Chapter 437

They were all seasoned veterans; Liang Liang Botao picked up the subtext in Li Li Dongling's words, and his swift agreement was also to see what Li Li Dongling was really up to.

As Asia's second-largest investment bank, Pou Chen didn't fear big plays—it feared those who wouldn't play at all!

For Li Dongling High-Tech, Pou Chen didn't just want to take Li Dongling High-Tech public as the first private company from the mainland listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange; it also hoped to use Li Dongling High-Tech to open up the mainland's private company market.

Pou Chen's two major businesses: the first is sponsoring mainland state-owned enterprises for listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange; previously, Pou Chen acquired multiple securities firms—including Guangshenghang, Taisheng International, and Jiayi Securities—and now has the qualifications to handle mainland companies seeking listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Just last year, through these mainland SOEs listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Pou Chen raised over seven billion Hong Kong dollars, and of course, its cut from the deals left it extremely profitable.

But all those companies were state-owned; operations were too inconvenient, and countless rules made many things impossible to execute.

In contrast, private enterprises faced far fewer constraints and vastly outnumbered state-owned ones; if Pou Chen could successfully take mainland private companies public, its scale could easily grow by a huge margin!

The other major business is Asian currency bonds; Pou Chen is now the king of Asian currency bonds, managing over a hundred billion Hong Kong dollars—128.3 billion Hong Kong dollars, to be exact.

But this business looked impressive only on paper; it was volume-driven. Pou Chen merely acted as an issuer, and its profits were far lower than those from taking a company public: the actual profit from 128.3 billion Hong Kong dollars in bonds was less than 110 million Hong Kong dollars.

Success came through Xiao He, and so did failure; ultimately, Pou Chen was crushed by debt, foreign exchange, and futures—its bet on Malaysia failed, and it was fleeced by Soros into massive debts.

When Pou Chen collapsed, it dragged down the already shaky Hong Kong stock market, causing the Hang Seng Index to plunge 26% directly due to Pou Chen's collapse, wiping out over four hundred billion Hong Kong dollars.

After its bankruptcy in the previous life, Pou Chen sought multiple buyers, but none dared to take it over; eventually, BNP Paribas seized the opportunity and acquired it at fire-sale prices, yet Pou Chen quickly bounced back.

In the previous life, NetEase, Wahaha, JD. com, and others were all later invested in by the restructured Pou Chen; especially JD. com, which was on the brink of death and survived only because of Pou Chen's lifeline.

Liang Liang Botao and Pou Chen definitely had the strength; whether now or in the future, there would surely be opportunities where Li Dongling High-Tech could benefit!

"It's up!"

While Li Li Dongling was speaking with Liang Liang Botao, shouts of surprise came from Duan Zhang Yufeng and the senior executives of Fang Zheng Group.

As soon as trading opened, Fang Zheng's stock price had indeed broken through the HK$2 mark, rising from HK$1.98 to HK$2.04; but upon seeing Fang Zheng's price trend, Liang Liang Botao silently shook his head.

Li Li Dongling noticed Liang Liang Botao's expression and immediately understood: Fang Zheng's stock performance had fallen far short of expectations.

"The gain is too small. At the opening, stock prices usually surge most aggressively—especially for new listings. If it's a big breakout, gains exceed 30%. Afternoon adjustments may follow; if it doesn't reach that level, then…"

Liang Liang Botao didn't finish, but Li Li Dongling could guess: Li Dongling High-Tech's 11% stake in Fang Zheng probably wouldn't break even today.

And as Liang Liang Botao predicted, before noon ended, as Li Li Dongling left the trading floor, Fang Zheng's stock price had already begun to drop; its peak had been only HK$2.10 per share, and it barely held onto the offering price—but whether it could hold through the afternoon was uncertain.

Inside the trading hall, curses echoed frequently, leaving Duan Zhang Yufeng and his team visibly embarrassed.

But red-chip stocks on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange simply weren't popular now; red-chip stocks like Lenovo and Sino-Communications had crashed so badly that investors were afraid to touch Fang Zheng.

Duan Zhang Yufeng and the others left with grim faces, preparing to strategize ways to lift the stock price; if the stock broke below its offering price on listing day, it would be utterly humiliating—too embarrassing to even issue a public statement.

Li Li Dongling, however, wasn't overly concerned; he wasn't in a hurry with Fang Zheng. Today's listing gave Fang Zheng a market cap of merely one billion Hong Kong dollars, but even in the previous life, after all its manipulations, Fang Zheng's market cap had soared to five or six hundred billion Hong Kong dollars.

Even if he needed to cash out, by then he could do it slowly—like boiling a frog in warm water—and still extract over ten billion Hong Kong dollars.

In fact, Li Li Dongling even hoped Fang Zheng's stock price would drop further—so Li Dongling High-Tech could acquire even more Fang Zheng equity!

…

"This is the flagship store of Wanjia Electronics City in Mong Kok—the largest electronics and digital retail chain in Mong Kok and Hong Kong!"

In the afternoon, Li Li Dongling and Xiang Xiang Ningwen arrived at Wanjia Electronics City in Mong Kok, Hong Kong—the chain's flagship store.

As the most sought-after media figures of the moment, Li Li Dongling and Xiang Xiang Ningwen had barely arrived when a swarm of paparazzi trailed behind them, frantically snapping photos—mostly tabloid reporters.

