Started from Hong Kong Island

Chapter 404 402 [The Big Crash is Coming]

Time flies and it is September 82.

The new Governor-General Edward Youde has been in office for nearly half a year. There has been a lot of news about this Governor-General recently because many people know that Edward Youde’s most important mission in Hong Kong is to negotiate the future of Hong Kong.

In April this year, in order to ease domestic economic pressure, the Argentine government decided to shift conflicts externally and launched a military occupation of the British-colonized Falkland Islands, but was defeated and more than 4 people died.

This earned the Prime Minister the Iron Lady a great reputation, and she became somewhat complacent and very confident about the negotiations in September.

In fact, how can a small country compare with a big country?

Therefore, starting from June, the pro-British faction in Hong Kong began to take action, hoping to win over more people and strengthen their power. As a result, Hong Kong's newspapers became a battlefield for debate, shouting, and verbal battles.

A large number of Hong Kong's middle class and above people have started packing their bags, and as soon as they see something wrong, they prepare to flee. A small number of people secretly cash out and transfer their assets.

From June to September, stock market trading volume was declining, and there were fewer real estate transactions on the surface. Most people were keeping their cash flow in their pockets and waiting for the situation to become clear.

Friday, October 9

The news that the Prime Minister's Iron Lady fell down in front of the Great Hall of the People spread from Yanjing to all parts of the world, and Hong Kong received the exact news almost at the same time.

Although there was still nearly an hour before the stock market closed, the Hang Seng Index experienced a straight-line decline, plummeting 150 points in just one hour.

The main reason is that most people are worried about the coming of war.

Changxin Group Headquarters
Bai Hui, Zhang Wentao, Zhao Lekai and Gao Yi were all reporting the situation with very serious expressions.

"Most of the big stock market investors have already withdrawn, and small and medium-sized retail investors are desperately selling their stocks, but no one is taking over. The stock market crash has become a fact. The group has sold all of its non-affiliated company stocks when the Hang Seng Index was at 1730 points, and recovered 12.88 billion yuan." Bai Hui was the first to report.

Li Wendi nodded. "This negotiation will not be completed in a short period of time. We must be prepared for a long-term battle. You should all calculate the operating funds needed within a year and report all of them to the finance department. All the excess funds should be converted into US dollars."

"Boss, are you worried that this negotiation will affect the exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar?" Bai Hui asked.

"It's not that I'm worried, but it will definitely happen. Gao Yi, tell them about the situation on your side." Li Wendi sighed. This is the general trend, and he can only go with the flow, otherwise he will be crushed to pieces by the general trend.

"According to our statistical survey since June, at least 6% of the middle class and wealthy class have sold a large number of properties. However, they did not make much move and did not cause much reaction in the market. In the future, more people will sell properties and other assets. I am afraid they all want to flee Hong Kong." Gao Yi's statement shocked Bai Hui.

Zhang Wentao and Zhao Lekai had more or less sensed that something was amiss. Considering the actions of Changxin Group, they would be fools if they did not follow suit.

Most of Bai Hui's personal assets are in the stock market, and a small portion of the assets are for basic needs, so Li Wendi did not emphasize this to her.

"I have six residential buildings that have not yet started selling. They are divided into three sites in Tsuen Wan West and Wong Tai Sin districts. I have borrowed 6 million yuan from the bank," Zhang Wentao began to report on the progress of the work he was in charge of.

After they finished their reports, Li Wendi said, "The group should jointly issue a statement to explain to shareholders who hold shares of our group and its subsidiaries that the group's current business situation is very good. We can also announce the profit situation in the first half of the year. In short, our Changxin Group is very optimistic about the future of Hong Kong."

"Yes! We will start right away." The four said in unison. A few days later, the Iron Lady arrived in Hong Kong.

The media supporting both sides were engaged in a war of words, which exacerbated the panic in Hong Kong. Real estate was of course the first to be hit, with industrial land and ordinary residential properties suffering the largest declines.

如九龙湾的工业用地在80年12月的售价是每平方尺360元，而到了82年10月份已经跌至25元以平方尺，跌幅高达93%，港岛的一些住宅用地也从1500元一平方尺跌至540元一平方尺。

At this time, real estate agencies are crowded with people. They are not buying houses, but selling houses. Most of these people are speculators, and some even borrow money from banks to speculate in houses.

Selling at this point in time would naturally mean a loss, but if they didn't sell, they would probably have to jump off the building to pay off their debts.

Of course, there are also people who think that this is a temporary phenomenon, so they turn into gamblers and buy at the bottom, hoping to make a fortune in the near future.

The ideal is beautiful, but now it is cruel and inhumane.

In order to boost confidence in the real estate market, the Hong Kong government held an auction of government land in early October. Many real estate developers participated, but nearly half of the land failed to be sold.

Most of these real estate developers want to use the auction to observe the situation of the entire market rather than auctioning the land.

From then on, all real estate developers knew that a real estate crisis had officially begun.

The bosses of small companies are already ready to flee Hong Kong. Once the company shows signs of bad luck, their entire family will disappear in Hong Kong. As for those big companies, their connections and assets are all in Hong Kong. If they leave, they will have to start all over again. Of course, they don't have the courage to do so, and they don't want to lose the foundation they have worked hard for. They can only shrink their fronts and prepare to survive this cold winter.

The Jianing Group was very stubborn. It cancelled the dividend that had been announced and replaced it with a three-year bond. At the same time, it issued a rights issue of 3 million yuan to raise funds.

As soon as the news came out, the entire market knew that the Carrian Group was in a serious crisis. Even though the top management explained it again and again, the stock price still fell by 2%, from 21.3 yuan per share to 16.8 yuan.

Li Wendi looked at the news in the newspaper without any intention of making fun of it. This was a big crisis and he was also in the vortex.

Originally, Li Wendi planned to take advantage of this period to go to Singapore to complete the acquisition of Tiger Balm International, and then leave Hong Kong at this time. This would be a big test for the Changxin Group, and it might even turn into rumors that Li Wendi had escaped.

So Li Wendi could only go to and from get off work on time every day to let the outside world and employees know that he, Li Wendi, was still in charge as steady as a rock. Even so, the stock price of Changxin Group still fell by 6%.

By the end of October, the Hang Seng Index fell below 800 points, and the total market value of the stock market lost 132 billion yuan in one day.

All major real estate companies are in a state of panic, among which the worst hit are the Carrian Group, Carrian Properties Limited, Hang Lung Properties Limited and Great Eagle Properties Limited.

On November 11, Zhong Zhengwen, chairman of Yida Group, absconded with the money, leaving behind a huge debt of 1 billion yuan.

Zhong Zhengwen's escape made his partner Chen Songqing exclaim "f**k", but it was of no avail. The bank quickly reported the case to the police station and the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

The ICAC and the police force immediately took over the entire Yida Group and discovered that several cooperation projects between Yida Group and Jianing Group had huge financial problems. Fortunately, only the Yida Group guaranteed loans for the Jianing Group but there was no guarantee from the Jianing Group for the Yida Group. Chen Songqing was able to temporarily escape from the investigation, but he also became the focus of attention of the Economic Crime Investigation Bureau and was strictly prohibited from leaving the country.

(End of this chapter)