Chapter 411: The First Investment in Southeast Asia

Chapter 411: The First Investment in Southeast Asia

Chapter 411: The First Investment in Southeast Asia

Zou Wenhuai then introduced: "Mr. Yang, this is Lu Yunsheng, Mr. Lu Yuntao's brother. Lu Sheng is in charge of this theater transaction."

"Hello, Mr. Lu. I am deeply sorry for your passing." Yang Wendong said politely, "Your brother was also a very successful person in the Hong Kong film industry."

"Thank you." Lu Yunsheng nodded slowly and said, "When our family received the news, we were also very sad. No one knew which would come first, the accident or tomorrow."

"Yeah, this kind of thing is unpredictable." Yang Wendong also agreed. Even if all resources are invested in protecting safety, they can only avoid accidents to the greatest extent possible.

Lu Yunsheng said: "Well, there is no point in talking about the past, let's discuss the business."

"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Lu Sheng, I know you are going to sell all the cinemas at once, and I can take over all of them at once. This is much better than other businesses wanting to buy part of them, right?
Both of our families are big businessmen, so I don’t want to waste too much time on this. Even if we can’t decide on a price today, we can negotiate all aspects so that we can trade directly when the price is agreed later.”

"Okay, Mr. Yang is straightforward." Lu Yunsheng said with a smile: "What is Mr. Yang's price?"

He also understood how valuable time was to a big boss, and that wasting too much time on a small business would not make much sense;

Although the person in front of him was young, he had developed rapidly in the past few years. In terms of net worth and influence, he was no less than his own Lu family.

Yang Wendong said, "You can quote your own prices for your products."

"That's right." Lu Yunsheng paused and said, "My brother had a total of 82 cinemas in Southeast Asia when he was alive, 55 of which were in Singapore, and the others were mainly in major cities in Malaysia, close to local Chinese residential areas.

There are also 5 in the Philippines, with a total area of ​​166 million square feet. According to the land prices in various places, my total offer is 1460 million US dollars. Here is a list. Mr. Yang can send someone to do a detailed investigation. "

After saying that, he took out a document. Yang Wendong took it and looked at it. It was indeed a detailed list, including the location, area, local land price, number of seats, etc. of each cinema.

After taking a look, Yang Wendong handed the document to Zou Wenhuai and said, "Immediately arrange for more people to investigate. It would be best if we can confirm it within a few days."

"Yes." Zou Wenhuai agreed after taking the information.

Lu Yunsheng smiled and said, "You can just check these data casually. Apart from the land prices which may fluctuate, if there is any mistake in the other specific information, I will personally apologize."

"Okay, I believe no one would make up such a story." Yang Wendong also said: "As for the price, let's wait until these data are confirmed. But after all, we are buying in large quantities, so there must be a discount."

More than 1000 million US dollars is not a small sum. In this era, this amount of money is considered a considerable investment in Europe and the United States.

However, more than 100 million square feet of land in Singapore and some core locations in Nanyang cities are themselves very high-value commodities, so there will be no loss. When the Nanyang economy develops in the future, the value of these properties will also rise. More importantly, with this cinema chain, we can use them as a basis to expand in Southeast Asia, which is of great significance to Changxing Film and even the entire Hong Kong film industry.

Lu Yunsheng said, "Mr. Yang, our offer actually already includes a discount. We understand the rules for selling so many properties at once."

"Well, let's discuss the price after I'm sure it's done." Yang Wendong nodded and said nothing more.

Lu Yunsheng added: "However, Mr. Yang, I can also help you with finance."

"Your Lu family also has a bank?" Yang Wendong asked back.

In this era, information was not well-circulated. Nanyang was a place with many forces, a very large area, and many countries. If a company was not listed, it would be difficult for outsiders to know how much business a company had. This is different from a small Hong Kong.

"No, our Lu family doesn't have a bank, but we have a cooperative bank." Lu Yunsheng said: "For this cooperation, my bank can also provide sufficient US dollar loans, which will also help Mr. Yang relieve his financial pressure."

Yang Wendong asked: "Which bank?"

