Chapter 503 I Have a Question
"Sister Huang, I just received internal information that more than a dozen machine tool companies in Europe held a meeting with representatives of Hegeman and Tarrant. At the meeting, these machine tool companies promised to ensure that they would receive the necessary equipment from the two parts companies. Order, and the annual order price will increase by at least 3% on the basis of the previous year for more than three years."
At the hotel where he was staying, Liang Zile reported to Huang Liting the latest news he had learned.
After the merger offers of Hegemann and Tarrant were rejected, Huang Liting did not leave Europe immediately. Instead, she followed her previous plan and began to inspect the new stores opened by Lijia Supermarket in several European cities. At the same time, Planning to open more outlets.
Huang Liting knows that an acquisition of this level will never be a hit-and-miss affair. Just because the other party rejects your M&A request does not mean that you have no chance at all. Sometimes the other party's approach is just to play hard to get, and sometimes it is because they have not thought about it for the time being. Give them some time to think, and maybe they will change their mind.
Liang Zile was not in a hurry to return to China. Instead, he used his network to learn more about the two companies, Hegeman and Tarrant. He grew up in the United States, received a degree there, and has quite a few connections in the West. Some of his classmates and senior brothers are now engaged in investment consulting business in Europe and can serve as his eyes and ears.
Hegeman informed a group of European machine tool companies such as PATEO that a Chinese company planned to acquire him. In fact, he was sending a message to these companies. Of course, the decision-makers of these machine tool companies are not idlers. After a little understanding of the situation, they know that the situation reported by Hegeman is not something to be taken lightly. If he does not take some effective actions, Hegeman may really be pried away by the Chinese, and then the challenges that various machine tool companies will face will be even more severe.
Realizing this, various machine tool companies quickly reached a consensus, that is, they must give Hegman and Tarrant, the two largest machine tool accessories companies in the world, some sweetness, at least let them see some hope and give up. Thoughts of selling.
Guaranteed ordering and the promise that the ordering price will increase by no less than 3% every year are the benefits given by these machine tool companies. The price of accessories does not account for a large proportion of the cost of machine tools. A 3% price increase will not bring much cost pressure to various machine tool companies. This price is something they can afford.
For the two accessories companies, whether to sell the company was originally a matter of choice. Now with such a benefit, their balance has tilted in the direction of not selling. No matter how the European economy evolves in the future, their business will still be guaranteed for at least one or two years, so they can ignore the sale for now.
"These machine tool companies responded quickly enough." Huang Liting said in a disdainful tone.
Liang Zile said with a smile: "This shows that Brother Tang and the others have indeed done a good job, forcing these European machine tool companies to have no way out. Hegman and Tarrant are probably happy to see this scene. Chinese machine tools have no influence on European machine tools." The more pressure the machine tools have, the more they can profit from it.”
"We have spent so much effort and made wedding dresses for them instead. It is really not cost-effective." Huang Liting said.
Liang Zile said: "I asked my friends to find out from the side. The two companies, Hegman and Tarrant, were initially vacillating on the issue of sale. After this meeting, their attitudes became firm. , those directors in the company who originally supported the sale are now silent.”
"It's easy for them to say nothing." Huang Liting said, "If I am willing to bid 1.6 billion euros, I believe no one within Hegeman will object to the sale."
"That's for sure." Liang Zile said with a smile, and then said sternly: "However, Sister Huang, it's not worth it. Our bid of 800 million is already a premium. If we pay 1.6 billion, even if we buy it , which is also a very failed operation.”
Huang Liting said: "The key to failure or not is to see whether it is necessary. If Linji is at the end of its rope due to accessories problems, then it is not impossible to spend 1.6 billion euros to help Linji solve the problem. Zifeng helped me to open Lijia Supermarket In doing so, he might also have the intention that Lijia Supermarket can help him at some point.
"Zifeng said that heavy industry is the foundation of the country, and retail industries such as supermarkets are based on industry. Without industry, the retail industry cannot develop.
"When he said this, I knew that he hoped that Lijia Supermarket could play some role. When necessary, he would rather sacrifice Lijia Supermarket to ensure the development of the company."
"Mr. Tang does have such sentiments." Liang Zile nodded and said, "However, the current situation is not so critical, right? Hegemanka's neck is preventing Linji from competing with PATEO and others in the US market. Competition. Generally speaking, PATEO's decline is inevitable, and doing so now only slows down the decline. Time is on our side, and there is no need for us to mess up our position."
