Rebirth: The Era of Hong Kong Tycoon

Chapter 84 [The ambition of the retail industry]

Lin Rongheng sent away Li Guowei, general manager of Hang Seng Bank, and returned to his office.

Some time ago, Lin Rongheng announced the establishment of Evergrande Holding Group in his own name, and injected 5000 million Hong Kong dollars into real estate activities, which undoubtedly strengthened his profound background; the reason is very simple, if Lin Rongheng did not have an overseas background, how could it be possible Got an unsecured loan of $2000 million back and forth.

Based on this alone, none of the Chinese businessmen in Xiangjiang can stand out.

Business leaders and bankers on Hong Kong Island naturally hope to have business cooperation with Evergrande Real Estate.

Banks that are willing to lend to Evergrande Real Estate are like carps crossing the river for a while.

Hang Seng Bank is one of them. After Lin Rongheng proposed a loan to Hang Seng Bank, Hang Seng Bank attached great importance to it and immediately sent General Manager Li Guowei to Hengda Real Estate for inspection; the so-called inspection was just a passing scene. In a year, it will definitely not show too dazzling performance.

The advantage of Evergrande Real Estate lies in Lin Rongheng's deep background and the current high market value of Evergrande Real Estate. As long as these banks do not find any problems with Evergrande Real Estate's investment during inspection, they will immediately agree to loan.

Therefore, after a recent operation, Evergrande Real Estate loaned 5000 million Hong Kong dollars to four banks, plus 4800 million Hong Kong dollars raised by the stock market, and 5000 million Hong Kong dollars that Wanguobaotong Bank loaned to Lin Rongheng personally, a total of 1.5 million Hong Kong dollars. It is HK$11 million for real estate activities in November and December.

The total real estate assets of Evergrande Real Estate and Lin Rongheng climbed again, reaching 4 million Hong Kong dollars, which is definitely ahead of all Chinese real estate developers.

Since the debt of Evergrande Group has reached as high as 1.9 million Hong Kong dollars, plus the interest generated, the debt of Evergrande Group has reached nearly 5%, so Evergrande Real Estate may not be able to make a large loan again for the time being; however, a single site project can still be used in a small amount. loan.

At the same time, according to the information known to Lin Rongheng, the stock market situation in the first half of 1971 was not very good, and there was a slight correction; therefore, in the first half of 1971, Evergrande Real Estate's stock market fundraising may also be subject to certain restrictions, and it can only reduce the issuance. The number and amount of new shares.

Lin Rongheng walked to the window of his office and muttered to himself: "There is nothing to break through in real estate activities for the time being. We just need to proceed step-by-step and make breakthroughs in the second half of 1971. Then, what else can I do to expand your own business?"

The brain is running at a high speed, and there are many careers that can be done, but the premise is that the demand for funds is small, because Lin Rongheng can't take out the money, and he only has a cash flow of 200 million Hong Kong dollars.

Although Lin Rongheng holds 3000 million shares of Evergrande Real Estate, accounting for 61.22% of the total shares (900 million new shares were issued twice before and after, and the current total share capital is 4900 million shares); but 1000 million shares have been mortgaged to Liao Chongxing Bank, HSBC and Citibank, as for the remaining 2000 million shares, Lin Rongheng naturally would not mortgage too early, because it was not cost-effective; even for the 1000 million shares, he would find a way to untie them in 1972.

Taking into account the strength of the funds, Lin Rongheng quickly crossed out many industries, and finally his eyes lit up, and an industry appeared in front of his eyes - the retail industry.

There are probably several ways of retailing: department stores, supermarkets, convenience stores
There are hundreds of department stores in Hong Kong. The oldest is Lane Crawford. Lane Crawford was established in 1850 by British businessman Thomas Ashrano and others. In 1969, Lane Crawford was approved by the British Capital Council. Purchased by Tak Fung & Co.

Although Lane Crawford has changed hands, its high-end line has remained the same. Lane Crawford owns 5 large department stores in Hong Kong, all of which sell European and American brand-name products. The customers are mainly high-income earners such as the rich and famous; Lane Crawford is proud of its status as a high-end department store.

Before the 70s, the department store industry in Hong Kong was basically dominated by Chinese capital. In addition to Xianshi and Wing On, there were also many large department stores such as Daxin, Zhonghua, Yuhua, and Dahua; but as far as Lin Rongheng knew, since the mid-70s , RB department stores came to Hong Kong one after another, and the RB department store industry's world-class service, strong financial resources of Japanese funds, and the growing reputation of RB products, suddenly Chinese-funded department stores were cut off one after another; Japanese-funded department stores accounted for the turnover of Hong Kong's department stores in their heyday 6%.

Through analysis, Lin Rongheng first ruled out entering the field of department stores, not to say that he would not enter this field, but that it is not suitable to enter this field now.

As for the supermarket, Lin Rongheng could only sigh and sigh, one is that he has no strength, and the other is that he does not want to compete with Landmark now.

The investment in supermarkets is definitely huge. 200 million Hong Kong dollars may be enough to start this project, but it will definitely not be able to withstand the pressure of competitors. The most important thing is that the supermarkets in Hong Kong are not yet mature. ) established a brand of Wellcome Supermarket.

Historically, another major supermarket, ParknShop, was established in 1973 by Hutchison & Co.

Lin Rongheng doesn't want to be caught in the competition with Landmark now, although it is only a commercial competition;
But Lin Rongheng doesn't want to enter this immature market now, nor does he want to have the possibility of malicious competition with Landmark.

Then, only the convenience store is left!

In the previous life, Xiangjiang only entered the development period of convenience stores in the late 70s, and even RB only introduced 1974-Eleven convenience stores in the United States in 7.

Hong Kong was already a city that never sleeps in the 70s, with young people working and people staying overnight, and Hong Kong’s economy took off in the 70s; therefore, Lin Rongheng believes that in this era, convenience stores must be suitable for Hong Kong in this era.

Convenience stores are definitely characterized by long operating hours and smaller area than department stores and supermarkets. They do not require a complete range of goods, but rely on 'convenience', 'cleanness' and 'fastness' to attract customers; they provide a variety of convenience foods for customers to choose from. For example: quick-frozen steamed dumplings, steamed buns, shumai, soup dumplings, cakes, biscuits, bento and other ready-to-eat foods, as well as beverages such as milk, coffee, juice, etc. The store provides microwave ovens and other equipment for customers to eat warmly.

Now that the goal has been decided, Lin Rongheng returned to his desk and started planning on paper.

First of all, it is definitely not necessary to start from scratch, first set up a retail company in Hong Kong, and then go to the United States; negotiate with the American Southern Company to win the Hong Kong agency of 7-Eleven.

Secondly, based on the experience of later generations, Lin Rongheng built the convenience store into a more American company and started business in Hong Kong.

Finally, take Hong Kong as a springboard to start business activities in RB, Macau, Taiwan Island, and Southeast Asia; if a convenience store wants to operate in these places, it must be a joint venture with a local company, which is much easier.

Soon, a preliminary plan appeared on paper, and Lin Rongheng leaned on the office chair with satisfaction.

Of course, supermarkets and department stores must also enter, but it has to wait until a good time; when Lin Rongheng has a high status in Hong Kong and can cash out a lot of money from listed companies, Lin Rongheng can consider it.

Thinking of this, Lin Rongheng called his assistant at Evergrande and an office worker, and told them to help him rent an office building and run errands for some errands; as for the retail team, he naturally asked Lin Rongheng to interview in person.

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(End of this chapter)