The Industrial Giant Reborn - Chapter 646

c637 Invest in Citibank

For Chen Zhiwen, the Japanese market in the future will basically have no great value. The market itself is extremely closed to the outside world, not because of national policy, but because Japanese people prefer to buy products from domestic brands. Unless it is really not available in their own country, they will consider other brands, such as BBA-level cars, iPhones, etc. Others are very difficult. Even Midea can only rely on some classic games to open up some markets.

Red Bull drinks, like Red Bull, have achieved some results in other economies around the world that are doing well, but it is very difficult in Japan, because Japan also has similar beverage brands. In other countries, it is not that there were no competitors before, and they can continue to burn money. When competing for the market, people in various countries will eventually choose the well-known Red Bull. However, this trick is difficult to work in Japan. When they can choose local brands, Japanese people basically choose their own country’s brands.

Chen Zhiwen has nothing to do about this. Not to mention him, even the European and American automobile giants can do nothing. They can just ignore this market. After all, even Apple in the original history only conquered the Japanese market in 2016.

Rather than trying to conquer this place at a high cost, wouldn’t it be better to use the large number of talents here to develop new technologies and new products, and then enter the international market?

After leaving Japan, Chen Zhiwen took a private plane and came to New York, USA.

Although the mainland has become the largest investment market for our group, and a large amount of the company’s resources and funds are invested in the mainland, the largest investment is still in the United States. Although in the United States, it is not purely real estate, but finance. In the United States, the proportion of finance exceeds that of real estate. Half of Americans’ assets are in the stock market. This is completely opposite to the fact that in the future, more than half of the assets of ordinary people in the mainland will be in houses.

Nowadays, Microsoft has become a global upstart, Bill Gates has also become the richest man in the United States, and many technology companies related to computers and information transmission have also become the new favorites of Wall Street. And these Wall Street bosses are re-examining a After some research, I discovered that many large and promising technology companies have already been invested in by Chen Zhiwen at a very early stage. Moreover, they abide by the laws of the United States and control the shareholdings of many companies within 5%. This neither violates the laws of the United States nor is it worthy of being targeted by many large consortiums.

Unknowingly, Chen Zhiwen’s status in the hearts of American Wall Street investment banks has increased by 10%. In the past ten years, the companies he invested in have received huge returns. Compared with Chen Zhiwen, the American stock god Buffett, Far from it. This has also led many Wall Street analysts to begin a large number of investigations into the movements of Chen Zhiwen’s funds. However, Chen Zhiwen now has many companies and a huge amount of funds. There are also many projects invested by such funds, from Europe and the United States to There are everything from the mainland to Southeast Asia and South America. No one knows which ones Chen Zhiwen is most optimistic about. It seems that only after the companies he invested in rise, people will look back and discover this. This also makes Wall Street People are a little helpless. If they can invest with Chen Zhiwen’s real investment goal, it will be difficult to even think about not developing.

It’s a pity that no one, not even Morgan Stanley, who has a good relationship with Chen Zhiwen, can get any information. No one knows where among the thousands of projects invested by Midea, Red Bull, Hutchison Whampoa and Land. There are only a few that Chen Zhiwen is personally optimistic about. This is completely different from the investment model of Soros and Buffett. In the early days, technology companies were all small and no one would pay attention to them. Chen Zhiwen really invested in hundreds of them. Who can know?

Although some of Chen Zhiwen’s large investments have a very good return rate, it has been so many years now. The assets of companies such as Coca-Cola, General Electric, and Wal-Mart have increased tenfold, and they are already making a lot of money. How can other people dare to enter?

For Chen Zhiwen, although the rate of return on such an investment is definitely not as good as that in the technology industry, because these companies are giants and can accommodate a lot of funds, such an investment is still very good, especially when there is a large amount of money each year. Stock dividends, and such suitable investment projects, there were many in the 1970s and early 1980s. After entering the 1990s, there were fewer, but they still existed.

The main purpose of Chen Zhiwen’s visit to the United States this time was to work for one of the largest commercial banks in the United States: Citibank.

As soon as he got off the plane and walked out of the airport through the VIP channel, Chen Zhiwen met the person he needed to meet this time in New York: John Reed, the president of Citibank. As well as his subordinates, the people here to pick him up are all senior executives of Citibank.

“Hello, Mr. Chen.” John Reed took the initiative to step forward and shook hands.

“Hello, Mr. Reid, just call me Eric.” Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. When discussing business in Western countries, unless the identity gap is too big, it is better to use an English name. This will also facilitate communication and also It can temporarily increase relationships and facilitate further cooperation.

“Okay, then please call me John.” John Reed smiled, and then introduced a few people around Chen Zhiwen.

“Hello.” Chen Zhiwen also shook hands with everyone politely. Every senior leader of Citibank is a figure who can influence the regional economy. However, here today, Chen Zhiwen was just getting to know each other as a courtesy.

“Eric, do you want to go to the hotel to take a rest first?” John Reed asked.

“No, my plane is the hotel.” Chen Zhiwen said. Nowadays, with the development of aviation technology, the range of private jets such as Gulfstream and Bombardier is getting longer and longer, and they have been able to meet the travel needs of many super-rich people. Therefore, more and more people have begun to purchase private jets, and even many companies, It is also purchased specifically for the CEO team, as is the case with Midea Red Bull.

However, Chen Zhiwen is still keen on Boeing aircraft. The main reason is that the space is large enough. As for fuel consumption and maintenance fees, it is meaningless to him. The only disadvantage is that it requires a large international airport for takeoff and landing, so he cannot go to small places. But in general Next, Chen Zhiwen went to big cities, so there was no big inconvenience.

