Hardy Empire 1945

Chapter 239 Trade Tycoon Victor

Victor looked at the man in the crowd. He was in his 40s this year. He was wearing a suit.

No problem. Victor nodded.

Others saw that there were two less production lines, and immediately someone shouted: Mr. Victor, my dear Hu Xinrong, is willing to cooperate with the Hardy Group to open a rubber shoe factory.

My lord, He Song, is willing to cooperate to open a zipper factory.

I.

The people here signed up one after another, making Victor unable to hear clearly. He was not in a hurry, pressed his hands against the crowd, and waited until everyone's voices were quieter before saying, Everyone, there are still many details of cooperation, everyone will read first. Look at the equipment and discuss the details later when you return to our company.

I also said just now that the Hardy Group involves a lot of industries, not only that. If you have anything you want to cooperate with us, you can take the initiative and then we will discuss the cooperation matters in detail.

When everyone heard Victor say this, they stopped fighting. After all, this is also a big business. It may cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to invest in a factory, so it should not be too blind and impulsive.

Maybe there are other better businesses, you can take a closer look.

After watching the machine, these people came to the Hardy Auction House together, and so many people poured in at once, making the originally spacious company suddenly seem a little crowded.

Victor sent everyone a list, indicating the content of the machinery and equipment, the model that can be produced, the annual output, and so on.

The following is the investment amount and cooperation details.

For example, the iron nail production line includes two polishing machines, two wire drawing machines, and thirty nail making machines, which can produce 6 models with an annual output of 4,000 tons.

Such a set of production equipment requires 120,000 US dollars, which is 900,000 Hong Kong dollars.

certainly,

This is the normal price of second-hand machines. Getting goods from Hardy from the U.S. military warehouse is probably only a little higher than the price of scrap iron, so the cost will not be mentioned.

Building a factory also requires land, workshops, workers, raw materials, etc. These also require capital, and the total investment is about 170,000 US dollars.

If they want to cooperate, the other party can decide the investment amount by themselves. Hardy Group can not be a major shareholder, but at least 40% of the shares must be retained.

One of the things that makes many businessmen tempted is that they are responsible for the operation of these industries. That is to say, Hardy is only responsible for investment and has the right to supervise the factory, but it is not responsible for operation and management.

Think about it.

How could a group company as big as someone else spend so much effort on these small investments?

Looking for people to cooperate naturally requires people to contribute.

In fact, they didn't know that Hardy was going to use a batch of machines that were of little value in other places to raise a nest of chickens here.

Everyone, the reserve price has been reported to you. When you go back, you can consider whether to cooperate. If you have any intention of cooperation, you can come to me again.

What if there are multiple companies looking at an industry together? someone asked.

First come, first come. Victor answered very succinctly.

These people took the list and went back to discuss it. However, some people were afraid that there would be too many dreams in the night, so they proposed to cooperate on the spot. Victor also simply signed the contract directly.

No matter what happens here.

Victor visits Governor Grantham.

Ge Lianghong is a veteran gentleman with white hair and very cultivated, and later generations have a relatively high evaluation of him. After Victor came to Hong Kong, he kept moving and naturally entered the eyes of the big butler in Hong Kong. He also specially looked for someone Learn about the Hardy Group.

Knowing that the Hardy Group is a very powerful company that has only recently emerged, it sent this Victor here to explore the Hong Kong market.

Hong Kong is now a waste of time. During the Japanese occupation, it brought great damage to Hong Kong, and then a large number of domestic people flooded into Hong Kong, which put Hong Kong under great pressure. As for the development of an American company in Hong Kong, Ge, Liang Hong is supportive.

Victor applied to visit him, and Grantham agreed immediately.

After Victor shook hands respectfully, the two sat down, and Grantham looked at Victor, What do you have to do with me?

Victor smiled, Our Hardy Group wants to build an industrial area, hoping to get the support of Governor Grantham.

industrial area?

This time, we brought more than a dozen sets of factory production lines, including iron nails, rubber shoes, telephone lines, zippers, umbrellas, etc., and we are going to cooperate with local businessmen to open factories. When these factories are opened, they can solve the employment of thousands of people.

It can also help Hong Kong's economic development and increase tax revenue.

More than that, our Hardy Group also wants to build more factories in Hong Kong, making Hong Kong one of the manufacturing bases in the East, and selling its products to Southeast Asia, China, Japan, North Korea and other countries.

The total investment could be upwards of $50 million.

