Chapter 126 - The Value of Oil Has Doubled
Three days later, at a government land auction, Lin Haoran attended with Yang Mingyi. This auction attracted relatively few real estate companies — only 13 participated. At the auction, Lin Haoran, representing Wan'an Group, successfully acquired two plots of land. The first was the Kwai Chung plot, purchased for 18.6 million Hong Kong dollars. The second was the Kowloon Tong plot, purchased for 10.9 million Hong Kong dollars. Originally, Lin Haoran also intended to bid for the Chai Wan industrial plot, but it became clear that a certain real estate company was determined to win it, and the bidding price greatly exceeded market value. On Yang Mingyi's advice, Lin Haoran decided not to continue bidding. Otherwise, he would have taken three out of the four plots available. As for the Yau Ma Tei reclamation project — since it required immediate land reclamation after purchase, Lin Haoran never even considered it. Ironically, that plot attracted the fiercest competition, with nearly ten real estate companies bidding for it. It was clear many had come specifically for that piece of land. After all, Yau Ma Tei, being in the center of Kowloon, was far more valuable than suburban plots, especially since it was coastal land. Ultimately, that plot was taken by a consortium formed by three companies.
After securing the 130 million Hong Kong dollar loan from HSBC, Lin Haoran informed Yang Mingyi of his land-hoarding strategy. To Lin Haoran's surprise, Yang Mingyi fully supported the plan. Buying land didn't necessarily mean immediate construction. In Hong Kong, many major real estate tycoons, after securing land, would simply sit on it, watching its value multiply over years, even decades. Of course, only giants like Henderson Land, Cheung Kong Holdings, New World Development, and Sun Hung Kai Properties had the strength to play that game. Holding land without developing it tied up huge amounts of capital — but it also fueled Hong Kong's rapid property price inflation.
After acquiring two plots, Lin Haoran didn't stop. The two plots only cost less than 30 million Hong Kong dollars. He still had over 100 million left — he wasn't going to let it sit idle in a bank account. Land wasn't only available through government auctions — there were many sellers on the second-hand market too. With Yang Mingyi's help, in just one week, Lin Haoran had spent all the loan money. The land bought on the second-hand market was slightly more expensive than government auction prices, but still within an acceptable range. Thus, Wan'an Group's property portfolio gained over a dozen new plots. They were spread across Hong Kong — in North Point, Sheung Wan, Kwun Tong, Chai Wan, Kwai Chung, Kowloon Tong, Shek Kip Mei, and Causeway Bay — mainly centered around urban and suburban areas. As for remote areas like the New Territories, Tuen Mun, and Yuen Long — although cheap and abundant, Lin Haoran wasn't interested for now. He needed land that could be quickly sold in the future — and city or near-city locations were clearly much more attractive.
Time passed quickly, and March arrived. In Iran, after more than a month of turmoil, the new provisional government finally resumed oil exports. However, the oil crisis did not end. Before the crisis, Iran had been exporting over six million barrels of oil per day. After resuming exports, daily output was only about one million barrels — far from enough to meet global demand. Moreover, the financial elite controlling oil prices had no intention of letting them fall. Thus, instead of stabilizing, oil prices rose even faster.
By mid-March, international crude oil prices had surpassed 24 dollars per barrel. Meanwhile, Lin Haoran's oil cost him only 12.5 dollars per barrel. In other words, in just over four months, the value of his oil had almost doubled. Only a few people knew about this — people like Bao Yugang and Shen Bi. Even his father Lin Wanan was unaware. Still, Lin Haoran wasn't rushing to sell. There was no need to jump into the gold futures market yet. He wanted oil prices to rise even more — at least double before he'd be satisfied. Waiting for 30 dollars per barrel? That would probably take until next year. And Lin Haoran didn't want to tie up his funds that long — he planned to move them into the gold market, where he could make even more money.
