In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 450 The Governor bowed his head and asked for help, offering generous conditions

Hearing Lin Haoran say this, Mai Lihao also breathed a sigh of relief.

At least he's not the stubborn type, which is good.

He was really worried that Lin Haoran would become arrogant because of his sudden increase in wealth.

Although he was the Governor of Hong Kong, he had almost supreme power in Hong Kong.

But he is by no means a rude and unreasonable person, but attaches great importance to his reputation.

Because of this, during his tenure as Governor of Hong Kong, he implemented many policies that benefited the people, and was therefore deeply loved by the citizens of Hong Kong.

What's more, Lin Haoran is by no means an ordinary person, but a super rich man with huge influence.

We can get a glimpse of this from the current real estate market.

If it were someone else, such as Li Ka-shing, even if Li Ka-shing ordered Cheung Kong Holdings to sell off real estate projects on a large scale, it might not necessarily cause such a big stir.

But the media caused such a huge response simply by inducing the public to speculate that Lin Haoran might lose confidence in Xiangjiang Real Estate.

This is enough to show that Lin Haoran's influence in the Hong Kong real estate industry is beyond the reach of ordinary people.

People's views and speculations about him are enough to influence the direction of the market.

Therefore, Mai Lihao had no choice but to be unwilling to fall out with Lin Haoran.

"Mr. Lin, in fact, it is very simple to restore the confidence of Hong Kong citizens in real estate. I have a way, and Mr. Lin will also gain considerable benefits!" Mai Lihao said to Lin Haoran with a slight pain in his heart.

Seeing Mai Lihao's expression, Lin Haoran was surprised.

What kind of expression is this?

"Please speak, Mr. Governor." Although Lin Haoran was confused, he still remained polite and curious, waiting for Mai Lihao's next words.

"On January 1, which is tomorrow at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, the Lands Department will hold an auction of government land? I think Mr. Lin should be aware of this, right?" asked Mai Lihao.

"Yes, Mr. Governor, I have heard about this matter from Mr. Ma from the Jardine Matheson Group!" Lin Haoran nodded.

“My proposal is very simple. The government will launch five extremely high-quality plots of land for auction tomorrow. I believe Mr. Lin should be aware of the situation of these plots of land.

I sincerely hope that the Swire Properties Group can actively participate in the bidding for these five plots of land and strive to win them all!

In return for the support from the Hong Kong Land Group, on behalf of the government, I promise that for these five plots of land, the Hong Kong Land Group will only need to bear the auction transaction price. The government will waive all other additional expenses such as stamp duty, land transfer fee, land price adjustment fees and auction commission.

In this way, Mr. Lin will undoubtedly save a lot of money. I wonder what Mr. Lin thinks of this proposal? " Mai Lihao said slowly, with a hint of expectation and pain in his tone.

After saying that, he handed a document to Lin Haoran.

The above is exactly what Mai Lihao said, but in more detail.

Lin Haoran quickly read the contents of the document, then looked up at Mai Lihao.

If Governor MacLehose said that he was not troubled, he would be deceiving himself.

In the past, the rules for government land auctions were very clear. In addition to the transaction price of the land, the successful bidder had to pay an additional fee of 10% to 15% of the transaction amount, including auction commission, stamp duty, etc., which would eventually flow into the Hong Kong government's treasury like rivers flowing into the sea.

But now, in order to facilitate the Jardine Matheson Group to take over these five plots of land, he had to grit his teeth and waive this sky-high fee.

Just for the target with a starting bid of HK$30 billion, according to convention, an additional income of HK$3 to HK$5 million can be earned. Such a huge fortune can be thrown away at will, and even the veteran politician who has been in charge of Hong Kong for nearly a decade can hardly hide the pain in his heart.

What made him feel even more uncomfortable was the great value that this piece of land should have been worth.

The Central Admiralty Road plot overlooks the Victoria Harbour, the Causeway Bay plot is adjacent to the racecourse, and the core area of ​​Tsim Sha Tsui East...

If it were half a year ago when the property market was at its peak, which of these five pieces of land would not have attracted competition from various Hong Kong financial groups?

According to the Lands Department's calculations, under normal circumstances, the normal premium for these prime locations would be at least 50%, and their final price would be more than HK$ to billion.

These five plots of land are all located in excellent locations, and the starting price of HK$30 billion is really not high.

Of course, the starting price itself cannot be too high.

But right now, let alone a premium, it is already a blessing to be able to sell it at the reserve price of 30 billion. The governor actually has to beg the buyer to take over!

However, he had to suffer this loss in silence.

If the sale fails, it will be tantamount to announcing to the whole of Hong Kong: even the Hong Kong government has lost confidence in the property market!

