Hong Kong 1980: The Savage Era

Chapter 555 [Thai Baht Cannot Be Defended]

In fact, large real estate companies such as Cheung Kong Holdings and Sun Hung Kai Properties misjudged the situation, but they had sufficient cash flow and low debt ratios, so they could have completely weathered the crisis and even split funds to buy at the bottom at the lowest point. However, the losses in the early stages must have been considerable.

Since entering June, the real estate market in Hong Kong has become very crazy, with various records being broken.

In early March, Sino Land and the Ng Teng Fong family jointly purchased a commercial land in Siu Sai Wan, Chai Wan, at a high price of HK$3 billion, setting a record for the Hong Kong government's official land auction.

The Hong Kong government then put up two prime plots of land, located on Wong Ma Road in Stanley and Hoi An Street in Kowloon, for sale at prices of HK$55 billion and HK$60.6 billion respectively.

The sale of Entertainment Building to Hysan Property Company for HK$42 billion and On Lok Yuen Building to Great Eagle Properties for HK$44.7 billion also set new records for office building sales.

With such record-breaking performances, the city has reached its peak.

In response to the Hong Kong government's crazy release of land, the Siu On Group did not buy land at government land auctions at high prices as in the past. Whenever it encountered a company offering a premium of more than 1%, it would immediately withdraw its bid. Therefore, the Siu On Group has not won a single piece of land at government land auctions from last year to now.

The media have analyzed a series of actions taken by the Siu On Group and all believe that the Siu On Group is pessimistic about Hong Kong's real estate market, but none of them think that Hong Kong's real estate market will collapse.

In late June, Luo Qihong flew to Thailand on a special plane. He had two purposes for this trip. One was to make a fortune by taking advantage of Soros's momentum, like attacking the pound in 6; the other was to truly see the methods of Soros and his people.

In the future, we can deal with Soros better and make this group of people return empty-handed.

At this time, Thailand's foreign exchange reserves were only 300 billion US dollars, nearly three times less than Hong Kong and Singapore. How could it withstand the Thai baht exchange rate?

Soros still used the old trick. He borrowed Thai baht from the Bank of Thailand, then violently pushed up the stock market, futures and other securities derivatives, and then used the Thai baht to smash the market, forcing the Thai government to use US dollars to buy Thai baht to maintain the exchange rate.

Luo Qihong's method was even more brutal. He directly borrowed Thai baht from the Bank of Thailand, then converted them into US dollars, and waited for the Thai baht to collapse before repaying the money.

Of course, Luo Qihong also asked Hengan Investment Company and Zhaoan Group's listed companies in Thailand to buy a lot of stocks in advance, with the amount reaching US$2 million.

At present, the Thai stock market index has been violently pulled up by 40%. From the beginning to now, Luo Qihong and his companies have made a 60% profit, amounting to 1 million US dollars.

Looking at the data on the computer, Luo Qihong thought about it carefully and decided to liquidate in advance. He said to the secretary, "Notify everyone to start selling stocks, futures and other securities products."

"Yes!" the secretary responded and started calling the people in charge.

Inside a building in Bangkok, Thailand.

Soros listened to his subordinates' report and frowned deeply. He didn't expect that the Chinese man would come to make money again, and this time he even disrupted his rhythm. It was really abominable. "How many securities and stocks does he have?"

The subordinate responded, "It's around $2 million, but we found that the Chinese had borrowed a lot of cash from Thai banks, estimated to be $6 million."

The corner of Soros' mouth twitched, and then he thought about it and felt that it didn't matter much. Now that the arrow was on the string, he couldn't punish the Chinese, otherwise he and his allies would suffer heavy losses.

"Continue to pay attention to the movements of this Chinese man, and find out how many industries he has in the United States?" Soros believed that this guy must be his strong enemy in sniping Hong Kong.

Wednesday, September 6th.

Soros and his colleagues first sold a large number of stocks in the Thai stock market to crash the market. Some large companies were able to hold on, but small and medium-sized companies were immediately affected and their stock prices plummeted. Some stocks plummeted to the bottom, from 13 baht per share to 0.5 baht per share in just 4 hours, and they were almost facing bankruptcy.

Suddenly, Thai stock investors were wailing everywhere, but they had not yet despaired. They felt that the stock market could still be saved. After all, the authorities would not sit idly by.

Luo Qihong stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the Gulf of Thailand. The ship traffic was still frequent, but in two days, there should be only a few ships left. People like Soros were still very powerful. They smashed more than 1000 points of the index on the first day, and perhaps 2000 points by the time the market closes.

At the same time, in order to maximize profits, they took action in Malaysia and Indonesia on the same day, and the stock markets of the two countries began to be shorted.

Relying on his memories from his previous life, Luo Qihong also made investments in these two countries and is expected to earn $4 to $5 million.

The economies of these two countries cannot even be compared with those of Hong Kong. Luo Qihong does not dare to be greedy, nor does he want the government to pay attention to him. He just wants to make money by following the "big boss".

By July 7, Quantum Fund, hedge funds, etc. had dumped a large amount of Thai baht cash, causing the entire Thailand to become turbulent. This was clearly an attempt to lower the exchange rate of the Thai baht.

The Thai government could no longer sit still and used its 300 billion US dollars in foreign exchange reserves to recklessly buy back Thai baht from the market.

Unfortunately, Soros and others had already figured out the foreign exchange reserves of the Thai government and were preparing to dump the Thai baht, which was above the foreign exchange reserves. In just one day, the Thai baht exchange rate plummeted by 30%.

The dire financial situation in Thailand forced Luo Qihong to think of his base in Hong Kong. He had to play a role in the upcoming financial war in Hong Kong.

Compared with the tragic situation in Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, Hong Kong's stock and real estate markets are still booming and seem to be unaffected. However, some investors have discovered something is wrong and have begun to pay close attention to the situation in Asia.

"Why not leave some money and take the opportunity to buy at the bottom in Thailand and other countries?" Bai Jinyan asked Luo Qihong.

Luo Qihong took a deep look at Bai Jinyan and explained, "The economies of these countries have not yet hit rock bottom, and our funds are still of great use."

"You don't think Soros will only target Southeast Asia, do you? Their target has always been Asia, and Hong Kong is not immune."

"They can't be that crazy, right?" Bai Jinyan still didn't quite believe it. After all, Soros stopped after attacking Britain in 92.

"I asked Zhaoan Real Estate Company to use a large amount of funds to buy a large number of properties in Europe and the United States in preparation for the sniping attack," said Luo Qihong.

If you want to help Hong Kong, you must first stabilize the stock prices of your listed companies. Once they are attacked, the prices of Hong Kong real estate properties cannot be maintained, so you must have overseas industries.

Bai Jinyan nodded. In fact, in her opinion, they could continue to make money with Soros and take the opportunity to buy at the bottom without targeting Hong Kong. But she also knew the importance of Hong Kong's economy, and it seemed that there was nothing wrong with Luo Qihong doing so.

It just doesn’t fit the characteristics of a businessman: profit-seeking, but with more responsibilities.

"What about Asia Securities? Should we buy some US and British stocks?" Bai Jinyan asked.

Luo Qihong smiled and said, "Doesn't Dean Securities Investment Company have a lot of investments in the United States? I think we can sell them all to Asia Securities, and use the cash to buy other countries and Hong Kong."

Bai Jinyan nodded slightly. This was the only solution at the moment. However, she felt that Luo Qihong had not made any arrangements for Asia Securities in advance. Perhaps he had set his eyes on the US stocks invested by Dean Securities.

(End of this chapter)