Return to 1958 and build a century-old giant

Chapter 926 Yanjing City Trade Center

Whether it's a large-scale acquisition or investment, a certain amount of time is needed for preparation beforehand, including various data investigations, or inviting professional companies to conduct evaluations, etc. These are also part of the investment and acquisition costs.

This is a normal risk consideration, and only a time traveler like Yang Wendong, who knows the future, would dare to conduct a cursory investigation before taking action.
For other types of capital, investing in thousands of kilometers of highways in mainland China would be utterly insane; they wouldn't dare invest so much money.

But no one knows how much the mainland economy will grow in the future. This will definitely be the most successful national development in human history, without exception.

In the following days, Yang Wendong and others visited the factories of their group in Yanjing, including the Yanjing Mini Factory, the Very Cola Factory, the food factory, the Nike factory, and so on.

He owns many large factories, and the number of them is too large. Some of the investments in the mainland were not personally handled by him. Instead, he knew the general outline in the early stages, and then his subordinates carried out the operations. He only needed to know the final result.

Currently, investments in mainland China, apart from a few special economic zones where sole proprietorship is permitted, are basically limited to investing in future megacities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, which guarantees a certain level of return.

After leaving a large factory, Yang Wendong said to Zhou Zhiqiang, "Old Zhou, in the coming period, we will open offices for Hang Seng Bank in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, or other provincial capitals."
We specifically communicated with local governments and some large local enterprises to see if we could reach cooperation agreements on financial loans, and we could try to provide them with loans.

“It’s easy to talk to the government, but I’m worried that the risks are too high for businesses.” Zhou Zhiqiang hesitated for a moment before saying, “China’s exports are mainly minerals now, and it’s difficult to export industrial products. The risks of RMB loans are relatively easy to control, but it’s hard to say about foreign exchange loans.”

Yang Wendong said: “There are risks in doing any business. If there were no risks, we wouldn’t be here. Local enterprises provide projects, and you internally review the risks. If the risks are not significant, then we can cooperate appropriately.”

If you feel it's not safe, you can prioritize cooperating with local state-owned enterprises. The government usually provides some support to state-owned enterprises.
In addition, our group's trading company has a significant procurement presence in China with Carrefour. You can also cooperate with them to guide them in exporting their business.

You can discuss the specifics yourselves. I also need to expand Hang Seng Bank's corporate market in mainland China. Just like 30 years ago in Hong Kong, banks that helped Chinese businesses all rose to prominence. You should be well aware of that.

Back in Hong Kong, Chinese-owned banks were, to put it bluntly, small money shops. Hong Kong's traders and real estate developers with some strength did not cooperate with them, but instead went to banks such as HSBC and Standard Chartered.
Later, banks such as Bank of East Asia, Hisense, and Hang Seng began to cooperate with local industrial factories and seized this market. Eventually, when Hong Kong's industry took off, these banks also took off, with Hang Seng even posing a threat to HSBC at one point.

Zhou Zhiqiang agreed, "Okay, I will set up a special team to handle this matter."

"Okay, sure." Yang Wendong nodded, then looked at Fang Xianming and said, "Old Fang, there's another matter for you. I need you to collect information on all the companies of any size across the country."
Information such as the company's name, founders or top management, and its specific situation within the industry.

"All the places?" Fang Xianming asked hurriedly. "The entire mainland is so vast; such a survey would be extremely costly."

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Yes, all cities. It doesn't matter if we have more funds. We can hire locals to do the research, or we can work with the local government to create a business directory."

Before the internet, local business information was called Yellow Pages;

More than a decade later, Alibaba essentially integrated yellow pages data, put it online, and then built a trade network, creating an unprecedented monopoly giant.
Fang Xianming said, "Alright, I will arrange for someone to do this. But Mr. Yang, could you tell me the purpose of your investigation into so many company records?"

"Let's do some research first. I mainly want to see what's going on; maybe I'll even consider investing in some of the companies," Yang Wendong said with a smile.

