Li's Steel spent huge sums of money to acquire the core business of Wuhu Machine Tool Company, which caused a sensation in the industrial circles of the Dachu Empire.
After all, this is not only an acquisition worth hundreds of thousands of yuan, but also the first time private capital has acquired a large enterprise affiliated with the Ministry of Industry.
Although Li's Steel Company is no longer a pure private capital, most of its shares are held by various financial institutions, and the Guangzhou Government Finance is the second largest shareholder, no matter how you say it, this is a company that does not compromise. Non-deductible private enterprises.
This has had a certain impact on the industrial community and even changed people's impression of the Ministry of Industry's enterprises.
Due to the early strength of the enterprises affiliated to the Ministry of Industry, people actually often treated the enterprises affiliated to the Ministry of Industry as official institutions...
But in fact this is just a misunderstanding among outsiders!
The major enterprises affiliated to the Industrial Department of the Dachu Empire, including the official capital-affiliated enterprises established with local financial investment, have never been administrative agencies... they are just ordinary commercial companies.
Although the general offices and other senior executives of government-run enterprises are officials, they are just personnel sent by the government to manage official capital... Even their official status is not affiliated with the enterprise itself, but with the Ministry of Industry or local financial management agencies Here, taking a job is also a dispatched job.
The official enterprises in the Dachu Empire are actually very simple and pure. They are commercial companies invested by the official capital of the empire and registered and operated in accordance with a series of industrial and commercial laws of the empire.
Although they have political tasks such as developing science and technology, supporting national defense, and stabilizing people's livelihood, their series of operations are actually no different from ordinary private enterprises.
In this case, many companies invested by official capital will actually lose money and go bankrupt, be sold and transferred, or acquire and annex other private companies, etc., which are normal corporate behaviors.
Except for some important companies in specific industries, officials generally do not get involved in the specific operations and management of companies.
Enterprises are responsible for their own profits and losses...If they can't continue, they will close down. If they need to sell, they will sell...Anyway, don't expect the official to give you the bottom line.
There have actually been many examples before, especially in the light industry.
The official capital of the Dachu Empire was involved in many light industries in the early years, especially the textile industry. This thing was originally started by official capital...
But later, as official capital adjusted its strategic focus, it concentrated on investing in heavy industry and gradually handed over light industry to private capital.
In this process, official capital has successively sold some of its textile industries or related industries to cash out.
Nowadays, there is only one single seedling of Hantian Textile Company left, and the reason why this single seedling is left is not because this company is very profitable, but because in addition to ordinary textile business, Hantian Textile Company actually has The most important special textile company in the Chu Empire, it is also the supplier of a series of military textiles for the Chu Empire's military.
This company is a defense supplier and part of the defense industry system... The company supplies a large number of military tents, raincoats, military uniforms, quilts, leather products, etc.
Otherwise, with the temperament of the senior officials of the Ministry of Industry, Hantian Textile Company would have been sold off long ago.
The textile industry is just a microcosm. In fact, most of the official capital in the light industry has entered, but many of them withdrew in the end.
Not to mention the light industry, even in typical heavy industries such as steel, machinery, shipbuilding, and shipping, official capital has actually sold, bankrupted, and closed many companies many times. As for selling shares to cash out, or introducing private capital for strategic investment Just more.
It's just that in the past, these actions were relatively small-scale, or the messages were not spread so widely, and they did not attract the attention of the general public.
Wuhu Machine Tool Company is different. It is the second largest machine tool company in the country. Well, it was the second largest machine tool company in the country at least two years ago. At its peak, its assets reached one million. There are a total of three major production bases in the country. Has more than 50,000 employees.
In the eyes of many people, such a company is no different from an official institution. They also believe that such a huge company cannot fail and the government will save it no matter what...
Two years ago, many people in Wuhu Machine Tool Company were still hoping that the Ministry of Industry would come forward to license a series of high-performance material patents from Hantian Machinery Company...
As a result, the top management of the Ministry of Industry directly bankrupted the company and reorganized it, directly selling off the assets to cash out the losses...
This shocked many people's nerves!
Shouting impossible...
These people still fail to understand some of the mentality of the Ministry of Industry and even the upper echelons of the empire... Except for those a few arsenals and a few truly indispensable corporate factories such as the Grain Corporation, the Salt Company, and the Mint, other government-run enterprises In fact, that's it...
There is nothing that cannot be sold...
Not to mention a company in the machine tool industry that has been tortured to the point of bankruptcy. Anyway, the Ministry of Industry still has a bunch of alternative biological sons and godsons. It is normal to sell this abandoned son to avoid more losses.
