Chapter 402 Commission and Agreement

There are few people in the Hong Kong entertainment industry, especially celebrities, who don’t hate Lai Chi-ying.

In fact, not only celebrities but also some public figures hate him.

Liu Zhou really didn't expect that Li Ziying was actually the founder of the famous clothing brand Giordano.

But fortunately, he sold all the shares of Giordano Group. Liu Zhou really didn't want to deal with such a white dog.

"Boss Yang, who is the major shareholder of Giordano Group now?"

“Currently, Giordano has no absolute majority shareholder, and no one currently holds more than 10% of the shares, but there are a large number of shareholders.

Giordano's main power is concentrated in the board of directors, and professional managers are hired to manage the company, which is very similar to many listed companies in Europe and the United States. "

"Is there no one who wants to seize control of Giordano?"

“Yes, but none of them were successful. On the contrary, because no one was the absolute majority shareholder, they maintained a delicate balance.

But I don’t think this will last long. As the value of Giordano Group grows, there will definitely be shareholders who want to become the leader. I heard that there are already some dirty tricks among those shareholders.”

"That's great. If they stick together, it will be hard to take action."

"Boss Liu, have you decided to acquire Giordano?"

Liu Zhou nodded and said firmly:
"Yes, I think Giordano is pretty good, I like it too."

"Giordano is not cheap. Its current market value is over HK$1 billion. If you want to acquire it completely, you will need at least HK$1.5 billion, which is not a small amount."

“It doesn’t matter if it’s expensive, as long as it’s worth it.”

"Well, then I can't help you much from now on."

He knew that Liu Zhou was rich, but he was still a little surprised that he could directly take out more than 1 billion in cash.

In the conversation between the two just now, Liu Zhou’s meaning was very clear. This acquisition was his personal acquisition, not in the name of Jiahe Group.

"No, Mr. Yang, you still have to do me a favor."

"What's the deal?"

"I'm not familiar with the people at Deyongjia. Can you help me test the waters and see if they are willing to sell the Baleno brand?"

"In addition to Giordano, you also want to buy Baleno?"

"Yes, I think both brands are pretty good. And if you look at those famous clothing groups, don't they generally operate multiple brands?"

Not to mention luxury groups like LVMH, fast-moving consumer goods apparel brands like ZARA also operate multiple brands.

Now that there is an opportunity, Liu Zhou certainly hopes to take down Giordano and Baleno together.

In the future, whether to let them match mid- and low-end products or compete like Wanglaoji and Jiaduobao, we will see the situation at that time.

Of course, the prerequisite now is to be able to take down both brands.

"Okay, you have money, it's okay to be a little willful."

"Haha, then I'll trouble you, Mr. Yang."

After entrusting the matter to Boss Yang, the two chatted for a while and then he left.

Liu Zhou then found someone from CITIC Securities and asked whether CITIC Group was engaged in corporate mergers and acquisitions business.

When the head of CITIC Securities heard Liu Zhou's words, his eyes immediately lit up and he quickly said that he would do it.

After hearing the affirmative answer, Liu Zhou did not continue to talk. Since it was going to be done, Liu Zhou was also prepared to hand over the acquisition of Giordano Group to CITIC Group.

If it was the 1980s or 1990s, if you wanted to acquire a listed company in Hong Kong and achieve your goal more quickly, it would definitely be best to go to HSBC or Standard Chartered.

But now it is different. CITIC started out as a financial company and its roots in Hong Kong are becoming increasingly strong. Now CITIC is no worse than HSBC and Standard Chartered.

It may be more difficult to acquire a company like Giordano Group that does not have an absolute controller, but the probability of success is higher.

If a company has an absolute majority shareholder, whether or not the acquisition can be completed depends largely on the decision of the majority shareholder.

But if you encounter such a company and want to acquire it, the other party will generally not agree.

Therefore, companies with more dispersed shareholders are better because for these shareholders, what they value most is money.

Liu Zhou likes to talk about money the most, otherwise it would be troublesome if he talked about feelings and ideals.

However, Giordano Group has many shareholders, and it is impossible for Liu Zhou to visit them one by one himself. Finding a company with great influence in the local area to operate will undoubtedly make things simpler and increase the success rate of the acquisition.

