A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

Chapter 217 IPO
He went to HSBC again and was received by George, the project manager (loan department), and the loan approval had been received.

Chen Guangliang borrowed 20 pounds from HSBC, but in addition to 55% of the shares of Shangri-La Hotel and 50 houses on Xiafei Road, he also added the "Chen Mansion" as collateral.

Chen Mansion, which is Chen Guangliang’s wedding house, is currently worth about 300,000 oceans.

HSBC's move is obviously intended to "catch all" of Chen Guangliang's property assets, although some scattered properties have been missed.

"Manager George, please go back to the bank and exchange these pounds into gold for me, and then deposit them in your bank's safe." After signing the contract, Chen Guangliang said.

George said in surprise: "Mr. Chen borrowed this money just to invest in gold?"

Although HSBC only charges 8.5% interest on loans due to the collateral of high-quality properties, gold has already risen enough and has basically fluctuated very little recently.

In this case, can the profit from the appreciation of gold offset the 8.5% interest?
Chen Guangliang said: "I think gold still has room to appreciate by 20%. Of course, I will use this money for special circumstances, and I may withdraw this gold at any time."

It suddenly occurred to George that this made perfect sense.

"Okay, I'll have the foreign exchange department come and settle the account for you right away."

After a busy period, Chen Guangliang finally completed the relevant procedures, and HSBC will subsequently issue him a receipt for the deposit of the bid money.

Chen Guangliang expects to make 200 million from this foreign exchange investment.

First, the British pound depreciated by 30%, which is equivalent to paying back 120 million yuan less;
Secondly, the bid price appreciates by about 20%, which brings another profit of about 80 yuan.

The interest paid back for a year is only a few dollars, plus the commission for foreign exchange exchange, it is not worth mentioning!
The current mark-up is still over 630, but by 1932 it would have peaked at over 800, which means the actual profit was more than 20%.

Now Chen Guangliang’s funds are basically saved in the form of benchmark deposits; many transactions are also settled in benchmark deposits, which are very popular among transaction partners.

After returning to the Changjiang Money House, Chen Guangliang called Wu Xinhe and Hu Jinshun to inquire about the situation of speculating on gold.

Yes, since the gold-silver exchange rate reached 62 last year, the Changjiang Money House has been suspended for a while; this year, when Chen Guangliang saw that the gold-silver exchange rate was still 62, he decided to continue to participate in the gold speculation.

However, he played very small, just continuing to buy more from 630 (10 taels of gold), with the amount not exceeding 200 million.

The specific operations will be decided by Wu Xinhe and Hu Jinshun in cooperation, but the overall trend must be to go long. Even Chen Guangliang has predicted that the gold-silver exchange rate of 68 is already the highest this year.

Hu Jinshun reported earnestly, "The fluctuations are relatively small now, but we have a wide range of information channels (Eastern News Agency), so the profits are still stable. The profit in March was 3 yuan."

Chen Guangliang said with satisfaction: "What we want is stability. I believe you all understand my thoughts. You must not be arrogant."

"Yes, boss"

What are your thoughts?

Changjiang Money House needed to be preserved, and the dozen or so people needed to be supported, so they should "slightly speculate" on the gold, not "madly speculate." The margin was so small, and the Gold Exchange wouldn't allow Changjiang Money House to invest more than two million.

As for the risks, Chen Guangliang personally set a fluctuation of 630~690 for them. In addition, they can obtain gold information from overseas markets at the first time, so theoretically it is difficult to suffer losses.

In fact, Chen Guangliang still had a deposit of 200 million yuan in the account of the Yangtze River Money House, which was his last liquid capital.

Originally there were 300 million, but an additional 100 million was invested in shipping and trade, so only the final 200 million in cash flow was left.

However, the current 200 million investment in shipping and trade has only cost oceans.

There is a little crisis, but not much!

Chen Guangliang decided to let "Times Pictures" publicly offer shares to the market, with the total capital set at 120 million yuan. He and Sheng Qi each invested 40 yuan, and the rest was publicly offered.

The price per share was RMB 100, with a total of 4000 shares offered, and the shares were publicly listed on Huashang Securities Company.

A person's reputation is like a tree's shadow, so the stock of "Times Pictures" is naturally very popular.

More importantly, Times Pictures has produced a prospectus that explains the company's assets and future development direction, giving people a sense of professionalism at a glance.

In an office building, Chen Guangliang was accompanying Du Yuesheng, Song Ziliang, Zhang Yuanji and others on an inspection.

This was the office building of Times Pictures, and Chen Guangliang was naturally trying to recruit some individuals to serve as directors, preferably prominent figures. Du Yuesheng was considered a local figure in the Shanghai Green Gang, Song Ziliang was a government official, and Zhang Yuanji was from the education sector. These individuals were willing to serve as directors and also to purchase a certain amount of stock.

Du Yuesheng smiled and said, "You're busier than anyone else. You're running a cinema and a film company, and the football team just had a good result a few days ago. But it's not easy to get by in this film company right now!"

