My absurd experiences in North America over the years

On the day Li Fu returned to New York, the cooperation agreement with JPMorgan Chase was officially signed.

Jackson underestimated Forrest Capital’s ability to integrate resources. What the outside world saw was not only that Li Fu was always winning, but also that any party cooperating with him was always winning.

Even Oaktree Capital, which had previously clashed with the Tribune shareholders at its annual general meeting, is about to receive its first shareholder dividend, excluding the core business, thanks to the Tribune's successful transformation and rapid development of its streaming media.

Moreover, the rust belt would certainly not refuse such a large-scale investment.

Regarding the cooperation agreement, Jackson had already completed the formalities at JPMorgan Chase, and Finch, the head of the investment banking division, was already waiting with the specific cooperation agreement in hand.

After Forrest Capital's financial and legal review, Li Fu signed his name, and the agreement was considered effective.

"Dimmon asked me to pass on a message to you," Jackson said, taking one of the agreements and putting his right hand on Li Fu's shoulder. "Our cooperation between JPMorgan Chase and Forrest Capital is not a one- or two-phase matter. As long as the plan is feasible, we will follow up immediately."

The framework for the collaboration is consistent with previous agreements, with the first phase of financing totaling approximately $2 billion, of which JPMorgan Chase will contribute 40%.

The remaining costs were shared by two institutions introduced by Forrest Capital and JPMorgan Chase.

Forrest Capital holds a 55% stake.

About three days after the signing, the funds began to arrive gradually.

Over the next few days, Li Fu returned to Los Angeles to sign some documents with MGM, the Warriors, and their Los Angeles division.

Then, in the office, I went through the entire second-phase plan submitted by Morris's team.

The land purchase in Toledo was approved by the municipal government, and the contract details for the port and railway were finalized. However, Toledo alone cannot support the entire Midwest logistics network.

The $2 billion raised in the first phase of financing is enough to start construction on three logistics hubs simultaneously.

This will also speed up the overall progress of the 200 billion yuan project.

As we all know, the true value of a logistics system lies in its interconnectivity. The main railway line extends from the West Coast through Chicago to Columbus, and then connects the Great Lakes waterways and the East Coast via Toledo.

This requires a network that covers the entire rust belt, rather than an isolated point.

The entire network needs to be gradually rolled out starting from three points: Toledo, Chicago, and Columbus.

Toledo, as a headquarters hub, is positioned as a core node for multimodal transport, connecting the Great Lakes waterways with east-west railway lines.

Chicago is the heart of the entire Midwestern rail network; taking it would be tantamount to controlling the choke point for east-west freight transport.

Columbus is located at the eastern end of the North South Heartland Corridor, directly connecting to ports on the east coast, making it a key outlet for east-west freight routes.

The conditions for the construction of the main hub in Toledo have been met.

Next stop is Chicago.

Following his research in Chicago, Morris offered suggestions, which involved two steps:

First, they acquired the Canal Street hub, which Union Pacific was about to close. The old hub was located near the city center. Although the facilities were old, the location was extremely valuable and could serve the entire city, making it suitable for conversion into an urban delivery node.

Secondly, they purchased land adjacent to the new Union Pacific Joliet hub from developer CenterPoint Properties.

Joliet Hub (an infrastructure platform, not a logistics company) is one of the largest dry ports in the United States. A dry port is a logistics hub built inland but with the main functions of a seaport. It can be understood as a "tentacle" of a seaport extending inland.

To put it simply, it means moving the port functions of seaports, such as customs declaration, clearance, inspection and quarantine, and issuance of bills of lading, directly to inland cities.

Clearing customs here is equivalent to clearing customs at a coastal port, eliminating the need to queue at the seaside.

The Joliet Hub, covering 785 acres and costing nearly $370 million, just began operations in August 2010.

CenterPoint's business model involves buying land, developing it, and then selling it to end users.

Therefore, if Forrest Capital approaches them to buy land, they are very willing to sell, as this can save them a lot of approval trouble.

The location in Columbus was chosen simply because three years ago, NS, in conjunction with the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, invested $6300 million to build the Rickenback Global Logistics Park.

The logistics park covers 175 acres and has an annual handling capacity of over 25 containers. It is surrounded by a mature and integrated transportation system that combines air, rail, and road transport.

By purchasing land near the Rickenbacker Logistics Park to build a logistics hub, they can directly utilize the existing railway interface and airport, saving on high connection costs.

At the same time, it can also directly take advantage of the policy benefits of its Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) and enjoy tariff preferences.

Forrest Capital has already reached a 20-year cooperation agreement with NS in Toledo, and the cooperation in Columbus will be even better developed.

Thompson stood in front of his desk, holding the documents he had just organized, checking them one by one.

"We're already in contact with the construction team in Toledo; we need to send people to negotiate as soon as possible regarding the old Canal Street hub in Chicago and the new plots around Joliet; and there are about 200 acres of developable land near Columbus Kenback, which we need to coordinate with the local government..."

Li Fu flipped through the land data for Chicago and Columbus, and the two sites together would require an additional investment of approximately six to eight hundred million US dollars.

With all three stages progressing simultaneously, plus the procurement of land and equipment, the total investment is estimated to be between $1.2 billion and $1.5 billion, with an additional $500 million to $800 million as reserve funds. Overall, there shouldn't be any major problems.

He picked up the pen and signed the last page of the document.

"We're launching projects in Toledo, Chicago, and Columbus simultaneously, working on three fronts at the same time to get the framework up and running as quickly as possible..."

"Morris only asked him to coordinate with all parties involved. I'll talk to Ivanka and have her send key construction personnel from CP Group to manage the construction teams for the three projects..."

"Ask Lina if the work in China is finished. I need her to handle the specific matters related to the rust belt. She must ensure that there are no problems with funding, taxes, regulations, and so on."

Li Fu was extremely busy, but this major project was of great importance, and he was reluctant to entrust it to anyone else, so he had no choice but to call Lina back.

Thompson noted everything down, closed the folder, and immediately went to do it.

Li Fu leaned back in his chair, watching Los Angeles slowly darken in the twilight outside the window, as the lights of the City of Angels began to gradually illuminate the entire city.

Starting construction on three hubs simultaneously can indeed shorten the timeframe, but frankly speaking, the window of opportunity left for him is not much longer.

Once the midterm elections are over, and the Democratic lawmakers and the president's cabinet are free to focus their efforts, it won't be so easy to push things forward so smoothly again.

He needed to quickly produce something impressive.