Chapter 1123: Relieve grudges

Since the outbreak of the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the Hong Kong property market has slumped, and it is not an exaggeration to say it is an avalanche. There are all luxury houses and high-rise buildings with halved housing prices, and Hong Kong's real estate industry has also suffered heavy losses. The most important thing is that today, when the new economic wave is so active, the Hong Kong property market still shows no signs of recovery, and some media have even blamed all this on the political issue of returning.

The Hong Kong real estate market suffered a heavy blow, the mainland economy was stable, and various policies prompted the mainland real estate market to rise rapidly. Even Hong Kong real estate companies with heavy setbacks but deep foundations and unharmed vitality have turned to mainland central cities to seek breakthroughs. Even Yongsheng Film and King of England and other financial owners behind the Hong Kong entertainment industry have all rushed to the mainland to invest in real estate. Only Charles Schwab Real Estate has suffered heavy losses in the past two or three years. The investment in Jincheng Real Estate was hit by Hongxin and betrayed by Kewang and Jingdian. Its market value has now exceeded 1.8 billion Hong Kong dollars, even less than one-tenth of its peak.

Even though the market value of most properties in Hong Kong has been cut in half, the commercial real estate under the name of Charles Schwab Real Estate is worth more than HK$1.8 billion. However, on the eve of the Asian financial crisis, Charles Schwab Real Estate is expanding heavily in Hong Kong and suffered heavy setbacks. During the Asian financial crisis, both of which were incurred in losses. A 52-story skyscraper developed on Yongjia Avenue in Central was unfinished due to lack of subsequent capital investment after the structure was topped off. The huge financial costs incurred by Charles Schwab Real Estate have caused continuous losses in the past two years.

As long as the building on Yongjia Avenue can be completed successfully, Charles Schwab Real Estate may still have a chance to face the current crisis. After all, the Hong Kong economy has not suffered much damage. Even if the housing prices are set, the sale of buildings is unfavorable, and the rental of buildings can still be operated at the same time, and other projects can achieve overall profits. Even if they cannot return to the market value level of their heyday, they can return to the market value level of HK$50,600,000.

To complete the Yongjia Avenue project, it still requires HK$1.23 billion to invest. However, the Hong Kong real estate market is now sluggish. In addition, the goodwill of Ge Mingxin, the major shareholder of Charles Schwain Real Estate, and Ge Yinjun and his son have been widely questioned in the Hong Kong financial industry. Which financial institution is willing to provide them with this huge amount of money? Of course, this does not rule out that someone behind it has set up obstacles for Charles Schwain Real Estate.

Unexpectedly, Kumho took action in the end and only used 600 million Hong Kong dollars to obtain 30% of the equity of Charles Schwab Real Estate pledged by Ge's father and son from HSBC. Xie Jiannan knew that HSBC Bank was also the major shareholder of Charles Schwab Real Estate. Even if he sold the equity pledged by Ge's father and son to Century Kumho Real Estate, he still directly held 15% of Charles Schwab Real Estate.

HSBC's additional purchase of corporate bonds provided HK$1.2 billion to Charles Schwab Real Estate not for the follow-up project of the Yongjia Avenue project, but for the acquisition of some of Century Kumho Real Estate's commercial real estate assets in Haizhou. This surprised Xie Jiannan, but he knew in his heart that Kumho and HSBC would definitely have greater follow-up actions.

On March 12, Xie Jiannan returned to Hong Kong after inspecting the communications market from Malaysia. After Kumho took over, the first shareholders' meeting of Charles Schwab Real Estate had been held. He officially submitted an application for renaming the listed company to Century Kumho Real Estate Group (Hong Kong) Company, officially becoming a listed company controlled by Century Kumho Real Estate. Kumho is hidden deeper behind it. Sun Shangyi served as the chairman of Century Kumho and Shao Zhigang served as the president of the group.

The matter was quite dramatic. Before the Ge family split, Sun Shangyi served as executive director and vice president of Jiaxin Real Estate. After the Ge family split, Sun Shangyi left Jiaxin Real Estate. Unexpectedly, this circle turned back, Sun Shangyi represented Jinhu as chairman of the board. I don’t know what Ge Mingxin and Ge Yinjun and his son thought.

