In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 973 Mr. Kerkorian will still give Citibank face.

Lin Haoran had a very fulfilling first day of 1983.

Aside from looking at Hollywood-related materials at the hotel in the morning, I took a drive around New York City at noon to fully appreciate the scenery of the world's largest city.

In the evening, I attended a dinner for senior Citibank executives organized by Walter Riston.

At the banquet, Lin Haoran also met with the Governor and Mayor of New York State.

These local bigwigs, even when facing a behemoth like Citibank, dare not be negligent.

Moreover, Citibank itself is the financial backbone of New York State, and the governor and mayor have always been polite to Citibank's top executives.

As an executive director of Citibank, Lin Haoran naturally received the same treatment.

“Mr. Lin, I heard from Mr. Walter Riston that your purpose in coming to New York this time is to invest. Welcome, welcome.” Governor Mario Cuomo said to Lin Haoran with a smile, holding a wine glass. “New York State needs visionary investors like you.”

Lin Haoran smiled, raised his glass and lightly clinked it with Cuomo's, saying, "Governor, you're too kind. I have great confidence in the New York market and will continue to increase investment in the future."

Around 8 p.m., after leaving the Citibank banquet, he also met with the Hongkong Land Group team that had just arrived.

Of course, this team no longer belongs to Hongkong Land Group, but will take over the many Manhattan buildings that Lin Haoran will acquire next.

The team leader, Lin Haoran, was also familiar with him. His name was John Anderson, who was in his forties and had been a senior executive at Landsea Group for nearly 20 years.

John Anderson was in charge of the property business of Hongkong Land Group when he was in Hong Kong. He was the Vice President of the Property Department and had extensive experience. Although he was an Australian citizen, he had always lived in Hong Kong and had long been a native Hong Konger.

When Lin Haoran met with them, he had a detailed discussion with them about many things, including the property management standards of these buildings, the tenant maintenance process, the financial accounting system, and future expansion plans in the Manhattan real estate market.

Lin Haoran was very satisfied with his performance, and coupled with the other party's high loyalty of 93, he felt very reassured about John Anderson, and was also full of confidence in the management work after Citibank acquired the building for him.

However, due to the short time frame for acquiring the Manhattan Tower, even if the deal is finalized, various procedures will be required, so the company does not actually own any buildings at the moment.

Therefore, the property management company has no properties to manage at the moment. This team came in advance mainly to familiarize themselves with the local laws and regulations, market environment, and to liaise with Citibank's legal team to make preliminary preparations.

Most importantly, after the company is established, it will need to recruit employees for various entry-level positions, and these need to be arranged in advance.

In addition, a local senior executive with extensive knowledge of New York real estate needs to be recruited to assist Anderson with daily operations.

After all, although Anderson is a veteran in property management, the market environment in New York is very different from that in Hong Kong, and he needs someone familiar with the local situation to work with him.

Lin Haoran handed the task over to Anderson, letting him find the right person himself.

Trust those you employ, and don't employ those you don't trust. Since we've chosen Anderson, we must give him enough trust and authority.

The company name was simple, and Lin Haoran didn't bother to think too much about it. He simply used the name of Huanyu Investment Company and called it Huanyu Property Management Company.

Of course, it is not subordinate to Huanyu Investment Company; they are more like sister companies.

As for the temporary office, that's easy.

Lin Haoran has already rented a large office of several hundred square meters in the Citibank headquarters building as the initial office for Huanyu Property Management Company, where preliminary work such as recruitment and planning can be completed.

The reason for temporarily placing it in the Citibank headquarters building is naturally because Citibank can help Universal Property Management Company get back on track as soon as possible.

As Citigroup's largest shareholder and executive director, it's only natural for Lin Haoran to use some of Citigroup's connections.

Citibank has readily available administrative support, legal teams, and financial systems, which Huanyu Property can directly leverage in its initial stages, saving it a lot of trouble.