To take a step back...China has been officials since ancient times!
What does this official position mean? In the eyes of the empire's top brass, the money from the Ministry of Industry is the empire's money, and the money from Lee Iron and Steel is also the empire's money... It doesn't really make any difference in whose hands the money is now. You can bring it when you need it...
Well, this is also Luo Zhixue’s mentality!
Everything in the world is not the king's land, and the shores of the land are not the king's ministers!
Your life is mine, does it matter whether your money is mine?
And Luo Zhixue doesn't spend money. He can be proud to say that in the more than ten years since he traveled through time, he has never brought any money with him... let alone spent any money.
So why does Luo Zhixue want your money? The entire empire belongs to him...
People look at you just like you look at the monkeys in your own zoo. Would you be jealous that your monkey has an extra banana in its hand?
Of course, the mentality of the small group of people at the top of the empire, to be precise, is the mentality of Luo Zhixue and those ministers who are worth less than ten thousand people!
Anyone with a lower status, even a co-organizing minister, would find it difficult to understand this mentality.
So many things seem unreasonable at first glance, but when you look at the problem from a different height and from a different angle, you will find that it is natural!
Even Lee's Iron Company was a little surprised that the empire's senior officials would approve their acquisition so quickly. However, they were surprised, but after receiving a reply agreeing to the acquisition, they quickly took action.
It will cost a lot of money to acquire the core business of Wuhu Machine Tool Company... Because the Ministry of Industry has a very clear goal. On the one hand, it is to make up for the huge loan arrears from the Finance Bank... If there is a problem with this loan, the Finance Bank The Anlu Branch may be furious, and a lot of people may be in trouble as well.
On the other hand, it is necessary to resume production and maintain industry development.
Dealing with bad loans and maintaining the industry as a whole are major concerns for the Ministry of Industry.
They can let Wuhu Machine Tool Company go bankrupt, but they don’t want to see the second largest machine tool company in China completely destroyed, which will lead to the entire machine tool industry being destroyed. They also want to introduce external investors to reactivate this large number of machine tool businesses and give machine tools The industry brings new competitiveness and continues to develop the entire machine tool industry.
These demands of the Ministry of Industry finally came to the side of Lee Steel, and there was only one problem left: money!
If you have money and talk, these things don't matter.
If you don’t have money...then you can’t do it.
Lee Steel Company quickly conducted relevant negotiations with people from the bankruptcy and reorganization committee, and then negotiated the details of the transaction one by one.
In the end, the two parties reached a negotiation agreement. Wuhu Machine Tool Company split its core business and other businesses. Li's Steel Company acquired the core business of Wuhu Machine Tool Company, including three major production bases, with a direct cash payment of 430,000 yuan. A research institute, two large laboratories and other corresponding assets also bear the bank loans, supplier payments and other debts of about 200,000 yuan for the core business. Calculated in this way, the total investment actually reaches 630,000 yuan. Yuan.
Although this is not the largest acquisition in the contemporary industrial world, it is still a large-scale acquisition, and the acquisition target is so special.
After the Ministry of Industry sold off the core assets, it basically filled the gap of more than 600,000 yuan, and then sold off the other messy assets one by one. After finally splitting and selling them, it was found that there was no capital. Wuhu Machine Tool Company, which paid off its debt, finally sold out all the loans, leaving tens of thousands of Chu Yuan...
In the words of the boss of the Ministry of Industry: There is finally a bit of silver scum left...
Needless to say about other business aspects, let us say that after the core machine tool business of Wuhu Machine Tool Company was taken over by Lee's Iron and Steel, the historical iron and steel company reorganized these core businesses into Lee's Machine Tool Company.
Immediately afterwards, all aspects of rectification were carried out. The reason why Li's Iron and Steel Company became the largest private enterprise in the country was not only due to their money, but also their efficient management.
Otherwise, how could they support a huge comprehensive group enterprise with assets of millions of dollars.
After the reorganization, the number of employees of Li's Machine Tool Company has shrunk by more than 50% compared to the era of Wuhu Machine Tool Company... And these workers do not have to worry about unemployment... The industrial revolution in the domestic Chu Empire is in full swing, and workers, especially It is easier for workers with skills or experience to find jobs.
Before the bankruptcy and reorganization of Wuhu Machine Tool Company, many people had actually changed jobs...
While laying off employees, Lee Iron & Steel Company once again resorted to their usual killer move: spending money to poach people!
The layoffs will target ordinary workers, administrative staff, and half-baked R&D personnel.
Hire people and find R&D personnel!
