Huo Jiaguang opened the door and came in. He was one of the old men who had been with Wang Yaocheng for the longest time. It had been 13 years. He had grown from a business elite in his 40s to a big boss. His temperament was more gentle and elegant, but his sideburns had changed.
gray.
Wang Yaocheng took the initiative to greet him and shook his hand; "Haha, brother Iemitsu, please sit down. We have prepared champagne for you."
"Thanks!"
The relationship between the two is more akin to brothers than boss and employee. After a few brief greetings, they got to the point.
sitting on the sofa
Huo Jiaguang took a sip of French champagne and looked at Wang Yaocheng, who was sitting silently opposite. A worried look appeared in his eyes, and he organized his words and said;
"BOSS, we have contacted five North American airlines during this period, and overall the situation seems to be similar;
Most companies welcome capital injections from powerful consortiums, but are unwilling to be merged or give up management rights. The company's financial situation can be said to be as bad as it gets, but they are still tough-talking and negotiation is not easy.
You know, the air transportation field is the traditional domain of old white money, where far-right elements gather and are quite unfriendly to people of color.
They only want our money, but they are unwilling to give up management rights.
Of course, the old white money community is not monolithic. Many families with long-standing heritage want to escape from this ship that will sink without knowing when, and have privately expressed their willingness to sell their equity.
The key point is,
Even if we pass the antitrust review of the Department of Justice and we have absolute control of North American airlines, we will not be able to act arbitrarily like we do in Europe and Asia. These old white money has great influence in states and localities, and corporate operations and management
It is inevitable to be controlled by the other party.
Also, the trade unions of North American airlines are very influential and may cause us big trouble. Please be aware of this."
Huo Jiaguang’s meaning is very clear;
These North American airlines are thorns in the side and very difficult to deal with. He is not optimistic about Cathay Pacific's merger and acquisition move.
a moment of silence
Wang Yaocheng sighed softly and said;
"Unless we give up Cathay Pacific's global development plan, the North American aviation market is an obstacle that cannot be bypassed. If Cathay Pacific cannot complete the merger and acquisition, it is completely impossible for Cathay Pacific to obtain equity in the North American hub airport.
In other words, the North American aviation market has always been rootless and will be driven out of the market with the slightest policy change.
Sears Hotel Group, acquired by Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Company, has more than 1,400 hotels across North America, accounting for almost half of the entire hotel group.
Without Cathay Pacific Airways to provide a steady stream of high-spending customer groups, relying solely on the hotel's daily business to attract customers will undoubtedly lose a huge traffic entrance.
You must know that the entire North American medium and long-distance passenger market is dominated by air transportation, accounting for 65% of the market share.
Based on the data model analysis of Hong Kong Guantianxia Economic Research Center;
Without this valuable traffic entrance, Sears Hotel Group has lost more than 30% of its revenue, and about 1/3 of its hotels will suffer losses.
The acquisition of North American Airlines is not only a need for Cathay Pacific's expansion, it is also of great significance to HSBC and Global Communications, and it is a hard nut that we must win.
The reason why we didn't take action before was because the time was not ripe, and this may be our only chance to take action."
Huo Jiaguang frowned. He was Chinese-American, and he really couldn't understand why Wang Yaocheng said it was the only chance to make a move.
He thought of the consortium's intensive construction of the entire ecological chain, high-standard stress testing and Plan B, and he had some vague ideas in his mind, but he didn't take it seriously.
The BOSS has a strong sense of crisis and has a tendency to be persecuted and paranoid.
Although China's current economic level is developing rapidly, to Europe and the United States, it is just a larger grasshopper and does not pose any threat at all.
In 2003, China's national GDP output value was US$1.67 trillion, ranking sixth in the world, while the United States, which ranked first in the world, reached US$11.51 trillion, more than nine times that of China.
If we look at GDP per capita, it is completely crushed, with a gap of more than 30 times.
