"You really got the automobile production qualification? The kind from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, you weren't scammed, were you?"
Leader Gu, sitting behind his desk, looked at Tan Jincheng with some surprise.
To be honest, he knew a little about this matter, but the specific details were unclear.
Zhao Jinsheng had indeed participated in the reception before, but the other party didn't say why they came.
He originally thought it was just an excuse for investment promotion, who would have thought he actually secured it.
"Of course it's real, otherwise why would I go to all this trouble? It cost a lot of money!"
Tan Jincheng said, sitting opposite Leader Gu, crossing his legs slightly smugly.
Tan Jincheng's appearance made him chuckle, and he cooperatively asked,
"How much did it cost?"
"All in all, it cost over 10 million yuan, and we also need to build an electric vehicle warehousing center in our county."
The donations from Jinpeng Trade also included my share, so saying over 10 million is reasonable, right?
"That price isn't expensive, you've really gotten a bargain. But what use do you have for automobile production qualifications? Shanchi can't build cars right now, can it?"
"I certainly don't have the ability to build cars temporarily, but others do. I came to see Leader Gu today precisely for this matter."
Leader Gu was a bit confused:
"What do you mean?"
"I heard there's a company in Yongkang that has built its factory and produced cars, but they don't have the production license. They've approached several large state-owned enterprises, but no one pays attention to them. They're having a headache right now. Shouldn't the district seize this opportunity to gain some benefits?"
"Zotye Auto?"
"Yes, Leader Gu knows too. We now have what they want, so can we work on this and strive for a cooperation opportunity?"
"The district doesn't need to get involved in this, does it? You can lend them the qualification. Although it's a bit non-compliant, it's not a big problem. Shanchi can charge a certain fee for each car, and you can earn back the money you spent on the acquisition."
Tan Jincheng smiled,
"If I only wanted to earn this much money, why would I bother? Selling more electric vehicles would be enough. My intention is to see if we can find a way to help the district secure an automobile project. Leader Gu, this can be considered returning a favor, right?"
Looking at Tan Jincheng, who still had a youthful face and spoke of his ambitions while laughing, Leader Gu was somewhat shocked.
Young people are truly bold in their thinking!
"You're considered an entrepreneur now, big or small, aren't you? As a businessman, you must know what an automobile enterprise means to a locality. What reason does Beicang District have to make them move here?"
The automobile industry chain, is that something you can just move around casually? If we really poach them, Yongkang will surely hate us to death.
"I didn't say move everything over, but taking a stake and setting up an industrial base later should be fine, right? I don't know how much Leader Gu knows about Zotye. Their parent company has already gone public through a reverse merger, so they still have strength. Establishing a Yongcheng branch should not be a problem."
Listed companies in 2006 were not as prevalent as in later years.
Whether state-owned or private, they all had a certain level of strength.
In an era where scarcity commanded value, having several listed companies in one's jurisdiction was a very important indicator of political achievement.
Currently, the district's listed company sector is still relatively weak.
Shenzhou Company, later known as the Foxconn of the textile industry, only listed in Hong Kong at the end of last year.
When Tan Jincheng first went to Hong Kong to buy Tencent QQ, it hadn't gone public yet.
The real explosion of listed companies in Beicang District should be after 2014.
In the early 2000s, Beicang was actually just in its initial development stage.
The private economy was active, but it was far from being that strong.
Unlike later years, when there were many hidden leading enterprises in niche industries.
In Shanchi Technology's initial business plan, Tan Jincheng had mentioned, based on the envisioned roadmap, that if the predetermined goals could be achieved, Shanchi Technology would go public within the next 5 years.
This was also one of the points that attracted the district.
Overall, there was a reason why Shanchi Technology received attention from the district.
Both the industry's boom period and its emergence timing were just right, coupled with Shanchi Technology's shipment volume in the first two months of this year far exceeding the district's expectations.
As the actual leader in charge, Leader Gu naturally gained prestige.
Not only did he boost employment and tax revenue in the district, but he also earned a good reputation for recognizing talent and daring to use it.
All along, Leader Gu had some understanding of Tan Jincheng.
Although this young man was like other businessmen, fond of boasting, that was only about specific sales figures.
He never spoke carelessly about the company's plans.
On the contrary, regarding the company's development plans, Comrade Tan had his own unique persistence.
Blind expansion did not exist for him.
Therefore, Leader Gu attached great importance to Tan Jincheng's current proposal.
"Do you have something in mind? Just say it directly, don't dilly-dally, that's not your style either."
Tan Jincheng chuckled,
"I knew I couldn't hide it from you, Leader Gu, you're truly insightful. I have a proposal here; please take a look and review it to see if it's feasible."
After speaking, he took a printed document from his handbag.
This was a feasibility plan Tan Jincheng had written over the past few days regarding acquiring a stake in Zotye Auto.
A good memory is no match for a bad pen.
Good eloquence can indeed persuade some people, but for those in the system who are accustomed to strict work procedures, a written approach is clearly more formal.
The content of the document was actually very simple: Shanchi Technology and Beicang Urban Investment would acquire a stake in Tieniu Group using automobile production qualifications and cash, in exchange for Zotye Auto establishing a branch company, an automobile industrial base, and so on in Beicang in the future.
The future development of large automobile companies cannot be limited to just one city.
Therefore, as long as Zotye doesn't move completely and only sets up a branch company, there's still an opportunity for cooperation.