In addition, those 45 buildings were also sold through Citibank's assistance, and a property management company was needed to take over after the sale. Placing Universal Property Management at Citibank's headquarters in the early stages would greatly improve communication efficiency.

Once those Manhattan buildings are sold off, the selection of a headquarters location can be put on the agenda.

Lin Haoran plans to select the best-located and highest-standard building from the 45 buildings he acquired as the permanent headquarters of Huanyu Property Management Company. This will save on rent and demonstrate his strength.

At that time, the offices of Huanyu Investment Company will also be located in the same building.

In this way, he doesn't have to travel around every time he comes to New York.

Ideally, the building should be located near the Citibank headquarters, since the Citibank headquarters is the place he visits most frequently whenever he comes to New York.

After the meeting, Lin Haoran had someone arrange for Anderson and his group to stay at the hotel. Then he returned to his room, stood by the window, and kept replaying the details of his conversation with Anderson that evening in his mind.

This person is indeed a capable individual.

The first day of 1983 has passed just like that.

The next day, after seeing He Shanheng off at the airport in the morning, he went directly to nearby New Jersey for a tour.

With a professional driver and guide, he, Liu Xiaoli, Li Weidong, Li Weiguo, and others traveled south along the west bank of the Hudson River, enjoying the Manhattan skyline on the opposite bank.

Manhattan looks completely different from New Jersey's perspective.

Those skyscrapers were no longer an oppressive presence, but rather stood like a row of giant sculptures on the opposite bank of the river, gleaming in the winter sun.

This was the first time he had felt so relaxed since arriving in the United States.

He didn't rush to tell John Reed about the acquisition target, since the latter was on vacation and the last thing he wanted to do was work.

There's no need to contact him at this point, even if he doesn't show any dissatisfaction.

The New Year has just passed, and it's finally the weekend. Who wouldn't want to put all their work aside and spend quality time with their family?

Lin Haoran naturally wouldn't do anything to disturb others' good mood because of his mysterious new acquisition plan.

Anyway, he wasn't in a hurry, so he simply put the MGM matter aside for the time being and enjoyed these two days of leisure.

The third day of New Year's Day, which is January 3rd, is Monday.

Today is a workday, and Citibank has officially resumed operations.

At nine o'clock in the morning, Lin Haoran arrived at the Citibank headquarters.

In John Reed's office, he was not surprised when Lin Haoran handed him the MGM documents.

After all, he had already guessed that what Lin Haoran ultimately wanted to acquire was MGM.

After all, based on John Reed's understanding of Lin Haoran, only MGM fits Lin Haoran's acquisition logic: concentrated shareholding, huge film library value, stable hotel business, and high success rate of acquisition.

As for the other companies, they are either family businesses, have dispersed shareholdings, or are in good business condition and unwilling to sell, making them impossible to target.

"Lin, have you made up your mind? Given MGM's current situation, if you want to acquire MGM's film business, it would only cost less than two hundred million dollars to get Kirk Kokorian to sell it. The film business is a burden to Kirk Kokorian. If it weren't for the high debt and no one willing to take over, he would have sold it long ago."

John Reed took the documents, flipped through them casually, then placed them on his desk and looked at Lin Haoran intently as he spoke.

Lin Haoran sat down on the sofa, crossed his legs, and laughed, "I've made up my mind. MGM's situation best meets my expectations. The other companies either have good operating conditions and are unwilling to sell, or their equity structures are too complicated and difficult to acquire, or they have been established for a short time and their film library value is limited."

Although MGM has high debt and its film business is losing money, its film library and hotel business are valuable assets that are worth acquiring.

Moreover, both MGM Studios and MGM Grand Hotel are wholly owned by Mr. Kirk Koccorian, and your Citigroup analysts also say the acquisition has a high success rate, so I naturally chose this one.” John Reed thought he had misheard.

He couldn't help but ask, "Lin, do you mean you want to acquire MGM's entire film and hotel businesses?"

