2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 590 Bankrupt! Rich!
The second weekend of September was filled with a dizzying array of news in the financial markets.

The subprime crisis risks from across the Pacific have reached us, and everyone is talking about the economic crisis.

Surprisingly, apart from some professional financial institutions, the general public does not seem to be too worried about whether the US financial crisis will affect us.

"It's just the national confidence built up by the successful hosting of the Olympics. The mindset before August is completely different from the mindset after August. Don't underestimate this."

While discussing with Huang Ming, Tan Jincheng smiled.

This matter is actually very important. On a grand scale, it relates to the nation's sense of honor; on a smaller scale, it also affects business. Cultural confidence is, in a sense, a part of business.

Take the Hanfu designed by Tan Jincheng and Jinpeng Trading as an example. Although he tried hard to promote it, it did not sell well.

In an era of cultural insecurity, ordinary consumers who followed the crowd preferred more popular Western, Korean, and Japanese culture. What was even more outrageous was that during this period, even domestically produced short films had little market appeal.

This is especially evident in the apparel industry, but after the 08 Olympics, the current business mindset driven by popular culture will gradually change.

"Our short selling has already shown initial results, and now we need to prepare the funds."

The acquisition will cost Mitsubishi 3.5 million yuan, and Changfeng Motor and Xiangcheng City Investment will pay a total of 6.96 million yuan, for a total of 10.46 billion yuan. Including the 2.11 million yuan paid in the previous purchase, the total price of 12.57 billion yuan is for acquiring 49.79% of the shares, which is really a great deal.

Thanks to the bear market in A-shares and the assistance of the US, Tan Jincheng could sense that the US was getting anxious in the subsequent rounds of negotiations as the risk of the subprime crisis increased.

Of course, this is also related to the misleading information within the Flash team. In private, Tan Jincheng often expressed his concerns about the subprime crisis, and his occasional remarks about scaling back investments made Zhou Kai unsure of what to do.

Zhou Kai wasn't sure if what he said was true or false, but he didn't dare to gamble. If the deal fell through, it wouldn't affect others much, but he would be in big trouble.

Due to the initial leak during this round of negotiations, he took the opportunity to replace many of his trusted confidants in various positions. If the negotiations fail, it will inevitably backfire on him.

Of the 10.46 billion yuan in funding, Flashpoint will contribute 8.21 million yuan in cash, and the remaining 2.25 million yuan in cash will be converted into Flashpoint Technology shares through a share swap.

7.5% of the shares are held by Xiangcheng City Investment, making Xiangcheng City Investment the second largest shareholder of Flash Technology on the surface.

"Of the 8.21 million yuan, 3 million yuan will be covered by the three shareholders, and we will take care of the rest. The group can handle this without using ByteDance's funds," Tan Jincheng replied.

ByteDance's engine is also running out of funds, having used leverage to short sell. However, it should be relatively easy for Flash Group to resolve its 5.21 million yuan funding issue.

Among the major banks in Ningbo, the credit lines of the various subsidiaries under the Flash Group are very high. The most important point is that the Flash Group has US dollars. When this is used by the local government, it is not just a simple matter of exchange rate.

"Then there's no problem. Solving the funding issue is the simplest thing."

Huang Ming was relieved. If the company were to encounter difficulties, it would be a pity to have to withdraw a batch of funds from the current short-selling account.

"Haha, don't worry, I'll find a way to get it even if there's no other way. Why not take advantage of the Americans? They're not going to transfer money from ByteDance."

If it weren't for the fear of being too aggressive and causing concern among major shareholders, Tan Jincheng would have really wanted to go all in. 20 billion is equivalent to about 3 million US dollars. Spreading 3 million US dollars across short selling is just a drop in the ocean for the Americans.

But this is for the best. If they do too much, Wall Street will hate them. They're taking away their meat. Shen Nanpeng probably won't be able to withstand it then.

It's okay to make him take the blame, but we can't let him be taken advantage of.

The subprime crisis is practically an open secret, at least in high-level investment circles. The recent continuous stock market crashes in the US, especially in real estate-related sectors, make shorting this sector incredibly easy.

Over the weekend, Mr. Tan visited various banks and government agencies. He remembered that Lehman Brothers officially declared bankruptcy in September, but he didn't know which day in September.

However, it's already mid-September, so whether you remember the date or not is no longer important. The 4 trillion yuan stimulus plan hasn't even started yet, and Tan Jincheng is indeed being subjected to tight monetary policy by the banks.

A trip to see Leader Gu is a must. We need to check the itinerary with him. We need to go to Xiao Ri next month. Tan Jincheng plans to transit through Hong Kong and visit Cheng Linfeng and the others along the way.

Upon arriving at Boss Gu's office, Boss Gu was in a good mood: "This negotiation went quite well. You acquired a listed company and most of its assets for 12 billion. Not bad."

Although he did not directly intervene in the negotiations, he kept track of the progress through various channels.

He was quite clear about some details, such as Tan Jincheng's arrogance during the negotiation process, which matched the image of Tan Jincheng that Xie Hongjun had mentioned at the four-party investment meeting.

"Thank you for the compliment, boss. It's mainly because we were lucky to be born at the right time."

A backdoor listing is currently the fastest and simplest way to go public. Many companies in Hong Kong like to go public through backdoor listings. Li Ka-shing's son's company likes to do this, and correspondingly, shell companies are quite popular.

If 12 billion were just for buying a shell company, it wouldn't be worth the leader's special praise; this thing isn't worth that much money now.

The key point is that Tan Jincheng achieved three things at once: he acquired the shell of the listed entity, obtained the assets and technology needed by Weilai Automobile, and even gained an opportunity to cooperate with Mitsubishi.

