The predecessor of the Belmond Group was the Orient Express Group, which was the prototype of the story "Murder on the Orient Express" written by the suspense writer Agatha.
The group originally operated a luxury train from Paris to Istanbul since the late 19th century.
Since that movie became popular, the Orient Express has also been hailed as a symbol of sophistication and elegant lifestyle.
However, after the impact of war and new transportation technologies, such as the birth of airplanes and high-speed rail, luxury trains lost their market and gradually languished.
It was not until 1977 that James Sherwood, a retired Navy soldier who graduated from Yale University, acquired the luxury train set originally belonging to the Orient Express through auction and spent a huge amount of money to restore the antique train.
With both the fame it brought and the luxury afforded by heavy investment, the Orient Express became popular again in Europe.
Tourists from all over the world come here one after another.
Even though a one-way ticket from Paris to Venice is as expensive as 1,200 pounds, a large number of tourists still flock to it.
James Sherwood took the opportunity to invest in some hotels along the train line, and then used its original cruise ship advantages to form a new Orient Express Group.
However, after several changes later, the Orient-Express Group's shares are now jointly owned by the French Railways and the French state-owned railway transport group sncf.
In other words, if you want to win over the Belmond Group, you must get the French Railways’ nod.
Recently, in addition to Louis Moët Hennessy Group, Accor Group has also begun to make bids for Belmond Group.
AccorHotels is the world's third largest hotel group, with a market value of approximately US$15 billion.
Compared with Louis Moët Hennessy, which has hundreds of billions of euros, Accor's only advantage lies in their relationship with the French Railways.
Even the brand ownership of the Orient Express was previously acquired by Accor Group and later transferred to the French Railways.
The Belmond Group suddenly became particularly popular.
There are three companies known to be interested in bidding, and other fund institutions and consortiums are also potential buyers.
Since the French Railways decided to sell the Belmond Group, it must hope that the highest bidder will get it.
Belmond Group, which has been vying to be acquired by many consortiums, has seen its stock price soar since the market opened.
Li Changqing and the others followed several rounds of bidding and found that the other two companies had no intention of backing down, so they quickly reported to Chen Dongcheng.
"Boss, the French Railway Administration is currently hesitant about whether to sell half of its shares or stay out of the matter completely."
"If half of the shares are sold, the actual value of Belmond Group will be around US$1.8 billion. Even if there are bidding factors, we predict that US$2 billion is the limit."
"If the French Railways chooses to sell it outright, Belmond's value will increase greatly, and we predict it will reach about 2.5 billion US dollars."
"The above quotations are all based on ignoring the current debt of Belmond Group. If the other party's debt of 600 million U.S. dollars is added, the transaction may exceed 3 billion U.S. dollars."
After hearing this, Chen Dongcheng nodded and asked, "Which offer do the other two companies prefer?"
"The Accor Group has a limited market value and not much available funds. They are trying to persuade the French Railways to only sell 50% of its shares, so that they can be less pressured."
"The Louis Moët Hennessy Group has strong financial resources and is more willing to adopt a wholly-owned acquisition plan. The quoted price is US$2.3 billion excluding debt."
Li Changqing said with a smile: "But I think the French Railways should be more inclined to walk away. Instead of continuing to waste energy on Belmond, it would be better to sell it once and for all."
"Besides, this kind of opportunity to clear the stock at a high price is extremely rare. I think Accor Group may not be able to persuade it."
While the two were chatting, Li Changqing's phone suddenly rang.
"Boss, the latest news is that the French Railways has decided to liquidate Belmond's shares, and Accor has announced that it will withdraw from the bidding!"
"real?"
Li Changqing said in surprise: "That's great. You will make the latest round of quotations immediately. I will make an appointment with their CEO Roland Vos tomorrow."
Chen Dongcheng heard Li Changqing's loudspeaker clearly.
Accor's management is still very wise, they just don't want to miss out on a top luxury hotel like Belmond.
Accor has always had the ambition to enter the field of luxury hotels.
The Belmond Group is exactly what Accor has been looking for for a long time.
But AccorHotels never dreamed that Louis Moët Hennessy and a foreign foundation would be interested in Belmond at the same time.
The crazy bidding between the two companies directly forced Accor to withdraw from the bidding.
No matter which company wins Belmond, it will be a huge blow to AccorHotels.
The field of luxury hotels is not that easy to enter.
Otherwise, Accor wouldn't have been unable to produce a resounding brand for so many years.
Mandarin Oriental is too expensive and AccorHotels cannot afford to acquire it.
It was not easy for Belmond to grow and prosper under his nose, but he was targeted by a group of greedy competitors.
Accor's luck is indeed a bit bad.
"Boss, are you interested in meeting Roland Voss?"
"I'm missing. If there is any progress, just report to me directly."
"Okay, then I'll get to work first."
