My 1999

"I didn't expect Mr. Arnault to be so cunning..." Xu Liang said directly.

"This old wolf is ten times more cunning and a hundred times more shameless than everyone imagined.

Mr. Xu, we should join hands to fight him and prevent excellent companies like Hermès, Sina and Vivendi from being plundered by him."

Bertrand Piech waved his arms, his eyes wide open, and the whole person seemed to be extremely angry.

He looked like he wanted to kill Bernard.

Looking at him, and then looking at Patrick who was silent and tense next to him, Xu Liang came to his senses.

"The soul of the Hermès Group can't be underestimated."

The two men obviously discussed it before coming to him.

Bertrand Piech was responsible for playing the good cop, provoking his dissatisfaction with Bernard, and getting closer to him. It would be best if he took the initiative to promise to join forces.

As long as he agreed, everything would be easy.

The benefits can be given less, and the benefits can be taken more.

Patrick Thomas is the calm white-faced man. If Bertrand fails to provoke his anger and makes him speak up, he will be responsible for negotiating the terms.

Use interests to consolidate the relationship between the two sides and then reach an offensive and defensive alliance.

After understanding, Xu Liang smiled.

Yes, yes, yes.

But he never mentioned the alliance.

Although everyone has this intention, how to form an alliance? What are the conditions? All need to be discussed.

Seeing that he was not taking the bait, Bertrand gave a look to the old friend next to him.

The latter understood.

After coughing and attracting Xu Liang's attention.

"Mr. Xu, when I went on a business trip to China, I learned a Chinese saying called 'open the skylight and speak frankly'. Mr. Xu is a Chinese, so he must understand what it means.

So we who are both facing the threat of Bernard Arnault should use our precious time to reach an agreement that is beneficial to both of us and work together to protect our valuable assets."

Seeing that he got to the point, Xu Liang stopped beating around the bush.

"Mr. Patrick's words are exactly what I want to say.

Arnault's threat is real and profound, and it is a problem that both of us need to face now and in the future.

It is in the interests of both of us to unite and jointly deal with Bernard's covetousness."

After a pause, Xu Liang said in a concentrated voice.

"The key is how to unite?

If it is just a verbal agreement, I am afraid that not only I, but even the two of you will find it difficult to believe how much effect it can have.

If it is a business cooperation.

Although Hermès' business in Asia is developing rapidly, it is sold in the form of independent flagship stores, which does not fit the retail channels I have.

Of course, if Hermès wants to cooperate with No.1 Store for online sales, on behalf of No.1 Store, I sincerely welcome Hermès to settle in."

Hermès settling in No.1 Store and opening an official website will greatly enhance the brand value and attention of No.1 Store.

This is a win-win situation.

But e-commerce is still in its infancy.

The products sold on the website are all low-value clothes, books, CDs, etc.

I won't feel bad if they are broken or lost.

There are 3C products worth over a thousand, but Hermès products that cost over ten thousand are rare.

People who can afford Hermès basically don't buy them online.

Only when e-commerce develops and online shopping becomes an indispensable retail channel, will top brands like Hermès enter.

Xu Liang continued: "But if that's all, our interests are too intertwined. I'm afraid neither of us is sure how much this alliance can play when we encounter difficulties.

So I think in addition to business cooperation, we can also cooperate in finance."

"Finance? Pacific Fund?" Patrick asked subconsciously.

"No.

Pacific Fund currently has no shares, even if I want to give it to you two, I can't do it.

However, in addition to Pacific Fund, there are many sub-businesses under Hanhua Group.

For example, Hanhua Trust."

The two looked at each other. Their understanding of Hanhua was mainly its world-renowned private equity business.

Hedge funds mainly include Pacific Fund and Indian Ocean Fund, private equity funds mainly include Qinglong and Baihu, and venture capital funds mainly include Mars.

They are all giants in their respective fields.

But they had never heard that Hanhua had a trust business.

"Hanhua Trust is a new company established only last year. It currently has hundreds of high-quality customers in Huaxia and manages nearly 3 billion euros in assets.

If you are interested, you can cooperate with Hanhua Trust to establish a trust investment fund belonging to the Dumas, Guerand, and Piech families." Xu Liang said.

Bertrand Piech became interested.

In order to pass on the family heritage, large families in Europe and the United States will set up family offices or cooperate with well-known financial trust companies to establish family trusts.

"Is this department directly managed by Mr. Xu?"

"I am too busy and have no time to participate in the management. However, I will regularly provide some options and stocks that I think have more development prospects to ensure the return of the trust.

At the same time, I also remind you that the primary goal of the family trust fund is to maintain and increase value, rather than to pursue high returns.

