Hong Kong 1980: The Savage Era

Chapter 562 Chapter 564 [Super Transformation of United Industrial Group] (New book, please collect it)
In early May, Luo Qihong flew to Singapore on a special plane to handle some affairs of the F&N Group.

After the severe blow of the financial crisis in 97, Singapore's economy also began to slump. The Straits Times Index plummeted by 667 points, accounting for 2000% of the highest index of 34 points, and investor confidence was severely undermined.

Fortunately, Singapore's state-owned economy is dominant, so it can withstand the hammer of international speculators, but it has also suffered heavy losses, otherwise international speculators will not let Singapore go.

There is not much foreign investment in Singapore today, the financial market has been hit, and the stock market value has shrunk significantly.

It is worth mentioning that United Overseas Bank suffered a lot of bad debts in this battle and suffered heavy losses. Huang Tingfang has already planned to restart the acquisition of Tiger Balm Enterprises.

Perhaps this time, Tiger Balm Enterprises will not be able to escape the fate and the Huang Zuoyao family will also be stripped of the third important group, and its assets will no longer be as prosperous as before.

This naturally had nothing to do with Luo Qihong, because the acquisition was just around the corner and the previously acquired shares could be put to good use.

Frasers Group meeting room.

Luo Qihong sat in the first seat and looked around. He had transferred Vice President Han Bin from Yeo Hiap Seng Group to serve as President of F&N Group. He also promoted former senior executives Li Qian and Wen Daolin to vice presidents.

".The Heineken Group controlled by the Dutch Heineken family has suffered heavy losses in Southeast Asia and is now looking to sell its 60% stake in Asia Pacific Breweries for S$12 billion. This price may seem high, but it is actually half lower than the peak in 97," said President Han Bin, who was the first to report.

"What if I want to acquire Singapore's Heineken Group? Do you have any suggestions?" Luo Qihong suddenly dropped a bombshell, scaring the senior executives so much that their eyes widened.

The boss is worthy of being called a 'dragon crossing the river'. The acquisitions he is going to make are all big, not small.

Singapore's Heineken Group is a listed company with a current market value of S$18 billion. It is one of the blue-chip stocks in the Straits Times Index. It owns multiple beer brands, such as Tiger Beer, Cat Beer, Heineken, and Stout, and has a great influence on the beer market in Southeast Asia.

If the Heineken family did not have a strong control over the Dutch Heineken Group, Luo Qihong would have wanted to solve the problem directly at the root and control the global Heineken Group in one fell swoop, rather than the Singapore Heineken Group.

Li Qian said, "Although the Dutch Heineken Group only holds less than 30% of the shares of Singapore Heineken Group, it is difficult for us to acquire it directly. The Heineken family has a good relationship with many shareholders of Singapore Heineken Group, and it is difficult for us to get their support."

"Since I can't get their support, I'll just buy the shares at a high price. If a 5% premium isn't enough, then I'll just go for 100% or 150%. I don't believe their friendship can't withstand the impact of money." Luo Qihong said domineeringly.

The beer industry is also very violent. For example, the sales of Singapore's Asia Pacific Breweries and Tiger Beer can provide Frasers Group with nearly S$3 million in profits each year.

Once the global beer industry is integrated, F&N Group will become a world-class enterprise, perhaps even entering the Fortune Global 500, providing the Singapore branch of the Lo Chi Hong family with annual profit income of £10 billion.

This is very scary, and it also makes Luo Qihong want to concentrate on developing the beer industry.

"What about the 60% stake in Asia Pacific Brewery? Do we need to continue negotiating the acquisition?" Han Bin asked.

Luo Qihong spread his hands and said, "Of course we have to negotiate. As long as the price is right, we can definitely get it. Anyway, this money is just transferred from one pocket to another. We have no loss at all."

"Yes!" Han Bin and other senior executives responded.

Luo Qihong's idea is very simple. F&N Group controls the Asia-Pacific Breweries and operates mass beer in Southeast Asia, while Heineken Group operates high-end and niche beer in Southeast Asia. The acquisition funds will become the start-up capital for Heineken Group to expand its beer industry in the Americas.

He planned to follow this business model, allowing F&N Group and Heineken Group to quickly erode the beer industry in South America, and then attack the beer industry in North America.