Involving Beicang Urban Investment is, firstly, to facilitate the connection, and secondly, it has another benefit.
In the future, if Zotye continues down its old path, Tan Jincheng can form a concerted action group with Beicang Urban Investment, and then they can seek to acquire its controlling stake!
At this very moment, no one would have imagined that the ultimate goal of the small Shanchi Technology was Zotye's controlling stake.
Having Beicang Urban Investment take the lead also served as an excellent shield.
In its early stages, Zotye's development was actually quite smooth after obtaining the automobile qualification.
Its downfall should have been around 2018.
When the Baoshitai was launched in 2016, it was once a sensation across the entire internet, creating a record of selling 20,000 units in 3 days.
The success of Baoshitai allowed Zotye to list on the A-share market in 2017 by using a reverse merger with a listed company controlled by its parent company.
Its market capitalization once exceeded 30 billion yuan that year.
However, judging from its reverse merger listing in 2017 and its collapse in 2019, it seemed like a pre-arranged scheme.
By the time Zotye completed its reverse merger listing in 2017, there were still 10 years.
These 10 years would be completely sufficient for Tan Jincheng to strategize and acquire its controlling stake.
Anyway, the Zotye boss's original intention was merely capital realization, with no long-term plan for building cars.
At worst, if he couldn't control it by then, he could still maximize this investment by reducing his stake.
This would be equivalent to an A-share investment before the company's rise, potentially yielding ten-fold or even hundred-fold returns if done well.
This represented the interests of Shanchi Technology and Tan Jincheng.
As for Beicang District, their vested interests were also quite good: having a promising automobile company that could establish a branch in the district in the future.
It would increase employment and tax revenue, and at the same time enrich the industrial chain.
Currently, there are many auto parts factories in Beicang District, but they are all struggling to break through due to the lack of an automobile industry.
Companies like Tuopu, which would go public in later years, were still small factories at this time.
In fact, in the previous life, Beicang's auto parts industry only developed rapidly after Geely's entry.
During this period, Beicang's private economy was still in a transitional phase, with its mold industry primarily focused on apparel, chemicals, and motorcycle/automobile industries.
Zhang Mingcan's previous company made motorcycle auto parts.
There were many factories like his in Beicang District.
These factories all faced transformation issues.
A successful transformation would benefit both business owners and the local government, while a failed one would lead to decline.
Introducing an automobile enterprise to enrich the district's industrial chain would have an immediate effect.
The document submitted by Tan Jincheng was very detailed, and its feasibility was also very high.
The most important "birth certificate" (production qualification) had already been secured by Shanchi Technology.
All that was needed was to mediate and alleviate the concerns from Yongkang's side.
As for the urban investment company's investment, there are naturally risks, but isn't it normal for investments to have gains and losses?
Losing money would only mean losing some cash, but if it succeeds, there would be significant benefits.
This four-party or rather, three-party cooperation is indeed viable.
The document wasn't long; Leader Gu finished reading it in about 10 minutes.
Leader Gu put down the document and looked deeply at Tan Jincheng:
"Your proposal is very good. I will immediately arrange to report it upwards. Xiao Tan, you've put a lot of thought into this."
According to his guess, there must be something else behind this document, and it wasn't just, as written above, Shanchi Technology maximizing the benefits of the cheaply acquired production qualification.
Simple profit maximization wouldn't require such complexity; selling it directly to him would have been enough, and it would have involved much less risk.
Nevertheless, it held significant benefits for the district, and that was all that mattered.
"Then thank you, Leader Gu. If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave,"
Tan Jincheng smiled.
"Hmm, before you go, let me ask you two personal questions."
"Please, Leader Gu."
"What is your ultimate goal? Of course, you don't have to answer if you don't want to or if it involves company secrets. The other question is, you could have discussed this entirely with your hometown government, so why Beicang?"
Tan Jincheng smiled.
As expected, he couldn't hide it.
"Let me answer Leader Gu's second question first. Why Beicang and not my hometown? Firstly, all my industries are in Beicang. From every perspective, choosing Beicang is most advantageous for Shanchi Technology at this stage."
"Secondly, during the development of Shanchi Technology, for things like land approval and loans, the leaders have provided us with a lot of help. I believe the district also faced a certain amount of pressure. One should know how to be grateful, and if there's an opportunity to repay without harming oneself, why not seize it?"
Leader Gu nodded with a smile, not interrupting Tan Jincheng, and gestured for him to continue.
Clearly, the flattery in the latter half of his speech had hit the mark.
Given Shanchi Technology's scale in 2005, loans were easy to arrange—the bank just needed to agree.
But land approval certainly couldn't secure 150 mu of land.
He indeed bore some pressure in this regard.
Fortunately, everything at Shanchi Technology was on track.
The company was developing better and better, and the marketing campaign launched this year had gained considerable fame online.
"Getting back to the first question, it's not really a secret, but I hope Leader Gu can keep it confidential. Once I leave this door, I won't admit to it,"
Tan Jincheng chuckled.
Seeing that Leader Gu wasn't annoyed by his slightly frivolous words and didn't stop him, Tan Jincheng paused for a moment and continued,
"I want to build cars, to build automobiles. If gasoline cars don't work, we'll build electric vehicles. In the future, I even want to acquire Zotye's controlling stake."
(End of Chapter)