"Overseas Chinese Bank." Lu Yunsheng continued, "Mr. Yang, you have heard of this bank, right?"

"I've heard of it. You can learn more about it." Yang Wendong nodded.

If it was an ordinary Southeast Asian bank, he would not dare to cooperate with it casually because there might be traps; but for the more well-known banks in his previous life, the concerns in this regard should be much smaller.

OCBC was also very famous in Southeast Asia in the past, especially in Singapore. Its scale was second only to DBS Bank. However, DBS Bank has not yet been established, so OCBC would indeed be a good choice.

As the name suggests, this bank mainly serves the Chinese. If I can establish a good relationship with this bank, it will be of great help to my future business development in Southeast Asia.

Lu Yunsheng smiled and said, "Okay, I'll have someone from OCBC visit you at the hotel."

"Okay." Yang Wendong also agreed.

When it comes to loans of tens of millions of dollars, I am a client of any big bank, even the top banks in Europe and America. Even if the big banks don't care, the bank managers will not
After chatting for a while, Lu Yunsheng said goodbye, and Yang Wendong and Zou Wenhuai sent him to the hotel entrance.

After the people left, Yang Wendong said to his assistant, "Contact the people from Standard Chartered Bank and Citibank, inform them of our cooperation, let them participate, and then we will choose the most suitable partner."

Although OCBC Bank is a good partner, any business requires comparison of different banks. Besides, the other banks are also good and have a long history in Southeast Asia.

The assistant also understood what the boss meant, so he agreed: "Okay, I'll contact these banks right away."

"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded.

Coming here is also for a big deal, so in addition to Zou Wenhuai and several of his people who are familiar with theaters, the people from the headquarters also brought several people who are proficient in finance, law, and business to ensure that some basic decisions can be made quickly in the early stages.

However, such a large deal cannot be finalized in a few days. Now he, as the boss, has to make the decision on whether to buy or not. A professional team will be needed to conduct in-depth research and business talks.
In the next few days, Zou Wenhuai and the people at the headquarters began to be busy with their work. In order to get results quickly, they even sent 20 people from Hong Kong to collect more detailed information in the shortest time possible and then make a decision for the top leaders. The top leader Yang Wendong took Bai Yujie to travel around various prosperous areas in Singapore. Relatively speaking, these places basically had no major safety hazards.

After arriving at a private room:

"Brother Dong, are you planning to invest large amounts of money here in the future?" Bai Yujie asked.

Yang Wendong asked curiously: "Why do you say that?"

Although he was planning to make a big investment in the future of Singapore, he did not tell any of his family members about it.

Bai Yujie smiled and said, "I noticed that when you go out to play, you always ask people around you about the economy, development, and local wages. You never had this experience in Europe and Japan before, so there must be a reason why you left."

"Haha, you are quite observant." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "I am planning to invest here. I am also optimistic about Singapore."

"Is it because most of the people here are Chinese?" Bai Yujie asked.

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Yes, this is one of the main reasons. Among all the ethnic groups in Southeast Asia, I am naturally more optimistic about the Chinese. You should also know that there are a lot of wealthy Chinese in Southeast Asia."

The fundamental reason why the mainland was able to develop in the past was the Chinese people’s inherent character of not being inferior to others. The same is true for Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore.

Moreover, over the past hundred years, Nanyang has been farther away from the mainland than Hong Kong, and the Chinese who were able to immigrate here were likely to have higher abilities and requirements, and there were more of them. This has also created a situation where many wealthy Chinese in Southeast Asia control the local economy.

Singapore is a gathering place for Chinese people. After its independence, it will become a place for large capital investment and then become a developed country in 20 years.

Bai Yujie also said, "I see."

"Also, the geographical location here is excellent and it is also a top-notch port," Yang Wendong added.

Bai Yujie said: "It is indeed similar to Hong Kong."

"Yes, it can be said to be equivalent to Hong Kong around 1950." Yang Wendong said with a smile: "How can I miss such a place? I also estimate that the real estate market in Hong Kong has almost reached its peak after five or six years of rapid growth. I have also cashed out funds in Hong Kong, and I can transfer part of it to invest here at that time."

