“Jason, are you ‘possessed’?”
Amanda looked serious. She asked her question at breakfast, which made Zheng Bai Cheng, who was happily eating breakfast, a little stunned. Early in the morning, you ask me this? Are you being polite?
“Oh, Amanda, what’s wrong with me?”
“Nothing, it’s just that you keep smiling there, like a fool, so I’m curious.”
It’s a good thing Amanda is a ghost and not from northern mainland China, otherwise she would have said smiling like a fool, even if she was being polite. Zheng Bai Cheng also realized his mistake. It seems, the poor suddenly becoming rich, really made him lose his mind.
“Ahem... I'm sorry, I was just seeing the box office increase, and I couldn't help but smile, sorry, sorry, haha...”
Amanda was not afraid of Zheng Bai Cheng, so she could ask. Lin Xiaohua wasn't talkative, and didn't want to ask. And Hans... he was just a German bodyguard, taciturn.
After completing the loan that day, as a VIP of Citibank, they were willing to provide trust services for Zheng Bai Cheng. Amanda also called all her law firms and established a new trust for them to help Zheng Bai Cheng acquire property, together with Citibank.
But Zheng Bai Cheng changed his mind. He decided to acquire the listed company, Tao Hua Food. This month, the stock market should be at its lowest point. He had read some information. Back then, when Hang Seng Bank compiled the Hang Seng Index, August 1967 was the lowest point of the Hang Seng Index, at 58.5 points. In March 1973, the Hang Seng Index reached 1773 points. If someone bought Hang Seng Index constituent stocks this month and held them until March 1973, and then sold them all safely and quickly, they could make a profit of thirty times. Of course, at this time, everyone is selling properties and stocks, so it is naturally the lowest point.
As can be seen from the Hang Seng Index, Hong Kong people, or perhaps Hong Kong middle-class or property owners, are incredibly panicked. He also wanted to enter the stock market, but he wanted to buy Tao Da Food Company. This company was acquired by a Southeast Asian company for 72 million Hong Kong dollars in 1972. Now, he decided that he could acquire it at a lower price. This company owns over 400,000 square feet of land in Ngau Tau Kok, as well as an industrial building. In addition to these properties, there is the main business: soy sauce and other seasonings. There is also a paper mill to support the packaging of soy sauce products, mainly producing corrugated cardboard, a type of packaging paper. This can be built in mainland China in the future, purchasing waste paper from North America and transporting it to mainland China for production.
Thinking about the paper queen on the "Pig Killing List" who made a fortune by importing waste paper from North America, made Zheng Bai Cheng feel, this could work.
After all, Tao Da Food's seasonings were sold to Europe and America and were well-received.
However, there was still money left over. He planned to acquire some properties, and he had asked Li Chenglong to help him contact people.
The rise of the Hong Kong Real Estate Five Tigers may not have been widely reported. Others seldom talk about it, but 1967 was very important to them. It was in this year that they acquired the fixed assets that were being sold off, including old buildings and land, and accumulated a huge amount of land reserves, paving the way for the later "Five Tigers."
In his biography, Mr. Li had mentioned this. He acquired a large number of industrial buildings and owned a million square feet of rentable area. After the real estate market recovered, he earned 2.9 million Hong Kong dollars in rent every year just from rentals. In 1968, when the per capita income was very low, he was lying down and collecting 2.9 million Hong Kong dollars in rent. Moreover, in the future, as real estate prices rose, income would naturally increase.
There was no news from Tao Da yet, but Li Chenglong had already negotiated with the owners of many industrial buildings.
“Ah Cheng, I have fulfilled my mission. I have negotiated with ten owners, and they are willing to sell their properties. They want US dollars.”
Recently, Zheng Bai Cheng contacted Li Chenglong every day to inquire about the progress. Hearing that ten owners were willing to sell industrial buildings made him naturally happy. Compared to residential properties, industrial buildings were very cheap, ridiculously cheap. Residential properties cost 50 Hong Kong dollars per square foot, while industrial buildings cost only 5 to 15 Hong Kong dollars per square foot.
These ten industrial buildings only cost over 10 million Hong Kong dollars, about two million US dollars.
“Thank you, Brother Long. I’ll have someone contact you and they will complete the procedures.” Zheng Bai Cheng was happy. Things like this couldn't be delayed. Those industrial buildings were all shut down, and those people were a little panicky. He needed to act quickly. He continued, "Brother Long, commercial buildings, residential buildings, I want them all, as many as possible..."
“Ah Cheng, why are you acquiring so many properties? Aren’t you afraid of the north coming over?”
“Brother Long, you have money. Buy some properties too.” Zheng Bai Cheng had already been generous in saying this. He continued, "Brother Long, how can I thank you?"
“Ah, don't say that. The sellers are happy too. Someone is buying them. If you really want to thank me, just provide our newspaper with a few more novels. We also serialized that novel later, and the response was equally good. They all said you are more amazing than other famous writers. Your short stories are also very popular..."
“Brother Long, I still have to thank you. I will provide you with novels when I get back.”
Zheng Bai Cheng felt that even without Tao Da Food, he was already very satisfied. However, if he could successfully acquire it, it would be... even more satisfying, wouldn't it?
Tao Da Food was founded in Xiamen and had two founding families. The two families held around 72.3% of the shares.
If he wanted to acquire it, he would have to acquire shares from both families. Now, Citibank's strategy was to acquire shares from the stock market while negotiating with the heads of the two families. Tao Da Food had already stopped production and was severely affected. Many people were selling their stocks.
Zheng Bai Cheng was very Zen now. He had been in this timeline for over a year. Now that he had suddenly become rich, he was already very satisfied. He had a fiancée and a business. As long as he didn't do anything stupid, he could completely live a rich life. In the future, when the industrial buildings skyrocketed, he would sell them. Then he would have money and people… money.
Why else would he have been smiling like a fool recently? He was going to make a fortune...