Chapter 215 The beginning of supermarket layout

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Liao Liewen and his team left. Yang Wendong did not stay long either, as it was not suitable as they were very busy.

After the people left, Zheng Zhijie came closer and said with a smile: "Mr. Yang, with the completion of this acquisition, together with the land and property in Kwun Tong, our Changxing Industrial has become one of the Chinese real estate companies with the largest property area in Hong Kong."

"Haha, that's true." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "If the Liao family wasn't in urgent need of funds, they wouldn't be able to buy several buildings in this location even if they had money."

There were transactions for buildings in Central Hong Kong during the real estate boom, but when one did appear there would likely be multiple competitors.

It is only easier to obtain during an economic crisis or when the consortium that owns the property encounters financial problems.

Admiralty, Wan Chai and Causeway Bay are slightly better, but still somewhat difficult. Even if you want to purchase a piece of land with enough area to build it yourself, it is not easy.

Cheng Chi Kit continued, “Located on Des Voeux Road in Central, the original area of the Liu Chong Hing Bank Future Building was 36 square feet, including a three-story shopping mall below and 22 square feet of office space on the 25.5 floors above;

The building on Hennessy Road has 16 floors and a total area of 23 square feet. It is currently fully rented out, and the annual rent is more than 40.

The two buildings in Causeway Bay are 2.3 square meters in area.

Zheng Zhijie introduced them one by one, and Yang Wendong was also listening to the information. He actually knew about these before, but now that he had them in his hands, he might have to make some changes if necessary.

"Okay," Yang Wendong asked after listening, "We have suddenly added 150 million square feet of commercial space in Hong Kong Island. Can we rank among the top few in Hong Kong Island?"

Zheng Zhijie paused and said, "I estimate it is around 10 to 20. Jardine Matheson, Swire, Wheelock and others definitely have more than us, and there are also some other smaller foreign companies.

Since these foreign companies may have been operating in Hong Kong hundreds of years ago, they own a lot of properties, many of which are even large tracts of land. Once developed, these lands can be exchanged for several times the building area.

There are also some older Chinese families, such as the former richest He family, or the once famous Li family, Hu family, etc. These people also own a lot of land. Outsiders have no idea how much they own and can only guess roughly. "

"Yeah, that's true. We still need to work harder." Yang Wendong smiled.

In this small place of Hong Kong, there are many hidden talents and no one knows how many low-key wealthy families there are.

For example, in the 80s, when the Wheelock Group was acquired, the world realized that it was actually a Chinese family that controlled Wheelock, one of the four major trading companies in Hong Kong, but they just didn't care about the affairs.

Zheng Zhijie added: "However, in Kwun Tong, not counting the industrial land of Changxing Industrial, the commercial land I acquired in the past six months has almost 200 million square feet, and many of them are pure land or old buildings with low floors."

"Let's not count those for now." Yang Wendong said nonchalantly, "We'll develop it into real estate later, but we still have to continue acquiring land.

The same is true for Tsim Sha Tsui. Although there are no large plots of land like Kwun Tong, smaller plots are still acceptable.”

If you buy high-end properties in Hong Kong Island now, you will not lose money in 66. You just need to stop buying when the market peaked in 64. As for the large tracts of land in Kowloon Peninsula, they are not worth much now, and their value will not drop much in 66.

These two assets are his current key acquisition targets. His funds are limited, so he needs to select the most suitable targets.
What he was not involved in much were ordinary high-rise buildings in ordinary locations, which were the key acquisition targets during the 66 crisis, and he would certainly have more funds by then.

"Okay, I will focus on acquiring land or large old buildings." Zheng Zhijie also knew the boss's purpose.

One is that they are optimistic about the future economy of Hong Kong, and the other is that Changxing Industrial will focus its investments on Kwun Tong and Tsim Sha Tsui. While achieving industrial results, it will also stimulate the local economy, which will inevitably lead to an increase in local land and housing prices.

As the initiator of all this, there is no reason for Changxing Group not to get a piece of the pie, and a big one at that.

Yang Wendong added: "Old Zheng, HSBC and Standard Chartered have given me an additional HK$500 million. During this period, land prices in Hong Kong are still low, and the run on Liu Chongxing Bank has also begun to impact the banking system.