The most Liu Zhou had to pay was a little commission.

Liu Zhou felt that the cooperation between Jiahe Group and CITIC Group was quite pleasant, and CITIC also left a very good impression on Liu Zhou.

So since they have M&A business, Liu Zhou is also ready to cooperate with them again.

Liu Zhou originally wanted to wait until Jiahe Group went public before having a good chat with them, but he did not expect that someone in charge of mergers and acquisitions from CITIC Group would come to visit him the next morning.

Liu Zhou was somewhat surprised at their high efficiency, but since everyone was already here, he might as well settle the matter now.

So Liu Zhou stayed in Hong Kong for another two days, and only returned to Beijing after signing the entrustment agreement with CITIC Group to acquire Giordano Group.

But even after returning to the capital, Liu Zhou couldn't stop.

As the listing date of Jiahe Group draws closer, there are more and more things that need to be communicated with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

In addition, just two days after Liu Zhou returned to Beijing, Leader Zhao from Tangshan came again. It would soon become clear whether the movie "Aftershock" could be filmed according to Liu Zhou's ideas.

If Tangshan does not agree with Liu Zhou's opinion, he will no longer participate in the project, and let "Aftershock" return to its original track, meet their requirements, and shoot it according to Feng Kuzi's version.

However, after seeing Leader Zhao's slightly happy expression, Liu Zhou knew that he was worrying too much.

Sure enough, as soon as Leader Zhao opened his mouth, he said:

"Director Liu, after much discussion and research, our team has decided that we agree with your idea. The filming of the movie is entirely up to you, but we can't just let it go. We must read the script.

We negotiated and resolved the script issue because we wanted to ensure that the film was positive and not negative or defamatory, otherwise we would not be able to explain to our fellow countrymen. We also wanted to arrange a producer who would not interfere with your filming, but would only ensure that the film would not contain plots that were inconsistent with current values.

He can also serve as an external liaison for the crew. If Director Liu needs any cooperation from us in Tangshan during the filming, you can contact him."

Liu Zhou himself hoped that Tangshan would get involved. Since the other party took a step back and agreed to his request, his goal was achieved:
"Okay, I'm not a dictatorial person. For such a big show, I hope everyone can give more good suggestions!"

“There is another point, which is about the investment. Four hundred million is a bit high, so we gave up 40 percent of the share.

We plan to invest 120 million, accounting for 30% of the share, and the remaining 280 million will need to be solved by you, Jiahe."

"no problem."

Liu Zhou didn’t know whether they had no confidence in himself or it was really because the investment was too huge, but it didn’t matter. It would be better if Jiahe could have a larger share. He still had confidence in himself.

Afterwards, the two of them discussed the investment situation of both parties.

Tangshan invested 120 million yuan, including 80 million in cash and 40 million in sponsorship. They are responsible for the set design needed for the filming of the movie and will also provide all conveniences to the crew.

Liu Zhou had no objection to this. It would also cost a lot of money to replicate some of Tangshan’s urban buildings from the 1970s.

Maybe they don't need 40 million to do all this, but Liu Zhou doesn't care, because 40 million is also within his set budget, as long as they can meet his requirements.

However, Tangshan also gave Jiahe considerable support. Of the 2.8 million yuan invested by Jiahe, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Tangshan can provide Jiahe with a loan of million yuan.

Of course, this requires Jiahe to find an insurance company to provide guarantee.

Of course Liu Zhou accepted Tangshan's kindness with a smile.

Insurance companies are easy to find. Liu Zhou can go directly to the insurance company under CITIC Group.

Liu Zhou felt that CITIC Group should give him some preferential treatment in terms of premiums, as he had brought business to CITIC Group several times.

Loans or financing from banks or other financial institutions to shoot movies is very common in Hollywood.

Insurance companies are usually involved and they will prepare a special account from which all funds needed during the production of the film are withdrawn and used for their intended purpose.

In addition to ensuring the use of funds, the insurance company also needs to ensure that the film can be completed, otherwise the insurance company will be required to compensate for the losses.

So Hollywood has never been just about the film industry; Wall Street is also deeply involved.