Du Yuesheng was not good at doing legitimate business, and many of his businesses were in the red. Last year, he used the bank to speculate on gold, but still lost money, which made people laugh.

Of course, Du Yuesheng had various means of making money, and a small loss was nothing!
Chen Guangliang smiled and said, "Everyone wait and see. I don't do anything I'm not sure of!"

At this time, Zhang Yuanji asked: "To set up a film company, there must be a program. What kind of movies should be produced?"

Chen Guangliang was well prepared and said: "Save Chinese films, promote national essence, revitalize China, and serve the country."

This is obviously official rhetoric to avoid subsequent troubles!
Chen Guangliang's real idea is to make "commercial films", whatever movies can make money.

Of course, at the beginning it must have been a "Kung Fu film with national themes".

"Good," Du Yuesheng applauded and said, "Based on these 16 words, I will subscribe to 5 yuan worth of stocks."

He saw Song Ziliang here, so he pretended to be patriotic and love the Nanjing government, so he said this on purpose.

Afterwards, Chen Guangliang introduced Lu Hanzhang to everyone: "This is our general manager, Mr. Lu Hanzhang. He used to be the production director of Lianhua Film Group, and now I have invited him to do professional work."

Du Yuesheng felt a little sad for taking out 5 yuan just now. After all, he was "robbed" by Chen Guangliang a few days ago and gave yuan to the "Oriental Football Team".

He then asked, "After raising funds, what's the next step for Times Pictures?"

Lu Hanzhang had already discussed this with Chen Guangliang several times. He confidently stated, "We will lease land in Shanghai (South Shanghai) as a studio for Times Pictures. We will also purchase equipment for making sound films in the United States. Our first film will definitely be a sound film, and it will be a kung fu film with a strong sense of patriotism."

After hearing this, everyone was also very satisfied.

Similar to the recent "Oriental Football Team", integrating national and national sentiments is what we should really do.

The IPO process progressed smoothly. At the same time, Times Pictures also began to approach various film companies to poach relevant film talents.

The IPO of Times Pictures caused a stir in the industry.

What is Chen Guangliang’s identity?
He is a wealthy businessman with a net worth of tens of millions.

Such a person has set his sights on the film industry. Even if some people doubt his professional level, they will never doubt his ability to disrupt the industry.

Star company.

As the current overlord of Chinese films, and even the protagonist of the "Liuhe Siege of Tianyi" incident, he is also very concerned about the establishment of Times Pictures.

Founder Zhang Shichuan said: "It's a bit baffling. I can understand Chen Guangliang investing in Times Cinema, but investing in movies is really unprofessional, and doing it in such a high-profile way."

Zheng Zhengqiu, also the founder, screenwriter, and director, smiled and said, "Maybe it's just a small production company. Don't worry. They're probably investing primarily in the Times Cinema. I heard the investment is over 800,000." Zhang Shichuan breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this and said, "So, that means they only have 400,000 left for production. That's probably not enough to buy equipment or a production base."

Currently, there are two ways to pronounce sound films: one is the sound inside the film, and the other is the sound on the wax disc.

The equipment used to produce sound in a film is very expensive, and the patent fees and royalties for filming can easily reach hundreds of thousands of dollars. Production companies need to rent these equipment, but this usually requires filming locally.

The sound production of wax discs is very troublesome. Once the film breaks, the sound will be mismatched. However, this is also the most affordable sound-producing film equipment in China at present.

The cost of shooting a sound film is about 12 yuan, and China's first sound film "The Singing Girl Red Peony" took nearly three years to prepare.

Similar to the opinion of the Star Company, the other two film companies - Lianhua and Tianyi - were also a little nervous, but then they no longer took it to heart.

And Times Pictures still has a long way to go!
Thanks to Chen Guangliang's influence, Times Film's IPO went smoothly and quickly raised 40 yuan in new funds.

Chen Guangliang called Lu Hanzhang and others to hold a meeting.

"Manager Lu, what is our next task?"

As a new official, Lu Hanzhang must be extremely alert because he has no way out after leaving Lianhua.

He pulled out a proposal and said, "Three things are urgent: first, leasing land to build a production base; second, purchasing filming equipment, sound film equipment, etc.; and third, recruiting directors, editors, cameramen, and actors."

Chen Guangliang said: "The film set must be set up in southern Shanghai. We can't choose the Zhakou and Hongkou areas."

Lu Hanzhang quickly said, "The studios of Lianhua and Mingxing are both in Zhabei, so transportation is convenient there."

Chen Guangliang said firmly: "Let's choose a place in the southern part of Shanghai, a little bit out of the way, and a little bigger."

Lu Hanzhang no longer objected and said, "Okay."

Next, Chen Guangliang said, "Regarding equipment, we'll see if we can acquire filming equipment from other film companies. After all, quite a few have gone bankrupt in the past few years. As for sound equipment, we could consider a sound recorder that records sound on wax discs. I heard that EMI can rent one. In short, we need to build the framework first, and then gradually add more advanced equipment later."

