Return to 1958 and build a century-old giant

Chapter 943 Golden Dragon Fish Cooking Oil
After the Los Angeles incident, Yang Wendong took his son and some family members to New York. Changxing Group has two headquarters in the United States, one in Los Angeles and one in New York.

The purpose of coming here was, of course, to take my son to visit the New York branch, and also to visit giant companies such as Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, News Corporation, RCA, and General Electric.
Then, at the end of August, the Yang family returned to Hong Kong;

"Zhiwen, you should have a general understanding of our group's business in Europe and America, right?" Yang Wendong asked after returning to his office.

Yang Zhiwen said, "I already have a general idea."

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Okay, write a summary report and mention how you think these companies should develop. I'd like to hear your thoughts."

“Daddy, based on my experience, I’m afraid…” Yang Zhiwen replied hesitantly.

Yang Wendong said, "Don't worry, I just want to know what you're thinking. I won't actually use it. I can also give you some guidance based on your considerations."

Upon hearing this, Yang Zhiwen immediately felt relieved and said, "Okay, I'll go prepare right away."

Yang Wendong said, "Okay, let's stay in Hong Kong for another half month to handle some business here. After half a month, we'll go to the mainland. There will be a 35th anniversary celebration in October, and I've been invited."

We'll handle some business elsewhere first, then head to Yanjing, where we'll also have some business to take care of.

This year's YB is also a rare occasion, as Yang Wendong, given his status and the investments he has made in mainland China over the years, was naturally invited.

"Okay." Yang Zhiwen then said, "It just feels like Daddy is really busy. No wonder we rarely saw you when we were little."

Yang Wendong said, "There's no other way. It's such a big business, and we have to handle many things personally. This is only because I've delegated some authority; otherwise, we would be even busier."
"From now on, you'll need to delegate some authority, otherwise people will work themselves to death. Our family's wealth is more than enough. Pursuing bigger businesses is just for a fulfilling life; there's no need to sacrifice your health. You must remember this."

Even with the delegation of authority, many business collaborations involving major strategic partnerships still require his personal involvement and decision-making; there's no way around that.

However, in theory, his descendants could avoid being so busy if they only needed to maintain the family business.

“I understand, Daddy. I’m still young, it’s okay,” Yang Zhiwen said with a smile.

Yang Wendong said, "Well, you may be young, but don't stay up late. Otherwise, it's up to you."

For the next two weeks, Yang Wendong also dealt with matters in Hong Kong. Yang Zhiwen followed him, learning and summarizing, and discussed many things with Yang Wendong.
The most crucial thing in this was the privatization of Hongkong Land;
This matter has caused considerable controversy in the Hong Kong media. The 25% share price increase proposed by Changxing Group has still aroused dissatisfaction among many shareholders and investors, although some are still considering taking profits.
Fang Xianming and Zheng Zhijie handled the matter together. On September 12, the two came to Yang Wendong's office together.

“Mr. Yang, we have acquired 79.7% of the shares of Hongkong Land, which is 10.3% short of the legal requirement,” Zheng Zhijie reported. “The remainder should be hoarded by some investors who are waiting for a better price to sell.”

According to the law, once 90% of the shares are acquired, the privatization goal can be achieved. The remaining 10%, even if it is still in the hands of others, will be forcibly converted into bonds, and will have no actual "stock" value.

However, if 90% of the shares are not acquired within six months, the privatization will fail and the acquiring party will have to sell the shares again.

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "This is normal; privatization acquisitions always face this question: how much are they asking for?"

“They hope to raise the price by another 15%, which would be a little over 40% of the original price,” Fang Xianming said.

Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "Let's start by dividing them. We don't need 100%, 90% is enough. There will always be compromises."

Then find out exactly who they are. These people must have their own companies. We'll target them from other angles later, letting them know that our benefits aren't so easily obtained.

Many companies encounter such groups during their privatization process;
Historically, Li Ka-shing encountered this situation when he attempted to privatize Hong Kong and China Gas.
"Yes, I will find out their background as soon as possible," Fang Xianming replied.