Therefore, Hanhua Trust will not allocate too many high-risk assets.

If you want to make money, I will definitely leave you enough shares when Pacific Fund raises the third round."

The two looked at each other, and Patrick smiled and said, "Mr. Xu's words are very sincere, and we will seriously consider it."

Xu Liang smiled and crossed his legs.

"If it is just the cooperation between Pacific Fund and Hanhua Trust, it is still a little too thin..."

The meaning of being unsatisfied is obvious.

Patrick and Bertrand are not fools. Xu Liang has already taken out his chips, and now it is their turn.

Fortunately, they have reached an agreement before coming.

And they have already greeted the leaders of the three major families.

Now the chips Xu Liang has taken out can also satisfy them.

So.

"Mr. Xu, Hermès Group is the world's top luxury brand, no doubt."

Patrick's eyes are full of pride.

He has reason to be proud.

Hermès is indeed the world's number one now.

Whether it is LV or Chanel, in terms of brand reputation alone, they are a little worse than Hermès.

"So, we sincerely invite you to join the Hermès family as a white knight."

Xu Liang was shocked and couldn't help but feel happy.

Hermès, Chanel, LV, Kering, Richemont, Armani, Estee Lauder and other world-class luxury brands are all the focus of his investment.

Especially Hermès and Chanel, which are the top priorities.

Unfortunately, the family holdings behind these two brands are too high, and the turnover rate in the secondary market is very low.

Hanhua's No. 4 Fund, which specializes in investing in luxury goods, has worked hard for a year and holds less than 3% of the shares of the two companies.

Even the board of directors cannot enter.

Taking a breath, suppressing the expectations in his heart, Xu Liang smiled.

"I wonder how much equity the Hermès Group plans to transfer?"

"1.5 billion euros, 15% of the shares, and only half of the voting rights." Bertrand said directly.

Xu Liang nodded slightly.

Compared with LV, which has sales revenue of 13.9 billion euros, net profit of 1.668 billion euros, total assets of 28.053 billion euros, and a stock market value of 36.8 billion euros.

Although Hermès is an aristocrat in the field of luxury goods, its current market value is only about 9.2 billion euros.

Selling 15% of the shares for 1.5 billion euros may seem expensive, but it is not expensive at all.

Because you can't buy so many shares in the secondary market.

Acquiring from the three major family members must be a premium acquisition, and the price must be more expensive than this.

The only flaw is that these shares have less voting rights.

But Xu Liang does not plan to acquire Hermès.

He doesn't care whether the voting rights are more or less.

"It is my honor to enter Hermès as a white knight, and I am also very happy to hand over half of the voting rights of Hermès' 15% shares to you two to exercise."

Hearing this, the two of them breathed a sigh of relief.

Originally, they thought Xu Liang would get entangled in voting rights, but now that it is so smooth, they also understand that the person in front of them is not interested in Hermès.

To be precise, he has no interest in the ownership of Hermès.

This is very good.

After reaching a general agreement, the two sides quickly set more detailed terms.

For example, the third phase of the Pacific Fund will give the three major families a share of at least 1 billion euros and no more than 2 billion euros. As for the specific amount, it depends on how much money they can come up with.

For another example, Xu Liang could send a managing director to the Hermès board of directors to help and supervise the future development of Hermès.

Just as the two sides were reaching more and more consensus, Lv Hui suddenly came over and interrupted.

"Boss, the bodyguard in charge of guarding said that Mr. Bernard Arnault, CEO of LV Group, and Mr. Mouriez, CEO of Auchan Group, have arrived."

Lv Hui did not deliberately conceal it.

Bertrand Piech and Patrick Thomas next to him naturally heard it.

Looking at the inquiring eyes of the two, Xu Liang shook his head directly.

"I only invited two people today."

Bertrand and Patrick's faces changed slightly, and their expressions became a little ugly.

They told the people of the three major families of Piech, Guerand and Dumas about the meeting.

After all, their consent is needed to transfer equity.

The total number of people in these three families exceeds fifty, and there are good and bad people among them. Although most of them hate Bernard and agree with their plan, there must be people who want to sell Hermès and take the money and leave.

So it is highly likely that the news will be disclosed to Bernard privately.

This can be guessed from the fact that the other party was able to acquire 17% of Hermès' shares without anyone noticing.

After all, it is too difficult to acquire so many shares silently from the secondary market.

The contributions of individual members of the three major families are indispensable.

"No matter who leaked the news, now that the incident has happened, there is no point in pursuing it."

Xu Liang stood up.

"Let's go, let's go and meet these two cunning and treacherous old wolves, don't let them look down on us."

Berrant and Patrick looked at each other, and stood up at the same time and followed.