Li Changqing and the others, who had called the front station in advance, were waiting for the big boss downstairs.
Carrefour headquarters is very interested in Li Changqing's acquisition plan.
Global President Peng Bohua personally rushed to Shanghai to meet with Chen Dongcheng to discuss specific acquisition matters.
A Mercedes-Benz motorcade was approaching from a distance, and the Rolls-Royce in the middle was still very conspicuous.
Li Changqing waited for the car to stop, then quickly stepped forward and opened the door.
"Boss, Peng Bohua from Carrefour has arrived."
"Let's go, don't keep people waiting."
Chen Dongcheng lowered his head to straighten the folds of his clothes and stepped forward with his head held high.
Li Changqing and other members of the think tank followed the boss.
More than a dozen people, dressed in suits and leather shoes, walked into the building together, attracting many white-collar workers who came and went to look askance at them.
Chen Dongcheng is wearing sunglasses, so he doesn't have to worry about being recognized.
However, the way he walks carries with him a domineering air that cannot be approached.
The group of them fit into an elevator.
Pang Zhengyang and his group of bodyguards surrounded Chen Dongcheng in the middle, looking around cautiously.
"bite."
The elevator sounded, and it was the 18th floor.
Carrefour China Headquarters is located on this floor.
When you walk out of the elevator, you will see the Carrefour logo within a few steps.
When the girl at the front desk saw so many people, she calmly came over to intercept them.
"Hello, do you have an appointment?"
Li Changqing came forward and replied: "We are from Donghua Fund and have made an appointment with Mr. Peng."
"Oh, okay, please come with me."
The secretary immediately remembered what his superiors had told him to do, and his manners were perfect.
Showing a white toothed smile, he bowed and led the way.
In the conference room, Carrefour executives had unhappy expressions.
In particular, several senior executives from the Huaxia District were even more worried.
Since 2009, Carrefour's performance in China has begun to decline, at an annual rate of about 10%.
Until now, Carrefour's performance shows no sign of improvement.
It would be strange if those European guys had no idea of selling the business in China.
In 2013, Carrefour was determined to sell its China business.
As a result, the asking price was too high, no one supported it, and it became a joke.
The online channel was opened too late, and the damage to Carrefour can be said to be fatal.
At this time, online channels have already determined the rankings, and Carrefour has just begun to explore.
At this speed, it would be strange not to be eliminated by the times.
Of course, the French executives at Carrefour cannot be entirely blamed.
Their original offline channels in Europe are already very convenient.
Several other competitors have no intention of eagerly promoting online channels, which makes them hesitant.
When it comes to mobile payment, China has never convinced anyone.
Erma has educated the Chinese people clearly.
Everyone from an 80-year-old man to a child of several years old knows how to scan the QR code to pay, hand out red envelopes and grab them.
Therefore, Carrefour’s French executives are quite unadapted to the rapid development of China’s online channels.
Coupled with the fact that these online platforms are raising capital so fast, they are stunned, and they don’t even have the confidence to compete with others who are burning money.
"Dong dong."
The girl at the front desk knocked on the door, walked in and said, "The people from Donghua Fund are here."
Peng Bohua stood up first, followed closely by Tang Jianian, president of China Region, and other senior executives also stood up one after another.
Chen Dongcheng took off his sunglasses, smiled and nodded to everyone, and led the people on his side to sit down.
Peng Bohua is the global president of Carrefour, and his opinion is more important on whether this transaction can be successful.
Tang Jianian is the president of China District, and he is more concerned about this deal than Peng Bohua.
Once the transaction is successful, Chen Dongcheng's opinion of him will be crucial.
Regarding this cooperation, Carrefour headquarters is extremely sincere.
They eagerly hope to divest the business in China District so that the group's overall financial report will look better and boost investors' confidence.
Carrefour's market value has been deteriorating in recent years, largely due to sluggish performance in China and several other regions.
"Mr. Chen, we have discussed it with Mr. Li many times before. In terms of price, our bottom line is US$1.5 billion."
Peng Bohua will not go into battle personally. Tang Jianian, the president of China Region, will be responsible for bargaining with Chen Dongcheng and the others.
Li Changqing retorted unceremoniously: "Mr. Tang's thinking is too simple. I have a piece of information in my hand.
Since 2009, Carrefour's performance has been declining year after year, with no improvement.
Carrefour's influence in China is declining steadily.
If your group still waits with that unrealistic hope, I think the result will not be what you expect."
Tang Jianian secretly glanced at Peng Bohua and breathed a sigh of relief when he found that his boss didn't look angry.
After all, Carrefour's China region has suffered such a serious decline, and he, the president of the China region, bears the greatest responsibility.
Tang Jianian asked: "Then I wonder how much you plan to offer?"
Li Changqing said with a smile: "6 billion, this is the highest offer considering Carrefour's debt."
"This is impossible. We have already rejected this offer before. I don't think there is any sincerity in your offer."
Tang Jianian shook his head and refused without hesitation.
