My Life Can Hang

After listening to Li Changqing's report, Chen Dongcheng fell into silence for a while, and replied to the other party after a long time: "I will give you a contact information, you can contact the other party, no matter how much the Louis Moet Xuan Group offers, we will be one dollar more than the other party."

"Uh... ok, I see."

Li Changqing was a little stunned. He originally thought that the boss would choose to give up when he heard the news.

After all, they are not without alternatives. Although Carlson Hotel Group has a more complicated ownership structure, at least it does not have such a strong competitor as Louis Moet Xuan.

Who would have thought that the boss would be so stubborn, this is the meaning of fighting to the end with the Louis Minh Xuan Group!

"Okay, guys, hurry up, the boss has issued the latest instruction, no matter how much Louis Moet Xuan Group offers, we will be one dollar more than the other party."

Li Changqing hung up the phone and told the other members of the think tank about the boss's instructions.

"real or fake?"

"That's the Louis Moet Xuan Group, are you sure the boss is right?"

"I'm a little scared now, wrestling with a giant with a market value of [-] billion euros, can we really do it?"

The members of the think tank are talking a lot, and they are a little lacking in confidence.

Li Changqing suddenly remembered the string of numbers the boss gave him just now, and dialed it directly.

The call was quickly connected, and a hearty voice appeared on the other end.

"Hello, I'm the head of the Blue Eagle Fund, Peng Xiuqi, who are you?"

The meeting room suddenly became quiet, and everyone looked at Li Changqing in surprise.

Blue Eagle Fund is not well-known outside the circle, but it has made a splash in the circle.

The fundraising of 20 billion U.S. dollars was completed as quickly as possible. The investors are pension funds and social security funds from various countries, and their backgrounds are quite strong.

Could it be that this fund has something to do with the boss?

Li Changqing directly introduced his identity.

Peng Xiuqi threw out a huge melon that stunned all the think tank members at the scene!

"No problem, the boss has notified us in advance, we will mobilize 20 billion US dollars to replenish ammunition for your acquisition at any time."

Peng Xiuqi said with a smile: "As far as I know, there is another fund that has raised 30 billion US dollars, which will be the first main force to compete with LVMH.

I believe LVMH would be wise to back down in a timely manner, otherwise we wouldn't mind letting them lose a lot. "

Although they were laughing, everyone in the think tank felt a little chill in their necks.

The boss's wrist is too awesome, isn't it?

A $20 billion fund institution turned out to be just an option.

The main buyout fund turned out to be a company with a scale of 30 billion US dollars.

Ciao, the boss is going against the sky!

Chapter 437. 436, Crazy Bidding (First!)

The predecessor of Belmond Group is the Orient Express Group, which is the prototype of the story "Murder on the Orient Express" written by the suspense novelist Agatha.

The group originally operated a luxury train from Paris to Istanbul since the late 19th century.

Since that novel became popular, the Orient Express has also been crowned as a symbol of refinement and an elegant lifestyle.

However, after the war and the impact of new transportation technologies, such as the birth of airplanes and high-speed rail, luxury trains lost their market and gradually languished.

It was not until 1977 that James Sherwood, a navy veteran who graduated from Yale University, acquired the luxury train set that originally belonged to the Orient Express through auction, and spent a lot of money to restore the antique train.

With both the fame brought by novels and the luxury of investing a lot of money, the Orient Express has become popular again in Europe.

Tourists from all over the world come here.

Even if a one-way ticket from Paris to Venice costs £1200, there are still a lot of tourists.

James Sherwood took the opportunity to invest in some hotels along the train line, and then took advantage of its original cruise ship advantages to form a new Orient Express Group.

However, after several changes, the shares of the Orient Express Group have been jointly owned by the French Railways and the French state-owned railway transport group SNCF.

In other words, if you want to take down the Belmond Group, you must get the nod from the French Railways.

Recently, in addition to the Louis Moet Heen Group, the Accor Group has also begun to make offers to the Belmond Group.

Accor is the third largest hotel group in the world with a market capitalization of around US$150 billion.

Compared with the [-]-billion-euro Louis Moet Heen, Accor's only advantage is their relationship with the French Railways.

Even the brand ownership of the Orient Express was previously acquired by Accor and later transferred to the French Railways.

