Hong Kong's new giants

Chapter 659 [Taking down Gucci]

Italy, Milan.

In a conference room, Lin Zuhui met with Andre and his team to hear the progress of the acquisition of Gucci.

"At present, Gucci's management has only two options: first, ask us to fully acquire Gucci, which will cost us about 80 billion U.S. dollars. This price is very attractive to Gucci shareholders, after all, the premium is very high; The second is to find helpers and issue new shares to dilute our equity, for example, the French LVMH group is eyeing Gucci."

Lin Zuhui heard the words and said: "LVMH Group is not as good as us. This group has always only subscribed for holding shares, and then sucked blood into subsidiaries to develop the group. Gucci's management must also understand that if LVMH helps them, it is nothing more than wanting to suck up Gucci's blood. Let Gucci's competitors, such as LV, develop better."

A senior executive echoed and said: "BOSS is right. It is impossible for Gucci to introduce LVMH Group. Moreover, according to legal procedures, Gucci's management has no right to formulate the right to issue new shares before we deny the full acquisition."

Lin Zuhui nodded and said, "I never thought about controlling Gucci either. From the very beginning, I planned to make a full acquisition and re-list when the time is right."

At this time, the Hilton Hotel has already embarked on the road of reform. After the replacement of the new management team, the Hilton Hotel is changing in an orderly manner.

Similarly, in Lin Zuhui's view, the cost of acquiring Gucci at $80 billion is not high.Gucci, at its peak in the previous life, had an annual profit of around US$30 billion, accounting for 60% to 70% of the Kering Group. It was simply a super cash cow.

The two countries that contributed the most are the United States and China, so Gucci's potential is unlimited.

Andre said: "We have already negotiated with several banks. They are willing to provide loans of about 30 billion U.S. dollars for special funds for the acquisition of Gucci. The acquisition of insufficient funds will use Barings Bank customer funds for investment."

Barings Bank has become the darling of the financial world. After all, large-scale mergers and acquisitions require banks to provide loans, and future re-listing requires investment banks and securities companies to underwrite stocks, which will generate a lot of wealth.

Lin Zuhui nodded and said, "Then get ready and officially launch a full acquisition of Gucci!"

"Ok!"

For the acquisition of Gucci, Lin Zuhui drew 40 billion US dollars from Hengjin Investment, and these funds were cashed out from American bank stocks such as Citibank and Wells Fargo.

In the past year, Lin Zuhui has continuously injected a full 90 billion U.S. dollars into Barings Bank, and Barings Bank has become a full-fledged giant.With the improvement of influence, more and more public funds are entrusted to the management of Barings Bank, and Barings Bank will naturally grow stronger.

Andre brought the team to Gucci headquarters, where Felinder and Gucci management received them.

Although they were very annoyed by the hostile takeover of Barings Bank, Felind and others had a premonition of what Barings Bank was going to do next, so they did not dare to act rashly.

When he came to the meeting room, Felinder tentatively asked, "What does it mean that Barings Bank violently increased its holdings of Gucci Group's stock in a short period of time?"

Andre said with a smile: "Of course we are optimistic about the development prospects of Gucci Group, we plan to invest in it!"

A Gucci executive immediately said: "Bahrain Bank acquired 34.4% of the shares to control Gucci. However, this is unrealistic. After the agreement of Gucci's board of directors, we hope that Bahrain Bank will offer to acquire all the shares of Gucci."

As soon as the words fell, Gucci's senior executives looked at the group of Barings Bank with complicated expressions.

If Barings refuses a full takeover, they think it is the best outcome, because they have a way to deal with Barings.

But if Barings agrees to a full takeover, Gucci shareholders seem to be very happy, because the premium is so high.

Andre immediately said: "No problem, we are already preparing legal documents and formally proposing a comprehensive acquisition. This time I came to Gucci, just to inform everyone. After all, we will be partners in the future, and we hope to get along with each other."

"What? Are you really going to buy Gucci in its entirety?" Felinder said incredulously.

Andre said lightly: "Of course! I believe that this is what Gucci shareholders are very happy to see. And we also know that if we don't do this, according to the resolution of the Gucci board of directors in 1995, the Gucci board of directors has the right to report to the Gucci board of directors within five years. The legal entity is offering shares, which means our stake is at risk of being diluted. However, from the beginning, we intend to buy Gucci outright.”

