The Industrial Giant Reborn

Half a month later, Admiralty, Hong Kong, Star River Tower headquarters:

"Mr. Chen, this is the information of the Sime Darby Group, please take a look." Diss, the general manager of the Hudoli Financial Investment Company of the HSBC Group, put a small stack of documents on Chen Zhiwen's desk.

"Okay, thank you Mr. Diss." Chen Zhiwen also said politely.

In the era without the Internet, it is very difficult to check the information of a company, especially overseas companies.

Qin Zhihao's suggestion also moved Chen Zhiwen. Generally speaking, Taohua Datong has great strategic significance for the food business that Red Bull is planning to enter. In addition, Taohua Datong was also established in 1908. As long as it existed and developed at that time The current company has a lot of land under its umbrella, and the location is not bad, because even if it was a corner area that had no money at that time, with the development of Hong Kong for decades, these places have become good locations. In the commercial area, it is not a loss to buy it now.

After finding out that Taohua Datong was acquired by a Malaysian Sime Darby Group in 1972, Chen Zhiwen entrusted Huodoli to contact him. Huodoli had never heard of this company, so he began to use his own relationship to communicate with a Malaysian company. The commercial bank contacted Sime Darby, and also obtained the habit information, which was translated into Chinese and sent over.

"Sime Darby is a multinational company in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Its main business is real estate, automobile sales, heavy machinery sales, oil refining and rubber plantation. It has strong comprehensive strength and is considered a very large company in Malaysia." Diss A simple introduction said that it is much more convenient to talk than to read, and it is not right to let your customers spend time looking at the information.

"Involved in the real estate business? Then they acquired Taohua Datong to enter the real estate market in Hong Kong?" Chen Zhiwen asked while looking at the information.

Diess nodded and said: "It should mean that. In 1972, the real estate market in Hong Kong was at its peak and the market was very hot, but the real estate market collapsed in early 1973. When Sime Darby acquired Taohua Datong, it was the highest. The price took over, and now, the stock price has not returned to that time, it should be a blood loss.

Moreover, Sime Darby itself has also been impacted by the oil crisis, and the benefits in recent years have not been very good. In addition, the current land price in Hong Kong has not recovered to what it was in 72 years ago, so it has not been developed. "

"Buying land in 1972, you really know how to play." Chen Zhiwen smiled and asked: "Then, Sime Darby, how does he respond to my acquisition proposal?"

"They said they can talk, but there are certain conditions." Diess said.

"What conditions?" Chen Zhiwen asked. This is not the core business of other companies, and it is generally negotiable. In shopping malls, there are many acquisitions of this type of independent business.

"Sime Darby knows that you want to buy Taohua Datong. They said they can give you a normal price, but they want the exclusive agency right of Red Bull in Malaysia, including Coca-Cola, as well as other beverages and foods of Red Bull." Diess said that this is no longer a question of price, and the only thing to do is to find the client.

"The ambition is not small. Does this company have such a channel?" Chen Zhiwen did not directly refuse. In fact, Red Bull has been developing the European and American markets for the past few years, and the increase in production capacity has not been able to keep up with the demand in Europe and the United States. Therefore, basically, other places other than Europe and the United States are not considered. At most, Japan and Hong Kong have a little supply. has already taken over the market.

Except for Europe, America and Japan, Red Bull has basically not started to expand. At most, it has sent people to do preliminary market research and taste testing. If it enters these countries in the future, it will not be possible to enter the market at once. It will definitely give priority to markets with great potential. , Research good places.

"Yes, Sime Darby also has a food retail channel in Malaysia. Many soy sauces and sauces from Taohua Datong enter Malaysia through this channel." Diess said.

"That's fine, let's do this. I'll discuss it with the management of Red Bull. They will send people to investigate in Malaysia. If it's really suitable, we can talk about it." Chen Zhiwen agreed after thinking about it.

In Europe and the United States, it is still possible to focus on the chain supermarket market, and find small distributors in other places, but this is not the case in Southeast Asia. The economy here has not yet led to large-scale supermarket chains. Most of the retail in these countries are all kinds of Small street shops, that is, mom-and-pop shops, in this case, if you want to spread drinks, you can only rely on local powerful distributors.

Although Malaysia’s economy is a bit weak, it still has a large population. On the whole, it can also be regarded as the first stop for Red Bull to enter other markets besides Europe and the United States.

