Time flies and it’s mid-October in a blink of an eye.
London, Orange headquarters.
Senior executives from Mannesmann, Europe's second largest telecommunications company, gathered at Orange, the UK's third largest telecommunications company, and the two sides are in final negotiations.
It turns out that more than two months ago, Orange announced its planned sale, which immediately attracted the attention of Vodafone, the largest telecommunications company in Europe, and Mannesmann, the second largest telecommunications company in Europe.
Fighting for it. Now, of course, Mannesmann is the one with the highest sincerity, and both parties have reached the end of negotiations.
Orange was originally a subsidiary of Times Communications, but later merged with the European business of Hutchison Communications, forming a situation where two Hong Kong-owned companies operate the third largest telecommunications company in the UK, led by Huo Jianning and assisted by Yuan Tianfan.
There is no other way. If the two Hong Kong telecommunications companies continue to compete in the UK, it will cause adverse effects and require more investment. Currently, Times Communications holds 27% of Orange's shares and Hutchison Communications holds 24%.
The reason why the two companies decided to acquire Orange Company was also the result of discussions between Lin Zuhui and Li Chaoren:
They believe that three phenomena have emerged in the telecommunications industry: 1. Voice services are becoming more and more popular. Although the growth rate is very fast, the competition in the industry is too great, which may reduce marginal profits; 2. The proportion of data transmission services is increasing and the growth rate is increasing.
The percentage of speed is much higher than that of voice; 3. Driven by the boom in technology and communication stocks, the market value of mobile communication companies has reached its peak."
There is also huge pressure. Although Orange is already the third largest company in the UK, it can only be the third largest company. Fierce competition has made the company's life increasingly difficult, and the competition is getting worse.
fierce.
Europe's top two telecommunications giants, Britain's Vodafone (UK) and Germany's Mannesmann (Mannesmann), have regarded the British market as a must-win place and are fighting fiercely for the leading position.
The so-called case of the boss fighting with the second child and eventually killing the mistress is a common occurrence in business wars throughout the ages.
There is no room for optimism, and even a crisis has emerged.
However, it is a 'crisis', and it is also a 'turnaround' - Orange has the shortcomings of being a third party, but also has the unique value of being a third party - Vodafone and Mannesmann, whoever can buy Orange can become
The real boss.
If we can stimulate two bids for Orange, we will definitely be able to sell it at a good price. This happened more than two months ago - Orange made it known that it was interested in selling.
Neither company is in a hurry, but Vodafone and Mannesmann are very anxious, especially Mannesmann.
Huo Jianning is indeed a good negotiator. He quickly aroused the interest of Mannesmann's senior management and made the negotiations go in a smooth direction.
"President Fussell, we have accepted US$3.5 billion in cash and US$2.8 billion in three-year Euro floating-rate notes issued by your company; but considering the number of users and growth rate of Orange, we still need 10.5
% of Mannesmann’s shares. If you agree, we can sign the contract today. I can remind you that soon Vodafone will also accept such conditions.”
The cash plus floating-rate notes amounted to HK$48 billion, and Mannesmann was originally only willing to add an additional 10.2% of the shares (currently worth about HK$58 billion).
Huo Jianning was right. Vodafone would quickly agree to this condition, and the two parties would be in competition again. However, the two big guys in Xiangjiang have already sent news that it is best to conclude the deal in October.
Obviously, both Lin Zuhui and Li Chaoren saw the crisis.
Mannesmann's executives immediately communicated. A difference of 0.3% can determine who is the largest telecommunications company in Europe. They are already very excited.
After a long time, Fussell stretched out his right hand across the conference table and said with a smile: "OK, congratulations on reaching an agreement."
In this way, the two consortiums, Times Communications and Hutchison Communications, sold 51% of Orange Company for about HK$110 billion.
The two consortiums are forming one consortium, so the subsequent distribution and cash-out issues are the same.
October 20th.
Lin Zuhui of New Era Group and Li Chaoren of Cheung Kong Holdings also announced that the two companies have formed a consortium and have decided to sell a total of 51.01% of their shares in Orange to Mannesmann. The total transaction consideration includes: equivalent to Hong Kong dollars
26.5 billion in cash, equivalent to HKD 21.5 billion in three-year euro floating-rate notes issued by Mannesmann, and 10.5% of Mannesmann's shares.
When the news came out, global capital markets were in a panic.
Orange's investment was only tens of billions, and it recovered a considerable amount of principal through the listing. This means that from this transaction, the two Hong Kong consortiums obtained a net profit of more than 100 billion Hong Kong dollars.
Lin Zuhui returned to the office of New Era Group. At noon, he and Li Chaoren had a banquet to discuss the sale of Orange Company.
It can be seen that Li Chaoren is very excited to reap a profit of about HK$50 billion.
Lin Zuhui smiled in his heart: "You could have made more than 100 billion in profits this year, but I cut you off!"
In fact, it is not the final profit figure yet, because Mannesmann's stock will continue to rise this year; and if Vodafone cannot swallow its breath next year and directly annex Mannesmann, then the stocks in the hands of the two Hong Kong consortiums will be
It will become more than 5% of the shares of the new company, and the face value will increase by tens of billions (estimated to be 50 billion).
So, in fact, this transaction will achieve a profit of more than 160 billion.
New Era Group and Cheung Kong Group each received about HK$80 billion, with New Era Group slightly more.
Historically, Li Chaoren stole the show this year because the Cheung Kong Group led by him made profits of more than 150 billion, shocking the world.
But in this life, New Era Group has already shocked the world:
In 1997, New Era Group's net profit was HK$75 billion (profit from selling buildings, shopping malls, etc., and short selling gold, plus normal profits);
In 1998, New Era Group's net profit was HK$76 billion (profit from selling European and American bank stocks was HK$46 billion, plus normal profits)
In the past two years, New Era Group has achieved good results that have "shocked the world" in the business community.
For a long time, when mentioning Xiangjiang enterprises, overseas people always think of HSBC; but in the two years from 1997 to 1988, HSBC only had annual profits of 43 billion and 31 billion respectively, which was far behind New Era Group.
Therefore, New Era Group has been the largest enterprise in Hong Kong since 1997.
And now, the market value has exceeded 750 billion, and trillions within the year is not a problem.
Lin Zuhui calculated that this year New Era Group’s conservative annual profit was more than 150 billion, which was doubled from the previous year.
Because the sale of Orange is calculated as a profit of HKD 60 billion, the normal net profit is about HKD 35 billion, plus the profit from the sale of Microsoft is HKD 60 billion.
By the turn of the millennium, New Era Group also has shares in Vodafone (purchased in the secondary market) and Sony, and is expected to cash out nearly HK$50 billion; plus Vodafone made a profit of 25 billion from acquiring Mannesmann (subsequently acquired
profit), and normal net profit of more than 35 billion; New Era Group will continue to create miracles in the millennium.
Even in 2001, although New Era Group returned to 'normal profits', it still started to grow from 40 billion Hong Kong dollars and would not show a decline. After all, the real estate, hotels, shipping, beverage and food industries invested in these years will all be in the millennium.
It gradually exploded over the years.
The problem facing New Era Group now is: there is no place to spend the money.
Of course, this is just a short-term confusion. Lin Zuhui still has some investment directions in mind, but he needs to figure it out slowly.