Chapter 594 Wal-Mart Goes Public

Although Hong Kong is a small place with a small area, it has witnessed many large-scale acquisitions and cooperation cases in the past few decades, and many top financial groups have emerged.

This doesn't happen in other larger cities like Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, etc. The core reason is that after a city develops, interest groups almost monopolize everything, and the class is fixed, so latecomers have nothing to fight for.
During the early stages of the struggle, the cities were bound to be small in size and had little influence. Hong Kong was an exception. In the 70s and 80s, the essence of the rise of Chinese capital was the rise of the mainland. In addition, due to historical reasons, there were many major wars between Chinese and British capital, which resulted in most of the British capital being driven out successfully. Those that did not also suffered heavy losses.

However, the Swire Group is an exception. Yang Wendong is also looking forward to whether Qi Dezun has the ability to hurt Swire.

Of course, this matter has nothing to do with him. Taikoo did not take any action against him, and he would not come forward for an invested company. He just needs to let the market competition play out freely.

A few days later, in mid-August, in the top floor conference room of Changxing Building;
As soon as Yang Wendong entered, he found a skyscraper on the conference table with seven or eight people standing next to the table.

One of the men, who was about 50 years old, was the Chinese-American architectural master Bei Jinming. He said, "Hello, Mr. Yang."

"Hello, Master Bei." Yang Wendong also said politely.

People who have achieved excellence in any field in this world are worthy of respect. Although architects are also half businessmen, their abilities can make human life better.

"Mr. Yang, this is the model of the Kangle Building that I designed." Bei Jinming pointed at the building on the table and said, "The design of this building is 56 floors in total, including 4 underground floors and 52 above-ground floors, with a total area of 13.06 square feet;

The Kangle Building has a total of 1800 circular windows. The building will use the most advanced refrigeration system from Johnson Technology Company in the United States. There are also complete fire prevention measures inside, and the walls are surrounded by the most advanced fire retardant insulation materials.

With the model and Bei Jinming's introduction, Yang Wendong quickly had some basic understanding of his design.

"Mr. Bei, what is the construction budget for this building?" Yang Wendong asked.

Bei Jinming replied: “Based on the labor cost in Hong Kong and the communication with the engineers of Gammon Construction, the budget of the whole building is about HK$1.4-1.6 million;
Because I am not from Hong Kong, I cannot estimate many costs clearly. In addition, I have no experience in high-rise buildings here. If I were in the United States, I would be able to control the cost within a range of US$100 million. "

Yang Wendong didn't care too much and nodded, "Okay, this one is probably enough."

It is generally true that the construction costs of super high-rise buildings are difficult to accurately estimate in advance, and this is the first building in Hong Kong;
In the past, Jardine Matheson spent about HK$1.5 million to build the Connaught Building. Now that they have hired Bei Jinming, they should be much better in terms of building area and thermal insulation design. It is already acceptable to be able to control the cost to a similar level.
However, even so, the construction cost of this building is not as much as the cost of the land. This will be the norm in Hong Kong in the future, and super-high-rise buildings will emerge like mushrooms after a rain.

Bei Jinming also said, "That's good. According to the communication with Kinmen Construction, if the construction speed is fast, this building can be completed within a year and a half. In other words, Mr. Yang can move into this new building in early 1972."

"Haha, we have good time. The sooner the better." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "That's it. After the multi-party review at the end of the month, I will decide which design to use."

Even though he knew Bei Jinming's design ability and could give him the lowest cost solution;

However, as a businessman, the most taboo thing is for a business to rely on one person, which is equivalent to opening your wallet to the other party.

Changxing Real Estate had built many buildings in Hong Kong before and had invited overseas institutions to design them several times, including Bei Jinming. However, Yang Wendong deliberately failed to win Bei Jinming's two bids in order to avoid the situation of exclusive supply.

Bei Jinming smiled and said, "Okay, no problem. I hope to reach such a cooperation with Mr. Yang."

A building with more than 50 floors, especially in Asia, is a big business for any construction company. Once it is built in Asia, it will be much easier to take on other business.

Yang Wendong went on to say, "I hope so too. In the future, I will build high-rise buildings in Hong Kong or other cities in Asia. These will all require design. I also hope to establish long-term cooperation with Mr. Pei."

After entering the 70s, the economy of the whole Asia took off, and real estate tended to build high-rise buildings;
High-rise buildings are completely different from low-rise buildings. Each building needs to be designed by professionals. Although a good designer charges a lot, he can build the best quality house at the lowest cost.
For example, the Bank of China Tower designed by Bei Jinming in the 80s, with an area of more than 10 square meters, had a final construction cost of only US$1.3 million. The HSBC Tower, which is smaller in area than the Bank of China Tower, had a construction cost of as much as US$10 billion. Although the latter certainly has some problems, it also shows Bei Jinming's ability.

Bei Jinming said, "Haha, that's great. If Mr. Yang needs to build anything in the future, just come to me."

In the following days, Yang Wendong also viewed the works of three bidding companies from France, Britain and Japan. In terms of architectural design, they were actually pretty much the same. After all, they were top-notch architectural firms.

But in terms of cost control and time, it is somewhat inferior to Bei Jinming's unique design;
Finally, at the end of August, Bei Jinming was selected as the successful bidder, and the construction of the Kangle Building began immediately. Thousands of workers from Kinmen Construction were also ready to go, and they directly entered the 8-hour mode of people stopping and machines running non-stop;
Although it is hard work, workers get enough rest and are paid. The group headquarters has even ordered that workers' wages should not be delayed, which has boosted workers' morale.

