Chapter 382 Saved Million

The next morning, Lin Haoran went to the Hong Kong branch of Citibank.

Today is November 11th, and it is getting closer to December.

Lin Haoran carried with him a portion of the equity certificates of the Jardine Matheson Group, which were sufficient to temporarily mortgage them to Citibank, so that he could borrow enough funds from Citibank.

A legal advisor from Huanyu Investment Company also came to assist Lin Haoran in processing the loan.

The president of Citibank’s Hong Kong branch had apparently received a call from Mr. Walter Wriston, chairman of Citibank’s head office in the United States.

Therefore, as soon as Lin Haoran arrived at the bank, he was warmly received by the president of the Hong Kong branch.

Originally, before leaving, Lin Haoran was still hesitating whether he should apply for a loan from the Hong Kong branch of Citibank in Hong Kong or directly through the Citibank headquarters in the United States. After all, with his current status and relationship with Citibank executives, it would not be difficult for him to obtain a loan from the Citibank headquarters.

However, after learning about the loan interest rates in the United States over the phone, Lin Haoran decisively gave up the idea of ​​applying for a loan from Citibank.

Nowadays, not only has the loan interest rate in Hong Kong risen sharply, but even the United States has not been spared, and the increase in interest rates in the United States is even more alarming.

In order to cope with hyperinflation, the Federal Reserve has taken measures to raise short-term interest rates this year, which has in turn driven up all types of loan interest rates, including mortgage rates.

In January of this year, the interest rate on US federal funds loans remained at 1%.

But today, 10 months later, the US loan interest rate range has been raised to an exaggerated 19% to 20%, a level that directly set a record high in US history.

In comparison, although the loan interest rates in Hong Kong are also exaggerated, they are relatively mild compared to the interest rates in the United States, and the annual interest rate is roughly stable at around 15%.

For certain important customers, banking institutions in Hong Kong will also provide additional discounts, so that the actual interest rate can be reduced to the range of 13% to 14%.

Despite this, the current short-term loan interest rate has increased compared to when Lin Haoran applied for a HK$20 billion loan from Huifeng Bank.

At that time, Huifeng Bank gave Lin Haoran a preferential interest rate of 10%. However, Lin Haoran already knew the current situation of the bank.

Therefore, when he came, he was mentally prepared for high interest rates.

“Mr. Lin, considering that you are our top partner of Citibank, our chairman has specially approved a preferential interest rate for your loan, aiming to further consolidate the cooperative relationship between Citibank and you, Mr. Lin.

Therefore, the annual interest rate of the HK$30 billion loan applied by Mr. Lin was finally reduced to 10%. In other words, if Mr. Lin’s loan term is one year, the annual interest will be HK$3 million, and the total amount to be repaid at maturity is HK$33 billion.

I wonder if Mr. Lin is satisfied with this interest rate arrangement?” The president of Citibank Hong Kong Branch asked politely after Lin Haoran was invited to his office and handed him a cup of hot tea.

“Oh? A loan interest rate of 10%?” Lin Haoran was slightly surprised when he heard that.

Originally, he thought that the 13% discount offered by Citibank was already very good, but unexpectedly, Citibank directly lowered the interest rate and only required an annual loan interest rate of 10%.

Assuming that as he expected, Citibank offered a 13% discount, Lin Haoran would accept it. After all, this was a market behavior and it was already very favorable.

The 10% discount now is equivalent to saving him a full HK$ million in interest. How could Lin Haoran not be surprised?

This wasn’t two years ago.

More than two years ago, when Lin Haoran obtained a loan from Yumin Financial Company, the interest rate was only between 5% and 10%. At that time, Yumin Financial Company also gave Lin Haoran a relatively favorable interest rate.

However, the oil crisis had not yet surfaced at that time, the world economy was still on a stable development track, and Hong Kong’s real estate industry was far from being as frenetic as it is today.

Therefore, it is completely understandable that the annual interest rate on loans during that period was relatively low.

However, the situation is completely different today.

The loan interest rates of financial institutions in Hong Kong and most parts of the world have experienced significant growth.

The purpose, of course, is that the oil crisis has caused prices to skyrocket in many countries and regions around the world. Faced with this severe inflation, local governments have to raise loan interest rates in order to curb high prices, artificially creating an economic recession and allowing prices to fall back to normal levels.

Under such circumstances, the financial industry naturally took the opportunity to experience explosive growth.

It was also during these two years that Hong Kong gradually secured its position as a global financial center, second only to New York and London. According to Lin Haoran, even at Yumin Financial Company, the interest rate offered to customers is basically between 14% and 15%.

