Chapter 574: The Strongest Land Auction in the 70s

Chapter 574: The Strongest Land Auction in the 70s

Chapter 574: The Strongest Land Auction in the 70s
The opening of the Hung Hom Tunnel is like opening up the Ren and Du meridians of Hong Kong. Since then, the flow of people and the transportation of materials between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula have become more than ten times more convenient.
Affected by this, housing prices in Kowloon Peninsula, especially Hung Hom, have increased dramatically. The closer to the tunnel entrance, the greater the increase. The rent of shops on the first floor has doubled, but there is still a shortage of supply.

In early May, the traffic flow in the tunnel gradually returned to normal, and Yang Wendong came to the tunnel entrance on the Hung Hom side.

"It only takes a few minutes to get here. It's really convenient now that the tunnel is open." Yang Wendong said with a smile.

In previous years, even if Yang Wendong was rich enough to rival a country, he still had to wait if he wanted to pass through Victoria Harbor. Even if he had money, he could ask the Star Ferry to arrange a ship to pick him up, but this also took time to arrange. Many times he might suddenly have to cross the sea, so he could only wait for a while. Moreover, the roads and ports were not his alone, so he had to wait.

Now, any ordinary person only needs about ten yuan to take a taxi (the car charges five yuan) to get there in a few minutes, and taking a bus costs only one or two yuan;

Of course, the price is definitely more expensive than the ferry. In 65, the price of the Star Ferry increased from 2 yuan to 2 yuan, which almost caused chaos.
Zheng Zhijie next to him said, "Yes, the speed is much faster. Everyone in Hong Kong can benefit from it, including our group. The transportation is convenient, including for us. If there is no traffic jam, it will only take half an hour to get to Hong Kong Island."

The core manufacturing base of Changxing Group is on the Kowloon Peninsula, but its headquarters is in Central. Although most of the time they will arrange their actions in advance to avoid wasting time on traffic, no one can be perfect. Many times there are urgent matters or the boss suddenly summons them, and they can't explain clearly on the phone, so they can only go there by themselves. Many times it takes a long time, but there is nothing they can do. There is no point in being anxious.

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "The problem of the group being too dispersed also needs to be solved. If we can get the land for reclamation in Central, I am going to let Changxing Group change its headquarters.
Once the new headquarters is built and is large enough, you can all come to work at the headquarters, or work elsewhere in Central, so that communication will be more convenient.”

Too many people working in a large group office is always a very troublesome problem. In the past, many large mainland groups chose a huge piece of land and built multiple buildings as their headquarters.

Over the past decade, many businesses of Changxing Group have developed rapidly. In addition to the leadership of Yang Wendong, the leader who guided the company in the right direction, it is also the result of the joint efforts of the teams of various subsidiaries.

Therefore, each business department is separated, and the manufacturing industry develops in its own town and gradually grows stronger. The boss Yang Wendong also travels around to meet the development needs of the group.

However, today, even if these companies’ businesses have not grown to their limit, their development in Hong Kong is almost at its limit. A city with a total population of less than 400 million cannot continue to expand its manufacturing industry indefinitely;

In the future, the focus of each subsidiary should be how to sit firmly at the headquarters and direct the stable and qualified production of various factories in Hong Kong and even the world, rather than doing everything themselves.

In this way, the entire group can naturally stay near Central, making communication with each other much more convenient.

"The area of ​​the new headquarters is about 70 square feet, which is enough." Zheng Zhijie said, "But this time, Hong Kong Land has publicly announced that it must get this piece of land. I think there will be a tug-of-war."

"The company said this to intimidate others, and also to intimidate us." Yang Wendong said with a faint smile: "But I will not let go of such a good location of land; our group also needs a new headquarters."

Everyone wants good things, it would be strange if Hong Kong Land didn't want to get involved, so we can only compete fairly, whoever has more confidence in the future of Hong Kong will get it;
Although we know that this is what the Hong Kong government would like to see, there is nothing we can do about it because they are the government. However, for any land of this era, the current price is nothing compared to the future increase.

This piece of land, which was the most expensive in the 70s, has a certain reputation in the history of Hong Kong real estate. It was the top building throughout the 70s and was the perfect match for the headquarters of the Changxing Group.

Zheng Zhijie nodded and said, "Yes, there is one more thing. Although Jardine Matheson got Container Terminal No. 4 last time, Swire lost. This time, someone in the market is betting on the black market about who will get the land between us and Jardine Matheson. Should we arrange for a gang to control it?"

Changxing Group does not touch some illegal industries and people, but it will also cooperate with some gang-affiliated companies at the legal level. For example, Changxing Industry will give some plastic production orders, Changxing Real Estate will give some material orders, and other manufacturing companies have a similar logic.

In this world, few people are willing to make money illegally as long as they can make it legally. Even if there are a few people like that, they will not despise legal business.

Therefore, the top management of Changxing Group can actually control many gangs easily, but they generally will not interfere. As for the business, it is just normal business, but when necessary, they will arrange people to talk about it, but it will not involve "giving orders" or anything like that. Many things are just pointed out, and those people will understand.

"Betting? What's the ratio?" Yang Wendong asked curiously.

Zheng Zhijie said: "About 5:4, we are 5."

