2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 575 "The Cake Man"

"Knowing a little about everything makes life more colorful."

At CGV, Tan Jincheng had a rare moment of free time, and Gu Qingqing also had some free time. She took a break from her busy schedule to watch a movie, Red Cliff, which was the movie Gu Qingqing wanted to see.

There's no way around it, Lao Wu and so many big-name celebrities are just too awesome, their popularity even surpasses the promotion of the Olympics.

"Um, shall we go back? This dialogue is so awkward, how could they film it so badly?"

Before the movie was even over, Gu Qingqing couldn't take it anymore and whispered to Tan Jincheng if she could leave early.

"Okay, let's go and explore somewhere else. It's a rare opportunity to get out today, so let's enjoy ourselves a little longer."

Tan Jincheng had long been fed up. This piece of junk looked like something absurd. It was quite a feat for Lao Wu to make such a terrible film with such a star-studded cast.

These days, Fu Bang Shopping Mall is still called New World Shopping Mall, but it's about to go out of business. As far as I remember, it started to go out of business around 09, then it sat idle for two years before being taken over by Fu Bang in 2012.

Large shopping malls really don't have much potential in Beicang. Even after the Fu Gang took over, the popularity wasn't great. Including Yintai later, it was only passable in the first few years.

“Some people in the district are even encouraging us to open a hotel or a shopping mall, saying that we should develop a complete industry.”

It wasn't the weekend, and the mall was sparsely populated.

"People in Ningbo don't really have a nightlife. On hot nights like this, there are hardly any people on the streets at 10 pm. What's the point of opening shopping malls? As for hotels, there's no need for them."

As for hotels, these are capital-intensive businesses that are even more difficult to operate than factories. It takes many years for a large hotel to become profitable, and it is impossible to operate without huge financial support.

We'll just wait for the bigwigs to open hotels in Beicang and then sign strategic cooperation agreements with them.

"There's a fundraising conference next Monday, should I attend?"

The CEO of Orange Technology is already in a semi-retired state, and Gu Qingqing also holds the position of vice president in the restructured ByteDance Engine. Currently, she only manages the family fund, which is quite leisurely.

The family trust is currently in the process of filing and preparation, and has not made any investments. Tan Jincheng is not in a hurry. The first investment of the family trust is still Changfeng Group. The current purchase cost is around 6.5 yuan, and the holding has exceeded 400 million shares, which is more than 1% of the total share capital of Changfeng Group.

The total shareholding has exceeded 6%, which is a very good progress.

"You can attend if you want, or it's fine if you don't. It's all in Beicang anyway."

This round of financing has caused quite a stir, involving three local government financing vehicles and one investment institution. Kuang Ping and Tan Jincheng have been notified, but Qiming Investment's strength is limited, and they still want to concentrate their funds in the internet sector.

Kuang Ping really wanted to invest, but his power within the company was limited; apart from investments in the internet sector, he couldn't get involved in other areas.

He himself was willing to invest, but obviously no company would accept private investment, so Kuang Ping had no choice but to give up.

Luzhou City Investment intends to invest in power batteries, while Chuzhou City Investment wants to invest in Weilai Automobile. Beicang City Investment, like Sequoia Capital, wants to invest in both. After careful consideration, Xie Hongjun finally decided to invest in both.

Tan Jincheng's greater optimism about power batteries made Xie Hongjun very hesitant until he saw the news that ATL, a current power battery giant, was investing US$15 billion to build a power battery factory in Fujian Province, which finally made Xie Hongjun decide to proceed.

What's there to be afraid of? They dare to invest nearly 10 billion yuan to build a factory, so what's there to be afraid of? At worst, we'll just take a gamble.

With the involvement of several investment institutions, the funding problem can be greatly alleviated.

Speaking of financing, Gu Qingqing looked at Tan Jincheng with a smile: "I've noticed that no matter how profitable your business is, you always seem to be short of money."

"That's how it is in the real economy. If you don't expand, you'll fall behind the times in a few years. As soon as you expand, you'll run out of money."

This seems to be a rule that most physical enterprises cannot escape. In fact, even if Tan Jincheng did not engage in the power battery and automobile projects, he would not have much spare money. Electric vehicles and the clothing industry also require investment.

There's never too much money in a project with a large initial investment.

Compared to Flash Group, Orange Technology is in a much better financial situation. Since its establishment, Orange Technology has never experienced a period of financial shortage. In the past few years, it did not spend much money, but its income was very good, and it also received financing.

If you can’t spend it all, you can’t spend it all.
-
Monday, July 14, 10:7 AM.

"Welcome to Flashspeed!"

Tan Jincheng stood in the lobby on the first floor of the Flashpoint Building, smiling as he greeted the four investors and their entourage. It was quite rare for a large corporation to have four investment institutions come to seek investment at once.

