In the blink of an eye, it’s December.
It has been a month and a half since Henry Morgan left Hong Kong.
Backed by the Morgan family, Henry Morgan had very good connections in all aspects of the United States. In addition, this was a new market that could generate considerable profits. With the combination of the two aspects, they quickly established companies in hundreds of cities in the United States. The distribution chain system below involves every local bar, shopping mall and some places with large flow of people.
As for the school and the airport, Chen Zhiwen only knew that Henry Morgan personally contacted him, but he didn't know the specific situation.
After 500 arcade machines were flown to the United States and placed experimentally in various places, they immediately attracted a large number of people. This also allowed dealers in every city from Henry Morgan to see the hope of Dole.
Subsequently, Hong Kong received a one-time order for 15,000 Snake arcade machines. According to the previously agreed agreement, Midea received a one-time advance payment of US$18.75 million directly from its overseas account, which was like a shot in the arm. , so that Midea's management was like a chicken blood injection, and the entire factory began to produce at full capacity.
The compressor company's acquisition negotiations have also entered the final stage. After the news was released a month ago, Lei Shengli also obtained cooperation intentions from an investment bank in the United States. They also said that they could find a company in the United States that meets the acquisition target of Midea. requirements.
Lei Shengli naturally accepts everyone who comes to his door. He only needs to let the investment company handle the headaches for him, such as how to persuade the other company to sell him, how to deal with local government inquiries, and how to deal with legal issues. Just pay a certain amount of consulting fees and agency fees.
In the end, Lei Shengli was still optimistic about the German-based Bitzer company. Under the guidance of Deutsche Bank, the two parties had basically reached the point where they were about to sign a memorandum of understanding.
However, before that, the boss Chen Zhiwen had to take a look. After all, it was a company that would cost tens of millions of dollars to acquire. This could be said to be a major acquisition second only to Hutchison.
Federal Republic of Germany, Munich:
"Sheng Chen, the Bitzer factory is just ahead." A BMW commercial vehicle was driving on a wide road, with different factories on the left and right. Lei Shengli pointed to the front and said.
"Okay, there are so many factories in Germany." Chen Zhiwen looked around and couldn't help but said. After getting off the plane from Munich, he directly got into the car that Lei Shengli came to pick him up. Except for the first time in the city, , after leaving the city, he entered the industrial area, which was full of various factories, but because the names were in German, he couldn't understand them.
Soon, the car began to slow down and came to the door of a factory. Five or six Germanic white people also came outside the door.
"Hello, Mr. Chen, I am Baistin Shore, the general manager of Bitzer." As soon as Chen Zhiwen and Lei Shengli got off the car, the leader of the Germanic group came over with a smile and spoke in fluent English. said.
"Hello, nice to meet you." Chen Zhiwen also shook hands and smiled. The two of them actually did not need any translation. Everyone spoke English. Only in very serious business negotiations, professional translation may be needed.
"Sheng Chen, this is..." Lei Shengli also introduced several other white people one by one, and Chen Zhiwen also shook hands one by one. Including Bai Sting, these people are currently Bitzer's top managers. If I acquire this company in the future, I still need to count on them to continue running the entire company.
"Mr. Chen, please." After everyone knew each other's names, Baistin invited a few people into the factory.
"Mr. Chen, Bitzer's current main business is divided into three parts. The first part is the automotive business, which mainly provides automotive compressors for the public. The second part is industrial use. We produce many industrial compressors of different specifications. , The third one is for civilian use, mainly to provide compressors for air-conditioning production companies. This workshop is..." Along the way, Baistin introduced the entire factory to Chen Zhiwen, including its size, factory workshop conditions, etc. Chen Zhiwen was also patient. Listen, no interruption. In fact, Lei Shengli had compiled these into information for him before.
During the walk, many German workers looked at them with curiosity. Apparently they all knew that this group of Asians was planning to acquire their company, which was relatively rare in Germany and even Europe.
