Chapter 779: Big Investment in Taiwan

On September 9, Yang Wendong, Wei Zetao and a group of people came to a large factory, which was the steel plant invested by Changxing Group in Taiwan: Changxing Iron and Steel Group.

"This factory is so grand." Yang Wendong looked at the towering chimneys and the large number of pipes several meters thick shuttling between the factories, and suddenly felt that the factories he had previously worked in Hong Kong were far inferior, even though some of the factories in Hong Kong were larger in area.

Wei Zetao smiled and introduced: "Steel factories are like this. The infrastructure investment is very large, which is much higher than the assembly plants in Hong Kong. Moreover, this kind of equipment cannot be stopped. In order to avoid power outages, we have also prepared large diesel generators."

Yang Wendong asked, "How much money was invested in this factory?"

Wei Zetao said: "The total investment is about 2600 million US dollars. This is only the first phase. The total steel production capacity is 40 tons of container steel ingots, which will then be sent to Hong Kong to make steel plates."

The transportation cost of steel plates is much higher than that of steel ingots, and they cannot be damaged or knocked on the road, otherwise the whole piece may be scrapped or need to be modified at a great cost;
Yang Wendong thought about it and said, "If our container production capacity continues to increase in the future, we can actually consider building a factory here in Taiwan, which will be much more convenient."

Although Hong Kong and Taiwan are very close, the transportation of steel back and forth also requires a lot of costs, and the container industry is not small, and production cannot be limited to Hong Kong;
Wei Zetao said: "Okay, when the demand comes, I will consider investing in Taiwan. Recently, the Taiwan government has been trying to win us over and wants us to invest in Taiwan. This is indeed an opportunity, but correspondingly, I think we also need them to make some exchanges."

"What kind of exchange do you want?" Yang Wendong asked back.

Wei Zetao replied: "Tax reduction and land prices are all negotiable. I think we can also obtain some high-quality land locations in Taipei City for Changxing Real Estate. International capital is now optimistic about the real estate industry in Taiwan, and Changxing Real Estate does not have much business in Hong Kong. Why not take the opportunity to try it out?"

"Old Zheng, do you mean the same thing?" Yang Wendong asked.

Zheng Zhijie and others knew that he had come to Taiwan, so several people who had business in Taiwan also came.
Zheng Zhijie replied: "Yes, the real estate industry in Taiwan is also my next target for major investment. Relatively speaking, this place is more suitable than Singapore."

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Okay, then you can form a group to negotiate with the Taiwanese government and see if it can be successful. If not, then we can separate and get what we deserve. Changxing Real Estate can also invest in Taipei on its own."

In the early years, many of Changxing Group's investments in Taiwan were negotiated through cooperation, but at that time, Taiwan's economy was not very good and there was a lack of foreign exchange, so everything was easy to negotiate;
But at this time, Taiwan's economy was no longer bad. The ten major projects had been completed, and with large foreign-funded enterprises such as RCA, the annual foreign exchange output was astonishing. Therefore, the current Taiwanese government is different from before. Just like the Hong Kong government, when it has money, it will ignore some real estate companies.

Zheng Zhijie continued, "Mr. Yang, Tang Xingzhi has reached a verbal agreement with Wang Yongqing to jointly build a Four Seasons Hotel in Taiwan. What do you think?"

"Wang Yongqing? That's fine. With his current assets, this is nothing." Yang Wendong said with a smile.

In the past, Wang Yongqing had no investment of his own, but he relied on himself to step by step reach the position of King of Plastics in Asia. Now, with the help of his own capital and market, his development is naturally better. His plastic products can even be exported to the United States, Europe and Japan. His strength is amazing, and his scale is even larger than Changxing Industrial.
This is also the strength of this kind of person. It is very difficult for Yang Wendong to achieve this level of achievement if he were to do this kind of thing. His early investment has also received rich returns, and at the same time he has also gained a very good ally in Taiwan.

"Well, once he finishes planning, he will submit the specific plan to you." Zheng Zhijie said with a smile;

The Four Seasons Hotel is a second-tier hotel within the group, but the investment in each project is too large, so Yang Wendong pays more attention to it and needs to review each one;

Perhaps when Four Seasons Hotels grows in number and generates higher revenue, it may become an independent first-tier subsidiary. At that time, it will have nothing to do with him.