Tan Jincheng's side also included Huang Ming from ByteDance's advertising platform and other senior executives. In addition, leaders from Beicang also participated in the event, and Beicang TV sent a reporter to record the entire process.

There's no point in talking today; it's just a publicity stunt. With reporters and leaders present, how can we talk?
"Mr. Tan, it's nice to see you again."

Besides Xie Hongjun, Shen Nanpeng has also been meeting with Tan Jincheng frequently recently. In addition, as an investment tycoon, he receives a great welcome wherever he goes, as long as it is a public event.

It's fair to say that many of the leaders and reporters present today came specifically for him. He's from a renowned international investment institution, a title that's highly sought after in any era.

"Mr. Wang, we meet again!"

"Mr. Zhang, it's a pleasure to meet you. Please take good care of me."

The person in charge of Luzhou City Investment is surnamed Wang, whom Tan Jincheng had met before. As for Chuzhou City Investment, this is their first meeting, and Tan Jincheng is not very familiar with him. Chuzhou City Investment wanted to get involved in the investment of Weilai Automobile, which was facilitated by Yangzi Automobile.

Tan Jincheng doesn't mind cooperating with local governments in multiple regions. Once the automotive project grows large, he will definitely seek new industrial bases across the country.

Chuzhou's geographical location was important to Tan Jincheng. It could radiate to the North China market to the north, located between Luzhou and Huizhou, and could also radiate to the central region to the west. However, Chuzhou did not think so.

On his first day of taking over Yangzi Automobile, Tan Jincheng forcefully demanded that the company change its name and even shelved the Feiyang brand. This was incredibly domineering. The people in Chuzhou were genuinely afraid that Mr. Tan might suddenly decide to move Yangzi Automobile away, which would leave them completely helpless.

This is not impossible. Look at the level of the local governments that cooperate with Tan Jincheng. Besides his hometown, they are municipalities, provincial capitals, and cities with independent planning status. In addition, he also has businesses in Shenzhen.

Over the years, Shenzhen has been expressing goodwill to Tan Jincheng through various channels, hoping that he will invest more in Shenzhen.

Although Dizi is quite impressive these days, it's not yet the darling of Shenzhen. It wouldn't hurt to have another car brand competing with it.

Moving an acquired company away is not a difficult task. What Chuzhou hopes for most is to deepen cooperation, keep Yangzi Automobile in Chuzhou permanently, and allow Tan Jincheng to invest more.

"I've long admired Mr. Tan's name, it's a pity I didn't get to meet him last time in Chuzhou." "Well, we've met now, there's plenty of time for us to meet again."

"Yes, there's plenty of time."

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, it was Xie Hongjun's turn. Today, he was representing the general manager of Beicang City Investment, not a shareholder of Shanchi Group, so he appeared in front of the camera with the previous three people.

Tan Jincheng simply shook hands with him, exchanged a smile, and didn't say anything more.

On the first day in front of the camera, everyone was all smiles and friendly, but getting into the actual negotiations was quite difficult, as the valuation of physical businesses is not as arbitrary as that of internet companies today.

Before formal negotiations begin, each party will conduct a detailed asset assessment. The reason why Beicang government can unconditionally support Tan Jincheng is because Beicang will benefit the most from Tan Jincheng's development.

Thanks to the promotion by a popular entrepreneur in recent years, Beicang's reputation across the country is much greater than in its previous life, and there have been no more incidents of CCTV hosts mispronouncing the district name on camera.

To be honest, it's pretty embarrassing. You spent so much money, and they didn't even remember your name.

In addition, the speed of development is much faster than in the previous life. Tan Jincheng is most aware of this. In terms of contributions to the local government, Shanchi is definitely number one in Beicang.

Xie Hongjun didn't have many objections to the valuation of Weilai Automobile and Hang New Energy Company. Besides their private discussions, Beicang's attitude was also a key factor.

The other three companies, however, are not like that.

The main entity investing in the power battery project is Hangxin New Energy Co., Ltd., registered in Beicang. In addition to the power battery project, it also has a lithium battery laboratory and Jinxin New Era Power Battery Co., Ltd.

Jinshidai also has a subsidiary called Dexian Electronics, which has transformed into a mobile phone battery business.

Jinxin New Energy also has the Beijing Institute of Physics as a shareholder, holding 15% of the shares. As the temporary representative of the Institute of Physics, Lü Ruifeng also participated in the negotiations.

He now primarily works at the laboratory, which has been officially named Yue Times, focusing on research and development.

Power batteries, laboratory batteries, and mobile phone batteries—none of these three categories can be undervalued.