Bitzer's factory covers an area of approximately 20,000 square meters, with a construction area of almost 40,000 square meters, which is not very large. After spending half an hour walking around, the group arrived at the office at the front.
Entering a conference room, bananas, strawberries, oranges and two other fruits whose names Chen Zhiwen didn't know were already placed on the middle table. He didn't know whether it was intentional or not. There were also several bottles of Red Bull on the table.
There was no display screen in the conference room, only two whiteboards, which were probably used for writing. There was a projector on the wall in the middle, just like the one in the school in the 1990s. One person was seen pulling up all the curtains one by one. The conference room suddenly became dark, and then the projector was turned on. A stack of text appeared on a piece of white wall cloth in front of it. The source of the text was a piece of transparent paper with text written on it. It was the same as Chen Zhiwen's memory of attending class when he was a child. The situation is the same as in , you write what you need on a transparent paper page in advance, and then shine it on a white cloth or white wall through reflection.
As Chen Zhiwen, who was here for the first time, although he already had a general idea of the situation of Bitzer Company, Baistin still summarized it again.
Ten minutes later, after Baistin finished speaking, Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and asked: "Mr. Shore, in your mind, what is Bitzer's core business right now? Automotive, industrial, or civilian?"
"Mr. Chen, at present, our company's main business is industrial compressors. Many industrial refrigeration equipment and cold storage room compressors throughout Germany are our customers. In the automotive compressor area, our business volume accounts for almost 30%. Mainly Just supplying goods to the public." Baistin replied: "There is nothing wrong with this ratio, I think it is good as it is now."
"What about the civilian market? This market should be very big?" Chen Zhiwen asked: "Why don't you want to focus on developing the civilian market?"
Baistin said: "Because the residential air-conditioning market in Europe is very small, Mr. Chen, you may not know that there is basically no high temperature in summer in Europe. In winter, natural gas is mainly used for heating, and even many cars do not need air-conditioning. , even Volkswagen’s cars sold in Europe basically do not have air conditioning.
There are indeed some air-conditioning companies in Germany, but their main business is export, and the volume is not large, so it is difficult to do well in this area. The other business is the refrigerator compressor business. We have done it before, but the profit was too low. Mr. Fleur stopped this salesman, and what was left was only industrial demand, which has always been strong, and this has always been Bitzer's main business. "
"Europe does not need residential air conditioners, but Asia does. If I acquire Bitzer, what do you think about building a branch in Hong Kong to specialize in the production of residential air conditioners and refrigerators?" Chen Zhiwen asked with a smile.
"That would be the best. We also need to open up new markets." Bai Steen nodded and said. Regarding this possible future boss, they naturally knew the other party's purpose, which was to get Bitzer's number. The technology and experience accumulated in the compressor field over the past ten years are then transferred to Asia. Otherwise, why would an Asian company invest in German industry?
However, they really think this is a good idea. It will not do them any harm to build a factory in Asia to produce civilian products. Moreover, they can also use the Hong Kong factory as a springboard to sell their own industrial compressors to Going to Asia, and the fact that the new owner is obviously financially stronger than the Schoffler family, will only be better for the company's development.
"Hong Kong has almost no foundation for manufacturing compressors. In this regard, what do you think should be done so that Hong Kong can quickly produce suitable civilian compressors?" Chen Zhiwen asked.
"I also learned about the situation in Hong Kong from Mr. Lei. The biggest problem is that there are no relevant suppliers." Baistin said: "Some parts inside the compressor are relatively precise. If there are no suppliers who can process them, , then it is necessary to purchase relevant industrial processing equipment from Germany, but there are no people in Hong Kong who know how to operate various processing equipment, so they need to be sent to Germany for training.
