Chapter 138 Government Fund of Funds

Magic City, Grapefruit Capital.

Early in the morning, Tang Man hurried into the office with a laptop in hand and asked stiffly, "Have you seen the news?"

"I had just finished reading it before you came in. I was just about to talk to Su He on the phone."

Xie Jingxing sat in front of the large desk, wearing plain glasses, with his hands crossed on the table, trying to look calm.

Tang Man suppressed her anger and nodded vigorously: "I think you should at least communicate with me first. If you don't even have the most basic right to know about the project, I don't know how to carry out my work!"

"Please sit down first. In fact, I didn't know about this earlier than you. Whether it's you or Su He, I can't remotely control every detail of every project you carry out."

Xie Jingxing said frankly: "I only communicated the general direction with Su He, trying to buy out the old shares held by Meituan's early institutional investors through pressure. I really didn't expect her to be so radical."

"I will deal with Su He and give an explanation to all parties. Of course, I must admit that I also made mistakes at work and I have to take responsibility for them."

He paused for a moment and placed his phone in the middle of the table. “Before that, we have to clean up our messes.”

Tang Man looked at Su He's phone number displayed on the phone screen and seemed to want to say something but stopped herself from saying it.

Xie Jingxing's explanation was consistent with his usual style, but she only half believed it intuitively. She shrugged, picked up her phone, dialed the number, and turned on the speaker button.

"Zhang Xuhao and Zhang Tao both called me to express their strong dissatisfaction. They couldn't understand why Taihe was forced to acquire a stake in Meituan at this critical juncture. What do you have to say, Taihe?"

When the call was connected, Tang Man got straight to the point and for the first time laid out the conflict between the two of them nakedly in front of Xie Jingxing.

Su He was silent for a few seconds on the other end of the phone: "I am optimistic about Meituan. If Zhang Tao has any dissatisfaction, he can come to me directly. Zhang Xuhao has nothing to do with Taihe. I have no obligation to give him any explanation."

"OK, if you think Taihe can stay out of these projects, then at the Dianping board meeting, Xiyou will stand on Zhang Tao's side."

Tang Man felt more and more that something was wrong and glanced at Xie Jingxing hoping to get an answer.

Su He took the lead and made a strong statement: "Whatever, if necessary, Taihe Capital can transfer its shares in Dianping to Xiyou."

"The cut needs to be deeper, and external public relations must draw a clear line. The bad things you Taihe did have nothing to do with Xiyou!" The second half of Tang Man's sentence was particularly unpleasant.

Xie Jingxing raised his hand and rubbed his brow, blocking his face so that his expression could not be seen. Su He's disdainful chuckle could be heard over the phone.

Tang Man's guess was confirmed. His face turned pale with anger. He gritted his teeth and said, "Remember, you will not be included in any project I invest in in the future."

The reason why Wang Xing was worried about Taihe's investment was the same as what the two Zhangs were worried about. At this critical juncture, if Taihe invested in Meituan, would it take sides and stab its allies in the subsequent money-burning war?

Secondly, Su He's threat to Meituan in such a radical way will inevitably make Wang Xing alert and try to fight back. Just accelerating the start of financing is ostensibly a resistance to Taihe's entry.

In essence, it is indirectly expanding armaments for the upcoming money-burning war and taking precautions in advance.

As the incident fermented last night, the three allied forces of Tencent, Dianping, and Ele.me all had varying degrees of opinions about Xie Jingxing, the instigator of all this.

Tang Man, as the person in charge of overall planning, was under tremendous pressure. She thought she was backstabbed by her own people, but it turned out that not only was she backstabbed, but Xie Jingxing also intended to separate Taihe and Xiyou.

Taihe is the independent family office of the Xie family, while Xiyou is an asset management institution that receives money from external investors.

From this perspective, the interests of the two parties are not completely consistent, and Xiyou must be responsible to the investors.

Killing two birds with one stone, it not only gave an explanation to the allied forces that Taihe Capital could not represent Xiyou Capital, but also gave confidence to the investors who were about to raise funds in Xiyou to a certain extent, so that they did not need to worry about Xie Jingxing playing tricks by transferring funds from one hand to the other.

Therefore, the personal conflict between Tang Man and Su He became the best excuse. She had just participated in the private relationship and deliberately tested it by saying bad words to each other, and it turned out to be tacitly approved...

"How's the situation over there?"

The phone was transferred to Xie Jingxing. Tang Man, who had sorted out her thoughts, looked hesitant and watched coldly.

There are many ways to cut into Taihe and Xiyou. She has not yet figured out why she should start with Meituan. Not to mention the impact on the layout of the allies, Taihe will never be able to acquire shares in Meituan if it plays like this.

Wang Xing has even threatened to enter the online car-hailing business, tying Xie Jingxing and Cheng Wei together to settle all new and old grudges.

"I think the goal has been basically achieved, they just want to delay time."

