Chapter 37: A Competitor Appears

At the agency office, Lin Haoran first clearly articulated his specific requirements to the agent. Immediately following this, the agent carefully selected several properties for his consideration based on those needs.

As a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Land Group, this agency leveraged the immense strength and excellent reputation of its parent company. Every transaction contract included a guarantee: all recommended properties had undergone rigorous screening and verification to ensure they were free of any potential risks, including but not limited to mortgages or any other issues.

Should any situation arise that failed to meet these promises, the company would take full responsibility until the issue was resolved satisfactorily.

Given these circumstances, Lin Haoran naturally felt at ease.

Considering his current financial situation and practical needs, Lin Haoran focused his attention on properties with a total price of under one million Hong Kong dollars.

He knew that within this price range, he might not find an extremely spacious office, but he maintained an open mind, viewing it as a pragmatic choice that met his needs for the current stage.

He calculated in his mind that it wouldn't be too late to upgrade to a more spacious office once his economic situation improved in the future.

After a period of careful browsing and comparison, Lin Haoran soon found his target.

It was a property located within a bustling commercial building near the Hong Kong Securities Exchange Center, named the Hengfeng Building. The building stood tall at 21 stories, and the office for sale happened to occupy a prime floor—the 19th floor. It offered not only an expansive view but was also adjacent to the picturesque Victoria Harbour.

In the prime Central district, where land is worth its weight in gold, many commercial buildings are often held entirely by large conglomerates, and it is rare to see individual units for sale.

However, nothing is absolute. Much like the building Lin Haoran was currently inspecting, it had once been the exclusive property of a well-known British enterprise.

The stock market crash of 1973 had dealt a heavy blow to this British firm. For the sake of self-rescue and restructuring, the company was forced to painfully split half of the building's floors into multiple independent property units for sale.

Although the office Lin Haoran favored was relatively compact, at approximately 1,620 square feet (about 150 square meters), it had a reasonable layout and high utility.

Considering its superior geographical location, convenient transportation, and the charming sea view outside the window, the owner's asking price of 1 million HKD seemed quite reasonable and attractive.

Since it was still early, Lin Haoran decided to strike while the iron was hot and directly commissioned the agent to lead him to the site for a viewing.

The moment he stepped into the room, he was captivated by its exquisite layout and brand-new renovation. The overall environment far exceeded his expectations; it could be put to immediate use with almost no modifications required, which was undoubtedly the greatest boon for someone pursuing efficiency like him.

Lin Haoran was also a decisive person. Satisfied, he immediately instructed the agent to arrange a meeting with the owner.

Shortly after, a middle-aged Chinese owner arrived as scheduled. He revealed his plan to move his entire family to Canada, which was why he was reluctantly parting with this property that combined both office and residential functions.

The negotiation process between the two parties went exceptionally smoothly. Based on their mutual recognition of the property's value, combined with their honesty and respect for one another, they finally finalized an agreement at 950,000 HKD.

The other party was straightforward, and so was he. Taking advantage of the fact that it wasn't too late, he successfully completed the transfer procedures under the agent's guidance before the 6:00 PM finish of the workday.

With the stroke of the final signature, Lin Haoran finally owned his first piece of property in the bustling area of Central.

Once everything was settled, Lin Haoran returned to this property, which now belonged to him, accompanied by Li Weiguo and Li Weidong.

The property had previously been leased to a small business for office use. They had cleverly utilized the space to layout a fully functional office area, featuring a general manager's office, a finance office, and a departmental office.

As for the lobby area, it had been cleverly partitioned into multiple workstations to meet the working needs of different teams.

This office could easily accommodate about fifteen to twenty people.

To Lin Haoran, this house was indeed very practical; he could even move in directly.

He was particularly satisfied with the office design. Within a space of about 30 square meters, the living and working areas were cleverly separated, meaning Lin Haoran could even live there at night.

Walking through the spacious lobby, Lin Haoran's gaze was involuntarily drawn to the massive floor-to-ceiling glass window.

Outside the window was a breathtaking view—the shimmering Victoria Harbour lay entirely within sight, while the silhouette of the Kowloon Peninsula on the opposite shore appeared even clearer under the glow of the setting sun, like a moving painting unfolding before his eyes.

And in the vicinity of the building where Lin Haoran stood, there rose a commercial building over twenty stories high; that was the headquarters of the Cheung Kong (Holdings) Group.

At that moment, in a conference room at the Cheung Kong headquarters, Li Jiacheng sat at the head of the conference table, conducting an intense and crucial strategic meeting with the members of his brain trust beside him.

"In Hong Kong, British-listed companies are as numerous as stars, and many are of high quality. Currently, we have ample funds. Although we missed the opportunity with Wharf Holdings, a new battlefield awaits our expansion. Hutchison Whampoa is our next big target, but the timing is not yet right. Mr. Wu, during this period, have you discovered any other potential stocks worth our effort?"

Li Jiacheng asked the head of the brain trust with his characteristic elegant demeanor.

Many people felt sorry for Li Jiacheng after his attempt to acquire Wharf Holdings failed, but he naturally had his own considerations. By doing so, he both avoided a direct confrontation with Jardine Matheson and did a favor for Hui Feng and Bao Yugang, laying the groundwork for Cheung Kong's future leaps—a true "killing three birds with one stone."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Wu quickly organized his thoughts and responded steadily: "President Li, after our team's intensive research and analysis over the past few days, we unanimously believe that the Tsingzhou Cement Company in the Hung Hom area of Kowloon is an extremely attractive acquisition target at this time.

Its stock price is currently stable at around 5 HKD per share, with a total market capitalization of only 250 million HKD, which appears quite undervalued. It is worth noting that although the company's trading volume has increased and its stock price has risen in recent months, while we cannot pinpoint the exact reason for the increased volume, our research indicates that this hides the truth of its value being underestimated by the market.

Tsingzhou Cement not only possesses a solid business foundation but also holds up to 800,000 square feet of waterfront land in the prime location of Hung Hom, Kowloon. The value of this land is far beyond what its current market capitalization reflects.

Therefore, we firmly believe that if we can successfully acquire Tsingzhou Cement and subsequently gain the development rights for the Hung Hom plot, it will have an immeasurable positive impact on the future development of the Cheung Kong Group. This is our detailed research report; please review it, President Li."

As he spoke, Mr. Wu respectfully handed a heavy report to Li Jiacheng with both hands.

Lin Haoran's acquisition actions regarding Tsingzhou Cement's stock had always been extremely covert, so even Li Jiacheng's brain trust had not discovered that someone had actually been eyeing Tsingzhou Cement in secret beforehand.

Li Jiacheng nodded slightly, took the report, and began reading it carefully in the conference room.

His expression changed continuously as he delved deeper into the content; at times his brow furrowed as if contemplating certain key issues, and at other times a satisfied smile appeared, clearly showing his appreciation for certain parts of the report.

"Good, let this be our next target!" After a long while, Li Jiacheng decisively made the call.