My 1999

Veolia Environment has four businesses:

Water business, solid waste treatment and recycling, efficient energy services and transportation services.

The best development and the highest revenue are naturally the water affairs that have developed for more than 100 years and have the most experience.

Veolia is now the world's three major water giants that coexist with Suez Group and Thames Water.

11 research centers have been established around the world, providing drinking water and sewage treatment services to more than 131 million people in more than 100 countries.

In addition, seawater desalination business is also carried out in Oman, Spain and other places.

It can be said that Veolia is involved in all water-related businesses.

Including the design and manufacturing of sewage engineering equipment.

In 2006, Veolia's total revenue from water services reached 7.748 billion euros.

In the third quarter of this year, Veolia Water's total revenue exceeded 6.6 billion euros, and is expected to exceed 8 billion euros for the whole year.

It completely showed a snowballing posture.

It's getting bigger and bigger.

Moreover, revenue growth from the East, especially China, has the fastest, driving a sharp increase in revenue from Veolia Water.

Although the solid waste business is not as good as water, it is also excellent.

In 35 countries around the world, it serves 60 million people and 749,000 industrial and third-party customers.

In the three quarters of 2007, 35.6 million tons of waste were collected; 55.7 million tons of waste were disposed of; and 696 sets of waste treatment facilities were managed.

And it earned 5.44 billion euros in revenue.

The third place is the energy business.

Veolia Energy controls 56,000 thermal networks worldwide and 14,300 megawatts of electricity.

Total revenue exceeded 5.16 billion euros in the third quarter of 2007.

Finally, there is transportation business.

Veolia Transportation involves almost all tools.

Bus, light rail, subway, taxi, train, long-distance bus and ferries.

They do everything except the plane.

It has 17% of the total mileage of the UK railway, a railway line of tens of thousands of kilometers, carrying 1 billion passengers annually.

It also has nearly 40,000 different means of transportation.

In 38 countries around the world, it provides operating urban public transportation, including buses, light rail, taxis and transportation between regions.

Revenue exceeded 4.65 billion euros in the third quarter of 2007.

The entire group's annual revenue in the third quarter of 2007 was 21.5 billion euros, net profit was 722 million euros, and total assets were as high as 37.2 billion euros.

Among all assets, fixed assets are only 18.90%, and intangible assets, including goodwill, are as high as 22.30%.

Among them, the net liabilities reached 14.36 billion euros.

The net worth is only 6.65 billion euros.

The operation is relatively healthy.

Xu Liang looked through Veolia's operating information and financial statements, and said nothing.

In fact, utility investment is the least worrying about. Although their profits are not high, their returns are relatively stable.

The competition is not that fierce either.

This is what Li Chaoren likes to invest the most.

"Anthony wants to withdraw from the transportation business?" Xu Liang said.

"Well, he wants to build 'Veolia' into an industry benchmark for environmental solutions," Christina said.

Veolia Environmental Group's four major business segments: water business, solid waste treatment and recycling, efficient energy services and transportation services.

Water, solid waste and energy are connected to each other.

Water affairs and solid waste are both considered environmental protection industries. In addition to recycling and landfill, the most important thing for solid waste treatment is to generate electricity.

Power generation belongs to the energy industry.

The waste heat after waste incineration can heat the city.

But all this has nothing to do with transportation services.

"Anthony's idea is good, I basically agree. But will he report to you how to use the funds after withdrawing from the transportation business?"

"It is mainly used to develop water and solid waste businesses in China and Southeast Asia. It is planned to increase China's water projects from the current 25 to 40 within five years.

The number of solid waste projects has increased from the current 9 to 15.

Become the largest solid waste and water treatment company in Southeast Asia. ” Christina said.

China and Southeast Asia are the fastest growing places in the world in the future. There is huge demand for water, solid waste and new energy, and there is indeed a large investment.

"The direction is right. But we have a better choice."

"A better option?"

Xu Liang smiled slightly, "How do you think we are acquiring Suez Water?"

Christina was stunned for a moment, with an added touch of excitement in her eyes.

"real?"

"Don't you believe it?"

"You are my husband, of course I believe it. But that is Suez Water, the world's second largest water group after Veolia, and it's too difficult to acquire it.

It not only involves Suez Water itself, but also monopoly.

Moreover, behind Suez Water is the stronger Suez Group, which is still negotiating merger with French Gas.

The merged new group will be the world's largest liquefied natural gas distributor, Europe's largest gas procurement and distributor, Europe's fifth and second largest electricity supplier and Europe's largest energy service provider.