I estimate that Hong Kong's real estate companies will soon face a wave of financing difficulties. You can look for suitable opportunities to acquire one or two buildings in Hong Kong Island, or a large old building property like the Blue Asia Cinema. "

Yang Wendong is not opposed to ordinary small properties, such as ordinary shops and single-story office buildings. If he can acquire them, Changxing Real Estate will do so.

But these are not worth Yang Wendong's attention. He is more thinking about owning a building in Hong Kong Island, even if it is not in Central, as long as it is not too remote. And in this era, the location of a building will not be bad, because a bad location is not worth building a building.

"Okay, I will continue to pay attention to the real estate market in Hong Kong Island." Zheng Zhijie nodded and said, "However, the sale of the entire building may not happen. Perhaps we can release the news and the success rate will be higher, but in this case, the initial right to speak will not be in our hands."

"It doesn't matter. As long as we can get the building in the end, that's all." Yang Wendong didn't care about this and said, "Even if others make it known, it's impossible that we are the only one interested. There will still be competition in the end."

Yang Wendong is definitely not the only smart person. Anyone who is optimistic about real estate will be interested in high-end properties in Hong Kong Island.

Even if many wealthy people did not have no confidence in Hong Kong's future, it would only make Hong Kong's housing prices rise even more.

This is the reason why housing prices, which were already at a high level after 85, increased tenfold in ten years.

"I understand." Zheng Zhijie asked again: "Mr. Yang, of these seven properties, six have been built, and the one on Des Voeux Road is still under construction. We still need to invest funds to complete it.

I calculated that it would cost about 40 Hong Kong dollars, not counting the interior decoration. Liu Chongxing originally designed a bank building, so the decoration budget was around one million Hong Kong dollars, which was quite luxurious.

We need to build it into the future headquarters of Changxing Group, and Mr. Yang will decide on the decoration.”

"Let's go and take a look at the site." Yang Wendong didn't think too much about it. He had seen the property under construction from the outside before, but he didn't go in because he was not the owner.

"Okay, I'll arrange the car." Zheng Zhijie said.

Yang Wendong added: "Let the other business leaders go there as well. Although they won't be working there in the future, we will reserve an office for them."

"Okay." Zheng Zhijie agreed again.

At noon, Yang Wendong, Zheng Zhijie, Wei Zetao, Zheng Yuhua, Qin Zhiye and others also came to Des Voeux Road.

Yang Wendong looked at the building in front of him and couldn't help but say, "This Liao Baoshan really knows business. He built the first few floors into a large shopping mall. The rent from this location will be much higher than that of an office building in the future."

In this era, there are shops in office buildings, usually on the ground floor, but the area is the same as the upper floors.

The "Liao Chong Hing" building in front of us has a larger area built below, making the maximum use of the entire floor area. This idea is much better than in the past and is also the normal model for future real estate business.

Zheng Zhijie said with a smile: "Yes, we will have our own shopping mall in the future."

Yang Wendong asked again: "Have you done the investment promotion for Liao Chongxing?" "We have done part of it, but it is not yet fully completed." Zheng Zhijie shook his head and said: "Liao Liewen told me that Lane Crawford wanted to rent the second floor of the mall, but because of the price, they have not been able to reach an agreement.

It is said that several Japanese department store companies also wanted to bid for this place, but later Liu Chongxing suffered a bank run, the entire construction site was shut down, and the matter was dropped.”

"Well, let's not talk about it for now." Yang Wendong said with a smile: "We will run this mall ourselves in the future."

Zheng Zhijie said, "Mr. Yang, we can find ordinary merchants in the mall ourselves, but it is better to rent out the department stores. Every profession has its own expertise. The operation of a department store is relatively complicated. If one or a few stores are not large enough, they will not be able to achieve results."

"You're right, but let's wait a little longer." Yang Wendong paused and said, "Anyway, with such a prime location, even if we want to rent it out in the last few days, we won't be afraid of not having customers."

This is also what makes Central so attractive. All of Hong Kong’s wealth is concentrated here. Whether it’s industry, trade, finance or even shipping, as long as the people involved make money and don’t send it overseas, it will eventually flow into real estate. Central is the core of the real estate industry.

"Okay." Zheng Zhijie nodded and agreed.

"Don't worry, I have my own ideas." Yang Wendong said again: "Let's go in and take a look."