Yang Wendong nodded: "Okay, the development speed of Four Seasons Hotel has been somewhat disappointing over the years."

Zheng Zhijie said awkwardly: "Yes, it's mainly because our hotel is not well-known. In many places, we can only invest by ourselves, and only a few can find joint venture partners;

The original plan was to find investors to join, but it has never been successful, probably because the amount of money involved is too huge.”

Five-star hotels are capital-intensive. Since five-star hotels such as InterContinental and Sheraton already exist, Four Seasons can only take a higher route, which results in extremely high investment costs.

The fastest expansion model for hotels is to look for franchisees, and then the hotel provides brand management, which is mutually beneficial. However, due to its lack of fame, it is difficult to find franchisees, and without franchisees it is even less likely to become famous, so it falls into a vicious circle.

"Well, we can only take it slowly. Intercontinental and others have already occupied this market. If we want to succeed, we have to spend more money and time." Yang Wendong also knew in his heart;
In this traditional asset-heavy industry, it is basically impossible to defeat old brands without special opportunities.

In the past, there were many five-star hotels in Asia, but they were basically self-invested, and the number was generally only a few dozen, and they could not share a piece of the pie with InterContinental and Sheraton.
In the business world, if you are one step late, you will be a hundred steps late, unless something revolutionary happens;

For Four Seasons Hotels, it is very difficult to invest successfully overseas. The only opportunity is the mainland. The mainland will also be a supermarket in the future. As long as they do well in the mainland, that will be enough. For other places, they can only operate slowly.

Zheng Zhijie said: "Yes."

Yang Wendong said: "Let's do this for now. Real estate investment, do you have any plans?"

Zheng Zhijie replied: "Mr. Yang, I am still planning to replicate the situation in Hong Kong. I will hold high-quality properties for a long time, and cash out ordinary properties, and then invest in other high-quality properties.

The current situation in Taiwan is very similar to that of Hong Kong a dozen years ago, with both being Chinese communities. I think there will be some similarities in economic development.”

"Okay, you can. For buildings and shopping malls in Taipei City, focus on holding. Also, don't participate in residential projects, as this may be more sensitive in the future." Yang Wendong reminded;
The profit of residential buildings is not low, but it is still lower than that of office buildings and shopping malls. In many cases, the general government does not allow foreign investment in residential projects. In the past, foreign real estate developers were basically unheard of in the mainland. At most, some buildings and shopping malls were controlled by Hong Kong capital, which was a special right approved by the central government. In addition, the real estate prices in Taiwan will be very high in the future. If you participate too much, it may not be a good thing.

"Yes, Mr. Yang, with our scale, it is indeed not suitable to build residential buildings, unless it is the type of Huangpu Garden." Zheng Zhijie said with a smile.

Yang Wendong shook his head: "Where can I get such a large piece of land for you? Even Taiwan can't do that."

Hong Kong has such a large piece of land because it used to be a large port. Under normal circumstances, the government would not auction such a large piece of land.
Of course, in the future, the mainland will be vast and rich in resources, and there may be even greater
The steel plant is a relatively dangerous heavy industry. Wei Zetao did not let Yang Wendong go down to the workshop. He just stayed on the second floor of the workshop, watching the production line below through the glass.

Yang Wendong did not force it. It did not matter if he could not go down. However, when he saw the air inside the workshop, he said, "There is too much dust in the air. Find a way to reduce it. Otherwise, the workers' lungs will have problems after a long time."

"Mr. Yang, it's hard to avoid dust in this heavy industry. We have already implemented ventilation according to European and American standards," Wei Zetao explained quickly. "We have also distributed dust masks and goggles to the workers. Once they wear them, there is basically no risk."

Yang Wendong said: "In such a hot environment, I guess many workers would not want to wear it for a long time. This also happens in Hong Kong, but it's not as hot as the steel mills there."

Wei Zetao said awkwardly: "Yes, we also have internal fines to force them to wear protective equipment and pay attention to safety."

"Management is indeed a big problem." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Okay then. From now on, factory workers will have an annual physical examination, especially an X-ray. In addition, safety accidents must be reported. I will buy off the employees inside the factory. If the people here do not report, the punishment for them will be more severe."