The new group's market value will reach 90 billion euros (about 123.3 billion US dollars), and its annual revenue is expected to reach 72 billion euros, which will make French Gas Suez Group one of the world's three major energy giants.

It is three times stronger than Veolia, so it is too difficult to acquire it.

What's more, the merger between Suez and GDF is supported by the government, especially the new president Sarkozy. If we want to get involved, I am afraid we will be blocked by many people. "

The merger between Suez and GDF began with the "Italians".

In February 2006, Enel announced its intention to acquire Suez. This move attracted the attention of the French government, which was worried that France's "star enterprise" would fall into the hands of foreign companies.

The then French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin immediately proposed that GDF and Suez merge to form a "giant" energy company, leaving Enel no chance to "take action".

This plan was welcomed by GDF and Suez.

Just when the merger plan was facing "dawn", it was under double pressure from both international and domestic sources.

Internationally, many European Union member states such as Italy accused this move of "national protectionism".

At home, GDF workers The association expressed opposition, believing that once the two companies merged, many employees would face the risk of unemployment.

The main opposition party in France, the Socialist Party, opposed the plan.

Since the market value of Suez is greater than that of Gaz de France, the Socialist Party believes that the merger will further privatize Gaz de France.

The negotiations were stuck in a stalemate for the next year and a half until the current President Sarkozy intervened.

After Sarkozy came to power, the new French government repeatedly stated that it would promote the privatization of some state-owned enterprises to change the situation of high national debt.

With his support, the merger of the two sides entered into substantive negotiations.

This is also the background of the whole thing.

Xu Liang smiled and said, "You are right, but now Suez Group and Gaz de France have not merged, and the gap between Veolia Group and the two is not big.

And Veolia is not independent, and there is a larger Vivendi behind it.

With the size of Vivendi, neither Suez nor Gaz de France is as good as us.

As for political obstacles, haha, we are not without supporters in French politics. Sarkozy is also the EP of Hanhua, and Hanhua has made him a lot of money this year.

Moreover, I have also collected some inside information.

Because Suez is larger than GDF.

The latter is state-controlled.

In order to ensure France's control over the new group.

Sarkozy hopes that Suez can sell non-energy businesses such as water and related assets worth 1.8 billion euros (2.47 billion U.S. dollars) to 2 billion euros (2.74 billion U.S. dollars), thereby promoting Suez and GDF to "be on equal footing."

With the help of this measure, the French government originally controlled about 80% of GDF's shares. After the merger, it will hold 34% of the shares of the new company and have the right to veto the company's decisions.

Guaranteed government control over the new company.

In other words, we have the opportunity to get the water and solid waste business from Suez. "

Christina looked more and more excited, "Dear, maybe we should send a merger email to Suez and GDF now."

Xu Liang smiled and patted her jade hand.

"Don't worry. How much money is in the group's account now? ”

“Veolia has 2.8 billion euros in cash in its accounts, Vivendi Group has 2.1 billion euros in cash in its accounts, and 18.3 billion euros in cash in its financial accounts. ”

When Xu Liang acquired the Vivendi Group, it had total assets of nearly 90 billion euros (including virtual assets, such as goodwill), total liabilities of 45.1 billion euros (14.76 billion euros for Veolia), 3.2 billion euros in cash and short-term bonds, and 5 billion euros in financial accounts.

Under Xu Liang's operation, the 5 billion euros in cash in the financial account doubled in 2005 during his "gold war" with Soros.

After deducting various taxes and fees, the funds in the financial account expanded to 8 billion euros.

There were no good investment opportunities in 2006.

Xu Liang simply manipulated the account to invest in some high-value stocks, such as Mercedes-Benz and Dior. After a year, with leverage, the account floated 63%.

After deducting various taxes and fees, the funds in the financial account increased to 13.7 billion euros.

Later, in order to develop Vivendi Telecom, 2 billion euros were withdrawn from the financial account and injected into the group.

The financial account had a balance of 11.7 billion euros at the end of 2006.

In 2007, Vivendi took over from Xu Liang. Took over 7 billion USD of CDs bonds.

Plus the investment income obtained by the financial account from the capital market.

As of now, with one month left until 2008, Vivendi's financial account has achieved an income of over 10 billion euros for the first time.

After deducting various taxes and fees, the funds in Vivendi's financial account reached an astonishing 18.3 billion euros.