Since no one is running a department store, it’s natural that we have to build a better supermarket.

Today, the supermarket industry has gradually begun to expand in North America and Europe. The most famous Walmart, Auchan, Carrefour, Metro and other top ten supermarkets in the world were all born in the 60s and 70s.

Although Hong Kong's economy is not as good as that of Europe and the United States, the Hong Kong Island is close to the Western economic level, and the development speed of Hong Kong as a whole is extremely fast.

If possible, I can try to run a supermarket. I happen to have some suitable properties.

However, this industry requires scale to generate profits and bargaining power on the supply side. In the first few years, it is a good time to learn slowly, and when the capital scale is large enough, it will be the right time to expand.

The only downside is that the Hong Kong market is too small.

……

The group then walked around the interior of the building.

Yang Wendong said: "Old Zheng, when will the building resume work?"

"Three days later." Zheng Zhijie replied, "It's mainly because we want to recall the workers and technicians who had stopped working. They are familiar with this place, and it will be much more stable if we let them continue the construction.

But because of the financial problems of Liu Chong Hing Bank, many people went to other construction sites after the work was stopped, so it took some time to find them. Even after three days, only some of them came back, and the others would take more time. "

"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded, and then said: "As for the decoration, it doesn't need to be like the one planned by Liao Chongxing Bank, but it can't be too bad, just above average will do.

The shopping mall on the third floor downstairs could be renovated a bit better.”

Zheng Zhijie replied: "Okay, I will open a new tender for the decoration materials."

"Yes." Yang Wendong said again: "Let's change this building to Changxing Building. It will be the headquarters of our future group company."

After working hard for more than three years in Hong Kong, I finally own a large property in the core location of Central.

Zheng Zhijie smiled and said, "I understand. I will change it right away."

……

Having purchased a large number of properties from Liao Chong Hing Bank, Yang Wendong's previous layout can be considered a success.

As for its banking business, Yang Wendong currently has no interest in it.

As an investor who knows the future, he knows what investment is the most cost-effective. Even if he wants to start a bank, now is not the right time.

Even if it was just an investment, the Hang Seng Bank that was run on a few years later was much better than the Liu Chong Hing Bank.

At this time, Zheng Zhijie walked in and said, "Mr. Yang, the Hong Kong government has just announced that it will join hands with HSBC and Standard Chartered to inject 3000 million yuan in loans into Liu Chong Hing Bank and promise to assume the deposits. The bank run has immediately subsided."

"It is probably because several other banks have also started to be run, and the Hong Kong government is also afraid of the domino effect." Yang Wendong asked again: "What price did Liu Chongxing Bank pay?"

Zheng Zhijie said: "I don't know the details, but I heard that most of the branches of Liu Chongxing Bank were forced to sell to HSBC and Standard Chartered."

"As expected!" Yang Wendong nodded and said, "HSBC and Standard Chartered can't help for nothing."

A few years later, Hang Seng Bank would face a bank run similar to that of Liu Chong Hing & Co., and HSBC took the opportunity to acquire Hang Seng.

It is the same now, of course, but we are not targeting the entire bank, but rather its many branches.

Yang Wendong had actually taken a fancy to these properties before, but the Liao family refused to sell them. They would rather sell the future headquarters than the branch properties.

These are the roots of Liao Chong Hing Bank. If the headquarters is gone, we can rebuild it, but if the branches are gone, all will be gone.

"Yes, in this case, Liao Chong Hing Bank is completely finished." Zheng Zhijie nodded and said, "I guess the funds we gave him, as well as the funds he got from selling other properties, were still not enough to pay for the bank run. In the end, he had to sell himself to HSBC and Standard Chartered."

“Forget it, this has nothing to do with us.” Yang Wendong shook his head and said, “If Liao Chongxing survived, we might be able to continue to cooperate in the future.

But if they can’t play anymore, that’s it.”

The bankruptcy of the Liao family can be said to be the end of an era. If Liao Baoshan had been more stable, his achievements would definitely surpass those of Li Jiacheng, Li Zhaoji and others in the original history.

It's a pity that there is no if in the world.

"Yes." Zheng Zhijie asked again: "Mr. Yang, now that Liao Chong Hing Bank is no longer viable, which bank should we mainly cooperate with next?"

……

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(End of this chapter)

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