America: My Time

Chapter 233 Shocking Changes in Hong Kong
Chapter 233 Shocking Changes in Hong Kong

When John joined forces with Sanwa, Mitsui Fudosan, and Sony to begin building a commercial center, the entire Japanese real estate market sprang into action. Real estate companies across the country began expanding their real estate holdings, also focusing on commercial centers, seemingly determined to compete with John. Toshiba also joined this real estate expansion, seemingly forgetting its earlier promises and demands made to Sony.

In terms of real estate investment, John mainly focuses on shopping malls, with amusement parks as a secondary option. He doesn't invest much in real landmark buildings, and he participates very little in them, since his funds are limited and he can't invest in real estate in Japan indefinitely.

In Japan's real estate market, Tokyo accounts for the largest share, and these are all shopping malls. After leading a group of Japanese people astray, while these Japanese people focused their energy on shopping malls and commercial centers, John, together with Sanwa and Mitsui Fudosan, built a new island amusement park in Yokohama, Hakkeijima Land.

John originally didn't want to start building this amusement park at this time, but with the madness of these guys in Japan, John had no choice but to take action. Otherwise, a new amusement park would appear in Yokohama soon, which would affect his own interests.

This time, the creation of this amusement park was not done in consultation with numerous banks as before, but rather by directly leveraging the power of Sanwa, collaborating with Sanwa and Mitsui Fudosan. This change shocked some people in Japan.

These guys originally thought John had given up on expanding his theme park business, but they were surprised to find that he had a new theme park plan. When they received the detailed investment plan for Hakkeijima Island Theme Park from Sanwa and Mitsui Fudosan, they were all dumbfounded.

When they tried to contact John again to discuss investment, they found he had vanished from Tokyo. John had taken five beautiful women to Kyoto, avoiding their harassment. Although Kyoto was only a short trip of a few days, John saw many beautiful sights and numerous estates.

Many of the famous manors that later became famous are still private estates, some even undeveloped, while others are for sale. With the help of Sanwa, John acquired several manors as his vacation spots in Kyoto. Rurikoin Temple, Okochi Villa, the old Chikurin Garden, and Hakuryuin Temple thus came into John's possession.

When they returned to Tokyo, it was already mid-September. The atmosphere in Hong Kong had become somewhat tense, and Pacific Investment's operations were already in full swing. At this time, everyone was waiting for the outcome of the negotiations.

At this point, Hang Lung Bank was on the verge of bankruptcy, having become truly "too big to fail," forcing the Hong Kong government to step in and take it over. And this was just the beginning. When bilateral negotiations failed on the 23rd, Hong Kong was instantly plunged into a terrible storm.

The rapid decline in property prices has left Hongkong Land, Jardine Matheson, and Wheelock Properties stunned. They could have sold to Pacific Investment for a large sum, but now, with property prices plummeting, the most important currency, the Hong Kong dollar, has also been affected by the failed negotiations. The exchange rate between the Hong Kong dollar and the US dollar has fallen rapidly, dropping to 9.6 Hong Kong dollars to one US dollar in just a few days.

At this critical moment, Pacific Investment made its move, directly challenging HSBC and Standard Chartered to transfer the US dollars held in the two banks. This triggered panic among Hong Kong banks, as the entire city was frantically exchanging dollars. Pacific Investment's attempt to transfer these dollars plunged them into crisis. Normally, they wouldn't have cared about such a situation, but now it was different; they had to face it. Pacific Investment then repaid the loans simultaneously, earning a substantial profit in a short period.

If Pacific Investment were to transfer its dollar holdings at this time, both Standard Chartered and HSBC would suffer heavy losses. Most importantly, Pacific Investment is ruthless and manipulates the stock market against HSBC and Standard Chartered. Meanwhile, in Tokyo, John's newly established investment company is also using the power of Japanese banks to target HSBC and Standard Chartered.

In just a few days, the share prices of HSBC and Standard Chartered plummeted, which made them anxious. They wanted to negotiate with John and reach a settlement, but they couldn't because John was not in Hong Kong but in Tokyo.

At this moment, the entire Hong Kong was shocked by Pacific Investment's ruthless methods. Some people originally thought that John was too young to be a match for HSBC, but now they finally realized that they were wrong. This young man John was more powerful than they had imagined, and he directly hit the weak points of HSBC and Standard Chartered.

