Hong Kong 1980: The Savage Era

Chapter 484: 486 [Alliance Confrontation]

Luo Qihong naturally could not change this situation, he could only go with the flow.

"Don't be angry, maybe the Hong Kong government has a way to mediate this matter." Bai Jinyan said comfortingly. She was not so sensitive to the real estate market. After all, her major was finance.

Luo Qihong sneered and said, "The new Financial Secretary, Michael McGrath, has just taken office. He must be hoping to start something new and try to gain some prestige."

"Forget it, we are just one of the real estate developers. There are big guys in front of us, so we just follow them."

He had long predicted that there would be a battle between the Hong Kong government and the real estate developers, and that the real estate developers would most likely lose. However, losing did not mean that they could not make a profit. After all, the Hong Kong government's fiscal revenue still depended on the real estate developers. It would not be a good thing to offend the real God of Wealth.

Back to the office in Dongchang Building in Central.

He immediately summoned Kang Wenyi and Chen Zhilong to make some arrangements for the next situation.

"Now citizens have great dissatisfaction with the skyrocketing prices of cities and towns. I think there will be some changes in cities and towns. What do you think?" Luo Qihong asked after taking a sip of tea.

"Boss, are you saying that the citizens will go to the gate of the Hong Kong government to petition for a crackdown on local cities?" Chen Zhilong guessed what the boss meant at once. As an old servant, he knew the boss's style very well.

"It's possible. I'm worried that there will be some problems in the cities. No one knows how things will develop." Luo Qihong said, "You should start selling some scattered, non-core properties now, and the new residential buildings should also recover funds as soon as possible. We can't be too greedy."

"Yes, I'll go back and make a plan now and try to give it to you before I get off work." Kang Wenyi also sensed a sense of urgency.

The current good situation may be messed up by the Hong Kong government's Financial Secretary. Of course, this is what the real estate developers think.

In fact, Luo Qihong has already invested a huge amount of money in the mainland. Even though he still holds the title of a major real estate developer, his influence in Hong Kong has been weakened a lot.

Other peers also began to invest heavily in overseas industries, such as Li Jiacheng buying half of a commercial building on Wall Street in the United States and New World Development Company acquiring American hotels.

Some time ago, the Hong Kong media made a series of boasts about the Li Jiacheng family's purchase of 49% of the interests in Wall Street commercial buildings in the United States, causing Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong Holdings to see slight increases.

When Luo Qihong received the news in Singapore, he personally called Fujia Newspaper Company and asked them to cooperate with other media to publicize Li Jiacheng's investment on the front page, and at the same time dig up more information to let Li Jiacheng shine for a while.

In his previous life, Li Jiacheng first became an idol of the people of Hong Kong, but then fell from the altar and was criticized by the people of Hong Kong. Of course, there are reasons for this.

Wealth has no attributes and no country, but the owner of wealth has a country. Unfortunately, Li Jiacheng is obsessed with becoming a world-class wealthy family and turns a deaf ear to this.

Luo Qihong would naturally not go as far as Li Jiacheng. After all, skin color and background have already determined that white people will not easily accept Asians.

On December 12, the newly appointed Financial Secretary, Sir John MacLeod, publicly announced that the stamp duty on building transfers would be increased and the internal subscription ratio would be restricted in order to crack down on the trend of building speculation and curb the rapid rise in housing prices.

According to information leaked by Hong Kong government officials, McLego wants to hit tigers instead of flies.

The "tigers" naturally refer to real estate tycoons such as Li Jiacheng, Guo Bingxiang and Luo Qihong.

There is some debate about who the leading tiger is. Some say it is Li Jiacheng, some say it is Guo Bingxiang, and some even say it is Luo Qihong.

After all, Luo Qihong is the richest man in Hong Kong. In everyone's eyes, he made his fortune in real estate. How could he possibly abandon this golden basin of real estate?

