Chapter 592: Collaboration with Swire Properties

Chapter 592: Collaboration with Swire Properties

Chapter 592: Collaboration with Swire Properties
John Shi Huaiya smiled and said, "Don't worry about this, Mr. Yang. My last request will definitely benefit both you and me. This is about our beverage industry and sugar industry."

"Tell me about it." Yang Wendong asked;

If it is a business that is beneficial to both parties, then he can naturally consider it. Not to mention that he is unlikely to acquire Swire in the future, even if it is his target, the Jardine Matheson Group, if the current cooperation is beneficial, then he can naturally agree to it.

John asked with a smile, "I know Mr. Yang has invested a lot of land in Malaysia and plans to transform it into a sugarcane farm?"

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Yes, it is true."

His initial cooperation with Guo Henian was a cooperation between two private companies. He had no obligation to make it public, and he did not intend to tell anyone about it.
However, with Guo Henian's large-scale investment in Malaysia, and a large number of Watsons employees from Hong Kong going there to participate in the development, the news naturally leaked out gradually. When it comes to such a large-scale investment, it is impossible to conceal it from outsiders when the investment is implemented.

"I admire Mr. Yang's courage. My Swire Group would not dare to invest in such a large amount of land in Southeast Asia," said John.

Although I am a British-owned enterprise, this does not guarantee that my investment in some uncertain places is absolutely safe; even if the safety is not a problem, I cannot guarantee whether there will be returns in unfamiliar places;

When it comes to foreign investment, even with American capital, people often suffer huge losses, but there is nothing they can do about it.

Yang Wendong asked, "So what do you mean, John? You want to invest in Southeast Asia with me?"

From any individual’s perspective, their investment is indeed too risky, but the core lies in Guo Henian, the future Asian Sugar King, whose ability in the entire sugar industry chain is unquestionable;
If it weren't for the cooperation with Guo Henian, even if he, as a time traveler, knew that Malaysia's future investment environment would be safe, he would not invest in agriculture and would definitely suffer losses.

John shook his head and said, "No, I want to lock in some of your future sugar futures orders."

"That's no problem. I'm happy to cooperate with any client." Yang Wendong nodded.

Large-scale food trade is actually very rare in emergency situations. Most of the time, contracts are signed in advance, or futures orders are purchased in the international market. Even the original intention of futures was to help sell agricultural products.
The fundamental reason is that industrial products and oil can be stored, but agricultural products cannot. They will go bad if left for a long time. No country can afford this loss, so the contract system and futures were born.

The same goes for sugar. The country's trade is basically based on a futures system. This is why there was a serious sugar shortage in the mainland a few years later. After finding the Sugar King Guo Henian, he was also powerless for a short time. Later, he used many tricks to secretly buy some and sell them to the mainland at a fair price.

John smiled and said, "Okay, my beverage factory will negotiate with Watsons on the amount and price involved."

"Okay, I'll also talk to Watsons." Yang Wendong replied;

The bosses of both sides only decide whether to cooperate, and their subordinates will naturally be responsible for it. If the prices are similar, the two only need to know or sign in the end. If the price cannot be agreed upon, the ball will be in the hands of the two again.

This is actually not a very large cooperation, but industrial cooperation can be said to be very long-term, possibly lasting for decades. The total amount may be much larger than a real estate project.

Seeing that things were going relatively smoothly today, John Shi Huaiya asked again, "Mr. Yang, Swire and Watsons are also competitors. I hope that our future cooperation will not be affected by these things."

"Of course. How big is the beverage market? What do we count as?" Yang Wendong shook his head and said with a smile: "As for the cola OEM, we are just doing the hard labor. Coca-Cola and Pepsi are competitors, but we are not."

The scale of the global beverage industry is far greater than Hong Kong's GDP. The beverage businesses of these two companies are just a drop in the bucket of the market.
Red Bull may become one of the giants in the beverage industry in the future, but Swire will not. In the next few decades, it will still be a contract manufacturer for Coca-Cola. Even though the scale of the mainland market is not small, it is far from that of Red Bull and is not on the same level at all.

