When will I have a long tassel?

"If we acquire Hegemann, will the EU ban still apply?" Huang Liting asked.

Luotto said: "In fact, if Ms. Huang wants to acquire Hegeman, I am afraid she will also be blocked by the European Union. Companies such as PATEO have spokespersons in the European Commission, and they will set up various obstacles to prevent Ms. Huang from doing so. Smoothly acquire Hegeman or Tarrant. If this process takes three to five years, then what is the point of Ms. Huang acquiring Hegeman?"

Huang Liting looked at the two of them and said calmly: "If that's the case, then what else do we have to talk about?"

"this……"

DeGraaf and Luotto looked at each other, and finally it was Luotto who spoke:

"Ms. Huang, you should know that although Hegeman is the world's number one machine tool parts company, our strength is still too small compared with companies such as PATEO. Those large machine tool companies also have their own machine tool parts companies. The core accessories can be guaranteed by ourselves, so it is almost impossible for us to negotiate with them on an equal footing.

"This time we restricted the supply of spare parts to Chinese machine tool companies because we were under pressure from European machine tool companies. Otherwise, there is no need for us to offend such an important customer. For us parts manufacturers, whether Chinese machine tool companies occupy the U.S. market , or European machine tool companies occupy the US market, the result will be the same, they will all use the accessories we provide. In fact, we are actually more willing to deal with Chinese machine tool companies.

"So, Ms. Huang, please believe that the restriction on the export of high-end machine tool parts to China has nothing to do with us. We are the party that should not be punished."

Huang Liting nodded: "I believe Mr. Luotto's explanation, but it does not solve the problems we are facing. I will not hide it from you, I went to Europe to ask for a shareholding in Hegemann, and it was entrusted by a friend. This This friend is very important to me, so I must complete the things he entrusts me with.

"If I can't get the necessary high-end parts from Hegeman for my friend, then I have to find a way to make Hegeman disappear, because then my friend's American customers will no longer ask them to use Hegeman. Accessories.”

"..."

DeGraaf and Luoto were speechless again. The young lady in front of me was speaking too domineeringly.

Before coming to China, DeGraff and the others had done some homework and knew that Huang Liting was now considered one of the richest women in China. Her personal wealth may not be much, but judging from the size of Lijia Supermarket, it was not worth it in Europe. For a large enterprise that should not be underestimated, it is normal for Huang Liting to be so domineering.

DeGraaf wanted to criticize Huang Liting, saying that Hegeman was not easily defeated. Even if it was impacted by brands such as Coker and Dudok Brothers, Hegeman would only suffer some losses and was still close to bankruptcy. Not even close.

But does he dare to say this?

If Huang Liting is a rational businessman, DeGraaf's counterattack may have some effect and make Huang Liting retreat. But according to De Graaf's observation, Huang Liting seems to have some obsessions in this matter. Perhaps she is "entrusted by others" as she claimed, and the person who entrusted her to her is very important to her. important.

In a business war, once one party's demands are irrational, the other party will have to carefully consider its own countermeasures. When fighting an irrational opponent, the greatest possibility is that both sides will suffer losses. Huang Liting doesn't care about losses, and her ability to withstand losses is much stronger than Hegeman's. So does DeGraaf dare to challenge her?

"Perhaps, we can discuss an alternative plan." DeGraaf's attitude completely softened.

Huang Liting nodded slightly: "Mr. Degraaf, please speak."

"The EU only restricts our exports to China of machine tool accessories for resale to foreign markets. But if the machine tools sold to the United States are not manufactured in China, but in other countries, such as Vietnam or Africa, then our exports It is not subject to this ban. I would like to know whether the company where Ms. Huang's friend works has an overseas production base?" DeGraaf asked.

"Overseas production base?" Huang Liting hesitated and said: "As far as I know, their export machine tools are all manufactured domestically. The manufacturing of export machine tools requires high-standard factories, and the construction cost of such factories is very high. It seems not easy to build such a factory in Vietnam or Africa."

Huang Liting is a family member of Linyi Machinery, and her husband Cai Yue is a senior engineer at Linyi Machinery, so she knew some knowledge about machine tool manufacturing in the past. Over the years, her status has risen and she has paid more attention to matters in all walks of life. When she is at home, she will ask Cai Yue about Linji Group if she has nothing to do, so what DeGraff said, she I can really tell you something.

