Hong Kong 1980: The Savage Era

Chapter 256 257 [Zhuang Brothers]

Saturday, May 9

Rumors are rife in the market that the Hong Kong dollar will be replaced by the Chinese Yuan, and the crisis of the Hong Kong dollar has officially broken out.

在黑市中港元与美元的汇率一度突破1比10的大关，银行也将汇率提高到1比8.6，与之前的汇率5.13相比贬值超过60%。

Luo Qihong took the opportunity to deposit more than 6 million US dollars of Zhaoan Real Estate Company in Daoheng Bank and exchanged them into Hong Kong dollars, preparing to make a small profit.

It took only one morning to convert the 6 million US dollars into Hong Kong dollars, with a total capital recovery of nearly 5 million Hong Kong dollars and a profit of 5 million Hong Kong dollars.

Originally, Luo Qihong wanted to sell all his investments in the U.S. stock market, then convert them into Hong Kong dollars through the bank and make a few hundred million more in profits. Unfortunately, the technology companies in the U.S. stock market are still strong. According to his memories of his previous life, the Hong Kong dollar will be directly pegged to the U.S. dollar, and one U.S. dollar can be exchanged for 7.8 Hong Kong dollars, which is not much different from the exchange rate of 8.6.

Due to the depreciation of the Hong Kong dollar, most of the things in Hong Kong rely on imports, and even daily necessities have been increased in price in disguise. Middle and low-income citizens are worried about the collapse of the Hong Kong dollar system, so they are buying daily foods such as rice and peanut oil more frantically than last month.

Looking at the sparse vehicles downstairs and the crowds in front of the bank, Luo Qihong felt emotional. The scope of this incident was really too large. Many business tycoons were involved, such as the bosses of real estate companies.

"Boss, the company already has more than 6 million yuan in cash in its account, which is enough to launch an acquisition of Huaguang Real Estate Company." Cheng Jianshen looked at Luo Qihong's back and gave a deep suggestion.

Luo Qihong thought for a moment and asked, "What's the situation with Zhao Congyan's family?"

"Our acquisition actions have been under their surveillance, but they still invest too much in the shipping industry. It seems that they don't value Huaguang Real Estate Company very much, or they chose to give up Huaguang Real Estate Company." Cheng Jianshen said. This also made him feel very strange. How could Zhao Congyan easily give up the real estate company he had built with great effort?
"Can we fully understand the capital flows of Zhao Congyan's family and Huaguang Shipping?" Luo Qihong felt a little uneasy. The older generation of businessmen should not be underestimated. No one can judge what cards they have.

Cheng Jianshen's face was tangled for a moment. "For the time being, we have only grasped some of the apparent fund flows. Is the boss worried that Zhao Congyan has a hidden trick?"

"It's not a worry, but it's very likely. Judging from the previous attempts, Zhao Congyan will not let go of Huaguang Real Estate Company easily. I suspect that he has hidden a large amount of funds, waiting for us to initiate the acquisition."

"Since Zhao Congyan has hidden funds, why doesn't he take advantage of the low price to strengthen his holdings?" Cheng Jianshen asked puzzledly. Obviously, he did not believe that Zhao Congyan had hidden means.

Luo Qihong turned around and said with a smile, "Of course this is related to the current situation. Ships are mobile assets. No matter which country they go to, Zhao Congyan will be a guest of honor. However, the assets of Huaguang Real Estate Company are inanimate objects that cannot be moved."

"If we back off or change our target, Zhao Congyan can use the funds to continue buying ships and become the world's largest shipowner. But he is worried that we will not really buy them, so he is in a dilemma now."

"Then what should we do? Should we maintain the status quo?" Cheng Jianshen still didn't want to confront him head-on. After all, the other party was a well-known figure, and his strength and connections were not comparable to the boss's.

"How much stock do we hold now?" Luo Qihong asked.

"20.4%, about 4% less than Zhao Congyan's family." Cheng Jianshen replied.

"Go and sort out the information of the shareholders of Huaguang Real Estate Company, select a few shareholders who do not have a good relationship with the Zhao family, and it is best if they hold no less than 10% of the shares, and then help me make an appointment with them." Luo Qihong sat back in the leather chair.

"Boss, are you planning to talk to them in person?" Cheng Jianshen asked.

"Well, this matter is of great importance. We have invested so much money, we must see some results. We can't just run away in disgrace, right?" Luo Qihong smiled slightly.

In fact, Luo Qihong had already figured it out privately that the Zhao family definitely did not have much funds. The reason was that at this time, many people were busy transferring assets, and starting a new business would require a lot of money, so they would not have much money to lend to Zhao Congyan.

Of course, Luo Qihong was unable to intercept the information about Zhao Congyan's channel for borrowing money. After all, the Zhao family's network of relationships was too complicated, and there was no need to spend energy doing so.

