The Industrial Giant Reborn

"There are two companies, one is from a steel tycoon family in Germany, and the other is from the Netherlands. It seems to be engaged in deep-sea fishery. However, it seems that neither of these two companies can come up with direct cash. Not only do they need loans, but they also need to be divided into batches. Payment, it’s not like we can pay it all in one lump sum, I guess AC Milan’s current shareholders want to use these two companies to lower our price.” Xiang Tianyou said with a smile.

"It's really an inexplicable industry that has come to play football." Chen Zhiwen said helplessly, shaking his head.

After all, he has a reason to buy a football team. Red Bull, which he owns, has a deep relationship with sports. He spends hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising every year. In this case, buying a sports team is economically beneficial. From a logical point of view, it is very reasonable. The team itself can make money, and it has not reduced its advertising investment. Although the advertising fees will still be given to the stars, it has entered an internal cycle. This is the case with American basketball and European football.

Even helping Henry Morgan win the NBC TV station would be beneficial to him. Unfortunately, Europe can't copy it, and there is no relationship with a relatively good local giant, so naturally he will forget it.

But some people who are engaged in fishing and steel also buy football teams for fun, and 80% of them should be for the fun of the second generation. Normal entrepreneurs do not mean that they will not buy teams that they are interested in, but they will only do so if they are at least very rich. . But these two companies have problems with payment, obviously they don't have enough funds.

"Ever since the first oil crisis, the European economy has not been very good, and many industries have also declined. Otherwise, if we wanted to acquire AC Milan, we would probably have more strong competitors." Xiang Tianyou said with a smile.

"Yes, yes, but we still have to settle it as soon as possible. Summer is coming soon. Before the best-selling season of Red Bull comes, this matter needs to be settled. As for the funds, it is okay to provide some funds, but since the price is high, then we will Let’s make an installment payment and let them choose!” Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

The price is high and can be paid in installments. In fact, it may be more friendly to the acquirer, and the financial pressure is much less. In fact, the market size of Red Bull is already quite large. However, in the past few years, it was losing money to compete for the market, so it has been slightly better in the past two years. Firstly, it is not because there is less money spent, but because the market is larger and profits are higher, so there is some liquidity that can be mobilized.

"Okay, I will negotiate with them again." Xiang Tianyou replied.

"Is there anything else?" Chen Zhiwen asked, seeing Xiang Tianyou's expression hesitant to speak.

"That's right, Mr. Chen, an opposition official from the Italian automobile industry came to me a few days ago. He heard that you are interested in acquiring a British automobile company?" Xiang Tianyou said.

"Yes, what does he mean?" Chen Zhiwen nodded and asked. Since he proposed the acquisition of Mini and Rolls-Royce, relevant people in the entire European and even global automobile industry may have known about it. It is useless to keep this kind of thing a secret, others will be The acquirer is definitely not willing. After all, having one more person to compete is definitely the most cost-effective for the acquiree.

"What the Italian government means is that if we are interested, they can sell some Italian car brands to you." Xiang Tianyou said.

"Italian car brands? Which ones?" Chen Zhiwen suddenly became interested.

Although Italy has a lot of laughs, its industrial level is still pretty good. Whether it's cars or various processing machinery and equipment, although it's not as good as Germany, it can still be considered among the top ten in the world. The local brand Fiat will have very low popularity in the mainland in the future. This is because Fiat missed the opportunity to open up the mainland market. However, it is still very popular in other markets around the world, especially in parts of Europe, South America, etc., ranking among Among the top ten car brands in the world, not one is vegetarian.

There are also many high-end car brands, such as Alfa Romeo, which is on the same level as Mercedes-Benz and BMW, Maserati, which is on the same level as Porsche, and supercar brand Ferrari, etc.

Not to mention all, there are at least a few brands that Chen Zhiwen is interested in. However, in the automobile industry, development must be done step by step. It took him several years to slowly and completely control AMC. Now the most important thing is to acquire British brands. For other places, you have to wait. After all, there are too many acquisitions at one time, and funds may not be a problem, but the development of the automobile industry cannot be successful only by funds.

But if it comes to his door, Chen Zhiwen is still interested in knowing about it, because if the other party takes the initiative, at least part of the say will be on his side, which will be very conducive to future management.

"It's Maserati." Xiang Tianyou said.

"Maserati? Not bad. Does this Maserati belong to the Italian government or who now? Why is it for sale?" Chen Zhiwen nodded and asked.

In fact, he thinks the best one is Ferrari, because Red Bull also needs to participate in sponsoring F1 racing cars and Ferrari is the king of racing cars.

Maserati used to be a racing brand, but in the 1950s, during a race, the sports car ran off the track, killing more than a dozen spectators and injuring dozens of others. It was later confirmed that the problem was with the quality of the car, which made Maserati keen at the time. Maserati, which participated in the racing competition, was severely hit and almost went bankrupt because of this incident. After that, Maserati withdrew from the racing competition program and concentrated on making ordinary commercial sports cars. The brand level also slowly dropped from the same level as Ferrari McLaren to Although the level of Porsche is still very high, the market is much bigger.