As a typical heavy industrial enterprise based on shipbuilding and ironmaking, coupled with a series of previous successful experiences, the management of Li's Ironmaking attaches great importance to technology.
Spending money to recruit people to develop technology is their basic business... No matter what they do, they do it all the time, and it is almost becoming a habit.
Then, Hantian Machinery Company, who was watching a show nearby, discovered that...many people from its own machine tool core R&D team had been poached...especially the dozen or so core engineers who were involved in machine tool tool development. More than half!
The angry senior executives of Hantian Machinery Company screamed... This is not to poach people at all, but to dig deep roots...
He was so angry that he went to argue with the people from Li's Steel Co., Ltd. across the street, saying that he would sue them for illegal competition.
The people from Li's Steel Company drove them away directly, and said that you can't keep them. That's because you don't give them enough money. How can you be number one in the machine tool industry? The money you give to engineers is so little. I feel ashamed for you all...
What's more, I'm just spending money to recruit people, so you can sue me if you can. We at Li's Steel don't have many other things, but we have a lot of lawyers!
Sue... There is actually no way to sue, because there are no non-competition clauses these days, and resignation is very simple. Even if both parties sign a work contract or something, as long as the employee submits a written resignation with reasonable reasons, he can leave on the same day... ...The company's consent is not required. As for reasonable reasons, it does not count if you are not happy, if you feel bad, or if your dog at home dies...
Of course, there are exceptions to special employment contracts...for example, there are some employment contracts such as stock dividends, which are different from ordinary employment. Violating the contract will be very troublesome, but engineers are not high-level managers, and they do not need employment with these special terms. contract.
Generally speaking, it is very easy to find talents in the Da Chu Empire. As long as you pay enough, people will switch jobs.
Similarly, it is very difficult to recruit talents because if you don’t have enough money, people will ignore you...
But Li's Steel is not short of money!
Therefore, for other companies, it is difficult to poach the technical team of Hantian Machinery Company, but for Li's Iron Company, poaching people is very simple, just throw money.
In addition to high wages, they also provide resignation compensation, signing fees, settling-in allowances, and shares... When Li's Steel Company makes up its mind to recruit people, not to mention ordinary engineers, even the serving officials can't resist it!
Many senior managers of Li's Steel Company are actually former officials of the Ministry of Industry...including the current general office, which used to be the general office of Guangzhou Shipyard, and are officials of the fifth rank under the Ministry of Industry...
What makes them give up their official status and prefer to work in a private enterprise? Why else? They are given too much money...
However, even if Li's Iron Company recruits a technical team, in theory, with this group of people, it can copy some of Hantian Machinery Company's high-performance machine tools, including cutting tools.
But they can't do that because it would involve patent infringement!
Ordinary people may have never even heard of the Da Chu Empire's patent law. For some small workshops and small businesses, they will also sneak around and do it as long as they are not discovered.
But it is very difficult for large enterprises, because they are simply not satisfied. Once the other party discovers your infringement, based on the current patent law of the Dachu Empire, they will sue you to bankruptcy in a matter of minutes.
Because of the patent law in the Dachu Empire, the compensation if you lose the lawsuit is terrifying.
If they want to come up with high-performance machine tools, they have to bypass patents. This is not easy, and they need to continue to spend a lot of money on repeated attempts and research.
In this regard, Lee's Steelmaking has experience and patience.
Li's Iron Company invested heavily in the machine tool manufacturing industry, which also triggered other domestic capital, especially private capital, to pay further attention to machine tools and even the entire machinery industry.
After all, this is Li's Iron Company, a leading domestic private manufacturing company, and their every move is still very touching.
In particular, they previously entered the shipbuilding industry and achieved great success. Later, a lot of private capital also followed suit and entered the shipbuilding industry, and some of them were also very successful.
Therefore, many private investors who have money in their hands but don't know where to invest, after seeing Lee Iron Company's entry into the machine tool manufacturing industry, are wondering if they can also get involved.
But many people give up after trying it for a while... Damn, the machine tool industry is too complicated!
There are as many as five large domestic companies that specialize in machine tools, and many large comprehensive companies also have their own machine tool manufacturing departments. There is no market for ordinary low-end machine tools, because some powerful machinery companies can do it!
The market for mid-range machine tools is basically dominated by large companies.
And high-end machine tools...are the exclusive market of Hantian Machinery Company.
In addition to extremely fierce competition, the more important thing is that this industry is a typical technical industry. Without excellent technology, it is impossible to produce usable mid-to-high-end machine tools.
