The Industrial Giant Reborn

For an acquisition that may involve as much as one billion US dollars, even for several major banking giants in the United States, it is not a small amount of business. On the second day after getting the news, Jim, the vice president of Morgan Stanley, rushed over overnight. , met with Chen Zhiwen, discussed for a day, and fully understood Chen Zhiwen's needs for acquisitions.

However, as an investment bank, when it was learned that Chen Zhiwen planned to acquire a large-scale home appliance company, people from Morgan Stanley suggested that Chen Zhiwen need to consider other possibilities, because if there are other options, then he can have the same General Electric has the confidence to bargain, and if it fails to negotiate, then the alternative can also become a formal target.

Chen Zhiwen also readily agreed. He wanted to acquire General Electric's home appliance business because he knew that Welch had plans to sell it, but it was not the only choice. If an investment bank like Morgan Stanley has a way to get the other party to sell, he is also happy.

In American corporate culture, except for a few, most of them are managed by the management after a long time. They like to use various methods to disperse the company's equity, which is naturally beneficial to the management, because It is difficult for so many directors or shareholders to gather together to pose any threat to them, but like HK Electric in Hong Kong, when encountering a foreign acquisition, once the price offered by the acquirer impresses most of the shareholders, the management will also No matter what, at the legal level, the general meeting of shareholders is always the highest power owner. When the shareholders are too scattered, the management cannot persuade so many shareholders to give up the huge profits in front of them and support them. In this way, each investment bank will have its own opportunities.

After negotiating, Chen Zhiwen met with Barry Michael, who was in charge of some of his financial business in the United States. This is an out-and-out American. With the expansion of his own industry, it is impossible for him to use Chinese all the time, especially in the United States. Even if it is AMC, Gu Dehua is only one of the top managers, and the real manager is still the American team.

"Barry, there are a few things I need you to do." Chen Zhiwen said.

"Boss, please tell me." Barry said politely.

"You also know that Midea, a subsidiary of mine, has launched a personal computer business, and the Apple Group I invested in is also a personal computer business, so considering the legal risks, I am going to liquidate all Apple shares in my hand. I have already communicated with Apple's Steve Jobs discussed it, and they promised to find a suitable buyer for us, but I'm not sure if they can do it, so you can also let it go out and find the most suitable buyer. Buyer." Chen Zhiwen said.

"Well, Apple's stock should be selling well, but you hold too many shares. If you sell it all at once, it may be difficult for ordinary buyers to take over. Moreover, selling so many shares may also arouse suspicion from the other party, and The price reduction, and such a big deal, may affect the market." Barry didn't ask why, this is basic professional ethics, but he just analyzed various possible problems step by step.

"So, you can sell 1% of the quota a month, and sell slowly. If you can't find a suitable buyer, you can also sell it in the stock market appropriately. In this way, you can cash out in about a year." Chen Zhiwen said .

Although history has changed, the general trend is still the same. Apple’s decline in the 1980s will take another two years, and the peak period of the stock market will be about a year later. Completely reach the highest point, just cash out gradually. After all, he is also a major shareholder of Apple. The listing laws in the United States are much more perfect than those in Hong Kong. The acquisition is fine. As long as you don’t care about voting rights, you can hide it appropriately, but cashing out is not possible, you must is to be announced.

"Okay, I will release the news that someone is going to sell some of Apple's stock, and then contact some big funds I know." Barry nodded and said.

"Well, there is another thing that I ask you to buy some stocks. One is Coca-Cola, the second is Pepsi, and the third is General Electric. The more stocks the better." Chen Zhiwen said again.

"Boss, I would like to ask what is your ultimate goal? Only then can I make reasonable arrangements for the acquisition plan." Barry asked after thinking for a while.

The purpose of acquiring a company's stock is different, so the operation is also different. For example, it is just for economic investment, to become a major shareholder, to become a member of the board of directors, or the ultimate goal is to acquire the other party. If you know the boss's purpose in advance, then he will can perform better.

"In the short term, it is purely for investment income. The idle funds in our hands have always been bought in U.S. Treasury bonds. This return is too low. I am more optimistic about these two beverage giants. General Electric is optimistic about them. CEO Welch." Chen Zhiwen said.

