Chapter 139: Eating at the Banquet Requires Sitting at the Table

"Tell them, 178 million US dollars, this is the final offer from the joint acquisition group. If they don't agree to this acquisition, the joint acquisition group will abandon this acquisition!"

Ning Wenke, who had been in Falanxi for nearly a month, finally couldn't help but say to Busque, from the investment banking department of the Falanxi Société Générale, who was responsible for assisting in this acquisition, after the endless bickering in the conference room again.

Local snakes have always existed in every line of work, and they will always exist in the future. If you want to acquire a company in Falanxi, you cannot do without the support of local Falanxi snakes.

This time, in order to acquire the Brandt Appliance Mall, the Ning Family Trading Company and the Wanjia Foundation hired the investment banking team under the Falanxi Société Générale to serve as consultants to assist in the acquisition.

The Falanxi Société Générale doesn't just have savings business. What it likes to do most is high-yield businesses such as stocks, bulk commodities, and derivative products. Of course, like helping the Wanjia Foundation acquire local Falanxi companies or helping Falanxi companies acquire overseas businesses, it is also what the investment banking department of Société Générale likes to do, because it really makes money!

Hiring the Falanxi Société Générale investment banking team is not free. Regardless of whether the acquisition is successful or not, a large amount of US dollars must be paid as a consulting service fee. If the acquisition is successful, the "consulting fee" will exceed 8 million US dollars.

Moreover, if the acquisition is successful, the Wanjia Foundation will rename Brandt Appliance City to Wanjia Appliance City. In the future, Wanjia Appliance City's business dealings with banks in Falanxi, such as salary distribution, savings, lending, etc., and even if it goes public in Falanxi or Europe in the future, it must prioritize cooperation with the Falanxi Société Générale.

Of course, there is no free lunch in the world. Since the Falanxi Société Générale is responsible for assisting in the acquisition, it must resolve legal issues encountered in the acquisition, pressure and obstacles from Falanxi municipal departments, etc., all of which must be resolved by them.

Busque is a typical old white man image, wearing a well-fitting custom suit, with silver hair combed meticulously.

This is the first time Busque has dealt with a consortium from Asia. For many years, Asian companies and investment institutions have been keen on running to America, including the Japanese consortiums during the frenzy period, which all bumped their heads and broke their noses in America before slowly turning to Europe, South America, Africa, and other places.

Over the past few days, he has also been observing Ning Wenke. Seeing Ning Wenke's expression at this moment, he knows that this is almost the final offer from the joint acquisition group composed of the Wanjia Foundation and the Ning Family Trading Company.

"Benson, the Mulliez family has already received enough returns on the Brandt Appliance Mall. 178 million US dollars is almost ten times the return from when the Brandt Appliance was originally acquired!" Busque said to Benson, the president of Brandt Appliance Mall.

Benson is a member of the top Falanxi wealthy family, the Mulliez family. Brandt Appliances was acquired by the Mulliez family a few years ago.

The Mulliez family has now been passed down for six generations. Although it has declined, it has stood up again. Falanxi's second-largest retail group, Auchan, sports retail giant Decathlon, building materials group Leroy Merlin, and a host of industries including car chain repair cities, construction equipment leasing groups, etc., all belong to the Mulliez family.

In Falanxi, it is said that if someone spends 100 francs, 11 francs are dedicated to the Mulliez family. A considerable part of the Falanxi people's food, clothing, housing, and transportation is contracted by the Mulliez family's industries.

The Mulliez family is a wealthy family, but it is also famous for its internal rolling, because there are too many people. The current head of the Mulliez family's industries is Gérard, but he does not have sole power. There is also a joint committee composed of eleven Mulliez family members who manage the huge Mulliez empire together.

When encountering major events, Gérard also needs to discuss with the Mulliez family joint committee. It's just that as the head, Gérard has much more power than other Mulliez family members.

As for Benson in front of him, he is the president of Brandt Appliances, but within the Mulliez family, he is just one of the 250 people managing the family's industries.

The Mulliez family has multiplied for so many years, and the number of people has long exceeded a thousand. Coupled with the Mulliez family's special system, as long as you marry a Mulliez family member and have outstanding ability, even if you are a Mulliez family member, you have equity inheritance rights, which makes the scale of the Mulliez family constantly expand.

No matter how many industries the Mulliez family has and how large the scale is, it is impossible to put all these thousand-plus Mulliez family members into the management layer, which inevitably leads to internal rolling. Only by passing the Mulliez family joint committee's assessment, undergoing strict training, and then... waiting for the Mulliez family members who have already obtained equity to retire, can the later Mulliez family members obtain equity again.

