The Industrial Giant Reborn.

Chapter 358 The Land King Auction (2) and the Hooked Land

As the biggest news in Hong Kong, the Central Land King will naturally be the finale of this auction, that is, the last auction. Before the auction, the order of the entire auction and the list of land plots for each auction have been announced. After all, these lands range from hundreds of millions to more than one billion Hong Kong dollars. Any company or consortium needs to make preparations in advance whether to buy or which land to buy. However, the pre-sale price will always be kept secret.

The first piece of land to be auctioned was a 6-square-foot commercial land in Tsim Sha Tsui. The Hong Kong government required the construction of a commercial office building with a floor area ratio of no more than 5. Half of the area must be held by the bidder for 5 years before it can be sold.

The Hong Kong government generally has some restrictions on the land it bids for, such as the maximum development period, floor area ratio, what kind of house to build, height, number of parking spaces, public building requirements, etc., which are also urban development planning requirements. Otherwise, many people take land, and they are likely to store it there, or build a very short building to show off, and then wait for appreciation. In fact, there are many such things in the mainland in later generations.

Of course, the mainland government actually has a lot of restrictions on the land after the auction. Generally, domestic real estate developers dare not mess around, but some real estate developers from Hong Kong often play like this.

However, these are things that the government needs to consider when the real estate market is more profitable and the potential for appreciation is greater. Now, on the contrary, the Hong Kong government restricts the speed at which bidders can sell properties.

Of course, the land value in Tsim Sha Tsui is not as high as that in Central, but it is also one of the few bustling commercial areas in Hong Kong. In addition, the location of this land is not bad in Tsim Sha Tsui, which immediately aroused the interest of some consortiums. The auction will regard this land as the first auction, probably to get a good start.

It’s just that for big companies like Landmark, Cheung Kong, and Swire, this piece of land is not a must. If they can buy this piece of land on weekdays, they will try their best to fight for it. But at the auction, there must be a trade-off, because there are too many good pieces of land.

Soon, several smaller real estate companies participated, and finally, Great Eagle Industrial won the land with a transaction price of 9.8 million Hong Kong dollars.

Chen Zhiwen glanced at Luo Yingshi, the owner of Yingjun Industrial. This boss Luo can be said to be one of the characters in Hong Kong. He started his business in the 40s and specialized in real estate. Now, Yingjun Industry has become one of the top ten real estate companies in Hong Kong. It made several billion yuan in selling, and then used the real estate bull market to make the market value of Yingjun industry exceeded 73 billion Hong Kong dollars.

The investment of nearly 10 billion Hong Kong dollars is already the limit of Eagle King, which also determines that the follow-up land is basically out of his reach.

Next, a few more pieces of land were sold. Although the transaction price was not as high as before, the atmosphere at the scene had been enlivened. Many media reporters aimed at the real estate developers at the scene, intending to capture the most suitable pictures for reporting or news.

After an hour passed, the last piece of Land King's land finally came on the stage.

"What is going to be auctioned now is a piece of seaside land located on the west side of Connaught Plaza in Central, between Connaught Road and Harbor View Road, with a total area of ​​14.4 square feet. This land was originally the terminus of CMB and minibus in Central. According to the requirements of the Hong Kong government, three buildings will be built on this land, and the space on the first and second floors will still be used by CMB as a new terminus.

At the same time, the trading hall of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange will also be relocated here. It is hoped that the successful bidders will consider all of these before bidding. In the future, the design of the building must consider the above two factors.

Because this piece of land is facing the sea, the floor area ratio is required to be below 15, and buildings with higher floors can be built.

The auction has officially started. The starting price is 55 billion Hong Kong dollars, and each increase should not be less than 5000 million Hong Kong dollars. Now, please raise your placard to bid. "

Just the starting price exceeds the sum of all previous transactions, which is 55 billion Hong Kong dollars. At the current exchange rate, it is 12 billion U.S. dollars. This price is sold for a piece of land, not to mention the subsequent quotations. This data alone can become the highest in the world. In the future, Ginza, Tokyo, Japan in the late 80s may break this record.

"55 billion Hong Kong dollars!" Although rumors had been released in the media, Zhao Lilin couldn't help but gasp when he heard this figure. This figure was even higher than the market value of Wharf.

At the scene, in addition to the Hong Kong consortium, there were also some representatives of the Japanese consortium. They were also interested in this land, and they were the first to quote their price: "56 billion Hong Kong dollars."

