The Industrial Giant Reborn

After staying in Italy for a few days, Chen Zhiwen returned to Hong Kong with other group executives.

The main purpose of coming to Europe this time is to make a larger purchase. After stabilizing AMC, he also needs to purchase other brands to increase his influence in the automotive industry. Otherwise, he will only rely on AMC for development. It may not be able to develop to the level of being called an "auto giant" in 20 years. In fact, in this traditional industry, when others have already developed and controlled the market, it is almost impossible for latecomers to catch up. Things, the history of the automobile industry after the 1950s, regardless of the lane-changing model of electric car brands such as Tesla, in the field of fuel vehicles alone, only Hyundai has counterattacked and risen in the past few decades, and the reason for its rise is also the Korean government Full and exclusive support, plus some discounts made by the US government considering suppressing Japanese cars, etc.

There are still some opportunities for other brands in the mainland, because this is a very big new market, but the successful ones are all local brands. Although Chen Zhiwen is considered a Hong Kong-owned brand, it may still be different from mainland brands. At most, as long as If you pay more attention to yourself, you still have a chance.

The acquisition of a British car brand can be regarded as opening up another market. In the automobile industry, there is no absolutely popular model. They are all based on demand. The real big brands have everything from small A0 cars to large sedans and SUVs. AMC only has For ordinary cars and off-road vehicles, the acquisition of Mini can be regarded as filling the vacancy of small cars. If Maserati can be acquired, it can be regarded as occupying a place in luxury cars. However, in this market, we can only say that we occupy a position and make money from it. , it’s a bit difficult. Among the future super luxury brands, Porsche is the only one that can truly be considered successful.

Of course, if Maserati is downgraded to the BBA level, the market will be much larger. However, whether to do this or acquire other brands at this level can only wait until later.

In addition to cars, other supermarkets and mining investments also cost a lot of money, but they are all matters that need to be operated by the company under his control. Basically, the boss Chen Zhiwen has also set the direction and requirements. The people below only need to follow their own requirements. Just do things according to the requirements, and then report every time you reach a node until the final deal is completed.

In mid-1984, Hong Kong's economy was still performing very poorly. Although the negotiations between the Chinese and British parties had been finalized in principle, many details could not be discussed. This caused Hong Kong's economy to endure many hardships. After this ordeal, the Hong Kong stock market slumped, and the real estate market has not improved much even after the large-scale incident of Land and Land being acquired. In fact, when all capital is unwilling to invest in real estate, it is useless for anyone to come, let alone Chen Zhiwen, except for the acquisition of Land and Land , and has not engaged in any large-scale investment projects.

In addition to the Midea Building, at the beginning of this year, the former Hilton Hotel was successfully blasted. After several months of clearing away construction waste, the foundation was finally laid.

However, whether it is the cleaning of construction waste in the front, or the foundation and subsequent construction projects that have begun now, Midea will all be handled by Hutchison Whampoa, and Hutchison Whampoa will naturally hand it over to its own Hutchison Infrastructure.

A few years ago, Hutchison Infrastructure's main task was to develop a large number of land properties for Hutchison Whampoa. If it had extra capacity, it would take on orders from outside. However, in the past two years, the real estate market has not been good, and Hutchison Infrastructure has also begun to have idle manpower. Although Midea Building can be said to be the first floor of Hong Kong in the future, it cannot accommodate all the direct staff of Hutchison Infrastructure and many outsourcing teams that have cooperated for a long time, let alone outsiders.

"Pap-pap-pap-pap-pap."

On May 23, the Midea Building officially laid the foundation stone. Witnessed by many reporters and media, Chen Zhiwen, the big boss behind the scenes, also picked up a shovel and mixed a shovel of sand into it, marking the official start of the entire project.

The tallest building in Hong Kong has a total of 88 floors including the underground, with a total area of ​​1.8 million square feet, second only to Exchange Square's 2 million square feet. The latter's area is made up of several buildings combined, and the land is also larger. many.

It's not that Chen Zhiwen doesn't want to build more, but the Hong Kong government doesn't allow it. The main problem is safety. No matter how high it is, it will be difficult to ensure safety. The height of the floor is also affected by the bottom area and soil quality. In the original history, The Cheung Kong Industrial Building was built on this land, with only 62 floors. With Li Jiacheng's shrewdness, he would definitely build bigger if he could. Now he can build 88 floors because there are no large buildings around. Due to the expanded area, the specially designed lightweight structure by Bei Jinming, and the investment in deeper foundations, the cost is also higher, but compared with the future value, it doesn't matter.

"Congratulations to Mr. Chen." After the groundbreaking ceremony, many wealthy real estate businessmen from Hong Kong came over to celebrate.

