Return to 1958 and build a century-old giant

Chapter 456 Overseas Cooperation with Huo Yingdong

Day 2, Four Seasons Hotel Presidential Suite:

"Mr. Huo." Yang Wendong greeted with a smile.

"Haha, Mr. Yang." Huo Yingdong said in a cheerful voice, "Mr. Yang, your investment in Singapore is a big bomb. The Hong Kong real estate market has dropped by several percentage points because of this."

Yang Wendong said: "My case was just a catalyst. The problem of the Hong Kong real estate market itself is the most important. If I had gone to Singapore to invest at this time last year, I'm afraid there would have been no impact."

"That's true." Huo Yingdong nodded. After they both sat down, he asked again, "Mr. Yang, why did you ask me out this time?"

"It's like this. The Hong Kong government recently sent people to find Changxing Real Estate Company." Yang Wendong explained what happened while drinking tea.

"So that's how it is, Mr. Yang, you're too polite. This is a deal between you and the Hong Kong government, there's no need to tell me." Huo Yingdong said with a smile and shook his head.

Yang Wendong said, "That's true, but you were the one who won the auction originally. Now I have it. Even if I didn't take it directly from you, I still have to tell you. I don't want any misunderstandings."

"Haha, OK, I have no problem with that." Huo Yingdong sighed and said, "Since the land has been taken back and the Hong Kong government is short of money now, it will definitely be given to someone else. Even if you don't want it, other people in Hong Kong may want it."

Yang Wendong said: "Yes, but the Hong Kong government also asked several other companies, but they didn't want it. I am the only one who is interested."

"Mr. Yang, you have invested so much in Singapore, why are you buying land in Hong Kong now?" Huo Yingdong asked again, "Or do you think that the decline in Hong Kong's real estate market is about to end?"

Yang Wendong asked with a smile: "Mr. Huo also has a lot of properties that need to be cashed out?"

Huo Yingdong shook his head and said, "That's not the case. I do have some properties, but I'm not in a hurry to cash them out. The Hong Kong real estate market will recover sooner or later. I've experienced this twice.

However, if Hong Kong's real estate industry does not recover, then both the purchase of materials needed for real estate and the consumption of ordinary people will be very poor."

"Mr. Huo is worried about the mainland's exports?" Yang Wendong finally understood.

In this era, it is difficult for the mainland to export anything except minerals. Although Hong Kong is just a city, it bears a large task of earning foreign exchange.

When Hong Kong's economy was strong before, the demand for real estate and construction alone was huge. All the basic materials for houses basically came from the mainland, and almost half of daily necessities, food, etc. were also imported from the mainland.

Once the economy goes downhill, no one will buy or build houses, and exports in this area will plummet, and prices of basic necessities will also drop.

Huo Yingdong nodded and said, "Yes, the domestic economy is not very good. Many things need to be imported, which requires foreign exchange. Once foreign exchange is lacking, the consequences will be very serious."

"I also purchase a lot of things from the mainland, but the total amount is not very large," Yang Wendong also said.

Although Changxing Group is very large, a small order would be a huge sum of money for an ordinary company, but for a country with a population of 700 to 800 million, it is not enough.

But there is no other way. Even if Yang Wendong wants to purchase many things from the mainland, the mainland may not have them. At this time, the mainland's industry is very poor, and many things cannot meet market demand.

Huo Yingdong added: "It's OK for everyone to cooperate appropriately within their own scope. There's no need to think too much. In fact, even if we can really help, it won't be of much use to such a big country."

"That's right." Yang Wendong agreed.

Before the Internet, the rise of traditional enterprises and wealthy people was very slow, because everything had to be done step by step. Even with bank funding or investor participation, they would only see the current progress, so support was limited. Only Internet companies were betting on the future, so investors dared to place heavy bets. In addition, the expansion of Internet users was also exponential, so they could obtain valuations of tens or even hundreds of billions in a few years. This was impossible for traditional companies.

Only Yang Wendong was a time traveler who had mastered many popular products from his previous life and knew some things about the future, so he dared to increase financial leverage investment. This was how he created a large group with a production value of hundreds of millions in just 7 years, comparable to Jardine Swire.

But this amount of wealth is just a drop in the bucket for the mainland with a population of hundreds of millions. Moreover, even if we want to expand cooperation, it will not work because the country is still an agricultural country and is too weak in industrial production.

