6 August 1989, Hong Kong:

The sun is blazing in the sky, and even in the busiest places like Central, there are very few pedestrians on the streets, except for all kinds of cars, and a large number of people pour into the shopping malls in the surrounding buildings, all of which belong to Hongkong Land and have spacious, air-conditioned footbridges between them.

It has become the world's largest commercial gathering place, Hongkong Land has connected its 21 commercial centers through more than 70 pedestrian bridges, shopping malls, office buildings, hotels, cinemas, restaurants, etc., anyone, as long as they have money, can live here for a lifetime, only you have an unexpected service, there is no it does not have.

In the summer, Hongkong Land's various plazas become summer retreats, and when they are connected to each other, the flow of people is even better.

Hong Kong, one of Asia's most prosperous tourist cities, is not attracted by its natural beauty, but by its shopping paradise for the wealthy, and Central is the center of the core.

Under various factors, Hongkong Land's rental income has risen even more, exceeding HK$5 billion in 88 years.

Next to Victoria Harbour, the second phase of the Exchange Square project has been completed, and the four major exchanges that merged two years ago have also moved here, and the stock market boom has created a lot of money here.

On the highest floor of Exchange Square, in an office of hundreds of square meters, several men leisurely drank coffee, looked at the buildings and natural beauty in the distance, laughed and chatted casually, the hanging sun shone into the floor-to-ceiling windows, but there was no power, ultraviolet rays and various radiation were all blocked, indoors, even if you use your eyes to look at the sun, there will be no discomfort.

"Sorry, I'm late, my plane was late. Wang Liming came from the door in a hurry.

Xu Zhi handed over a bottle of mineral water, motioned for him to sit down, and said with a smile: "It's okay, we're not in a hurry, how is the Shanghai-Nanjing Expressway project going?"

"There is basically a consensus on the investment side, but the management rights have not yet been negotiated. Wang Liming replied.

"Tom, if you Evergrande don't like this project, Huang and I are very willing to take over. If he only heard this voice, ordinary people would never have imagined that it came from a pure white Englishman.

Wang Liming said disdainfully: "Ma Shimin, you and Huang monopolize the entire Beijing-Shanghai Expressway project, why are you not satisfied?"

Ma Shimin shrugged and said: "I have never been satisfied with making money!"

Xu Zhi waved his hand and said with a smile: "Okay, everyone is a family, there is no need to fight, this mainland is so big, and there will be many highways in the future, it is better for the two of you to compete with each other if you have this kung fu to compete with each other." ”

Eighty-five years later, when the economy of Hong Kong picked up, Evergrande Group and Hutchison Group began to reap huge returns on their large investments in Hong Kong, and the land and properties that were once bought cheaply appreciated by two or three times.

In fact, the rate of return on infrastructure investment is not comparable to that of the real estate industry, but the current mainland has not officially opened up the real estate market, and there are not many similar opportunities, so Evergrande Group and Hutchison Group mainly choose highway projects and some port terminal business for their funds.

In 1986, Hutchison won the project to connect Beijing with Shanghai, with a total budget investment of 30 billion yuan.

It seems that this amount is very scary, but the project is a joint venture between the mainland and Hutchison, half of one person, and 90% of the project adopts loans, and the project itself is still started in phases, so the consumption of funds is not high.

This kind of large-scale project, in fact, is the foundation, not enough capital and resources, it is impossible to get so many loans, and people with this ability, but do not dare to invest in such a scale, after all, no one knows what kind of future the mainland car market will be, if this kind of investment is lost, it is difficult for the super-rich to afford it.

With the golden finger of the prophet, Hutchison and Evergrande have attacked in the mainland market, won many of the best quality highway infrastructure projects, and Hutchison's capital is stronger, so it got key projects such as Ningbo Port, Beijing-Shanghai Expressway, and Shanghai-Shanghai Ring Expressway, and this time the central government decided to build Shanghai-Nanjing Expressway, and Evergrande grabbed it in advance.

The boss spoke, and both of them stopped, which was originally just a joke.

Xu Zhi continued: "Everyone is here, I will say one thing, I will gather everyone today to tell you that I am ready to withdraw all the money invested by all companies in Japanese real estate and the stock market." ”

Everyone's eyes lit up, the investment in Japan back then was almost a mandatory one-handed arrangement by Xu Zhi, the boss, all the companies withdrew some funds, and they didn't understand why they were so risky at the time, but now, no one regrets it, and they should have invested a little more.

He Guoyuan asked: "Chairman, all the investments have been withdrawn?"