"Thank you." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. This groundbreaking was actually intended to be publicized by the Hong Kong government. After all, in today's Hong Kong, a super building is needed to stabilize people's confidence in real estate and the economy. Last year, Chen Zhiwen also had a pleasant cooperation with the Hong Kong government. During the Hong Kong dollar exchange rate crisis, I made a lot of money and acquired a lot of high-quality real estate. Therefore, I naturally gave this face and let the Hong Kong media come to shoot and promote it.

Since reporters and media are invited, colleagues from Hong Kong will naturally come together. It is also a rare opportunity for Hong Kong's influential real estate tycoons to gather together to discuss economic issues and so on.

Everyone also came to the reception area at the back. Reporters were not allowed to enter here. Public filming of the groundbreaking was one thing, but the small celebration banquet at the back was an internal gathering of Hong Kong's top class. No one else could enter except for some waiters. Come.

It is rare for a group of Hong Kong real estate tycoons to gather together, and everyone can't help but discuss casually, mainly about the situation of the real estate market and the progress of various projects. No matter what, no matter how bad the environment is, the big real estate companies will not be able to stop. For all projects, if some projects are stopped, the losses may be greater than if they were not stopped.

"Sheng Chen, I would like to ask for advice. When do you think the real estate issue in Hong Kong will be restored?" The person who asked the question was a middle-aged man with half a head of white hair. But everyone is also looking at Chen Zhiwen. Everyone here is eager to know when the economy will recover. Even if the specific time is unclear, a rough estimate will do. Once determined, the current policy can be formulated based on this time. Plan, otherwise, most real estate companies are currently holding on like a blind man trying to figure out the elephant. Although they all know that it will definitely recover in the future, it is really hard to say whether they can hold on until that moment.

"Sheng Chen, just ask for instructions. In fact, I don't know. Everyone knows that the current problems in Hong Kong are not mainly in Hong Kong itself. Only when the matter at Yanjing is settled, I think Hong Kong's real estate economy will naturally Recovered." Chen Zhiwen said very vaguely.

The person who asked the question is also named Chen, so it can be said that he belongs to the same family. This person is Chen Zengxi of Hong Kong Hang Lung Properties, and he is also one of the five real estate giants in Hong Kong.

Hang Lung Real Estate has nothing to do with Hang Lung Bank, which was previously acquired by Hisense Bank. It is purely a coincidence. The name is the same, and Chen Zengxi's real estate company is larger in scale. Especially with the help of the real estate bull market of 1975-82, the scale has grown exponentially.

Unfortunately, they also made the same mistake as Land. When land prices were high, they rushed for success. As a result, they were heavily in debt after 1983 and have been struggling to survive. ,

In fact, there are still many companies operating in this way in Hong Kong. At that time, when people were sweeping away gold with dustpans, not many people could see the crisis. Even if they did, most of them would think that they would make the last sum of money. It's definitely not the most unlucky one.

"Even so, with Chen Sheng's eyesight, he should be able to make a certain judgment, right?" Chen Zengxi asked again.

"My judgment is there, but it is useless. It has nothing to do with the economy itself." Chen Zhiwen paused and said, "Besides, even if I say a date, do you believe it?"

"Sorry, I'm a little impatient." Chen Zengxi was silent for a moment and said apologetically.

"It's okay, Chen Sheng. If possible, we can chat alone." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. He could see that Chen Zengxi might be too impatient, that is to say, he was under too much pressure. When this happened, The only explanation is that there is something wrong with Hang Lung's economy.

"Okay." Chen Zengxi nodded and said, but there was no expression on his face, making it difficult for outsiders to see.

Several other people at the scene also knew that there might be some private matters, but it was not easy to ask, so they could only chat casually in a polite manner. In addition to trying to get some useful information from Chen Zhiwen's gossip, there were also calls. Good relationship. After all, Hutchison + Land is now the largest real estate consortium in Hong Kong. At the same time, Hisense Bank is second only to HSBC and even surpasses Hang Seng Bank in terms of scale.

The next day, Chen Zengxi came to Hutchison Building.

"Sheng Chen, sit down." Chen Zhiwen said in greeting. These people all had the surname Chen, which made Chen Zhiwen feel a little awkward. However, he was not very familiar with the East Asian culture, and he couldn't call him by his name directly like the Western one.

"Thank you." Chen Zengxi said.

"What Mr. Chen said yesterday, is it because Hang Lung is in difficulty now?" Chen Zhiwen also asked directly. If it were a company of the same level, he might have indirectly talked about this issue tactfully, but now he is already the most popular person in Hong Kong. The top consortium, even the quasi-central bank HSBC, may not be able to match itself in terms of available financial resources. Although Hang Lung was once one of the top five real estate companies, it is far inferior to any of its subsidiaries. What's the point? Just say it directly.

"Yes, Chen Sheng." Chen Zengxi also said directly: "I hope to get Chen Sheng's help."