Those citizens who crowded in front of the sales department to cancel their orders, those foreign investors who withdrew their capital overnight, and those international short sellers who were eyeing the market with eager eyes...
Most importantly, we are still in the early stages of negotiating with the mainland about Hong Kong's future, and even he himself is full of uncertainty about Hong Kong's future.

Therefore, the British side’s expectation is that as long as more land can be sold, they should do their best!

Because the funds raised from official land auctions will eventually flow to the UK.

Therefore, MacLehose does not want to see Hong Kong's real estate industry fall into a downturn during this delicate period.

At least, he hoped that this downturn would wait until the negotiation results came out!

Before the negotiation results come out, we will never miss any opportunity to sell more land!
Although he was the governor of Hong Kong and the parent official of this land, he was also an official sent by Britain and needed to consider the interests of Britain more often.

At this moment, the rise and fall of the Hong Kong property market actually depends on Lin Haoran's thoughts. Mai Lihao's heart is still a little complicated.

As Mak Leho looked out the window at the many tall buildings in Central, he suddenly remembered the words of an old fortune teller in Chinatown: The person who tied the bell must be the one to untie it.

This storm caused by the sell-off of the Hong Kong Land Group will eventually have to be quelled by Lin Haoran himself.

Only if the Hong Kong Land Group takes over these five gold-plated deeds can the market doubts be dispelled and Hong Kong real estate see the light of day again.

Lin Haoran's fingers tapped lightly on the mahogany tabletop, and the crisp sound echoed throughout the Governor's office.

Outside the window, the midday sun was filtering in through the glass curtain wall, casting alternating light and dark shadows on his angular profile.

Mai Lihao noticed that the young super-rich man's eyes were always fixed on the gold-embossed auction catalog on the coffee table, as if he was weighing the gold flowing between the pages.

"Mr. Governor's generous gift reminds me of the rules of Nanyang Casino." Lin Haoran suddenly chuckled and ran his fingertips across the blueprint of the Central plot. "The dealer first gives you 30% of the chips to lure you to the table and risk your life."

Mai Lihao's Adam's apple moved, and the silver spoon of the English coffee made a slight crisp sound when it hit the rim of the bone china cup.

He suddenly realized that the cup of coffee in front of him had already gone cold.

"Mr. Lin is joking." The Governor wiped his forehead with a silk handkerchief. "This is just the sincerity of the government and enterprises to overcome the difficulties together. You see, this piece of land in Central is adjacent to the Central Pier and is only about 100 meters away from the Kangle Building of your Hong Kong Land Group. In the future..."

"Within the next year, Jardine Matheson will move its headquarters to London, England." Lin Haoran suddenly interrupted and pulled out a neatly folded copy of the South China Morning Post from his suit pocket. The front-page headline was a photo of Simon Keswick, the current boss of Jardine Matheson, being interviewed, announcing that Jardine Matheson had planned to move out of Hong Kong.

"Among the constituent stocks of the Hang Seng Index, dozens of British companies have moved their headquarters or main businesses to Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States, or Canada in recent years. Even the British financial groups have no confidence in the future of Hong Kong. Mr. Governor, do you think I will spend 30 billion Hong Kong dollars to buy these plots of land after I have finally recovered so much funds?"

The office fell into dead silence.

The ticking sound of the Baroque-style gilded bronze clock suddenly seemed deafening.

Mai Lihao's knuckles were clenched white.

He suddenly realized that the negotiation trump card he had carefully prepared was nothing more than a child's building block game in the eyes of this young man.

Those preferential conditions that were thought out with great effort, those additional taxes and fees that were given up with great reluctance, are nothing more than a remaining piece on the corner of the chessboard in the eyes of the other party who is looking down on the overall situation.

"But..." Lin Haoran suddenly stood up and looked at Governor Murray MacLehose with a smile on his face, "I can agree to the Governor's conditions and take these five pieces of land, but what I want is not tax reduction, but..."

Mai Lihao's eyes were entirely on Lin Haoran. He wanted to see what kind of conditions this young man would put forward.

"After the land lease is handed over, Hong Kong Land can postpone the payment of the remaining land price for three years. In exchange, I will not only pay off the HK$30 billion in three years, but also pay the additional expenses as usual. The government will not lose a penny. I wonder if Mr. Governor can accept my terms?"

Mai Lihao's pupils suddenly contracted.

This proposal caught Mai Lihao off guard. He thought Lin Haoran would take the opportunity to propose more stringent conditions, such as further lowering the land price or demanding more policy support. However, the request to postpone the payment of the remaining land price seemed a little unexpected.

The request was not as exorbitant as one might have imagined, and they even offered to pay all additional fees. This was really good news for the Governor's Office.

At least, those hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars can be saved.

He can also give a good explanation to the British side.

However, the condition of delaying payment for three years made him feel a little embarrassed.