"I get paid every month, and this is a good thing that only happens when I work for the Changxing Group."

"Yes, after the acquisition of Golden Gate Construction, our workers' lives have become much better."

"Yes, even if the salary remains the same, it is a good thing to get money every month."

"Haha, Lao Liu, if you have money, just go and gamble on football. It's better to just give it once a year."

"Get lost~"

Many workers were discussing while working. They were still repairing the foundation and were relatively idle. When the house was built, they would be busy. The construction of the Connaught Building also marked the arrival of a new real estate era in Hong Kong. It was also a big milestone for the Changxing Group. When the building was completed, they would have a huge new headquarters, which could be used for at least ten or twenty years. Even if they built a building next to it in the future, they could connect it with a sky bridge, which would make the area even larger.

Soon it was September. After Yang Wendong arranged some things in Hong Kong, he took a private plane directly to the United States.
As the company's business gradually grew stronger, he paid less and less attention to the business in Hong Kong. The opposite was true for overseas. In the future, the core of the group will be global, and the United States will be the world's largest consumer market in the next few decades, so it is naturally a top priority.

New York City, Wall Street.

After Yang Wendong rushed to the nearby Waldorf Astoria Hotel, he met an old acquaintance: Sam Walton.

"Sam, long time no see. You look much better now." Yang Wendong said with a smile, shaking hands after meeting him.

Sam Walton also smiled and replied: "Of course, Wal-Mart is doing so well now, of course I am happy, and my health is naturally better."

Yang Wendong followed up by saying, "Yes, we are all in a good mood when business is good. Walmart will be listed in two days. I think we will definitely be able to raise enough funds this time to help Walmart's next major expansion."

The first thing I did when I came to the United States this time was to participate in the listing of Walmart Supermarket in the United States.

As a future top 500 company in the world, when Yang Wendong invested in it in the early years, it was still a small supermarket chain. Yang Wendong also took the opportunity to gradually acquire about 15% of the shares.

For non-high-tech companies and currently very small ones, the US government will naturally not restrict foreign investment, which is very convenient for him as a time traveler.

In the past eight years, the history of Walmart is completely different from before. In the early days of its business, Walton lacked funds, was heavily in debt to the bank, and even owed debts to many friends. Now, with the help of Yang Wendong, these problems naturally no longer exist.

However, Walmart does not have only two shareholders, there are many other investors as well. This is an inevitable process for many companies to grow and develop. With so many shareholders, it is naturally necessary to go public. Few people are prepared to hold Walmart shares for a long time like Yang Wendong.

"Haha, yes, it's finally listed." Sam Walton laughed, "Now that I have enough funds raised this time, I am ready to move out of the central United States and start to enter the western market on a large scale."

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Okay, in the western market, many goods from Hong Kong can also easily enter the Walmart supermarkets here, and both sides can achieve a win-win situation."

In fact, Yang Wendong had long thought about letting Hong Kong's trading company cooperate with Wal-Mart. Yang Wendong is also a shareholder of Wal-Mart, so that both sides can benefit.

However, Walmart's early stores were all located in the central United States, and the cost of transporting goods from the port was very high, so even supplies from Hong Kong were only slightly cheaper.

If Walmart starts opening stores on the western or eastern coasts, it can take full advantage of Hong Kong's low costs.

Sam readily agreed: "No problem, as long as the price is right, I will definitely purchase in large quantities."

The core of Wal-Mart is low cost, and with Yang Wendong, the Chinese major shareholder, Sam Walton also spent some time researching goods from Hong Kong and even Asia;
We also discovered that if the cooperation is good, we can greatly reduce our procurement costs.

Friday, September 9th, the New York Stock Exchange, the largest exchange in the world, no doubt about it.

Listings here usually have special activities, that is, ringing the bell, and the senior executives of the listed company and shareholders can go on stage together;
As a major shareholder, Yang Wendong was naturally invited, but ringing the bell was the exclusive right of Sam Walton.

"clang"

With the ringing of a bell, Walmart officially went public. This is a chain supermarket group with 86 supermarkets, 3 cargo distribution centers, and a large fleet in the central United States. After this round of financing, it is also preparing to enter the two largest markets in the east and west of the United States. The future is limitless.

It is also called the future "supermarket star" of the United States by some people on Wall Street.

All of this was naturally made possible by Yang Wendong’s early capital injection and appropriate assistance from Citibank.

As soon as the transaction started, countless buy requests came in with the phone calls, and a large amount of funds poured in, immediately raising the opening price from US$8 to US$9.2.

Everyone at the scene was very excited. Many shareholders and even company executives really hoped to get rich overnight, and it was clear that Walmart stock had this potential.

Soon it was noon and Walmart's stock price had reached $12, with no sign of stopping.

At noon, everyone had lunch together near Wall Street, and then rested separately.

Fang Xianming and Lin Youcheng came to Yang Wendong's hotel and said, "Mr. Yang, our funds have already acquired 1.6% of Walmart's shares. We plan to continue in the afternoon. We estimate that we can acquire 3% of the shares throughout the day, which will just offset the equity loss caused by the listing."

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

previouscatalognext