In this case, they are naturally not competitors. Their own sugar planting area is huge, and they will need stable customers in the future. John Shi Huaiya nodded and said, "That's good. I hope we can develop peacefully in Hong Kong in the future. There is no need to conflict over some small businesses."

The last time the Swire Group missed the container terminal was because, as a foreign company mainly engaged in overseas trade, they probably knew the current strength of the Changxing Group and did not dare to confront it head-on;
This time, after knowing that Yang Wendong wanted the old site of the Blue Chimney, he did a favor, since he would sell it to anyone anyway;

"No problem." Yang Wendong paused and asked, "John, I know that Swire Group does not accept investment, but I wonder if you have other businesses under your umbrella and would you consider cooperating with other capital?"

John Swire's face changed, and he said cautiously, "Cathay Pacific does not accept investment, and the same is true for shipping. As for other businesses within Hong Kong, Swire is actually doing well, but if the conditions are right, you can consider it."

"Haha, I won't get involved in aviation and shipping." Yang Wendong said with a smile: "I know that Swire Group has established a real estate company. I want to invest in this. What do you think?"

Cathay Pacific Airways can be said to be the lifeblood of the Swire Group and the foundation of Swire's dominance in Hong Kong. Apart from owning a large number of buildings in Central, no other business of British-owned enterprises in Hong Kong can compare with it.
In addition to aviation, Swire Group's shipping business is also very good. Coupled with the Suez Canal incident, as long as there is an old ship, a lot of money can be made.

Yang Wendong was not prepared to invest in these two businesses. He already had shipping, and although aviation had always been highly profitable, the oil crisis was about to come, so there was nothing to gain. Swire Pacific itself was unlikely to sell Cathay Pacific shares.

Historically, if Dragonair had not been backed by the mainland, Swire would have been forced to give up part of its Cathay Pacific shares to state-owned assets and plan for a listing.

"Swire Properties?" John Swire thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Yang, Swire Properties' current shares are not for sale, but Swire Properties has a lot of land ready for development, and I am also ready to cooperate with Chinese capital. If Mr. Yang is interested, you can also send someone over, and we can discuss and see which projects we can cooperate on."

"That's fine. I'll let the people from Changxing Real Estate go over there." Yang Wendong nodded and said.

In fact, if a British real estate company cannot successfully acquire a company, then it would not be cost-effective to acquire shares;

Because these British guys know almost nothing about real estate, they have a lot of high-quality land for nothing, but the profit from development is very low, or even loss-making. This is why Li Ka-shing took action against Wharf Holdings in history. Wharf Holdings owned land worth 50 billion Hong Kong dollars, but because it did not know how to operate it, its market value was only 10 billion. In this case, if Li Ka-shing did not take action, other Chinese capital would.

Swire Group controls 100% of Swire Properties, so they can just cooperate directly to develop the land;

In the current Hong Kong market, British and Chinese capital cooperate to develop land. Basically, the British capital provides the land and the Chinese capital provides the manpower. After the joint venture, they first raise funds to buy the land, allowing the British company to get cash back, and then after the joint venture company is operational, the profits are divided equally between the two parties.

With this model, it seems that British capital has made most of the profits, but in fact, the boss is the one who controls the operation. If they make some tricks in the middle, those idiots of British capital will not understand at all, and the process is absolutely legal.

Furthermore, as long as the low price does not fall, the Chinese capital has almost not spent a penny and has gained some profits for nothing, which is already a big profit;
The rise of many Chinese giants in the 80s had a lot to do with this model that British capital insisted on.

After the meeting with Shi Huaiya, Yang Wendong called Zheng Zhijie and informed him of the content of the cooperation;

Zheng Zhijie said: "These collaborations are fine, both parties can benefit, but I don't know why Qi Dezun is willing to give up part of his shares. I guess Swire Group has given him a lot of benefits."

"Just ask and you'll know." Yang Wendong said, "Have him come to my place tomorrow. Hutchison's market value has recently exceeded 15 billion, so we can celebrate."

Just like in the original history, Qi Dezun was very capable and under his leadership, Hutchison's stock price continued to soar, although the bubbles in it were also huge.

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(End of this chapter)