to let the union ride on our head.
So, Chen Zhiwen got on his private plane on October 3 and headed to Detroit, the future city of sin. Of course, now, this is the automobile capital of the United States.
The Boeing 747, which has two additional fuel tanks, can easily travel from any city in the world to any other city. At the same time, because the aircraft is large enough, it will not have much impact when encountering ordinary airflow. At most, it will shake people slightly. Two clicks, and if it is a large airflow, it can be detected in advance, making everyone inside the aircraft feel as if they are on land.
The flight attendants inside the plane have been replaced by three Hong Kongers, hired from Cathay Pacific. Although there are many beautiful European and American white women with blond and brown hair, it’s okay to experience their service occasionally, but it’s okay to face them often. That makes sense.
The work on a private jet is much easier than on a normal flight. They often even have a month off and the income is much higher. This naturally makes the stewardesses do their best to serve the owners on the plane. .
After a 16-hour flight, the plane arrived at Detroit Airport.
Gu Dehua, who was scheduled to be Chen Zhiwen's future representative at AMC, naturally came to pick him up. However, at the tail of the private plane, there were already two special bulletproof Mercedes-Benz sedans, one with left drive and one with right drive, to facilitate Chen Zhiwen's use in different countries.
Gu Dehua also got into the bulletproof Mercedes-Benz sedan, and other pick-up vehicles led the way to the AMC headquarters.
As the current automobile capital of the United States, more than half of the cars in the entire United States are produced in this city. On the way forward, I saw a General Factory and a Chrysler factory, plus dozens of different parts companies. Supplier factories, but Chrysler's factory seems to be more lively, with many people gathering at the door to go on strike.
"Isn't Chrysler still not doing well recently?" Chen Zhiwen asked with a smile.
"Not only Chrysler, but the entire U.S. auto manufacturing industry is not doing well. The White House has made it clear that it wants to force the U.S. auto giants to step out of their comfort zones and either reform or die. Life is not easy for the three giants." Gu Dehua introduced. : "The direction of the American automobile industry has always been to pursue big cars and strong power. They have never cared about fuel consumption. In the past, oil prices were low, so it didn't matter. But now oil prices have increased 10 times compared to 7 years ago, and the entire United States is also very short of oil. , the White House directly issued a restriction order, and GM Ford Chrysler rushed to launch new products in order to cope with the regulations. As a result, the market feedback was very poor, and it became like this over time. Chrysler even almost went bankrupt."
"Now is indeed the darkest time." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. Before the emergence of the shale oil technology revolution, the United States was the world's largest oil importer. In the past, the United States was able to control the entire Middle East, and the source of oil was naturally not a problem. But with the The United States has fallen into the quagmire of foreign wars several times, its control over the world has weakened, and with polar bears pushing behind it, the Middle East, the largest exporter of oil, will naturally not be willing to sell oil at low prices. Furthermore, the seven European and American oil sisters are The oppression of the Middle East in the past few decades has been too harsh, coupled with local conflicts, which has led to the outbreak of two world-class oil crises within seven years, and Western countries have fallen into a serious oil shortage.
The sharp rise in oil prices has worsened the global economy. A large number of Americans have lost their jobs, and companies have gone bankrupt or suffered serious losses.
Although it can be said that the development of Costco and Wal-Mart is inevitable, they are actually borrowing this opportunity. After all, if most Americans are not short of money, they will be more willing to go to nearby supermarkets to shop, even if the price is more expensive, it does not matter. Instead of going to a cheap supermarket far away.
For the three major automobile giants in the United States, the skyrocketing oil prices can be said to be a fatal blow. Before the 1970s, Americans liked cars with strong power and large space. American automobile companies naturally conducted research and development in this direction, but the problems with engines and gearboxes Technology research and development is too difficult. Instead of studying how to increase power while saving fuel consumption, it is better to just make the engine bigger and the fuel tank bigger. Cars are big anyway. Therefore, before the 1970s, V8 engines in the United States were only It comes standard with ordinary cars and is cheap anyway.
The Japanese automobile industry mainly focuses on research and development on how to save fuel, because Japan is seriously short of oil, and its other technologies are far behind those of Germany and the United States. Before the 1970s, Japanese cars could only be sold in the country and a few countries. Sales, but the emergence of the oil crisis made the entire United States suddenly fall in love with Japanese cars.
After all, no matter how much you like power, when you go to the gas station and find that there is no gas, what use is the power? Or maybe you spend a hundred dollars to buy gas, only to have it run out in a few days. How can an ordinary American with a monthly income of one to two thousand dollars endure this?
As a result, the three giants have completely declined in the past few years and are barely surviving. However, what no one knows is that after the second oil crisis is over, the world will have a long period of low oil prices, which will also allow the three giants in the United States to succeed. It has emerged from the quagmire. Even Chrysler, although it has the credit of Lee Iacocca, can survive. The main reason is that the price of oil has dropped, and Americans have begun to like cars with high fuel consumption and high power.
Of course, the same is true for AMC, except that it is much smaller than the three giants.
