America’s Road To Wealth - Vol 2 Chapter 467
Chapter 467 has risen to an international event
“I believe you all have a very clear understanding of what happened this time.”
In the headquarters of the British Smith Financial Group.
In the conference room.
Abel looked at everyone in Clifford Chance’s law firm and said softly:
“People from BMW and Volkswagen will come soon. My purpose is very simple, that is, to take the shares of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars from them at the lowest possible price. But besides these, there are some Pay attention, I need to explain.”
The members of the legal team already knew a lot about what Abel explained.
In fact, this matter, except Rolls-Royce Motors itself, and its original parent company Vickers Group.
British side, the one who intervened the most was the Clifford Chance law firm entrusted by Abel to be in charge of the entire litigation.
Clifford Chance did not know how detailed the legal service preparations might involve.
After all, it involves European giants such as BMW and Volkswagen Group.
These two German giants have a great influence in Europe.
If it weren’t for this time, Rolls-Royce is a British company, but other European companies.
It may have been settled long ago, and it was simply not Abel’s turn to appear.
The influence of the Germans has begun to affect the whole of Europe along with the long-term development of its economy.
Even the French had to hold their noses and cooperate with this former biggest competitor.
Since around the 1990s, Germany and France have been thinking about engaging in the European military and the euro.
Now that the European Union has been established, the euro is also officially implemented.
The plan for the European Army is also on the chopping board.
As for whether it will succeed, no one knows.
About ten minutes later.
In the conference room where the problem was being discussed, the door was knocked open.
A staff member reported that representatives from BMW Group and Volkswagen Group had arrived.
Abel said: “Then let them in. Everyone, remember what I just said.”
The battle for Rolls-Royce that has been entangled for almost a year, today is the first real meeting between the two parties.
Then more than 10 representatives of the two major automobile groups filed in and walked in from the outside.
There were Barred and John Wieland, whom Abel was “familiar with,” and others he didn’t know.
In the meeting room, after a brief exchange of greetings, everyone sat down on both sides and started the first official negotiation on Rolls-Royce.
The people who led the German team this time are no longer Bered and John Wieland.
It is Ferdinand Piech, the global chairman of the Volkswagen Group.
Piech has an unusual background in the automotive industry.
His maternal grandfather, Ferdinand Porsche, was the founder of Porsche and Volkswagen.
Since taking office in 1993, under the leadership of Ferdinand Piech, the Volkswagen Group has developed very smoothly, suppressing the rising Japanese cars.
In other markets outside of North America, American companies such as General Motors and Ford are given to a few corners.
It can be said that he is a world-class figure who has a huge influence on the Volkswagen brand, and is recognized as the leader of the group with the most technical knowledge in the automotive industry.
By contrast, BMW’s team leader representative is just a president.
Obviously, among the German delegation, Ferdinand Piech was the leader.
Abel didn’t speak. Jess issued the first opening remarks of the formal negotiation, “Everyone, take a look at the document in front of you. This is the opinion of Rolls-Royce Motor Company.”
Ferdinand Piech heard the words and opened a document in front of him.
The above is in the name of Rolls-Royce Motor Company, indicating their need to be independent from the BMW Group.
This request did not surprise Ferdinand Piech.
If you don’t want to sell it at a better price. There is no need for Rolls-Royce to stand in a stalemate with Volkswagen and BMW for so long.
But what made Ferdinand Piech a little angry was that there was no mention of compensation for BMW and Volkswagen.
Volkswagen spent so much money to buy a Rolls-Royce.
Later, BMW threatened to transfer it, so forget it.
After all, they are compatriots, and they have enough internal benefits to compensate for losses, and even earn a little.
Now these British, no, Ferdinand Piech is very clear, in fact this is by no means the will of the British, this is an American conspiracy!
Now these Americans want to get the Rolls-Royce cars that Volkswagen and BMW have worked so hard to get without spending any money, or just spending a little money.
If it is possible, Ferdinand Piech just wants to kill all the Americans on the opposite side with one shot.
Bullying the Germans too much!
After quickly reading the document, Ferdinand Piech took a deep breath.
The Taishan Beidou of the automobile industry didn’t look at Jess at all, but looked at Abel Smith.
Apparently the Germans know who it is that actually speaks useful here.
“Volkswagen Group and BMW Group completely disagree with this Rolls-Royce Motor Cars document.”
“If it follows the above, then this is not a commercial dispute. It is a premeditated plunder, a conspiracy against the Germans!”
“us…”
Ferdinand Piech’s impassioned speech expressed his position with the Volkswagen Group and BMW.
But he found that he didn’t wait for himself to finish speaking.
Abel Smith, who is being watched by himself, is the real behind-the-scenes man behind this “conspiracy”.
He actually opened his mouth and yawned, looking bored.
Then Ferdinand Piech, seeing him talking to Jess just now, said boringly:
“It seems to be the same. I, a middleman and peacemaker, shouldn’t get involved. Forget it, Jess, let them continue to entangle with Rolls-Royce. You talk to them, I’ll go first .”
