America's Road to Fame

Chapter 187 Holding Hermes Group

William Chen's promises finally dispelled the doubts of the Hermès family, which also made the atmosphere of the reception more harmonious.

In the later part of free communication, William Chen deliberately communicated with many family members. In addition to answering some of their questions, he also tried his best to obtain their approval of himself.

In particular, the conversation with several important members also cleared the way for William Chen's acquisition.

Just like Chen William's conversation with Nicholas Piez, Nicholas Piez is the member with the highest personal shareholding in the Hermès family, and personally holds 6% of the group's shares.

He is quite supportive of Chen William's acquisition, because if, as Chen William said, his shares are limited to 48%, then the importance of the 6% shares held by Nicholas Piez will be greatly increased. When Chen William's shareholding is similar to that of the Hermès family, he has a greater say in it, no matter which side he leans, he can decide the situation.

Therefore, the reception this time has largely achieved William Chen's goal.His total shareholding in Hermes Group has now reached 39%. If he temporarily limits it to 48% according to his promise, then there is still a 9% share that can be absorbed.

From the next day, after reaching a tacit agreement with the Hermes family, William Chen asked Goldman Sachs to continue to contact those members of the family who were willing to sell their shares and continue to make acquisitions.

The acquisition of Hermes Group by Meta Investment Company can be said to have attracted the attention of the whole world.Not long after, Meta Investment Company announced that its shareholding in Hermes Group had reached 39%.

At this time, William Chen was interviewed by the local government department and needed to explain to them the purpose of the acquisition of Hermès Group. After all, this is one of the most famous luxury brands in France. The completion of this acquisition must also obtain official approval.

However, because an agreement has been reached with the Hermes family, this step is not subject to too many restrictions. After ensuring that the acquisition, the Hermes Group will not change the status quo and will still maintain its independence, it has also received official approval.

During this period, Chen William successively signed acquisition agreements with some members of the Hermès family, and purchased 80 million shares of Hermès International at an average price of 10.85 euros at a cost of 1004.4 billion U.S. dollars, increasing his shareholding to 48. %.

In this way, William Chen spent a total of 50.5 billion U.S. dollars in the entire acquisition process. Now he holds 5354.4 million shares of Hermes Group, holding 48% of the shares. He has become the controlling party of the company and officially completed the acquisition of Hermes.

So Meta Investment Company and Hermes Group held a press conference together and announced that Meta Investment Company has completed the acquisition of Hermes Group, and currently holds 48% of the shares, becoming the controlling party of Hermes Group.

After the completion of the acquisition, Hermes Group will continue to operate independently, and Meta Investment Company will support Hermes Group strategically, and will continue to maintain the Hermes family's management of the Group, continue the Hermes brand's excellence in production technology, and bring global consumers Come more new products and higher quality.

After the acquisition dust settled, the news spread that the stock price of Hermes International closed up 9% that day, and the stock price was close to 90 euros. Calculated at this price, the value of William Chen’s investment has risen by more than 14.5 billion US dollars. It can be said that it has been successful.

During this period of time, Fan Bingbing accompanied William Chen in France to complete the acquisition of the Hermès Group. She also experienced the feeling of such a large-scale acquisition, which often cost hundreds of millions of euros. 50.5 billion US dollars is equivalent to spending the net worth of the richest man in China.

So exciting!

But she is not without gains. Through the contact with the Hermès family during this period, Fan Bingbing has become more familiar with the French fashion circle.Especially when attending the reception that night, many people were deeply impressed by Fan Bingbing's amazing appearance in Hermes dress.

That is because the Hermes brand is relatively unique, and has never specifically sought out celebrities as spokespersons. Otherwise, she might become the French spokesperson of the Hermes brand.

Unlike other brands, such as Chanel, LV and Gucci, etc., in a country or region, they are divided into spokespersons, brand ambassadors, brand friends and other titles at various levels, and they often find a bunch of celebrities to endorse at once.

But even so, the chief costume designer of the Hermès brand invited Fan Bingbing to participate in one of their fashion shows next month.

You must know that Hermès invited Chinese stars in important catwalks. The only time before that was Zhang Manyu who was invited on the Hermès FW 1998 catwalk. It has been 12 years.

Therefore, this will be a very important honor, and Fan Bingbing also readily agreed. If it can go smoothly and perform well, it will also lay the foundation for future cooperation, and it will also occupy the domestic media for a long time. reports.

You must know that the photos of Zhang Manyu participating in the Hermès catwalk will be taken out and commented on every once in a while, and it has really been popular for many years.

After the acquisition of the Hermès Group, Chen William originally wanted to stay in France to stay with Fan Bingbing for a few more days, but now it seems that he has to return to the United States first, because after nearly a month of negotiations on the acquisition of MGM, there is finally an agreement. In the end, he needs to go back and sign the contract.

Moreover, during this period of time, the situation in the United States has also undergone many changes, requiring him to go back and deal with it.

Fan Bingbing is also very optimistic about this situation. After all, William Chen has been with her in France for a few days, and work matters are more important.

Fan Bingbing also has a relatively good relationship with the Hermès Group now, and is discussing with the other party about the show next month, so she will temporarily stay in France for a few days, and then return directly to China. There is still a lot of work waiting for her to complete .

When William Chen returned to the United States, it was already the end of January.The plane landed directly at Los Angeles Airport, where he will complete the final acquisition of MGM.

The complexity of the acquisition of MGM lies in the need to communicate with the management, shareholders and creditors.

All these things have already been completed by Goldman Sachs, and the actual purchase price is the easiest point to negotiate. What wastes time is the acquisition method.

The easiest thing to deal with is the management of MGM. They are most concerned about the future operation of MGM and the guarantee of film shooting.

The most picky thing is the creditors. Unless the US$35 billion MGM debt can be settled in one go, otherwise the acquisition method needs to be approved by them to ensure that they get the final repayment.

Therefore, after the discussion, William Chen's plan to acquire MGM was finally determined. After William Chen nodded in agreement, the acquisition of MGM could be completed through this plan.

In the final acquisition plan, William Chan will acquire MGM for US$15 billion, and at the same time assume MGM's US$35 billion in debt.

In order to obtain the approval of the company's creditors, he will take out 10 billion US dollars of funds at the same time as the acquisition, and repay part of the debt in advance, so that MGM's debt will be reduced to 25 billion US dollars.

Finally, after the acquisition of the company, he will also inject $5 million into the company for the company's operations and the filming of the 007rd "23" series of films, as well as the "Lord of the Rings: The Hobbit" series of films.

Because there is really no way to do this. After the subprime mortgage crisis, MGM's current accounts do not even have the funds to support it for a month.

In this case, Chen William needs to spend a total of US$30 billion to acquire MGM and inject capital, and at the same time, he will assume MGM's US$25 billion in debt.

For these, William Chen has no opinion at all. He believes that there will be no pressure on MGM to pay off these debts after the approval.

What's more, his acquisition of these highly indebted companies at this time has another benefit for his Meta investment company-that is, the debts of these companies can be used to reduce the taxes that need to be paid in the next year.

This is also the suggestion William Chen's financial advisor made to him. Think about the astronomical profits his Meta investment company can earn during the subprime mortgage crisis, and you can imagine how high taxes he will have to face in the future. Lost.

Investing these funds and purchasing those highly indebted assets is also an inevitable operation for the rich to avoid taxes.

(End of this chapter)