Chapter 1102 Acquisition progress

Unknowingly, it was already March.

When he opened the calendar holder on the table at home, Xia Yu had a feeling that time was flying.

It seemed like the blink of an eye, and he had already been in France for more than three months...

While leisurely reading the newspaper over breakfast, Li Wuming suddenly came over with an envelope in his hand and whispered something in Xia Yu's ear.

Xia Yu's eyes flashed, and then he opened the envelope and took out the information inside to read it.

The information was sent by Luowang, and it was usually about major events or things that he had ordered to be paid attention to. Luowang would constantly send information to him.

This kind of covert intelligence, combined with the overt news sent by the Jiuding News Agency, allows Xia Yu to have a clear picture of major events around the world, so that he can better formulate strategies or issue orders.

Today's intelligence is very important, and it comes from New York, USA.

Argentine President Galterri led a delegation to visit the United States and was received by Ronald Reagan.

Combined with the intelligence received on February 16, the foreign ministers of Argentina and the United Kingdom negotiated in New York, but the negotiations broke down.

There is no doubt that when the negotiations broke down last time, Galtieri was already restless and wanted to clash with the UK, but he didn't have the confidence to do so, so he hoped to gain the support of the United States, one of the two poles, and that is why he personally led a delegation to visit the United States.

The reason for the visit was very formal. As the newly appointed president, he had not yet formally paid his respects to the United States.

And Ronald Reagan also accepted Galtieri's request for an audience.

The specific content of the negotiations was definitely not monitored, but Xia Yu was able to guess.

'Galetti seems to have forgotten that Ronald Reagan was once an actor!'

'A president full of brawn, but who has never been to war...'

'Haha...'

Xia Yu let out a light laugh, then threw the information into the fire nearby, watching as the blank sheet of paper filled with information burned to ashes.

'The time I can spend in France is getting less and less...'

After this thought flashed through his mind, Xia Yu slightly accelerated the pace of his breakfast, and after finishing, drove to the Guangming Foundation.

...

After Xia Yu arrived at the office, Léo Martin came in with a folder and reported to him.

'Boss, this is a list of the acquisitions we have completed this month. Please have a look!'

'Hmm, let me see,'

Xia Yu smiled and nodded, took the folder and read it.

In late January, he made a list of acquisitions for Leo Martin, asking him to contact Standard Chartered Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland to apply for financial support and use the bank's funds to acquire some targets.

Now almost forty days have passed, and the mergers and acquisitions department of Guangming Fund has also completed a lot of tasks.

The main focus is on the wine market.

The French company Vignobles & Domaines, a large producer and seller of mid-to-low-end wines, was acquired by the Bright Fund for 21% of the company's shares, at a cost of 142 million francs.

The Bright Fund also acquired 29% of the shares of the European wine retail chain leader and world's largest wine chain, Edouard Nicolas SA, which is also an unlisted company, becoming its second largest shareholder, at a cost of 130 million francs.

Edouard Nicolas now has 285 stores, which is a significant boost to LVMH's sales.

Bright Fund has also secretly acquired a total of 15.4% of the shares of the Pernod Ricard Group in separate accounts. If this were announced, it would be enough to make Bright Fund the largest shareholder of this listed company.

The Pernod Ricard Group was established after the Moët Hennessy Wine Group. It was formed in 1975 by the merger of two listed companies, the Pernod Group, founded in 1805, and the Ricard Group, founded in 1932. After the merger, it became the dominant player in the aniseed liqueur market. Its current market value is 4.78 billion francs, which is only 1.1 billion francs lower than that of the Moët Hennessy Wine Group, which was acquired.

However, the company's shareholding is even more dispersed than that of Moët Hennessy. The largest shareholder is the Ricard family, with a 13.1% stake and 20% of the voting rights.

The second largest shareholder is the Pernod family, with a 9.2% stake and 15% of the voting rights.

Although the two families only hold a small percentage of the shares, they have a combined 35% of the voting rights. Both families are also founders of the company, which is enough to give investors and shareholders confidence. Therefore, even though the company's shares are widely dispersed, they are still enough to jointly control the company.

