Chapter 537 (1/2)
When she came to Simon's desk, a girl in ol suit handed over several pieces of information and said, ”boss, this is the latest meeting memorandum of Christie's acquisition negotiation in Europe, as well as the collection of auction industry information you ordered. Besides, this is the schedule for tomorrow's work in San Francisco. ”
Simon turned off the computer on his desk, just picked up a memo about Christie's acquisition and said, ”let's go back. The rest of the information can be read at home.”
Alison quickly put away the remaining information and left the office with Simon in her arms.
Walking into the elevator, Simon opens the memo and goes straight to the part he cares about most.
A few days ago, after agreeing to Sofia's proposal to buy Christie's auction house, female executives began to negotiate with Christie's shareholders who wanted to sell their shares.
It has been established for more than 200 years. Like Sotheby's rival, Christie's has long been a listed company.
Because the auction industry is in a downturn due to the global economic recession, Christie's recent market value is only 430 million pounds, about $670 million, which is only 13 times the price earnings ratio compared with its profit in the previous fiscal year. The stock price of a listed company tends to reflect its long-term business performance. The price earnings ratio of 13 times undoubtedly indicates that the capital market is not optimistic about the future of the auction company.
After confirming the acquisition plan, melisandro company, on the one hand, made secret contact with Christie's shareholders and management, on the other hand, began to absorb shares of the company in private. In this way, melisandro can make a small profit even if the acquisition can not be completed in the end.
The reason for doing so is that Simon is not determined to win the auction giant with a long history.
In the initial contact process, Christie's board of directors directly put forward a purchase price of 20 times the P / E ratio, with a total value of US $1 billion, equivalent to a 50% premium.
If it is a malicious acquisition, the transaction price is actually not high. Christie's, however, is different.
Mainly the limitations of the auction industry itself.
If Simon invests in the Internet, he may get a hundred times return in the future. If he invests in the fashion field and operates properly, he will get a ten times return in the future. However, because the auction industry is mainly aimed at the crowd and the annual market capacity is unlikely to show a stable rising curve, even if it can be determined that the auction house will bring very stable income in the next ten or twenty years because of the sustained economic prosperity, the value of Christie's itself will not rise too much. Ten years later, if the market value can be doubled or tripled, it will be the limit.
Therefore, Simon's plan is to give Christie's a 30% premium, or about $870 million, on the basis of the recent market value of $670 million.
If we can't reach a deal within the 30% premium range, Simon will give up the acquisition decisively.
At that time, it's not illegal to sell the stock that has been absorbed in advance and make a little difference at the high stage after the news leaked.
Moreover, Simon does not plan to have melisandro pay for all the $870 million in the plan. Cersei capital's black rock asset management company has agreed to join the company with $100 million. Sofia is still looking for other partner investors recently. Simon's goal is to realize melisandro's absolute control of Christie's.
It's just that Simon thinks so, and others obviously don't.
In recent years, the promising fields of westero system have basically shown a very strong growth momentum.
Perhaps, when melisandro made a takeover offer to Christie's, many shareholders and management of Christie's had changed their initial attitude of looking down on the development prospects of the auction house.
This is a company that Simon westrow is interested in.
As a result, Christie's either wants to take Simon, who has abundant financial resources, as a big wrongdoer, or it has already given birth to the idea that it does not intend to sell him.
The U.S. economy has not yet recovered, and Europe has just experienced a financial catastrophe. At this time, the possibility of competing with Simon for the auction house is very low. If the two sides can't reach an agreement, Simon has absolutely no intention to launch a hostile takeover in public. Christie's is not worth a hostile takeover at all. This is a matter that all parties know very well.
In short, the prospect of this acquisition is very uncertain.
Simon's memo also shows that.
In the past two weeks, the board of directors of Christie's has not given in to two contacts.
Moreover, Christie's share price also rose to a certain extent. Compared with two weeks ago, the share price rose by 11%. Obviously, the news has been leaked out quietly.
Melisandro's shares in Christie's have reached 3% and are worth more than US $20 million.
It's a short journey back to domay point manor from Malibu danelis studio. Girl a sits quietly beside Simon and finds that she is about to get home. The man is still reading the documents carefully and thinks about it. She says, ”boss, I don't think it's a good business to buy Christie's
Simon looked up at the girl beside him and asked, ”why?”Girl a has obviously made a lot of preparations, saying: ”the development potential of the auction industry itself is very small, and the performance uncertainty is also very large. Even if the boss thinks that the world economy will improve rapidly in the next few years, the $800 million cash investment is still not worth it. If this money is invested in other fields, it will definitely get more returns. ”
Simon nodded with a smile: ”you're right, but buying Christie's is more than just buying an auction house.”
Simon didn't go any further.
The top auction industry, involved in which are basically a group of people at the top of the pyramid in the world, if you can have Christie's, it is equivalent to directly have a pass to establish a huge network of contacts.
Simon's wealth at this time has reached a peak that ordinary people can't reach, and his power in Hollywood is no different for a while. However, even if he has reached the present height, Simon doesn't think that the network is no longer important for him. On the contrary, for him now, the network is more and more important.
On the other hand, the top social circle is just the light part of the auction industry.
In fact, this industry is more exciting below the surface.
Money laundering, tax avoidance, profit transfer and so on.
If possible, Simon of course hopes that all the business activities of the westrow system can be carried out in a proper way.
However, this is only a fantasy after all.
Simon has been discussing with some of the core senior leaders of the westero system these days to greatly increase the ”investment” of the westero system in the political field.