Xu Zhi nodded and said: "Yes, Hongkong, Hutchison, and Evergrande's investments are mainly in the stock market, and it is easy to withdraw these funds, but Midea's investments are a large number of real estate, and the procedures are more troublesome, I want you to go to Japan in person and discuss with Sumitomo Bank how to do it." ”

"No problem, I'll leave for Japan tomorrow. He Guoyuan agreed, and then asked: "But chairman, how can we use such a large amount of money?"

"What's the matter, are you worried that the money won't be used?" Xu Zhihaha laughed: "What do you think the current Midea has such a large amount of money?"

"I can't think of what to do with that money unless I buy a big international company. He Guoyuan replied after thinking for a moment.

Xu Zhi shook his head and said: "Midea's financial situation itself is very good now, and it is estimated that it is difficult for us to acquire companies that we can see, and the companies that we are easy to acquire are not eye-catching, whether there is this money or not has nothing to do with whether it can be acquired." ”

In recent years, with the rapid growth of the personal computer market at a rate of 50% every year, Midea's profits in personal computers and computer software have surpassed games, even if the color TV business is losing money because of the price war, but last year's net profit has exceeded 2 billion US dollars, second only to IBM in the global electronics industry.

In this case, Midea's overseas mergers and acquisitions have become very difficult, similar to the merger and acquisition of General Electric's home appliance business, which has been investigated by the U.S. government for anti-monopoly, although there is no problem in the end, but if it involves larger-scale mergers and acquisitions, especially in some high-tech industries, capital has never been a problem, the legal aspect is.

And this time to invest in Japan, after deducting various loan interest and taxes, just Midea made a profit of more than 30 billion US dollars, and it is obvious that the current Midea does not need such a large sum of money.

Xu Zhi continued: "Midea is not short of money now, so I will transfer this money for the expansion of Watsons and the Bank of East Asia. ”

"Expand Watsons?" Jiang David, the general manager of Watsons, was suddenly stunned, happiness came so suddenly, no wonder, he was also designated to participate in a high-level meeting of this level, after all, although Watsons monopolized the retail of Xiangjiang, it was still too far behind the companies controlled by the few people here.

Xu Zhidao: "The retail industry is a traditional field, in this industry, without a large amount of financial support, it is impossible to develop rapidly, but such a large amount of money I will first take the international market for investment, I give you the promise is, as long as you develop well, I will be greatly inclined in terms of funds." ”

"No problem, I will definitely do my best to develop the whole Asian market. Jiang David assured that he didn't expect such a large sum of money to be operated on for him, but as long as there were stable funds behind him, his plans could be implemented quickly.

Xu Zhi asked Yuan Tianfan again, "Do you have any ideas?"

Yuan Tianfan said: "Chairman, what the Bank of East Asia needs most at present is to digest the entire Standard Chartered Bank, and it is not beneficial to make an acquisition in a short period of time. ”

"Okay, then let's do it, when we acquired Standard Chartered, the Bank of East Asia owed a lot of debts, and I will settle your debts at one time. Xu Zhi said.

In 1986, the British Meath Bank launched a hostile merger and acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank, and the British senior management of Standard Chartered asked for help from some Asian tycoons, Xu Zhi and Bao Yugang and others were involved.

Xu Zhi had long known this outcome, so he quickly acquired the shares in the hands of other Chinese at a high price, and secretly contacted other shareholders of Standard Chartered Bank, in 1988, Xu Zhi controlled more than 50% of Standard Chartered shares and forcibly entered Standard Chartered Bank.

After suppressing a group of self-righteous management with tough measures, the top management of BEA took over Standard Chartered, although with the help of Ceides and other Xiangjiang Standard Chartered teams, but the foundation of BEA is much weaker, in a short period of time, in the face of Standard Chartered Bank full of loss loopholes, it is also very difficult to deal with, this has nothing to do with how much money there is, only time and team ability can solve this matter.

Yuan Tianfan smiled: "Thank you chairman." ”

Xu Zhi nodded, and said to the others: "Evergrande, Hutchison, and Hongkong Land are all invested in the stock market, and the cashing out in this area is much simpler, and it is estimated that the funds will be able to return in a month, and several of them also probably know how high the current profit return in this area is. ”

"Chairman, please speak. Ma Shimin, Wang Liming, and Nian Nian Mao said with a smile that the return on investment is definitely the highest record in the history of Hong Kong.

For example, Hutchison used HK$5 billion and returned at least HK$30 billion, while Evergrande and Hongkong Land invested less at the beginning, but the return was also at the level of HK$10 billion.