With Hantian Machinery Company being almost the only one, they still want to rush in and grab a piece of the pie. It doesn't matter whether they make money or not, but to get started, they probably have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars.
These hundreds of thousands may not necessarily lead to success.
Not all capital will be like Li's Steel, which likes to engage in this kind of business with high threshold and difficulty. Most capital still likes to move in and out quickly, or it is very safe and can produce stable profits that can be seen with the naked eye.
Therefore, although the response is very strong, there are not many large companies or financial institutions that invest money to develop machine tools.
Let's let the Ministry of Industry and people with big businesses like Lee's Steel play with machine tools. They can't afford it...
But I can’t do machine tools, but I can do things related to machine tools.
Lee Steel's heavy investment in machine tools must be due to the huge market in the machine tool industry in the future. The future growth will definitely be very large. If we can't eat this meat, we can drink some soup, build related industries, and provide supporting services.
As a result, some people are thinking about investing in machine tool-related industries and trying to provide supporting equipment.
Li's Iron Company doesn't care about this either. They are currently focused on recruiting people to develop technology...
Hantian Machinery Company, the leader in the machine tool industry, has no intention of paying attention. They have also adopted various targeted measures, such as increasing the salary of engineers, using special benefits such as stock dividends to bind core engineers, etc., to deal with the Li family system. The ferocious hoe that digs people out!
At the same time, Hantian Machinery Company once again increased investment in R&D!
Although the total assets of Hantian Machinery Company are not as good as that of Li's Steel, they still have a lot of money and have always attached great importance to research and development...
Now that Li's Steel, a disruptor, has entered the machine tool industry, and has targeted the high-end machine tool market from the beginning, they naturally have a sense of crisis, so they have increased their investment in research and development.
The Empire's Ministry of Industry and Commerce naturally smiled when they saw this!
Lee's Iron Manufacturing Company entered the machine tool industry, and just as they expected, it brought innovation to the machine tool industry, which had been the dominant company for several years.
Healthy competition once again appears in the machine tool industry.
This is what they are most happy to see.
Only with healthy competition can we continue to promote the development of the machine tool industry. As the upstream industry of the industrial system, the machine tool industry's performance level and cost directly determine the performance level and cost of the entire industrial system of the Dachu Empire.
Just like steam engines, why are steam engines so expensive? Because the various materials and processing equipment used to process steam engines are expensive...
Why is processing equipment expensive?
Because Hantian Machinery Company sells them expensively...
Any high-end boring machine costs tens of thousands of Chu Yuan, and you don’t have to choose from this one alone...
Now that Lee's Steel has entered the game, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Industry hope that in a few years, domestic machine tools will usher in a new wave of technological upgrading, and a large number of current high-end machine tools will become mid- to low-end machine tools, which will then promote the entire The level of the mechanical processing industry has greatly reduced the cost of industrial products.
For example, a steam engine.
Today, a sixteen-horsepower steam engine costs four to five thousand Chu Yuan, making it unusable except for mining companies and companies with high added value and special needs.
However, if the price of a steam engine of the same specification is reduced to a few hundred yuan, then the application scale of industrial steam engines can be expanded dozens of times or even larger in an instant.
And this requires continued progress in the upstream industrial system.
And there can be no progress without competition.
After witnessing the resurgence of healthy competition in the machine tool industry, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Industry are thinking about finding other half-dead and stagnant industries, especially industries with only official capital investment.
Just as the domestic industrial sector continued to be turbulent and developing at a rapid pace, a merchant fleet from the Chu Empire also set sail from the Shicheng Port at the eastern end of the Malacca Strait and crossed the Malacca Strait towards India!
This is a fleet united by multiple armed trading companies in the Chu Empire, with four large armed merchant ships from Nanyang Trading Company as the core, and seven armed merchant ships from other companies.
They are all new ocean-going ships with a fully loaded displacement of more than 500 tons!
They will go to India for trade as a group to keep themselves warm in order to cope with the frequent piracy activities, especially in the Indian Ocean where risks have become increasingly high in the past two years.
As the dispute between the Portuguese and the Dutch continued to intensify, the British also began to increase their colonization of the Indian region. The most critical thing was that the Chu Empire powerfully entered the Indian Peninsula.
The colonial trade situation on the Indian peninsula has become very complicated and chaotic, and with it has been a surge in the number of 'pirates', and these 'pirates' are often very powerful in combat. At least the local Indian indigenous people can't keep up... …
Because... the two trading companies, the Nanyang Trading Company and the Dutch East India Company, alone contributed to at least half of the pirate attacks in the Indian Ocean!