The economic fluctuations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore are at different times, which allows him to make investments at perfectly staggered times. Of course, the core is still Hong Kong, which is the base camp and he knows it best. As for Taiwan, he knows a little about it, but he is not familiar with Singapore. However, it is definitely worthwhile to invest in it right after the country was founded.

Bai Yujie nodded and said, "It feels like everything is under your control."

“Of course,” Yang Wendong said, “But I also really value building cinemas throughout Southeast Asia. This is good business in itself and can also help the development of the Hong Kong film industry;

Imagine if we had hundreds of cinemas here or even more, then investing in movies in Hong Kong would be a huge profit. By then, there would be a hundred schools of thought, and many Chinese cultures could also come to these wild places like Southeast Asia.”

Although it is a bit exaggerated, many places in Southeast Asia are indeed the modern version of "wilderness". Many countries have a population of hundreds of millions, but as of the 2020s, they have not yet developed their own cultural industry, and they cannot produce any movies or TV series. They have always been the main exporter of Hollywood, Hong Kong, Korean, Japanese and even mainland TV series and movies.

You know, even Taiwan has been exporting TV dramas for a while, but there are almost none in Southeast Asia. Thailand may be a little better.

"Haha, I also hope that our Hong Kong movies and TV series can become popular throughout Asia." Bai Yujie said with a smile: "Then I will have a lot of good shows to watch every day."

Yang Wendong smiled faintly and said, "This day will come sooner or later."

When I traveled to Hong Kong, my goal was to provide basic jobs for the lower classes in Hong Kong. Today, I have almost achieved my goal. Of course, this is not just my own achievement. Social development itself is the most important thing. I just participated in it and made a small contribution.
Now, in addition to achieving success in career, we also need to do a good job in Hong Kong's cultural industry and leave an industry that does not care too much about housing prices for Hong Kong's future. The film industry is one of them.

The existence of Hong Kong's cultural peak in the 80s and 90s proves that Hong Kong is not short of talent, and after the reform and opening up, it can also attract people from the mainland, so Yang Wendong does not need to worry about this; instead, the market is the most important. With a sufficient market, countless capital and manpower will flow into it, making more high-quality products, thereby promoting cultural output.

Of course, by the 90s, Southeast Asian countries would restrict Hong Kong films with policies. We will deal with this issue later. There is a solution, which is to explore the mainland market.

Time soon came to September 9th:
Various information was gradually gathered in Yang Wendong's hands.

Zou Wenhuai introduced: "Mr. Yang, according to the information we have, the original value of these properties is about 1200 million US dollars, but this is only calculated directly according to the exchange rate, and does not take into account the difficulty of exchange."

"Well, that's okay. This is not a short-term investment." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Based on the data in your report, the other party's offer of more than 1400 million US dollars is not very expensive. These theaters are also very valuable."

The most valuable part of a cinema chain, apart from its building, seats, air-conditioning equipment, etc., is its projection equipment. These devices are all imported and extremely expensive. A good set costs hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong dollars and also requires maintenance.

The talent of the cinema team, its reputation in the area, etc. are more or less worth some money. After all, what you are buying is an industry, not just the property.

Zou Wenhuai said with a smile: "From our perspective, it is true, but from another perspective, people who buy these cinemas for other reasons are not buying them for the cinemas. Many of them are real estate developers who want to demolish them and build buildings. In this case, these cinemas will become negative assets.

Another thing is that these real estate developers will not buy all of them, but only a few each, and some of them they don’t want yet;
If the Lu family wants to sell them one by one, it will probably take several years, and our all-in-one purchase will save them a lot of time, so I think we still have a lot of room to lower the price."

"That makes sense." Yang Wendong said with a smile, "Then let's have the Hong Kong headquarters send an international affairs team and find a legal team in Singapore to negotiate the price with the Lu family."

It is one thing to be optimistic about it, but the seller may think it is a burden, so naturally you have to lower the price as much as possible.

"Yes." Zou Wenhuai agreed happily.

Having come to this point, the only issue left is price. Once the deal is reached, the strength of Changxing Film Company will increase greatly.

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)