Chapter 1251: A situation that appears safe on the surface

'His actions are too forceful...'

Sumitomo family, Sumitomo Kosuke sincerely felt.

To be honest, he was shocked by Jiuding Securities and Xia Yu, who was behind the scenes.

Tiangong Automobile Group was blocked by the island's steel industry. They had analysed what choices Xia Yu would make, but they never expected that Xia Yu would dare to launch a takeover bid directly against the strongest company, Nippon Steel.

The confidence and financial resources behind such behaviour convinced him.

And Xia Yu's decisiveness and courage also impressed him.

This is just after a strong defeat of Mitsui Securities, he acquired a large company like Suntory, and also caused Mitsui Securities and Mitsui & Co. to lose hundreds of billions of yen, and then non-stop continued to clash with the Mitsui consortium.

Sumitomo Kosuke asked himself, he could never do such a thing.

This was a repeated provocation of the Mitsui financial group, and a slap in the face.

'His actions really surprised us, but on second thought, they make sense.'

'After all, no matter how much he has achieved, he is still a young man in his twenties, acting aggressively, and it makes sense that he would choose this kind of disruptive approach,'

Shinichi Sumitomo put down his teacup and muttered to himself.

'But as his opponent, you have to be careful. It's not enough that he acts aggressively, but he has been successful all the time, which is the most terrifying thing!'

Kosuke Sumitomo said sadly, 'Father, we are also his competitors. In the alcohol market, Asahi Beer, which belongs to our consortium, is the largest market player. After Suntory is controlled by him, I wonder how he will operate.'

Sumitomo Shinichi said with a faint smile, 'Competition is inevitable. Asahi Beer's market share is more than double that of Suntory's, and Kirin Beer's market share is also more than double that of Suntory's. Asahi Beer and Kirin Beer have always been competitive enough, and Suntory is facing the greatest pressure. We don't need to be nervous.'

'The structure of the alcohol market is not easily changed!'

'Without the experienced Torii family, Suntory's ability to maintain a normal level would be considered a great success.'

'What's more, Xia Yu is strong, but he has repeatedly targeted the Mitsui Consortium, and the Mitsui Consortium is not to be trifled with, so his energy will definitely be diverted for the most part.'

'Next, let's just watch their battle closely and use this opportunity to get a visual understanding of the strength of both sides.'

Kosuke Sumitomo nodded and gave a relaxed smile: 'The other few companies should also be watching.'

'That's for sure, hehe...'

Sumitomo Shinichi laughed.

Just then, Sumito Kumiko came downstairs and heard her father and grandfather laughing. She asked curiously, 'Grandpa, Dad, what are you talking about so happily?'

'Kumiko, come here, you should be interested,'

Sumito Shinichi smiled kindly and beckoned his granddaughter to come over.

Sumito Kumiko obediently walked over and sat down next to her grandfather at his bidding.

'Kumiko, your father and I were just talking about your friend Xia Yu, and he's done something big again...'

Sumitomo Kumiko's eyelashes trembled as she was unconsciously immersed in the content of what her grandfather was telling her, and her heart unconsciously fluctuated with the ups and downs of the plot.

...

'Ishida-kun, what's the attitude of the non-consortium shareholders?'

At the headquarters of Nippon Steel, President Ichiro Fujiwara called in Yoshio Ishida, the Secretary-General of the Board of Directors and Director of the Securities Department, to ask about the shareholders.

As the industrial materials leader within the Mitsui Zaibatsu, Nippon Steel had cross-shareholdings with other companies within the Zaibatsu, such as Toyota Motor, Toshiba and Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries. These shareholders had nothing to worry about and were able to fully implement the will of the Futagi-kai.

What really worried Ichiro Fujiwara and the others were the shareholders outside the Mitsui Zaibatsu.

Although Nippon Steel was the core of the Mitsui Zaibatsu, due to its complex history, it did not belong solely to the Mitsui Zaibatsu.

The reason it joined the Mitsui Group alone was simply because the Mitsui Group was the most powerful.

The predecessor of Nippon Steel was the government-owned Yawata Steel Works, which was established in 1897. In February 1934, the government-owned Yawata Steel Works merged with six private companies: Wanishi Steel, Kamaishi Mining, Fuji Steel, Toyo Steel, Mitsubishi Steel and Kyushu Steel.

In 1950, with the intervention of the United States, it was split up again into two steel companies, Yawata Steel and Fuji Steel, and Nippon Steel Shipbuilding and Harima Firebrick.

It was not until March 1970 that Yawata Steel and Fuji Steel merged again to form the new Nippon Steel Corporation, known as Nippon Steel today.

Currently, if we categorise the shareholders of Nippon Steel according to the shareholder list, the Mitsui group of companies has a combined shareholding of 34.9%, far exceeding the 9.5% of the Mitsubishi group of companies in second place.

Next comes the Fuji group of companies with 7.4%.

The Sumitomo group of companies, represented by Sumitomo Metal Industries as the main shareholder, has 5.3%.

The Dai-Ichi Kangyo group of companies has 4.7%.

And there is the Sanwa group of companies with 4.1%.

The remaining 34.1% of the shares are very dispersed, with financial investment institutions, retail investors, and former shareholders of the steel company that merged in the past, etc. Anyway, these shares seem to be many, but these shareholders are completely disunited and cannot be gathered together at all, posing no threat to the Mitsui Foundation's domination of Nippon Steel.

As for the other five major consortia, they will never unite against the Mitsui Foundation, because the shareholding structure of Nippon Steel is actually a microcosm of the relationship between the six consortia.

The six major consortia have long since infiltrated each other, so it is impossible for multiple consortia to unite in a single company or companies, unless the five major consortia unite to strangle a certain consortium.

However, this is an unlikely scenario because it is impossible to work together, and the news would definitely be leaked, making it impossible to execute.

However, just because the five major consortia cannot unite, it does not mean that shareholders from their respective factions will not choose to transfer their shares.

For example, among the top ten shareholders of Nippon Steel, insurance companies alone account for three, such as Island Life Insurance, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance, and Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance. They have money of their own, and hold Nippon Steel shares more to share the investment risk and preserve the value of their capital.

Therefore, as long as the money is enough, it is very simple for shareholders who are not part of the Mitsui Zaibatsu to transfer their shares.

Fujiwara Ichiro was worried about these shareholders.

With the shares spread out, they could not pose a threat to the Mitsui Zaibatsu's control.

However, if there is a risk of large-scale concentration of equity, measures must be taken immediately to prevent a strong influence from infiltrating.

Ishida Yoshio reported on the situation at length: 'President, I have already visited the other five managers who are in charge of the management committee. The Iwasaki and Ayukawa families have a clear attitude, and they approve of our management style and will not allow the companies below to transfer their equity.'

'The attitudes of the three companies, Sumitomo, Kangyin and Sanwa, were more perfunctory.'

'As for some other partners, I have also called them one by one, and they all expressed their support for us. As for whether it is true or not, further verification is needed.'

'I have already done the statistics.'

'As long as the shareholders of the Mitsubishi and Fuji consortia are willing to support us, then the shareholding ratio of the three of us will exceed 50%, which is very safe, and the acquisition by Jiuding Securities Company will definitely fail!'

'Dongdongdong...'

After listening to Ishida Yoshio's account, Fujiwara Ichiro's brow furrowed instead as he fell into deep thought, his fingers tapping the table unconsciously and making a thumping sound that made Ishida Yoshio's heart beat unconsciously half a beat slower.