The reason why Zhou Yang met Yang Minde was because the Yida Group of the Yang family was the largest company introduced by Qionglou Real Estate in the Nantou Export Industrial Park in Shenhai, besides Kaida Toy Factory.

Yida Group is preparing to recruit 1,000 workers in the Deep Sea Special Zone to complete some front-end processes for its factory in Hong Kong. For example, the production of shirt sleeves, nails and buttons can be transferred from the Hong Kong factory to China.

As long as the final stitching and splicing procedure is placed in Hong Kong, the shirts produced can still be used as Hong Kong goods to takeout abroad.

"Quota is the main problem that plagues Hong Kong's clothing exports. Although my family has a part of the shirt quota exported to the United States in Hong Kong, it is far from meeting the actual export needs. In the end, it can only build factories to Malaysia and Myanmar, which are easier to obtain quotas.

If you really want to build a factory here, and go to the market to buy quotas after receiving an order, it is easy to be killed by others. So whether it is local to Hong Kong or Southeast Asia, you'd better buy a factory with US export quota." Yang Minde suggested to Lin Jianzhong.

Since the 1970s, many Hong Kong garment manufacturers have started to build factories in Southeast Asia due to quotas. So much so that when countries were negotiating the Multi-Fiber Agreement, many Hong Kong people appeared in delegations such as Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand.

Father and son and brother represent different countries and quarrel on the international stage, which can be said to be the best portrayal of the peak period of Hong Kong's garment industry.

"Miss Yang, Mr. Lin, have you ever considered directly integrating Yida Group and Lin's Group?" Zhou Yang put forward a new idea, "If the two companies can complete the merger, they can have production lines in Asia and the United States at the same time. At that time, those clothing products with short quotas are produced in the United States, and other products will be transferred to Asia with lower costs.

Ms. Yang is mainly responsible for production work, while Mr. Lin is more familiar with the US market, so he mainly expands sales channels upward. If the two companies can merge, it is easy to form complementary advantages.

Unfortunately, there is an obvious problem with Chinese companies in Hong Kong, that is, family management. Western countries such as the United States are not without family businesses, such as Ford Motor and Ford families, as well as Disney companies and Disney families.

However, the capital market in the United States is relatively mature. After the company develops to a certain level, listing financing is usually the best choice to accelerate the development of the company. Therefore, after the family business goes public, it will gradually transform into a public company. For example, the Ford family now holds only about 6% of the company's shares.

Of course, the Ford family is an exception. It designed an AB share structure when it went public. So much so that the Ford family now only holds 6% of Ford Motors' equity, but controls 40% of the voting rights, and can still firmly control Ford's power."

Yang Minde couldn't help but lit up after hearing Zhou Yang's words. If Yida Group could merge with the Lin Group, it would be more like the Yang family taking the opportunity to take over the latter.

As Lin Jianzhong's partner, Yang Minde is naturally relatively well-founded about his net worth. The valuation of Lin's Group will not exceed US$5 million, less than one-tenth of Yida Group.

In terms of ability alone, Lin Jianzhong may not be worse than Yang Minde. He has been working hard in the United States for less than six years and has been able to accumulate a net worth of 5 million US dollars, which is already great enough.

But Yang Minde has been a wealthy businessman in Shanghai since her grandfather's generation. After her parents' hard work after coming to Hong Kong for thirty years, when the family business was passed on to her, it was already a billion-dollar property.

"Mr. Zhou, the asset gap between Yida Group and Lin's Garment is too large. If our two companies merge, Mr. Lin's equity in the new company will be very low, which is too unfair to him." Seeing that Lin Jianzhong did not have the intention to answer immediately, Yang Minde simply took the initiative to point out the key points.

"The Ford family is pretty good, at least internal unity, but it also faces the problem of a family talent gap and is forced to introduce outsiders to control the company.

Disney and the Disney family were even worse. With the deaths of Walt Disney and Roy Disney one after another, Walt's son-in-law Miller began to serve as CEO of Disney, but he had a bad relationship with Roy's son Roy Jr.

The two of them competed for power in Disney's company, causing Disney's stock price to fall. It is said that someone has offered to other shareholders of Disney to acquire the most successful animation company in history." Zhou Yang seemed not to notice what Yang Minde said just now, and was still talking to himself.

