Hong Kong 1980: The Savage Era

Chapter 547 549 [Cash Out] (New Book, Please Collect)
After more than half a year of preparation, Singapore's Hengan Investment Company and F&N Group defeated the Australians by holding a high stake of 44.3%, and obtained the operating rights and control of CSR.

In this way, Singapore's Hengan Investment Company controls three large listed companies in Southeast Asia and Australia, with a market value of more than 3 billion Singapore dollars, becoming a major force.

As for Odus Telecom, which Zhaoan Telecom wants to acquire, it still lacks a chance and needs to continue to secretly purchase shares.

Hengan Investment Company's attacks from all sides have put Luo Qihong in a financial shortage dilemma. Now there is not much cash flow on the books. Finally, Luo Qihong decided to sell off his assets in South Korea to recover all the funds.

Although he knew that South Korea's economy would continue to thrive for another half a year, he still had a lot of assets in South Korea that he needed to gradually reduce.

Zhaoan Group Office.

"Boss, the Hong Kong government plans to launch the development rights for the Tung Chung Station in May. Do we want to participate?" Cheng Jianshen asked, with a hint of anticipation in his eyes.

Tung Chung Station is located in North Lantau Island. There are many high-end residential areas and villages nearby, but the population is only tens of thousands. In addition, it is difficult to divert the passenger flow from the airport station to Tung Chung Station, so the superstructure development rights are somewhat useless.

Of course, this applies to the Zhaoan Group. Other real estate companies will not despise it, after all, they are all a piece of meat.

Luo Qihong thought about it, then shook his head and said, "No more. Give some opportunities to other companies and focus on the Central and Tai Kok Tsui MTR stations."

"What about the Kowloon Airport Railway Station? You don't plan to participate either?" Cheng Jianshen was a little surprised. Logically speaking, the Kowloon Station has more potential than the Tai Kok Tsui Station. Once all the development rights are obtained, it can compete with Harbour City.

Luo Qihong said, "There are many phases of Kowloon Airport Railway Station. We just didn't participate in the first phase. There is no need to kill off others. For example, the Li family Chengdu only took the Tsing Yi Station."

"What about Tai Kok Tsui Station?" Cheng Jianshen continued to ask.

“Let Sino Properties take the lead, and we will focus our efforts on the Central Airport Railway Station. We only need to own 3% of the equity in Tai Kok Tsui. I think there will be Phase 2 and Phase 3 in Tai Kok Tsui, and we will make our move later.” Luo Qihong knew that if he wanted the best things, he had to give up other things first.

According to the information received by Luo Qihong, the Hong Kong Land Development is likely to return to Hong Kong to defend its position in Central.

The Hong Kong property company has been cutting assets and has almost sold out all its non-core commercial buildings and shopping malls in Central, leaving only 11 core commercial buildings. However, their market value exceeds HK$500 billion, ranking 20th among the top 12 blue-chip stocks.

The market value of China Gas Company owned by Luo Qihong is nearly 4% less than that of the Hong Kong Property Agency, which shows the strength of the Hong Kong Property Agency.

Once the Hong Kong Land Development takes over the Central Airport Railway Station project, it can be connected to the Exchange Square and its value will increase greatly. However, the Chinese capital has been established for many years and will not allow the Hong Kong Land Development to return to its original position.

After entering May, the yen exchange rate against the US dollar rose to 5, a record low.

So Luo Qihong arranged for Heng'an Investment Company and Zhao'an Group to sell such securities. This market was huge. Although the two companies had made considerable investments in the appreciation of the Japanese yen, they sold them separately in multiple markets and managed to sell them all out in just one week.

Hengan Investment Company made a profit of nearly 15 billion US dollars, while Zhaoan Group was slightly inferior, with a profit of just over 10 billion US dollars, which was enough for Zhaoan Group.

The return of this part of funds has greatly alleviated Hengan Investment Company's capital turnover difficulties and can even clear up previous debt problems.

Then Luo Qihong called William, the president of Barings Bank, and asked him to prepare a sum of money to short the Japanese yen. As for the amount, it depended on the situation of Barings Bank.