Li Li Dongling and Xiang Xiang Ningwen ignored the paparazzi; they were here under the pretense of touring Wanjia Electronics City in Hong Kong.

Ning's Trading Company was officially the sole agent for Wanjia Electronics City across Hong Kong, Baodao, Macau, and Southeast Asian markets including Siam, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Li Dongling High-Tech's core business was electronics, and Ning's Company had been Li Dongling High-Tech's long-term agent in Hong Kong; was there anything wrong with Li Li Dongling visiting here?

As for Wanjia Electronics City, it was still officially an international electronics retail chain, wholly owned by the Wanjia Foundation based in Singapore, with shareholders from funds in Hong Kong, Singapore, the Cayman Islands, Morocco, Ireland, and elsewhere—completely unrelated to Hanxi's Li Dongling High-Tech.

Li Dongling High-Tech would never admit any connection to Wanjia Electronics City; even if Wanjia occasionally favored Li Dongling High-Tech products, as long as no one openly acknowledged it, no one could prove a link—this was to prevent Wanjia from being targeted, shut down, or boycotted by America, Britain, and other regions.

Wanjia Electronics City was being cultivated by Li Li Dongling as Li Dongling High-Tech's overseas sales channel; it was vital to Li Dongling High-Tech's entire strategy, allowing it to operate overseas without being held hostage by others.

"How does Wanjia Electronics City compare to Fung Tsai and Broadway now?"

As Li Li Dongling and Xiang Xiang Ningwen entered the five-story Wanjia Electronics City, he asked her.

Xiang Xiang Ningwen waved her hand, dismissing the general manager and several managers who had rushed over; today's conversation was too sensitive to let store managers and supervisors know—word could spread and ruin Li Li Dongling's entire setup at Wanjia Electronics City.

"In terms of store size, it still lags behind Fung Tsai and Broadway!"

Xiang Xiang Ningwen said. Fung Tsai and Broadway were Hong Kong's largest electronics retail chains and Wanjia's fiercest competitors.

Broadway was Hong Kong's earliest electronics retailer, originally specializing in selling and renting cameras and photographic equipment; it started in Mong Kok and over a decade ago began transitioning into digital products and electronics.

Fung Tsai, meanwhile, was currently Hong Kong's most dominant electronics chain, with the most stores and employees; ten years ago, it became a subsidiary of Watsons.

In the previous life, Watsons had over sixteen thousand stores worldwide—in malls and subway entrances—and was owned by the Li family of the Yangtze River; the mainland Watsons even signed the leader of Kunmen as a spokesperson for over a year—why wasn't the contract renewed? Because the coop collapsed. But that moment revealed to the world: what peak popularity brings is false admiration; what twilight reveals is true devotion…

"Fung Tsai and Broadway started years earlier than Wanjia Electronics City; their supply chains and brand recognition are far more mature."

As they walked inside, they saw every counter and shop in Wanjia Electronics City packed with customers—not just Wanjia, but every notable store in Hong Kong was the same.

People came from the mainland, Baodao, Singapore, Malaysia, and even Japan to hunt for bargains; Hong Kong had long held the reputation of Asia's shopping paradise—shopping agents weren't a phenomenon of the past decade, but had thrived for two or three decades.

"But Wanjia Electronics City has its own advantages: it carries high-end European electronics and high-value mainland electronics—something Fung Tsai and Broadway don't offer."

Xiang Xiang Ningwen walked to a counter selling Haier products from the mainland, mainly home appliances: washing machines, refrigerators, and televisions.

"Wanjia Electronics City has strict quality reviews; any mainland appliances it sources, as long as they pass quality checks, are priced far more competitively than goods from Baodao, Japan, Korea, Singapore, America, or old Europe."

Xiang Xiang Ningwen said. Currently, mainland brands like Haier, Changhong, Gree, Hisense, Midea, Chunlan, Kangda, and TCL were all volume-driven; their influence in the mid-to-high-end market still paled compared to Japanese, Korean, and European brands.

Not just in Hong Kong—even in the mainland, countless consumers still viewed foreign brands as premium; domestic brands needed many more years of development to gradually reverse public perception.

As for overseas expansion, only Wanjia Electronics City's stores in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia were willing to carry mainland electronics; other overseas retailers still largely refused mainland products.

For mainland electronics manufacturers, Wanjia Electronics City was one of the few retail channels to reach overseas; its stores in Hong Kong, Siam, Singapore, Falanxi, and elsewhere now carried mainland brands—though still mostly mass-market, value-for-money products—allowing domestic brands to slowly begin their overseas journey.

For any mainland brand appearing at Wanjia Electronics City, supply chain personnel conducted extremely strict quality reviews with very high standards.

But Wanjia never delayed payments, and earned foreign currency; for mainland electronics brands, becoming a supplier to Wanjia meant successful overseas expansion and access to foreign exchange.

For Wanjia Electronics City, selling mainland brands brought truly low profits; compared to selling mid-to-high-end electronics from Japanese Toshiba and Sony, American GE, or European Siemens, Gaggenau, Bosch, and AEG, profits from mainland brands were far lower.

Yet Wanjia remained patient, treating this as an investment in cultivating mainland electronics supply chains—because Wanjia held exclusive agency rights for many mainland electronics brands in Hong Kong, Singapore, Falanxi, and other regions.