"Well, I will inform Sime Darby that if the distribution agreement is reached, the acquisition of Taohua Datong should not be a problem." Diess said happily. It is refreshing to cooperate with big capital. If it is other companies , it is bound to hold back in many ways, but Chen Zhiwen obviously does not have such a thing.

Time flies, and another month has passed.

During this period, Red Bull sent 3 groups of people to Malaysia to investigate the channels owned by Sime Darby Group. At the same time, Sime Darby Group also sent a business team to Red Bull headquarters to conduct relevant business negotiations with Qin Zhihao. Prices, shipments, distribution costs, promotional fees, etc. are negotiated.

On June 26, the two parties reached a cooperation agreement, and Red Bull authorized Sime Darby Group to be the exclusive agent of the two beverage brands Red Bull and Very Cola in Malaysia.

Generally, this kind of agency negotiation will not be so fast. Obviously, it is because of Red Bull's demand for Taohua Datong, and the shrinking business of Sime Darby Group itself. It also urgently needs other profit points and opportunities in new industries. The signed agreement is only for three years. Within three years, if the development is possible, then the cooperation will naturally continue. If not, then it will end.

This time the signing was also done in secret, but Sime Darby is a company listed in Malaysia, and naturally hopes to announce it to boost its stock price, but there is no news from Hong Kong. No one cares who a Malaysian company has obtained the agency rights, and Coca-Cola's agency rights will not attract the attention of Hong Kong netizens.

But another news is different. On June 28, Galaxy Group acquired 45.7% of the shares of Taohua Datong from foreign investors and became the largest shareholder of Taohua Datong. The exact transaction price is unknown.

As soon as the news came out, everyone got used to it. Shareholders analyzed it and found out that Taohua Datong owns a large piece of land in Ngau Tau Kok, Kowloon. The acquisition of Galaxy Group must be for the land.

"The land of 222,000 square feet is not too big. It can barely build a community. What do you think?" Chen Zhiwen said to Xu Jinhong, the person in charge of Galaxy Real Estate.

"The area is indeed not too large, but the location is not bad. At the current market price, this piece of land will cost 100 million yuan." Xu Jinhong said looking at the location on the map.

"That's the old rule. Taohua Datong will produce the land, and Galaxy Real Estate will pay for it, and then develop it together. The final 55% will be owned by Galaxy after Taohua Datong, but it will be operated independently. Don't interfere with their original team casually. "Chen Zhiwen added: "In addition, Red Bull will enter the food business, and Taohua Datong will also need to send some food-related engineers to help."

"Then why not directly give Taohua Datong's food business to Red Bull?" Xu Jinhong asked.

"Red Bull only does large-scale business. There are many small categories in Taohua Datong, mainly for kitchens. There is no need to give it to Red Bull, just cooperate with them in development." Chen Zhiwen said.

The positioning of Red Bull is to make public drinks or food, while the main direction of Taohua Datong is soy sauce, fuel consumption, etc. The resources and contacts of the two are not repeated at all, and it is useless to merge them together. What Red Bull needs is Taohua Datong. Habitual talent's experience and ability.

"Okay, I will arrange for Taohua Datong's engineers to go to Red Bull." Xu Jinhong nodded and said.

"In addition, I have a special task for Taohua Datong." Chen Zhiwen added: "Develop spicy sauce, with different meats and dried beans as the main ingredients, and the taste does not need to be so spicy, just moderate. For example, ordinary people can make a little. Serve directly with food, people who like spicy food can catch it directly, it is almost at this level, and the taste should be delicious, I don’t know how to adjust it, you can test it yourself.”

"As for hot sauce, Taohua Datong should not have studied it. Hong Kong people don't eat spicy food very much. I have to ask their engineers. Maybe they have studied it, but the market is not good." Xu Jinhong said. After taking over Taohua Datong, he I also communicated with the company's management, but I can only find some basic information in the past few days.

"Hong Kong and even Southeast Asia don't eat spicy food very much, but Europe and the United States are different. There are still many people who like it." Chen Zhiwen said.

Later generations of Laoganma and other hot sauces are not only popular in China, but also in many places in Europe and the United States. For companies like Taohua Datong with a market value of about 100 million Hong Kong dollars, it is a very big market. Eat With a 10% reduction, the turnover can be increased tenfold with ease.

In fact, the company has grown to its current scale, and expansion is inevitable. Midea is also planning to enter the field of chips and LCDs. Several real estate companies are also constantly developing new land. This is an inevitable development. At most, it is the choice of horizontal or vertical expansion. question.