At this time, the capital operation behind the equity transaction of Charles Schwab Real Estate has gradually surfaced for media tracking reports.

Kumho's HK$600 million in acquisition of equity in Charles Schwab Real Estate from HSBC was financed by Hong Kong Guoyu Investment, and Kumho only mortgaged this part of the equity to Kumho Investment.

Guoyu Investment is the main creditor of Charles Schwain Real Estate and has provided HK$2 billion in financing for Charles Schwain Real Estate's Yongjia Avenue project. Charles Schwain Real Estate is in trouble, which has also put Guoyu Investment's HK$2 billion in debt into crisis. In addition, Guoyu Investment also holds 6% of Charles Schwain Real Estate's shares. The complete collapse of Charles Schwain Real Estate is definitely not a situation that Guoyu Investment hopes to see.

HSBC and Guoyu Investment have been looking for powerful buyers for Charles Schwab Real Estate. Kumho not only took over Charles Schwab Real Estate in the name of Century Kumho Real Estate, but also reorganized it to facilitate the entry into the mainland real estate market, but will also acquire the Yongjia Avenue project in the name of Kumho Commercial to be used as the new headquarters of Kumho Commercial in Hong Kong after the project is completed. However, the huge amount of money required for the acquisition of the Yongjia project will be provided by Guoyu Investment and HSBC Bank respectively in Hong Kong. Guoyu Investment and HSBC will provide HK$2 billion and HK$1 billion in financing respectively; Guoyu Investment can recover the previously loaned HK$2 billion from Charles Schwab Real Estate.

Xie Jiannan read these financial news and just sighed slightly.

Kumho did not spend a penny from beginning to end, Kumho Commercial was able to acquire a 52-story skyscraper on Yongjia Avenue as its new headquarters building. Century Kumho Real Estate controlled a Hong Kong listed company to hold 30% of the equity and placed part of its assets into the listed company. The parent company transferred the company and obtained another HK$1.2 billion in working capital.

Hong Kong Guoyu Investment was a partner of Kumho when it was listed by Aida Electronics. The previous cooperation experience was quite pleasant. During the Asian financial crisis, it also reduced many losses due to keeping a close eye on Kumho's operations. This time, Kumho was brought in mainly to solve their 2 billion Hong Kong dollar debt crisis on Charles Schwab Real Estate.

After this capital operation, in fact, Guoyu Investment transferred HK$2 billion in debt from Charles Schwab Real Estate to Kumho Commercial. The corporate bond credit rating of Kumho Commercial showed that it was much higher than that of Charles Schwab Real Estate, which was on the verge of bankruptcy. Besides, after the Yongjia project was completed, the asset mortgage quality would be much higher than that of the unfinished building, and successfully resolved the debt crisis. In order to facilitate this, Guoyu Investment had to provide Kumho with more HK$600 million in financing to help it gain control of the listed company from HSBC.

As a veteran investment bank in Hong Kong, HSBC has also seen the development of the mainland real estate market in the past two years, but it has not found a suitable partner or medium. On the other hand, HSBC's equity investment in Charleston Real Estate has also suffered a heavy blow, and it is necessary to find a suitable partner to help them get out of the situation. HSBC then sold 30% of the equity of Charleston Real Estate pledged to the bank by Ge Mingxin and Ge Yinjun and his son to the bank to Kumho at a price slightly higher than the market value. In addition, it also purchased corporate bonds to provide Kumho with HK$1.2 billion to acquire some of Century Kumho Real Estate's commercial real estate assets in Haizhou after Kumho took over, improving the asset structure of the listed company, and jointly provided Kumho Commercial with a HK$3 billion loan to Kumho Commercial to acquire the unfinished project of Yongjia Avenue, a subsidiary of the listed company, to help the listed company relieve the heaviest burden in the past two years.

Schwain Real Estate was renamed Century Kumho Real Estate Group. Once the subsequent restructuring plan was announced, the stock price rebounded strongly and re-entered the ranks of large companies with a market value of over HK$5 billion.

