Chapter 9: Are you afraid I won't be able to repay it when it's due?

Yang Changdao was very familiar with this type of mortgage business.

Although their finance company would certainly conduct an investigation later, making a preliminary judgment on the authenticity of the assets was not a problem.

Furthermore, funds were generally only disbursed after a thorough investigation.

Given Lin Haoran’s status, there was no need for him to commit fraud in this regard.

Lin Wan'an’s reputation in the industry was excellent, which also brought certain advantages to Lin Haoran.

"Haoran, I’ve looked over all of this. With this cement factory and the land deeds as collateral, you can borrow a maximum of over ten million Hong Kong dollars. Additionally, as the young master of the Wan'an Group, I can take it upon myself to round that up to twenty million. You want to borrow fifty million—that, I cannot do," Yang Changdao said bluntly.

"Uncle Yang, twenty million Hong Kong dollars is not my goal. If I only wanted to borrow twenty million, there would be no need for me to come to you. You know, as a high-quality client like me, if I went to HSBC or Standard Chartered, they could easily approve this amount for me.

Moreover, many new banks have been established in Hong Kong recently, and I’m sure they would be very happy to do business with a high-quality client like me. Yet, I didn't go to any of those banks; I came directly to you, Uncle Yang," Lin Haoran said, shaking his head.

Although Lin Haoran’s words were blunt, they were the truth, and every point was reasonable. If your Bumiputra Finance Company doesn't have much of an advantage over other banks, why should I choose to work with you?

To some extent, a bank’s massive capital—to put it bluntly—consists of depositors' savings.

If these funds are not effectively invested or loaned out, but merely sit idle within the bank, the bank will face a serious risk of loss over time because the capital fails to perform its necessary value-added function.

Furthermore, when banks provide deposit services to customers, they must pay a certain amount of interest; this is one of the key factors in attracting depositors to keep their money in the bank.

Without a reasonable interest return, why would depositors be willing to deposit their money?

Therefore, a large Malaysian state-owned bank like Bumiputra Bank, despite having ample capital, still needs to generate profits for itself.

Many of the clients of the Malaysian Bumiputra Finance Company in Hong Kong came there specifically because the company could offer larger loan amounts.

If it were an established entrepreneur, Yang Changdao would naturally agree to lend more.

But Lin Haoran was too young, and he was not the actual controller of the Wan'an Group. Lending too much money to him would inevitably carry significant risk.

Based on this, Yang Changdao dared not lend him too much.

In this world, there is a certain type of person.

While you are coveting their interest, they have already quietly set their sights on your loan principal.

Having come up in this industry, Yang Changdao had seen plenty of such cases, and he was naturally worried about encountering such a person.

"Haoran, how about this: in my capacity as the Hong Kong General Manager of Bumiputra Finance, I will approve thirty million Hong Kong dollars for you. Given your conditions, this is the highest amount I can approve. You know as well as I do that Bumiputra Finance isn't mine; I am just a regional head. The funds I approve must undergo a secondary review by those above me, and they will also assess the risk. If the risk assessment doesn't pass, it doesn't matter how much I promise, it won't work. You understand, right?" Yang Changdao thought for a moment and decided to increase the limit by ten million for Lin Haoran.

It wasn't that he didn't want to lend more; after all, the more he lent out, the better his performance looked.

But he couldn't bear the risk. If the money couldn't be recovered later, his responsibility would be immense.

"Uncle Yang, are you afraid that I won't have the ability to repay it when it's due?" Lin Haoran asked with a smile.

Yang Changdao remained silent. Lin Haoran’s request put him in a difficult position.

Judging by his expression, it was exactly the reason Lin Haoran had stated.

If the goal was merely to target Wharf Holdings shares, thirty million Hong Kong dollars would indeed be enough.

Because too much capital would actually be detrimental to the covert acquisition of Wharf shares.

But what Lin Haoran had his eyes on was not just Wharf; he had another target as well.

Therefore, if he could borrow another twenty million Hong Kong dollars, he would have a lot of room to maneuver.

"Uncle Yang, all these lands and factories of mine can be mortgaged to your company, which means over ten million in funds are risk-free. As for the other thirty-plus million, you are simply afraid that I will take the money and run.

How about this? I won't make it difficult for you, let's lay it all out on the table. The reason I am taking this loan is that I intend to acquire a listed company. This company currently has a market capitalization of about one hundred million Hong Kong dollars, and it is a very high-quality enterprise that has never reported a loss since going public.

I need to become a major shareholder of this company. As for which company it is, it is not convenient for me to disclose it for the time being, but once the acquisition is successful, I can temporarily mortgage the shares to Bumiputra Finance. That way, you will naturally have no risk.

Besides, I am the young master of the Lin family; the Wan'an Group is right there, it won't run away. My father only has two sons. Even if I can't pay it back, you can still go to the Wan'an Group to collect the debt from my father, which further reduces the risk.

Additionally, as long as you help me secure this loan, a 'tea money' fee of five hundred thousand will be in your hands at any time.

I believe that with your status, Uncle Yang, convincing the Bumiputra Bank behind you to approve this loan will be a trivial matter.

I wonder if these conditions of mine can move you, Uncle Yang?

Doing business inherently carries a certain amount of risk. To be honest, my loan conditions have already minimized that risk.

The only reason you are hesitating, Uncle Yang, is because I am too young. But being young is not my fault. I am taking this money to invest; even if I end up losing, it’s impossible to lose it all, right?

When the repayment is due, it will be my loss, not Bumiputra Finance's. Our Lin family’s business is all in Hong Kong; I couldn't run away even if I wanted to.

If you agree, Uncle Yang, then we have a deal.

If even this cannot move you, then I will have no choice but to look for other banks or finance companies."

Lin Haoran didn't want to waste too much time with Yang Changdao, so he stated his bottom line directly.

The listed company he mentioned was naturally not Wharf; Wharf was a behemoth that he could not control at his current stage.

The current Lin Haoran simply wanted to use the acquisition battle for Wharf to obtain a significant amount of starting capital that truly belonged to him.

With so many listed companies in Hong Kong, he naturally had his own targets.

A "tea money" fee of five hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars was already quite substantial, equivalent to 1% of this fifty-million-dollar loan.

In this era, the standard annual interest rate for Hong Kong banks was generally between 5.00% and 5.25%.

During this period of intense competition in the banking industry, some banks even chose to attract customers with interest rates below 5%.

Of course, Lin Haoran didn't have the leverage for that right now, so he didn't intend to dwell too much on the interest rate.

His most important goal right now was to secure the necessary funds as quickly as possible!