Li Changqing left in a hurry before finishing his coffee.
…
Belmond Group.
Before group president Roland Voss are two takeover offers.
There has been a long discussion within the group about which acquisition to accept.
Among them, the management unanimously believed that instead of selling to an unknown fund institution, it would be better to invest under Louis Moët Hennessy.
After all, Louis Moët Hennessy is in the luxury business, and there can be some synergy with Belmond's top luxury hotel.
Although the opinions of management are important, the decision of the board of directors is more critical.
On Belmond's board of directors, the French Railways dominates the board.
Since they decided to escape unscathed, they must want to sell it at a high price.
Seeing that the French Railway Administration relented, the two companies began to continue quoting.
"Louis Moet's latest offer is US$2.45 billion, excluding debt."
"The Sovereign Fund is one dollar higher than Louis Moët Hennessy, and it also excludes debt."
"Louis Moët Hennessy has raised its offer again, to US$2.5 billion, still excluding debt."
"Damn it, Junting Fund is still only one dollar higher than the other party."
…
The conference room in Belmond was busy, and they were all a little surprised by the persistence of the two consortiums.
Belmond, which was originally worth only US$1.8 billion, was raised to US$2.5 billion without any sign of backing down.
Roland Voss frowned, obviously a little surprised that Junting Fund was so tight.
Today, some information about Junting Fund is no longer mysterious.
This fund organization that competes with Louis Moët Hentai comes from the United States.
This fund was established relatively early, but it was suddenly acquired at a recent stage.
Then it received capital injections from several consortiums and completed the fundraising in a low-key manner.
However, according to the information obtained by many institutions, this Junting Fund manages US$3 billion in assets and is very powerful.
But what puzzles Roland Voss is that according to the other party's current offer, if debt is added to it, it has exceeded the other party's limit.
Is it possible that this Junting Fund has other allies?
"Make an appointment with Mr. Li for me. I want to meet him."
Roland Vos did not dare to be careless and asked his secretary to contact Li Changqing.
He felt that he needed to know more about the situation of Junting Fund.
Louis Moët Hennessy is easy to talk about, and its head Arnault is no stranger to it.
But when it comes to Junting Fund, Roland Voss is completely blank.
This is not a good sign.
If Junting Fund's bid is really successful, it is likely that the new owner is already looking for someone to take his place.
This is not what Roland Voss wants to see.
…
Faced with the invitation from Roland Voss, Li Changqing readily accepted the invitation.
The two met at a well-known restaurant in London.
After Roland Vos ordered the food, he got to the point and asked the question that had puzzled him for a long time.
"Mr. Li, I would like to know why your company is so persistent in acquiring Belmond Group. I think this will help change the existing management's attitude towards your company."
"Mr. Voss, the acquisition of Belmond Group is only the first step for us to build an internationally renowned hotel group.
We are fully confident in the development of Belmond after its acquisition.
In the Chinese market, we have sufficient resources to help Belmond increase its influence."
Roland Voss nodded slightly, at least he now knew a key piece of information.
The boss behind Li Changqing is from China.
"After the acquisition, will you make any adjustments to the management?"
Roland Vos asked in a deep voice, with uncontrollable worry in his eyes.
This is also the problem that troubles him the most.
Louis Moët Hennessy has promised that it will not go to war and will fully trust the management headed by him and give them more autonomy.
"I asked my boss and he was satisfied with your results in the past two years. He will invest more funds in the future to help you expand your global presence."
Li Changqing smiled: "If the Belmond Group can be successfully acquired by us, you will immediately control a high-quality resort in the Maldives."
“A resort in the Maldives?”
Roland Voss's mind was frantically searching for related memories, especially in the resorts that were about to open in the next two months.
Suddenly the dark color paused and he looked at Li Changqing sharply.
"Mr. Li, your boss is..."
Apparently Roland Voss has guessed that the boss behind Li Changqing is Chen Dongcheng.
Jiaoli Island is definitely the most anticipated resort in the Maldives at the end of the year and has a high reputation around the world.
Thinking about Chen Dongcheng's worth, Li Changqing promised resources in the Chinese market.
It seems that the identity of the buyer is not difficult to guess.
If it was really that person, Roland Vos wouldn't find it so strange.
Forbes' statistics last year have been proven to be seriously substandard.
This year, Forbes re-released the list.
Chen Dongcheng jumped directly into the top ten. Just by selling shares in Didi and holding shares in many companies, Chen Dongcheng left many rich people who have been famous for many years behind.
"I hope to have the opportunity to visit Mr. Chen. Our management welcomes Mr. Chen to take over."
Roland Voss's tone was extremely respectful.
"Sure, if the deal is done, the boss will meet you."
Li Changqing smiled and nodded, already knowing in his heart that Belmond's management would not make any mistakes.