Reborn 92's Business Tycoon

Chapter 556: An Opportunity Knocks (Part 2)

This remark was also very abrupt, leaving Feng Yiping a little confused. However, judging from the tone, it seemed that the person was quite impressed with Frontier magazine. Feng Yiping laughed and said, 'President Huang, you must be joking, but my magazine will be officially published in the mainland early next year.'

This is one of the things he has been working on these days, and the Commercial Press has contributed a great deal, helping him to introduce him to many people. However, it will not be published until early next year or the first half of next year, after the procedures have been completed and the stamps affixed.

Huang Guanfang patted the armrest of his chair heavily and said, 'Alas, it would have been great if it had been published in the mainland at the beginning of the year!'

What's going on? Feng Yiping looked at Jin Ling, who didn't understand either.

Fortunately, Huang Yujin explained the reason in time, 'My brother studied in the United States and has been speculating in stocks for the past two years. He came back several times last year. Later, we mortgaged a lot of the family's assets, including four hotels, to the bank and invested them all in Nasdaq. As for what happened afterwards, you know it well. So when my father saw the March issue of your magazine a few days ago, he just kept sighing,'

'As long as the company whose stocks you bought hasn't gone bankrupt, there's still a chance that it will turn around one day,' Feng Yiping added in a consoling tone.

But the reality is probably that even if they did read the March issue in time, they would be unlikely to change their minds easily. They might even find it funny.

'May I ask how big the four hotels are?' Jin Ling joined in the conversation.

'The smallest has a floor area of 2,300, two are over 3,000, and the largest is over 4,000,' Huang Yujin said,

'but they are all on higher floors, so each hotel doesn't take up a lot of space,' knowing what they were concerned about, Huang Yujin added.

Even if the floor area is small, the total floor area is over 10,000 square meters. How can this be? Comrade Huang is a multi-billionaire, so why take such a risk? It seems that his son is a very persuasive person.

With so many properties to use as collateral, the loan amount would not be small. Feng Yiping actually wanted to ask, 'Dear, how did you transfer so much money abroad? Do you have any channels or contacts? I need money too, next month, the more the better!'

'Originally, I also had a watch company. I first imported watches from Hong Kong for sale, and then simply set up my own factory, mainly for export. My customers were all over the world, and the business was profitable.

But in the past two years, competition has become increasingly fierce and profits are getting thinner and thinner. We thought about increasing domestic sales and upgrading the brand at the same time, so we ordered movements from Switzerland to make mid-range mechanical watches. Look, this is it,' Huang Guanfa took off the watch on his wrist and showed it to them, 'Of course it's not comparable to the ones you're wearing, but our average price is just over 1,000 yuan, which is considered good value for money,'

In this regard, Feng Yiping is actually an amateur and cannot see anything, but of course he has to say, 'It really is excellent value for money,'

but to be honest, a domestically produced watch for just over 1,000 yuan is really not cheap.

'It's just that the brand is not well-known, which is not good for sales, so we spent a lot of money last year to hire a celebrity to endorse it and put a lot of advertisements on local TV stations,'

Upon hearing this, Feng Yiping really had a vague recollection of it. It seemed that he had caught a glimpse of it on TV when he went back to the provincial capital.

'However, domestic sales are slow to get started. After investing so much in upgrading the watch factory, the stocks we bought here have all become worthless. The day when the bank demands repayment is getting closer and closer. Honestly, for me now, it's really a hurdle.

Many people have their eyes on the hotels I own, but after talking to them, I realise that they don't want to run hotels. I heard that they want to turn them into casinos. At my age, I'm sentimental and don't want to see these places I started with used for other purposes.

I'd like them to remain hotels. I'm a bit desperate today, but I really like the Yijia model and I like you, Mr Feng, so I have a suggestion I hope you'll consider.'

'You said,'

'My biggest hotel is very close to the train station, and the location is really scarce. If possible, I would like to know if you, Mr Feng, can also buy the property rights. If that hotel is sold to your company, it will more than cover my bank's loan. At the same time, your company will also have a perfect bridgehead in the most prime location in the south. I also believe that in your company's hands, that hotel will definitely do better than if it is in my hands. I think it is just a win-win situation.

In addition, I hope that my other three hotels can also join the Yijia franchise system.' After revealing their thoughts, the Huang family father and daughter stared intently at Feng Yiping.

Seeing that Feng Yiping and Jin Ling looked a little serious, Xu Bin didn't want the atmosphere to get cold, 'Mr Huang, you may not know, we have requirements for franchises. For example, we hope that the area of the hotel that joins our franchise is between 3,000 and 6,000 square meters. Your 2,300-square-meter hotel does not meet our conditions,'

This is the industry standard for budget hotel properties. Properties smaller than 3,000 square metres are too expensive on average, while those larger than 6,000 square metres are too risky.