Su He considered and slowed down his tone: "We should slow down the follow-up a little bit, and wait until you put enough pressure on us."

"Okay, wait for the news." Xie Jingxing replied vaguely.

Su He thought for a moment and reminded, "I need a rough time frame. Meituan's new round of financing will be completed by next month at the latest."

"Two or three months." Xie Jingxing had expected this.

After a few brief words, he hung up the phone, relaxed his body, propped his chin with his hand, and looked at it carefully: "Is there anything you want to ask me now?"

"Does she know about our plan?" Tang Man asked knowingly.

Xie Jingxing raised his eyebrows: "Obviously not clear."

"I don't know what your plans are." Tang Man blurted out without thinking.

Xie Jingxing smiled helplessly: "You are in charge of the 'Happy New Year' plan. Do you feel that Tencent is very tired?"

"You mean resistance?"

Tang Man seemed to be thinking about something, her expression changed dramatically, she was stunned, and after a long silence, she raised her voice consciously: "...A last-ditch battle, you want to cut off everyone's retreat?!"

From the beginning of September to the end of November, Didi has burned through 14 billion yuan in cash in three months, and there is no end in sight.

All parties involved in the battle, including Tencent, are at a loss. Learning from the mistakes of the past, the field of takeout group buying and review is also facing a situation where the three BTA companies are dividing the market.

In fact, because the group buying market is more mature in all aspects, Baidu's will to fight is much stronger. Once the fight starts, it is not a dream for it to burn tens of billions of cash.

In such a background, the so-called "Happy New Year" is simply the product of everyone trying to encourage each other with the strategic idea that they will have to fight sooner or later.

It is different now. The feud between Xie Jingxing and Wang Xing has made Meituan alert. The allied forces have no choice but to take the initiative and run until the end.

It is foreseeable that the competition in the field of takeout group buying reviews will become increasingly fierce. The parties involved will have no room for retreat, and the conflicts cannot be reconciled and will end up bleeding to the last drop.

"This makes it even less likely that Taihe will acquire a stake in Meituan."

Tang Man felt really bad because his teammates were so timid, so he simply gave the enemy a Fury BUFF to cut off their retreat. What kind of operation was this?

Could it be that Su He’s operation was really intended to split Meituan’s founding team and sacrifice Taihe’s interests to fulfill Xiyou’s wish?
Xie Jingxing remained silent and could not give an answer. In the original timeline, Alibaba's acquisition of Ele.me was a chain reaction to the merger of Dianping and Meituan, and vice versa. Alibaba was determined to acquire Ele.me, which indirectly promoted the merger of Dianping and Meituan.

In addition, the merger process between Didi and Kuaidi was a process of burning money until everyone really felt the pain and there was not a penny left. They reluctantly made various compromises, merging those that should be merged and exiting those that should be exited.

From his point of view, at present everyone is just numb and is far from mature. In this case, it is better to speed up artificially.

Just like the big and small military leaders in the late Tang Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin easily released the military power after killing them for more than 200 years, even the warriors themselves could not bear it. Xie Jingxing was looking forward to such a time node, which would be the opportunity for Taihe to invest in Meituan. The key point was Alibaba...

"Try to appease the three parties of Tencent. If necessary, you can trade the shares of Dianping held by Taihe." He changed the subject to make his attitude clear.

Tang Man understood the intention and confirmed: "I will be fully responsible for the follow-up of this project?"

"If you don't want to, you can change someone else." Xie Jingxing exhaled tiredly.

The layout of the takeout group buying Dianping has come to a temporary end. Taihe took advantage of the most critical moment of Dianping and acquired a stake in it. The two parties did not sign an agreement to choose one of the two.

In other words, even if Taihe successfully invests in Meituan, Dianping can only watch helplessly. Xiyou taking over Taihe's shares will give Zhang Tao an advantage, which can barely be considered an appeasement.

He did not interfere in the specific business, which was also an explanation to the three parties of Tencent. In a short period of time, Su He and Tang Man were allowed to stand on the stage to perform a fierce battle, making it clear that Taihe and Xiyou each had their own positions.

If there are new changes in the subsequent situation, it won’t be too late for Xie Jingxing to come forward in person.

"Then you should change someone else."

"?"

"I say, then you should change someone." Tang Man said seriously.

Xie Jingxing was stunned: "I don't understand what you mean."

"It means exactly what it says. Please find someone else. I can't do this job. I will quit after the new year."

Tang Man's chest was heaving under her white shirt: "You and Su He have a life-and-death friendship. She is willing to do all the dirty work, and you trust her completely."

"But I'm different. I'm just an ordinary worker."

Tang Man's eyes turned red as she spoke, and her voice became tearful: "I can't bear this kind of pressure, I feel like I'm going to collapse..."

"I know you're under a lot of pressure."

Xie Jingxing frowned and explained: "But there are some things I can't explain completely in advance, can you understand?"

