It had been two days since they returned to Hong Kong Island, and Li Yi had spent the entire time busy with investment settlements.
After all, his second round of investments had been centered on the appreciation of the British pound. Now that the exchange rates between the pound and other currencies had largely stabilized, it was time for him to reap the rewards of his investments.
First up was London, which accounted for the bulk of Li Yi’s investments.
This wasn’t just about whether Li Yi could make money; it was about whether he could pay off his massive debts.
That’s right—debt!
Although Li Yi currently possesses considerable assets, he is also saddled with massive debts.
First, there are the bank loans. The Royal Bank of the British Empire alone holds $8 billion in loans, plus an additional 60 billion Hong Kong dollars.
Moreover, the interest rates on these two loans are quite high—6.5% and 6%, respectively—amounting to over 100 million US dollars in interest alone each month.
Furthermore, he has yet to settle the principal and interest from his previous investment in London futures with the investors, which also counts as a liability.
Fortunately, this investment was essentially a “scam,” so everything went smoothly.
Moreover, to capitalize on the benefits of this exchange rate adjustment, Li Yi not only left the funds settled from the futures market untouched but also borrowed 8 billion US dollars from the Imperial Bank and converted it into pounds.
Converted into pounds, these two sums totaled a full 12 billion pounds; now, following the exchange rate adjustment, they could be exchanged for 29.4 billion US dollars.
With such a massive sum, he could not only pay off all his debts but also have a significant surplus.
Therefore, as soon as the funds were received, Li Yi’s first move was to repay his debts.
After all, to raise enough capital for his speculative ventures, Li Yi had not only taken out bank loans but also used his sterling deposits as collateral—creating a complex web of financial ties.
To transfer this money back to China, he had to untangle all these messy financial ties.
Fortunately, when Li Yi took out the loans, he had already signed an agreement with the bank allowing for early repayment.
Fortunately, since Li Futao’s people were handling this investment on the ground, he didn’t need to go there in person.
On August 23, Old Li received word that, after deducting the loans and interest, 14.996 billion US dollars remained, and this money had already been transferred back to Hong Kong.
However, this wasn’t the end of it, as the sum also included the principal and profits he had brought from Hong Kong during the first round of investment.
It’s important to note that last time, neither the corporate funds nor the chamber of commerce members’ contributions—not even the portion from the state—had been settled; Li Yi had invested all the principal and profits into the second round of investments.
Now that the funds here have been settled, it’s time to repay the principal and interest to everyone.
After deducting $6.6 billion from the corporate fund, $4.075 billion from chamber of commerce members, $1.15 billion from the state, and various taxes and fees, Li Yi was left with $2.4 billion.
In addition to the returns from London, the Hong Kong Island operations have also yielded substantial gains.
The investment amount here was 94 billion Hong Kong dollars, equivalent to 5.53 billion pounds.
Of this, 60 billion came from the company’s own funds, most of which Li Yi had borrowed from London.
Of the remaining 30 billion-plus, 8 billion was borrowed by the company from local banks on Hong Kong Island, and 14 billion was raised by members of the Wei Hua Chamber of Commerce.
With the pound having appreciated by 62%, the total value converted to Hong Kong dollars is 152.3 billion.
In other words, through this investment, Star Investment instantly made a profit of 58.3 billion Hong Kong dollars.
However, Li Yi won’t see much of this investment in his own pocket, as most of the funds belong to the company, and Li Yi can only receive dividends from the company’s money.
What truly belongs to him consists only of the commissions from Chamber of Commerce members and Huang Lixing, the individual shareholder—a total of 6.5 billion Hong Kong dollars.
Once all funds were fully settled, the next step was to repay principal and interest to all investors.
The first to receive returns was Star Investment Company: a total of HK$63.585 billion in principal and interest was allocated to the Dahai Private Equity Fund, and HK$89.6 billion in investment returns was allocated to the company’s own funds.
In addition, the returns distributed to members of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce from the two investments totaled 86.66 billion Hong Kong dollars, with a combined return on investment of 182%.
As for the company’s two shareholders, Li Yi and Huang Lixing, in addition to receiving substantial dividends from the company, Huang Lixing invested HK$4 billion and ultimately received HK$11.2 billion in principal and interest.
Li Yi’s gains were even more substantial: he earned $2.4 billion in London, $4.6 billion in New York, and nearly HK$8 billion on Hong Kong Island.
