2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 335 The most handsome guy in Beicang District!
"Stop complaining about being poor. You know how much money your company has?" the second boss said with a laugh.

However, he still appreciated Tan Jincheng's attitude. As the saying goes, children only cry and show their vulnerable side in front of their parents.

Tan Jincheng didn't say anything like "we'll consider it" or "we don't have any plans to build a headquarters for the time being." Instead, he immediately started complaining about being poor, which shows that his heart is still with Beicang District.

Beicang District has provided Flashcart with a lot of support, but Flashcart has also given Beicang a lot in return. In the business world, everyone is in a cooperative relationship. Now that Flashcart is growing stronger, it is hard to guarantee that other local governments will not offer a high price to lure it to move into their jurisdiction.

This is nothing unusual. Nearby, there's Ali from this province, who keeps switching between Hangzhou and Shanghai. Further afield, there's Xinri, which is also in the electric vehicle industry, and it was lured over from Beijing by Xishan District.

In other words, the situation in Beijing is different. Just take the example of ChipSun moving its headquarters away. If it were in another city, people would be disgusted. A leading company in the industry has grown up in the region, and then it leaves just as it has completed its transformation.

"We really don't have the money. Building a headquarters building would cost at least several hundred million, right? We had the money we had planned to use to build another factory, and we really don't have that much money right now."

Tan Jincheng hadn't calculated the specific costs, nor did he know much about construction costs, but he remembered that the construction costs of some internet company headquarters buildings started at at least several hundred million yuan. In addition, before his rebirth, he had seen Three Sheep spend more than 1 million yuan to buy a building as their headquarters.

Nowadays, housing and land prices are cheap, but no matter how cheap they are, the budget should start at 2 million yuan, right?
"Haha, no need for all that trouble. There's an opportunity that could allow Flash Group to quickly acquire a headquarters. Do you have any ideas?"

"what chance?"

The second boss looked at Tan Jincheng and said with a smile, "What do you think of the Financial Building?"

Tan Jincheng's pupils contracted. Holy crap! No way?

There's no such thing as a free lunch: "This can be sold? Isn't it called the Beicang Financial Building?"

Although this place later became a gathering place for internet celebrities and scam companies, it was really high-end these days.

The Financial Center Tower is currently the tallest building in Beicang District, with a main building of 31 floors and a total height of 150 meters. It also consists of three buildings: a 30-story apartment building and a 3-story commercial center.

Currently, some parts have not yet been completed and delivered. The undelivered parts are mainly apartment buildings, which do not affect the company's office operations.

Orange Technology currently rents its office in the Financial Center. The newly built building has a pretty good office environment. Even if it becomes very outdated in a decade or so, its location is really good.

There will be a Yintai shopping mall nearby, and the subway station is not far from there.

"It's called Beicang Financial Building, but the property rights are still in the hands of the developer. This was a key investment project for the district before, but now the developer is facing financial difficulties. The district was originally planning to take it over. If you are interested, you can take it over, and then we can change the name."

In the thriving Beicang area, although the developers knew the value of this building, cash was more important to them. Selling and transferring the building to acquire more land was what the developers wanted to do most at the moment.

Currently facing financial difficulties, they are seeking to transfer the financial center. Tan Jincheng had heard about this before, but had not thought about it in this direction.

They thought that since it was under the name of Beicang, the district would definitely take it over.

In fact, what Tan Jincheng didn't know was that although this building was unlikely to lose money, it didn't actually contribute much to the development of the Beicang District later on; it was just a matter of the land and land prices appreciating.

Beicang is positioned as a port and industrial area. The high land and housing prices will inevitably hinder the development of the industrial area. The district has always been very restrained in terms of housing prices and has never been very interested in commercial real estate.

In the past, housing prices in Beicang District remained very restrained until 2018, with increases far lower than in other cities across the country, and even lower than in other areas of Ningbo, all in order to protect the development of real industries.

It was only after 2019 that the environment changed drastically, and things became somewhat out of control. Take the house that Tan Jincheng bought in his previous life as an example. After 2008, housing prices across the country rose rapidly. The opening price at that time was more than 1 yuan, but by 2023, its price had become uncontrollable and was listed at around 2.5 yuan.

Compared to the tenfold increase in prices in other cities, investing here would be a huge loss.

"What's the size of the area, and how much per square meter?" Tan Jincheng rubbed his hands together.

If you have the opportunity to take over such an iconic building, you certainly can't miss it. As for whether the building you buy matches your style...

What's the point of style!

"Once completed, the building will have a floor area of ​​3.7 square meters, which is definitely enough to serve as a headquarters. The buyback price is 6800 yuan per square meter. If you want it, you can talk to the developer to see if there is a discount."

Tan Jincheng calculated that 6800 yuan per square meter was more than 60% to nearly 70% higher than the price of residential buildings, but it was acceptable, and the total price was around 250 million yuan.

The price was about what Tan Jincheng had expected; it wasn't too expensive, but the problem was that he didn't have the money!
"I'm really tempted, but I don't have the money. Could you offer me a discounted loan?" Tan Jincheng asked with a grin.