Huang Liting said: "What you said makes sense. However, Zifeng is a person with a bright future. If he can make greater achievements now, he will be able to move to a higher position. If it is delayed for a few years, maybe he will The opportunity was taken by someone else. We are all friends of Zifeng, and if we can help him, we must still find a way to help."
"That's true." Liang Zile nodded and admitted.
He often attended gatherings with Tang Zifeng, Wang Zijie, Li Kejia and others on weekdays. He gained some experience by listening to these people talk about various things in shopping malls and official circles. From the bottom of his heart, he also hoped that Tang Zifeng could go further. After all, Bao Nana is considered a big fan of Tang Zifeng, and Liang Zile is influenced by her and somewhat admires Tang Zifeng.
"But, Sister Huang, if we don't consider further price increases, I'm afraid Hegman and Tarrant will not be willing to talk to us, let alone agree to sell. I heard that these two companies are We have increased our research and development efforts and seem to be preparing for a protracted war," Liang Zile said.
Huang Liting frowned: "Yes, this is indeed a troublesome matter. If people don't want to sell, we can't force them to sell, right? If the European economy picks up next year or so, it will be even more difficult to buy them. .”
"Sister Huang, I have a question." Liang Zile said.
"What's the question?" Huang Liting asked.
"Why did we focus on Hegman and Tarrant? There are many companies in Europe that make machine tool accessories. I heard that there is a company called Cork, which is also very famous. It is said that its technical level is very high. It’s higher than Hegman and Tarrant. Why don’t we consider acquiring this company?” Liang Zile asked.
Huang Liting said: "Cork? I know this company. Some of its products are indeed higher in technical level than Hegman. In the past, Linyi Machine used its ball screws. I heard my Lao Cai say that of.
"However, its product line is very narrow. The lead screw is its main product, and its models are not as comprehensive as those of Hegman. In terms of electric spindles, it basically does not produce them. There are other accessories, and the situation is similar, or they are not available. Or there are only a few models that cannot solve the problems currently faced by the aircraft."
Liang Zile asked with a smile: "We can't solve the problems we face at the moment, but can we create some problems for Hegeman and the others?"
"What do you mean?" Huang Liting didn't understand. It's true that she is a shopping mall elite, but after all, she is already over 50 years old, and Liang Zile's mind can't be as fast as Liang Zile's.
Liang Zile said: "Hegeman's current business situation is very sluggish. Even with the support of European machine tool manufacturers, it can barely survive. If a competitor appears on the market at this time and takes away part of its market, such as you As for the ball screw market, will Hegemann make it worse?"
"This is a way." Huang Liting's eyes lit up, "On one side, we continue to extend our hands to Hegeman, and on the other side, we start to suppress Hegeman's market and compress its profit margins. When it can't survive, we will We have to consider our suggestions.
"However, Cork may not be an ideal company. Its products have high technical level, but the price is also high, and it is not very competitive. In addition, its scale is also small. Even if it competes with Hegman, it is very difficult. It’s hard to shake Hegeman’s foundation.”
Liang Zile smiled and said: "Sister Huang, why are you confused? Why are you afraid of high prices? Isn't what we are best at controlling costs? When the price of any product is in the hands of the Chinese, it will at least be cut in half. Will it still appear high then? Production capacity is not a problem anymore. If we acquire it and increase its production capacity five times within half a year, will it be difficult?"
"It's not difficult at all!" Huang Liting also laughed. She also had preconceptions and looked at Cork Company with static eyes.
As Liang Zile said, if the Chinese buy the Cork Company, it will be easy to reduce production costs or expand production capacity.
Cork Company has technology. If the product price can be reduced and production capacity is not an issue, it will indeed pose a threat to Hegman and Tarrant.
More importantly, Cork is a foreign brand, and it is considered a high-end brand in the European market. If it is brought to the Chinese market, it will be enough to satisfy users' desire to worship foreign countries. It is entirely possible to use Cork's products to drive Hegman and Tarrant's products out of the Chinese market.
China is the only machine tool market in the world that is still growing. If Hegman and Tarrant lose the Chinese market for certain types of products, their lives will be difficult to survive immediately. Unless machine tool companies such as PATEO are willing to sell blood to subsidize them, they will have no choice but to go bankrupt.
At that time, will they still dare to reject Huang Liting's delicate hands?