In Hong Kong, Luo Qihong directly controls only two listed companies, namely, Siu On Properties and Towngas. The apparent asset value is HK$230 billion, which is nothing compared to Li Jiacheng's HK$4 to 5 billion.

But everyone in Hong Kong knows that Luo Qihong's private real estate company, Dehe, has assets worth tens of billions, which are added to his personal assets. Therefore, Luo Qihong's apparent asset value is 7 to 8 billion Hong Kong dollars, far exceeding Li Jiacheng.

Luo Qihong was very smart. He sold all the new residential units he had half a month ago, which also meant to avoid the Financial Secretary's knife. When the first phase of Kingswood Villas under Li Jiacheng was launched, there were about 2000 residential units withdrawn from the market, but there were to people who registered and lined up, most of whom were speculators, and there were still not many real home buyers.

Such behavior is of course a disgrace to the Financial Secretary. McLemore is a new employee and the Li family is so disrespectful to him. If McLemore does not take action, no one will take him seriously in the future.

Therefore, the angry McLeod played his trump card and instructed the Banking Regulatory Commission to write to all banks to reduce the original 8% to 9% mortgage loans to 7%.

This move is very vicious, meaning that home buyers need to come up with a larger down payment, which directly hits the rampant speculation trend.

In fact, this does not have much impact on real estate companies. After all, speculation is prevalent nowadays. Even if there is a cold shower on the market, newly built houses will not have trouble selling, but the speed of collecting funds will be slower.

A few days later, Cheng Yutong came to Luo Qihong's office alone.

"Ah Hong, I didn't expect that you have achieved such great success in Singapore after disappearing for a few months. When will you lead my New World Development?" Cheng Yutong said with a smile.

"Anytime is fine. The Singapore government has just opened up the market. Now is a good time. Singapore's real estate and financial industries are bound to prosper." Luo Qihong responded.

The Singapore market is huge and can be said to be the center of several Southeast Asian countries. The addition of New World Development Company is not a big deal.

"There are so many wealthy businessmen in Singapore. How much money did you spend to deal with them?" Cheng Yutong asked while continuing the chat.

Luo Qihong answered truthfully, "But I have offended many people, such as Huang Zuyao of Chinese Bank."

Cheng Yutong thought for a moment and said, "I have met Huang Yaozu twice. He is not someone that is easy to deal with. Be careful. Those people are very patient."

"Yeah." Luo Qihong nodded. He felt that there would not be any major problems as long as he took control of the Yeoh Hiap Seng Group.

"Actually, I came here this time because of the Financial Secretary's matter. What do you think?" Cheng Yutong asked.

Luo Qihong immediately realized that Zheng Yutong was entrusted by someone this time, and the person who organized this scheme was most likely Li Jiacheng.

Since someone is the first to take action, Luo Qihong is willing to share the spoils. Even if he loses, there will be someone to share the bitter fruit with.

"What opinions do I have? I can't beat the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong government by myself." Luo Qihong spread his hands, looking somewhat helpless.

"What if all of our real estate developers unite? Do you think we can win?" Cheng Yutong put down his teacup.

Luo Qihong shook his head. "It's hard to say! What? Someone is organizing a party?"

"Yes, do you want to participate? Or do you want to do it alone?" Cheng Yutong asked seriously.

"Of course I am participating. Who is the organizer? Li Jiacheng?" Luo Qihong asked with a smile.

Cheng Yutong nodded slightly. "It's a plan set up by Jiacheng's younger brother. A banquet will be held at the InterContinental Hotel on Friday to entertain senior Canadian officials. We will go together."

Luo Qihong nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go over."

It was indeed Li Jiacheng's work, bringing in Canadian officials to put some pressure on the Financial Secretary.

You know, in Hong Kong, the most powerful group is still this group of real estate developers. Once the capital of the real estate developers is transferred to Canada, Hong Kong's economy will be reduced by at least 5%, and taxation will also become a big problem. Secretary McLemore must step down. If the real estate developers are more ruthless, McLemore may even go to jail.

(End of this chapter)