Lin Haoran nodded and smiled, "That's right. I want both the film business and the hotel business. Although the film business is losing money, its film library is extremely valuable. I'm confident I can turn it around. The hotel business is a money-printing machine with stable cash flow, which can serve as the ballast for the entire group. Only by combining the two can we maximize their value."

"However, acquiring the hotel business comes at a high price. When Mr. Kirk Kocorian split MGM into two companies, he left all the debt to the film business, leaving the hotel business with a clean slate, almost no debt, and very healthy cash flow."

Kirk Kocorian treats the hotel business like his personal cash cow and won't easily let it go. If you want to acquire the hotel business as well, the price won't be small. Taking over the entire MGM will require at least $6 million, or even more.” John Reed leaned back in his chair, his fingers lightly tapping the table, a hint of hesitation in his voice. “Lin, are you sure you want to take over the hotel business too?”

Lin Haoran laughed and said, "I not only want to take over both companies, but after the acquisition, I also want to privatize them, just like Paramount Pictures, so that they are 100% owned and I don't have to care about the opinions of any external shareholders. This way, I can reorganize MGM according to my own ideas and change it however I want without having to look after other people's opinions."

"Lin, your ambitions are even greater than I imagined. If that's the case, you'll need to spend a lot of money. I just looked at the data, and to completely privatize it, it will cost at least $11 billion."

And this is merely the price of completely privatizing it. Once you fully privatize it, you will be responsible for all of MGM's debts, which amount to $7.5 million.

"Based on that calculation, you'll need to come up with at least $18.5 billion, not including the funds needed to restructure the business after the acquisition, Lin. That's a considerable sum." John Reed was utterly astonished by Lin Haoran's extravagant gesture.

Although the debt does not need to be repaid immediately, most of MGM's debt is long-term debt. However, debt is still debt. Moreover, based on John Reed's understanding of Lin Haoran, the other party does not like to have too much debt for a long time. Therefore, since the other party wants to privatize MGM, he will definitely try to clear the debt.

He hadn't expected Lin Haoran to have such a big appetite, not only to acquire MGM's film business but also to swallow up the hotel business and even completely privatize it.

This is no longer a simple investment, but a genuine industry consolidation.

Although John Reed knew that Lin Haoran was wealthy, Lin Haoran had been secretly orchestrating the Latin American debt crisis, even concealing it from Citibank. Therefore, John Reed did not know the actual scale of funds that Lin Haoran controlled.

In his memory, although Lin Haoran's assets were enormous, most of them were real estate and equity, and he didn't have that much real liquid capital.

Will taking out nearly $20 billion at once affect Lin Haoran's other projects?

Of course, he also knew that Lin Haoran had made a lot of money when the market crashed in the United States.

After all, he himself had made a lot of money from the forward-looking capital he controlled, not to mention Lin Haoran.

Don't forget, Lin Haoran recently commissioned Citibank to help him acquire 45 Manhattan buildings, worth over a billion dollars.

In addition, he also plans to invest in the luxury goods and sports industries. These investments will amount to at least four billion US dollars, if not five billion.

John Reed never expected that Lin Haoran would have such a huge cash flow.

At that moment, he realized that he really didn't know the other person well enough.

“Lin, you’re becoming more and more unfathomable to me.” John Reed leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers lightly on the table, a complex look in his eyes. “However, since you have the ability, Citibank will definitely cooperate fully, and we can go to Las Vegas the day after tomorrow.”

"Well then, I happen to be free for a moment. I'll go with you and take care of some personal business. Mr. Kirk Koccorian will still give Citibank face."

Lin Haoran said, "That would be too much trouble for you."

He knew that in this day and age, branches of national banks in the United States could only be opened in the state where they were registered, and it was absolutely forbidden to set up full-service branches across states. Banks could not hang their own signs in other states or directly conduct retail banking business.