But I don’t have such equipment here, and we all outsource the processing. In Germany, many factories only do what they are good at, and leave the rest to others. "
"I know that it's not a problem to arrange people to come to Germany. There are still some people in Hong Kong with processing background. It's no problem to send them to Germany. It's no problem to wear professional translators. I can buy the equipment." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.
There is no way. In a place like Hong Kong that is only good at light industry, if you build something with a bit of technical content, this problem will arise. Fortunately, the compressor is not very big. Although the quantity is large, there are not many types of parts. It takes a long time to train talents. Much simpler.
Baistin continued: "There is another problem, that is, the casing of the compressor is formed by forging. This equipment requires a huge investment, has very high technical requirements, and will also cause certain environmental pollution. I am not sure about Hong Kong. Can it be done there? And generally in Germany, companies with such forging equipment cannot only make one product. They need various orders to maintain the operation of the equipment. If it were done in Hong Kong, it would cost millions of marks. Such equipment would be very cost-effective.”
"Then purchase from Germany and ship to Hong Kong. You can do this in the early stage. Later we will find new suppliers from Asia." Chen Zhiwen thought for a moment and said, "If the order volume in Hong Kong can maintain this type of equipment in the future, Then you can consider buying one. It doesn’t matter whether it can be in Hong Kong. If you really can’t invest in areas near Hong Kong, it just needs to be close.”
Today's Hong Kong still has very high requirements for environmental protection. Many high-power-consuming factories have also moved to Wanwan. Only those assembly plants without any pollution remain. This can be regarded as the hollowing out of Hong Kong's manufacturing industry in the future. One of the reasons is that although the environment is important, it does not give some polluting companies a way to survive. Forcing them to leave will only cause problems in the internal circulation of the industry. Many raw materials and parts of the industrial chain need to be imported and exported. In this way, This will add a lot of cost and time.
"If this is the case, it is naturally not a problem. It only takes a certain amount of time to successfully train the colleagues in Hong Kong, and then send some colleagues from Europe to guide them. I think in 3-5 years, the factories in Hong Kong can make qualified products. Civilian compressors," said Baistin.
You don't care about these costs anymore. As long as you really invest, you can naturally build a new factory in Hong Kong!
"Okay, I do need enough help from you to establish the factory in Asia. However, as for Bitzer's business in Europe, since civilian development cannot be developed, then we should focus on the development of automobiles. Compared with the industrial market, even if Many cars in Europe do not have air conditioning, and the market is much larger and more stable than the industrial market," Chen Zhiwen continued.
"The automobile market is indeed much larger, but the competition in this industry is also very fierce. If you want to expand, you will need a lot of funds. Especially if you want to enter the supply chain of a certain automobile brand, the initial cost will be very large." Bai Si Ting explained.
Chen Zhiwen said: "It doesn't matter if it costs a lot, I will invest the money, as long as you can enter the supply chain of more automobile companies."
In a stable market, if you want to break into it, you have to pay a high price. Although the auto parts market is not a terminal civilian market and there is no such investment in advertising fees, each car factory basically has its own supply. A chain of interests between businesses has been formed. Anyone who wants to get in must be willing to spend money, just like advertising in the civilian market.
Moreover, a strong automobile factory will not give orders to suppliers first and then wait for you to build production lines for production. Under normal circumstances, parts suppliers must first invest in production lines and spend huge costs to produce products first, and then carry out various processes. This kind of test verification is then approved by the automobile OEM. Only in this way can it be possible to obtain orders and enter the supply chain of the automobile brand.
The above is the investment on the surface, and there must be many more on the surface.
Relatively speaking, it will be much better for companies like Bitzer that already have experience in supplying products to an automobile factory. Otherwise, it will be more difficult for a civilian brand to enter the auto parts industry.
"It would be better if Mr. Chen is willing to give his full support. In fact, we have always wanted to develop in the automotive field over the years, but it requires too much investment and there is no guarantee of success. Risks are also an important factor for us to consider." Baistin paused and said.
(End of chapter)