The founders of Disney Company, Walt Disney and Roy Disney, are brothers, but after the death of the older generation, the new generation is no longer as close as before due to conflicts of interest.

This kind of family property dispute is everywhere in Hong Kong. For example, Zhou Yang's friend Xu Jinggan's family is relatively harmonious. After the death of the ship king Xu Aizhou, the three brothers of the second generation are relatively harmonious. Otherwise, even if the family assets are included in the trust funds, there will still be various disputes.

Yang Minde is not the only daughter, she has a sister under her, and she is still studying. After her parents die, the Yang family's assets are likely to be equally divided by Yang Minde and her sister.

"Ms. Yang, my factory in the United States is only worth millions of dollars. If a new company can develop into a large company with a market value of billions of dollars in the future, even if I only own 1% of the shares, it will be worth at least tens of millions of dollars.

In fact, I came to Hong Kong not long ago. Because the quota problem is difficult to deal with, I didn’t make up my mind to set up a factory in Hong Kong at that time.

This time, at the invitation of Mr. Zhou, I came to Hong Kong and mainland China again for a walk. Regarding the merger of Lin Group and Yida Group, as long as the future development prospects are bright, I am completely open to it." Lin Jianzhong finally spoke with a smile and personally answered Yang Minde's previous concerns.

But his thoughts were completely beyond Yang Minde's expectations, which made Yang Minde gradually recall the two men in front of him seemed to have a bit of a sing and harmony.

Merger is naturally a good thing for Yida Group, but will pies really fall from the sky? Yang Minde couldn't help but feel a little more alert.

"Ms. Yang may have some doubts, why I agree so easily. For New York Chinatown, the garment industry is one of the pillar industries supporting community employment.

However, the garment factories in Chinatown are as small and scattered as Hong Kong, so they have been at a disadvantage in the competition with Jewish garment manufacturers. If we want to reverse the situation, we must integrate. My original idea was to merge with several other larger garment factories in Chinatown.

But Mr. Zhou brought me another suggestion: the textile industry and clothing industry are no longer sunrise industries in the United States. If it weren’t for the restrictions on import quotas, the garment factories in Chinatown would have no room for survival.

The transition from end manufacturing to places with lower costs is the general trend. New York Chinatown's biggest advantage should be based on the fashion capital and make efforts in the front-end creative design field." Lin Jianzhong continued.

"Ms. Yang must have heard some rumors about me in Hong Kong. I am from an investment background and become interested in something. The biggest possibility is that I smell the smell of money.

There is a saying that success or failure is Xiao He. Although the quota restrictions in the global textile industry have hit Hong Kong's textile industry hard, once the quota is fixed, it will be very difficult for other regions to challenge Hong Kong's position as the world's largest clothing exporter.

It can be said that before the collapse of the quota system, Hong Kong will always be one of the world's largest clothing distribution centers. However, people will have immediate worries without long-term expectations, and Hong Kong's clothing industry is not without problems. The rising labor costs in Hong Kong will inevitably lead to a decline in competitiveness.

But local industry insiders seem to be still immersed in their old dreams and have no clues to industrial upgrading. There are four major fashion weeks in the world, including Milan, Paris, London, and New York. Why can't Hong Kong be the fifth?

But what I saw was that Hong Kong's clothing design talents were short of. The owners of garment factories were satisfied with OEM for clothing brands in Europe and the United States, earning the cheap processing fee." Zhou Yang shook his head and sighed.

Although the local clothing manufacturing industry in Hong Kong had long declined in later generations, before the textile industry entered the quota-free era in 2005, Hong Kong's clothing export volume was second only to the mainland, ranking second in the world. After a large amount of clothing was produced in the mainland or Southeast Asia, it finally got back to Hong Kong's private label and sold it to the world in the name of Hong Kong goods.

"We Yida have actually started to build our own brand in recent years, but if a new brand wants to gain popularity in the overseas market, it requires a lot of investment, which will bring great operating risks to the company." Yang Minde said with a wry smile.

Yang Minde's statement was heard by Ding Wushou, who made toys before. This cannot be entirely blamed on Hong Kong bosses for not being brave enough. Why did brands such as Anta and Li Ning successfully develop into giant companies with a market value of over 100 billion Hong Kong dollars? One of the important reasons is that they are supported by the huge market in mainland China.