The United States dominates the world in terms of military, political and economic strength, and exudes a sense of self-confidence from top to bottom. The main tone of its policy is to pursue and intercept terrorists around the world, to weaken the threat posed by Lao Maozi to Europe in the military aspect, and to compete with Japan and Germany in the economic aspect.
compete with European and other countries.
From the bottom of my heart
Whether it is political, economic or military aspects, the vast majority of Americans do not believe that China poses any threat. On the contrary, most people hold the view of embracing pandas.
The alarmist statements made by right-wing politicians and extremists often only elicit ridicule.
However, since the chairman had a strong sense of crisis, Huo Jiaguang was not willing to openly contradict him, so he thought about it carefully and said;
“Based on the current situation, I suggest selecting Delta Air Lines, which ranks third in the U.S. airline market, and Northwest Airlines, which ranks fourth in the U.S. aviation market, as priority merger and acquisition options. Plan B can consider American Airlines, which ranks seventh in the market.
The situation at Delta Air Lines is more complicated, and at Northwest Airlines, it is slightly better, but they are also places where white old money groups gather together. Due to the large scale of the company, integration may be quite troublesome."
"Okay, then please ask Brother Iemitsu to lead the working group to the United States to start work. You are a senior expert in mergers and acquisitions. Only with you as a veteran can I rest assured that we can enter substantive negotiations with the other party as soon as possible."
"As you wish, BOSS."
"That's good."
M&A expert Huo Jiaguang personally took action. Wang Yaocheng finally felt relieved and a smile appeared on his face. He knew that many senior management of the consortium did not agree with Plan B.
Wang Yaocheng didn't want to explain and had no convincing reason.
Perhaps an excellent corporate manager can plan corporate development strategies for the next five to ten years or even longer, but it is absolutely impossible to expand to the level of national strategic competition.
There is only one entrepreneur in a million who has this kind of strategic vision. Among all the entrepreneurs Wang Yaocheng knows, Huawei's Mr. Ren is the only one. He doesn't count on peeking at his cards.
In past and present experiences, there has been no successful case of Hong Kong capital acquiring an American airline.
Today, history has changed too much.
Wang Yaocheng is confident that he will get a share of the lucrative North American aviation market. This confidence comes from the fact that Commander George announced his re-election in late May, which is a rare opportunity.
With the stunning performance of Google's IPO, the relationship between Wang's consortium and the Texas consortium in the United States has become increasingly close, and the link between them is the George family.
Now
President George is facing re-election for his second term, and he urgently needs Wang Yaocheng's huge prestige and appeal among Chinese Americans and ethnic minorities to bring more votes and funds.
You need me, and I can't live without you. This is how the so-called interest alliance is established.
As long as Cathay Pacific promises to retain relevant job opportunities in the acquired companies during the merger and exerts pressure through the White House, the antitrust agency of the Department of Justice will not be able to make any big waves.
With the interference at the government level eliminated, the Royal Fund, which holds a large amount of cash capital, is fully confident in integrating American Airlines, and it can overcome it step by step no matter how difficult the process is.
As time goes by and after 2005
Once President George takes office for a second term, or American Airlines' operating conditions improve, a large number of unpredictable factors will emerge, which may easily cause the merger plan to fail.
Wang Yaocheng doesn't want to bet and doesn't dare to bet. He prefers to nip all unpredictable factors in the bud.
When the next little black leader came to power, the government's policies focused on economics and were very unfriendly to multinational companies from Europe, Japan and South Korea. They even used state power to suppress France's Alstom, forcing it to be dismembered and divided.
It is so ruthless to attack its allies, let alone expect to be favored by multinational companies controlled by Hong Kong capital.
After 2009, we will have to keep our tail between our legs and no longer need to think about cross-border mergers and acquisitions. It will be good if we can maintain the current structure.
From now to the beginning of 2009, it is the last period of strategic opportunities for the development of the Wang Consortium. As the Chinese dragon soars into the sky, European and American countries are increasingly afraid of this. It will not be easy to increase the strength of the consortium.
The window of strategic opportunity is closing and it is not far away.