The most painful thing in the whole process was probably Ge Mingxin, Ge Yinjun and his son.

30% of the equity of Charles Schwain Real Estate was originally property under their name, but it was pledged to HSBC to pay off debts. After the deadline, it lost its disposal rights and sold it to Kumho at a low price. The equity acquisition funds just offset their debts owed to HSBC (HSBC did not have the obligation to sell them at a good price). After the actual control of Charles Schwain Real Estate was transferred, especially after Kumho Commercial and HSBC Bank, Guoyu Investment signed and listed companies signed the disposal agreement for the Yongjia Avenue project, the market value of the part of the traded stocks surged three times in a short period of time, approaching HK$1.8 billion.

Unfortunately, all this has nothing to do with Ge Mingxin, Ge Yinjun and his son. You can imagine Ge Mingxin and Ge Yinjun and his son gritting their teeth. Unfortunately, they are no longer the maker of the rules of the game, but just the objects of the market being swallowed.

Before nightfall, Xie Jiannan specifically asked the driver to drive him around Repulse Bay. He looked at the deep courtyard on the left side of Repulse Bay Avenue. The door was deep and there were weeds on the walls and no one could clean it up. I couldn't see if there was anyone in the yard. He looked deserted and lonely. The most valuable asset of the Ge family and his son was the mansion that was claimed to be worth HK$400 million when the Hong Kong real estate market was the most popular. Some time ago, I heard that Ge Mingxin and Ge Yinjun and his son were interested in selling this mansion at a low price of HK$100 million. Who could have imagined that the Ge family, which ranked fourth in the Hong Kong rich list, would completely decline in just three or four years?

It cannot be said that the Ge family has declined.

Sun Shangyi, Ge Mingjue and his wife are both members of the Ge family, and Ge Mingde is also a branch of the Ge family. Since the core member companies under Jinhu never publish financial information to the public, the outside world can only initially estimate that the total assets of Sun Shangyi, Ge Mingjue and his wife and Ge Mingde are more than HK$4 billion.

Xie Jiannan is more familiar with the situation in Kumho. He knows that Sun Shangyi, Ge Mingjue and his wife, Ge Mingde and others are crucial to the rapid development of Kumho in recent years. In addition to personally charging, they also provide a lot of capital for the early development of Kumho. Sun Shangyi and Ge Mingjue and his wife sold their shares of Chia Xin Real Estate before the outbreak of the Asian financial crisis, which cashed out in Kumho. This fund was naturally injected into Kumho - their rights and interests in Kumho Commercial will not be too low.

You should know that the cash income of Kumho from the two Internet companies, Quantun Online and Global Music Online, exceeded 1.6 billion US dollars. Putting aside this additional unconventional income, Kumho's total profit scale in consumer electronics, home appliances, real estate, paper, chain stores and other fields in 1999 is estimated to reach 1.6 billion US dollars or even higher. Compared with the usual securitization calculation method, it is quite conservative to estimate the market value of the entire Kumho at around 30 billion US dollars.

Even if Sun Shangyi, Ge Mingjue and his wife, Ge Mingde and others had only 10% of the equity in Jinhu, their wealth under their name was estimated to be around 3 billion US dollars, which would exceed the level of the Ge family's peak period.

Hong Kong financial media estimates that Sun and others’ wealth is only HK$4 billion, which is probably only considered based on the size of Kumho’s net assets. If Sun and others are willing to transfer their interests in Kumho for HK$4 billion, the International Investment Bank will probably be scrambling for this.

Ge Mingjue is the eldest daughter of the Ge family. Although Sun Shangyi is a son-in-law, he is a marriage to the Ge family. It can be said that the Ge family has revived with them. Even if the other members of the Ge family who were separated are no longer rich and noble, they will at least not be down; the only ones who are really down are Ge Mingxin, Ge Yinjun and his son.

Xie Jiannan asked the driver to stop the car. He got out of the car, stood on the curb and lit a cigarette, looking at the deep blue sea water in the distance. Speaking of it, he still had a business owner with an annual profit of over 200 million and an employee size of nearly 10,000. However, this achievement was like Ying Chong Yingyue in front of Jinhu. Looking back on his impulse and inexplicable arrogance when he first returned to China, it was really too childish and funny.

