Chapter 1101, nicknamed ‘Shadow Assassin’

The Guangming Fund suddenly took the initiative to disclose that it had successively acquired a total of 45.3% of the equity of the Busac Group from outside the market, plus the 5% originally held, and the 2.5% acquired today.

Bright Fund's shareholding in the Bussac Group has increased to 52.8%, more than half of the shares!

This news is simply shocking!

Some people were originally analysing the purpose of Bright Fund, but now what's the point of analysing it? The purpose of Bright Fund is as obvious as the lice on a monk's head.

Bright Fund is preparing to acquire the Bussac Group!

Many institutions are gearing up, mobilising funds in advance, preparing to intervene in the stock market after the opening of the stock market tomorrow to grab shares and take a little money out of the hands of the Bright Fund.

Of course, there are also many institutions that are unmoved. These institutions are precisely the previous shareholders, who have already privately sold their shares to the Bright Fund before, and naturally know that the Bright Fund is already absolutely sure before it is exposed.

It is too late to enter the market now!

Sure enough.

On the second morning, before the Paris Stock Exchange opened,

Bright Fund once again disclosed its shareholding.

From yesterday afternoon to this morning, a total of three private acquisitions were completed.

The number of shares acquired in the three acquisitions was 4.9%, 4.8% and 4.5% respectively!

In fact, all three shares were previously hidden in other shell companies with no affiliated relationships, and all were below the 5% threshold that did not require disclosure.

Overnight, Bright Fund's shareholding ratio skyrocketed from 52.8% to 67%!

A familiar scene played out once again.

As the absolute controlling shareholder of the Bouyssac Group, the Bright Fund applied to the Paris Stock Exchange for a suspension of trading, which was approved by the exchange.

Investors who had been ready to speculate on the Bouyssac Group's stock after the opening bell today were suddenly dumbfounded.

As usual, the Bright Fund's wool was indeed difficult to pluck!

One investor complained that Bright Fund was like a 'Shadow Assassin': lurking in the dark, waiting for the right moment to pounce and strike.

This comment was echoed by many others, and soon the nickname 'Shadow Assassin' was all over the stock exchange.

...

Bright Fund office.

'Shadow Assassin?'

Xia Yu muttered the name, shaking his head with a faint smile. He wondered who had come up with such a name, obsessed as they were with medieval fantasy legends.

Leo Martin, sitting opposite Xia Yu, saw his boss shaking his head and thought that Xia Yu didn't like the name. He said helplessly, 'Boss, we are clearly bringing light to investors, but now we are being called villains. Do we respond to this?'

Xia Yu smiled and nodded, saying, 'Of course we have to respond. This nickname is also an honour.'

'Honour?'

Leo Martin was stunned, frowning as he tried to figure out what Xia Yu meant.

Xia Yu kept smiling and continued, 'Doesn't the shadow assassin's one-shot kill of the target prey symbolise the level of our investment banking business?'

'As for the assassin being a villain hiding in the dark?'

'There is also another deeper explanation when applied to our Bright Fund.'

'We walk in the darkness, but our hearts are always towards the light!'

'We are committed to bringing light to investors, partners and society!'

Leo Martin's eyes lit up, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that his boss's explanation from this perspective was very appropriate.

'Boss, I will let the newspapers under the Mirror Group promote this aspect, which will definitely bring great fame to our company!'

Xia Yu nodded with a smile, agreeing.

There were thousands of financial companies in Paris, but none of them had such a fantastical title. If the Bright Foundation wore the well-known nickname 'Shadow Assassin', it would definitely attract a lot of attention. With attention, there would naturally be a steady stream of benefits.

As for the negative impact?

There is always a way to solve it, and what is a little negative impact compared to the greater positive impact?

'Okay, Leo, complete the acquisition and split of the Bussac Group as soon as possible.'

'And don't forget to complete the task I assigned you earlier and give me the complete materials as soon as possible!'

Xia Yu put on a serious face and instructed Leo Martin.

'Okay!'

