Hong Kong 1980: The Savage Era

Chapter 119 [Land Adjustment Signal]

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Hong Xiaolian smiled and said, "Ansheng Center is a commercial building jointly built by Cheung Kong Holdings and Kwong Sang Hong International. Cheung Kong Holdings only gets 50% of the profit, which is about 1 million, and the rate of return is 5%."

"Mr. Luo, why did Paramount Group pay a 1% premium to acquire the AXA Center? Is there anything special about the AXA Center?" A reporter began to ask Luo Qihong.

Luo Qihong smiled and said, "The reason for the premium is of course that the AXA Center is worth the price. The AXA Center overlooks Victoria Harbour and is a large and medium-sized commercial building in Wan Chai."

"I personally think that the AXA Centre is completely comparable to some small commercial buildings in Central and its value should be doubled, at least HK$2 million. Now that Paramount has acquired it for HK$1 million, it is certainly a good deal."

There is a lot of water in these words, but in order to promote the AXA Center Building, Luo Qihong is not afraid to sacrifice his own reputation.

As soon as this report is released, it will certainly be criticized by many people, who will think that Luo Qihong is raising the value of the AXA Center Building regardless of the facts, just to seek "illegal" benefits for his Paramount Group.

This is exactly the effect Luo Qihong wanted. After all, black and red are also red. Otherwise, he would not be able to make the expected profit from the AXA Center Building.

Hong Xiaolian turned her head and looked at Luo Qihong with a smile on her face. She didn't expect Luo Qihong to be so shameless. At such a young age, he behaved like a business veteran. It was really surprising.

In the following visits, Luo Qihong intentionally or unintentionally touted the advantages of the AXA Center Building and turned the press conference into a personal speech.

"Luo Sheng's eloquence is really unexpected. The price of AXA Center should increase significantly in the future." Hong Xiaolian smiled meaningfully, as if with sarcasm.

Luo Qihong smiled and said, "Thank you for your good words! I also hope that the AXA Center Building will have a big increase in value."

"I've also heard about the bet between Mr. Luo and Chinese Estates Company. I have to say that Mr. Luo is very courageous. Most people wouldn't dare to accept such a bet." Hong Xiaolian's expression remained calm.

The two chatted for a while, and Hong Xiaolian's words gave Luo Qihong some inspiration and ideas for hyping up the Wanchai Commercial Building.

Therefore, Luo Qihong immediately found several economic experts, bribed them, and asked them to write some favorable articles about the development of Wan Chai Commercial Building and its future growth potential.

These articles are not cheap, one article costs 1 yuan. Luo Qihong spent 3 yuan in just 17 hours and booked a week's business for those experts.

The next morning
The press conference and the expert analysis article were published in newspapers at the same time, causing quite a stir in Hong Kong.

Some people who own commercial buildings, shops and other properties in Wan Chai are happy to see this happen, and some even add fuel to the fire. After all, this news is very beneficial to them.

Although the property prices in Wan Chai cannot rise to the same level as those in Central, it is still relatively easy to increase them above those in the urban area of ​​Kowloon. Even if some owners do not plan to sell their Wan Chai properties, they can still increase their value and even their status.

The price of property is not like stock price, which can skyrocket in a very short period of time. Instead, it requires slow quotation and transaction to fix the price of property.

However, there are also real estate developers who know how to act first. They have a keen sense of smell and realize that the prices of some properties are about to skyrocket, so they are ready to act first.

Around 11 a.m., Kang Wenyi, manager of the first property management department, walked into Luo Qihong's office and reported, "Mr. Luo, real estate developers and speculators called to inquire about the price of the AXA Center. They all want to buy the properties on the second and third floors. The price has increased by 2 million per floor. If we sell it now, we can make 3 million."

This news was somewhat unexpected, mainly because it came too early, several days earlier than Luo Qihong had expected.