There are simply too many giant companies in the mainland in the future, but he has also traveled through time for more than 20 years;
He still remembers well-known consumer goods companies like Midea and Haier, but he has long forgotten the names of many other companies.
But seeing these names again might reactivate forgotten memories;

As for the huge expenses, for him, as long as he successfully invests in one or two more companies in the end, he can easily offset the early investigation and investment costs.
Of course, he traveled more than 20 years, and had a lot of cooperation with the mainland in his early years. Perhaps history has been greatly changed, and those once famous companies may not reappear. In that case, there is nothing that can be done.
As he travels through time and his influence expands, his impact on the world will inevitably grow, which is the butterfly effect.
For example, in the United States, companies like Microsoft, Intel, and Apple may not have been affected; but the future of companies like Yahoo, Google, and Facebook is hard to say, and the founders of these companies may even be gone.

Fang Xianming understood his boss's meaning and said, "Okay, Mr. Yang, this matter may take a while. I will let you know when I have made progress."

"Okay, sure," Yang Wendong nodded.
Several more days have passed;

Yang Wendong received Director Lin from the Ministry of Transport once again;
After exchanging pleasantries, Director Lin said, "Mr. Yang, the central government has already given a reply, agreeing in principle to your investment in some highways, but highway investment also needs to be based on the needs of national development."

At the same time, this cooperation can only be piloted on a small scale. Once it's confirmed that there are no problems, the scale of cooperation can be gradually expanded.

“That makes sense. So, in China, which areas do you plan to build highways in first?” Yang Wendong asked.

The Beijing-Shanghai Expressway, Shanghai-Guangzhou Expressway, Shanghai-Hangzhou Expressway, Shanghai-Wuhan Expressway, etc., are all expressways with the highest traffic volume in China in the future, and can be said to be the major arteries of the national transportation system.

Anyone with eyes can see that if the country's economy develops in the future, these highways will have extremely high value;
I had indeed planned too much before, but at this moment there is a lack of funds in China and an urgent need for overseas funds. Otherwise, if I wait until I have money to start construction, it will be at least until the 90s.

It's normal for people in China to start development from small places now.

Director Lin said, “The central government’s idea is to first build a few highways to major cities with relatively short distances and see the effect. This not only involves cooperation with your side, but we also need to internally evaluate the economic benefits and return on investment that the highways can bring. This will also affect the country’s infrastructure policy for the next few decades.”

Yang Wendong nodded and asked, "Okay, but which cities should we choose?" Director Lin said, "The central government's idea is to build two lines first. The first line will run from Beijing to Tianjin, and the second line will run from Shanghai to Nanjing in Jiangsu Province. What do you think, Mr. Yang?"

“Sure, I have no problem with that. I’ll just make a small investment to try it out first.” Yang Wendong readily agreed, as these cities are destined to become top-tier cities in the future.

Director Lin laughed and said, "These two highways have a total length of several hundred kilometers, and the estimated investment is several hundred million US dollars. Only Mr. Yang can simply say that this is a small investment."

Yang Wendong's wealth has been thoroughly investigated in China. Perhaps he has concealed some of it, but his publicly disclosed wealth is astonishing. His shares in multiple companies in the United States are worth nearly $50 billion.

Moreover, these are all very high-quality assets, and the debt ratio is said to be low. With these assets alone, they can mobilize a massive amount of foreign exchange funds, which may even be no less than the country's foreign exchange reserves.

Therefore, the cooperation with Yang Wendong is also highly valued by the central government, because it involves an investment of hundreds of millions of US dollars. In the past, when negotiating with other overseas countries or large companies, the other party would always put forward some political conditions, while Yang Wendong is much more straightforward and only talks about business itself.

Yang Wendong said, "Both of these locations are flat areas, so the cost of building highways should not be high. Compared to other large projects, they are indeed small."

"That's true, but a large bridge may still need to be built between Shanghai and Suzhou, which will cause quite a delay," Director Lin said.

Yang Wendong said, "This is not a big problem. I was planning to build several bridges across the Yangtze River. I have been selecting sites for a long time. It should not be difficult to choose a site in Suzhou that is close to Shanghai."
"Once the central government approves the documents, I will immediately allocate funds. All you need to do is prepare the construction teams. I think two or three years should be enough to complete these two highways."

"Haha, okay, I'll go back and report right away," Director Lin said readily.
Yang Wendong then asked, "By the way, Shenhai City has been developing quite well recently. Doesn't it need a highway connecting Shenhai City to Yuezhou City?"