"The shipping industry is in free fall, Zhao Congyan should not be feeling well either." Cheng Jianshen said, "Those shareholders know who to support."

Luo Qihong laughed and said, "You are wrong. The sharp drop in the shipping industry was completely within Zhao Congyan's expectations. However, surprisingly, he misjudged the timing of the shipping industry's recovery."

Cheng Jianshen's heart skipped a beat. Why did the boss know so much about the shipping industry? Why was he so confident about the recovery? Wasn't he worried that it would turn out as Zhao Congyan predicted? After thinking about it, Cheng Jianshen understood that the boss initiated the acquisition at this time because he was worried that the shipping industry would recover as expected.

"Hang Lung Bank rejected our proposal yesterday, saying that those assets are important parts of the bank and they would not sell them to us at a low price. Today, Hang Lung Bank encountered a bank run again, and due to a shortage of cash, it is no longer able to redeem depositors' deposits." Cheng Jianshen reported.

"Forget it. We probably have no chance with Hang Lung Bank, so let's not focus our energy on it." Luo Qihong didn't look down on the excellent assets in Hang Lung Bank's hands. He just didn't want to spend a large price to acquire them. After all, there were plenty of good things on the market.

"Ding-ling-ling!" The phone rang, startling Luo Qihong.

"Hello! Pick it up. Mr. Guo, do you have any good business to introduce? Okay, I'll be there right away." Luo Qihong hung up the phone.

Seeing Cheng Jianshen's puzzled look, Luo Qihong picked up his coat and said with a smile, "No wonder the Zhuang brothers of Hang Lung Bank are unwilling to sell their assets at a low price. They want to open up a way from foreign banks, so they found Hong Leong Investment Company."

"Guo Lingcan from Hong Leong Investment Company asked you to discuss the issues of Hang Lung Bank?" Cheng Jianshen was a little surprised.

"No, not Guo Lingcan, but also the Zhuang brothers from Hang Lung Bank." Luo Qihong smiled faintly.

Hong Leong Investment Company Meeting Room

Luo Qihong had naturally been here before, but he still needed to be led by the front desk.

The door of the conference room opened, and Brother Guo Lingcan saw Luo Qihong, stood up to greet him, and said, "Luo Sheng, you are finally here. I have been waiting for you for a long time."

"Mr. Guo, Zhaoan Real Estate Company is not far from here. It's only been about ten minutes, so it's not a long time." Luo Qihong joked with a smile.

"Let me introduce you. This is Zhuang Rongkun, the chairman of the board of directors of Hang Lung Bank, and this is Zhuang Qingquan."

Before the real estate crisis, Hang Lung Bank was a leader among Chinese banks in Hong Kong, with a total market value of 15 billion yuan and controlled funds of over 4 billion yuan, ranking fourth in the Chinese banking sector.

After the real estate crisis broke out, although Hang Lung Bank's business was hit, its foundation was still there and it was able to hold on.

However, the collapse of Xie Liyuan Gold Bank dealt a second blow to Hang Lung Bank. Under the operation of the internal elite management, Hang Lung Bank successfully dealt with the impact of the collapse of Xie Liyuan Gold Bank.

In fact, as long as nothing else happens, Hang Lung Bank will be able to survive the cold winter safely.

According to Luo Qihong's investigation, he found that Hang Lung Bank still had a lot of bad debts, the most important of which were bad debts that internal personnel had used to profit for their own private companies, amounting to as much as 2.66 million yuan.

"Hello, Mr. Zhuang! I am Luo Qihong." The three men shook hands.

Zhuang Rongkun and Zhuang Qingquan sat down looking at each other. They had just rejected Zhaoan Real Estate Company not long ago. Would Luo Qihong take the opportunity to take revenge now?
"Mr. Luo, Hang Lung Bank wants our Hong Leong Investment Company to invest in it, with a stake of 3 million yuan for a 20% stake. What do you think?" asked Guo Lingcan.

Luo Qihong glanced at the Zhuang brothers and smiled, "If it was the heyday of Hang Lung Bank, we would have taken advantage of it. But now, if I may be frank, Hang Lung Bank is not worth the price at all. Let's not talk about Xie Liyuan Gold Bank. As for the current situation, I think Hong Leong Investment Company is not the first bank company that Zhuang Sheng has approached. It must have been rejected by many banks, including HSBC."

Luo Qihong highlighted HSBC because HSBC is the weather vane of Hong Kong's financial sector. What HSBC dares not to do, Hong Leong Investment Company would never do even if it had the courage.

As soon as these words were spoken, the last glimmer of hope left in the Zhuang brothers' minds disappeared.

In fact, Guo Lingcan knew the situation of Hang Lung Bank, but he just didn't want to be the bad guy. In Luo Qihong's view, Guo Lingcan still wanted to acquire Hang Lung Bank in the future, so he didn't want to be imprisoned with the Zhuang brothers.

(End of this chapter)