Hong Kong 1980: The Savage Era

Chapter 95 [Recovering Funds to Prepare for Unwinding]

After signing the contract with Li Shixiu, Luo Qihong informed Lin Luoqi of the matter and asked him to continue bidding against Lin Luoxun. However, he told Lin Luoqi not to get carried away and to raise the price by a maximum of 20 yuan, with the best being 15 yuan.

This figure was arrived at by Luo Qihong after careful consideration. He has already signed a contract with Wei Fu Parking Management Company. The price of the warehouse-style parking lot in Sham Shui Po has been determined and will not change much.

If Lin Luoxun adds 15 yuan in costs, his profit will be 15 yuan less, while a warehouse-style parking lot only has a profit of more than 30 yuan. In this way, Lin Luoxun's profit can be suppressed to within 20 yuan.

Those community groups will soon join in the fight for the profits. The current profit of 20 yuan may not be the same in the future. This means that Lin Luoxun’s warehouse-style car park project in Sham Shui Po will not last long.

At the same time, Luo Qihong raised the price of Kunbao Building in Sheung Wan by another 40 yuan, bringing the total price to 3450 million yuan, which was already somewhat dangerous.

In fact, Luo Qihong was not worried about the extra five or six million yuan of funds, because Paramount was going to be sold. As long as the price of Kunbao Building did not drop, it would be beneficial to the stock price of Paramount Company anyway.

As for how to eliminate these loan problems of Paramount Company, Luo Qihong naturally wanted to leave it to the next buyer.

Office of the Deputy General Manager of Haofeng Real Estate Company
Lin Luoxun slowly put down the documents in his hand and thought carefully, "Now is the critical moment. It will be difficult to raise the price significantly. If the price is raised by 20 or 30, Luo Qihong will probably escape, and Kunbao Building will be in our hands."

"But if we stop now, Luo Qihong's losses will be very low, and we can only say that we have succeeded halfway."

Hearing this, Lin Luoshi said boldly, "What are you afraid of? If Luo Qihong takes over Kunbao Building, it will increase the debt of Paramount Company. For us, it is just an ordinary investment, and it will go back up by the end of the year. At most, I can explain it to Dad."

Lin Luoxun felt that what Lin Luoshi said was right. The Kunbao Building had different meanings to both parties, and the consequences were of course different. This was due to the difference in their respective strengths.

"Okay, then you raise the price directly to the owner by 50 yuan, bringing the price to 3 million yuan, and see how Luo Qihong reacts?" Lin Luoxun made the decision.

Lin Luoshi nodded and groaned, “Hmm!”

His face suddenly became tangled, and after hesitating for a long time, he said, "I heard that Luo Qihong has met with Li Shixiu, the deputy general manager of Weifu Parking Management Company, to discuss the sale of the warehouse parking lot."

Lin Luoxun paused, and said with an extremely serious expression, "This Luo Qihong is one step ahead of us again. If he signs an agreement with Wei Fu Company and sets the price of the warehouse parking lot, it will be difficult for us to sell it at a high price. Why is this guy so difficult?!"

"What should we do? The third brother is still bidding with us, so the profit will definitely be reduced a lot." Lin Luoshi frowned.

"We only have two choices now. One is that we sell in large quantities at small profits, but the society will definitely be able to get the warehouse at a low price, and our business will become even more difficult in the future. The other is that after we finish the warehouse, we will withdraw from the Sham Shui Po market." No matter which option it is, Lin Luoxun feels that it is not a good choice.

"This Luo Qihong is so vicious. He actually disgusts us like this." Lin Luoshi clenched his fists and said hatefully.

Lin Luoxun sighed and said, "This is normal business competition. There are things that are more painful than this. It seems that Luo Qihong does not intend to do this business for a long time. Forget it, let's quit after we complete this order."

"We need to regain our face in Kunbao Building. We must make Luo Qihong suffer greater losses." Lin Luoshi said. It would be really embarrassing if the two brothers could not defeat a newcomer who 'started from scratch'.