Huo Yingdong went on to say: “If Hong Kong’s real estate market can recover and the economy can recover a little bit, it will be of great help to the mainland, but I am not sure when Hong Kong’s real estate market will recover;
Mr. Yang, you are also good at economics, so I just want to ask for your opinion. "

For many wealthy people in Hong Kong, Yang Wendong's rise, on the surface, relied on industry, which is true, but he was able to grow to where he is today because of his strong vision. He seized almost every special opportunity and industry, and he was bold and invested very aggressively, but he succeeded in the end.

Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, “Generally speaking, real estate crises last for one or two years. When house prices fall by about half and the market can gradually bear it, that’s about it.

It also depends on the development of other areas, such as industry, tourism, trade, finance, etc. This is a very comprehensive issue and it is impossible to predict. "

Few people dare to say that they can predict a crisis or when recovery will begin. Even the supercomputers of the past could not calculate economic problems.

"House prices have fallen by almost half now, and perhaps the economy will soon recover," Huo Yingdong added.

"Maybe." Yang Wendong didn't say much.

In fact, the decline in real estate prices this year is indeed very high. From the beginning of the year to the end of the year, housing prices in many places have been halved. Coupled with the growth of economic factors such as industry and trade, it will be almost the same by next year. Historically, Hong Kong's housing prices in 1966 were in a recovery period for a while, and prices rose slowly.

If a more terrifying crash occurs due to other reasons, it would not be predictable by a normal economy.

In fact, many Chinese financial groups from the 60s entered the market to buy at the bottom after seeing the gradual recovery of real estate the next year, and then there was no follow-up. This is why many real estate families from the 80s only truly rose after 68, because those before that suffered heavy casualties!
Huo Yingdong asked, "Mr. Yang, your investment in Singapore also involves the local container terminal. Are you also optimistic about this field?"

"Of course." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "I am also in the shipping business. The emergence of containers can greatly reduce the cost of shipping. This is bound to be the trend of the future.
Last year, the Hong Kong government also proposed a container reform plan, but this year it encountered the economic crisis and had to stop it. "

"I'm optimistic too." Huo Yingdong added, "But what I want to ask is whether Mr. Yang also wants to participate in the terminal operation industry?"

After thinking for a moment, Yang Wendong replied, "I have this idea, but you also know that docks are generally the core industries of a country, especially the container docks that have just appeared. Even if they are not state-owned enterprises, they are generally controlled by domestic consortiums. My investment in the container terminal in Singapore this time does not account for a large proportion. It is just an economic investment." The infrastructure of this era is far less than that of a few decades later. Except for Europe and the United States, most countries have very few docks, and such core assets will basically not be operated by others. Even if they are, they are European and American capital. Therefore, it is difficult for him to develop overseas docks.

The success of Hutchison Whampoa in its previous life was due, firstly, to its gradual operation over decades, where it would take advantage of the other party's business crisis to invest in or acquire the other party; secondly, to the financing from the listing that brought in capital from many countries; and thirdly, because there were many ports at that time, many countries did not attach much importance to them; there may also be other exchanges in addition.

Huo Yingdong said: "Yes, but it's not without a chance. Mr. Yang should know about Brunei, right?"

"I know, it's a small country in Southeast Asia." Yang Wendong nodded.

There are many countries in Southeast Asia, some of which he had not paid attention to in his previous life. Even in the Internet age, there are probably only a few mainlanders who can directly name all the Southeast Asian countries without checking the information.

However, after arriving in Hong Kong, Southeast Asia is also one of Changxing Industrial's main shipping areas. Therefore, all Southeast Asian countries were described in the financial report, and he naturally knew a lot about them. Brunei is one of them, a very small country with a population even smaller than Hong Kong.

Huo Yingdong said: "Brunei is also planning to build a medium-sized port. Their country is small and they don't have the ability to build it themselves, so I plan to give it a try. Is Mr. Yang interested?"

"Container terminal?" Yang Wendong asked.

Huo Yingdong said: "Yes, Brunei only had some small docks for shipping goods before, so we plan to build a dock that can handle containers directly, but considering that many places still use traditional cargo ships, we will also consider the versatility of the two types of ships.

But Brunei is just a small country, so it’s mainly container terminals because that’s the trend.”

"It is much easier for a small country like this to build a container terminal than for other countries because there is no internal resistance," Yang Wendong said with a smile.

Although container terminals require high investment, for cities or countries in need, the future profits alone are enough to make many banks willing to support them.

