We are all reborn, who wants to be the richest man?

Chapter 636: Germany's End
Hanau, a small city located in west-central Germany, has a population of only 8.5.

The most famous people in this small town are undoubtedly the Brothers Grimm, so this place is also called the City of the Brothers Grimm.

However, in the global arena, there are not only the Grimm brothers in Hanau. There is also a family business that controls the lifeline of an important global industry, and that is the Heraeus Group.

Many people may not have heard of the Heraeus Group, but this company is one of the Fortune 500 companies in the world. But that is for the future.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I can now officially announce that Heraeus will step onto a new level from today on, and the Heraeus family will become one of the largest families in Germany and even in Europe."

At the Heraeus family meeting, the new Heraeus patriarch, William Heraeus, who was only 42 years old, was in high spirits.

In early 1992, Far East CEO Jack Welch led a Far East investment team to visit Europe. Although all countries invested in some projects, Germany was undoubtedly the one that got the most benefits.

The semiconductor industry, Internet industry, automobile industry, medical industry, etc., some invest in joint ventures to build factories, while others expand the scale of factories.

Taking all the investments into account, the Far East Group will invest no less than 30 billion US dollars in Germany in the next five years, which will greatly boost Germany's employment and economy.

However, Germany did not get these for free. Both sides exchanged interests and each got what they needed.

The first is the Bremen Combined Port. The Far Eastern Port Administration Group acquired 38% of the shares of this top ten port in Europe, becoming the second largest shareholder of the Bremen Combined Port after the Bremen government.

Then there is Krones, a filling equipment manufacturer that, through Siemens' matchmaking, eventually launched comprehensive cooperation with the Far East Group.

Watsons Group first acquired 6.7% of Siemens' shares, and then established Krones Filling Equipment Co., Ltd. with Krones through consultations between Siemens and the German government.

The company will integrate all the bottling equipment businesses of Watsons and Krones Group. Although Watsons did not obtain a controlling stake, it still obtained a 49% stake.

The last one is Heraeus. This unlisted family business is also a target of the Far East Group, but the cooperation negotiations between the two parties are extremely difficult.

Heraeus is a company that develops advanced materials. Its materials alone will allow it to be among the top 500 companies in the world in the future, which is enough to show how strong this company is.

Heraeus' main businesses include precious metals, dentistry, sensors, quartz glass and special light sources.

Nowadays, the most important things are precious metals and quartz glass.

Why did the Far Eastern Group take a fancy to this company? Precious metals are one aspect, but the most important thing is quartz glass, which has always been Heraeus's strength.

Don't underestimate quartz glass. High-purity quartz glass is an extremely important material for modern industry. In the future, it will be widely used in semiconductors, optical fibers, optics, photovoltaics, and electric light sources.

For example, the raw material needed for the mask used in the photolithography process is high-purity quartz glass, which is also the main consumable material in the optical fiber preform and optical fiber drawing process.

This is a typical monopoly market. Even 30 years later, there are only six quartz glass manufacturers in the world that can obtain certification from the Tokyo Electronic Technology Association, two of which are from the island country.

Heraeus has always been a top player in the field of quartz glass. It mastered the gas refining technology in the early 20th century and has always been a leader in quartz glass technology with this technology.

"William, you have made an indelible contribution to the technical support from Feiling and the special light source technology from the Far East. I also believe that the Heraeus family will move beyond Germany under your leadership."

"Uncle, you are too polite. This is the honor of our entire Heraeus. I am just fighting for these rights on behalf of Heraeus."

Special light source is a special light source, such as infrared heating, ultraviolet curing, ultraviolet sterilization, etc. are all considered special light sources.

Its application fields are very wide, such as printing industry, packaging industry, decorative materials, home appliances, etc. Of course, the most familiar one is definitely the photolithography machine. In the field of ultraviolet and deep ultraviolet of photolithography machines, Far East's technology is undoubtedly unique in the world. Heraeus wants to deepen its roots in this field, and it is impossible to give up the high value-added photolithography machine and medical field.

However, this is not the reason why the cooperation between the two parties has been deadlocked for so long. Although Far East attaches great importance to special light sources, it does not mean that the technology cannot be shared.

The real reason why the two parties negotiated for a year was sensor technology, a field that Heraeus has only entered a few years ago.

Who is the absolute leader in the world of sensors? It must be Flink, a joint venture between Texas Instruments and Siemens. With its world-leading third-generation sensor technology, Flink has monopolized more than half of the global sensor market.

The market value of Siemens and Texas Instruments has increased significantly thanks to this company. The German government has inquired about Feiling more than once, hoping that Feiling can be listed in Germany.

In order to retain this industry giant, the Munich government allocated a large piece of land near Munich to Feiling at a low price for Feiling to build a factory to meet the growing demand in the sensor market.

Even though Texas Instruments owns 51% of the shares of Flink and has absolute control over it, this is not something that Far East can just give away.

Far East and Siemens have had a lot of pleasant cooperation, and we don’t want this incident to create a rift between the two parties.

Everyone knows that Feiling is now a hen that lays golden eggs. How could Far East be willing to support a rival like Siemens?

So if you want to provide technical support to Heraeus, you must first get Siemens.

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In order to compensate Siemens, Far East made concessions in the various medical device cooperation companies that the two sides finalized last year.

For example, in the area of ​​radiological medical equipment, Pfizer Bristol-Myers Squibb obviously has stronger technology and foundation, but Siemens occupies the majority of the new company and has achieved controlling stake.

There is a reason why Pfizer Bristol-Myers Squibb was able to make concessions. Pfizer Bristol-Myers Squibb has a stake in Watsons' convenience pharmacies throughout Southeast Asia.

All of this requires compromise, one thing after another, which is why the cooperation with Heraeus has been delayed for so long.

Fortunately, the result was good. After a year of discussion, the two sides finally reached a consensus.

Heraeus will cooperate with Feiling, and Feiling will obtain 40% of the shares of Heraeus Sensor in the form of technology and part of the funds.

The same is true for special light sources. Far East Chip and Heraeus formed Germany's Special Light, with Heraeus holding a controlling stake of 51%.

Finally, the quartz glass sector that the Far East cares about the most is Heraeus Quartz Glass Company, in which Heraeus owns 60% of the shares.

However, the two parties also established Heraeus China, a company specializing in quartz glass business in Greater China, in which Far East Chip holds 80% of the shares.

In addition to these two companies, the two parties also established Heraeus Composites, in which the Far East Group holds a controlling stake of 51%. Its main business is to research various synthetic materials, including synthetic quartz glass.

In fact, 51% and 49% of the shares do not mean much to both parties.

If both parties cooperate happily, the company will continue to operate according to the management currently established.

If the differences are huge, no one knows what will happen when these companies go public in the future.

(End of this chapter)