The first official contact between the two parties.
Smith Capital came here as the full authorized person of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
Although in fact everyone knows what is going on, Smith Capital can barely be said to be a middleman now.
Abel’s words are a bit unreasonable, but it makes sense.
Seeing that he really stood up, he turned around and was about to go outside.
Ferdinand Piëch was in a hurry.
“…Hey, Mr. Smith. You can’t do this.”
Abel turned around and looked at the old man, “That depends on your sincerity, gentlemen.”
“We are very sincere. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have come here from Lower Saxony!”
said Ferdinand Piech, holding back his anger.
Lower Saxony is the headquarters of the Volkswagen Group.
At the same time, the local state government is also one of the major shareholders of the Volkswagen Group, holding 11.8% of the shares of the Volkswagen Group.
As the number one in Germany and one of the largest auto groups in the world, Volkswagen’s shareholding is very clear.
Porsche SE, which holds 50% of the shares of the Porsche and Piech families, controls 31.4% of the company’s shares.
Qatar in the West Asia region holds 18% of the shares.
Together with the state government of Lower Saxony, these three giants control 90% of the voting rights of the Volkswagen Group.
Strictly speaking, Katar just made up the numbers.
Although Qatar has 18% of the shares, its voting rights are only about 10%.
Including Lower Saxony, it is less than 30%.
In other words, Porsche SE, that is, the Porsche family and the Piech where Ferdinand Piech is.
These two families, through the 31.4% stake, completely control the Volkswagen Group.
“Is this considered sincerity? If this is considered sincerity, then I came here from the United States, and I have more sincerity than you.”
Abel said directly: “I am not good at geography. I would like to ask, is Germany closer to the UK, or is the US closer to the UK?”
Ferdinand Piech was so blocked by Abel that he didn’t know how to speak.
While he was in a daze, Abel had swaggered out of the conference room.
Watching his leaving back, Ferdinand Piech was really dazed.
The global chairman of the Volkswagen Group, did not expect Abel to really do what he said.
He left as soon as he said it, without any appearance of a super entrepreneur or the richest man in the world.
Like an angry child, can negotiations be so childish?
Shouldn’t it be that the two sides first set out the chariots and horses, you come and go, talk about each other, and finally compromise with each other, and then reach an agreement?
This is the first time Ferdinand has encountered the method of directly flipping the table if he is a little dissatisfied.
“Sir, sir? Mr. Piech?”
Jess’ call recalled the spirit of Ferdinand Piech.
I saw the CEO of the European branch of Smith Financial, and continued to say with a smile: “Let’s continue our negotiation.”
Of course the negotiation cannot go on.
The owner has already left, and Ferdinand Piech was also angry.
The first official negotiation of this incident, which was called the “Battle for Rolls-Royce Cars” by many media and newspapers, ended in failure.
Ferdinand Piech led the team to leave.
In Abel’s office.
Jess came up with Timmy Owen from Clifford Chance, and Aymo Alamuddin.
“Are the Germans gone?”
“Yes, Ferdinand Piech is very angry.”
Abel chuckled, “What I want is to make him angry. The Germans are a little out of position. Do they think it’s 1941?”
1941 was the time when the German army had the most advantage in World War II.
At that time, the Germans were invincible and invincible, and it only took a few days to conquer a country.
Seeing what the boss said, Jess smiled and remained silent.
Timmy Owen was a little puzzled, but the barrister was well-informed and had strong self-control, knowing when to speak and when not to listen.
Among the three present, Aymo Alamuddin was younger.
At the same time, he also has a close identity with Abel, and is Abel’s number one personal queen.
I can’t figure it out, and I want to spend more time with Abel.
Aymo Alamuddin asked softly:
“Mr. Smith, the Germans are actually very sincere this time. They are likely to be willing to give up Rolls-Royce as long as they are compensated for the cost of acquiring Rolls-Royce.”
Her subtext is that with Abel’s financial resources, the 1.44 billion mark that Volkswagen acquired Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is really nothing to Abel.
According to the exchange rate between the mark and the U.S. dollar at that time, 1.44 billion marks was equivalent to less than 450 million U.S. dollars.
According to Aymo Alamuddin’s understanding, let alone only 450 million US dollars.
Even if it is 45 billion U.S. dollars, Abel can definitely afford it.
Based on the character of Abel that Amo Alamuddin knows, he is really not a person who will toss with others for so long because of this little money.
Timmy Owen actually has doubts about this question.
But he didn’t dare to ask, and only Aymo Alamuddin was young and because of his relationship with Abel, he dared to ask this question.
At this moment, the beautiful queen lawyer asked, and Timmy Owen also lifted his spirits, wondering why.
Abel smiled, and then replied softly:
“That’s right, I really thought so at first. But now… things are not that simple anymore.”
What Aymo Alamuddin could think of, how could Abel not think of it.
This time the battle for Rolls-Royce cars.