In this era, there was no spiral scanning CT, only X-rays, which were not very accurate, but there was no other way;

As for safety accidents, many factories around the world are trying to conceal them, and the top management would rather use their own money to suppress them. This is also because the headquarters has strict management, so Yang Wendong also attaches great importance to this aspect.

Wei Zetao quickly said: "Understood, I will warn the management here."

"Well, OK, let's do this for the steel plant. Submit the financial data to the headquarters later, and then show it to me. If the benefits are good, we can carry out the second round of investment." Yang Wendong nodded and said;
The approval was for Phase II, with a total investment of approximately US$6000 million, which did not include many front-end production lines, all of which utilized the entire industrial chain of the Wanwan Steel Plant;

The huge investment in heavy industry is evident from this. In the future, the Baosteel in the mainland will have an investment of several billion US dollars, which can be said to be the whole country's effort.
But the results were also very good. It was precisely because there was no shortage of iron that the various industries and commerce that were later reformed and opened up developed so smoothly. It can be said that everything was for the future and the investment was made with a long-term vision. Unlike the Vietnamese and Indians, who only knew how to engage in light industry, no matter how well they did, they were easily controlled by Europe and the United States.
After leaving the Kaohsiung Steel Plant, Yang Wendong had just checked into the hotel when he received a visiting card;
"You're from Kaohsiung Shipyard?" Yang Wendong smiled after seeing the message from the person who sent the message, "It seems like you want me to buy a ship."

Assistant Aying said, "It should be. Since the opening of the Suez Canal last year, there has been an oversupply of ships for global shipping. All shipyards have no orders. This is a big problem for any regional economy, so new ship orders are urgently needed."

"Yes, part of the production capacity of Kaohsiung's steel mills is for the shipyard. The shutdown of the shipyard will affect the steel mills and many processing plants. The impact on the city of Kaohsiung is huge." Yang Wendong nodded.

Many cities may rely on a shipyard, not just in Taiwan, but also in Japan, Europe, and the United States. The economic effect driven by the shipyard is so great that even banks are tied to it.
When business is good, the whole city takes off; when business is bad, life becomes difficult for everyone.

Why did Bao Yugang have such a great influence in his previous life? When he went to a small country, he was received by the president. When he went to France, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, he was accompanied by the Minister of Economy. It was precisely because of a few ship orders that could stabilize the employment of tens of thousands of people for several years that every country had to pay great attention to it.
Ah Ying asked, "Would you like to see it?"

"Of course we have to meet. Even if there is no business, we still have to meet. We still have to give face." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "And it is not absolutely impossible to cooperate. We also need container ships, but we are not in a hurry for the time being. As long as the negotiation is successful, it is possible.

So, reply to them and ask them to come to my place tomorrow at noon. Also, notify Hong Kong and ask Zheng Yuhua to come tomorrow morning. If there is no plane, send her here directly by speedboat."

Taiwan is not far from Hong Kong, and Changxing Shipping itself has many thousand-ton ships, so the goods can be delivered in less than half a day.

"Okay, I'll arrange it right away." Aying agreed and left.

Su Yiyi asked curiously, "Are you planning to buy a boat from Taiwan?"

"What do you think?" Yang Wendong asked with a smile.

Su Yiyi said, "As far as I know, the current sailing prices are very low. It is considered good if the ships can break even. In the whole of Hong Kong, only Dong Haoyun is still desperately expanding his fleet."

"In the short term, you are right." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "But in fact, if you can maintain your capital, you should continue to operate at this time, because the market share is always fixed. If you think that business is not good in the short term, you will not do it. Then when business is good in the future, it will be impossible for you to participate again.

Therefore, we need to maintain an appropriate scale to maintain operations even if there are some losses."

Shipping is not like real estate. When you think the business is not good, you can just not invest a penny, and then invest all in it when the business is good. There is no problem at all.

But the same cannot be said for shipping. If the ships are cleared out when the market is bad, how will they be able to enter the market when the market improves in the future?
Although future shipping disasters will be severe, the impact on the container industry will be minimal, and he still needs to maintain an appropriate scale of operations.

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(End of this chapter)

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