"Then it seems that the market is still optimistic about us." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Don't worry about such trivial matters. It has nothing to do with us. The popularity is too high. There will always be people doing this kind of business. We can't suppress it."

In the past, when Chinese capital was fighting against British capital, there were similar things.
When the whole of Hong Kong is discussing this matter, some people will discover the "business". We have to say that some people are still very smart, but they have gone astray.

Zheng Zhijie agreed: "Okay."

"We still have one month to communicate with Citi, Standard Chartered and Bank of East Asia to reach a cooperation agreement after the successful bidding." Yang Wendong added: "I estimate that the transaction price may be 3 million yuan. The entire investment will be larger than a container terminal or the Hung Hom Tunnel."

In the past, without his presence, this piece of land was sold for HK$2.56 million, with an average price of nearly HK$5000 per square foot (HK$5 per square meter). This was also a landmark auction event for Hong Kong's housing prices to take off and approach those of the world's top cities.
Now, because of me, Hong Kong's overall economy is better, Jardine Matheson and several financial groups will not give up. With my participation, it is possible that the price will exceed 300 million.

With such expensive land, the floors must be built higher to be cost-effective. The unit area construction cost of a super-high building is also very high, estimated to be in the billions, and the specific cost depends on the design drawings;
Changxing Group can take out so much money, but the real estate industry naturally needs to use bank money. Zheng Zhijie asked: "Mr. Yang, don't you want to cooperate with HSBC?"

Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "I won't follow you for now. We have cooperated with HSBC enough before, and we need to give other banks some opportunities. Otherwise, HSBC will dominate the market, which will not be good for us."

Because it is a major shareholder of Hang Seng, it is restricted by the Hong Kong government's banking laws, so its own company cannot get money directly from Hang Seng; there are indirect methods, but they are unnecessary. It is meaningless and not cost-effective to embarrass the Hong Kong government for a small amount of money.

As Changxing Group has made large-scale investments in real estate and finance in Hong Kong in recent years, it needs to cooperate with banks;

As Hong Kong's "quasi-central bank", HSBC naturally got a lot of shares, and even many projects were designated by the Hong Kong government;

Out of consideration for financial diversification, Yang Wendong will not only cooperate with HSBC. At the same time, HSBC has become larger than its original historical scale by relying on its own industries.
Especially in the future, I will take action against large British financial groups. If the Hong Kong government orders HSBC to help British capital, then my cooperation with HSBC today will affect my future interests.

"Okay, I understand." Zheng Zhijie nodded and said, "For such a large loan, I think these three companies will definitely be happy to give a big discount."

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Yes, we will go to whoever has the lowest interest rate and highest amount. We don't need to care about the different capitals."

He intends to support Hong Kong's manufacturing industry because of his own needs and the needs of the people in society, but there is no such requirement for the financial industry;
To him, there is no difference between Hong Kong banks, British banks and American banks. He will look for whoever is more suitable for cooperation. Having multiple choices is more in line with his own interests.

Time soon came to June 6st, and the reclaimed land in Central was officially auctioned.

Yang Wendong and Zheng Zhijie arrived at the venue on time, but found that many British and Chinese investors had already arrived.

"There are so many people." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "There are quite a few Chinese investors here too. It seems like everyone is taking this very seriously."

In addition to the old British real estate companies, there were also many Chinese families including Li Jiacheng, Li Zhaoji, Zheng Yutong, and the Guo family.

Zheng Zhijie next to him said: "It is probably for other land. The starting price of the Central land king is 1.8 million. There are not many companies in Hong Kong that can afford this money. We are probably the only one among the Chinese companies."

The real estate industry can indeed borrow loans, but loan quotas are also a kind of resource. Once they are used up too much, banks will inevitably have control measures, which will naturally affect other businesses.
Therefore, small companies will not participate in large-scale real estate projects. Even if they know they can make money, the risks are too great and it will affect many normal projects.

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Well, I've looked at some other plots of land, they're not bad either, but our goal is still the land king, so we won't participate in the others."

Some small plots of land are of little significance to Changxing Real Estate today. As early as 1967, it had acquired enough of them. Now it does not have enough time to develop them, so there is naturally no need to bid with small and medium-sized real estate companies.

This is similar to a large mainland real estate company in the past bidding for a small commercial building. It is meaningless. Money can definitely be made, but it is better to focus on some large projects.

Today's Chinese capital in Hong Kong is still relatively weak, so there is no need for me to compete with them. Besides, I am also a major shareholder of many Chinese real estate companies.

"Mr. Yang." Li Jiacheng and others also noticed Yang Wendong and came over to greet him.

"Mr. Li, Mr. Zheng." Yang Wendong greeted them politely.

Even if their influence makes Hong Kong's future business environment uncertain, these people who can start from scratch will most likely be able to develop into top business tycoons;

Moreover, it is unlikely that he will be able to completely control all industries in Hong Kong in the future, not even the real estate industry. Naturally, he will need some subordinates, who can work for him and he can also obtain the profits of these people through shares.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, everyone said goodbye and left. The auction was about to begin;

"Mr. Yang, these people's companies are also preparing to go public." Zheng Zhijie reminded.

"Well, let Fang Xianming follow up on the specific progress tomorrow. We can still increase our shares appropriately." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Let's finish the auction first, and the rest is trivial."

PS: Ask for monthly ticket

(End of this chapter)