I want to buy Carrefour’s business in China for 6 billion. What’s the difference between that and dreaming?
Li Changqing's smile remained unchanged: "Mr. Tang, there is no need to rush to refuse. I have sufficient reasons to prove that our offer is reasonable."
Tang Jianian sneered: "Okay, I would like to hear what Mr. Li has to say."
After Li Changqing organized his thoughts, he said: "We believe that Carrefour's asset quality is not very good. Mr. Tang does not need to rush to deny this. I will explain it to you carefully and slowly."
Tang Jianian moved his lips and continued to listen with a sneer.
"First of all, Carrefour's total assets are 11.5 billion yuan, but its total liabilities are as high as 13.8 billion yuan, which is insolvent."
"You have underestimated the value of our free properties."
Tang Jianian pouted: "Besides, if it weren't for this, we wouldn't choose to sell it. This is not the reason why your price is so low."
Li Changqing smiled and nodded: "Of course, I will analyze the reasons for our quotation from three points to Mr. Peng and Mr. Tang.
First, Carrefour's stores in China lack sufficient coverage density.
I won’t mention the small convenience stores. There are only 24, which is very few.
It is still in the model running stage, so this asset is of little value.
The main attraction of Carrefour's business in China is still in the hypermarkets.
51 cities, 210 stores.
Apportioned per city, there are about 4.1 stores.
The density is not too high and cannot fully cover a city.
I think Mr. Tang and Mr. Peng should know that only by forming sufficient regional coverage density in the retail industry can greater value and competitiveness be generated.
Second, Carrefour’s six major warehousing and distribution centers were started and constructed one after another after 2015.
Carrefour's warehousing also adopts a light asset model of leasing warehouses and leasing equipment in cooperation with GLP.
Generally speaking, even if a supermarket distribution center is completed, it will take about 2 years to run in.
This is also one of your company's biggest problems in China. It is not doing very well in the supply chain.
If the supply chain is not strong, you will not be able to beat other regional retailers locally.
Third, Carrefour's performance has been declining in terms of single-store square footage.
Carrefour's closest competitor is Sun Art Retail.
Both of you operate a single hypermarket format, and both operate a large-area "shopping street" leasing area business model.
Carrefour's annual sales per square meter is about 7,500 yuan.
The annual square meter efficiency per square meter of Sun Art Retail is about 7,700 yuan.
Just looking at the sales per square meter, there is not much difference between you and Sun Art Retail.
But in fact, if you exclude some factors, your actual square footage performance is far different from that of Sun Art Retail.
On the one hand, Sun Art Retail's store area is larger, with each Sun Art Retail store averaging about 26,800 square meters.
Carrefour's hypermarkets in China have an average store area of about 19,000 square meters.
Therefore, Sun Art Retail has achieved higher square footage efficiency with a larger leased area."
Li Changqing concluded: "From these three points alone, Carrefour's shortcomings are clear enough. I think it is wisest for Carrefour Group to stop losses in time."
Peng Boqiang, who originally looked calm, glanced at Tang Jianian.
"We all acknowledge these issues, but I think Mr. Li should know that you are not the only one who is interested in Carrefour's business in China. Aren't you afraid that we will adopt a bidding model?"
Li Changqing smiled and shook his head: "We acquired Carrefour China out of business integration considerations.
The negative equity and loss-making operations of Carrefour's Chinese subsidiary, as well as the complex ownership structure of regional stores, all place very high requirements on integration capabilities.
One careless move can create a financial black hole.
There may be companies that dare to bid, but their prices will definitely not be as high as ours."
Peng Boqiang is naturally well aware of Carrefour China's situation.
Early on, in order to seize the market, Carrefour started to "raise funds" with local small and medium-sized partners to expand stores in first- and second-tier cities.
To put it bluntly, it was to cooperate with some relatively wealthy people at the time and be responsible for providing the money.
Carrefour is responsible for developing the brand, and uses a small amount of funds to open Carrefour stores together.
There are quite a few such small business owners. Carrefour has a total of 210 stores.
There are almost 25 stores with annual sales exceeding 200 million, and half of the shares are in the hands of cooperative shareholders.
Not to mention Carrefour's development ideas are the biggest problem.
At that time, they concentrated on opening stores in first- and second-tier cities, which was also related to the environment at that time.
They are among the first foreign retailers to enter China.
So at that time, the initial rent Carrefour received was very low.
However, due to the advancement of urbanization in China, these Carrefour stores have become the core business districts of the city.
There is great pressure on rents for store properties to rise.
And according to the lease terms of hypermarket stores, it is about 15 to 20 years.
The properties of these stores will soon enter the lease renewal period.
This is also the reason why Carrefour headquarters is eager to divest its business in China.
The losses were so severe even without changing the lease. If the lease was changed, I don’t know how much the losses would expand.
It may even happen that in a few years, Carrefour's business in China will have to be transferred for one dollar, as long as someone is willing to bear the debt.
For Carrefour headquarters, the sooner the business in China is divested, the less losses they will suffer.