Rebirth: The Era of Hong Kong Tycoon

Chapter 57 [Small and ambitious]

Evergrande Real Estate went public on September 9. In the following week, the share price first climbed to HK$3 per share, and then fluctuated between HK$6 and HK$5.5. The upside potential was temporarily exhausted, and the share price was relatively stable.

Of course, there is another main reason for this: the Hong Kong stock market experienced a slight correction in August and September, and is expected to rise again in October until the end of the year.

Lin Rongheng has a lot of 'good' news in his hands, and if he releases any one, it is enough to make Evergrande Real Estate rise by several percent; however, due to the poor environment in September and the lack of time to digest the results, Lin Rongheng decided to wait for another 'good' news in October. ', and once again raised the stock of Evergrande Real Estate by about [-] to [-]%, and then issued new shares to raise funds.

at the same time.

Evergrande Real Estate went to two more cities and acquired Zhonghui Building in Kwun Tong and Zhongliancheng Building on Queen's Road, costing a total of 2600 million Hong Kong dollars;
Among them, Zhonghui Building in Kwun Tong has a 12-storey building with a property area of ​​9 square feet and an annual rent of HK$90;
Among them, the Zhongliancheng Building on Queen's Road has a nine-storey building with a property area of ​​7 square feet and an annual rent of HK$150 million.

The Lijing Building (Queen's Road) and Universal Building (Des Voeux Road) purchased earlier, the total area of ​​the two buildings is 15 square feet, and the annual rent can reach 360 million Hong Kong dollars.

Therefore, Evergrande Real Estate currently has a rentable area of ​​31 square feet, and the annual rent can reach 600 million Hong Kong dollars; of course, this is only the rent level in 1970.From 1971 to 1973, rents would increase by 40% per year, which is why Lam Wing Heng developed rental properties.

In addition, Evergrande Real Estate also owns 10 small-scale sites (6 under construction, 2 joint ventures), and a medium-sized site under discussion.

Lin Rongheng decided to hold a meeting of shareholders and senior management to give everyone some blood.

At present, Evergrande Real Estate is already a listed company, and naturally it must have a board of directors. Lin Rongheng nominated several shareholders from the outside to join the board of directors; of course, these directors do not have any real power, and they are more representative of shareholders.

After all, Lin Rongheng holds 75% of the shares, which is enough to exercise absolute power; generally speaking, even if the founder has only 10% of the shares, he can control a company.

And Evergrande Real Estate has as many as 9 executives, and several new faces have been added, all of which have been dug recently.

At the meeting, Lin Rongheng smugly put forward: "We Evergrande Real Estate should take Landmark as our goal, not only to learn from Landmark's successful experience, but also to exceed Landmark's scale!"

Heungkong Land Co., Ltd. was founded in 1889 by the British businessman Paul Chater and Jardine Matheson Jem Keswick. The registered capital at that time was 500 million Hong Kong dollars, making it the largest company in Heungkong.After more than half a century of development, Landmark has become one of the world's largest real estate companies, and is definitely in a dominant position in Heung Kong.

In addition to real estate, Landmark is also engaged in hotel catering and food sales. Its business base focuses on Hong Kong and radiates to 14 countries and regions in the Asia-Pacific region.

As soon as Lin Rongheng finished speaking, several 'puppet' shareholders looked at each other in dismay, and almost booed; even a few executives who had just been dug up had doubts on their faces.

It can be seen how 'overlord' the Landmark is in the Hong Kong real estate industry, and the market value of the Landmark accounts for about 8% of the Hong Kong stock market.

A shareholder directly questioned: "Chairman, compared with Landmark and even other real estate companies, Evergrande Real Estate can only be regarded as a medium-sized real estate developer that has just broken away from small real estate developers; even in real estate development, We are not even as good as some small real estate developers. How can we compete with real estate giants?”

The shareholder knew that he was just here to go through the motions anyway, and that Evergrande Real Estate was Lin Rongheng's slogan. Do a good thing.

Lin Rongheng waited for the shareholder to finish speaking, without any anger on his face, he just said confidently:

"Of course! Any large company in the world grows from small to large, from weak to strong. The famous Sir Chater came to Hong Kong from England, but he is just an obscure and poor man. He relies on diligence, shrewdness and opportunity, To develop into a wealthy person, to create a Wharf, to build a land, and to operate a Hong Kong Electric, these are all step by step. We should have great ambitions and set lofty goals in everything we do. Only then can we have pressure and motivation.”

"Of course, the current strength of Evergrande is far from the same as that of Landmark. But we can learn from Landmark's operating experience first. Landmark has been able to stand for more than half a century, thanks to its focus on property collection (rent collection) Mainly, the policy of developing properties (sale) is secondary. Landmark does not seek far-reaching profits, but focuses on long-term investment. Therefore, in recent years, Evergrande will also implement this policy.”

After listening to Lin Rongheng's lofty ambitions, everyone was gradually brought in, and no longer doubted that Lin Rongheng was bragging!

A shareholder asked again: "Chairman, what you said is that in recent years, the implementation of property acquisition is the mainstay, and the development of properties is supplemented; that is to say, the strategy of Evergrande Real Estate will change in a few years. Can you talk to us? Can you tell me why?"

Lin Rongheng nodded and said, "The reason why I said that in recent years we should be on par with Landmark is because:
First, there are still some shortcomings in our experience in developing properties, especially in large and medium-sized projects;
Second, I want to build a solid foundation for Evergrande Real Estate, and the rental property is this solid foundation;

Third, we can make full use of the stock market pump and bank loans, so that even if we rely on renting properties, we can grow rapidly; what's more, we are also working hard to increase development properties. "

When everyone heard the words, they couldn't help but nod their heads one after another.

Lin Rongheng continued: "Competing with Landmark, our strength is still far behind! Landmark's base is in Central, and the property in Central has developed to the extreme. An inch of gold is hard to find an inch of land, but an inch of land. Therefore, Evergrande will try its best to Avoid developing sites in Central, but we can go to places with great development prospects and low land prices, or expand into new towns. When the funds are strong, we will return to Central and face Landmark head-to-head.”

"I remember my late father and I said the principle of 'prosperity must decline'. I often use this statement to verify what happened in time. There are many verifications. Take Landmark, for the past ten years, the performance of Landmark's development has not been satisfactory. The momentum is far less than that of the rising star Swire Pacific. When Evergrande Real Estate was founded, the capital was only more than 100 million Hong Kong dollars, and even the office was smashed by others. Today, Evergrande Real Estate has become one of the most dazzling enterprises in Heungkong. Banks are willing to lend us loans, and more investors are willing to participate. So, we focus on developing real estate, and the growth rate will change with each passing day. Therefore, beyond Landmark, I think it will only take ten years!"

To compete with Landmark ten years later is actually just a modest statement made by Lin Rongheng.

It can be said that Land Land is old, and its business practices are cautious and traditional, far less sophisticated than Lin Rongheng's.

Perhaps, seven or eight years later, Evergrande Real Estate will be able to surpass Landmark.

In fact, the exaggeration is not that Lin Rongheng took [-] years to catch up with Landmark, but that Lin Rongheng might have caught up with the 'Five Tigers of Chinese Real Estate' in just over a year.

This is to make full use of the power of the stock market and bank leverage!

Lin Rongheng's lofty and ambitious words received thunderous applause in the conference room. Everyone was impressed by Lin Rongheng's self-confidence, and immediately felt the same way, and his fighting spirit was high.

(End of this chapter)