The core problem is still "millions of workers and a large tail that cannot be cut off", and areas that did not have large traditional docks before can now take action very conveniently. Norway in Europe took advantage of the fact that the UK was busy dealing with traditional docks and built a large container terminal, and then London's trade was also destroyed.

Huo Yingdong said, "Yes, in the technological revolution, traditionalists are the obstacle. In the past, the British automobile industry was very developed, but in order to take care of hundreds of thousands of horse drivers, they introduced policies to restrict automobile development. As a result, they were overtaken by Germany. Today, the British automobile industry can only be said to be okay, far behind Germany and the United States."

"Yes, the biggest enemy of reform is ourselves." Yang Wendong also agreed.

The German automobile industry was already very strong in this era. Many people in their previous lives knew that Japanese cars beat American domestic brands in the U.S. market in the 80s, but in fact, in the s and s, German cars almost overturned the table in the American market, especially Volkswagen, which was second only to the Big Three in the United States.

Later, when the oil crisis broke out, Japanese cars were the first to kill German brands in the United States, and then swallowed up American domestic brands.

Then he asked, "Mr. Huo, can you get the operating rights of this wharf?"

Huo Yingdong shook his head and said, "I can't get it. This is an investment from the official government of Brunei. I am just trying to get the project to build this wharf.

Although I cannot obtain the operating rights, being able to participate in the entire construction process is also a challenge and opportunity for my construction company. For Mr. Yang, this experience may also be helpful for future terminal operations.”

"What you said makes sense. Okay, I'll participate." Yang Wendong nodded and asked, "What about the share ratio?"

The profit from participating in project construction is generally not very high, unless it is a very special building. This is also normal. After all, as long as the construction company can collect payment on time, there is almost no risk. How can there be high profits?

In the past, many Hong Kong builders complained everywhere that they worked hard all their lives but were not as good as others who speculated in real estate for one or two years. However, anyone can participate in real estate speculation. If you are unwilling to take risks, what qualifications do you have to complain after seeing others succeed?
Huo Yingdong said: "I will take 6 and you will take 4, how about that?"

"Sure." Yang Wendong didn't really care about the ratio. He just wanted to participate so that the team could learn some experience. Then he asked, "Mr. Huo, why did you bring me in for such a project?"

Huo Yingdong replied: "It's very simple. The first is the funding issue. This kind of project also needs advance funding at the beginning, so we need the help of the bank. With Mr. Yang's participation, it will be much easier for the bank to lend money.

The second is my current situation in Hong Kong. As you know, I plan to invest mainly overseas in the future, and Mr. Yang also has plans to invest overseas, so we also want to cooperate with you more, whether it is my project or your project. "

"So that's how it is." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "I will indeed invest overseas in the future, but in the short term it will only be on a small scale, mainly in Singapore. If Mr. Huo is interested, you can also give it a try."

"Forget about Singapore." Huo Yingdong shook his head and said, "Although they have established a country, the influence of British capital is still very large. I'd better not bother with it."

"That's true." Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said.

Singapore did not start to have good relations with the mainland until around the 90s. Before that, the relationship was just average. For Huo Yingdong, investing there was indeed too risky.

Huo Yingdong added: "I was originally planning to invest in shipping like Mr. Yang, but I was also worried that the Hong Kong government would target me and not allow me to dock, which would be troublesome. Developing real estate overseas is also not feasible, as most countries do not allow too much foreign investment.
So I just stick to my old job, taking on some construction projects is the safest option, and then I get paid and leave.”

"It seems that this is the only way." Yang Wendong nodded.

The 50s can be said to be the peak period of Huo Yingdong's business empire. The pre-sale of buildings he created activated the entire real estate economy. It can be said that this was an invention that affected billions of people around the world, and Huo Yingdong also gained huge wealth from it.

It was only because of the suppression by the British Hong Kong government and the risks of investing overseas that the Huo family had to gradually keep a low profile. This led to the rise of the four major real estate families in history. Otherwise, the Huo family would have at least occupied one place.

"So if there are any suitable projects in the future, Mr. Yang has to take care of them more." Huo Yingdong said with a smile.

"Okay, I'll inform Mr. Huo if there is any." Yang Wendong nodded and agreed.

There is no end to the money to be made in this world. Even if you know that a project is bound to make money, sometimes you can still win over other people because you may need to use other people's influence, etc.; it's not just Huo Yingdong, but also other Chinese and even European and American financial groups.

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)