If we're talking about the most congested highway in mainland China in the future, it will definitely be the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway.

Director Lin paused for a moment and replied, "Mr. Yang, there is indeed a plan over there, but Mr. Hu Yingxiang of Hong Kong proposed this plan three years ago. Although no agreement has been reached yet, they are already in talks, so the central government is sticking to the status quo."

"Hu Yingxiang? He's really fast." Yang Wendong didn't say anything more;
Among Hong Kong's Chinese business tycoons, Hu Yingxiang is the most active in investing in mainland China.
Historically, in the early 80s, he transferred a large amount of assets from Hong Kong to invest in highways, bridges, power plants, and so on in mainland China.

Unexpectedly, he dared to propose such a plan back in 80. You have to understand that at that time, China's reform and opening up had just begun. Even though Yang Wendong knew that the high-speed rail would have a high rate of return in the future, he was not in a hurry to bring it up.
Clearly, Hu Yingxiang's fundamental purpose in investing in China was not to make an absolute profit, but to help the mainland develop its economy. However, his financial resources were limited, so he only chose Guangdong Province.

Director Lin said, "Hu Sheng has a lot of cooperation with Guangdong Province, and since Shenzhen is a special economic zone, the central government still gives them some autonomy."

"Mr. Yang also wants to participate in the highway construction between Yuezhou City and Shenhai City? As far as I know, Mr. Hu is also struggling with funding. Your involvement could solve this problem."

“Since Mr. Hu is involved, I’ll reconsider. Even if we do decide to cooperate, I’ll negotiate with him alone, so there’s no need to go through the central government,” Yang Wendong said.
Director Lin said, "Okay, if there's nothing else, I'll take my leave now."

Yang Wendong stood up and shook hands, saying, "Alright, then thank you for your hard work, Director Lin."

After the two projects were finalized, Yang Wendong immediately called Hong Kong to make sure that the relevant personnel and funds were ready.

Over the next few days, he toured around Yanjing City, visiting everything from the Great Wall to the Forbidden City;
November arrived quickly, and just as Yang Wendong was preparing to return home, he suddenly received a call from an acquaintance in Beijing, who said that Director Wu of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development wanted to visit him.
"The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development?" Yang Wendong readily agreed.
If a company under its own umbrella is to build office buildings in mainland China, it needs to obtain approval from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

However, currently, apart from the four special economic zones, foreign investment in the real estate industry is not permitted in other parts of mainland China. And if you invest in the special economic zones, you don't need to negotiate with the central government. Therefore, he has no communication with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
But considering the future, he naturally wouldn't disagree with this visit;

On November 4, Yang Wendong met with Director Wu of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development in the presidential suite of the Four Seasons Hotel.
After exchanging pleasantries, Yang Wendong asked, "Director Wu, what brings you to see me today?"

Director Wu said, "Mr. Yang, there is something. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development is preparing to build a large-scale project in Yanjing City, which requires a lot of funds. Therefore, they are also planning to introduce foreign investment. I heard that you are in Yanjing, so I asked some connections to contact you."

"What project?" Yang Wendong asked curiously;

Director Wu said, "Mr. Yang should know about the World Trade Center in New York City, right?"

“World Trade Center? I know that.” Yang Wendong immediately understood and asked, “Director Wu, are you planning to build a similar trade center building in Yanjing?”

Historically, in the mid-80s, Yanjing City partnered with Guo Henian, the "Sugar King of Asia," to build what was then the largest CBD in mainland China: the Yanjing International Trade Center Building.

This will also be a landmark arrowhead for the mainland in the future, and one of the most profitable buildings in the future. In the 21st century, the annual rent will be as high as five or six billion, comparable to half of Harbour City, and the total estimated value will be as high as 2000 billion.

It is said that in the early stages of this project, the mainland could not come up with the money, so they approached some wealthy overseas Chinese, but the investment was too large and many Chinese businessmen dared not participate.
Guo Henian also paid a considerable price to raise $5 million to build this building. He didn't expect it to be very profitable, but he never imagined that this investment would become the Guo family's strongest business in the future.
PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)