Chapter nine hundred and fiftieth Thatcher's favoritism
In the next few days, Li Guangyu had a good appreciation of the Austrian scenery, while waiting for the results of Zhang Ziyu and Zhao Qihui's negotiations with the Austrian government.
On the British side, several major American consortiums contacted some of the newly emerging wealthy people in the UK to jointly establish a Yingli Investment Company, including Anthony Bandford, chairman of JCB Company, Lawrence Graf, chairman of Graff Jewelry Company, and Virgin Group.
Group Chairman Richard Branson and others.
Although these new wealthy people are not aristocrats, they have very rich financial resources and have strong influence in the House of Commons.
After the establishment of this company, these forces immediately began to launch a public opinion offensive, demanding that the sale of state-owned assets by the government must be fair and open, and must not harm the interests of the country and enrich private pockets.
As the current British Prime Minister, Thatcher now has troubles with her happiness. She was previously worried that no one would take over these industries and her new round of reforms might end in vain.
Unexpectedly, people are not only taking over, but also rushing to acquire them. She is not worried at all that these companies cannot be sold at a good price.
It's just that now my place has become a battleground between the Asian consortium and the American consortium. If it is not handled well, it may cause some unnecessary troubles. Especially after the British nobles and businessmen get involved, things become even worse.
manage.
The Queen personally negotiated with her, hoping that the government could sell this major company to the British Asia Investment Company. At the same time, she also talked about the threat to Britain caused by many American consortiums controlling these companies.
She personally hopes that these groups will be acquired by Yingya Investment Company, so that she can get more help. However, now that these businessmen are involved, her and the Queen's ideas may not be realized.
Once their government is too biased towards the British-Asian group, public opinion will definitely criticize the government, and it may even involve conflicts between civilians and nobles. This is something neither the royal family nor the government wants to see.
To this end, on the morning of April 15, Thatcher specially held a special meeting in a small conference room, attended by the Minister of Industry, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry and other key officials.
Thatcher said: "This time we have put out some relatively good assets and attracted many forces from around the world. The success of this reform is just around the corner, but you all know the current situation. Neither Her Majesty the Queen nor our government
We don’t want the American consortium to control some of our companies that involve public needs and some key issues. I wonder if you have any good way to get the American consortium to withdraw from this acquisition."
This time it is mainly a battle between the Asian consortium and the American consortium. Both parties are money-rich. Moreover, the relationship between the two parties has continued to deteriorate in the past two years, and they have been fighting endlessly in many markets around the world. This time, their British market has become the focus of these two parties.
In the new battlefield, it is not easy to get one side to retreat.
It is even more difficult to get the American consortium to withdraw from this acquisition. Looking at the actions of the American consortium this time, it is clear that they have no intention of giving in.
In order to allow themselves to compete equally with Asian consortiums, they also deliberately attracted British capital.
If their government takes sides at this time, public opinion will be very unfavorable to them. You must know that the Labor Party is watching them at any time, waiting for them to make mistakes.
As long as they favor Asian conglomerates, they are afraid of damaging national interests and embezzling national property will immediately be slapped on their heads.
The Minister of Industry said: "Prime Minister, this time our government can only be impartial and take out the company and let two investment companies compete, and whoever gives the higher price will get it. In this way, we can sell at a better price, and we will not replace it."
Get out of trouble yourself."
Doing nothing is the best choice for them. Although the control of these groups by American conglomerates will have some impact on their economy and politics, it is better than them favoring Asian consortiums and being criticized by the Labor Party and forced to step down.
As for how to reduce the influence of the American consortium in Britain in the future, that is a matter for the future. Besides, the Asian consortium may not necessarily fail in the acquisition. As long as the British Asia Investment Company has sufficient financial resources, the American consortium may also fail.
And when necessary, they can completely break such monopoly operations. They can allow capital to establish new water companies, natural gas companies, etc. to break the current monopoly operations. This will cause the industrial influence controlled by American consortiums to drop off a cliff.
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As an ally of the Lee Group for many years, Thatcher most hoped to let Yingya Investment Company acquire these companies, which would be of great benefit to her in the future.
She said at the meeting: "In terms of acquisition negotiations between major companies, we need to speed up the negotiations with Yingya Investment Company. The quotation time for Yingli Investment Company will not exceed two days, preferably one day. As long as they do not continue to quote, we will directly negotiate with Yingya Investment
The company signs the contract.”
The very troublesome thing about Yingli Investment Company is that the main decision-makers are in the United States. They must ask the headquarters for instructions on large-scale capital acquisitions. They cannot make the decision themselves.
And Thatcher deliberately limited the time for Yingli Investment Company, which was probably the main reason why the American consortium failed.
You must know that Thatcher only imposed restrictions on Yingli Investment Company, but not on Yingya Investment Company. They would only transfer the company to Yingli Investment Company after Yingya Investment Company decided to give up the acquisition.
This is very fatal for the American consortium. In one day, if the report is reported to the US headquarters, the time may have passed before the core members of the consortium can be convened for discussion.
Even if it is only two days, it is very short. These companies easily have tens of billions of dollars, and every price adjustment is not a small amount. Even if these consortiums have money, they still need enough time to consider it, and now Thatcher is obviously
I don't want to give them time to think about it.
The Secretary of Commerce said: "I'm afraid that if we treat us differently, the American consortium and domestic businessmen will have objections and will also criticize us in public opinion."
Thatcher was naturally aware of this problem. She said with a smile: "You don't need to worry. Yingya Investment Company also has the same response time. We explained it before they competed. Later, Yingli Company was unable to make decisions due to its slow decision-making.
If the acquisition fails, we are not to blame."
She discussed it with Gu Zhengsheng yesterday, and also communicated with Li Guangyu on the phone, and Li Guangyu agreed to this operation.
The Asian consortium is very determined to attack the American consortium this time. Li Guangyu has decided to fly to Tokyo in the next two days.
At the same time, Earl Spencer, Lee Shau Kee, Li Ka-shing of the Hong Kong Consortium, and Lee Jianxi of South Korea will all be in Tokyo. As long as the prices here change, they will make decisions immediately to surpass the American consortium in time.
Thatcher can only help the Lee Consortium in this regard. The four major consortiums in the United States do not have a good relationship with each other this time. They are forced to join forces this time. Thatcher does not believe in the speed of their resolution.
How fast can it be.
Morgan and Rockefeller, the two major enemies, and California and Citigroup One, were hostile to each other. It was a miracle that these core personnel could get together every day and discuss the British acquisition in a harmonious manner.