Luo Qihong thought about this matter for a while and felt that there was still room for growth. He said to Kang Wenyi, "We are not in a hurry to sell the Ansheng Center Building. You should reject these buyers and let them know that we want a higher price. And you should disclose this news to the reporters so that we can continue to hype it up." Kang Wenyi nodded, "Okay, I'll arrange it right away."

Luo Qihong suddenly thought of the fund raising issue. The down payment had not been settled yet, so he needed Zhao Kai to sell the Lee Fat Building on Bute Street in Mong Kok as soon as possible.

After urging Zhao Kai, Luo Qihong took the information of the tenement building in the southeast of Kowloon City to HSBC to apply for a mortgage loan. After all, the funds raised by Lifa Building were only more than 2 million, which was still a big gap from 3150 million.

Fortunately, Luo Qihong was an old customer of HSBC Bank, and with personal guarantee, he successfully obtained a 6% mortgage loan of 1 million yuan.

At about 2:22.58 in the afternoon, Luo Qihong received the news: the Hong Kong government announced that it had reached an agreement with the developer Weicheng Company to reclaim 488 hectares of land in Tin Shui Wai, Yuen Long for HK$ billion.

Weicheng Company was established by Cheung Kong Holdings, Wheelock Holdings, and Tai Po Properties (a real estate company under the Wu Yingxiang family of Hopewell Holdings). The company only holds land in Tin Shui Wai, Yuen Long.

Today, the shareholders of Weicheng Company have changed, with Huarun Group holding 51% and Cheung Kong Holdings holding 49%. The two companies jointly developed the new town of Tin Shui Wai in Yuen Long, but it has now been taken back by the Hong Kong government, but they have made a lot of profit.

In 79, Wheelock and Tai Po Properties had little confidence in the development of the land in Tin Shui Wai, Yuen Long and just wanted to get out of it quickly, so they sold the shares of Weicheng Company to Huarun Group and Cheung Kong Holdings at the original price.

These things naturally had little to do with Luo Qihong. What he was concerned about was the adverse reactions caused by the news issued by the Hong Kong government, which was a very obvious signal of land adjustment.

Although it will not have much impact on commercial land prices for the time being, Luo Qihong remembers that the Hong Kong government will release other news in the future, which will pour cold water on Vaughan.

Then the increase in the value of the commercial buildings will not be as great as in the past, and the AXA Center Building held by Paramount Group will not make the expected profit.

Luo Qihong crossed his fingers on the table, frowned, and sighed, "It seems that we have to sell the AXA Center Building as soon as possible. If there is no big increase in price, it will just be a backlog of funds if we keep it. It is better to 'keep the bag safe'."

In fact, this news did not cause much stir. Most real estate developers believed that this was because the Hong Kong government wanted to share the huge profits brought by Yuen Long and Tin Shui Wai, or that Weicheng Company did not have enough power to continue development and sold the land back to the Hong Kong government.

After 3 days

Paramount Group and Wah Mei Properties Limited reached an acquisition agreement, with Wah Mei Properties Limited acquiring Lee Fat Building on Bute Street in Mong Kok owned by Paramount Group for HK$2 million.

According to Luo Qihong's request, Huamei Real Estate Company must pay the full amount within 3 days.

However, Huamei Real Estate Company paid the full amount on the same day, which made Luo Qihong very satisfied.

Luo Qihong also immediately informed Hong Xiaolian that Paramount Company could pay the first installment of 3150 million yuan for the AXA Center Building.

At the same time, Luo Qihong received news that China Construction Bank was negotiating with the Hong Kong government to acquire the Murray Road car park land in Central, and the negotiations seemed to be going quite smoothly.

Luo Qihong knew that Hua Xia Bank would definitely acquire the land in the central area. Once the news of the successful acquisition was announced, real estate adjustments would be inevitable.

Luo Qihong immediately called Su Qishan and Kang Wenyi to assign them some tasks.

(End of this chapter)