Becoming a Russian Oligarch After Rebirth
Chapter 815 - 808: Go Big (Extended - )_2

Chapter 815: Chapter 808: Go Big (Extended Chapter)_2

Wang Ye didn’t mind because everyone present actually knew about his dual identity.

It’s just that Zhang Xiaoxi thought Wang Xueqing didn’t know...

However, the fact that Zhang Xiaoxi could express such views also pleased Wang Ye greatly. His old classmate, indeed capable of getting into Tsinghua, was a student of high caliber.

Not only was she exceptionally good at her studies, but now that she had entered the business world, her progress was also astoundingly fast.

Zhang Xiaoxi’s judgment was indeed correct; she also saw the grand trend of domestic market consumption upgrading!

In fact, with the great trend of the nation’s rapid development, so many industries were available for involvement—it was just a matter of how much one could earn, not whether they would make a profit.

Choosing to build and manage a large shopping center was also a very good choice for Zhang Xiaoxi.

Because it was free from so many troublesome issues...

If it were about making money, then developing commodity houses was definitely more profitable, but the issue was that this industry was too complicated, and Wang Ye was worried Zhang Xiaoxi wouldn’t be able to handle it!

If he himself were based in China and invested in the real estate industry, it went without saying that Wang Ye would definitely go for commodity housing.

With his involvement, it’s likely that in the future, there would be little business for Vanke Evergrande BiGuiyuan...

The problem was that he couldn’t do it himself. Domestic matters had to be entrusted to Zhang Xiaoxi, and for this girl who hadn’t yet graduated from university, working on a single large project such as a shopping center was more suitable.

It would be best to start in the capital. That way, even though he wasn’t in China, the relevant departments would give some consideration for his sake and offer some support.

That would save Zhang Xiaoxi a lot of trouble!

Don’t underestimate this point; many big projects have been held up for years due to various small issues, failing to get off the ground.

Just look at the "Oriental Plaza" project by Superman Li in the capital.

The contract was signed in the early ’90s with intentions confirmed, but after many twists and turns, it took ten years to come to fruition.

This project was also intimidatingly ambitious, claiming to be the "largest commercial building complex in Asia"!

The location was unbeatable, at 1 East Chang’an Street, right in the heart of the Wangfujing shopping district!

With an area of one hundred thousand square meters, the total construction area amounted to eight hundred thousand square meters...

It included 8 office buildings (Oriental Trade City), 2 luxury apartments (Oriental Haoting), 1 large open-air mall (The Malls at Oriental Plaza), and 1 luxury five-star hotel (Grand Hyatt Oriental)!

This project, which has just recently been launched over the past two years, has undeniably shaken the entire capital.

It’s likely that Zhang Xiaoxi developed an interest in "large shopping centers" after visiting and studying this project because, aside from The Malls at Oriental Plaza and Century Jinyuan, the concept of shopping centers wasn’t prevalent in China in 2003.

Even in the capital, the most popular stores were still traditional department stores like SETEC, Parkson, Hualian Mall, Guiyou, Xidan, and so on...

It was in this year, with the successive openings of The Malls at Oriental Plaza and Century Jinyuan, that the domestic department store industry was hit hard!

Residents of the capital discovered that malls could be made so big!

They realized malls weren’t just for selling daily necessities but also for watching movies, dining, and even for ice rinks, children’s playgrounds, amusement parks...

Especially Century Jinyuan shopping center, its size was ridiculously large!

The construction area alone reached six hundred eighty thousand square meters!

Although Oriental Plaza was eight hundred thousand square meters, don’t forget that encompassed eight buildings, averaging one hundred thousand square meters per building.

But Century Jinyuan as a single building reached six hundred eighty thousand square meters...

Of course, projects like Oriental Plaza and Century Jinyuan weren’t just shopping centers; more precisely, they should be called "city complexes"!

They integrated large shopping centers, grade-A office buildings, serviced apartments, high-end residences, and fully realized the functions of shopping, entertainment, sightseeing, leisure, dining, etc.