"57 billion." New World's Zheng Yutong's second offer made many people look at him in surprise. You must know that although New World is one of the real estate giants today, but with 57 billion Hong Kong dollars, even if New World can rely on loans, it will cause the entire New World Company to be heavily in debt. Being able to follow like this must be optimistic about the future of Hong Kong's real estate.

"58 billion." Lee Shau Kee quickly followed up, causing a "buzzing" discussion at the scene.

Lee Shau Kee's Henderson Land is among the top five real estate properties in Hong Kong, but his development model is completely different from others. Over the years, Henderson has basically not participated in auctions, but relied on collecting old buildings and demolishing them, and then building new ones.That is to say, he proposed that after the new building is completed, the new property will be obtained in proportion to the area of ​​the original owner's old property.

Before this, the real estate companies basically paid for the acquisition, but in this way, the requirements for funds were too high. Although Lee Shau Kee’s method reduced the salable area of ​​the new building by about half, the cost of demolishing the building was reduced to 3% of the original, which greatly increased efficiency and made Henderson one of the earliest real estate five tigers, which has been strong until now.

And this demolition tycoon couldn't help but come to bid for the land, which can even stimulate Hong Kong's property market.

"60 billion." Li Jiacheng raised his finger and said, while the people around him raised their cards. This is his favorite mode of bidding.

The auction price was increased by 3 million at one time, which shocked everyone. The price has reached 60 billion. How many people dare to continue at this moment?

Li Zhaoji glanced at Li Jiacheng, then raised his sign and said, "62 billion."

Another number stimulated everyone at the scene, and even the cameramen who were filming around began to feel powerless and unable to concentrate. Although this amount had nothing to do with them, this was the only time in their life, possibly the only time they had come into contact with such a big deal.

"63 billion Hong Kong dollars." Guo Desheng of Sun Hung Kai held up a placard.

Among the real estate five tigers, except for Hu Yingxiang, who obviously intends to make large-scale investment in the mainland, the other four have all appeared.

A cameraman not far away was also watching everything in front of him, and his heart beat faster.

"Master?" The apprentice beside him looked at the dazed master and reminded him.

"Oh, I'm fine, you just stare at the camera, don't miss the exciting part." The master said after recovering.

"Okay, there will be no problem here, but, master, more than 60 billion, just to buy a piece of land?" the apprentice asked in disbelief.

"You find it unbelievable, but for big bosses, it's quite normal." The master said softly: "This piece of land, after the house is built, will have an area of ​​at least 200 million square feet. Now, the price of a Grade A office building in Central Hong Kong is 300 Hong Kong dollars per square foot. That's the rent, and the area per square foot costs more than 60 Hong Kong dollars a year. What do you mean by buying land for [-] billion?"

"It's right to think so." The land suddenly understood. The buildings in Central Hong Kong are expensive. The number of transactions in the past few years is very small. Basically, after the big consortia hold them, they wait for rent collection, because even by collecting rent, they can make a fortune. After the building is built on this piece of land, according to the current rent, it can collect 6 million Hong Kong dollars a year in rent. No wonder so many bigwigs are crazy about it.

"65 billion Hong Kong dollars." Under Chen Zhiwen's gesture, Zhao Lilin held up the sign.

Seeing Chen Zhiwen's bid, the scene was full of heated discussions. The participation of the Hong Kong God of Wealth was enough to bring the auction to its climax.

"It's the first time with HK$65 billion. I don't know if there is a higher price." The bidder was also very happy to see Chen Zhiwen make the bid. Although he didn't have any commission, completing such a large transaction in his hands is enough to become the highest achievement in life.

All eyes were on the representatives from Landmark and Swire Properties sitting in the middle right.

Bao Fuda glanced at Niu Bijian, and after the latter nodded, Bao Fuda held up a placard and said, "66 billion Hong Kong dollars."

"67 billion." Chen Zhiwen said without hesitation.

"68 billion."

"69 billion."

"71.5 billion." Chen Zhiwen reported a figure, and the people at the scene were surprised again. It was not that the amount was too large. The difference between 71.5 billion and the previous 71 billion was only 5000 million Hong Kong dollars. But before, everyone reported a step of at least 5000 million Hong Kong dollars. This time, it was the minimum amount of [-] million.

Bao Fuda glanced at Chen Zhiwen who was not far away, and then had a quick conversation with Niu Bijian, and then raised a sign and said: 73 billion Hong Kong dollars.

A one-time increase of 1.5 million Hong Kong dollars, the meaning of oppression is obvious.

Many people put their eyes on Chen Zhiwen again, but obviously, Chen Zhiwen didn't move, and he didn't intend to follow.

