Chapter 1100: The lvmh Group's value breaks through 10 billion
Although in his previous life, Xia Yu knew that the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti produced only 600 bottles of wine in 1945, he had no idea how much was actually left before he bought it. He never expected there to be 420 bottles!
Not only is the quality of this vintage extremely high, but the quantity is also very rare. Coupled with the fact that production was discontinued for six consecutive years afterwards, this has only increased its rarity and legendary status.
Even if the 1945 vintage of Romanee Conti is not the best in terms of quality, it is worth collectors' speculation just for other factors!
When you think that in 2018 a bottle of 1945 Romanee Conti was sold for 3.86 million yuan, and that this batch of 420 bottles is so hyped up that it could be worth 200-300 million US dollars in the future,
When you get to the end, the list ends in 1978, with a storage quantity of 6,589 bottles, which is the production volume, and the harvest and brewing time is October 22nd.
Xia Yu remembers that the quality of the Romanee-Conti wine in this year was extremely high, and the world's evaluation of this year's wine was also extremely high.
Xia Yu then asked André Nobre, 'Old Nobre, is the wine from the 1970s the best quality from 1978?'
André Nobre nodded and said, 'Boss, the weather in the 1970s was generally bad. 1978 was the best year of the decade. The cold weather in the spring and early summer of that year caused the vines to bloom late, and the weather did not improve until August. Fortunately, the weather was relatively good throughout the autumn, allowing the grapes to fully ripen. However, the harvest was also delayed a lot, from October 16th to October 22nd.'
'Although it takes more than ten years for the wine to ferment and stabilise, my experience tells me that the 1978 vintage is indeed excellent. Although it is not the best vintage in the history of the winery, it is still one of the best.'
'I see,'
Xia Yu nodded with a smile, then closed the register and said to André Nobre, 'Show me the wines that have been stored for a hundred or two years, and the 1945 vintage.'
'Okay!'
After saying this, André Nobre led Xia Yu out of the registration room.
During the lunch after the viewing, Xia Yu also opened the oldest bottle of wine brought out, the 1754 vintage, and everyone present shared some, much to the surprise of Curtis Dubois, who had never drunk wine that was more than two hundred years old.
He couldn't help but think that it was really worthwhile to come with the boss this time.
Everyone sipped this wine carefully, because the biggest taboo with old wine is to keep shaking the glass, which can greatly affect the taste.
In particular, the winemaker André Nobre tasted this bottle with a pilgrim's mentality, as if the bottle of wine was his faith, which moved Xia Yu.
This should be the belief passed down from a family of top winemakers!
However, I have to say that a wine that is qualified to be stored for 228 years is definitely one of the top quality, otherwise it would not have lasted until now.
After more than 200 years of precipitation, it is hard to say whether the wine has passed its peak, but it is smooth and full-bodied in the mouth, with a long aftertaste and outstanding depth. Xia Yu felt that it was much better than the 1787 Lafite!
After lunch, Xia Yu left André Nobre and gave him an order: all the wines before 1900 must be stored securely, and no one is allowed to take away a single bottle without his order.
Then the 1945 batch will no longer be sold to the public.
He would arrange for someone to be in charge of how it was operated.
Before leaving, Xia Yu took out a list with some of the wines he was taking with him, and asked André Nobre to pack them in boxes, which he would send someone to collect in a civilian helicopter at a later date.
The list contained a total of 1,000 bottles of wine, which would be divided into four batches and shipped to London, Paris, San Francisco and Hong Kong, with 600 bottles going to Hong Kong.
Because the biggest enemy of aged wine is shaking, Xia Yu plans to transport the entire shipment by air, even if it means transporting the Burgundy to Paris by civilian helicopter.
A small shipping fee is nothing for this shipment!
Not two days after returning, George Berkeley reported the result to him: Château Latour was bought in its entirety for 120 million pounds.
Xia Yu's attitude towards Château Latour was different again, because compared to Domaine de la Romanée-Conti's average annual output of 6,000 bottles, Château Latour's annual output was as high as 200,000 bottles, suitable for the lower-end market of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.
Therefore, Château Latour would be the main force in selling high-end red wine to the outside world.
Therefore, Xia Yu asked George Berkeley to transfer all of the shares of Château Latour to the French Bright Fund, and then immediately notified Alain Chevalier to merge Château Latour into the LVMH Group.
As a wine giant, LVMH not only needs to dominate the mid-range market, but also needs high-quality wines to enhance its brand value. Château Latour, as the second of the five great châteaux on the left bank of Bordeaux, is more than qualified!
I remember that in 1998, the LVMH Group, under the leadership of Bernard Arnold, bought a high stake in Château Cheval Blanc. Although Château Cheval Blanc is also one of the top ten châteaux in France, it is still slightly inferior to Château Latour.
Moreover, there is a big difference between simply buying a stake and fully owning a top chateau!
Although it is a merger, Château Latour will continue to produce independently, and will only be merged into the company in terms of sales operations.
So it was a simple matter to merge the companies at the outset by means of a share swap.
Although the Vuitton family could no longer influence decisions at LVMH, Alain Chevalier respected their wishes and called an extraordinary board meeting.
Although a pure share swap would have reduced their shareholding once again, the Vuitton family supported the integration of a top-quality asset such as Château Latour into the group, given that they had already lost management control.
Afterwards, the Bright Fund produced an acquisition contract, and the value of Château Latour was calculated according to the purchase price.
120 million pounds, which after conversion at the current exchange rate was 1.292 billion francs.
The LVMH Group acquired Château Latour by way of a pure share issue. The original value of the LVMH Group was 8.8 billion francs, with a total share capital of 100 million shares, giving a value of 88 francs per share.
Therefore, the company issued 14.7 million new shares to the Bright Fund, and the entire equity of Château Latour was transferred from under the Bright Fund to under the LVMH Group. The value of the LVMH Group soared to 10.92 billion francs, finally breaking the 10 billion mark!
After the completion of the acquisition through private placement, the total share capital of the LVMH Group was 114.7 million shares, and the Bright Fund held 105.23 million shares of the LVMH Group, accounting for 91.74% of the total share capital, an increase of 1.21%.
The Vuitton family's shareholding fell from 8.9% to 7.76%.
The shareholding of Henry Rigaud, who had been hiding, fell from 0.568% to 0.495%.
After the acquisition of Château Latour, Xia Yu still felt that LVMH needed to continue to strengthen.
Coincidentally, the Bright Fund's plan to acquire the Bussac Group was progressing very smoothly.
By Wednesday, 24 February, the strike at the Bussac Group had intensified.
The market value of the Bussac Group had fallen to around 310 million francs.
The major shareholder, Bright Fund, with a 5% stake, suddenly began to buy up shares on the stock market without any disguise.
By the time the news spread, Bright Fund had bought a large number of shares, increasing its stake to 7.5%.
The price of the Bussac Group's shares also began to rise. By the afternoon closing, the price had risen 26.4% compared to the morning opening price, a substantial increase, and the market value was set at 392 million francs.
But just as many shareholders and certain institutions were analysing the significance of the actions of the Bright Fund, those who were still at the Paris Stock Exchange were shocked by a sudden piece of news.