Standard Chartered was stunned. They had thought their actions were discreet and undetected by John, but now they realized their folly. John hadn't been unaware; he was simply waiting for the right moment. John's banking operations for various companies in Hong Kong were all handled by Standard Chartered, but now he transferred them to banks in mainland China, effectively crippling Standard Chartered and causing its stock to plummet. What to do? Seek peace. Standard Chartered had no choice but to meet with Yuan Tianfan for negotiations, but they were refused. Pacific Investment and the Japanese were aggressively shorting Standard Chartered and HSBC, leaving them defenseless.

"Our kid is really amazing. He actually chose this time to fight against Standard Chartered and HSBC, and he even put them on the defensive. It's truly remarkable. It seems that these two banks are going to be in serious trouble."

"Yes, no one expected this little guy to be so ruthless and have such abundant funds. He's practically taking down HSBC and Standard Chartered in one fell swoop. To mobilize such a huge amount of funds in such a short time, it seems he's even more powerful than we imagined."

The Hong Kong government was able to save Hang Lung Bank, but now they may not be able to save Standard Chartered and HSBC and stabilize these two major British banks. This is because John used a lot of leverage this time, and Japan also has the help of Sanwa and a large amount of US dollars invested. They are not afraid to confront HSBC and Standard Chartered head-on.

Just as everyone was shocked by the predicament of HSBC and Standard Chartered, the four major British conglomerates, Swire Group, Wheelock, Jardine Matheson, and Hongkong Land, were also attacked by Japan and the United States, and their shares were plummeting. This was John's plan, which he had already made: either don't act at all, or when he does, deliver a fatal blow to the enemy.

When the four major British conglomerates also collapsed, the Chinese tycoons in Hong Kong were shocked. They originally thought that John was only targeting HSBC and Standard Chartered, but they did not expect that he would launch an attack on the entire British conglomerate in Hong Kong. This directly caused these British conglomerates to suffer repeated defeats.

With Sanwa's assistance, John had no problem with funding, and he could obtain loans from Japanese banks such as Mitsui, Dai-ichi Kangyo, Mitsubishi, and even Sumitomo at any time if he wanted. After the new amusement park project was revealed, many people suspected that John must have other large-scale projects in the works, and under these circumstances, Japanese banks naturally wouldn't refuse John's loan requests.

"We've lost. This time we've been tricked by that little fox. If we don't admit defeat, Standard Chartered will be in crisis. We need to compromise and reconcile with them instead of continuing to fight. Otherwise, once that little fox gets the help of Japanese funds, it could become a threat to Standard Chartered."

"It's difficult. It's hard for us to reconcile with them now. After all, they already know about our previous schemes. Under these circumstances, what can we use to reconcile with them? Moreover, this bastard is clearly seeking revenge on everyone and has attacked all the companies involved in attacking him!"

"That's precisely why we need to compromise with him. We don't have enough funds to deal with the current crisis. If we let him transfer that sum of dollars, we will fall into an even greater disaster. This is clearly a trap that the other side has already set up. Otherwise, it would be impossible for us to be attacked by the United States, Japan, and Hong Kong in such a short period of time. I don't know what's going on with HSBC, but Standard Chartered really can't hold on anymore!"

"Alright, have someone arrange to meet with Yuan Tianfan again and ask them what it would take for them to stop!"

Faced with a life-or-death crisis, Standard Chartered had no choice but to compromise and admit defeat, because they had not expected to suffer so many attacks. What worried them most was John's drastic withdrawal of hundreds of millions of dollars from the bank. This was the most critical issue. If these funds were transferred out, Standard Chartered would soon face a terrifying run on the bank.

Soon, Yuan Tianfan received another request from Standard Chartered. This time, Yuan Tianfan agreed to meet and talk with them. After all, Pacific Investment already held a considerable number of shares in Standard Chartered and HSBC, as well as shares in other British conglomerates. If they were ruthless enough, they could completely crash the other party's stock price.

However, Pacific Investment's goal wasn't to crash the other party's stock price, but rather to acquire them and extract sufficient profits from these British conglomerates. They weren't interested in a life-or-death struggle; in fact, if that happened, the Hong Kong government would likely intervene, and even the British government might take action, which was something John didn't want. He only wanted profits, not a life-or-death battle. At least now wasn't the time; he wasn't fully prepared. Given enough time, John might have actually completed the acquisition of Standard Chartered this time. However, this Hong Kong dollar crisis wouldn't last long, so John had to abandon the plan.

(End of this chapter)