Certainly not so much, but it doesn't stop Victor from bragging, anyway, this is a long-term plan, and no one can count it all at once.

He wanted to say $100 million.

I was afraid that the other party would not believe it if I said too much, so I took it back.

However, the amount of 50 million US dollars still shocked Ge Lianghong. You must know that Hong Kong's annual output value is only tens of millions of pounds.

You really plan to invest 50 million? Ge Lianghong asked.

Maybe more, the group headquarters is still relatively optimistic about Hong Kong, but this requires the support of the government. Victor said.

What kind of support do you need?

We want land. Hardy Group's plan is to build dozens or hundreds of factories. We need a large area of ​​land to undertake these factories, as well as construction of technical facilities, such as access to roads, water and electricity, etc. Victor road.

How much land is needed? Ge Lianghong asked.

Each factory is different in size, and there are supporting factories and warehouses, as well as auxiliary facilities. I made a rough calculation, and it needs about 500 acres of land. Victor said.

Hardy had instructed Victor before to buy as much land as possible in Hong Kong, as much as he could. Now that he finally had the chance, Victor spoke directly.

Moreover, the land will not be sold for the construction of factories, but a real estate management company will be established to lease the land to the factories.

Hearing that Victor wanted 500 acres of land, Grantham was shocked, 500 acres, how could you possibly use so much land?

Victor said: We not only have to build factories, but also build dormitories for workers. The most important thing is that if an industrial cluster is formed, it will attract other auxiliary factories to join, so there will be no land available.

I don't know if you know the history of Ford's development. When Ford built a new factory in 1914, it bought 2,000 acres of land, but then the industry grew bigger and bigger, and these 2,000 acres of land were not enough. bought 1,000 acres of land.

Victor took the Ford car as an example. In fact, it is a hooligan, especially in the United States, where the land is vast and sparsely populated, and the land reserves are abundant. This is Hong Kong, which is so big in total, and most of it is mountainous, so naturally it cannot be compared.

Where do you want to get the land? Ge Lianghong asked.

Kowloon, I think there is a lot of open space there, which is suitable for concentrated construction. Victor said.

Ge Lianghong asked with a slight sigh of relief in his heart. Fortunately, this guy didn't want Hong Kong Island. He really couldn't get him 500 acres of land on Hong Kong Island.

Ge Lianghong asked the person in charge of the land planning department to call in, and several people studied together. It is now 1948, and the land transaction is not so great, and most of it is in the hands of the government. Hong Kong Island is a city, and Kowloon is a country. There are large tracts of farmland.

But even so, there was no way to find a whole piece of 500 acres of land, and finally three plots were allocated to Victor, one near the foot of the Lion Rock, one in Kowloon Pond, and finally another piece of land by the sea. The land of Victor can be built into a dock warehouse area to facilitate the transportation of goods.

As for the price, the current land price is really cheap, and in order to attract investment from the Hardy Group, the Hong Kong government has half-sold it and half-sold it. The 500 acres of land only cost more than 1 million US dollars.

Moreover, the government has to invest back the more than 1 million US dollars. After all, it has to build three links and one leveling project for hydropower and highway.

Victor has his own team, some brought from the United States, and some local people hired in Hong Kong. The land contract has been signed. As for the land acquisition, it is handed over to his subordinates to follow up. Victor is busy with the second one. matter.

Dozens of large-scale spinning mills in Hong Kong received invitations from Victor, inviting them to discuss cotton purchases, saying that they had a large supply of cotton in their hands.

These spinning mill owners are worried about cotton every day, and now they hear that someone has cotton in their hands, and they swarm over immediately.

A teahouse in Hong Kong.

There were four guests sitting at each table. There were not tea and snacks in front of these guests, but a pile of cotton. Thinking of these people, no one had the heart to drink tea, and they were all looking at the cotton in their hands.

Everyone, this is long-staple cotton from California. Cotton is grown in California's climate. The average length is long, the strength is high, the fineness is 4.2, and the uniformity is higher than 82%. The quality of cotton is the best in the world.

In the end, Victor said a price, which was 2 cents per pound higher than the current market price. However, if it was the market price, many people would not have enough cotton. Some people were already smuggling imported cotton, and the price was definitely higher than this Victor's. high.

And the cotton here is indeed better than the cotton in other places, the quality of the cotton thread produced should be better, the yield is high, and the benefits will naturally come up.

Okay, we want 1,000 tons in our Dafa spinning mill. Someone stood up and said.

Our Nanfeng Spinning Factory wants 600 tons. Another shouted.