“Okay, let’s go directly to the bank.” John Reed nodded and said. Afterwards, a group of people got into a fleet of cars and headed to the Citibank headquarters on Park Avenue in New York City.

“This Citibank headquarters building really has a sense of historical vicissitudes.” When he arrived at the downstairs of the Citibank Building, Chen Zhiwen looked up and said subconsciously.

“Eric, this building was built in 1913. It’s almost 80 years ago today. During this period, every Citigroup management never thought of demolishing it and building a new one. Instead, they continued to strengthen and improve it to keep it intact. Now, this building has been designated as a historic building by New York City and is one of the classic landmarks of New York City, although its height is not high in the entire New York City.” John Reed explained with a smile. .

“Very good.” Chen Zhiwen nodded, and then he didn’t care anymore. Keeping history or demolishing and building new ones actually depends on the manager’s wishes. Each has its own advantages. In New York, property taxes need to be collected every year. In places where it is not necessarily cost-effective to demolish and build a new building, it is different in Hong Kong. However, it also depends on the company’s development. If it really needs a headquarters that can accommodate many people, then it should be demolished.

“Please come in.” Under the leadership of John Reed, Chen Zhiwen and his party also walked into the headquarters of Citibank.

Many years ago, when Chen Zhiwen made some investments in the United States, he also cooperated with Citibank, but this was the first time he came to Citibank’s headquarters. Under normal circumstances, for some normal commercial loans, there is no need to go to a bank. Headquarters.

However, his visit today is not about loans, but real investments.

After a brief walk around the entire building, everyone arrived on the 36th floor of Citibank. Here, there was a corner office with a view of half of New York City.

“The night view here should be good.” Chen Zhiwen asked with a smile.

“Very good, this is the office specially prepared for you by our Citibank, Eric. If this cooperation is successful, you will have an independent office in our bank.” John Reed said.

“Okay, but I won’t stay. When the time comes, I will arrange for a representative to come.” Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

“Then we should still discuss the content of cooperation, how about it?” John Reed asked.

“Okay.” Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

“Eric, during this period, we have found that you have been continuously acquiring Citibank shares in the stock market. First of all, I am very grateful for your trust in our Citibank. However, we also want to know how you do this. What’s the purpose?” John Rego then asked.

“I am very optimistic about the future of Citibank. The previous acquisitions in the stock market are just the beginning. My goal is to become a shareholder of Citibank. Just like my investments in Coca-Cola and General Electric, I will hold them for a long time.” Chen Zhiwen said lightly. said with a smile.

“In that case, Eric, why don’t you cooperate directly with the board of directors of our bank, how about we directly increase your shares?” John Reed said: “Otherwise, if you make such an acquisition in the stock market, once the news leaks out, it will inevitably It will cause the stock price to rise sharply, which is not cost-effective for you.”

“In this case, it would be better, but I don’t know how many shares Citibank can increase in my shares?” Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

This is his purpose. When he arranged for people to acquire shares of Citibank, he deliberately did not hide any whereabouts, and the speed and frequency of acquisitions were very fast. As time goes by, it will attract attention, especially the management of Citibank itself. .

This is because he has never thought about acquiring Citibank. This is impossible. You must know that ten years ago, HSBC was reviewed by the US Treasury Department for several years in order to acquire SITC, the sixth largest bank in New York State. HSBC’s financial base in Hong Kong was almost wiped out by the U.S. government before it finally agreed to the acquisition, and the outside world does not know whether HSBC agreed to any secret conditions from the U.S. government.

Citibank is one of the super commercial banks in the United States. It is so big that SITC does not even have a fraction of it. Under normal circumstances, it would be quite troublesome for foreign investors to become shareholders of such a bank. Banks When it comes to national capital, any country will have stricter controls. Even if foreign capital does not require operating rights, there are still strong restrictions. In some countries, major banks do not even allow foreign capital to invest.

However, this period of time is naturally a special situation, because several large-scale investments by Citibank in the late 1980s failed one after another, causing the company to suffer losses for several consecutive years. Now it has encountered the outbreak of the oil crisis. Although in history, the United States The matter was resolved quickly, but before the end of the Gulf War, even the U.S. government was uncertain about the duration of the crisis. Therefore, it required domestic banks to increase their share capital to cope with the oil crisis that might break out at any time.

This will be the death of Citibank. Even though it has a long history and has cooperated with many consortiums around the world, it cannot find anyone willing to inject capital to help it tide over the difficulties. In fact, if the tree falls and the monkeys scatter, Citibank Previously, the losses were so severe that no one dared to invest. Many of Citi’s shareholders even thought that Citi might go bankrupt, so they all sold their stocks, which caused a further decline in Citi’s stock price and a situation where no one was willing to invest.

In the original history, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bought Citibank at the bottom. His logic was very simple. The U.S. government could not allow such a large bank to fail because the losses caused by bank failure would be too great, especially for a giant like Citibank. , the final result was the same as he speculated.

However, it is not the support of the US government, but the end of the third oil crisis soon. The United States has ushered in the era of technology and the Internet, and the financial industry and the overall economy have surged. His investment in Citibank has more than quintupled in five years. In the long run, It seems that there are almost 20 times the income. This is only direct. Having a good relationship with such a super bank has even more indirect benefits.

Such a rare opportunity, Chen Zhiwen will naturally not let it go. It is not only a matter of return, but also an opportunity to influence major American banks. That is, Citibank is currently facing financial difficulties. Otherwise, if an overseas capital wants to invest, basically It is unlikely to get a lot of shares.

“U.S. law restricts foreign capital from holding more than 25% of the shares of domestic commercial banks. This is an overall share. However, most of our shareholders in Citibank are American capital. On your side, I can arrange to obtain about 15% of the shares. .” John said. (End of chapter)