This is also the real reason why only China can have a group of Internet companies that can compete with Silicon Valley giants in the later Internet era.

Of course, the decline of Hong Kong's manufacturing industry is not just because the local market is too narrow, but the short-sightedness of Hong Kong business owners also accounts for a big factor.

After all, Hong Kong is backed by China. If Hong Kong bosses attach enough importance to the mainland market, they will not have much advantage over domestic entrepreneurs.

As a result, brands such as Bollard and Giordano were also very popular in the mainland, but soon became tomorrow's yellow flowers. The founder felt that selling the country was more promising than buying clothes.

I can only say that such people are really blind. The Chinese market should be the most growing single market in the next forty years. If you dare to be optimistic about it, you can reap unimaginable generous returns.

Fengyi International, a member of the Guo family in Malaysia, independently split its domestic grain and oil business in the name of Jinlongyu and listed on the A-share market. At its highest market value, it once reached nearly 800 billion yuan, while Fengyi International held as much as 90% of Jinlongyu.

"So I have an idea, that is, to join forces with a group of knowledgeable people in the industry to lead the Chinese clothing industry to launch an impact at a higher level.

Yida Group is the first company in the garment industry in Hong Kong that is willing to spend a salary and recruits a large number of university graduates. The emphasis on talent reserves largely determines its future development level.

We, Bank of Merrill Lynch, hope to become a partner of Yida Group on its way forward. Whether it is the merger of Lin Group or listing in the capital market in the future, Merrill Lynch can help you achieve your strength." Zhou Yang said firmly.

"Mr. Zhou, I need to go back and discuss with my father before giving you a reply to your proposal. After all, Yida Group is still led by my father, and my job is mainly to assist him in managing the company." Yang Minde said tactfully.

When she spoke, she specifically called Zhou Yang and Lin Jianzhong to reply. If her father refused, there could be a step forward to say that Zhou Yang, a third party, failed to match the matchmaking, so as not to affect her cooperative relationship with the Lin Group.

"That's of course. Now we are promoting free love. It's not happy to force a match." Zhou Yang said with a smile.

Lin Jianzhong smiled aside, as if the dominance of the matter was entirely at Zhou Yang, and he was just a tool to come to stand.

The reason why he did not object to his company's cooperation with Yida Group, which is many times larger, was that Zhou Yang had painted him a bigger cake before.

Lin Jianzhong is preparing to set up a Chinese-funded bank in New York, and with Zhou Yang's matchmaking, the Kennedy family's Daim Loan Association will invest 20%.

The Chinatown community is one of the highest savings rates in New York, but local banks in New York do not provide personalized services to the Chinese community.

Many Chinese who cannot speak English cannot open an account in the bank at all. Many people are used to hiding their money at home, so the tragedy of their families being destroyed due to theft in Chinatown often happens.

However, the banking industry is an industry with relatively high threshold. In addition to extremely high professional qualities, it also requires a strong capital foundation.

With the political endorsement of the Kennedy family and the technical and capital support of the Daim Savings and Loan Association, Lin Jianzhong's biggest problem in running a bank has been cleared.

If Lin Jianzhong could become a banker, he would naturally be willing to spend more energy on opening a bank, so he would not be so resistant to the merger of his own garment factory.

What's more, in the cake that Zhou Yang painted for Lin Jianzhong, running a bank is only the first step. Next, he has to represent the Chinese community in New York to participate in American political games. He is just to stand up for the election himself or to raise other candidates to run for the election. Lin Jianzhong will become a member of the upper class in New York.

Although Lin Jianzhong's current net worth has far exceeded the standards of the American middle class, he, who started from scratch step by step with the bottom-class workers, is very clear about the ubiquitous discrimination against minorities and people of color in American society.

It is far more difficult for Chinese people like Lin Jianzhong who are born in the marginal industry such as the garment industry to enter the upper class of New York than those Chinese who are born in prestigious schools. Zhou Yang's appearance made Lin Jianzhong see that the elevator door across the class has been opened.

For Caroline and Kennedy, the extremely high savings rate in the Chinese community is simply a greedy piece of fat for the Daim Loan Association. Cooperating with community leaders like Lin Jianzhong can help the Daim Loan Association take root in the Chinese community.
Chapter completed!