Lu Hanzhang said: "Well, I just don't know what kind of movie you want to shoot first?"

Chen Guangliang took out the scripts he had already written and said, "This is the outline of the two films, 'Huo Yuanjia' and 'Fist of Fury'. They combine kung fu and patriotism. We will prepare them based on these two films!"

He wrote the script based on the most familiar movies "Huo Yuanjia" and "Fist of Fury" starring Jet Li, and the two movies can be connected. He can describe many details and classic action lines, so the requirements for the screenwriter are not that high.

He originally thought that "wire hanging" was a new technology, but in fact, the wire hanging technology had already been used in "Burning of Red Lotus Temple" in 1928.

Ok!

Lu Hanzhang took the script and asked suspiciously, "Did the boss write this?"

Chen Guangliang said, "Whoever you choose as the screenwriter will write it. Also, this is a kung fu film, and the male lead had better know kung fu, so you have to prepare early when selecting actors. If they don't know how to act, you can train them, but they must know kung fu."

"Understood"

Afterwards, everyone talked for a while and then dispersed.

I don't remember how long it took for the film to be made, but it took at least a year to prepare and shoot.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t have enough funds. You can expand your shares or take out loans when the time comes. There are many ways to solve the problem.

weekend.

Chen Guangliang and Yan Renmei came to the Shangri-La Hotel for a date, but today they were also accompanied by a "light bulb" Yan Renyun.

The two sisters are only 2 years apart in age. Yan Renyun is also a little beauty, but still a little inferior to her elder sister. Yan Renyun has a more docile personality and usually obeys her father Yan Zhi.

The reason why she was able to bring her out to play this time was because Yan Renmei saw that her sister was bored at home and took the initiative to bring her out to relax.

Yan Zhiduo's attitude towards Yan Renmei has now taken a 180-degree turn. After all, her husband's family is powerful, and he, as a father, does not dare to be strong towards Yan Renmei at home.

"Mr. Chen, Ms. Yan"

"Mr. Ma, are you free to bring your wife over to play?"

I met a couple of acquaintances.

Mrs. Ma smiled and joked, "We're not as busy as Mr. Chen, who's been frequenting the Shangri-La Hotel lately. Mr. Chen has to juggle his career and spending time with his fiancée, so he's a bit busy! But if I were Mr. Chen, I'd definitely spend more time with a beauty like Miss Yan!"

Yan Renmei immediately responded, "Mrs. Ma, I'm also studying, so I only have time to hang out with Brother Liang on weekends."

Madam Ma immediately looked at Yan Renmei and continued, "She is both beautiful and considerate. Mr. Chen is truly blessed."

Chen Guangliang laughed and said, "Mr. Ma, too. Marrying a social butterfly like Mrs. Ma, life must be very fun! Haha!"

Mr. Ma smiled helplessly. Mrs. Ma immediately caught on to his little trick and said, "Look at you, Mr. Chen is so good at making women happy. You complain about me being nosy all day long!"

Mr. Ma: "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Mr. Chen!"

Chen Guangliang indicated that it was okay and said, "You two can have fun while we go."

They were just acquaintances in the business world, but since he could come to the Shangri-La Hotel, he must be Chen Guangliang's guest.

However, Chen Guangliang was very satisfied with Yan Renmei's performance today. When she met Chen Guangliang's acquaintances on the road, she handled them with ease, and she already had the aura and conversation style of "Mrs. Chen".

The three of them chose to sit in the hall. Since it was noon on the weekend, the occupancy rate was about 70% to 80% (usually there are 50 tables, and 80 tables can be set up for large banquets, and screens are usually used to separate the tables).

After ordering the dishes, Chen Guangliang stood up and chatted with Gao Zhichao for a few words.

"The occupancy rate of the private rooms upstairs is also 90%, and it is fully booked for the evening; the buffet business has always been booming and is also fully booked for lunch; the occupancy rate of the Western restaurant on the third floor is 70%." Gao Zhichao said with pride.

The Shangri-La Hotel is very successful. Recently, the private rooms in the evening are fully booked every day and reservations are required to get a seat.

The Western restaurant was a bit lacking, but that's probably not the food, after all, the Shangri-La Hotel employs a foreign chef who is quite skilled. Most likely, it's the marketing that's lacking.

"Well, you management should review the situation more and provide regular training for the service staff. Don't slack off."

"Ok"

There are relatively few high-end hotels in Shanghai at present, and the Shangri-La Hotel is a perfect opportunity.

With this kind of business, it will be no problem to make back 1937 million dollars in 200, after all, the hotel department will open next year.

The profit margin was between 10% and 15%, which was the most glorious time for the hotel industry.

In later generations, the rate of return of Hong Kong's hotel industry was only about 10%; the rate of return of the hotel industry in Europe and the United States was only about 8%.

(End of this chapter)