The Xiangjiang real estate market was not too hot right now. Although the price remained elevated, the number of sales was gradually decreasing and has recently hit a new low of 17 per month. What made it even worse was that Li Jiacheng, who had single-handedly pushed the Xiangjiang real estate market to its peak, had begun to sell his real estate assets for cash.
The perpetrator of this has already smelled a dangerous signal. How would the other real estate developers not sense it?
Once the interest rate returns to normal, the Xiangjiang real estate market would face immense pressure, the possibility of the "freefall" in 1997 was not out of the realm of possibility.
The bubble created by the insane construction of buildings put the cash flow of all real estate developers in an extremely tight situation, Nanfeng real estate was no exception.
The office building located in Kowloon had a cost of 1.2 billion HKD, typically speaking, a fair price would be three billion. But for Chen Wei who needed the money to alleviate the pressure on cash flow, he could not wait any longer.Granted, he was not a decent businessman, but with the legal system and its implementation becoming perfected by the day, most of his businesses have been transformed into legal ones.
Jiang Chen buying this building definitely gave him some breathing room.
With the deal being successful, Chen Wei was naturally ecstatic as he warmly invited Jiang Chen for lunch.
Jiang Chen didn’t reject the proposal as they went along to the Felix restaurant on the 28th floor.
On the dinner table, the two chatted and joked about their encounters around the world.
"How is Robert doing?" As they chatted, the conversation turned to Robert.
"The same old. He has transitioned his business already. The way he described it was playing with Hollywood girls. Did he not tell you?" Jiang Chen laughed."I left the industry earlier than him and became legal five years ago. I didn’t imagine that the lunatic that dared to sell anything also left the game," Chen Wei exclaimed.
"Lunatic? Haha, a fitting name for that guy. Five months ago, he was caught by the IS in Iraq and almost had his head chopped off.
"Iraq. He certainly has the guts. Speaking of this, how did you two meet?" Chen Wei asked curiously.
Regardless of which perspective, Jiang Chen was a law-abiding businessman, he shouldn’t have the opportunity to meet the smuggling middlemen.
"We met in Iraq, I saved his life." Because there was nothing to hide, Jiang Chen shrugged.
Chen Wei was confused at first before he started laughing and raised his wine glass.
"How disrespectable of me. I thought Mr. Jiang was a law-abiding businessman, but Mr. Jiang has a secretive side too. Cheers."
To be able to save someone from the hands of the IS, he must have had some connections with the hidden international mercenary groups. The security companies on the surface would usually not take any tasks that would endanger their own lives.
When he thought about this, Chen Wei couldn’t help but exclaim in his mind, he underestimated this guy.
But he still underestimated Jiang Chen. He couldn’t fathom that it was not the mercenaries that saved Robert, but Jiang Chen alone.
"You are over complimenting me," Jiang Chen said humbly.
"Did he stop because of the IS?"
"Not exactly. Mostly because the FBA had an eye on him. He was rather unlucky because it was the FBA’s ploy that led to him being captured by the IS."
"FBA… True, if the government decided to intervene, then he must exit the industry," Chen Wei exclaimed.
"Is Mr. Chen’s transition also the result of the government?" Jiang Chen smiled.
"That’s right. But it was not the FBA. It was because of the mainland's General Staff Department." Chen Wei grinned.
General Staff Department? Jiang Chen’s expression was rather odd.
"Could the General Staff Department extend its influence here?’ Jiang Chen asked.
"No, as long as you are not too overzealous. However, I was in Guangzhou at that time." Chen Wei paused and looked at Jiang Chen. "Speaking of this, you had some conflicts with the Wang family in Wanghai City?"
"It is not wrong to say that." Jiang Chen shrugged.
When Chen Wei heard this, he nodded.
"It is fine to get into conflict with the Wang family as most of their influence remains in Wanghai City. But definitely don’t offend anyone above them, unless you plan to completely abandon your assets in Hua." In the last sentence, Chen Wei’s tone began to sound melancholic.
Perhaps it was something he personally experienced, or experienced by his friends who didn't have the cleanest history.
To his words of advice, Jiang Chen only nodded and didn’t say anything else.
…
The two days of relaxing were over. Even Jiang Chen, who hasn't been involved with the company for awhile, began dealing with tasks related to the company.
Although with the help of Xia Shiyu, his workload was lighter. But there were quite a few things that he still must personally do.
First, Future International incorporated in New Zealand with Jiang Chen as the sole shareholder.
The advantage of an offshore company in New Zealand was that as long as the profit is not generated locally, the only fee that must be paid per year was the annual fee. It was legal to submit zero tax without the need for an audit, and the subsequent steps were much more manageable. The only downside being the registration fee was a bit higher compared to registering in Xiangjiang, but the annual fee was similar for both areas.
As the parent company, Future International quickly gained control of 99% of the shares of Future Technology. From now on, Future Technology became a subsidiary of Future International with CEO Xia Shiyu leading the company.
At the same time, with Xia Shiyu’s recommendation, Future Technology divided its market geographically to Greater Hua, Southeast Asia, Russia, European Union, Arabic, North UA and South UA. A subsidiary was formed in each of the geographical areas to operate in each business market.
Of course, this business transition created a massive workload that caused a shortage of talent at Future Technology.
Jiang Chen’s solution was simple, it was to buy with money.
High salary, great benefits, and hiring headhunters to search for talent all over the world and create a company of talent with money. With Future Technology’s low cost and high profits, the investment was negligible to the company.
To the technical talents, working at Future Technology was an attractive option to begin with. The talent acquisition was completed without much hindrance.
After this was completed, Future Technology’s Greater Hua headquarters was relocated to Xiangjiang under the direction of Xia Shiyu.
From this point on, Future Technology’s tax revenue of no less than two billion per year would say goodbye to Wanghai City’s local government.
Although Wang Dehai had personally called Jiang Chen to reservedly but sincerely express his apology in the hopes of him staying, Jiang Chen’s attitude didn’t change at all.
The proverb goes, you only realize what’s valuable when it's gone.
The moment that the Wang family no longer viewed Future Technology as a partner but rather a piece of juicy meat, he should have considered that this day would come.
_Min_ _Min_
3 today, 1/3