Tang Man just cried without saying anything. With tearful eyes, she took the toilet paper from Song Anli and blew her nose hard without any image of a workplace heroine.

"How about this, you think about it carefully and don't rush to make a decision. I will also reflect on myself."

Xie Jingxing received Song Anli's reminder and raised his wrist to check the time: "I have to meet an investor. Come to my house tonight for dinner."

It would be useless to tell Tang Man the whole plan in advance. Even if she did not agree to go against Su He, she could not change the current situation.

However, the ending was that she was fired. People still believed that Taihe's malicious acquisition of Meituan was due to the conflict between Su He and her, and she just lost the palace fight.

That would be too embarrassing, rather than forcing her to accept the facts with no choice.

Xie Jingxing would rather make the choice himself, push the other party to the moral position, propose compensation conditions, or leave with a dignified resume after the project is completed.

Tang Man's reaction was more intense than expected... Xie Jingxing felt inexplicably tired. Some things were really hard to learn...

…………

Walking through the corridor to the door of the conference room, Xie Jingxing adjusted his mood, put a smile on his face and nodded to the two men and one woman who stood up to greet him: "Boss Yu, you just came from Beijing?"

"I arrived last night. Grapefruit Capital is very popular now. If Mr. Xie wants to raise funds, we must do our best to win it."

The woman's name is Yu Nian. She is in her early thirties. She has short hair that reaches her neck and slightly thick red lips, which makes her look very charming. Her voice is a little hoarse and her tone is slow. Her full chest makes the stiff fabric of her suit look more curvy.

It was moist, juicy and ripe, and Xie Jingxing couldn't help but have a thought in his mind, but that was all.

Yu Nian is the general manager of China Merchants Financial Investment, a subsidiary of China Merchants Group. She is only in her early thirties, but is in charge of tens of billions of funds. She is also Yu Tong's cousin.

After a brief exchange of greetings, they sat down and Xie Jingxing got down to business: "I really didn't know you were in the fund of funds business."

"In the past few years, we have responded to the country's call and actively promoted the development of social enterprises."

Yu Nian has a lot of sets of ideas, and the financial institutions within the system all have a twisted tone, giving people the impression that they are very rich at first glance.

Xie Jingxing glanced at the male colleague next to her. The guy was opening his laptop to record the conversation.

He pretended not to notice and replied, "So now the national call has spread to the Internet industry?"

"No matter what policies support, we still have to do high-quality projects. After all, we are a financial company and the company should start from a commercial perspective." Yu Nian said frankly.

Xie Jingxing did not comment: "So what advice does Mr. Yu have for you this time?"

"We can give a 3 million yuan investment to the first phase fund of Grapefruit Capital and ask for a seat on the investment decision-making committee." Yu Nian said straightforwardly.

Xie Jingxing found it irritating. The largest fund of funds investors in the domestic financial circle are local governments and state-owned financial institutions. They control a huge amount of funds, and supporting certain industries through financial means is more efficient than administrative support.

For example, if they see good performance from a venture capital firm that focuses on the new energy industry, they will proactively approach the firm and ask it to set up a special fund with funding from the government mother fund.

This money can only be used to invest in new energy industries, and there is even a requirement to invest in certain projects.

Some requirements are written in the investment agreement, while some are unclear. Venture capital institutions are unwilling to be wronged because they know that a project will lose money.

But if the investors of the parent fund are willing to do so, they will interfere in unclear ways, such as taking seats on the investment decision-making committee, business audits, and so on.

Xie Jingxing was very clear about how extensive the current projects of Xiyou involved. Yu Nian said that investing in Xiyou was a market behavior and had nothing to do with policy. After getting a seat on the "Investment Decision Committee", he had no place to cry when he responded to the country's call at the critical moment.

“To be honest, the investment decision-making committee of Grapefruit Capital has not yet been established, and it is uncertain what the structure will be in the future.”

He politely declined, "Industrial funds from many places, including Jingyue City, Chuncheng City, and Gusu City, have approached me these days, all wanting a seat on the investment decision-making committee. It's difficult for me to handle this."

"Jingyue, Chuncheng... Mr. Xie, there are many mother funds in China, but not many actually. Only a few can get the money. If it's difficult, then don't do it."

Yu Nian was so crazy that the male colleague next to her took his hands off the keyboard to prove his innocence. If this news got out, it would have nothing to do with him.

If the China Merchants Group considers itself the little king among state-owned financial groups, there seem to be few others that dare to call themselves the big king.

What the hell are the local funds in Jingyue Chuncheng? Only Gusu Yuanhe can barely rank among the domestic venture capital funds industry with the help of the local economy. The same investors can provide different resources to Xiyou.

Xie Jingxing couldn't help but rub his itchy nose. He had never seen such a woman since he returned to China. She looked like she was sure of having him.

"Mr. Yu, Xiyou really doesn't lack money." He spoke earnestly and sincerely, and took off his glasses.

(End of this chapter)