As the legendary CEO Welch, Chen Zhiwen knows that this man has brought General Electric to the altar in more than ten years. At the end of the 1990s, it was once able to threaten the electronic technology giant Microsoft's position as the world's largest market capitalization company. This can be said to be the last glory of traditional technology giants.

The two cola companies will also have high profits in the future, not because they have any innovations, but because with the development of globalization, a large number of Asian countries have been lifted out of poverty, and inflation in Europe and the United States has also dropped significantly due to a large number of Asian goods, plus With the promotion of electronic technology, the global demand for the beverage market will explode in the next ten years, which will naturally promote the growth of the two giants.

Although the income of these three companies is far inferior to that of the technology giants, the good thing is that the market is big enough. The combined market value of the three companies exceeds 20 billion US dollars, and they can invest a lot of money and wait for the appreciation.

And if there is an opportunity, maybe they can also reach other cooperation with these companies. In addition to the home appliance business, General Electric also has various cutting-edge technologies that Chen Zhiwen is optimistic about. However, he does not want to rely entirely on investment banks. If the electrical relationship is better, it will be easier to buy directly. As for Liangle, we will see the situation in the future.

"Okay, then I understand, I will mobilize funds to slowly acquire the stocks of these companies." Barry agreed.

"OK, after making progress, submit the detailed information to me every month." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. It is unlikely that he will stay in the United States all the time. Therefore, international business, whether it is electronics, retail, beverages, automobiles, financial investment, etc., is reported once a month, except for special circumstances.

This time in the United States, I stayed for more than half a month. The most successful thing was that I became a shareholder of Microsoft and made a cooperation plan with Microsoft. This is also a half-guarantee that I will develop a lot of software in the future more smoothly. At the same time, he can also obtain part of the benefits of the operating system, which he cannot touch.

There are some other future technology companies in the United States, but either Chen Zhiwen doesn't understand their history and couldn't find out about them at the early stage, or they haven't reached the most suitable period for investment. After Microsoft, there is no need to be too anxious about other things. If the changes in history do not affect these future giants, then after a few years, these companies will also emerge in the technology industry, and they will also go public, and there will be more opportunities. .

Back to Hong Kong again, the time has come to April.

The housing prices in Hong Kong, except for commercial office buildings, are basically in a "stable" stage today, which also makes the business of several real estate companies under Chen Zhiwen simpler, and the residential business is basically only developed. Some projects are stopped after completion, and the company begins to reduce its scale and reserve funds.

When it comes to this peak period, Chen Zhiwen doesn’t need to pay too much attention. He only needs to know the rent collection situation of a few commercial companies. Central office buildings, etc., have not been affected by the market in terms of profitability, and are still rising steadily. This is also a strange phenomenon in the Hong Kong market.

All kinds of luxury consumption will not stop until the economy completely collapses. After all, virtual housing prices are also an asset. Only a few people know that several big banks, including HSBC, have begun to reduce residential projects. borrowed.

After getting a general idea of ​​the real estate situation, Chen Zhiwen called Zhou Jiayang from Hutchison and Lei Shengli from Midea.

"Sit, I'm calling you here today. It's not a formal meeting, but some things. I have some ideas and I want to share them with you." Chen Zhiwen brought the two of them to the sofa in the reception area and said with a smile.

"Okay." After the two sat down, the secretary served several cups of tea.

Chen Zhiwen asked: "Both of you also know that AMC plans to jointly produce Jeep cars in the Mainland and China. After discussing with relevant domestic leaders, I decided to select high-quality suppliers in the Mainland, and then Hutchison will invest in them and give Help, this is a relatively reasonable route, Lao Zhou, have you made any progress in the past month or so?"

"Chen Sheng, He Huang doesn't have any professional automotive talents. Therefore, I also cooperated with some Chinese engineers from AMC, and borrowed some quality or technical engineers from Midea to visit different companies in Yanjing City. Smaller and larger factories, according to their feedback, many domestic crafts are completely 40 or 50 years ago, and many product combinations are processed on-site. Speaking of cars, they are ordinary household appliances, and I’m afraid they won’t work, so they all suggest that CKD assembly should be carried out, and the domestic side should only be responsible for assembly.” Zhou Jiayang said with some embarrassment.