This 18.3 billion euros is the result of a three-year investment of 5 billion euros, plus the 7 billion USD of CDs bonds donated by Xu Liang.

Vivendi also holds a lot of major equity in many companies.

Bing, No.1 Store, Hongmeng Games, and Netcom each hold 4.6% of the equity.

Ubisoft Games 11.5% of the equity.

Sina 18.46% of the equity.

In 2002, in order to acquire "Vivendi Games" from Vivendi, Xu Liang had to use Hongmeng's original shares as bait.

The final transaction was reached, and Vivendi held 6.4% of Hongmeng's equity.

At that time, Hongmeng only had five subsidiaries: Bing, No.1 Store, Games, Netcom and Sina.

With the listing of these five subsidiaries, Vivendi's equity was also reduced to 4.6%.

Sina is different because Vivendi merged its own portal website "Vivendi Network" with 80 million users into Sina.

Now Bing's market value is 132.9 billion US dollars, No. 1 Store's market value is 31.7 billion US dollars, Hongmeng Games' market value is 158.4 billion US dollars, and Netcom's market value is 15.9 billion US dollars.

Sina's market value is 31.7 billion US dollars.

Vivendi Group's holdings are worth 19.2 billion US dollars.

Of course, this is just a rough estimate, and the actual situation is definitely different.

For example, Sina's market value once exceeded 40 billion US dollars in 2005. At that time, Vivendi continued to sell under the auspices of Xu Liang.

No mistakes, one post, one content, one 6, one 9, one book, one bar, one look!

Later, affected by the downward trend of portal websites, the stock price continued to fall, and it has not rebounded until now.

For example, when Hongmeng Games was just listed, Vivendi did not take the opportunity to cash out, but planned to wait until the six-month lock-up period was over before cashing out.

It is not certain how much money can be obtained in the end.

But this part of the assets will definitely not be less than 18 billion US dollars.

According to the exchange rate between the US dollar and the euro.

It is approximately equal to 13.5 billion euros.

Therefore, the actual net assets of Vivendi's financial account are as high as 31.8 billion euros.

In addition, from the whole process, it can be seen that Xu Liang, in addition to taking 2 billion euros to develop Vivendi Telecom, did not use the proceeds of the capital market to repay Vivendi Group's debt of 45.1 billion euros (Veolia's 14.76 billion euros).

The reason is simple.

Most of the investment targets of Vivendi's financial account are US stocks.

The long-term capital gains tax in the United States is only 15% (holding for more than one year is long-term).

In contrast, France's corporate income tax and capital gains tax are unified at 25%.

It is obviously more appropriate to use Vivendi's pre-tax net profit to repay debts.

In the past three years, with the assistance of Xu Liang, Vivendi's revenue has continued to grow, and the debt has continued to decrease.

As of now, Vivendi Group has reduced its debt of more than 30 billion euros by 2.2 billion euros.

Note that Vivendi Group's debt reduction does not include Veolia.

The former only holds 45% of the latter's shares.

As an independent listed company, the latter's finances are independently calculated and cannot be mixed together.

The 2.2 billion euros are just the total debt reduction.

In fact, the interest generated by more than 30 billion euros of debt is close to 2.1 billion euros per year.

If these are counted, Vivendi actually repaid 8.5 billion euros of debt.

After all, the overall financial situation of Vivendi Group should be counted as follows.

Total assets 83 billion euros (including virtual assets such as goodwill, including Veolia environmental assets, minus equity assets sold).

Cash 24.7 billion euros (excluding Veolia, not counting equity assets).

Total liabilities 29.1 billion euros (excluding Veolia).

Net assets 65.7 billion euros (including Veolia).

Vivendi's cash and equity assets alone can completely cover all of Vivendi's debts.

In three years, Xu Liang completely pulled Vivendi back from the brink of bankruptcy, and turned it into a financially healthy industry giant that is rapidly developing in the fields of telecommunications, pan-entertainment and utilities.

"Suez Group has three major sectors: water, solid waste and environmental solutions. The water sector has 5.2 billion euros, which is about 70% of Veolia Water.

Including solid waste and environmental solutions, the three sectors have a total revenue of 11.2 billion euros and a net profit of 730 million euros.

If you want to acquire it in full, it will be at most 10 billion euros.

We only hold 45% of Veolia's shares, and we only need to take out 4.5 billion euros in cash.

Now we have enough cash in our account to complete the transaction." Xu Liang said.

"I think so too." Christina said.

"Sell all the shares of Ubisoft."