The company is chaired by the Pernod family and the Ricard family in rotation. The current chairman is Patrick Ricard of the Ricard family.

Xia Yu remembers clearly that the Pernod Ricard Group has undergone a series of mergers and acquisitions in the future, and has finally developed into one of the world's three major spirits and wine groups. In 2011, its turnover exceeded 23 billion US dollars, ranking second in the world's wine industry.

This company was also the focus of Xia Yu's efforts to get Léo Martin to buy it.

When deciding on a target for action, the Pernod Ricard Group had once been Xia Yu's primary consideration, but then he considered the need to balance the wine and luxury goods sectors, and decided to get the LVMH Group out of the way first, so he put the Pernod Ricard Group aside for the time being.

However, after the establishment of the LVMH Group, the plan to acquire the Pernod Ricard Group of course had to be followed up immediately.

As long as LVMH can merge with Pernod Ricard, then Bright Food can occupy a leading position in the French wine market, which is a strategic goal!

Of course, in addition to the three mission objectives in the wine market, in the retail sector, Xia Yu also assigned a mission objective, which is Carrefour.

Carrefour is the world's second-largest retail company after Wal-Mart.

But at present, although Carrefour is the pioneer of hypermarkets, it cannot even rank among the top ten in the French retail market. Carrefour was listed in 1970, 11 years after its establishment, and its market value has only just exceeded 4 billion francs.

There is no way around it. The retail industry has always been one of the mainstream industries in society, both in ancient times and in modern times. There are still many old retail giants in France that have been in existence for hundreds of years, and they are basically controlled by large families.

Carrefour's founders, Marcel Fournier and Louis de Freitas, were both just ordinary people, which is why they have managed to retain a cumulative shareholding of just under 30% to this day.

In contrast, the Muriel family, which founded the Auchan Group, has retained 100% control for 20 years now, and it is still in the hands of the Muriel family.

That said...

The current low market value of Carrefour has just reduced Xia Yu's acquisition cost.

After lurking for more than a month, the Bright Fund spent a total of 823 million francs to secretly acquire 19.5% of Carrefour's shares, although the majority of them were non-voting common shares.

But Xia Yu didn't care, what he was eyeing was Carrefour's excellent business model and future potential.

Besides, the founders Marcel Fournier and Louis de Freitas were not from large families, as long as the Bright Fund got in, there were ways to increase their shareholding until they ended up taking over the company.

...

After putting down the documents, Xia Yu instructed Léo Martin, 'Léo, the progress of these acquisitions is quite good, but you still need to tell them to continue to speed up.'

'In particular, the French wine company, Edouard Nicolas Co., Ltd. and the Pernod Ricard Group, the shareholdings of these three companies are relatively dispersed, and the acquisition will not be too difficult. Be sure to complete it by the end of March! You still have a whole month!'

'And Carrefour, continue to increase the intensity of the acquisition!'

'With the full support of Standard Chartered Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland, you don't need to tell me that it can't be done!'

Leo Martin was still rejoicing when he heard Xia Yu's stern words behind him. He was shocked, straightened his shoulders, and replied with a serious face, 'Boss, I will do my best to speed up the process!'

Xia Yu nodded slightly, and just as he was about to dismiss him, he suddenly remembered a news story he had read in the newspaper the other day, about the Decathlon sports store.

This retailer, which specialises in sporting goods, has gone on to become one of the world's top companies, with annual sales of over 10 billion euros.

Now it is just a small company that has only been established for six years, and it doesn't even have many stores yet. It is at its weakest, and its founder, Michel Rousselet, is also an ordinary person. This is the perfect time to strike!

He told Léo Martin again, 'Léo, there is a company in France called Decathlon, a retailer that focuses on sporting goods. The founder is called Michel Lelièvre. Go and acquire this company. On the premise of retaining its founder, acquire as much of the equity as possible.'

Léo Martin obediently nodded and said, "Okay!'

'Do you have anything else?" Xia Yu glanced at Léo Martin and asked softly.

'No!' Leo Martin decisively shook his head.

'Boss, I'll get back to work then!'

'Go!' Xia Yu said, before picking up a newspaper sitting nearby and reading it...