Then the 12 billion yuan was well spent. As for Tan Jincheng's point about catching a good time, everyone knows the answer to that.

"You're here about the loan, right? The district will help you coordinate a solution. If necessary, the portion of the land you acquired earlier can also be refunded to you in advance."

Tan Jincheng's eyes lit up: "Really? That's great!"

This is an unexpected surprise. The focus of major investors has never been on the CBD, but rather on the fields. In fact, the government was selling industrial land at a loss during this period. Before 06, it was all done through negotiated prices. After 06, it was stipulated that bidding was mandatory, but in practice, it was just a formality, and the final price was still based on the negotiated price, which was generally one-third of the bidding price.

After a period of time, or even after the bidding process is completed, two-thirds of the proceeds will be returned to the winning company; this varies from place to place.

Tan Jincheng acquired a considerable amount of industrial land in Beicang over time, the last of which was in the Meishan Industrial Zone, intended for the second and third phases of the automobile factory project.
The area is quite large, and this money has not yet been returned to Weilai Automobile. If we could receive it in advance, it would solve our immediate problem.

"Forget about that, just focus on running your car business well. Get your cars out there as soon as possible, and replicating the success of Flash is what really matters."

A comedian once said that after becoming famous, he was surrounded by good people.

Tan Jincheng's repeated successes in business, from foreign trade, clothing, electric vehicles to the internet, seem to make him capable of anything, which has led many people in his circle of friends to believe that he can succeed.

This is also true for the automotive industry.

Since the establishment of Weilai Automobile, Beicang has been paying close attention to its movements, quickly poaching Zhang Yong to become the actual manager of Weilai Automobile, and then taking action to resolve the issue of automobile production qualifications.

Incidentally, it also enriched the product line. While solving the problem of automobile production qualifications, Weilai Automobile, which did not own a single car, now had a pickup truck production line and could sell pickup trucks.

In the past two months, Zhang Yong has been conducting nationwide inspections to select locations for new channels for pickup trucks. In Beicang alone, several Yangzi pickup truck dealerships have already opened in areas with numerous factories, such as Dagang and Xiapu.

Due to domestic policies, such as annual inspections and 15-year scrapping requirements, the market capacity has always been very limited. However, pickup trucks are actually the most practical type of vehicle.

His main market is in the outskirts of some cities where restrictions have been lifted. For example, in Ningbo, pickup trucks are not allowed to enter the city, but they are very popular on the outskirts because there are many small factories there.

Small factory owners can spend some money to buy a pickup truck. They can use it to haul goods, and after some maintenance, it can also be used as a family car. It is very practical.

Furthermore, mountainous and dangerous areas, such as Chongqing and provinces like Xinjiang and Jiangxi, are key areas for pickup truck sales. For example, in many cities in Xinjiang, pickup trucks are allowed to be driven throughout the city.

It's tough on Zhang Yong, as he has to travel to mostly remote areas for work.

"Alright, since the leader already knows, I won't bother him any longer. I'll go to the bank."

Boss Tan was decisive. It's both a good thing and a bad thing that the leader keeps you in mind. What if they make further demands? It's better to keep a certain distance.

slip away.

In just one weekend, Tan Jincheng finalized the intended funding and contacted the three shareholders, who had been preparing for much longer and were already ready.

"Okay, then we'll transfer the money to the designated account during next week's workdays. Let's prepare in advance. If the acquisition fails, I will return the money to everyone with normal interest."

With 8.21 million yuan in funds in hand, Tan Jincheng breathed a sigh of relief.

"Finally, I can get a good night's sleep."

Back home, Tan Jincheng couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief as he lay on the sofa. These past few months had been spent playing the capital game, dealing with hundreds of millions of yuan at a time. This was the largest acquisition FlashDrive had made since its inception.

It's impossible not to be nervous.

"You and Qingqing should rest at home for a few days," Zhang Suzhi said with a touch of heartache, looking at her son slumped on the sofa.

She didn't understand these procedures, and she hadn't been watching the news much lately because her daughter, Tan Jinyue, had started kindergarten, and she had to take care of her.

But she could still see the fatigue on her son's face, especially when her daughter-in-law mentioned that he had been drinking frequently lately, which made her even more distressed.

Tan Jincheng grinned: "I really need to rest for a few days. National Day is coming soon, and I need to adjust my mood."

I'm getting married again!
-
On September 15, 2008, at midnight Beijing time, Lehman Brothers announced that it was unable to repay its $613 billion debt and would file for bankruptcy protection that day.

As soon as the news was released, the US dollar and US stock index futures fell in unison, indicating that the New York stock market might plummet after it opened that day. Some analysts even described it as potentially triggering a "financial tsunami".

Upon seeing the news, Cheng Linfeng, who was monitoring the night trading session in Hong Kong, jumped up from his chair.

The members of the short-selling team were pounding on the table and shouting, filling the makeshift trading room with an overwhelming sense of excitement.

"What's wrong?" Lai Yiu-fai, who was guarding outside, was startled by the commotion and rushed into the office to ask Cheng Lam-fung.

"Hahaha, it's okay, everyone's happy, we're about to make a fortune, I need to call the boss!"

After saying that, Cheng Linfeng picked up his phone from the table, but Li Yaohui grabbed it and said, "What time is it? Let's talk about it tomorrow morning."

Cheng Linfeng was taken aback, then laughed and said, "Haha, I guess the boss is still awake, but you're right, it's the same whether I call him in the morning or not."

Is the boss asleep? Does he already know? Otherwise, why would he let us make arrangements in advance?

(End of this chapter)