FlashTech's debt ratio is currently 38.5%, which is higher than before, but the debt ratio of the group's parent company is still very low. Jinpeng Industry and Jinyi Industry currently have no debt.

After being acquired by Flash Holdings, Tan Jincheng also began to improve the company's debt ratio. Currently, the debt ratios of Bafang Electric and Hangxin New Energy are all controlled below 40%.

ByteDance's advertising platform, Ocean Engine, is an investment company whose current business focuses on equity management and securities trading, so debt is practically nonexistent. Taking out a 2.5 million yuan loan in the name of the group's headquarters to purchase the building wouldn't significantly increase the company's debt ratio, and securing the loan wouldn't be a problem. What Tan Jincheng wanted to negotiate was a favorable interest rate.

The district dared to approach Flashpoint because Flashpoint had a very good debt ratio, two cash cow companies with the "Jin" name, and Flashpoint's own cash flow was very healthy. In addition, Bafang Electric in Suzhou was also a component company with very healthy cash flow.

Apart from Hangxin Energy, a potential lithium battery R&D company that will be a major drain on cash flow in the future, every business of Flashlink has ample cash flow.

Most importantly, the head of FlashDrive is very cautious about the company's leverage ratio, which the district greatly appreciates.

Why is this the case? It's because in his previous life, Tan Jincheng had seen too many real economy enterprises being held hostage by banks and other institutions due to excessively high debt ratios. A company with an annual output value of hundreds of millions could fall into trouble because of a mere few million yuan.

Do you really think it's so easy to get money from capital or banks?
The second boss nodded: "You can talk to the bank about this; the district won't interfere."

He certainly couldn't say it directly, but he would ensure that all the benefits were given. Actually, he didn't need to get involved in this matter. The reason he talked to Tan Jincheng about it was to help Shanchi settle down in Beicang District as soon as possible.

“Okay, I’ll make the arrangements as soon as possible and try to finalize the headquarters as soon as possible.” Tan Jincheng was also very decisive.

FlashCheer currently has no board of directors; the only voice is Tan Jincheng. The loan to purchase the headquarters building does not require the consent of other shareholders; they only need to inform the other shareholders in advance.

Having made his decision, Tan Jincheng acted swiftly, and with the help of the district, he contacted the current owner of the Financial Center Building.

The other party urgently needed funds, and it was naturally very welcome for a large investor to take over. The two sides immediately entered the substantive negotiation stage.

Meanwhile, Tan Jincheng also spread the word that Flash Group was going to take out a loan to build its headquarters building. Local banks that had been trying to sell loans to Flash Group were quick to act, and they were eager to seize the opportunity.

Banks generally operate this way: the more money you have, the more they are willing to lend to you, whether it's a business or an individual.

If you were to ask who loves rapid expansion the most, it would definitely be the banks. They had previously expressed their dissatisfaction with Tan Jincheng's cautiousness in private. "What are you afraid of at such a young age!"

"Holy crap! You're going to buy the Financial Building?"

Zhang Xupeng is the sole private shareholder of Flash Group. Unlike Beicang City Investment, a shareholder with better access to information, he only learned about Flash Group's plan to acquire the Financial Building after receiving a call from Tan Jincheng.

Like Tan Jincheng, Zhang Xupeng has been very busy these days, also busy with acquisitions. After buying the storefronts, he returned to Beicang and started buying factory buildings.

Upon learning this news, Zhang Xupeng went to Tan Jincheng's home overnight.

"Yeah, you'll be working in the Financial Building. How about that? Pretty cool, right?"

"Wow, that's awesome! How much?"

"We're still negotiating. Their asking price is 2.5 million, but they're in a hurry for the money, so I'm going to try to negotiate it down a bit more."

Seeing Tan Jincheng's nonchalant demeanor, Zhang Xupeng's mouth twitched, while Zhang Suzhi, standing to the side, was already used to it.

Even at home, Jincheng and Qingqing often talked about work, except when they were teasing Jinyue. They would often talk about tens of millions or hundreds of millions of dollars.

Recently, the two of them have been talking a lot about that Kaixin.com. Out of curiosity, Zhang Suzhi inquired about it and found out that the website was worth 5000 million yuan in less than two months. Unexpectedly, her son's reaction was to scoff at it.

"5000 million? They're dreaming!"

Tan Jinyue, always eager to learn, nodded seriously and said, "That's right, wishful thinking!"

"The tallest building in Beicang right now, please reserve a good office for me when it's built. I want it big and on a high floor!"

After saying that, Zhang Xupeng remembered that Tan Jincheng had a fear of heights and joked, "You're afraid of heights, why don't you give me the top floor and I'll live there for you?"

Tan Jincheng rolled his eyes. "You're just dreaming."

"Dream on! I can't overcome my fear of heights. Working at the highest point in Beicang, I'm the coolest guy in Beicang!"

Tan Jinyue followed closely behind: "Brother Peng is dreaming!"

Zhang Suzhi quickly stopped her, saying, "Children shouldn't use foul language. You should also watch your words. Don't keep using such vulgar language. Don't you know Jin Yue likes to mimic your speech at this time of year?"

(End of this chapter)