Gucci's management immediately felt that a punch had been punched into the air, and the strength and determination of others were greater than expected.

A senior executive couldn't help but said: "You bought Gucci at such a high premium, don't you worry that it is not worth it?"

Andre said with a smile: "We estimate that it will cost about 80 billion US dollars to acquire it. Naturally, we think that Gucci is very valuable."

In the end, Felinder could only say: "If this is the case, then you should go through formal legal procedures!"

Andre left the Gucci Group contentedly with his team, and the next step is to formally submit a takeover offer to the Netherlands, the US Securities Regulatory Commission, and the Italian government; as for whether the Italian government will come forward to stop it, the possibility is very small. Listed in the Netherlands and the United States, it has nothing to do with the Italian government.The only relationship is that some commitments need to go through procedures, such as not moving the headquarters out of Italy and so on.

In a villa in Milan, Monica, Li Jiaxin and Li Zi surrounded Lin Zuhui one after another, excitedly asking about 'Gucci'.

Monica clung to Lin Zuhui's body and asked excitedly, "My dear, did you really buy Gucci? Is this our Italian national luxury brand?"

Lin Zuhui sat on the sofa, surrounded by beauties from left to right, and said with a hint of contempt: "Where is it so powerful? Didn't Gucci almost go bankrupt in 1992!" The voice changed, and he said confidently: "Of course, since Gucci If it comes in our hands, the prospects are boundless."

He said that it was true that Gucci almost went bankrupt. In 1987, Gucci fell into a family dispute. Afterwards, a foreign consortium intervened in the equity but did not intervene in management. In 1992, Gucci lost more than 4000 million U.S. dollars and almost went bankrupt. The foreign consortium took full control of Gucci , and hired Tom Ford as the creative director, and introduced professional managers such as Felinde.

In fact, the major shareholder of Gucci at this time is the Fund, but it has entrusted the management of Gucci.

"Honey, you're amazing!" Monica sent a kiss, and then said with insatiable desire: "I will only buy Gucci brand in the future, because it is a luxury of our family."

After being included in Lin Zuhui's family office, Monica has been very excited and proud, and Lin Zuhui has seen all this.

Lin Zuhui shook his head and said, "That would make life very tiring, so you don't have to kidnap yourself like this, it's more important to buy what you like!"

Monica said: "Of course Gucci will become my favorite. After all, if I hold a Gucci bag, I will always think that it belongs to our family, and my mood will naturally become different."

Lin Zuhui stroked Monica's hair, and suddenly said: "In the future, Gucci will be listed, and the three of you will have a small amount of shares, so that you will have a greater sense of accomplishment!"

The three women looked at Lin Zuhui in surprise again, and then rushed forward one after another, their expressions of happiness were beyond words.

While enjoying it, Lin Zuhui was thinking about things.

The acquisition of Gucci is only the first step, and the next step is to develop Gucci: strive to develop the global market, especially the Chinese and American markets; use Gucci Group, through mergers and acquisitions, to make Gucci's business even bigger, and strive to develop into one of the world's three major luxury goods groups.

Paris, headquarters of the LVMH group.

The assistant hurried to the office of Bernard Arnault, the founder of LVMH Group.

"BOSS, Barings Bank has launched a comprehensive acquisition offer for Gucci Group!"

Bernard Arnault raised his head abruptly, and then said in surprise: "How did the Gucci board of directors respond?"

The assistant said: "It has been agreed! All shareholders of Gucci have expressed their approval. It is expected that Gucci will be privatized and delisted soon."

Bernard Arnault slammed the table and said furiously, "Does this Barings Bank know how to surprise luxury goods? Also, a Chinese also wants to get involved in European luxury goods. I really don't know what he is thinking?"

The assistant is obedient, and he is very afraid of this luxury 'Napoleon'.

But having said that, someone else bought it for 80 billion US dollars, can you control how others play?

Seeing that the success of the acquisition of Gucci is imminent, Lin Zuhui also summoned the Barings Bank team again.

Lin Zuhui got straight to the point: "The acquisition cost of Gucci is 81.5 billion US dollars, so Gucci must make greater changes to make Gucci worth the money. You have also taken over for almost two months. What plans have you made for Gucci?"

Although Lin Zuhui can say that even if Gucci does not change the management, it can still achieve good development; however, this development is due to the increase in the number of wealthy people in the world, not the ability of the management itself.