The mainland's beer industry has already entered the market and is currently quite large in scale. In the future, it will also swallow up some small mainland beer companies. As for large beer companies, they need to be carefully selected for acquisition to avoid being accused of "monopoly".

As for the European beer companies, Luo Qihong had a headache. It was difficult to get involved and he could only take a small share. Before Luo Qihong had sorted out the business of the Fraser & Neave Group, he saw a report about the bad debts of the United Overseas Bank in a financial magazine. It was very detailed and it was obvious that someone had done it on purpose.

Today, Singapore's banking industry's bad debt rate is as high as 3.2%, nearly double the 1.7% in normal years. As one of Singapore's three largest banks, UOB's rate will naturally be above 3.2%.

Then, United Overseas Bank would probably find it difficult to withstand Huang Tingfang's takeover and would have no choice but to give up Tiger Balm Enterprises and keep United Overseas Bank as its base. Only in this way would the Huang Zuoyao family have a chance to turn things around.

United Industrial Group Corporate Office.

The Land Development Company under his control is Luo Qihong's real estate flagship in Singapore and is highly valued. Before the financial crisis, he had ordered the company's top management to make plans to sell off its non-core properties.

Now, Swire Properties has S$9.4 million on its books, which is enough to buy back the properties it sold previously. The profit from this transaction can be as much as S$4 million, which is equivalent to the value of three commercial complexes on Orchard Road.

住宅的价格已经跌至96年高峰时期的5成，市区商厦也跌了42%左右，空置率上升至9%，比97年的5%几乎涨了一倍。

Many real estate projects have been suspended, such as Far East Development's four sites near Orchard Road have stopped construction.

According to the development trend of the previous life, Singapore's economy would not recover until the second half of 99. To be on the safe side, Luo Qihong decided to let the Swire Properties start its attack in the fourth quarter (98) and start taking action on commercial buildings, luxury homes and shops in Orchard Road and the city center.

United Industrial Group has many companies under its umbrella, including Singapore Land and Pan Pacific Hotels Group. It also has investments in companies involved in industries such as industry, logistics, and healthcare, such as a 14% stake in Singapore Press Holdings and a 9.3% stake in UOL Group.

What Luo Qihong likes most is the Marina Bay Financial Centre, which has a total floor area of ​​280 million square feet and is the existing financial heart of Singapore. Tenants include international financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase. Although the center is not privately owned by the Hong Kong Land Development, it also holds a 60% stake and has management rights.

Even with the financial crisis, the rental income of Hong Kong Land Development exceeded S$97 million in 5000.

You have to know that this is the rental income when the Swire Properties sold most of its properties. If it were in its heyday, the rental income would probably be 4 or 5 times higher.

Luo Qihong is considering whether to integrate the resources of United Industrial Group and let it acquire Yeo Hiap Seng Group and Frasers Group from him, so that it will be easier for him to manage and control Singapore's industries.

罗齐鸿家族在新加坡的公司总市值已经超过40亿新元（98年的估值），占98年新加坡股市总值800亿美元的2.5%，而且这是低估的。

Soon, news spread in the market that United Industries Group had acquired 4.5% of Yeo Hiap Seng Group's shares from Heng An Investment Company for S$88 million, causing United Industries Group's share price to rise by 5.1%.

The next day, United Industrial Group and Hengan Investment Company jointly issued an announcement, and the group's stock price rose 7.6% that day.

Before the transaction was completed, the two companies announced that Hengan Investment Company would sell its 49.8% stake in Frasers Group to United Industries Group for S$10 billion.

As soon as the two pieces of news came out, the market finally became excited. The share price of United Industrial Group soared by 20%. In just four days, its market value increased by 4.28 million Singapore dollars.

According to financial experts' estimates, the market value of United Industrial Group will increase by S$40 billion after the acquisition of two large companies.

In order not to affect the development capabilities of United Industrial Group, Luo Qihong asked United Industrial Group to use the equity of other Singaporean companies it holds as equivalent exchange, and these decisions must also be made public.

As a result, United Industries Group became a hot multinational company in Singapore at the cost of S$5 million in cash and a large number of shares.

(End of this chapter)