America: My Time

Chapter 409 Changes in Hong Kong

Chapter 409 Changes in Hong Kong

After ending his conversation with Morgan, John couldn't help but shake his head slightly and sigh, "Heh, Morgan is in trouble now too. Those guys on Wall Street have started to block them. It seems that the old guys are settled, and other people have stepped forward. Since they think the catering industry is good, let them be."

While everyone needs food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, this doesn't mean that Cultural East only has this one option. Furthermore, Morgan won't remain passive forever; it's just that the timing isn't right yet. Morgan is no saint. Even a saint wouldn't become a Wall Street crocodile, nor could they control so many resources.

Morgan's resources were acquired through repeated struggles, not appeared out of thin air. Now they are just being patient and waiting. If Morgan fails to meet the requirements for the acquisition of the Mandarin Oriental Group, their reputation will be affected, a consequence that Morgan does not want to see and cannot accept.

Now that Morgan has secured the agency rights for Nvidia's IPO, if he can't do anything, he will be in danger in his future cooperation with John and could be abandoned at any time. Without sufficient strength, he will not gain John's approval.

“Boss, it seems that John, that little fox, has run out of patience. We have to give them an explanation.”

"Jimmy, go all out to take over Starbucks and Dairy Queen. Anyone who dares to stand in our way is an enemy of Morgan. We can't let John down, and we can't lose our credibility. If we fail this time, Nvidia's IPO will be the end of us. It will be very difficult for us to gain his approval in the future. We were too careless before and scattered our efforts. Now it's time to show our true strength. No one can stop Morgan's progress. Anyone who tries will die!"

After his conversation with John, Morgan's attitude changed. The sliver of hope he had held onto was gone; things had become dangerous. The acquisition of the Mandarin Oriental Group was a test, a test of all parties in the United States. If Morgan failed, it would mean that all the so-called solutions were empty words, and perhaps John's little fox trump card would be revealed. At the same time, it would shake his trust in Morgan, since it was Morgan who had stepped in to help John reconcile with those old guys.

At this moment, Morgan felt a slight pang of regret. If he had known this would happen, he shouldn't have taken that action in the first place. But it was too late for regrets now; everything had already happened. If Morgan couldn't fulfill its acquisition requirements for the Mandarin Oriental Group this time, its previously good reputation would be questioned by John, which was the biggest problem and the situation Morgan least wanted to see.

Jimmy, who had followed his boss for a long time, could see the anger in his boss's heart. This anger was not directed at John, that little fox, but at Morgan's performance and those guys who dared to block Morgan's acquisition. Most importantly, he also noticed the slight change in John, which was a lack of faith in Morgan's abilities.

At this point, John only wanted the result, not the process. If Morgan couldn't complete it, their cooperation with John would come to an end. So at this moment, Morgan had to go all out and face those damn bastards.

As Morgan Stanley took action, Hurricane Capital also began its own operations, with its UK branch cautiously acquiring shares in Standard Chartered Bank in preparation for a full takeover. Standard Chartered Bank remained unaware of this shift, as many shares were still trading on the market, and no one else seemed to be paying attention.

Standard Chartered is now focused on the changes in Hong Kong. With the Mandarin Oriental Group's frenzied expansion in real estate, they feel a bit of pressure, because most of the real estate of British conglomerates has fallen into the hands of the Mandarin Oriental Group. Even though the British capital had long been prepared to withdraw from Hong Kong, the Mandarin Oriental Group's frenzied expansion still makes them uneasy.

The Mandarin Oriental Group's funds did not come from British banks or American banks, but from Japanese banks. Japanese banks provided strong support to the Mandarin Oriental Group in this acquisition battle, which is the most troublesome part. If this situation continues, their own interests will soon suffer losses.

The Wenhua Dongwen Group is now undergoing transformation, as is the Phoenix Group, and even Pacific Investment and Southern Group are transforming. When they were expanding, the funds behind them were obtained from the Bank of Japan, and now their cash flow is gradually being withdrawn from Standard Chartered Bank and transferred to the Bank of China.