"I actually know what these people said. However, it is because of difficulties. We will solve this problem and we will have results. Otherwise, it will not be our turn. If the country is really capable of making parts, then come It is not our turn to invest in domestic car factories." Chen Zhiwen said with a light smile.

Although his current relationship with the country is not bad, it is completely impossible to rely on "relationships" when it comes to the layout of the national industry. If Toyota, GM and Volkswagen are willing to invest, then AMC will not have a chance. After all, in the 1980s, the mainland had restrictions on the amount of foreign capital it could bring in, and top companies would definitely be chosen.

However, the poor industrial foundation and relatively poor economy make many international auto giants feel that they must lose money if they come to invest, not to mention that they are required to cultivate the local auto industry chain on a large scale. The energy is not worth the candle.

Even Volkswagen has a bunch of demands. In this case, AMC has a chance. Although in the original history, Jeep also came to the mainland to build factories, but the pure CKD model is not far away. Only successful local industrial chains Localization means getting a ticket to the future of the mainland auto industry.

"It's really hard to start now. AMC engineers may have nothing to do if they want to help." Zhou Jiayang said with a wry smile: "Let's talk about the most basic screw. I searched many places in Yanjing City, but I couldn't find it. To meet the requirements of AMC, many screw factories do not have automated production at all. Not only is the cost high, but the highest consistency required by the automotive industry cannot be met, and there is also a lack of related heat treatment and antirust technology.

In addition, the products of various factories can barely make the size and meet the accuracy requirements. Let alone the production capacity and cost, it is impossible to verify the eligibility of this product, because there is no test equipment, even the most Simple anti-rust tests cannot be done, or some can be done, but the standard is too different from AMC.

This is still only a small part, and those documents that have been uploaded by feedback may weigh more than me. "

"Things are difficult, so we can only do it step by step. We can start with universal problems." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said: "For example, if the domestic manufacturers basically have no testing capabilities, then You and Huang specially set up an automotive laboratory in Yanjing. As far as I know, the tests in the automotive industry are nothing more than high and low temperature, rust prevention, waterproof, sand prevention, vibration, electrical performance, etc. The equipment is directly from the When buying overseas, build a small one first, and then expand it when the demand is large.”

Since they want to localize parts and components, no matter what method they use, their own investment will definitely not be small. Otherwise, the auto giants will not immediately cut off the possibility of cooperation when they hear this condition.

However, I am compensated. No matter what industry I directly invest in, as long as it is not polluting, it will be placed directly in Yanjing City near the third and fifth ring roads. The future land price will guarantee that I will not lose money. To improve the development of the automobile industry in the Mainland, serve multiple purposes.

"We can invest in the laboratory, and even some anti-rust technology and heat treatment technology. I can also buy a similar company overseas and invest in China, but we can't be responsible for all the process materials." Zhou Jiayang nodded He said that as long as the boss agrees, some problems can still be solved with money, but from this point of view, it seems that it is not cost-effective, and the investment cost is too high. Unless the car is sold in the future, it will definitely lose money.

"In terms of materials, automobiles are mainly made of steel. In the early stage, some raw materials were CKD. After Shanghai Baosteel starts construction, the steel produced there should be able to meet the requirements of automobiles. As for the processing technology, then It's really not easy to operate." Chen Zhiwen said again.

The domestic Baosteel project was actually very controversial in the 1980s, but Chen Zhiwen believed that it was the foundation of the entire inland industry. Although Baosteel itself did not make as much money as those fast-earning light industries or second-level heavy industries, it was precisely because of the It, all kinds of steel raw materials will not be stuck overseas.

It is two different things to have or not to have. For example, if all the steel for the automobile industry is imported, the cost will be so high that the entire industry will not be able to develop. The indirect losses will be far greater than Baosteel's investment, let alone He said that Baosteel's steel is of great significance in the fields of shipbuilding, infrastructure, home appliances, machining, and equipment manufacturing.

"For processing this area, in fact, there are several large-scale industrial processing machine tool factories in China, but they are not capable enough. I am also wondering whether to invest in them. If so, the investment amount will not be small. Otherwise, it will not develop at all," Zhou Jiayang said.

"Is there such a machine tool factory in Yanjing City or Shanghai Stock Exchange?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

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