At the beginning, Abel really just wanted to spend money to buy Rolls-Royce from Volkswagen and BMW Group.
But at the beginning, Volkswagen and BMW were not willing to sell at all.
The two major German auto groups are not at all short of money.
Rolls-Royce Motor Group can make up for the lack of the highest rank in their product series.
How can Germans who are not short of money sell it?
Even if Abel raised the price several times, they would not be willing to sell it.
After the entanglement began, Abel became more and more anxious, and even used the super trick of the US long-arm jurisdiction.
The Germans were forced to have no choice but to find that the price of taking the Rolls-Royce was too high.
Only then did the two parties start contacts and negotiations with some people in Washington acting as peacemakers.
By this time, the Germans, who knew Abel’s ability and determination, began to shrink back.
At first they wanted to co-own Rolls-Royce Motor Cars with Abel.
From the perspective of the Germans, this is not impossible.
Because the Germans want a brand and a car technology.
Looking at Germany’s powerful automobile technology, they feel that sharing Rolls-Royce cars with them is the most sensible approach.
In that way, Abel doesn’t have to do anything, just sit and pay the money.
They felt that Abel would most likely agree.
Greedy Wall Streeters, don’t they love this model the most?
But Abel directly refused.
He made it clear to the Germans that what he wanted was all the Rolls Royce and he was unwilling to share it with the Germans.
Although the Germans were furious, they had no choice but to accept when things got to this point.
They chose to negotiate with Abel. The bottom line is to get back the 1.44 billion marks used to acquire Rolls-Royce.
After compromising like this, the Germans already feel that they are very sincere.
But now, Abel made it clear that he didn’t even want to spend the money, so he wanted to get a Rolls-Royce.
Of course the Germans are unwilling.
So, is Abel really so stingy that he doesn’t even want to spend these hundreds of millions of dollars?
Of course not, he is the master who spends hundreds of millions of dollars on Valentine’s Day, buying gifts for a large number of women all over the world.
$450 million, at most, is only enough for Abel to spend two Valentine’s Days.
The reason why Rolls-Royce can be completely obtained so easily, but the Germans still have to be tossed.
Because this matter is no longer simply a matter between Abel, Volkswagen, and BMW.
This incident, when Abel called George in the white house for help.
It has risen from a simple commercial dispute to the field of international politics.
Which aspect of international governance?
The United States wants to suppress and even control international politics in Europe.
Why did the euro appear and why was the European Union established?
The reason for the emergence of the euro is to fight against the dollar!
The reason why the European Union was established is to unite against the economic oppression of the United States!
Now is the time when the euro just started to appear and the EU economy is the strongest.
So strong that Europeans want to engage in the European army.
How could the Americans allow it.
Means, isn’t this coming?
Now it is not Abel who wants Rolls-Royce cars, but tossing BMW and Volkswagen.
Now it is the big shots in Washington, with the help of Abel, who are tossing the Germans’ biggest advantage.
BMW and Volkswagen may also be aware of this, so they want to compromise.
It’s just that they want to compromise now, and Abel won’t give them a chance to compromise.
But these, there is no need to explain to Aymo Alamuddin.
The inside story here, even Abel can only understand and participate after he has his current status.
Like Ferdinand Piech, they are even just pawns to be manipulated.
In fact, in parallel time and space, there will be similar examples in the future.
Such as the Alstom incident in France.
Ostensibly because greedy Americans want to plunder this quality business.
In fact, there are somewhat similar to the shadow of today’s Rolls-Royce competition.
It is an American businessman who cooperates with Washington. One side wants Alstom, and the other wants to suppress the French.
Of course, it can also be said directly that the American capitalists want to rob Alstom, and the White House will end in person.
Anyway, the United States itself is just a corporate empire formed by a large group of entrepreneurs, capitalists, and businessmen united with each other.
“Timmy.”
After perfunctory Aymo Alamuddin, Abel looked at Timmy Owen with a smile.
“Clifford Chance, we still need to continue to pay attention to this case. I will trouble you.”
“Of course.” Timmy Owen, who had a sharp mind, had already guessed a little bit, and he still said cheerfully:
“No problem, it is our honor to work for the richest man in the world!”
So what if you guessed it, many times the British and Americans have the same **** direction.
What’s more, Britain has more motives than anyone else in messing up the European continent.
That’s why the House of Lords in London, as well as the British government, will completely shamelessly stand on the side of Rolls-Royce and the Vickers Group in this battle for Rolls-Royce cars.
Regardless of company law and contract law, even business ethics.
Conjugate the relationship between father and son and the common work habits, it is really better than blue.
Although it doesn’t make sense, Abel has no intention of explaining it now.
Aymo Alamuddin didn’t speak any more, but quietly listened to the conversation between Timmy Owen and Abel.
Looking at the sunshine outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, shining on Abel, making Abel’s whole body shine.
For a moment, Aymo Alamuddin became a little crazy.
(end of this chapter)