'That's fine. The remaining two properties that meet the conditions should be fine,'

Feng Yiping spoke up at this point, 'Mr Huang, since you have looked into Yijia, you should know that we plan to set up branches in first- and second-tier cities in China as soon as possible. Since all the properties are leased, the demand for capital is still very high. So what we plan is that when the conditions are ripe, we will go to the capital market to raise funds to buy such large properties. The investment is too large and the payback period is very long. Such business decisions and actions are obviously not favoured by the capital market,'

In fact, Feng Yiping knows in his heart that if what Huang Guanfang said is true, that this hotel of more than 4,000 square meters is located near the train station, then buying it at this time will definitely be a good investment, and it will not be difficult to multiply its value a few times over the next few years.

However, he is going for a NASDAQ listing when he opens an E-Jia, and the main selling points are low investment – the average investment per store can be controlled at around 5 million yuan; high returns – the annual return rate of a single store is between 30% and 50%; and high expansion rates. If there are many applications for franchises, it is easy to add hundreds of new stores a year.

For those investors, it would be an absolute failure to invest tens of millions of yuan and buy a large property, which would take nearly twenty years to recoup the cost.

Although in the long run, the annual increase in property value will be considerable, European and American investors in the very mature real estate market are unlikely to accept the current situation in China, where property prices in first-tier cities are rising rapidly, increasing several times in a few years and overtaking Manhattan in ten years.

'In addition, I think you should also understand, Mr Huang, that judging from the trend in the past two years, property prices will rise rapidly. Will you regret this decision in the future?'

Huang Guanfa, who already owns tens of thousands of square metres of hotel property, is unlikely to be unaware of such a trend, so it is better to be clear about what is going on.

'President Feng is a kind person,' Huang Guanfa says with a bitter smile, 'I am of course aware of this, but I have thought about how to get past this hurdle. The only way is to sell the property. As for how to satisfy those investors without affecting the future listing of Yijia, I don't think that is a problem for someone like you, President Feng,'

'Very well, please wait a moment, we need to discuss this,'

Huang Yujin watched the three of them walk out and whispered, 'Dad, didn't you say that this Feng Zong is very capable? Why doesn't he seem to have any courage?'

'After all, it's a matter of tens of millions of dollars, so of course you have to be careful. Besides, the main thing is that they are after something big and don't want to affect the future listing. In his first year of university, he set his sights on a market and plotted to list the company on Nasdaq. How could someone like that not have courage? Your old man and I are no match for him at all!' Huang Guanfang took a sip of tea and sighed.

'Are you really thinking of buying?' Jin Ling asked as soon as the door closed. She knew Feng Yiping's views on real estate, and buying now would be a bargain. 'That's more than 4,000 square metres, at least 50 to 60 million yuan,'

On hearing this amount, Xu Bin became anxious. 'President Feng, you know the company's funds. If we take out this much, other projects will have to be stopped,'

'I still prefer to buy it. You don't need to worry about the funds. I want to restructure Yijia, and assign the existing property rights to the newly established real estate company, or to the name of the asset company. This will not affect Yijia's rate of return.

At the same time, the newly established asset company can acquire some properties at its discretion in the future and then lease them to Yijia. What do you think?' Feng Yiping expressed his thoughts.

As long as it does not affect the development of Yijia's other projects and its future listing, Xu Bin, of course, has no problem with it. As for Jinling, although he doesn't want to admit it, looking at the house he bought, which has appreciated so much in just one year, he really can't find fault with Feng Yiping's decision and actually has no opinion either.

'Moreover, I think this is a very good start. This is beneficial to the company and also helps Mr Huang and the others. If my good reputation spreads in the industry, there may be more opportunities knocking on my door in the future. What do you think?'

It's really not bad to have someone come to you asking for a takeover after just one speech. So, fame and reputation are really good things.

'So, are you going to visit a few more associations?' Jin Ling asked with a smile.

Huang Guanfang looked at the three of them as they walked in, smiling, and knew that it was a done deal. He smiled and said, 'It seems that I'll have to trouble General Manager Xu to come with me to Yangcheng,'

'No trouble, it's the right thing to do,' Xu Bin was almost as happy as he was.

Not only had a flagship store been secured in advance in the important city of Yangcheng, but there were also two possible franchise stores along the way. Sometimes, happiness comes so suddenly.

...

Meanwhile, in the provincial capital, someone had also approached Jiasheng, but they were begging to buy, while Jiasheng was trying to sell.