But such investments were huge, even back in 2003, with the total investment for Oriental Plaza amounting to over twelve billion.

Century Jinyuan was just a part of the larger Century City project, which totaled an investment of sixteen billion!

So Zhang Xiaoxi didn’t dare to be too ambitious and wanted to focus only on building a large shopping center, at most with one or two high-end office buildings. As for apartments and hotels, she would leave them out of the picture...

But Wang Ye thought differently.

If she was going to build a large city complex, then she should include the entire set!

Just focusing on the shopping center was too much of a loss!

Because after the shopping center is developed, it will be able to significantly increase the nearby property values and drive foot traffic.

If I don’t take on projects like these, someone else will, and that means I’d essentially be spending money to help others make more. How could I allow that...

So Wang Ye continued to inquire, "As far as I know, places like the Oriental Plaza and Century City are city complexes that include not just large shopping centers but also other supporting buildings. Does your plan for a shopping center also aim to be a similar type of complex?"

Zhang Xiaoxi hurriedly waved her hands and said with embarrassment, "Those kinds of city complexes are too large in scale and require too much investment. Our company isn’t capable of handling projects of that magnitude yet, so my idea is to just develop shopping centers for now and hold off on constructing the supporting buildings. Once the company grows stronger, we can then move on to developing complexes."

Wang Ye nodded thoughtfully, realizing that his own asset management company couldn’t handle a full-scale city complex either.

Such mega projects are indeed "money-gobbling giants."

And Wang Ye wasn’t interested in seeking loans to fund them.

It’s not that Wang Ye was opposed to loans or unwilling to cooperate with financial institutions, it was just not the right time.

If you go to banks for large loans during the start-up phase of the company, they might lend you money, banking on a certain aspect of your identity because of the domestic financial institution’s inclination.

But to Wang Ye, that felt like taking advantage of the country, something that relied on personal relationships, which he was not keen on.

The more you owe "people," the harder it will be to decline if they turn to you for favors in the future.

As for the money issue, well, he can figure it out by himself!

...

Subconsciously tapping his fingers on the dining table, Wang Ye pondered where to divert funds from.

Since Zhang Xiaoxi wanted to take on something "big" and was on the right track, as her boss, how could he not support her!

Where to get the money...

Preferably, it shouldn’t involve directly transferring funds from abroad but instead directly from within the country...

A light bulb went off in Wang Ye’s head; he had an idea!

The Yukos domestic branch office!

This was essentially a cash cow!

In two or three years, once the oil refinery base and gas stations were built, describing them as a ’daily gold mine’ wouldn’t be an exaggeration at all.

He had been thinking about finding an investment channel for the branch office to spend the money when the time came.

And this was the perfect opportunity!

Zhang Xiaoxi’s commercial real estate company urgently needed a large amount of capital, while soon, the Yukos branch would have more money than they knew how to spend...

So, the asset management company and the Yukos branch would join hands to invest in a commercial real estate company, contributing capital together for commercial real estate development.

"The money issue, I’ll handle it.

You probably don’t know yet, but I’ve returned home this time to set up a domestic branch of the Yukos Group.

In the future, this company will establish two major oil refinery bases, and several thousand gas stations; it definitely won’t be short of money.

And I have no plans to transfer the money earned domestically back to the Group Headquarters but rather to continue investing it here.

I was still considering what projects to invest in, and then you came along just in time.

So, if there’s sufficient capital, do you have any plans?"

Wang Ye said with a smile.

Zhang Xiaoxi was shocked yet delighted.

She hadn’t expected Wang Ye to bring her such great news!

However, she was also a bit nervous. After all, she was only in her early twenties, and it was already incredible for her to manage a company with over a billion in funds.

And now the boss was adding an investment, pushing her to leap straight to developing a super city complex!

It wasn’t going to be something a few billion could cover, even if the scale didn’t match that of the Oriental Plaza or Century City.

Even if the investment was "reduced" somewhat, it would still require several tens of billions...