Xie Jiannan snatched the cigarette butt in the grass on the side of the road, turned around and asked the driver to take him to the airport. When he went down the mountain, he saw Ge Yinjun driving a silver Ferrari sports car and passing by. The woman in red was sitting next to him. The impression of the glance was quite gorgeous. Xie Jiannan vaguely remembered that this face was seen on the screen, and he might be a little star in Hong Kong.

Xie Jiannan recognized Ge Yinjun without any hesitation. Seeing that Ge Yinjun still did not forget the wealthy family members driving sports cars and playing with the celebrity show. I don’t know how long he can last in this kind of life. When the car turns around and throws the silver sports car out of sight, Xie Jiannan also completely throws Ge Yinjun, the old friend, into the corner of his memory.

Xie Jiannan did not want to get involved in the mobile phone business and was determined to interfere with Huaxia Electronics, NEC or Mitsui Products behind the NEC. He strictly prevented the leak of rumors in the establishment of a mobile phone department. For this reason, he did many things himself, preparing to inform Huaxia Electronics and NEC when the preliminary preparations were almost done, so that the resistance could be minimized. When all the work was ready, even if Huaxia Electronics and NEC joined forces to obstruct, Xie Jiandong could still push things hard as a controlling shareholder.

After Xie Jiannan returned from Hong Kong, he stayed in Kingsoft for two days, and then took the head of the technical department to Jianye to discuss technical issues with the Oak Garden mobile phone chip R&D department. Kewang formed a mobile phone department and purchased core components such as ESS basic frequency chipsets from Kumho, which naturally also included necessary technical support.

In fact, Kumho can provide more. In addition to core components and necessary technical support, Kumho even provides complete machine solutions. However, first of all, Kumho ensures that its products are completely delivered to overseas markets. For the time being, only Kumho and Lianxin can obtain Kumho's complete machine technical solution support in the domestic mobile phone market. This is also to ensure the smooth implementation of the dark disk agreement with China Unicom and avoid the ESS baseband mobile phone from other channels disrupting the layout of the domestic market.

Only then did Xie Jiannan know more about Kumho's strategic layout in mid- and low-end mobile phones. No brand can cover all people. The consumer electronic products under Kumho's own brand mainly point to the mid- and high-end consumer market. They may take into account the mid- and low-end markets, but they must not cause trouble in the mid- and low-end markets to conduct comprehensive coverage, otherwise it will seriously damage the value of the brand. Kumho's ambitions for the mid- and low-end mobile phone market can only be implemented indirectly. Kewang Hi-Tech, Lianxin, Xinyuan, Kewang, and other companies will become the channel for Kumho to point to the terminal market in the future and become a link in the entire industrial chain planned by Kumho.

Sometimes the guess is confirmed, and the heart doesn't feel particularly good. At night, Xie Zijia had a meal with Xie Zijia, moved a little, drank two more glasses of wine, and asked for gratitude: "When we were going to compete for Haitai, he didn't compete with us. We thought he was weak and bullied. Now look at it, I really feel pitiful and ridiculous..."

Xie Yi also felt sad. If he hadn't learned that King Ke was about to become a buyer in Jinhu, he would have hesitated whether to have dinner with Xie Jiannan at night. Who could have imagined that the person would have put such great pressure on him in his subconscious mind? He clinked glasses with Xie Jiannan and said, "If I had gritted my teeth, I would have survived..."

"What a pity and ridiculous man," Xie Zijia said without mercy. "You are so naive, but they are not merciless at all to the Ge family. Do you grit your teeth and try it?"

Xie Jiannan smiled bitterly. If it weren't for the rift, it would have been more likely to be hugging each other and sinking into the abyss. His uncle passed away, Ge Mingxin, Ge Yinjun and his son were completely declining and no longer had the ability to make trouble. The grudges between the two sides faded, and the eldest sister should have played a big role.

"You won't hate my dad, do you?" asked thanks.

"I have always admired my second uncle's decisiveness and decisiveness. How could I resent him? It's because my second uncle can see through it thoroughly," Xie Jiannan shook his head slightly, "What are the development plans of Haitai Electric Appliances?"