There is no such thing in China. The investment in movies or TV series is usually made by direct money transfer from film and television companies or investors.

But last year, Huayi took the lead in setting a precedent by borrowing money from banks to shoot movies.

Huayi started out in advertising, and their first pot of gold was from designing and producing brand logo advertisements for the Big Four banks.

Relying on their connections, Huayi almost monopolized all the advertising business in the domestic banking system, which also allowed them to earn their first pot of gold.

From this we can see that Huayi has very good connections in the banking system.

Most of the funds for Huayi’s investment in If You Are the One produced last year were borrowed from banks.

Originally, the first film Huayi used this method on was "Assembly". After "Assembly" was intercepted by Golden Harvest, although it was postponed for a year, Huayi still used it on the film "If You Are the One".

With the successful example of "If You Are the One", banks and insurance companies made money, and film companies also solved their funding problems. It was a win-win situation for all parties.

This not only attracted great interest from other film and television companies, but also domestic banks and insurance companies rushed over.

So in just one year, there have been several films in the industry that involved three parties working together.

The largest one among them was Golden Harvest. Most of the investment in films like "Sword Rain" and "China Partner" was from bank loans, and Golden Harvest only contributed a small part.

There is also Liu Zhou's "Interstellar", the final budget of which was 1.5 million yuan. Among the million yuan that Golden Harvest needed to invest, million yuan was also borrowed from the bank.

There is no way around it. Jiahe has a good reputation and banks are chasing after it to lend money to Jiahe.

After all, the idea of ​​borrowing money from banks to make movies has just become popular. Although banks are very interested, they certainly dare not lend money to every movie at the beginning.

Banks will definitely choose to cooperate with safer projects, and the safest projects are undoubtedly those under Jiahe.

To be honest, for film and television companies that are truly committed to making movies, banks being able to provide funding can undoubtedly be of great help.

This is the case with Jiahe. In the past two years, Jiahe has launched several projects at the same time. Even for a company as wealthy as Jiahe, the financial pressure would be huge if it invested all the money itself.

So when faced with the bank's "help in time of need", Liu Zhou felt that thinking about it for one more second would be disrespectful to the bank.

In fact, after Golden Harvest goes public, all funding problems will be solved. Even the 1.5 million yuan investment in "Interstellar" and the 2.8 million yuan investment in "Aftershock" will not be a problem at all.

If there is no bank loan channel, there is nothing we can do about it, but now it is available, and we are using all our own money to invest in movies, which is an unreasonable use of funds.

The company's own money should be used for more important businesses that can strengthen the company's foundation, while the money from the film investment bank can be used in vain and at most some interest and insurance company premiums can be paid.

This amount of money is simply insignificant compared to the value that can be created by one's own funds.

So since Tangshan was able to provide Jiahe with a loan of 100 million yuan, Liu Zhou would be more than happy to do so.

Then Jiahe would go to other banks to borrow part of the loan. For the large project of "Aftershock" with an investment of 400 million, Jiahe might only need to put up tens of millions to finance it.

After Liu Zhou and Zhao agreed on the general direction, the specific details were left to the people below to discuss.

At this time, Leader Zhao looked much more relaxed. He lit a cigarette comfortably, then slowly said to Liu Zhou:

"Director Liu, I strongly supported you during the team meeting. I hope that the movie shot according to your ideas can really promote the city of Tangshan better."

"Don't worry, there will be absolutely no problem." Liu Zhou replied firmly, "Your idea is the same as the idea of ​​mainstream domestic films now, always wanting to show, shoot the scenery of the city, shoot some iconic buildings, as if this is the only way to show the achievements of 30 years of construction.

But in fact, the audience is already somewhat tired of this kind of promotion. The resulting movies may not be bad, but people will not pay too much attention to the changes in the city of Tangshan.

According to my thinking, we won’t shoot any scenes of the city. Instead, we will use the various people the heroine sees and meets on the way home with her child to show people’s strength and optimism in the face of hardship.

Show the love of life through these ordinary people.

When these come out, there is no need to explain, nor to say how well we will build the city in 30 years. After watching the movie, everyone will firmly believe that this city will be able to be reborn, because this city has such a group of strong people. "

(End of this chapter)