Victor waved his hand to stop people, Everyone, this is not a one-shot deal. Hardy Group can supply cotton for a long time, and it's all American cotton. You can place an order according to your needs, and I will send the fleet here every month.

When everyone heard it, they felt that this method was good and saved the backlog, and some people thought that Victor's cotton was good and wanted to use all this cotton directly.

Everyone placed orders one after another. After the summary, Victor looked at it and found that he needed about 17,000 tons per month, which was much more than he expected.

This business has nothing to do with the military, mainly because of the shipping company. Hadi asked if there is any shipping business here. Victor found out that there is a shortage of cotton here and thought of this business. To transport cotton from the United States to Hong Kong, after deducting the cost and transportation fee, there are With a profit of about 35%, this business is worth doing for a long time.

A few more days passed.

Victor sent out an invitation again, and this time invited some powerful Hong Kong firms, including British firms.

These days, Victor's actions have attracted many people's attention. They don't know what business Victor is going to talk about this time.

The weather was fine that day, and hundreds of people gathered in Victoria Harbour, including the presidents and managers of Jardine Matheson, Swire Pacific, Hutchison, Wheelock British, as well as members of the Kadoorie family and the Ho Tung family.

There are also some other large Chinese firms.

They didn't know what Victor asked them to come to the wharf. Victor smiled at everyone and said loudly, Everyone, have you seen the two cargo ships moored in the harbour? I wonder if everyone is interested.

Everyone was surprised.

Does Mr. Victor plan to sell cargo ships? someone asked in surprise.

Yes, our Hardy Group is going to sell this kind of large shipping freighter. The smaller one is called the Liberty Ship, with a load of 7,000 tons, and the larger one is called the Victory Ship, with a load of 15,000 tons. These ships were all transport ships of the US military in World War II. The longest is only 7 years, and the shortest is only 3 years.”

The Liberty ship is 1.6 million US dollars, and the Victory ship costs 2.8 million US dollars. Now these ships are sold at ultra-low prices. One Liberty Ship is 800,000, and one Victory is 1.5 million. I don't know if you are interested.

Many people were shocked and cut the price by half.

The four major ocean companies have shipping businesses, each with a dozen or even dozens of ships under their name, and they are very interested in these freewheels and victory ships.

In addition to buying the whole ship, our Hardy Group also has a leasing business. It is equipped with captains and sailors at the same time, and can also fly the American flag to facilitate everyone to take the goods.

Now more people are tempted.

Some firms are not as rich as the Big Four, and it is really difficult to come up with so much money at once, especially if these people are still thinking about getting more boats, chartering a boat is a good choice, and they can also fly the rice flag and have all the crew and sailors. Well, it saves them a lot of things.

Families who did not want to participate in shipping have also thought about it.

At this time, a small boat came over, and Victor smiled and greeted everyone to board the boat, Let's go everyone, I will take you to the Victory Ship to see it, it will be more intuitive.

Everyone boarded the ship one after another, and they were sent to the Victory Ship in a short time. Everyone visited the ship together. The captain was notified early and came out to accompany the people who visited.

Someone pointed to a pedestal and asked, What is this for?

Oh, this is the place where the anti-aircraft guns were used. At that time, we had to guard against German sneak attacks every day. After the war, the military turned these ships into civilian use, and the heavy weapons were dismantled. The captain said with a smile.

At this time, someone said: Pirates are also rampant outside now. It would be good if these weapons were kept on the ship, and the pirates could be dealt with.

The captain laughed when he heard it, Haha, we did meet pirates when we came, but they were all sunk to the bottom of the sea by the explosion to feed the fish.

Everyone was surprised.

How did you fight pirates?

The captain asked people to open the sheet next to him first, revealing a heavy machine gun inside, and a wooden box next to it. Bazooka rockets were placed in the box, and dozens of submachine guns were placed in the other box.

The captain smiled and said: Our company is equipped with these weapons. The boss has instructed. If you encounter pirates, don't be polite and sink them. The people on our ships are all veterans. Pirates can't scare us.

Some people are more tempted.

If you hire a bunch of people here, you won't be afraid to encounter pirates. You must know that there are two biggest enemies of freighters, one is wind and waves, and the other is pirates.

Someone looked at Victor, Mr. Victor, if you lease your company's boat, do you also bring these weapons?

Victor smiled lightly: Of course, with a full set of weapons, the most important thing we don't lack is weapons. If possible, the boss said that he would like to install close-range guns on these ships.