Originally, Chen Zhiwen never thought about making kitchen seasonings. Although the market is not small, it is far inferior to beverages and snacks. The products are kitchen seasonings and soy sauce, etc. Naturally, it can also give them a little direction for the future, anyway, it's just a mouthful.

"Yes, we have deep channel relationships in European and American supermarkets, but Taohua Datong's soy sauce and sauces do not meet the tastes of Europeans and Americans at all, and it is impossible to prepare a place for a small number of Chinese over there. Without this supermarket channel, it would be a pity to acquire Taohua Datong." Xu Jinhong thought for a while and said.

Thanks to Chen Zhiwen's efforts in the early stage, Xinghe Trade easily obtained stable orders from Costco and Wal-Mart, and then relied on the huge purchase volume to repeatedly select a supply chain with high cost performance, and then relied on this cost-effective product, and then Once opened up the channel of European supermarkets, especially recently, relying on the relationship of the boss, the entire Galaxy Trading has also entered the supply chain of Celtic, the largest supermarket in the United States, and the turnover has doubled.

Today, the annual turnover of a Galaxy trade exceeds one billion Hong Kong dollars, accounting for 2.7% of Hong Kong’s exports. This figure is already terrifying in Hong Kong. The indirect employment driven by Galaxy trade is as high as 10,000 to 20,000. , Many factories that make civilian products are soft on receiving orders. In fact, once they enter the supply chain of Xinghe Trading, the speed of capacity expansion cannot match the speed of people placing orders.

Many of its own companies have also benefited from this. Although Very Coke is also seeking its own development overseas, it still relies heavily on Costco in the short term. Needless to say, many electronic products of Midea, even now for Costco’s The dependence is reduced, but the first steamed bun is the most important.

Now that Taohua Datong has become its own company, it naturally needs to take advantage of this advantage. If the current business cannot enter the European and American markets, then it is really good to change to a suitable one.

"There are also a lot of kitchen seasonings at Costco. Western ones, such as ketchup and cheese sauce, you can negotiate with the purchasing department of Costco yourself, and you can try it if it is suitable. I don't care about these things. Now, you can figure it out, if you can develop new business, you can develop new business. Taohua Datong has been established for almost 70 years, and now it is only such a small scale, which is too small." Chen Zhiwen continued.

In fact, he didn’t mention such small things, and Taohua Datong will definitely rely on the channel of Costco in the future. After all, this is the advantage of the entire group company. Except for real estate investment in Hong Kong, others can take advantage of it Relationship, even if it is a Midea game, if it enters home game consoles or handheld game consoles in the future, it will also need to rely on Costco or Wal-Mart channels, although such products are not strongly dependent on individual supermarkets.

This is why even if the funds are tight, I have to invest heavily in Costco. If this retail supermarket is successful, then many of my future businesses will have a basic guarantee, and the process from 0-1 is also very easy. Otherwise, Taohua Datong has just created a good-tasting hot sauce. If you want to enter the US market, you will not even think about it in a few years.

This is also the reason why Taohua Datong has been developing in Hong Kong. It can be said that there is no chance of developing overseas markets or even growing.

"Okay, Chen Sheng." Xu Jinhong agreed.

"The most important thing is the ingredients of potato chips. It is most important to meet the needs of Costco. For hot sauce or something, you will be fine a year later. I just remind you that in the future, Taohua Datong will take its own direction." Chen Zhiwen thought After thinking about it, he said again.

"Okay." Xu Jinhong nodded and said.

"That's the thing about the Taohua Datong, right? Is there anything going on in the Galaxy Group recently?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.

"In terms of real estate, everything is normal. We are also developing self-sustained land and joint ventures with other British companies. That is Galaxy Trading. Recently, many local suppliers in Hong Kong are not enough. I want to go to Wanwan to take a look. .” Xu Jinhong said.

"It doesn't matter. If Hong Kong can't keep up, then find other places. There are also Chinese people in Wanwan, so it's the first choice, but Southeast Asian countries can also be considered." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.

From a rational point of view, Chen Zhiwen also hopes that factories in Hong Kong can undertake the orders of Galaxy Trading, but overseas supermarkets are developing too fast, and Galaxy Trading has gained a little reputation in the supermarket industry, so it is easier to enter various supermarkets. At the same time, The skyrocketing land price in Hong Kong has also inhibited the development of industry. In general, it is normal for Hong Kong to fail to keep up with demand.

But trade has to be done, and if Hong Kong can’t do it, we can only choose other places. This can be regarded as the negative side of Hong Kong’s development of the real estate economy.