Gu Dehua naturally did not know the future. He continued: "Lee Iacocca went to Washington last month and met with several officials from the Department of Commerce. The US Department of Commerce's approval of our acquisition this month may have a lot to do with him."
"Everyone gets what he needs." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. He needed permission from the U.S. government, and Chrysler needed to sell its assets to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in cash.
The car soon arrived at the door of the AMC Automobile Group headquarters. This is a large building with only 6 floors. Behind it is the AMC Automobile factory. In such industrial areas with cheap land, it is obviously not cost-effective to build high-rise buildings. of.
About 20 white Americans were waiting for Chen Zhiwen at the door. After the bus arrived, when Chen Zhiwen got off, everyone came forward and greeted each other.
This is not Chen Zhiwen's first time here. He had been here before when he was preparing for the acquisition, but he kept a low profile at the time. He only met with some senior executives of AMC and discussed some basic things. The follow-up was followed by a professional team. Enter.
The current CEO of AMC is named Jim Hughes. This old man has been in office for 20 years and can be said to be the leader of AMC.
"Mr. Chen, please come inside." After everyone greeted each other, as the landlord, Jim Hughes quickly invited the future boss inside.
Inside AMC, a lot of effort was put into welcoming Chen Zhiwen, and a sign was placed at the door, which was written in Traditional Chinese. However, Chen Zhiwen did not directly enter the office upstairs, but asked to turn to the sign in the workshop first. One lap.
This was an inevitable trip, and AMC was well prepared. The environment in the entire workshop was also very good. Many white workers greeted this group of people politely.
What is produced in this workshop is the current best-selling Jeep under the AMC Group. It is also the first car brand in history to cooperate with the mainland for joint venture production. It could have taken this opportunity to become one of the major cars in the mainland. , but due to the short-sightedness of AMC's senior management, this opportunity was ultimately missed.
Before the large-scale application of industrial PLC (automatic control technology), the automation level of automobile production lines was still not high. Many of them relied on manual labor, but basically there was certain equipment assistance. For example, people did not need to carry a lot of equipment. For all kinds of heavy parts, there are forklifts, small cranes, etc. on site, but they are still far behind the mechanical arms of later generations.
However, it is precisely because of this that the investment in automobile production lines is much lower, giving many small brands of cars a chance to survive. After all, the large-scale production lines of later generations are characterized by high investment and high output, but they can To reduce production costs, only large companies can operate such production lines. This is why since the 1980s and 1990s, various European and American car brands have been gradually acquired by various giants. The fundamental reason is that the development of technology has led to capital The monopoly effect is getting stronger and stronger.
"How many units can the production capacity here produce in a day?" Chen Zhiwen asked after walking around.
"The maximum production capacity per day is 350 units, but the current market is not good. We generally only produce 160 units a day here, and the night shift has been eliminated." Jim Hughes said.
"Sales volume of 50,000 units a year? It's actually not bad." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. One advantage of the semi-automated production line is that the initial investment is not large, so the pressure on production capacity is not great.
"Jeep's positioning is hard-core off-roading. Although many people like it in the United States, it is still a small market and consumes a lot of fuel. However, Jeep's positioning is also relatively high, and the profits are still considerable." Jim Hughes said.
"How about driving the jeep on the sand?" Chen Zhiwen suddenly asked.
"On sand? Of course there is no problem. Although the vehicles currently produced are not military vehicles, they are only slightly inferior in performance. There is no problem at all on sand." Jim Hughes said.
"Then let me give you a suggestion." Chen Zhiwen continued: "Send people to the Middle East to sell cars there. It can be said that the Middle East is very rich now. They don't care about the price. And because they have just become rich, many roads are not yet open. There is no time to repair it, and there is a high demand for the off-road function of the car. As for the cost of oil, it is not a problem, because oil there is cheaper than water.”
Speaking of off-road loving countries, who else besides the Middle East? A lot of rich people here like off-roading and big cars. It is a market with great potential. Although it may not be as big as the United States, it does not need to build factories in the Middle East. Large orders can be produced here.
"Actually, we have also considered the market in the Middle East. However, due to financial pressure, we have never done marketing there. Now it has begun to be occupied by some other brands. If we go there again, the initial investment will not be low. " Jim Hughes said.
"Then leave this matter to me." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said: "I have other companies that have been developing in the Middle East for many years. Although I am not selling cars, I still have many connections. I will invest in the Middle East alone. We will build a car sales and after-sales center there, but in terms of technology, we need your support."
"That's no problem." Jim Hughes said happily. Although the sales of cars mainly depend on quality and cost performance, channels also play a big role. If we can have a stronger grasp of channels, we can also increase the number of cars to some extent. Product sales.
Especially regarding exports, it is almost impossible to be able to establish a firm presence in a country without making large investments and long-term efforts in a country. After all, there is a limit to the scope of services that a site can serve. If you want to do it well, you need at least a big city. One, for many small companies, the financial pressure is too great, and if you rely entirely on others, unless your products are very popular, otherwise, at best, others will just sell them.
(End of chapter)