Zheng Zhijie then asked, "Mr. Yang, the privatization of Jardine Matheson is basically a done deal. So, after we take over, will the original management team stay or leave?"

Yang Wendong asked, "What do you think?"

Zheng Zhijie replied: "I don't think it's necessary to keep it. Hongkong Land's main business is just collecting rent and developing real estate. The former doesn't require much technical expertise, and the latter is something that we Chinese are better at."

As for some of Hongkong Land's other businesses, I also plan to gradually divest some of them and streamline operations. Hongkong Land's debt is too heavy, and this is a good opportunity to send all those foreign employees out, so that we don't have to lay off a large number of British employees after acquiring British trading companies.

“Okay, I’m quite satisfied with this method.” Yang Wendong nodded and said, “We Chinese will take over the core business of Landmark. However, in order to ensure a smooth handover, we can keep a small number of the well-performing foreigners and lay them off when their contracts expire.”
As for other businesses, I'll sell them off as they are. I don't really care about those anyway. Paying off part of Hongkong Land's debt is also a good thing.

As for the issue of laying off foreign staff, there's no need to worry too much. Given our current size and the current situation in Hong Kong, there aren't many British-owned trading companies that I would approve of.

He acquired Hutchison Whampoa, one of the four major trading companies in history, and also acquired Jardine Matheson's core business, Hongkong Land.
The remaining Swire Group is not listed and the Swire family holds more than 50% of the shares, so there is little chance for them.
The last one, Wheelock, is mainly engaged in shipping. It is now suffering heavy losses and has no future. Although it also has some property assets in Hong Kong, Yang Wendong still does not intend to take action against it.

Zheng Zhijie laughed and said, "Okay, I understand. Our group's properties in Hong Kong are now in a commanding lead. The next few companies combined can't even compare to us."

Cheung Hing Properties had strong capital and had accumulated a large amount of land during several real estate crises. Before acquiring Hongkong Land, its property area was already the largest in Hong Kong, but it could not compare with Hongkong Land in prime locations in Central.

Now that the acquisition of Hongkong Land has been completed, forming a powerful alliance, they are completely unrivaled in Hong Kong. "Let's leave the Hong Kong real estate market as it is. In the future, you should still focus your real estate investments on infrastructure in Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, or mainland China," Yang Wendong said. "Things tend to backfire. Our investments in Hong Kong are not necessarily better the more the better. Too much investment will actually diminish its financial value."

Furthermore, we will absolutely not touch residential real estate anymore. We will only focus on completing the development of the existing properties we already own. Residential development will be handled by some of the real estate companies we control.

A very simple example is to divide one hundred million US dollars into ten parts and invest in ten companies, each holding a small percentage of shares, just a few percent of stock. This would be an excellent financial asset, and it would be easy to cash out.

However, if you acquire a company outright and hold as much as 50% of the shares, then the company becomes yours, and trying to cash out would actually affect the entire market.

The real estate industry is similar; when a company controls too much of a market share in a city, it becomes a bellwether for real estate prices.

More importantly, I don't want to be blamed for rising Hong Kong property prices, so I can just focus on collecting rent from various buildings and operating hotels. I can also obtain the profits from this by indirectly holding shares in companies such as Cheung Kong Holdings.

"Yes, I understand." Zheng Zhijie understood what his boss meant.
After arranging the real estate matters, on September 14, Yang Wendong, along with his son and some employees, arrived in Shenzhen, across the strait from Hong Kong.

The leaders of Shenhai City naturally sent a bureau chief to accompany him, but Yang Wendong politely declined, citing the lack of business projects. He sometimes needed some freedom and didn't need to be accompanied by high-ranking government officials every time.
Arriving at the entrance of a small shop in the suburbs of Shenhai City, Yang Wendong and his group went inside. The shop owner glanced at them but ignored them, continuing to listen to his radio.

“That’s how it is here in the mainland, you’ll get used to it,” Yang Wendong said to his son.

Those born in the 80s and 90s should remember that shopping in that era wasn't like shopping in supermarkets;

“It’s alright, some small shops in America are like that too,” Yang Zhiwen replied.

