Chapter 390 Buying a Bank?
Shortly after Niu Bijian left the office, Ma Shiming returned.
"Mr. Ma, you really guessed right. He came here aiming for Land Group. He thinks his management skills are better than yours and wants to replace you," Lin Haoran said with a laugh.
Upon hearing this, Ma Shiming didn't show any anger or dissatisfaction. Instead, he responded calmly and confidently, "Boss, if you don't mind me asking, in your personal opinion, who is more capable—me or Mr. Niu Bijian?"
Lin Haoran was slightly stunned for a moment, then smiled with appreciation.
He laughed and said, "Mr. Ma, I personally traveled all the way from Hong Kong to Singapore to invite you to join Land Group because I had thoroughly researched and recognized your talents. That recognition alone proves your abilities.
When Mr. Niu came forward with his proposal, I rejected him without hesitation.
In my view, no matter how talented he might be, he cannot match you in many aspects. More importantly, I trust your character and leadership style.
I believe you will lead Land Group toward a much brighter future.
As for Mr. Niu, although he served as Taipan for Jardines Matheson and Land Group for many years and benefited from the property boom, other property companies also thrived during that time. Meanwhile, Jardines Matheson was visibly declining under his tenure."
Lin Haoran's words, filled with trust and appreciation, made Ma Shiming feel truly valued within Land Group.
Lin Haoran noticed that after his speech, Ma Shiming's loyalty increased from 88 to 90.
Perhaps it was the boss's trust that moved him.
Regardless, loyalty increasing was always a good thing.
Lin Haoran's mood became lighter instantly.
Niu Bijian's visit wasn't entirely pointless—at least it had strengthened Ma Shiming's loyalty.
As for Niu Bijian's request for reconsideration? Lin Haoran dismissed it without a second thought.
He knew that after leaving Jardines Matheson, Niu Bijian quickly faded into obscurity, losing the prestige he once had in the business world.
"Boss, over the past month, I've been gradually pushing several projects into the market, and the response has been excellent. We quickly found buyers, particularly from Southeast Asia.
Foreign investors struggle to get premium projects, and as an English-backed enterprise, Land Group held a lot of good properties.
Once word got out that we were selling, deals closed within a week.
So far, we've sold four joint-venture projects and one independent project.
Most of these were planned or acquired one or two years ago. Given the current market, we sold them easily and made a substantial profit.
For instance, we bought a site on the east side of Quarry Bay for HKD 170 million at auction.
After two years of investment, the total cost was about HKD 210 million.
Now, we sold it to the famous Su family consortium from Southeast Asia for HKD 400 million—a pure profit of HKD 190 million.
Altogether, these five projects have brought in HKD 1.2 billion!" Ma Shiming shifted the conversation, reporting further progress without mentioning Niu Bijian again.
This explained why Land Group's cash reserves had swelled to nearly HKD 5 billion.
Although some money had been spent during the Jardines handover, it was negligible compared to the cash influx.
Previously, Land Group had over seventy active development projects.
After careful selection, Lin Haoran had kept around thirty of them.
These included strategic projects tied to Land Group's ten-year plan—mainly in Central, Causeway Bay, Wan Chai, and Sheung Wan.
Selling those would mean abandoning his long-term strategy, so he naturally refused.
Thus, most projects in prime areas were retained.
The rest—around forty projects, including about thirty joint ventures and ten independent developments—were designated for quick sale.
And now, based on Ma Shiming's report, five projects had already been sold.
In particular, Lin Haoran had instructed to sell off all projects co-developed with troubled companies like Carrian Group.
Otherwise, once Carrian collapsed in two or three years, Land Group would suffer massive losses.
Clearly, Ma Shiming had executed these instructions effectively.
Most importantly, both he and Ma Shiming sensed that Hong Kong's frenzied real estate market would inevitably crash.
Selling now might seem premature, but it would be far worse to wait and watch the market collapse.
Come next year, when the bubble bursts, countless real estate companies would go bankrupt.
At that point, Land Group could easily buy prime assets at low prices.
Now, in December, Hong Kong's property market was at its peak, or very close to it.
It might rise slightly more before plateauing early next year.
Thus, Lin Haoran wasn't greedy—he didn't insist on selling at the absolute peak.
Large sales would risk triggering an early market crash anyway.
Now was the perfect time: no visible symptoms of crisis yet, and sales wouldn't crash the market.
"By the way, how much are the remaining thirty-something projects worth at current market value?" Lin Haoran asked.
"I had the finance department do an assessment.
Including the five already sold, total market value is about HKD 6 billion.
Since we're keeping the prime Central projects, the ones we're selling are less prime—so each project averages about HKD 100–200 million," Ma Shiming reported.
Lin Haoran did some quick math:
"HKD 6 billion total; HKD 1.2 billion already sold; HKD 4.8 billion worth remaining."
Very good.
Once all were sold, Land Group would have about HKD 10 billion in cash.
Of course, Land Group still had HKD 4.8 billion in liabilities—those would need to be repaid eventually.
Even so, after repayment, around HKD 5 billion in free cash would remain.
However, of that HKD 5 billion, HKD 3.3 billion would have to be repaid to Citibank next year.
Thus, available cash wasn't as abundant as it seemed.
In addition, nearly thirty ongoing projects would still require funding.
Fortunately, most of those projects had already secured land and funding.
Remaining costs were manageable given Land Group's cash flow.
Besides, Land Group, as Hong Kong's biggest landlord, earned strong rental income annually even without new developments.
On top of that, Dairy Farm was almost as profitable as Land Group itself.
As 100% owner of Dairy Farm, Land Group could always draw cash from there if needed.
All things considered, Lin Haoran realized just how immense his cash flow resources were.
Currently, most of these funds were still parked in banks Jardines Matheson had historically used.
But now, Land Group was fully independent.
Keeping all that cash idle in banks was a waste.
Previously, Land Group had invested surplus funds aggressively.
But now, Lin Haoran needed a different approach.
Port operations like Hongkong Electric's finance arm had been lucrative.
Maybe Land Group should start its own investment company—managing surplus cash through investments rather than loans.
"Mr. Ma, considering Land Group's growing cash reserves, what do you think about setting up an investment company to manage our funds?" Lin Haoran asked.
"Boss," Ma Shiming said with a smile, "you're probably the richest man in Hong Kong now, controlling several major conglomerates.
I suggest you take it a step further: don't just start an investment company—buy a bank!"
"Buy a bank?" Lin Haoran repeated thoughtfully.
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