Rebirth 76: Industrial Internet Empire

What made Hasek a little embarrassed was that Volkswagen's offer was very sincere. Not only did it propose to purchase 6.2% of Skoda's shares for 31 million marks, Volkswagen also promised to increase investment in Skoda's technological transformation in the future.

Skoda's production capacity is around 18 units, and Volkswagen immediately gave an overall valuation of 20 billion German marks. According to this year's average exchange rate of 1:1.6 between US dollars and marks, it is close to 12.5 billion US dollars.

This valuation reflects not only sincerity, but Volkswagen's ambition to open up the Eastern European market. Santana's huge sales in China have given Volkswagen a taste of the sweetness of setting up joint ventures in developing countries.

After learning about the base price, Piëch secretly cursed: Volkswagen is crazy for offering such a high premium!

In fact, Volkswagen cannot be blamed for this. The acquisition of Skoda was originally a project that Renault had been pursuing. Volkswagen was also worried that Renault would use the cheap labor force in Eastern Europe to build more competitive cars, so it had to raise its offer again and again!

Piëch could only bite the bullet and follow up on Volkswagen's offer, and finally, through Steve Bowen's matchmaking, obtained 6.3% of Skoda's shares for US$51 million. Of course, Hasek went through Melo Bank. The donation to an overseas charitable foundation shows Saab’s “sincerity”.

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Merlo Bank Kiev branch.

As if in a dream, Edward couldn't believe what he had experienced. In just two or three years since he became the president of the Kiev branch of Merlo Bank, the book assets of the Kiev branch of Merlo Bank had expanded dozens of times, just like a robbery...

Edward did almost nothing. He just did two things repeatedly according to the instructions of the head office: collecting savings at high interest rates and acquiring state-owned assets...

The Kyiv branch of Melo Bank was established not long ago, which happened to be the early stage of the privatization process of Kyiv state-owned enterprises. Each Kiev citizen was allocated nearly 15 rubles of securitized assets. Most of these temporarily uncirculated stocks belonged to some large state-owned enterprises in the Kiev region. stock.

This is equivalent to dropping a huge sum of 15 rubles on everyone's head out of thin air. It is said to be a huge amount of money because when this securitized asset was issued, under the fixed exchange rate financial system, the exchange rate of the ruble to the US dollar was 1 : 1. An extra US$15 in securities assets out of thin air is a huge windfall in any era.

But the problem is that these securities assets lack liquidity channels. At this time, the Kiev branch of Melo Bank launched a new business like a "fool": acquiring these securities assets at a price of about 4-5% discount...

Kiev citizens flocked to it, and who wouldn’t be happy to get so much money for free all of a sudden?

A strange scene occurred at the Kiev branch. Many Kiev citizens lined up at one window to sell their securities assets, and then queued up at another window to deposit money!

After all, Merlo Bank’s five-year savings interest rate is the highest among all commercial banks!The best service and the highest interest rate, why not choose them?

Obtaining part of the stocks in the hands of Kiev citizens was only the first step. In order to get a share of the privatization process of large state-owned enterprises in Kiev, Edward worked tirelessly among dignitaries almost every day. The "Mello Bank Ball" even It has become synonymous with high-society parties in Kiev, and many people regard it as an honor to receive an invitation to a ball from Merlo Bank!

Chubais, who is known as the "Father of Privatization", is a frequent guest at the dances of the St. Petersburg branch and the Kiev branch of Merlo Bank.

Chubais, who is young, promising, knowledgeable and has a good skin, becomes the focus of the ball every time.

"Mr. Chubais, on behalf of Bank Merlo, I would like to express my sincere congratulations to you! It is said that you will be going to the Federal State-owned Assets Management Commission to preside over the work soon?" Edward held the wine glass and congratulated sincerely.

Chubais chuckled and said: "Mr. Edward, you are very well informed! I just received the news too!"

"Mr. Chubais, I will ask you to take good care of me in the future..." Edward said with a smile.

Chubais chuckled and said: "Easy to say, easy to say! If Mr. Edward likes any company, you can tell me directly..."

Edward looked around, then lowered his voice and said: "Mr. Chubais, we want all the equity of Motor Sich Company. The board of directors has given a special clause. After the acquisition is successful, not only can we reserve 15% of the equity as commission , an additional consulting fee of US$3000-5000 million will be provided..."

An imperceptible smile appeared on Chubais's face, and he lowered his voice and said: "Modasic's production bases and R&D bases are distributed in many areas. There are too many people watching, and the price may not be very low. You guys You may have to be mentally prepared!”

Edward nodded and said: "I know, we will keep in touch at all times. The engine factories in Zaporizhia and Ruben are top priorities. As long as they are taken down by us, others will not be so interested in Motor Sich..."

Edward now admires the board of directors' decisions more and more. Not only did he foresee the fluctuations in the ruble exchange rate in advance, he even asked him to make friends with Chubais, who was just a university professor at the time.

In just two years, Chubais relied on his "privatization theory" to rise step by step like a rocket.

His "privatization theory" is simple and crude, and he even declared in public: As long as wealth can be privatized, he doesn't care who the wealth will be distributed to, even if it is a robber...

In November 1991, he was appointed Chairman of the State Asset Management Committee of the Russian Federation.

Starting in 1988, the Soviet economy took a turn for the worse, experiencing negative growth for the first time. By 1991, the Soviet economy dropped by 15%. Nearly half of the state-owned enterprises were out of state control. 500 companies with a market value of more than 1 trillion US dollars were sold at a low price of 72 billion US dollars. , some are even worth only $1300.Chubais, the "father of privatization" in Russia, once publicly admitted that as long as the wealth can be taken out of the hands of the state, he does not care who the wealth will be distributed to, even if it is a robber.

After the shareholding reform of state-owned enterprises was completed, every Soviet citizen received securitized property worth 10 to 15.This approach is actually very useless: if a large sum of money falls from the sky out of thin air, it will be a happy thing to hit anyone on the head. However, this is not a serious banknote, but a securities on the book. .

In 1961 the ruble to dollar ratio was 1:1.1

Since 1989, the Soviet Union has transformed from a fixed exchange rate system to a dual exchange rate system, and various international financial institutions have pushed up the ruble ratio.The ruble to dollar ratio is quickly approaching 1:2

In November 1990, foreign banks took advantage of the Soviet Union's exchange rate reform and began selling rubles.The ruble-dollar ratio fell to 11:100

In 1993 the ruble to dollar ratio was 1400:1