In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Night falls quietly, and the sun has not yet completely disappeared behind the horizon, but the lights on the streets of Hong Kong have already begun to shine impatiently.

The bright lights of the Connaught Building sparkle brightly amid the prosperity of Central, echoing the charming lights of Victoria Harbour in the distance, welcoming the arrival of night.

Lin Haoran sat leaning against the spacious floor-to-ceiling window, holding a teacup in his hand, leisurely watching the lingering afterglow of the sunset in the western sky, while immersing himself in the charming night view of the Hong Kong River gradually unfolding.

Compared to other bosses who are busy with the development of their companies, Lin Haoran seems particularly calm as a boss.

He does not need to be deeply involved in the daily management of his subsidiaries, but instead focuses more on strategizing behind the scenes and occasionally offering his own insights based on what he knew in his previous life.

This is the benefit of decentralization.

In contrast, whether it is Bao Yugang, Run Run Shaw, Li Jiacheng and other Chinese tycoons, they basically do everything themselves and devote a lot of energy to how to run the company every day.

In Lin Haoran's eyes, such a lifestyle is too hard.

What he pursues is the life of a truly rich person.

His subordinates create wealth for him every day, and he relies on the knowledge and experience accumulated in his previous life to calmly grasp the overall direction and control the overall situation. That is enough.

At this moment, the phone on the table suddenly rang, interrupting his thoughts.

Ma Shimin went to the Dairy Farm International office downstairs in the afternoon to discuss entering the Japanese market with the general manager of Dairy Farm International. He has not returned yet.

Since he was not there, Lin Haoran picked up the phone directly.

"Mr. Ma? Is Mr. Lin here? I have something to talk to him about." The voice of Governor Murray MacLehose came from the phone.

Originally, Lin Haoran thought that the other party was looking for Ma Shimin, but unexpectedly, the person who called was actually Governor Murray MacLehose, whom he had just met at noon.

Lin Haoran smiled slightly, already having a premonition in his heart.

The other party called so anxiously, it was obvious that there was a result.

He originally thought that the other party would notify him tomorrow, but he didn't expect that they would be so impatient to find him now.

"Mr. Governor, I am Lin Haoran!" Lin Haoran responded with a smile.

On the other end of the line came the slightly hurried but polite voice of Governor MacLehau: "Good evening, Mr. Lin. After an urgent discussion this afternoon, the government has decided to accept your proposal to postpone the payment of the remaining land price for three years."

Lin Haoran was not too surprised when he heard this. This was just something he had expected.

He smiled and said, "Mr. Governor, your decision is very wise. It will be a win-win situation for both the Hong Kong Land Group and the Governor's Office. In addition, I will ask TVB and Oriental Daily to assist us and restore the Hong Kong real estate market to its previous state as soon as possible."

"That's right, Mr. Lin. We hope to stabilize Hong Kong's real estate market as soon as possible. Your participation will be crucial. We look forward to the Hong Kong Land Group making a great effort at the auction tomorrow afternoon." Mai Lihao also replied with a smile.

"Mr. Governor, I have another concern. As far as I know, Jardine Matheson and Wheelock are also participating in the bidding. If the price of a certain piece of land is raised, we may not bid for it." Lin Haoran raised a question at this time.

On the other end of the phone, Murray MacLehose was silent for a moment.

If Lin Haoran saw MacLehose's appearance at this moment, he would definitely see that MacLehose wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand.

In fact, Murray MacLehose did have a plan.

He also knew that Jardine Matheson and Wheelock were only participating for his sake and had no intention of conducting the auction.

At noon, Lin Haoran did not talk with him about the final bidding price.

Therefore, he thought of letting Swire Group participate in the auction. Simply put, it was to act as a broker to raise the price. Even if it was not much higher, a few hundred million Hong Kong dollars more would be good.

As for Wheelock & Co., he understood that the Hong Kong Land Development was an important shareholder of Wheelock & Co., so he had no intention of using Wheelock & Co. as a trustee.

But Lin Haoran suddenly brought up this matter at this time, which forced him to give up this idea.

It seems that there is no way to increase the revenue by several hundred million Hong Kong dollars.

Since the Hong Kong Land Group was required to bid for all five plots of land, any failure of the other party to bid for one plot of land would mean that they were not confident enough. Only by winning all five plots of land could it be shown that Lin Haoran was truly full of confidence in Hong Kong's real estate.

MacLehose sighed and said, "Please rest assured, Mr. Lin. If nothing unexpected happens, your Hong Kong Land Group should be able to close the deal at the starting price!"

"Please rest assured, Mr. Governor. The Hong Kong Land Group will not let the government down and will acquire all five plots of land tomorrow." Hearing MacLehose's helpless voice, Lin Haoran smiled instead.

I was almost set up by the Governor.

It was still in the afternoon. When Lin Haoran was chatting with Ma Shimin about things at the Governor's Office, Ma Shimin raised a concern.

