Chapter 346 The Request of the Lion City's Richest Man
Half an hour later, secretary Liang Beini knocked on the door and came in to remind Li Xiaofan that it was time to go out.
In the afternoon, Li Xiaofan was invited to visit the Hong Leong Group headquarters to visit Guo Lingyu, President of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Daisha and Wang Danrong, the assistant in charge of investment business, were already waiting outside Li Xiaofan's office.
A new 1996 Bentley downstairs
ooklands is also waiting at the gate.
This new Bentley luxury car was temporarily rented by the company from the car dealer. After the car ownership certificate was obtained, Li Xiaofan planned to buy it as his own car.
Buying a car in Singapore is not that simple. Similar to the license plate lottery in Shanghai and other places before Li Xiaofan was reborn, Singapore may be the first city in the world to implement a car ownership certificate system.
Singapore has implemented a car ownership certificate system since 1990. This was done to control traffic congestion and limit the increase in the number of cars. According to this regulation, if you want to buy a new car, you must apply to the government and purchase a "Car Ownership Certificate" valid for 10 years. After the 10-year period expires, drivers must pay another fee whether they continue to use the car or buy a new one.
In Singapore, car ownership certificates are generally tendered twice a month, usually on the first and third weeks of each month. As long as the public pays a deposit of S$10,000, they can use bank cash machines or telephone banking services to bid, check the latest bid price and change their own bids from 12 noon on Monday to 4 p.m. on Wednesday during the bidding week. .
Li Xiaofan just got his new Singapore Permanent Resident PR Pass yesterday and is planning to take a photo of his "Car Ownership Certificate" next month.
This new Bentley
ooklands was launched in 1992 to replace the original Mulsannes. It was not produced until 1998. It was powered by the classic Rolls-Royce Bentley L-series V8 engine. In terms of appearance dimensions, the length, width and height of this model reach 5370mm/2111mm/1486mm respectively, and the wheelbase reaches 3162mm, which is similar to the previous Mulsannes. The size of this stretched luxury car is completely overwhelming even in modern times.
AThe Big Three.
Li Xiaofan likes the design of this car very much. Especially its unforgettable appearance that you will never tire of.
The straight waterfall-style Parthenon grille on the front of the ooklands car, the round 4-eye headlights, and a waistline running through the side of the car make it look majestic and calm! The overall feeling of this car is like that of a middle-aged man wearing a suit and a suit. He has experienced many vicissitudes of life, and he can cope with all the changes in the world by remaining unchanged.
When this car stops in front of you, without saying anything, you will feel a sense of oppression and a strong aura that is not angry but intimidating. Its solemn appearance and powerful aura will definitely let people passing by know that it is of great value and has an extraordinary status!
The driver waited at the gate, opened the door and waited for Li Xiaofan to take his seat.
Daisha and Wang Danrong exclaimed: "Wow, Director Li, this car is so luxurious!"
This is their first time riding in such a luxury car.
Bentley
The center console in ooklands is covered with a large area of solid wood and leather. The circular chrome-plated air outlet is very delicate. The five small circular dials above the center control display the water temperature, oil temperature, remaining oil volume, time, and battery in turn. The voltage and air conditioning control area above the gear knob are among the few buttons in the car.
From the inside out, this car looks high-end and classy!
Li Xiaofan feels that when he goes out for business activities now, he must wear a luxury car with such a powerful aura. This is a reflection of his noble status.
In a luxury car like this, the security guard of the building and the doorman of the hotel will look at you differently and can provide you with various conveniences.
This capitalist country is so snobbish!
Li Xiaofan was going to visit the Singapore Hong Leong Group in the afternoon. They built their own Hong Leong Building in the core area of Singapore in 1976.
This Hong Leong Building at 16 Raffles Quay is the first landmark building of the Hong Leong Group built by Guo Lingyu's father Guo Fangfeng. It was completed in 1976 and has a height of 45 floors. It was the tallest building in Singapore's central business district at that time. one of the buildings.
Even if I look at this building 20 years later, it will still be very impressive.
After entering the headquarters of Hong Leong Building Group and exchanging greetings with Chairman Guo Lingyu, Li Xiaofan entered his large office and boasted:
"Chairman Guo, this building of your group is very grand and the scenery is beautiful! The Feng Shui of this building is very good. No wonder your Hong Leong Group is so successful and has become the richest man in Singapore!"
President Guo Lingyu pointed to the portrait of his father Guo Fangfeng behind him and said with a smile:
“This should all be attributed to the hard work and foresight of my father and the older generation when they started their business!”
Guo Lingyu introduced that his father Guo Fangfeng was born in Fujian, mainland China in 1911. At the age of 14, he came to Singapore with a roll of straw mat to earn a living as an apprentice in a hardware store, and later opened a small shop called "Fenglong". As soon as World War II ended, he immediately had a premonition that there would inevitably be a shortage of supplies.
So he invested money to purchase large quantities of military surplus materials at very low prices. These supplies soon became in-demand commodities, bringing huge profits to Hong Leong.
At this time, Guo Fangfeng even foresaw that in the economic reconstruction of various countries after the war, land and building materials would become hot commodities.
Starting in 1947, he bought large tracts of land in Singapore at low prices. By the 1970s, these properties had become worth a hundred times. At this time, he specially established Hong Leong Industrial to specialize in real estate business. Later, with the development of Hong Leong Industrial, Guo Fangfeng raised funds to establish Hong Leong Financial Company as the backbone of the group.
Today's Hong Leong Group's business involves real estate, finance, commerce, manufacturing, hotels, shipbuilding, insurance agency and other industries. It is a benchmark enterprise in Singapore!
At the end of last year, Kwok Fong Fong, who worked hard all his life, passed away in Singapore. Kwok Ling Yu and his brother Kwok Ling Ming took over the Hong Leong Group. The two brothers became the richest men in Singapore.
The two brothers have a division of labor, and the chairman of the group is led by his elder brother Guo Lingming. Guo Lingyu serves as the managing director of two companies, Hong Leong International and Singapore City Development Corporation. In addition, he devotes a lot of his energy to serving as a professional social activist for the Singapore Chinese General Chamber of Commerce.
After talking about his father’s entrepreneurial stories, Guo Lingyu cut to the chase and said to Li Xiaofan:
"Director Li, I am very interested in the venture capital fund you introduced last time. Our group also has Hong Leong Financial Co., Ltd., but it is engaged in traditional financial business. The venture capital aspect has not been involved yet. I am very interested. I am willing to have an in-depth discussion with you to see if there is any possibility of cooperation between the two of us..."
…
After Li Xiaofan’s introduction, Guo Lingyu admired Li Xiaofan’s broad vision and judgment of the U.S. and global economic trends.
After listening to several investment projects introduced by Li Xiaofan, Guo Lingyu said:
"Director Li, if you lead a team to the United States for inspection next week, can our group send a VP in charge of investment to accompany you?"
"No problem, Chairman Guo, as long as we sign a partner's intention to invest in Yifan Venture Capital Fund and a confidentiality agreement."
After talking about this topic, Li Xiaofan took a sip of coffee and asked:
"Chairman Guo, is your joint venture project in Xinxiang, mainland China, going smoothly?"
Hearing this, Guo Lingyu asked curiously: "Director Li, you actually know about this project of our group?"
Li Xiaofan knew about this project because in his previous life, he had a Singaporean friend who was the president of the Chinese region of a Fortune 500 American company.
After that friend left the Fortune Global 500, he was hired by Hong Leong Group with a high salary to take charge of this joint venture project...