Yang Wendong continued, "Yes, it will be replaced by Walmart sooner or later. The same goes for the mainland, maybe even later. So Carrefour's investment in the mainland is also very important in the future."

Yang Zhiwen replied, "I've also checked this. In mainland China, apart from the four special economic zones, foreign supermarkets are not allowed to enter other places."

“It’s not feasible right now, so we can only wait and be prepared,” Yang Wendong nodded and said.
Yang Zhiwen asked curiously, "Daddy, even with your connections, you can't get things done in the mainland?"

“Theoretically it is possible, but there’s no need to do it this way.” Yang Wendong shook his head and said, “Actually, I mentioned it before. The mainland’s idea was to build a small number of projects in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai, so I didn’t insist on it.”

"Our entry into the mainland market needs to be gradual. We can start by learning from the experiences and cultivating talent in these few cities. You know, even in Hong Kong alone, it took me seven or eight years to monopolize the market, let alone the mainland."

Yang Zhiwen said, "I understand. It is very difficult to expand in the early stages of any market."

“Yes, in the supermarket sector, we must be familiar with it before expanding. We need to do a good job of localization. We can start by using these few cities as test sites. Once we are familiar with them, we can expand on a large scale when the policies are relaxed,” Yang Wendong said with a smile.

“Daddy is truly farsighted,” Yang Zhiwen said with a smile.

"Stop flattering me." After watching for a while, Yang Wendong suddenly said, "Here it comes, there's a woman over there selling oil."

Everyone followed Yang Wendong's gaze and saw a middle-aged woman holding a glass beer bottle walk up to a large oil vat. The shop owner immediately stepped forward, chatted with her familiarly, and then picked up a spoon to refuel the vat.

Finally, after weighing the oil, I paid.
Yang Wendong casually bought some small items and then left. Outside, in the sunlight, he asked, "Zhiwen, Lao Zhou, do you think this method of writing 'rhyme' is convenient?"

"It's very inconvenient. In Hong Kong now, people buy oil directly from plastic containers, which is both clean and convenient." Zhou Haoran understood what the boss meant and asked, "Mr. Yang, are you interested in making cooking oil?"

“Yes, we didn’t originally have this idea. But the American consortium has plans to build a large corn and soybean production base in South America,” Yang Wendong said. “Although we also have sales channels for soybeans and corn in Asia.”
A more reliable approach would be for us to control a portion of the production ourselves, and oil refining would be a very suitable option. The demand for soybeans and corn is very high, and with a population of one billion in China, as the economy develops in the future, they will undoubtedly welcome clean and hygienic bottled oil.

Without considering anything else, the demand for oil in mainland China in the previous life was enormous. At the same time, the mainland market was also the main market for soybeans. Not only oil, but the residue after refining soybeans and corn is also high-quality animal feed. And the future demand for pork and chicken in China will be the highest in the world.

Zhou Haoran said, "Okay, I understand. I will establish an oil production company."

“Setting up our own is too slow. We can just acquire an existing one in another country and then build a large-scale factory in the mainland,” Yang Wendong said. “As for distribution channels, we have Carrefour and Changxing Trading. I will also find a way to help domestically, as long as your production capacity and quality are not a problem.”

"Yes, Mr. Yang," Zhou Haoran replied, accepting the order.

Yang Zhiwen also said, "Daddy, Zhou Sheng, we can also produce plastic oil bottles ourselves. Changxing Industrial should have the capability to do so."

“Yes, Lao Zhou, go and discuss it with Lao Wei. Let’s choose a location together in Shenzhen, Shanghai, or Beijing. I’ll make the final decision.” Yang Wendong nodded and said.

Over the past two decades, Yang Wendong has attempted to integrate multiple industries into the entire industrial chain. Even now, when entering new industries, these former industrial chains will be of great help.
This is the terrifying advantage of a complete industry chain; in any industry, you've already achieved 50% success in advance.

“No problem.” Zhou Haoran then asked, “So, what’s the brand of this oil? Watsons?”

Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "No need. Watsons has many brands under its umbrella, covering different food industries. Let's not confuse them. Let's just call it Golden Dragon Fish."

Using some very successful brand names from your past life is a safer bet than coming up with your own.
PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)