Chapter 667 – Beverage wars Part 1 of 2
After days later, Feng Yu received a call from Liu Yonghao. There were good news and bad news.
The good news was Feng Yu was welcomed to join the Guangcai Program, and the government had granted approval to set up a Guangcai Committee. This will be a government recognized organization.
There will be an organizing committee and Liu Yonghao promised Feng Yu that Feng Yu will be one of the members in the committee. The chairman and vice chairman of the committee will be selected from the 10 founders of this program.
In the future, Feng Yu can also volunteer to take part in the selection of Chairman. This was fair to everyone. The success of Feng Yu’s businesses was more than enough for him to run for the position of Chairman. He was more qualify than all the other members.
Although Liu Yonghao did not know how many shares Feng Yu owns in all those companies, those companies were all doing very well. Even if Feng Yu only owns 10% shares of those companies, his total assets were much higher than all of them.
Feng Yu was satisfied with this piece of good news. He was not interested in becoming the Chairman or vice chairman. It was good enough to be one of the members. He wants to be in charge of education. He knows that no one will vie with him for this role, as even if all of them add up, their contributions were not more than Feng Yu alone.
Feng Yu wanted to be in charge of education was because he knew how the people outside work. You donated 1 million RMB to build a building, but the cost of the project might be lesser than 500,000 RMB or lower.
Feng Yu did not want to donate money to build school buildings, and the buildings collapse in the future. If that happens, it will be too late to get hold of the one responsible. Lives will be gone!
Feng Yu discussed with Liu Yonghao, and he agreed. He said that he will help to convince the other founders.
Feng Yu was delighted with this news. The bad news was also acceptable. Feng Yu was not really upset over it.
The bad news was companies which have Hong Kong shares were temporarily not allowed to invest in Minsheng Bank. Even if the company was owned majority by Chinese funds, it was also not allowed. So, many of Feng Yu’s companies were not allowed to invest in the bank as Fu Guangzheng owns shares in those companies.
The other companies where only one person who owns the controlling stake of the company, was also not allowed too.
That means Feng Yu was not allowed to use several companies to invest in the bank and get a place in the Board of directors. Feng Yu thought back on his companies. Only a few of his companies could participate in this venture.
Wind and Rain Logistics should not be investing as Feng Yu’s brother-in-law was not interested. Tai Hua Agriculture products were eligible to participate, but the company does not have a lot of liquid assets. Tai Hua Trading was also eligible. But if Tai Hua Trading invested in Minsheng bank, then Feng Yu had to change the bank account, and there will be issues with settling the payments with Kirilenko. After all, ICBC bank had given Tai Hua Trading the green light to do international fund transfer, and the charges were lower. The transactions were also faster as a lot of paperwork were exempted.
Bing City Pharmaceutical was also eligible. But it needs the approval from the Bing City Government first. Will Zhang Ruiqiang agree to invest in Minsheng bank? Even if he agrees, the amount invested will also be minimal.
Wind and Rain Battery Factory was eligible, but it does not have enough funds. The battery factory had used all its profits for its R&D, and its sales were only average.
The next company Feng Yu considered was Lehaha. Zhong Qingxian might not be willing to use the company’s funds to invest in this bank. After all, this bank might not be profitable anytime soon.
So, Feng Yu decided to not invest temporarily. However, Liu Yonghao told Feng Yu that he could invest as a private investor. That means Feng Yu could invest 100 million RMB out of his own pocket in return for 1% shares.
If Feng Yu invested and then disclose his wealth, he should have no problems getting a place in the Board of Directors even when he owns 1% shares.
Liu Yonghao felt apologetic towards Feng Yu. Feng Yu had shown his interest and his financial capabilities. But Liu Yonghao told Feng Yu that most of those companies were ineligible.
Feng Yu was okay with it. He was also not interested in investing a lot of his money. Minsheng bank would yield no returns for the time being. He will increase his investments 8 to 9 years later.
Feng Yu called Zhong Qianxian to tell him that he decided to halt Lehaha’s investment in Minsheng bank and its better for Lehaha to carry on with their development plans.
Zhong Qingxian was also relieved. If Lehaha were to invest its funds into Minsheng bank, his plans for Lehaha would be disrupted. Now, it was the best opportunity for Lehaha to grow rapidly.
Lehaha had a competitor for its tea beverages. The competitor was Xurisheng Group.
In Feng Yu’s previous life, Xurisheng Group was China’s market leader in tea beverages and was the first company to introduce tea beverages. This company held the number one position until the year 2000.
But in this life, the market leader of tea beverages had become Lehaha. No only Lehaha was the first to introduce tea beverages, it still owns the trademark for Red Tea.
But Xurisheng Group still introduced their product, and it was named as Ice Tea. But actually, it was Ice Red Tea.
Xurisheng Group Ice Tea was only sold in two provinces. It was because their production was not capable enough and their brand was not established.
If it wasn’t for Xurisheng Group Ice Tea was a carbonated can drink, no one will buy their products.
In this era, carbonated drinks were extremely popular in China. Letting out a loud burp after drinking a can of carbonated drink feels good. Also, many Chinese felt canned drinks were high-class products and were better than bottled drinks!
Xurisheng Group was considered an imitator. Lehaha had gotten the head start and had introduced the Refreshing series of carbonated drinks. They secured the number 2 position for the beverage sales for this summer. The number one position was still Jianlibao.
It was easy for Lehaha to suppress Xurisheng Group, but Xurisheng Group suddenly introduced a new product. It’s warm tea.
It will be the winter season soon, and carbonated drinks’ sales will drop. But Xurisheng Group introduced warm tea beverage now and Zhong Qingxian was pissed.
Zhong Qingxian was not able to beat Jianlibao, as Jianlibao had already been exported overseas. Jianlibao was also China’s top beverage company for years. But Xurisheng Group was a newly set up company and was now trying to snatch Lehaha’s market share.
Don’t you know that Lebaishi’s carbonated drinks were also beaten by us?!
Lehaha will also be introducing warm beverages. This warm beverage was Tang, a kind of powdered fruit drink!
Feng Yu had drunk Tang before in his previous life. Also, there was nothing special with the taste, but it felt good during winter. The Chinese were used to powdered beverages in the era because of another popular product in China. It was a foreign brand drink. Cola Cao!
Lehaha had been researching Cola Cao’s formula. But they were unable to replicate the taste. Even if they produced a product that tastes similar to Cola Cao, it was also useless. Cola Cao had entered the Chinese market in 1990 and had set up a joint venture factory. It positions itself as a high-end nutritional drink. It will not be easy to beat Cola Cao.
But Zhong Qingxian did not want to give up. If Lehaha was able to establish their brand in the warm beverage market, then they will be able to rival and even beat Jianlibao.