The latter nodded solemnly in response, then said something to Xia Yu and left the office.

...

Bright Fund completed its acquisition of an absolute controlling interest in the Bussac Group, and the receiving company naturally had no resistance.

The employee union, which was causing trouble, would respond to the employees' demands after Bright Fund announced that it needed to fully complete the takeover of the company. Continuing the strike would only delay the process, and the employee union temporarily subsided.

We are all adults, and we understand the bare minimum.

When a new boss comes in, you have to give the new boss some time. Besides, Bright Fund is a well-known financial giant with a lot of money. A while ago, it threw out billions and billions of dollars to acquire companies, so it definitely has money to spare.

After taking over the BUSSAC Group, Bright Fund, as the absolute controlling shareholder, was able to issue all orders without hindrance.

The first thing to do was, of course, to apply for privatisation and then issue a general offer to all shareholders.

In terms of price, Bright Fund's offer was not too bad.

After all, the market value of the Bussac Group was only 620 million Hong Kong dollars at its peak. Now that they have two-thirds of the shares, only 33% of the shares are still in circulation. With so much attention focused on it, it would be hurtful to expect to save tens of millions of francs. More importantly, it would be a waste of time.

The entire privatisation process took just five days, and the remaining shares were all repurchased. Faced with the absolute control of Bright Capital, no shareholder would be delusional enough to think they could hold their own against Bright Capital. It would be better to take what you can get and invest the money in other stocks, or simply buy the investment funds set up by the Bright Capital company.

After the privatisation was complete, statistics showed that the acquisition of the entire BUSSAC Group had cost a total of 463.53 million francs.

The short-selling gain was 46.59 million francs.

So the actual cost was only 416.94 million francs.

After taking full ownership of the Bussac Group, the action of the Bright Fund was uninhibited.

During the five days of privatisation, the team of the Bright Fund also conducted a comprehensive audit of the Bussac Group's funds and formulated a preliminary plan.

The first step was to directly split the perfume division, which had a complete perfume factory from research and development to production, a total of 1,319 employees, and perfume brands such as Dior, Labs and Roc.

The total assets of the perfume division were 279.5 million francs, net assets 96.5 million francs, and liabilities 183 million francs.

The debt was fully repaid in advance by the LVMH fund.

With no debt, the perfume division's assets were all net assets.

And since the perfume division was already a high-quality asset within the Boucheron Group, its value could not be calculated solely on the basis of net assets.

Then, under the leadership of the LVMH fund, the LVMH Group made a pure stock acquisition of the Boucheron Group's perfume division.

After the news broke, it caused a big impact within the Boucheron Group, but this impact was positive.

At the very least, the 1,319 employees of the perfume division were very excited.

Bussac Group was a sinking ship, while LVMH was a strong company with a bright future. After joining LVMH, they had nothing to worry about their jobs.

As a result, the 1,000-strong staff of the perfume division became the envy of the other employees of the Boucheron Group.

And because of this beginning, there was no longer any resistance within the Boucheron Group to the asset accounting and division work of the Bright Fund. Some people even looked forward to whether they could get better treatment and more stable salaries in a different company.

On the LVMH side, Alain Chevalier, who had acquired the perfume sales business of the Boucheron Group before the merger, was also the most positive.

The merger also went without a hitch.

After the Perfume Division of the Boucheron Group was merged into the LVMH Group, the total share capital of the company increased to 122,650,000 shares, and the Bright Fund held 113,180,000 shares, increasing its shareholding from 91.74% to 92.28%.

The shareholding of the Vuitton family once again decreased by 0.5%, to 7.26%.

As for the integration work after the subsequent merger, it was Alan Chevalier's business, and Xia Yu did not pay any more attention.

He focused his energy on another area!

It was now the end of February, and his stay in France would not be for long.

And on this side of France, he had only laid a preliminary foundation in the wine and luxury goods industries, and progress was a bit slow...

It wasn't that he didn't trust the abilities of Leo Martin, but there were some things that could only be done by someone who could see into the future, in order to obtain the greatest benefits.