Machine tools temporarily exported to the United States require high precision, so the manufacturing of many components must be completed in high-standard factories. This high-standard factory requires constant temperature and humidity, and shielding from various vibrations. The site selection, design, and building materials are very particular.

For example, Huang Liting knew that Linji had a precision machining workshop built in the mountains on the outskirts of the country. It was hidden 20 meters deep underground, and the machine tools were directly fixed on the granite. To build such a workshop, not counting equipment, the investment in civil construction alone would cost tens of millions.

It’s not like we can’t find suitable places to build such high-standard factories in Southeast Asia, Africa and other places, but it’s really a waste to build such factories in those places. It is difficult to guarantee the local power supply, water quality, and quality of workers. What is the use of putting a high-standard factory there?

Of course DeGraff also understands what Huang Liting said. Their high-end machine tool accessories are also manufactured in high-standard factories. How could he not understand this problem? After hearing Huang Liting's words, he waved his hands and said:

"No, no, no, Ms. Huang, you misunderstood me. I am not asking them to produce these machine tools in Africa, I just ask them to complete the assembly of these machine tools in Africa. We send machine tool accessories to Africa, which is quite Since these machine tools are manufactured in Africa, they do not violate the EU ban."

"Are you sure you can do this?" Huang Liting asked.

"I'm convinced that, in fact, this is a pretty routine operation," DeGraaf said.

Huang Liting said: "I need to ask my friends first to see if they can accept this approach. If they can accept it, I think such a cooperation method is feasible."

"It's totally doable!" DeGraaf wanted to swear to Huang Liting.

Huang Liting smiled slightly and said: "I also hope this is a feasible plan. If this plan is feasible, then I think we can discuss further about the sales of Hegman accessories in the Chinese market."

DeGraaf and Louotto returned full of grievances. They signed secret agreements with Linji and other Chinese customers, promising to export machine tool parts banned by the EU to these companies' overseas factories to manufacture Chinese brand machine tools for export to the United States.

In recent years, some large machine tool companies such as Linji have built production bases overseas. It is very convenient to open a workshop specifically for assembling export machine tools. Everyone is familiar with evading regulations such as the "principle of origin". As long as both parties cooperate tacitly, it is too easy to exploit policy loopholes.

In exchange, Huang Liting and several other businessmen who had just acquired European machine tool parts companies promised to appropriately increase the prices of several domestically produced European brand machine tool parts, leaving Hegeman with a certain amount of room for competition. As for not producing and selling these European brand accessories at all, that is impossible. We also spent money when acquiring companies. We can't let these companies idle, right?

Before DeGraaf and the others returned to Europe, several Tarrant executives also arrived in China. After the same struggle, Tarrant also signed an alliance with Chinese machine tool companies in exchange for a breathing space in the Chinese market.

How could Hegman and Tarrant's policy-making sidelines be concealed from PATEO and other machine tool companies? PATEO and other companies aggressively came forward to press charges, but received a tough counterattack from Hegeman and Tarrant.

These two parts companies claim that it is okay to maintain the ban on Chinese parts. Their losses in the Chinese market must be fully compensated by various European machine tool companies.

How could PATEO and other companies be willing to be taken advantage of? When negotiations failed to yield any results, they sued both Hegman and Tarrant to the EU's arbitration institutions, asking the EU to punish them.

At the request of various machine tool companies, the EU previously issued a restriction order on Hegemann and Tarrant prohibiting the export of certain accessories to China. This has given these machine tool companies face, and has really offended Hegemann and Tarrant. Tarrant. Hegeman and Tarrant are not companies without any background. They also have their own lobbying capabilities, so the EU does not dare to do anything too extreme. Everything must be balanced. How can it treat Hegeman unmercifully? Are Mann and Tarrant going to kill each other?

After receiving complaints from PATEO and other companies, the EU arranged a working group to conduct an investigation to confirm whether the export of products by Hegemann and Tarrant to overseas factories of Chinese companies violated the EU's previous ban. This kind of thing is originally a matter of public opinion being justified and mother-in-law speaking mother-in-law being justified. Several officials and experts in the working group lacked enthusiasm and adopted a tactic of dragging their feet during the investigation. They neither said that PATEO's demands were wrong nor that Hegman and Tarrant's actions were inappropriate. Today, they issued a statement A letter of inquiry and a hearing will be held tomorrow, which will easily delay the matter for a year or two.

As a result, before the problem could be solved, PATEO, which was the first to raise the issue, had a problem first.