For example, in the future, if the LVMH Group's annual growth rate is 10%, then Gucci must achieve an annual growth rate of more than 15%, so that Lin Zuhui can be satisfied.

Andre quickly said: "We have already planned to hire Unilever executive Robert Porett as the executive officer. He is a professional manager who is good at turning losses into profits. We hope that after he takes office, he can make drastic reforms and accelerate the launch of New products, increase the speed of marketing and advertising."

In this kind of acquisition case, it is very important to really choose an excellent professional manager.

Lin Zuhui was also thinking about some suggestions he could provide. He has a very high talent in business and has a very long-term vision. If he came to be the president of Gucci, there would be absolutely no problem.Of course, his time does not allow it, and his energy does not allow it.

"In this way, recently I also learned about Gucci's designer-led corporate culture, and found that Gucci is too dependent on those big-name designers who are too independent. I don't think it is a good long-term development plan. The real corporate design culture , it should be a steady stream of new designers and give new designers more opportunities. Even luxury goods like Gucci should put down their dignity and learn from fast-moving consumer goods brands like Zara and GAP to make Gucci products more fashionable. ,young."

The team of Barings Bank echoed Lin Zuhui's statement one after another, and put forward their own views. In summary, this old luxury brand should be made to exude a more fashionable and youthful charm.

After a meeting, Lin Zuhui felt that he could finally get rid of this matter, and left the rest to his subordinates. He only needed to keep abreast of the development of the matter on a regular basis.

Lin Zuhui still has a lot of plans in his mind, that is, let Gucci carry out mergers and acquisitions and development at the same time in the future. There is no advantage in a single luxury product. Although Gucci has jewelry and watch series, it still has great potential for development.

For example, Lin Zuhui intends to sell the Luchen family to Gucci, so that Gucci can develop in an all-round way like Chanel.

Of course, we have to take it step by step, and communicate directly with the new president of Gucci later.

In fact, although he intends to relist Gucci at a certain time, he will not hand over the rights of major shareholders; although professional managers can have certain independent management rights, Lin Zuhui will take back the management rights at a certain time.

This "certain time" is whether his and Monica's child can perform well.Of course, these things are too far away, and Lin Zuhui will not force the children of the family to take over these companies. His priority is the development of the company.

At the end of March, Lin Zuhui left Europe contentedly and flew back to Hong Kong.

In addition to supervising the acquisition of Gucci this time, he also inspected his other industries, and went to the German Luxembourg shipyard to order a 108-meter-long superyacht.

Once the yacht is built, it will be the longest and most luxurious super yacht in the world. It can take off helicopters and send small submarines. It can accommodate 36 guests (only in terms of design) and hundreds of crew members.

The cost of the entire superyacht is about 1.5 million US dollars, which can be called the price of a Boeing 747, which is simply inhumane.

With this super yacht, Lin Zuhui estimated that the time spent on vacation at sea will be longer.

Of course, it was just a super yacht, and Lin Zuhui didn't take it too seriously. He still puts his career first.

The business in Europe has also made great progress in the recent period. First, the Amazon shopping mall won the site of the '1908 French-British Exhibition' and plans to build a 180 million square feet largest shopping mall in Europe.

This project requires a total investment of 15 billion pounds (about 18 billion U.S. dollars), which can be called a large-scale investment project.

With the advancement of this project, it also marks that Amazon Shopping Center has begun to vigorously enter European shopping malls, and Lin Zuhui will also become the largest "landlord" in Europe.

After all, he also holds a full 1600 million square feet of commercial area in Canary Wharf.

With the expansion of Barings Bank's business, Lin Zuhui's business was mainly concentrated in real estate in the past, and now he has also formed an organization to extend his investment to luxury goods and hotels.

In the future, he will also dabble in the sports brand - Fila. In this way, Lin Zuhui and Li Chaoren will go to different development paths.

Li Chaoren likes to invest in infrastructure. Lin Zuhui thinks that this is just "asset trading" and "asset transfer". He thinks he should adjust to more difficult areas: investment banking, clothing, luxury goods, hotels, etc. After the acquisition of these industries, Better management methods are needed, after all, faster appreciation of assets is needed.

In short, Lin Zuhui has no plans to invest in infrastructure in Europe and America for the time being, so leave this field to Li Chaoren!
(End of this chapter)