Luo Qihong believed that Barings Bank must stand up where it fell, and the lost 8 million pounds must be recovered from the Japanese market. In late June, Luo Qihong ordered his companies to sell Nikkei index contracts, and Hengan Investment Company made a net profit of 6 million US dollars, and De'an Securities Investment Company made a lot of money.

In early July, CITIC Fortune and CITIC won the bid for the "king of land" in Central, Admiralty and Tamar with a price of HK$7 billion, which was HK$33.8 million higher than the second-place Chinachem Property Company.

As the landlord of Admiralty, Dehe Real Estate Company did not bid for the Central land, which aroused constant speculation from the outside world.

Many media outlets believe that Luo Qihong is doing favors for Chinese companies, or that Luo Qihong does not want to offend mainland companies.

In fact, Luo Qihong did not want to acquire land next to the garrison barracks, so it was only natural for Chinese capital to acquire it. Moreover, a mere piece of land could not shake the position of Dehe Real Estate Company in Central.

A single financial plaza can directly overwhelm a group of real estate developers.

In early August, the Hong Kong government announced a tender for the "Property Development Rights above the Airport Rail Link Central Station". Interested bidders are required to submit their bids before September 8. The basic principle of the bid is that the highest bidder wins.

As soon as the news came out, the major consortiums quickly wooed each other and formed a new consortium.

This can eliminate opponents and reduce risks, which is a win-win option.

The Siu On Group has formed a consortium with Sino Properties, Sino Land, Sun Hung Kai Properties (Mainland China) and MTR Corporation (a necessary factor) to prepare for the bidding.

在这个财团中，兆安集团占股60%、信和地产占股15%、信和置业占股10%、新中地产占股8%、港铁占股7%。

The most powerful consortium is naturally the one led by Siu On Group, followed by the consortium formed by Sun Hung Kai Properties and Henderson Land Development.

Two stations along the airport-railway line have already been successfully tendered, namely Tsing Yi Station, which was won by Cheung Kong Holdings, Hutchison Whampoa and CITIC Fortune; and Kowloon Station (Phase I) was won by a consortium consisting of Lai Sun Group, Global Investments, Singapore Land and China Overseas Land & Investment.

Singapore Land holds a 15% stake, while the largest shareholders are Global Investments and Li & Fung Group, each holding 25%.

In late August, we will also bid for the development rights of Tai Kok Tsui (later the first phase of Olympian City).

Luo Qihong has already discussed with Huang Tingfang that the Tai Kok Tsui project will be led by Sino Real Estate, with the Huang family holding 25% and Dehe Real Estate Company holding 30%.
As for whether he could take over Tai Kok Tsui, Luo Qihong didn't know. After all, this matter was handed over to Huang Tingfang, and he couldn't interfere too much. For example, Huang Tingfang did not express any opinion on the bidding for the Central Station of the Airport Rail Link.

In fact, in recent years, Luo Qihong has only paid so much attention to the Central Terminal of the Airport Rail Link. Other projects seem to have great potential. Property prices in Hong Kong are about to reach their peak, and profits from commercial real estate are declining. It is indeed not a wise move to set the top price.

So he is still considering whether to bid for the development rights of the second and third phases of the airport railway station.

Hengan Investment Company has cashed out all of its investments in Thailand and nearly half of its investments in South Korea, with $21 billion in funds already recovered.

Luo Qihong knew that Singapore's economic bubble had already formed and would burst in the financial crisis of 97, but this was still more than a year away. In addition, Singapore was another base of the Luo family, so he had to make sufficient financial preparations in the first half of 97.

First, non-core assets in Singapore must be sold off, while at the same time allowing Yeo Hiap Seng Group and Frasers Group to complete their business expansion in Europe and the United States. Only in this way can they survive the storm and develop further.

As for Hong Kong's assets, Luo Qihong will also sell all non-core assets at high prices, and the shipping company's ships will also be gradually reduced, and the trading company will reduce the proportion of trade with Asian countries.
(End of this chapter)