Rebirth: My dad is a coal boss

Listening to George's words, Lin Hao thought for a while. He had been thinking about acquiring Hermès, LV and Chanel before, but these three brands were not so easy to acquire. Now they are all controlled by the founding families, and it is extremely difficult for outsiders to acquire them.

Seeing that Lin Hao did not speak, George continued: "As far as I know, the LV Group began to secretly acquire shares of Hermès in 2001. I don't know how many shares it owns now, but it has been carried out secretly. If the company wants to acquire Hermès, it must speed up."

Hearing George's words, Lin Hao was a little surprised. He didn't expect that he knew all this. It seems that he has done research. LV is indeed secretly acquiring shares of Hermès.

Initially in 2001, Louis Vuitton had already taken action and purchased 4.9% of the shares of the Hermès Group. However, this was just the beginning. In 2008, they launched a series of complex equity transactions with three French banks. These operations enabled Louis Vuitton to purchase convertible derivatives issued by the Hermès Group under his name, and finally successfully exchanged them for common stock.

Since the entire transaction was completed through cash payment, according to French financial transaction rules, Louis Vuitton was able to obtain the equity of the Hermès Group privately. In this way, the outside world knew nothing about their actions.

It was not until October 24, 2010, French time, that Louis Vuitton finally announced publicly: through cash-settled equity swaps, they have successfully purchased 14.2% of Hermès shares. Together with the convertible derivatives they already held, their total shareholding reached an astonishing 17.1%! In this way, Louis Vuitton became the second largest shareholder of the Hermès Group besides his family.

Louis Vuitton's move was like a bombshell, shocking the entire fashion and business circles, and they speculated about the motives and intentions behind it. This incident also became one of the hot topics at the time.

However, what is even more surprising is that Louis Vuitton successfully circumvented the French legal requirement that when a company acquires more than 5% of the shares of another company, it must publicly announce and initiate a stock repurchase process.

This allowed them to secretly accumulate a large amount of Hermès shares without alerting the market. This practice caused an uproar in public opinion, and many people questioned and criticized Louis Vuitton's behavior.

For the Hermès family, this incident was not just a business competition, but also a matter of life and death for the family business. What is particularly shocking is that the Hermès family members only learned of the news an hour before the Louis Vuitton Group issued an announcement. This caught them off guard and unprepared.

This sudden attack put the Hermès family in a passive situation, and they had to take urgent measures to protect their interests. The Hermès family members quickly united to deal with the crisis together and vowed to defend the dignity and independence of the family business.

At this point, the relationship between Louis Vuitton and Hermès became tense and hostile, and the two sides launched a fierce business struggle for control of Hermès. This battle involves not only money and power, but also brand image, corporate culture and other aspects.

In order to obtain more Hermès shares, Louis Vuitton continued to secretly purchase Hermès shares in 2011. As of now, they have held 23% of Hermès shares and become the company's largest single shareholder.

Under such a magical operation, Louis Vuitton's series of actions to purchase Hermès shares completely angered the heirs of the Hermès family. Faced with Louis Vuitton's malicious acquisition of Hermès shares, more than 50 Hermès family members worked together and united to pool their respective Hermès shares to form a holding company called H51. The total value of the holding company's shares is as high as an astonishing $16 billion, accounting for 50.2% of Hermès shares!

More importantly, these family members also signed a far-reaching contract: they will not sell their shares in the next 20 years. This move not only forced family members to rely on stock dividends to make a living, but also sounded the alarm for those "barbarians" who attempted to invade. This is undoubtedly a powerful deterrent, effectively resisting the acquisition challenge from Louis Vuitton.

In this way, the Hermès family successfully defended its corporate sovereignty and prevented malicious mergers and acquisitions by external forces.

Lin Hao is not interested in the love-hate relationship between LV and Hermès, but LV's approach has provided Lin Hao with an idea, that is, secretAcquiring Hermès, if LV had not publicly announced that it owned 17.1% of Hermès' shares in the previous life, it would have been possible to acquire Hermès secretly.

Now Lin Hao also plans to use this method. Don't shoot guns, sneak into the village quietly, which is the kingly way. However, it may take a long time, and it may take many years to complete the acquisition of Hermès. However, as long as Hermès can be acquired, it is worth it.

"I believe that the group will get better and better under your leadership, George." Lin Hao said to George with a smile.

Hearing Lin Hao's words, George stood up excitedly and said to Lin Hao: "Thank you for the trust of the chairman. I will work hard to make the company the largest luxury goods company in the world."

"Go to work, I'm waiting to see your results."

After Lin Hao finished speaking, George walked out and Robert walked in.

"Boss, I have made an appointment with Bernard Arnault of LV tomorrow night."

"Okay, by the way, the chat with George just now gave me some inspiration. I have something for you to do. With the help of convertible derivatives issued by banks and some institutions, secretly acquire shares of Hermès. This matter must be kept confidential and proceed slowly. The acquisition funds will be provided by the established luxury group, and the shares will also be placed under the luxury group."

"Okay."

.....

On the banks of the Seine, in a high-end restaurant, Lin Hao looked at Bernard Arnault, the boss of the LV Group, who was sitting opposite him. The person opposite him was not simple. LV did not belong to their family at the beginning, but through a series of acquisitions, it became the LV Group today. Moreover, the LV Group has not stopped now. It has been constantly acquiring other brands and growing continuously. It must be said that the other party is really a genius.

"Hello, Mr. Lin, I have been asking you to meet for a long time, and I finally met you today." Bernard Arnault looked at Lin Hao and said.