"..." Xie Yi smiled bitterly and shook his head, saying, "The layout of Shengxin Electrical Appliances has been completed. Although Haitai is in the East China Sea and Jiangnan can still survive, the road to development is completely blocked by Shengxin... If Jinhu makes some small moves behind the scenes, there is still a lot of pain to complain about, who will complain to now? I can't see where Haitai's future path is, and I want to throw this stall away and do something else."

Xie Jiannan smiled and Haitai has always had a good profit level in recent years under Xie Yi's management, but for Xie Yi, it is more important to make breakthroughs in his career.

Shengxin Electric began to deploy industrial layout in major central cities across the country in 1997, with more flagship stores than Haitai’s total stores. In 1998, it began to deploy direct mobile phone stores, forming a mobile phone marketing network covering the whole country and deeply involved in county-level cities.

Haitai and Shengxin competed in the same industry, and the situation was too small. In 1997, 1998, he missed the opportunity to expand outwardly. Shengxin's industrial layout had been completed, and Haitai lost the opportunity to expand outwardly. When Shengxin further strengthened its industrial layout, Haitai would feel the pressure of survival.

"What's there to sigh?" Xie Zijia said, "Overseas home appliance chain giants are eyeing the domestic market. It's better to sell Haitai to them to see who can grab the food with Kumho in the same basin."

"It sounds light." Xie Yi reached out and knocked Zijia's head. He did consider selling Haitai Electric Appliances when there was no pressure to survive. However, under such an industry structure, in addition to Shengxin Electric Appliances, perhaps only overseas home appliance chain giants are potential buyers, but they are afraid that selling Haitai to overseas companies will anger Kumho.

"Aren't you just want to steal chickens but afraid of losing rice?" Xie Zijia said incisively, "Since you want to throw away Haitai's stall and sell it at a high price. If Sheng Xin bids a high price, it is not impossible to sell Haitai to Sheng Xin. How can you have so many concerns?"

Xie Yi wanted to say something, but Xie Jiannan's cell phone on the table rang. He looked at Xie Jiannan and glanced at the number, then silenced the phone, letting the phone flash there. After all, the relationship had not recovered until it was broken. Even if he had doubts in his heart, he couldn't help but ask.

Xie Jiannan took the initiative to explain: "The classic Lin Xue, she may know that I have arrived in Jianye..."

"That woman!" Xie Zijia looked disdainful.

"Their risky move on Haisu Technology is about to be done for them..." Xie Yi sighed softly. The Internet wave has continued to surge and has not stopped yet. Haisu Technology's stock price has soared by 28 times compared to its average level before the restructuring in May last year, and its market value has exceeded 16 billion. This is a result that no one had expected before. If it is operated properly, it will eventually be able to withdraw 600 billion yuan of funds.

Who knows that 30% of Global Music Online's equity has bought Kumho at a sky-high price of $900 million, and the takeover is Microsoft, the leader of global technology companies.

"It's still too dangerous," Xie Jiannan shook his head, "Kumho's capital operation around Chiaxin Real Estate is the right way this time - the benefit can be said to be immediate. Kumho acquired that part of the equity for HK$600 million and increased its value to nearly HK$1.8 billion in a few days. He did not spend a penny for this, and also obtained HK$1.2 billion in funds for domestic real estate development. Even if another foreign debt of HK$3.6 billion is added to the total liability, it will be worth it."

"Kumho's total debt scale is about 3 billion US dollars, right?" Xie Yi asked.

"It's almost the same, even if not, it's not far away," Xie Jiannan said. "Others may say that Kumho is lice because there are too many lice and are not afraid of biting. You and I know that it is Kumho's daunting financing ability that supports its rapid expansion in many fields. I estimate that the investment scale of Kumho Commercial in the past two years will reach 400 billion US dollars, which does not include the expansion of Aida, Shengxin, Xiangxuehai, Shinkwang, and Century Kumho in their respective industrial fields... Even if Hongxin can withdraw massive amounts of funds from Haisu Technology, it will leave Kumho far behind."
Chapter completed!