This leads to the fact that Mulliez family members, although they all have the surname Mulliez, have completely different treatment and living conditions. Some, like Gérard's branch of Mulliez family members, have the treatment of global top tycoons, while some family members are still struggling for food and clothing, only hoping to enter the family industry to become management. Although they have the same surname and live under the same sky, the lives they live are completely different.

Benson listened to Busque's words and hesitated slightly. The acquisition price of 178 million US dollars was already not low. His status within the Mulliez family was much better than those family members who hadn't entered the family industry yet, but compared to the core members of Gérard's branch, it really didn't count for anything.

Auchan, Decathlon, and Leroy Merlin are the core industries of the Mulliez family. Only by entering these three groups can one climb to the top of the Mulliez family's pyramid. As for Brandt Appliances, compared to these three groups, it is really not worth mentioning.

Busque's meaning is very clear: let Benson sell Brandt Appliances at a high price, and then rely on his merit to transfer to other Mulliez family industries to climb up, and obtaining more Mulliez family equity is the right path. What future is there in staying at Brandt Appliances? Even if you stay for a lifetime, you are just a marginal figure of the Mulliez family, and you are not qualified to sit at the table when eating at the banquet...

No matter what he thought in his heart, Benson said, "This offer is just the opinion of the Ning Family Trading Company. I don't know what the Wanjia Foundation thinks?!"

"The Wanjia Foundation has fully authorized me to handle this acquisition. My decision represents the opinion of the Wanjia Foundation!" Ning Wenke said in a deep voice.

Before entering the conference room for negotiations this time, Ning Wenke had a phone call with Li Dongling, and Li Dongling had already given the final acquisition price. If Brandt Appliances didn't agree, then they had to prepare to acquire other appliance chain companies. It was impossible to hang themselves on a crooked neck tree.

Hearing this, Benson couldn't help but feel a bit of envy. How old is Ning Wenke, and she is already qualified to decide on an acquisition of nearly 200 million US dollars. And he, already nearly forty, has never handled such a large sum of money. If he were a core member of the Mulliez family...

Benson couldn't help but think that he would be dealing with the affairs of international giants like Auchan, Decathlon, and Leroy Merlin, dealing with the upper class and powerful figures of Europe and America, and wouldn't have to stay here and deal with this group of Asian consortiums that don't know where they popped out from.

"185 million US dollars!"

Benson reported another price again. He made up his mind to sell Brandt Appliance City, take the huge funds from the sale, go to the Mulliez family joint committee to claim credit, and then climb to a higher position. The higher the price Brandt Appliances sells for, the more beneficial it is to him.

After several rounds of bargaining, it was finally determined to acquire Brandt Appliances for 180 million US dollars. This is the first major overseas acquisition case in the mainland, and this acquisition price is also within the range of the acquisition price that Li Dongling, Ren Yuefeng, and Hu Zi discussed and could accept.

Until the signing was finished and the agreement was exchanged with Benson, Ning Wenke finally let out a long sigh of relief. This matter was finally accomplished!

Brandt Appliances was acquired in its entirety, including 68 stores, management, staff, suppliers, etc., all of which belonged to the Wanjia Foundation. Dongling Gao Ke had its own sales channel in Europe for the first time. Even if compared to channel merchants like Metro, Carrefour, MediaMarkt, Media, and Saturn Appliance City, Dongling Gao Ke's overseas sales channel was still very weak, but having it meant that Dongling Gao Ke had a foothold!

"Congratulations!"

Busque congratulated Ning Wenke with gentlemanly grace. This acquisition meant that he had earned a big order for the Falanxi Société Générale, and his year-end bonus this year would be much more generous.

"Manager Wan, if there is an opportunity, perhaps you can introduce the holder of the Wanjia Foundation, no, now it should be called Wanjia Appliance City. In the future, we will definitely have more opportunities for cooperation!" Busque said to Ning Wenke.

Ning Wenke's smile faded, looking at Busque's pair of eyes that seemed to have seen through everything, "Mr. Busque, I don't know what this means?!"

Hearing this, Busque didn't care. For so many years, he was quite confident in his sense of smell in his professional field. The feeling Wanjia Appliance City gave him was like a hungry shark. Although it had only just entered the European market, Busque believed in his judgment: this acquisition was by no means the end of Wanjia Appliance City.

"Just relay my words to that respected user. I believe that we will have opportunities for cooperation in the future!"

Busque looked at his watch, "The legal and other municipal-related problems of Brandt Appliances will be handled by the Falanxi Société Générale investment bank. In addition, I will continue to help Wanjia Appliance City complete the acquisition of another 32 stores in Falanxi according to the agreement!"

In Hanxi, Li Dongling, who was helping Wang Xiulan turn the soil in the small flower garden reserved in the courtyard of the new Li house, suddenly received a phone call.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 140 =====