Not long after, Lin Wanan learned that Lin Haoran had taken out another loan to hoard land. Surprisingly, he didn't interfere. He understood that his own past investment strategies had been overly cautious. Land was a high-quality asset — even if prices fell, they wouldn't crash catastrophically. And even if there were losses, it would simply serve as a lesson for his son. If profits came instead, it would prove Lin Haoran had greater investment courage than himself. Thus, Lin Wanan let his son proceed freely. Since officially stepping down from Wan'an Group's chairmanship, Lin Wanan had fully retired — living leisurely, rarely even visiting the company once a week. Clearly, he was satisfied with the Group's current stability. Lin Haoran even hired a private doctor to regularly look after Lin Wanan's health.
Meanwhile, at Qingzhou Cement, over two months of steady acquisitions by Wardley Company had yielded another 3 million shares. Originally, there had been about 13 million shares held by retail investors. After the initial acquisition of 8 million shares, and the later 3 million shares, only about 1 million shares remained outside Lin Haoran's control. Thus, Lin Haoran now controlled over 97% of Qingzhou Cement shares — effectively completing privatization. Though to Lin Haoran, whether Qingzhou Cement was officially privatized or not didn't matter much anymore. Thus, he wasn't in a hurry to redeem Qingzhou Cement's shares still held under Wan'an Group.
Under General Manager Burton's leadership, Qingzhou Cement's overseas expansion was accelerating — and profits were climbing. In January, profits exceeded 3 million Hong Kong dollars. In February, profits surged past 4 million Hong Kong dollars — half of which came from overseas markets. Clearly, Qingzhou Cement's international strategy was succeeding. In just two months, Qingzhou Cement's market share in the Philippines rose from fifth to third. Thanks to nearly a century of cement production experience, their product quality far exceeded that of local Philippine brands. As a result, Qingzhou Cement's Manila branch was winning more and more customers.
Meanwhile, Burton was also actively preparing to expand into the Singapore and Malaysian markets. Naturally, Lin Haoran fully supported this. Burton, with nearly twenty years of corporate management experience and extensive Southeast Asian connections, was propelling Qingzhou Cement into the fast lane. Perhaps out of gratitude for Lin Haoran's trust, Burton's loyalty score even increased from 85 to 89.
Moreover, within Qingzhou Cement, management restructuring had shifted the balance: now over half of mid- and senior-level managers were Chinese. Underperforming foreign managers were either fired or demoted. Though compensation costs were high, replacing disloyal and mediocre managers with capable and loyal Chinese staff transformed the company's outlook.
Lin Haoran maintained a strict policy: no manager with a loyalty score below 70 would hold a position of power. He held regular executive meetings, keeping track of anyone who seemed disloyal — and quietly ordered Burton to replace them. Otherwise, no matter how capable they were, they could easily harm the company for personal gain.
With Qingzhou Cement's available funds reaching 15 million Hong Kong dollars, Lin Haoran didn't let the money sit idle. He instructed Burton to spend 13 million Hong Kong dollars purchasing two plots in Kwun Tong — leaving just over 2 million Hong Kong dollars as operating reserves.
March quickly passed, and April arrived. International oil prices climbed higher and higher — finally surpassing 25 dollars per barrel. And the rate of increase was accelerating. Thus, Lin Haoran's oil holdings had now officially doubled in value. If he sold them today, he could cash out 120 million US dollars — easily.
According to news reports, many petrochemical companies were facing severe supply shortages. In many oil-producing countries, buyers were lining up for weeks to secure supply. Meanwhile, the exchange rate had shifted: one US dollar now exchanged for 5.3 Hong Kong dollars, up from 5. Thus, Lin Haoran's oil holdings were now worth over 636 million Hong Kong dollars.
Back in February, Bao Yugang had twice called Lin Haoran, asking if he was ready to sell his oil. There were many companies willing to pay slightly above international prices. Given Bao Yugang's position — running one of the world's largest shipping fleets — it was no surprise that petrochemical firms approached him. Thus, Bao Yugang naturally thought of Lin Haoran.
However, Lin Haoran continued to hold firm — not selling yet. In March, Bao Yugang called again, but Lin Haoran told him directly: he would consider selling in early June. Until then, any interested buyers would have to wait.
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