And these are merely financial gains; the real windfall lies elsewhere!
For instance, in the British Isles, he acquired Sheffield Steel Company almost entirely on his own. Based on the company’s current market value, his shares are worth over 10 billion pounds.
Furthermore, by using that fool Gusta as a front, he secured a 90% stake in New Territories Warehouse.
In the near future, this company’s market value will be at least 100 billion.
Furthermore, he has acquired nearly all of Hang Seng Bank’s non-tradable shares and a 15% stake in Huifeng Bank—assets of considerable value.
Of course, there’s also the Green Brothers Company in New York. Not to mention the substantial shareholder dividends he’ll receive by the end of this year, the soaring stock price has also doubled his net worth.
On top of that, he’s earned 1.15 billion US dollars for the country this time around.
It can be said that in just over five months, whether it was Li Yi himself, his brothers and friends, or those willing to trust him, everyone has made a fortune!
Once the principal and interest were distributed, it was time for the investors to celebrate.
This includes members of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, other investors in Star Investment, and even the company’s employees.
They say when one person succeeds, everyone around them benefits—and that’s exactly what’s happening now.
As news spread that the company was distributing principal and interest to Chamber members, virtually every media outlet on Hong Kong Island was soon abuzz, rushing to dig deeper into Star Investment’s latest investment venture.
At the same time, they interviewed members of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.
In no time, every newspaper and magazine on Hong Kong Island—even the most unscrupulous tabloids—was reporting on the story.
Before anyone could catch their breath, another scoop emerged: Star Investment had awarded all employees a massive bonus in August.
According to reliable sources, Star Investment had granted all employees an additional six months’ salary, while each member of management received a 500-square-foot luxury apartment as a bonus!
It wasn’t just Star Investment; other companies in the Star Group—including Shield Security, New Territories Warehouse Management, and Hang Seng Bank—all received notices of bonus payments in the final days of August.
The only difference was the amount of the bonuses!
Overnight, the media and public across Hong Kong Island were once again in an uproar, as everyone was stunned by Star Investment’s extravagance.
But the shock gave way to envy, and soon a flood of talent poured into Star Group companies, all hoping to secure a position—to the point where even a janitor’s job was in high demand.
Li Yi, however, paid little attention to all this. At that moment, he was busy preparing to return to the mainland.
First, having been away for so long, he was genuinely homesick.
Secondly, Jiang Xue’s school term was set to begin in a week. Not only would she need to return to school, but his mother-in-law, Ye Lingyun, would also have to go back to teach her students.
So he had to wrap up his affairs here as soon as possible and see them both back home.
In the days that followed, Li Yi first laid out the investment plan for the second half of the year.
In contrast to the cautious approach of the first half of the year, Li Yi instructed the company’s investment department to give it their all in the second half. Whether it was real estate companies or other manufacturing firms, as long as their internal conditions were sound, they were open for investment.
In addition, taking advantage of the available funds, Li Yi allocated another 10 billion Hong Kong dollars to New Territories Warehouse, instructing them to proceed with the comprehensive development of the facility according to the original plan.
At the same time, Li Yi set aside another sum of funds to facilitate the delisting of New Territories Warehouse Management Company, intending to acquire New Territories Warehouse as a sole proprietorship.
The primary reason for this was his understanding that, given the region’s high population density and limited land supply, land resources would become increasingly valuable.
New Territories Warehouse’s most valuable asset was its land, which was poised to appreciate by tens or even hundreds of times in the future. Yet, given the company’s potential, its current stock price was simply beyond description.
Given this situation, and with no shortage of development capital, why should he allow others to share in the company’s equity for a pittance?
More importantly, Hong Kong Island has strict regulations regarding the equity structure of listed companies, with major shareholders not allowed to hold more than 37% of the shares.
Clearly, New Territories Warehouse has already significantly exceeded this limit.
Furthermore, after the revelation that Li Yi had previously used proxies to hold shares, it also impacted the company’s operations, so he simply chose to delist the company.
Furthermore, in light of this regulation, Li Yi also adjusted his shareholding in Hang Seng Bank.
After some maneuvering, Li Yi promptly transferred a portion of his shares to Jiang Xue to hold in trust. This way, while the combined holdings of the two exceeded the controlling stake threshold, they did not exceed the limit on major shareholder ownership.
Only after completing these steps did Li Yi feel at ease as he set off on the journey home with his wife, children, and relatives…
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