Lin Luoxun shook his head and said, "Don't be impatient. Being too impatient will only make us suffer. Once we are exposed, Luo Qihong may turn around and punish us. The loss of Kunbao Building is certain. If we change rashly, we will only suffer."

On the other hand, Lin Luoqi chose to contact the owner of the Keeley Building in Central and gave up Wing On Plaza in Tsim Sha Tsui East.

After much deliberation, Luo Qihong decided to reveal the situation of Jide Real Estate Company to reporters in order to drive up the stock price in advance. Lin Luoqi's actions were a bit slow, or maybe Luo Qihong was a bit impatient.

However, the good news of Jide Real Estate did not have the expected effect. On that day, the share price of Jide Real Estate rose by only 3 yuan to 1.3 yuan. Luo Qihong, who held 405 million shares of Jide Real Estate, earned 121 million yuan, which was a little short of the expected huge profit, but the share price of Jide Real Estate could still rise.

Thursday, May 7

Zhuojian Investment Company announced that its two Central Plaza buildings, International and Federal, were sold for 22.35 billion yuan, with a profit of 12.35 billion yuan.
Then Cheung Kong Holdings held a press conference, announcing that after deducting the 5 million yuan originally paid to Wheelock, the company had made a profit of 6 million yuan.

Earning a profit of 6 million in such a short period of time was truly astonishing and caused a sensation throughout Hong Kong.

This is even more violent than the Golden Gate Building of the Jianing Group. Chen Songqing waited for 6.8 months to earn 8 million yuan for the Jianing Group, while it only took Li Jiacheng one month to earn 6 million yuan in profit for the Cheung Kong Group. It is obvious who is stronger and who is weaker.

Such good news naturally caused a surge in the share price of Cheung Kong Holdings. Within just half an hour after the news was announced, the share price rose from 18.6 yuan to 19.7 yuan.

Paramount Company, which held 55 shares of Cheung Kong Holdings, made a profit of 60.5 yuan in one go. Since the date of purchase, Paramount Company had a profit of 82.5 yuan.

Although there is still a big gap from the target, the upward trend is fierce. Luo Qihong expects that the stock price can break through 22 yuan, which will generate a profit of 2 million and barely alleviate the current financial difficulties.

New World Development's share price also rose slightly as newsprint touted the completion of a group of high-end residential properties for sale on Pok Fu Lam Road and the imminent completion of the second phase of New World Centre (a luxury building with more than 700 units and the famous Regent Hotel).

Paramount Corporate Office
Luo Qihong said to the microphone with great joy, "Since the other party offered 3540 million yuan, I can only give up. Mr. Zhang, let's cooperate again next time."

After hanging up the phone, Luo Qihong smiled even more brightly. In fact, he really wanted to continue bidding, but considering Lin Luoxun's caution, he decided to quit while he was ahead.

Greed always comes at a price, and it is easy to develop this bad habit.

Luo Qihong knew that 3540 million yuan was not a large sum of money for Haofeng Real Estate Company, and that he could alleviate the financial pressure by taking out a loan. However, this was an acquisition at a 22% premium, and it would take time to recover, and the rent would also need to be used to repay the interest.

Then Luo Qihong came to the trading hall of HSBC to deal with the stock issues of Henderson Land Development Co., Ltd.

"Mr. Luo, according to your request, all the shares of Henderson Land Development Co., Ltd. that you held have been sold. The average price is 14.1 yuan. After deducting various expenses, the funds recovered are 2 yuan." Zhang Taotao reported.

Luo Qihong thought for a moment and decided to act according to the original plan. He said to Zhang Taotao, "Please transfer all the funds to my bank account."

Zhang Taotao was slightly stunned, suppressed his doubts, and nodded, "Okay, I'll do it right away."

Half an hour later, Zhang Taotao came back and said, "Mr. Luo, your 2 yuan has been transferred to your bank account. Is there anything else?"

"What is the current share price of Hutchison Whampoa?" Luo Qihong asked.

"20.8 yuan!" Zhang Taotao replied.

"Help me sell it too, and use the recovered funds to slowly buy shares of Hong Kong Electric Company." Luo Qihong ordered.

(End of this chapter)