Although Standard Chartered Bank wanted to talk to Yuan Tianfan and his group, they were completely uninterested. This put pressure on Standard Chartered and made them feel threatened, as these four groups were all major clients. Losing such large clients would have a significant impact on Standard Chartered. The idea of ​​kicking Pacific Investment out of the board had crossed Standard Chartered's mind more than once, but no one dared to take the risk because Pacific Investment was very powerful and controlled a huge amount of liquid funds—that was the most troublesome thing.

The deterioration of the situation in Hong Kong has impacted Standard Chartered's expansion, and they fear that if things continue this way, Standard Chartered itself will face problems. The situation in Hong Kong is getting worse, and John's expansion in Hong Kong continues unabated. Now, Western Energy has also entered the Hong Kong market and started owning its own gas stations. These changes are unsettling and create a sense of pressure.

If there's anything that hasn't changed, it's that the Forever Group hasn't changed, at least not in Hong Kong. They haven't expanded wildly. Perhaps this is because the environment in Hong Kong doesn't allow them to expand, since labor costs in Hong Kong are much higher than in China. Nowadays, the Forever Group's production base has been completely shifted to China.

As John's investment in China continued to increase, the Yongyuan Group concentrated almost all of its garment processing tasks here, and the Nanfang Group's food and beverage processing also began to shift towards this area. Sixty percent of these products were exported. With the Nanfang Group's rapid expansion, food and beverage processing was also expanding at a rapid pace.

7-Eleven is now not only ubiquitous throughout the United States, but also in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and much of Japan. These stores require a huge amount of supplies, so food processing plants and beverage companies in China are expanding rapidly.

There were also many voices within the Southern Group that felt they could make more investments in China and participate in the production of various small commodities. Unfortunately, John rejected this idea outright. They hadn't even achieved self-sufficiency in food and beverages, so how could they possibly expand in other areas? They should focus their efforts on improving and expanding their current investments.

Behind the frenzied expansion, seemingly burdened by massive debt, lies an astonishing cash flow that relentlessly fuels the expansion, showing no signs of slowing down. Having completed its expansion in the United States, it began a full-scale expansion into Japan. The investment of various resources and market share have propelled 7-Eleven's development at an astonishing pace. It is believed that 7-Eleven Japan will certainly complete its full-scale expansion into Japan within the timeframe stipulated by John.

With its own processing plants in China, 7-Eleven has always maintained a price advantage, providing strong support for its expansion. The emergence of shipping companies has further accelerated its development. This integrated production and sales service is the greatest strength behind 7-Eleven's successful expansion.

Focus on cultivating your market and don't rush to expand into other countries. First, secure the markets in the US, Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, establish an absolute advantage, and make them your core base. This is the most important thing. Only when your core base is stable can you continue to expand; otherwise, it will only hinder your development.

In the eyes of many Japanese, 7-Eleven's expansion was a bit too crazy and hard to understand. However, they had no idea what changes the Plaza Accord would bring to Japan. If the expansion could not be completed before the Plaza Accord, the cost of expansion would be too high when land prices skyrocketed afterward.

Because John understood all this, he demanded that they complete their comprehensive expansion into Japan as quickly as possible, seize the entire Japanese market, and achieve widespread urban coverage—that was John's plan. It might seem crazy now, but those guys would understand how profitable such an investment was in the future!
Unlike British-owned banks in Hong Kong such as Standard Chartered Bank, the Japanese haven't felt the same pressure or threat. In their eyes, 7-Eleven is insignificant, and the expansion of Mandarin Oriental is nothing. Even with their substantial investments in real estate, it's barely a ripple in the overall Japanese economy. They don't see John's investment in Japan as a threat, since he hasn't touched their core interests. Some are even anticipating the construction of Western Energy's second refinery in Japan, which they don't consider a threat.

Unfortunately, the second refinery was shelved. Western Energy didn't have enough funds to invest in this frenzied expansion. Investment in China had already depleted Western Energy's capital. Even if the Japanese bank was willing to provide support, John had to give up and focus his energy on integrating existing resources.

While the Japanese market is doing well, this crazy bubble era in Japan can't last long. Moreover, John doesn't want to continue investing precious funds. Instead of investing in Japan's expansion, it would be better to invest in the exploration and exploitation of oil fields. That's the key.

(End of this chapter)