Xu Zhi said: "I know that everyone is optimistic about the real estate market in Xiangjiang, but at present, the land and properties controlled by the three of us are already the largest in Xiangjiang, and some of them cannot be developed in 20 years, so our goal should be a little farther, and the international market is where we should fight."

Needless to say, whether it is infrastructure or hotels or commercial projects, if the three of you think you can, you can fight for it if you have the opportunity, as long as we don't have internal friction with each other, the future market is very large, and it is estimated that we can't eat much.

On the international side, Hutchison's terminal business in Xiangjiang is already almost monopolized, and it has also invested in Yantian Port in Shenhai City and Ningbo Terminal, but I think this area is insufficient, since we have the foundation and funds, we should go to Europe and the United States to invest or acquire a large amount, and I hope that in the future, Hutchison can become the world's largest terminal business company.

And now that the shipping market has begun to recover, this piece of Hutchison should also be taken seriously, and the terminal business is matched with the shipping company, this combination can make 100% money no matter what the situation. ”

"Don't worry, chairman, I know what you mean. Ma Shimin confidently assured that at present, only the 20 million square feet of office buildings and commercial rental returns in Whampoa Plaza will not be less than 3 billion Hong Kong dollars per year, and at the same time, the annual profit of Xiangjiang's local monopoly terminal business is also calculated in 1 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Although it has invested in many large-scale projects in the mainland, it still cannot keep up with the speed of the company's capital return, let alone the high return on investing in the Japanese stock market, in this case, Hutchison will inevitably need to expand on a large scale, and the terminal and shipping business is a very good choice.

Xu Zhi nodded and said to Nian Mao: "Hongkong Land used to be very heavily indebted, although housing prices and rents have risen a lot in recent years, but Hongkong Land has also developed projects such as Exchange Square and Zhoubishan Villas.

The recent economic development of Southeast Asian countries is not bad, you can invest in Southeast Asian countries appropriately, but I will say in advance, if I feel that there is an investment risk in the future, you should immediately sell these Southeast Asian real estate business. ”

"Okay, I see. Nian Mao agreed, he knew very well the history of his boss's fortune, and the huge real estate business relied on Xu Zhi's precise vision, started at the right time, and acquired it at the lowest cost.

Xu Zhi paused, and then said to Wang Liming: "Evergrande has a lot of experience in developing the commercial and residential business next to the subway in Tin Shui Wai and the subway acquired from Hang Lung in recent years, so we can try commercial and residential complexes in Southeast Asian countries and even in Europe and the United States in the future." ”

"Commercial and residential complex?" Wang Liming is a smart man and quickly knows the literal meaning.

Xu Zhi nodded and said: "Yes, the four-in-one project of commercial plazas, office buildings, high-end apartments and residences, generally speaking, this kind of investment is very huge, in addition to the commercial plaza itself, the others need to be sold to ensure the normal operation of the funds, and the core of this investment lies in a large number of self-sustaining commercial plazas, when the number is enough, the formation of a brand effect, is when we get the most generous returns." ”

"I understand, when I go back, I'll study it and make a project plan for you to see. Wang Liming immediately assured.

Xu Zhi continued: "In addition to overseas or mainland markets, Evergrande also has a piece of land in Tin Shui Wai in Xiangjiang, which is different from Hongkong Land and Hutchison, the land in their hands has basically been converted into property, and now they only need to collect rent with peace of mind."

The original intention was to build this piece of land in Tin Shui Wai into a new town, so when developing it, it is important not only to look at commercial interests, but also to build appropriate greenery, parks, and transportation, so that long-term planning can be realized for decades or even a century. ”

The development of the city must have a detailed plan from the government department, and if it is all handed over to the real estate developer, they will just fill all the buildings and then slap their butts and leave.

Tin Shui Wai is a small town with an area of up to 5 square kilometres, but the entire land is owned by a single company, and with the short-sightedness of capital, it is very likely that high-density development will be carried out for short-term gains.

This approach is very profitable in the short term, but the final outcome is that it will become a slum composed of rows of high-rise buildings, which is not what Xu Zhi wants, and in his plan, a virtuous economic cycle of self-sufficiency can be formed here, and Evergrande can also make long-term profits.

Wang Liming said: "Chairman rest assured, I understand the truth of drying up and fishing." ”

"Okay. Xu Zhi took a sip of tea, stood up, stretched his waist, and said with a smile: "That's it for today, it's just a rough plan, now our first important thing is to transfer back funds from Japan, and the rest, when the Japanese funds come back, let's talk about it in detail!"

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