"As you can see from our mobile phone battery business, although it's a transformation, we've already achieved a production value of over 100 million yuan this year, and we have quite a few stable large customers. In addition, our laboratory still has a significant advantage in lithium batteries."

"As for the power battery project, the current losses are quite serious, but look at ATL, it has already invested 15 billion US dollars to build a factory, and several other companies are also developing. You all know better than I do the 863 Program's influence. I simply cannot accept the valuation you mentioned."

“We can’t possibly value Weilai Auto so low. We hold 51% of the shares in the branch company, and we also have a car factory under construction. Don’t underestimate the unfinished factory. At the current construction speed, it won’t be long before it’s completed and put into production.”

"Oh, right, we also have a global license for the Serene brand, which is known as the world's number one supercar, and we've also obtained some technology patents from them; everyone, don't underestimate us, although we're a new company, we're still very strong."

"What good is that? You don't even own a car now, all you have are a few brand logos."

"Who said that? We have pickup trucks, and we have a pickup truck production line with an annual capacity of 5 vehicles."

"Your New Era has a promising future, but it's just a prospect. Nobody knows how far it will develop in the future. You can't use the internet approach to fool us, you real-economy companies."

"Bullshit, what are you talking about if there's no future? Don't forget that even if we don't accept investment, we still have the mobile phone battery business to support us, it's just that the development is a bit slower."

“That’s right. If you develop slowly, you’re destined to be eliminated. That’s why we’re the most important thing. What’s wrong with you lowering the valuation a little?”

Xie Hongjun shared the same attitude as Tan Jincheng, so he didn't say much throughout the whole process, just watching Tan Jincheng face the three big shots alone.

You know what, he actually managed to get things going by discussing two big projects together. One minute he was arguing with the Luzhou side about power batteries, and the next he was arguing with the Chuzhou side about Weilai Automobile.

Then he argues with Shen Nanpeng about everything, but his thoughts never get confused. It's quite interesting, like a debate with a group of scholars.

The language used to describe this person was incredibly vulgar, ranging from "father-like" to "fart"; of course, the other side's big shots were far more refined.

"Alright, let's compromise. The overall valuation of Hangxin New Energy is 25 billion yuan. As for Weilai Automobile, you can say it's an empty shell if you want, but I don't acknowledge it. The valuation will be 6 million yuan as you agreed."

Hangxin is benchmarked against Ningwang, which has a peak market value of one trillion yuan. No matter how bad Hangxin is, it should still be worth two or three hundred billion yuan. That's a 10-fold return on investment.

As for Weilai Auto, it is indeed not getting much valuation at present. The value of its shares in Yangzi Auto is only less than 3 million yuan. The 6 million yuan valuation was only obtained by Shen Nanpeng.

Of course, this is Shen Nanpeng's opinion; Tan Jincheng doesn't think so, but in any case, it can be considered as repaying a favor.

After all, it was thanks to Shen Nanpeng's great efforts that Tan Jincheng was able to get his hands on Sai Ling, who was good at bragging. In addition, the big shot he introduced in the capital last time also benefited Tan Jincheng a lot.

“If you’re going to invest, be bold. What’s there to be afraid of? Look at Mr. Xie. Back when FlashTech and I were nobody, he dared to invest. Now he’s made a fortune. You investors always say that investing is about investing in people. Why don’t you believe me?”

"Come on, do you know what your nickname is in the investment world? The Pie-in-the-Sky Man!"

Shen Nanpeng scoffed at Tan Jincheng's statement.

With the biggest valuation issue settled, everyone felt relaxed. The nickname "Pie in the Sky" drew a burst of laughter in the office.

"President Shen, you're slandering me. I'm just asking you, have the promises I made been fulfilled? Orange Technology, you've made a lot of money."

"Haha, that's true, we made quite a bit of money." Shen Nanpeng had to admit this as well.

This was the fastest company to go public in his investment career, and he was able to recoup all his investment returns in just two years. Shen Nanpeng had no way to refute that.

This is the seventh day of negotiations. To be honest, everyone on the other side is a shrewd person, but they really admire Tan Jincheng's thinking. Despite their aggressive approach, he is still able to keep a clear head.

"Young people have so much energy; they're still full of energy after arguing with us for so many days. Alright, the valuation issue is settled; let your legal department prepare the contract."

The speaker was Mr. Wang from Luzhou City Investment Group. He was the oldest among them, but Tan Jincheng insisted that the four of them lead the talks, saying it was to prevent leaks. After a week, he was really starting to feel overwhelmed.

"Haha, thank you all. I'll have the legal department prepare the contract right away."

To be honest, Tan Jincheng only wanted to raise funds for Hangxin New Energy, and he really didn't care about the meager amount that Weilai Auto had raised.

(End of this chapter)