Judging from MacLehose's tone now, it is obvious that he wants to do this.

However, now that Lin Haoran suddenly brought it up, it was obvious that the other party's idea of ​​rigging the auction had to be stopped.

"Well, that's all for today. I won't bother Mr. Lin any more. I look forward to hearing good news from him tomorrow." At this moment, Murray MacLehose had no intention of continuing the conversation with Lin Haoran. "Goodbye, Governor."

After hanging up the phone, Lin Haoran stood up, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, and overlooked this bustling international metropolis.

At this moment, the afterglow of the setting sun has long disappeared, and the night has completely enveloped the place.

However, the brightly lit streets of Hong Kong are extremely bright.

The Hong Kong River in the night is dimly lit, and each light seems to be telling the story and hope of this city.

Through the agreement reached with the Governor's Office, basically, these five pieces of land can no longer be lost.

The Swire Properties Group has added five more plots of land with extremely advantageous geographical locations, which is naturally a good thing for Lin Haoran.

These five plots of land can be purchased for only HK$30 billion, which is definitely a very low price.

You know, in another world, the Swire Group spent HK$1982 billion to acquire the land of Exchange Square in early 47.55.

At that time, the Hong Kong real estate crisis had not yet officially occurred. Although housing prices were difficult to rise, they remained at the prices of 1981.

Therefore, many real estate developers do not believe that a real estate crisis will break out in Hong Kong, including Hong Kong’s oldest and most powerful Landmark Group.

This is also the reason why they were willing to bid for the land in the Trading Square at such a high price.

Of the five plots of land to be auctioned tomorrow, two are located in Central, and their geographical locations are more advantageous than those of Exchange Square.

The land area of ​​Exchange Square reaches 14.4 square feet, which is not small;

The combined area of ​​the two plots of land in Central that will be auctioned tomorrow is no smaller than the plot where Exchange Square is located.

Although the other three plots of land are slightly inferior to the two plots in Central, they are definitely good land and their value is not much different from the two plots in Central.

Therefore, it is definitely a sure win to acquire five such plots of land for only HK$30 billion. It can be said that the price is much lower than expected.

This is the starting price after all, and it is also a very normal price.

Under normal circumstances, after bidding by several parties, the price will basically increase by more than 50% or even double the starting price.

Some time ago, Lin Haoran asked the Swire Group and Wanqing Group to sell off real estate projects, land, commercial buildings, etc. one after another, causing the projects of these large real estate developers to be saturated in a short period of time.

It can be said that the fact that the Swire Properties Group sold more than 30 real estate projects has disrupted the real estate market in Hong Kong.

Coupled with the sudden emergence of public opinion about the real estate crisis in the past two days, this has made those real estate developers even more reluctant to participate in the bidding for this official land.

Therefore, in the end, these five plots of land could have been auctioned at a price as high as HK$400 million to HK$500 million or even over HK$600 million, but in the end, the Swire Properties Group had no competitors and was expected to win the five plots of land at the starting price.

Not long after hanging up the phone, Ma Shimin hurried back from outside.

“Boss, after careful discussion with Dairy Farm International’s general manager, we decided to acquire a stake in Yamazaki Bread, Japan’s largest bread manufacturer, as the first step to enter the Japanese market.

At the same time, we also plan to promote brands such as Wellcome, Mannings, Health & Beauty chain stores and Maxim's Cakes in Japan.

After in-depth analysis, we all agree that Japan not only has a large population, but also has strong consumer purchasing power and a high demand for high-quality goods and services.

Therefore, missing out on the Japanese market will be an immeasurable loss for us!" Ma Shimin reported eagerly as soon as he entered the door.

Lin Haoran nodded and said with a smile: "Well, if you think it's appropriate, just do it!"

Naturally, he would not stop China from entering the Japanese market.

After all, for a country like Japan with a large population and a developed economy, entering these markets will most likely result in profits rather than losses.

On the contrary, if they want to invest heavily in New Zealand, a place with a developed economy but a very small population, Lin Haoran will definitely stop them.

Lin Haoran would definitely support it if we don’t expand blindly and go international.

"With the support of my boss, I am more confident about the internationalization of Dairy Farm International!" Ma Shimin replied with a smile on his face.

“By the way, I just spoke to Murray MacLehose on the phone. The government has approved our application for a payment deferral, and the other two competitors are unlikely to participate in the bidding.

If everything goes well, we hope to successfully acquire the five plots of land at the starting price." Lin Haoran briefly told Ma Shimin about the conversation he had just had with MacLehose.

Upon hearing this, Ma Shimin showed joy on his face: "Great, Boss! This will be a new opportunity for the development of our Landmark Group."

Once these five plots of land are successfully acquired, the construction project will be launched quickly thanks to the sufficient financial reserves currently available to the Swire Properties Group.

If nothing unexpected happens, in the next few years, Hong Kong Land Group will add five more high-quality property assets, further consolidating its position as the largest real estate company in Hong Kong. (End of this chapter)