"73 billion, the first time." The auctioneer looked at Chen Zhiwen. Obviously, the other people present no longer had the ability to compete with Landmark.

"73 million, the second time."

"73 billion, the third time, the transaction." With the sound of the hammer falling, Hongkong Land obtained the land with the most expensive transaction amount and unit price in human history.

73 billion Hong Kong dollars, equivalent to 16 billion U.S. dollars, is an astronomical sum in any country.

In the neighboring mainland, the current foreign exchange reserves only fluctuate between 20 billion and 40 billion U.S. dollars, and the annual import and export volume is only 500 billion U.S. dollars. In other words, the value of a piece of land is equivalent to the import and export quota of the entire mainland for half a month. This is a country with a population of one billion plus a large amount of mineral imports and exports.

In the most powerful United States, General Electric, as an industrial giant in the United States, has a net profit of just over US$10 billion a year, which is not as good as this piece of land. In the entire United States, it is estimated that there are no more than 20 companies whose net profit can exceed this piece of land.

However, according to the current housing prices in Hong Kong, the price of this land is not outrageous. After all, after the house is built, the rent alone will generate hundreds of millions of income a year. Chen Zhiwen, who is well aware of the history, also knows that after the land price re-enters the bull market in 85, the housing price in Central will reach a new high.

Although he didn't get the land, Chen Zhiwen was still very happy, because he got the land, and the price was too high. In the future, the land would have to pay a huge debt for it, and next year when the real estate price plummeted, it would be the best time for him to make a move against the land.

Although the trading building in the future is very valuable and this location is the only one, compared with Landmark's century-old accumulation, the dozen or so buildings in Central are nothing.

After the auction was over, Niu Bijian came to Chen Zhiwen with Bao Fuda and a few people from Swire, and said with a smile: "Chen Sheng, long time no see, you are a rare visitor at the Hong Kong Government Auction."

"Just take a look. I still want to congratulate Jardine Group for obtaining such a treasured land in Central. With this piece of land, Landmark's title of land king in Central can be said to be indestructible." Chen Zhiwen came to him after winning the auction. Naturally, Chen Zhiwen knew what these people thought. He was probably worried about the previous contact.

"Thanks to Chen Sheng for thinking about it." Niu Bijian said with a smile. After completing the mutual control of Yizhi, Niubijian believed that this holding model must be unbreakable. Therefore, he has nothing to fear in the face of Chen Zhiwen, who has stronger financial resources. This is also the confidence of Hongkong Land in the past two years.

"Haha, I still can't compare to Hongkong Land's wealth and wealth. This land will be built into a building in the future, so I have to reserve a good place for it." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"No problem." Niu Bijian nodded and said.

Although Wharf was robbed by Chen Zhiwen, the shopping mall has only interests and no friends or enemies, and what is lost has already been lost, so what else?If there is cooperation, we will still cooperate. Jardine was the first consortium in Hong Kong before, but now it is obviously not. If you want to get along well in Hong Kong, you can't go against Chen Zhiwen no matter what. Therefore, it is better to cooperate if you can.

"Then I'll wait for another landmark building in Hong Kong." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, the future trading building will indeed be a landmark after completion, but it will not work after the 21st century. Hong Kong's top buildings will basically be replaced by new ones in three to five years.

After returning home, his father Chen Tianfu saw his son sitting on the sofa, walked over and asked, "What's the matter? The auction didn't succeed, and I feel uncomfortable?"

"How could it be possible? I'm so happy." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said, "Landmark has fallen into a trap. The current housing prices in Hong Kong may not be able to withstand the price in Central soon. In fact, if it weren't for the desperate support of the big companies such as Landmark and Carrian, I'm afraid it would have died a long time ago."

Not to mention that when the real estate crisis broke out in September next year, even at the beginning of next year, the land price in Central could no longer hold up. The original land king in history only sold 9 billion yuan because the land price had already plummeted at that time. In just six months, Landmark had to lose close to 47.55 billion Hong Kong dollars, which was enough for Landmark.

However, this kind of loss is not a serious injury to the opponent, it's just a loss of one finger at most.

"How do you plan to resolve the mutual control between Landmark and Jardine?" Chen Tianfu asked.

"Mutual control means that we live together and die together. Once one family is captured, the other family will not be able to escape," Chen Zhiwen said.

"So, are you planning to attack Jardine?" Chen Tianfu said.

"Almost." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

"It's still a little troublesome, but if you succeed, you can sell so many Central buildings to me. I also want to experience what it's like to own a Central building." Chen Tianfu said with a smile.

"No problem." Chen Zhiwen readily agreed.

(End of this chapter)