"Maserati was acquired by France's Citroën in the late 1960s. Later, due to the first oil crisis, it was taken over by an Italian state-owned enterprise. However, the business failed, and it was acquired by an Argentinian named Thomas, who was quite capable. It invested a lot of money to develop a Kyalami commercial sedan, mainly to compete with the Mercedes-Benz SL series, but the sales were too miserable. 210 cars were sold in 3 years, and the losses were very serious. However, Maserati launched the SL series the year before last A biturbo, compared to the BMW 5 Series sedan, the sales volume is not bad, about 2,000 units a year, but it still cannot withstand the failure of the kyalami model, so it can only be sold." Xiang Tianyou explained:

"Such luxury brands often lose money. It is said that even Fiat doesn't want it, because Fiat itself suffered serious losses due to the two oil crises, so Italy came to find me. I hope I can Send a message to your boss."

"You really treat me like a golden mountain." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said, "Did they say the price?"

"No, we probably need to talk about it ourselves, but I checked and found out that the Argentine behind Maserati has suffered heavy losses in his assets in Argentina. I guess he also wants to cash out quickly. Otherwise, will there be a sovereign debt crisis?" It’s hard to say how it will affect our countrymen abroad,” Xiang Tianyou said.

"Maybe he is worried that his assets will be seized by the International Court of Justice. Is he not an Italian citizen?" Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

When a country defaults on its sovereign debt, the International Court of Justice may directly block the assets of its citizens abroad. Although it is uncommon, it is possible. Some countries may even directly seize cargo ships, oil tankers and other materials. The United States often does this This kind of thing, but I am not really interested in these three melons and two dates, but I want to use this kind of thing to put pressure on countries that have defaulted on their debts, forcing them to sign some special leaps, or they want to force some internal parties in these countries to do so. Rich people will transfer funds out, so that countries that default on their debts will only have more economic collapse, making it easier for American capital to come in and harvest.

"No, maybe I still want to keep my Argentine citizenship. It's too late to become a European citizen now," Xiang Tianyou said.

"Well, since I have this opportunity, I really can't give it up. I will ask Tian Xuecheng to send another team over to negotiate with Italy." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

Although luxury brand cars often lose money, they are also brand guarantees. In many cases, they first engage in technology research and development, then make prototypes for testing, and then sell them to ordinary commercial vehicles.

It’s because the market itself is too small, and it’s expensive but still losing money. After all, the automobile industry mainly relies on volume to make profits, which is opposite to the positioning of luxury cars. Therefore, various luxury brands on the market in the future will , were all acquired because they could not survive on their own.

If you can't acquire Rolls-Royce and Bentley, then acquiring Maserati is a good choice. If the British side succeeds, it doesn't matter here. Anyway, the price points and positioning of the two luxury brands are different, and a business luxury brand A sedan, a sports car that is more of a family performance vehicle.

"Okay, then I'll communicate with the Italian government first, and then let Tian Sheng get in touch." Xiang Tianyou said.

"However, Maserati does not participate in the competition. Even if we want to participate after the acquisition, we will not be able to get in soon. You have to know this first. This brand may not be of much help to Red Bull." Chen Zhiwen added.

The cars participating in the event are different from civilian cars. If you want to participate, you have to redesign and develop. Although the R\u0026D test cycle of racing cars may not be as rigorous as that of civilian cars, it still takes a long time and there is no experience for many years. Chen Zhiwen also I don’t really want to go through such trouble. Ninety-nine percent of the time I won’t get results. After all, my opponents are all luxury supercar brands with good technical content and rich experience. How can I get a newbie? Even if you invest heavily, you may not know how many years it will take to get into the top few. The benefit ratio is too bad.

"It doesn't matter. It would be great if we could have an F1 car, but it would be fine if we didn't. Besides, there are so many luxury supercar brands in Europe. We'll talk about it when we have the opportunity in the future," Xiang Tianyou said with a smile.

"Well, that's good. In fact, there is also a Lotus car in the UK, which was acquired by Toyota last year. Otherwise, I would have done it this time." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said.

The British luxury supercar Lotus was acquired by Toyota last year, and the contact between the two parties can be traced back to a few years ago. Naturally, Chen Zhiwen cannot compete with Toyota for a luxury supercar brand. In his memory, this brand has It will still be sold to General Motors by Toyota in a few years. At that time, if you have not chosen a suitable brand in this field, you can consider getting involved again.

As for the Ferrari he wants most, the timing is not very good at the moment. It is Fiat's most well-known brand and may not be very profitable. However, Fiat regards it as a signature and is unlikely to sell it. Even decades later, it is still Whether Fiat Holdings has a chance or not is hard to say in the future.