Chapter 183 Enters February
In a blink of an eye, it enters February, and the time is approaching the Spring Festival.
After bidding farewell to the stock market crash in the past year, the new year, 1974, the new year that people hoped for, was not as lively as expected.
The so-called new year and new atmosphere, in traditional Chinese thinking, the new year represents new hope and a new beginning.
However, reality is often crueler than the truth.
The new year is coming. From January to February, the Hong Kong stock market once again suffered a new round of Waterloo-style plunge. The Hang Seng Index fell by nearly half again, and the stock market fell into mourning.
The Hang Seng Index has fallen by 200 points in a row. Compared with the 70% drop from last year's peak, it has now directly broken through 80%. It is only more than 100 points away from the lowest point in history.
Historically, the Hang Seng Index fell from its peak of 1,700 points to 150 points, a drop of 90%.
The new round of decline in the stock market directly shattered everyone's last persistence and fantasy. The oil crisis in the Middle East last year caused developed countries such as the United States, West Germany, and island countries to fall into the most serious crisis after the war when they were caught off guard. economic recession.
The recession of the global economic market has inevitably affected the stock market. With the decline of major stock markets such as US stocks and Japanese stocks, the global stock market suffered a Waterloo-style plunge during the oil crisis.
The stocks of listed companies on the world's major stock exchanges plummeted, which led to a new round of decline in the Xiangjiang stock market, which had already eased. Under the influence of the general environment, most investors completely lost confidence.
A new round of bankruptcies is surging, countless companies have closed down one after another, and countless people are desperate to go bankrupt in anticipation. Among them, the worst situation is those retail investors (middle class) who have a certain strength and persist in the stock market.
When the stock market was booming last year, many retail investors (middle class) directly quit their jobs and devoted themselves to the stock market. When the stock market was booming, everyone was making profits. These people can be said to be the most direct beneficiaries.
However, when the stock market suddenly plummeted and the market changed face, these people became the most direct victims.
When the stock market is going well, the biggest beneficiaries of the stock market are not retail investors, but big companies and big capitalists. Retail investors just follow behind to drink some soup and get some scraps.
However, once the stock market goes bad, the biggest victims among them are these underpinning retail investors, because most of these people are followers. When the market is good, they rush in, and when the market is bad, they hesitate to buy hand.
Regarding what happened to these people, Chen Yi had no intention of saving them. It wasn't that he was cold-blooded and ruthless, but mainly because he didn't have that ability, let alone a merciful savior.
The stock market plummeted, allowing Chen Yi's bottom-hunting plan to proceed smoothly.
In just one month, Chen Yi purchased a large number of shops in prime locations and a small number of high-end residences through HSBC.
Xiangjiang, a metropolis, has a reputation as a shopping paradise in later generations, so the shops in Xiangjiang have more room for appreciation than residential buildings, especially in some prime locations, such as Causeway Bay and Central.
In later generations, about 10% of the world's luxury goods are sold in Xiangjiang, and a large number of luxury stores have poured into the city of Xiangjiang, which in turn has driven the value of shops in the prosperous business district.
Similar to the shops in the Causeway Bay area, decades later, almost all of them have become sky-high prices.
Therefore, Chen Yi spent a lot of money on shops, almost half of his funds were invested in them, especially in the bustling areas of Central and Causeway Bay, as long as there were shops for sale, Chen Yi would buy them without hesitation. .
And this also led to the phenomenon that in some commercial districts, the shops on the whole street were bought by Chen Yi. The environment and rent of these shops have not changed, and they have become just the owners behind them.
Although spending money like water, in fact, the funds on hand of Chen Yi have not decreased, because these shops are fixed assets, so after Chen Yi bought them, they re-mortgaged them to the bank.
This entry and exit brought back the money invested before, and what he needed to pay was only a small part of the interest.
For Chen Yi's behavior, HSBC Bank was naturally happy to see the results, and opened the door to convenience. As much as Chen Yi invested, HSBC Bank would loan as much as it was.
Of course, this is only limited to the investment in shops. For example, in the stock market, HSBC does not accept this trick.
Now that the stock market environment is so bad, banks simply don’t accept those stocks as mortgages. After all, no one knows whether these mortgaged stocks will eventually become worthless due to a series of reasons such as the company’s bankruptcy the next day. Paper.
Fortunately, Chen Yi didn't care about these things. After purchasing a large number of shops and the stocks of listed companies that he was optimistic about before, Chen Yi shifted his focus to the three listed companies that he was planning to acquire.
Kowloon Bus, Heung Kong Telephone and Hongkong Electric, most of the tradable shares of these three companies in the market have been acquired by Chen Yi, and the remaining ones that need to be resolved are those large and small shareholders who hold a certain number of shares.
As for Golden Gate Construction and Wharf, Chen Yi plans to make the last move. These two companies are related to Jardine Matheson. Once he makes a move, HSBC will definitely stop supporting him.
In this way, it will affect his acquisition of Kowloon Bus, Hongkong Telephone and Hong Kong Electric.
Chen Yi's idea is very simple, first with the help of HSBC, take down the three companies, and then start with the other two companies.
In this way, no matter whether HSBC supports it or not, it will not affect the overall situation.
However, to Chen Yi's annoyance, some people have overheard his recent transactions with HSBC.
During this period of time, HSBC Bank has made great moves, buying up shops, residences, and stocks of listed companies. A series of transactions worth billions of dollars, it is impossible not to be noticed.
As the two parties came into contact with more and more people behind the scenes, Chen Yi gradually surfaced.
After all, Chen Yi still underestimated the eyeliners of those big families. Although HSBC Bank's confidentiality system is in place, it still cannot keep everyone in contact with it.
For a while, Chen Yi came into the sight of many people again.
Of course, these are limited to a small number of people, and those people are just guesses, and there is no actual evidence. As long as Chen Yi and HSBC don't admit it for a day, then others can only listen.
So, these effects are not very big.
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(end of this chapter)