"Sell?"

"When the US subprime debt completely explodes, the global stock market will be hit hard, and that will be a good time for acquisition." Xu Liang sighed, "If the opportunity is not too good, I don't want to acquire Suez Water at this time."

Now everything has not been settled, in order to sell at a good price, Suez Group will also consider their acquisition invitation.

And with the strength of French gas, it is a few points shorter than Vivendi Group.

In this chaotic situation, the success rate is the highest.

But if the two companies really merge, a corporate giant with a revenue of nearly 80 billion euros will be far more powerful than Vivendi.

Then negotiate, even if it is an economic crisis, unequal status will increase the difficulty of acquisition.

Christina snuggled into his arms, "Didn't you say that things in the world are never transferred by human will, and opportunities must be seized when they come."

"It's rare that you still remember."

"Of course I will remember what you said."

Xu Liang's hand around her slender waist tightened unconsciously.

……

The Palais de l'Elysee was built in the early 18th century and has a history of more than 300 years.

The word "Elysee" comes from Greek, meaning "land of happiness, blessed land".

In 1718, Count Henry of Defort built this palace in the center of Paris and named it "Palais de Defort". It was designed by architect Armand-Claude Morel.

Originally, it was the private residence of Count Avery.

In 1804, Napoleon became emperor and the First French Empire replaced the First French Republic. His brother-in-law, Marshal Murat, bought the mansion in 1805, renovated it extensively, and named it "Elysee Palace".

In 1873, McMahon succeeded as president and issued a decree on January 22, 1879, officially confirming the Elysee Palace as the presidential palace, which was later continued. It is now often used as a synonym for the French government.

The Elysee Palace is as famous in the world as the White House in the United States, Buckingham Palace in the United Kingdom, and the Kremlin in Russia. It is the presidential palace of the French Republic and a symbol of the highest power in France.

Xu Liang slowly got out of the car and looked at the two-story marble building in front of him.

The left-right symmetrical pattern, with two platforms on both wings and a garden in the middle, has a simple and solemn appearance.

It is indeed a rare top Western royal garden.

The last time he came here was in May this year when Sarkozy was elected president and held a presidential dinner.

He stayed for a few days and then left.

Soon, several staff members in suits came to greet him.

The one walking in front was Jossan Serol, the secretary of the presidential office and Sarkozy's personal secretary.

"Mr. Xu, welcome."

"Mr. Serol, we meet again."

After a quick handshake.

"Mr. President is waiting for you in the office, please follow me."

"Thank you."

He led Xu Liang into the main building, and after a simple search, he entered the presidential office on the second floor.

Sarkozy has a typical French look, with a tall hooked nose, drooping eyebrows, a thin face, and a smiling expression that gives people great affinity.

When he saw Xu Liang coming in, he opened his arms to greet him.

"Dear Xu, God is my witness, how happy I am to hear that you are coming to visit."

Xu Liang also smiled and opened his arms to greet him.

"Sarkozy, my dear friend, every time I meet you, it is the best thing that I will remember. So this time when I came to France, I came to you first. I hope you don't blame me for being presumptuous."

"Haha, how could that be, you are a distinguished guest that I can't invite easily."

The two held each other's arms and laughed.

Although they both knew that the other party was being hypocritical, their words were very cordial.

After the hypocritical courtesy, the two sat down on the sofa in the reception area.

"Knowing that you are coming, I specially prepared tea."

Sarkozy smiled as the secretary brewed the tea and brought it up.

"Thank you."

After taking a sip, he said, "This is the best tea I have ever tasted."

"Xu, why did you suddenly come to France this time?"

"I went to Vivendi to have a look, and by the way, I met you, my old friend. By the way, Hanhua Pacific Fund made a lot of money from the collapse of the US subprime mortgage.

After the end of the year, you, my dear friend, can get more than double the return on your investment."

Sarkozy was overjoyed to hear this.

He invested 1 million euros in cash in Pacific Fund, and Xu Liang also lent him 4 million euros privately.

If he could double his money.

Even after deducting capital gains tax, he would still have 3.5 million euros left.

For him, this was a huge sum of money.

"Haha, Xu, this is really good news!"

"If it wasn't good news, I wouldn't dare to come and tell you."

Sarkozy: "Dear Xu, we are friends. Even if you lose money on your investment, I won't blame you."

Xu Liang just listened to this.

If he really lost money, the other party would not have this attitude.

Looking at his smiling face, Xu Liang felt that the time was almost right.