"Mr. Lin, you are asking for a fairly long financial buffer period." Mai Lihao quickly calculated the pros and cons of this proposal in his mind, "Delaying the payment for three years means that the government will not be able to fully recover the funds from the land auction during this period, which will have a significant impact on our financial arrangements." Lin Haoran smiled slightly, as if he had already anticipated Mai Lihao's reaction: "Mr. Governor, I understand your concerns, but please allow me to explain that such an arrangement is actually beneficial to both parties.

You also know that I paid a huge price to acquire the Swire Group, and I still owe huge loans to Citibank and Bank of China. When I went to the United States, although I made some money through Apple, the money was far from offsetting the huge loans.

As for the Hong Kong Land Group, it had just recently acquired the Hong Kong Telephone Company, so its expenses were not small. In addition, the Hong Kong Land Group already had debts of several billion Hong Kong dollars.

So, although it seems that I have ample funds, in fact, it is not much at all. And buying all five plots of land was not part of our plan. Now that the Governor has asked me to break the original plan all of a sudden, it will definitely be difficult for me to do so.

What's more, I asked the government to give me three years of grace, but it was not free. Instead, I asked the government to continue to pay you the extra fees that you promised, so you didn't lose anything.

For Hong Kong Land, it gives us room to adjust our financial structure and cope with market uncertainties;

For the government, although the return of funds will be affected in the short term, in the long run, this will not only help stabilize market confidence, but also ensure that the land is properly developed, ultimately boosting the surrounding economy and increasing the government's tax revenue."

More importantly, I, Lin Haoran, guarantee with my personal reputation that in three years, Hong Kong Land Group will not only pay the land price in full, but will also make additional investments to turn these plots of land into new landmark buildings in Hong Kong and contribute to Hong Kong’s economic prosperity.”

Upon hearing this, Mai Lihao couldn't help but weigh the pros and cons in his mind.

Although deferred payment sacrifices some immediate profits, it may be a good deal if it can help stabilize the market, avoid greater economic losses, and obtain more tax revenue in the future.

What's more, the real estate industry in Hong Kong is now in danger. The Governor's Office actually did not lose anything in this matter. It's just that the auction money was delayed in payment.

In his heart, he had already agreed to Lin Haoran's condition, and even wanted to agree to it immediately.

However, perhaps because he was embarrassed in front of Lin Haoran today, he was unwilling to easily agree to Lin Haoran in person, thinking that this would save some face.

Seeing that MacLehose did not say anything, Lin Haoran continued, "Mr. Governor, although we have delayed payment for three years, the government does not have to worry about whether we can get the money when it is due.

As long as you restrict us from selling these plots of land again before paying the land price, if we don't pay the land price by the due date, the government can take back these plots of land!"

For Lin Haoran, he had no plan to resell these pieces of land anyway. In the future, these pieces of land would be hard to buy even if you had money.

Now that such a good opportunity is in his hands, how could he let it go!

"Mr. Lin, your proposal does make it difficult for me to do so." Mai Lihao said slowly, "So, this matter is of great importance. I need time to discuss it with the relevant departments. I will give a formal reply before the auction. What do you think?"

"Of course, Mr. Governor." Lin Haoran nodded to show his understanding. "I look forward to your reply. I also hope that Hong Kong's real estate industry will recover as before."

"In that case, I won't keep Mr. Lin here any longer." Mai Lihao ordered him to leave.

"Goodbye, Governor!" Lin Haoran waved to Mai Lihao and said goodbye to him with a smile.

Although Mai Lihao did not agree to Lin Haoran's proposal on the spot, but said that he would discuss it with various departments, in Lin Haoran's view, this was just a routine matter.

Judging from the importance that MacLehose attached to this matter, he was already 99% sure that this cooperation had a high probability of success.

The reason why he didn't care about the reports of those media and didn't take them seriously at all was because he had already had this plan.

He had long had his eyes on those pieces of land, and it would naturally be the best outcome if he could take over all of them.

In this way, the outside world will no longer be able to question his confidence in the Hong Kong real estate industry.

He has been thinking about this plan these two days.

Unexpectedly, the Governor's Office also thought of this idea, and took the initiative to ask him for help, and even offered him preferential conditions.

This really surprised and delighted him.

Lin Haoran actually doesn’t care much about the hundreds of millions of extra expenses that the government wants to waive.

He knew that if the government really waived the money, although he would make a big profit in the short term, in the long run, the Governor's Office would most likely make up for it from other places.

From the painful expression on Mai Lihao's face, he knew that the other party was very reluctant to lose this money.

If Lin Haoran agreed, it would be equivalent to indirectly causing the Governor's Office to suffer a great loss, which would be equivalent to offending the Governor's Office.

After all, they are in power and there are many ways for them to get the money back.

By then, it is not impossible that the Hong Kong Land Development, HK Electric Group, Wan Ching Group and others will find some excuses to issue a large fine.