The Belmond Group suddenly became particularly popular.

There are only three known interested bidders, and other fund institutions and consortia are also potential buyers.

Now that the French Railways has decided to sell the Belmond Group, it must hope that the highest bidder will get it.

Belmond Group, which has been competed for by many consortia, has been soaring since the opening of the market.

Li Changqing and the others followed several rounds of bidding and found that the other two had no intention of backing down, so they hurriedly reported to Chen Dongcheng.

"Boss, the French Railway Bureau is hesitant at the moment, whether to choose to sell half of the equity, or to stay out of the way."

"If you sell half of the shares, the actual value of Belmond Group will be around $18 billion. Even if there is a bidding factor, we predict that $20 billion will be the limit."

"If the French railway agency chooses to sell outright, the value of Belmond will be greatly increased, and we predict it will reach about 25 billion US dollars."

"The above quotations are all ignoring the current debt of Belmond Group. If the other party's debt of 6 million US dollars is added, this transaction may exceed 30 billion US dollars."

After listening to Chen Dongcheng, he nodded and asked, "Which offer do the other two prefer?"

"Accor Group has a limited market value and not much funds to use. They are trying to persuade the French railway agency to sell only 50% of the shares, so they can be less pressured."

"Louis Moet Heen Group has strong financial resources and is more willing to adopt a wholly-owned acquisition plan. The offer is 23 billion US dollars without debt."

Li Changqing said with a smile: "But I think the French Railways should be more inclined to leave. Instead of continuing to waste energy on Belmond, it is better to sell it at one time."

"Besides, such a high-priced clearance opportunity is extremely rare, and I don't think Accor may be able to persuade it."

The two were chatting when Li Changqing's phone suddenly rang.

"Boss, the latest news, the French Railway Bureau has decided to liquidate Belmond's shares, and Accor has announced that it has withdrawn from the bidding!"

"Really?"

Li Changqing was pleasantly surprised: "That's great, you guys immediately make the latest round of offers, and I'll meet their CEO Roland Voss tomorrow."

Chen Dongcheng could hear Li Changqing's loudspeaker clearly.

Accor's management is still very wise, they just can't bear to miss the luxury hotel like Belmond.

Accor has always had ambitions to enter the luxury hotel segment.

Belmond Group is the perfect target that Accor has been looking for for a long time.

It's just that Accor never dreamed that Louis Moet and an outside foundation would take a fancy to Belmond at the same time.

The two crazy bidding directly forced Accor to withdraw from the bidding.

No matter which one wins Belmond, it will be a huge blow for Accor.

The field of top luxury hotels is not so easy to enter.

Otherwise, Accor would not have been able to come up with a loud brand for so many years.

Mandarin Oriental is too expensive for Accor to buy.

Finally, Belmond, who grew up under his nose, was targeted by a group of greedy competitors.

Accor's luck is indeed a bit weak.

"Boss, are you interested in meeting Roland Voss?"

"I'm gone. If there is any progress, just report it to me directly."

"Okay, then I'll go to work first."

Li Changqing left in a hurry before finishing his coffee.

……

Belmond Group.

In front of group president Roland Voss are two takeover offers.

There has been a long discussion within the group about which acquisition to accept.

Among them, the management agreed that instead of selling to an unknown fund institution, it is better to invest in Louis Moet.

After all, Louis Moet Xuan is in the luxury business, and there is some synergy with Belmond’s top luxury hotels.

Although the opinion of management is important, the decision of the board of directors is more critical.

In Belmond's board of directors, the French Railways is in full control.

Since they decided to get out, they must want to sell at a high price.

Seeing the French Railway Bureau let go, the two companies continued to make quotations.

"The latest offer from Louis Moet Heen is $24.5 billion, excluding debt."

"The King's Fund is a dollar more than LVMH, and it also has no debt."

"Louis Moet has raised its offer again, to $25 billion, still excluding debt."

"Damn, the King's Fund is still only one dollar higher than the other party."

……

Belmond's conference room was busy, and they were a little surprised by the persistence of the two consortiums.

Belmond, which was originally worth only $18 billion, was abruptly raised to $25 billion, and there was no sign of backing down.

Roland Voss frowned, apparently a little surprised that the King's Court Fund was biting so tightly.

Today, some information about the King's Court Fund is no longer mysterious.