Therefore, Citibank actually gave him an interest rate of 10%, which was really conscientious!

Today, Hong Kong’s real estate market is booming, and many real estate companies and home buyers take out loans from banks.

Even though Hong Kong now has hundreds of financial institutions, top banking institutions such as Citibank and HSBC Bank are still the first choice for mass loans.

Therefore, Citibank actually has no shortage of loan customers.

Of course, a direct loan of HK$30 billion by Lin Haoran is probably a record in the history of Citibank’s Hong Kong branch.

From this we can see that Citibank’s attitude towards Lin Haoran is indeed impeccable.

This may also be related to the fact that Mr. Walter Reston, Chairman of Citibank, has been paying attention to Lin Haoran’s situation for a long time and feels that Lin Haoran can become Citibank’s most important long-term partner in the future, so he expressed his goodwill.

Lin Haoran naturally accepted this kindness with satisfaction!
“Yes, Mr. Lin, do you have any idea about this 10% interest rate? If you have any suggestions, I can try to apply to the US headquarters.

However, Mr. Lin, please understand that this interest rate is already very favorable. In the past six months, even for our important customers, we have never offered an interest rate lower than 13%.

Without the chairman’s personal approval, as the branch president, I would not have the authority to reduce the annual interest rate of the loan to such a low level.”

Seeing that Lin Haoran mentioned the 10% interest rate again, the branch president mistakenly thought that Lin Haoran was still dissatisfied with the current interest rate, so he hurriedly explained.

“No, you misunderstood. I am very satisfied with this interest rate. Let’s sign the contract based on this interest rate. I brought 30% of the shares of the Jardine Matheson Group this time and plan to temporarily mortgage it here. There should be no problem with this, right?” Lin Haoran responded with a smile.

In fact, to borrow HK$30 billion, under normal circumstances, some ordinary entrepreneurs would at least need to mortgage equity with a market value of HK$50 billion or even HK$60 billion.

However, Lin Haoran had already discussed this matter with Walter Reston last night. Lin Haoran did not intend to mortgage all of the shares of the Jardine Matheson Group that he currently controlled, so he chose to mortgage shares of almost equal value. After hesitating for a while, Walter Reston finally agreed.

Because Walter Reston thought of Lin Haoran’s ability to make money.

This young Chinese American made more than one billion U.S. dollars by using gold futures. Even the worldly-wise chairman of Citibank was shocked.

Afterwards, Lin Haoran’s many operations in Hong Kong and his acquisitions of well-known companies amazed Walter Reston.

Therefore, Walter Reston finally chose to trust Lin Haoran’s ability to repay the loan and agreed to a direct mortgage loan of HK$30 billion with only 30% of the shares of the Hong Kong Land Group.

“Of course, then let’s go through the loan process. I have already printed out the contract, and I’ll show it to Mr. Lin. No problem, we can sign the contract. After the contract is signed, I will immediately connect remotely to the US headquarters, and the funds will be transferred to your account, Mr. Lin, within two hours!” said the branch president respectfully.

The president of Citibank’s Hong Kong branch is a Chinese American who has had many interactions with Lin Haoran before and is quite familiar with each other.

When talking about the loan of 30 billion Hong Kong dollars, even the branch manager who had seen countless storms found it difficult to remain calm.

He had been a branch president in the US state of New York, and even there he had personally negotiated such a large loan.

In addition, even Walter Reston, the chairman of Citibank, attaches so much importance to Lin Haoran, so the branch president is now more respectful to Lin Haoran.

Lin Haoran read the loan contract carefully and found no problems. He then asked the legal advisor from Huanyu Investment Company who came to assist him in the loan process to read it carefully several times. After finally confirming that there were no problems, Lin Haoran signed the contract with the branch president.

“Mr. Lin, it’s a pleasure to work with you. I will fax the contract to the United States right now. After they review it, the funds will be transferred to your account soon!” The branch president stood up, smiled and shook hands with Lin Haoran.

“Okay, I believe in your efficiency. In that case, I won’t wait here. I’ll go about my business first. If the money arrives, you can call me on my pager!” Lin Haoran said with a smile and a nod.

He still has a lot of things to do now. Since the loan issue has been settled, even though the money has not arrived yet, Lin Haoran can trust Citibank’s credibility and his cooperative relationship with Citibank. There is no need for him to stay here and wait for the funds to arrive.

Accompanied by his bodyguards, Lin Haoran got in the car again and headed for the headquarters of Huifeng Bank not far away.

Now that the loan issue has been settled, the next step is to do the most important thing – completely privatize the Swire Properties Group.

(End of this chapter)