Therefore, he would rather bear the expense cheerfully than let the Governor's Office do anything behind his back.

His proposal to delay the settlement of the auction funds for three years was the result of careful consideration.

On the one hand, this would show Mai Lihao that he is indeed currently strapped for money;
On the other hand, more than 3 billion Hong Kong dollars would be of great help to him if he had enough time for three years.

After all, although it is not difficult for him to come up with so much money at once, it will definitely affect his subsequent layout.

Now, being able to acquire these five pieces of land at the lowest cost without affecting his subsequent business layout is simply a good thing that kills two birds with one stone.

Three years later, more than 3 billion Hong Kong dollars may not be a lot of money in his eyes, and he can even take it out at will.

But now, the money is still very important to him.

That's why he proposed to postpone the payment of the land price.

This is both his frank expression of his current financial situation and his careful consideration of future development.

According to today's loan interest rates, if he borrows 30 billion from the bank, even if he is given the most favorable interest rate of 10% per year, he will have to pay nearly 10 billion Hong Kong dollars in interest in three years.

Now, it is actually equivalent to borrowing HK$30 billion to purchase these five scarce core area plots of land at the starting price, without any interest.

As for those additional expenses, you have to pay them yourself, no matter which real estate company you choose.

After seeing Lin Hao off, Mak Le-ho immediately convened the Financial Secretary, the Lands Department and the economic advisory team for an emergency closed-door meeting.

Lin Haoran, with his bodyguards, returned to Kangle Building again.

In the office of the general manager of Landmark Group, Ma Shimin looked at the smiling Lin Haoran and couldn't help asking, "Boss, did you get any good news from the Governor's Mansion?"

"Mr. Ma, your guess is so accurate!" Lin Haoran laughed.

"The Governor's Office has proposed a cooperation plan that is extremely beneficial to us." Lin Haoran smiled. He walked to the desk, picked up a document and handed it to Ma Shimin. "Look at this, Mr. Ma, we have the opportunity to acquire five pieces of high-quality land at very favorable conditions."

Ma Shimin took the document and read it carefully. As he read more, his brows gradually relaxed and an expression of disbelief appeared on his face.

"This... this condition is too generous! The government is willing to take the initiative to waive all additional expenses? As far as I know, this has never happened in Hong Kong's history. Even the Hong Kong Land Group, which was once a British-owned company and received preferential treatment, still cannot reduce these additional fees at all!"

"That's right. Governor MacLehose has tried his best to restore the public's confidence in real estate." Lin Haoran nodded, with a hint of emotion in his tone, "But I refuse this good offer!"

“This can save at least 400 to 500 million Hong Kong dollars. I didn’t expect that you would be willing to do so. But I think you did a good job in refusing.

This time, the Governor's Office obviously proposed this condition reluctantly. If we just accept this offer from the Governor's Office, the government will not be willing to accept it. "Ma Shimin agreed with Lin Haoran's decision.

"I thought so too. That's why I rejected the preferential policy proposed by the government. However, I also took this opportunity to make another condition, which is to postpone the payment of the remaining land price for three years after the auction."

Lin Haoran smiled slightly, with a sly look in his eyes. "In this way, we can not only acquire these plots of land at a very low cost, but also have enough time to adjust the financial structure and deal with market uncertainties."

Upon hearing this, Ma Shimin couldn't help but applaud.

"Boss, this is a brilliant idea! This way, we can maintain our cash flow and ensure that we have enough funds for project development in the future."

“That’s right, and I also promised MacLehose that after acquiring these plots of land, we will quickly turn them into new landmark buildings in Hong Kong, making Hong Kong’s intercity line more beautiful.

In this way, we can not only win the trust and support of the government, but also establish our good image in the market.”

"Has the Governor agreed to your condition? If he really agrees, it will definitely be a great thing for our Land Group." Ma Shimin asked curiously.

Once agreed, it would mean that the Swire Group could get the five plots of land with ease, as if it were getting something for nothing.

Although this huge land price still needs to be paid three years later, Hong Kong is developing at a rapid pace and it is hard to tell what the environment will be like in Hong Kong three years later.

Lin Haoran shook his head and said with a smile: "The Governor did not agree on the spot, but I estimate that this matter is basically almost certain, unless the Governor wants to see the housing prices in Hong Kong begin to collapse now."

According to the historical trends that Lin Haoran knew in his previous life, although signs of a real estate crash in Hong Kong began to appear in mid-1981, the actual crash did not occur until September 1982, 9.

That day, when the Iron Lady was walking out of the north gate of the Great Hall of the People, she stumbled and fell, with one knee and both hands touching the ground.

This fall completely exposed the Iron Lady's failure in the negotiations.

The real estate market in Hong Kong also plummeted...

如今，才刚1980年的12月31号，距离1982年9月24号，还远着呢！
(End of this chapter)