Cross-state operations can only be carried out through independent legal entity bank subsidiaries or corporate offices with special licenses. These entities are legally controlled by the head office, but are not branches of the head office and are not equivalent to "branches".

This ban was not officially repealed until the Riegl-Neil Interstate Bank and Branch Efficiency Act of 1994, and was not fully implemented until 1997.

Therefore, all of Citibank's branches are now concentrated in New York State.

As for other states, they can only establish bank subsidiaries or offices, which can only serve cross-border trade and corporate business of multinational companies. They cannot accept personal deposits from U.S. residents, conduct retail banking business, or operate to the public.

Therefore, John Reed went with him this time only to help him.

After all, John Reed is the vice president of Citigroup and the future head of the company. With him personally making the appearance, Mr. Kirk Kocorian would naturally give him some face.

In business negotiations, this is an intangible advantage.

“Lin, why are you being so polite with me?” John Reed chuckled and patted him on the shoulder. “It’s settled then. We’ll go to Las Vegas together the day after tomorrow morning. I’ll have my people arrange the itinerary.”

Lin Haoran nodded and did not refuse again.

With John Reed by my side, the negotiations definitely carried a different weight.

Although Kirk Kocorian is a shrewd businessman, he still has a certain amount of awe for financial institutions of the caliber of Citibank.

John Reed's personal presence was a statement in itself.

In the American business world, you can ignore Lin Haoran, but you can't disrespect Citibank.

After all, Citibank is not only one of the largest banks in the United States, but also the financial backer of countless companies.

Offending Citibank could cause problems with future financing, loans, and even daily cash flow.

Kirk Kocorian may be wealthy, but he's nothing compared to the behemoth that is Citibank.

He wouldn't be foolish enough to turn against Citibank over a price.

John Reed personally intervened to tell him that this deal was not just Lin Haoran's business, but also Citibank's business.

Then, the two started talking about the New Year's Day holiday.

John Reed talked about his vacation with his wife and son in Florida, the sunshine, beaches, waves, and the little incident of his son being stung by a jellyfish for the first time while swimming in the sea.

As he spoke of these things, his face was full of smiles, and the genuine happiness he exuded made Lin Haoran smile involuntarily as well.

“Lin, what about you? How did you spend New Year’s Day?” John Reed asked.

Lin Haoran picked up his coffee cup, took a sip, and smiled, "I just wandered around New York and went to New Jersey to see the Manhattan skyline. Looking from the other side of the river, those skyscrapers look like a row of giant sculptures. It's spectacular."

John Reed nodded and said, "The charm of New York can only be truly appreciated from afar. By the way, how's your property management team? Do you trust John Anderson?"

Lin Haoran said, "Anderson has worked at Landsea Group for nearly 20 years. He is experienced and has a clear mind. I feel at ease entrusting the property management to him."

What he didn't mention was that John Anderson's loyalty to him was as high as 93, so he wasn't worried at all about any disloyalty from the other party.

This is also the biggest reason why he trusts John Anderson.

To maintain such high loyalty in an environment like Hongkong Land Group demonstrates that this person is not only highly capable in business but also values ​​relationships and is worthy of long-term cultivation.

John Reed laughed and said, "That's good. You've expanded your operations in the US so much this time, you need someone trustworthy to keep an eye on things. Don't worry, New York is practically Citibank's territory now, I'll keep an eye on things for you and let you know if there are any problems."

Lin Haoran smiled and said, "Okay, then I'll trouble you."

The two chatted for a while longer. Lin Haoran glanced at his watch; it was almost noon.

He stood up and said, "John, that's enough for today. We're going to Las Vegas the day after tomorrow. I'll be waiting for you."

John Reed also stood up and said with a smile, "Good, I'll have someone arrange a meeting with Mr. Kirk Kocorian as well. See you the day after tomorrow."

Lin Haoran nodded, picked up his suit jacket from the sofa, and walked out of John Reed's office. (End of Chapter)