King of Capital

"I personally think that the merger between New DAE and Meituan completed last year, with Grapefruit Capital investing more than $40 billion and holding a total of 31.5% of the shares, is a turning point."

Zou Jingyi's mind raced, and she used the information she had collected before the interview to align it with the direction of the strategic adjustments revealed by the man with glasses.

He felt timid and only talked about his judgment and conclusion without discussing the logic. However, his big eyes were bright and confident, and he looked straight at the interviewers with a steady mind.

"From what source did you cite the data? Have you verified its accuracy?"

Tang Man adjusted her sitting posture, leaned forward with her hands on the table, and lightly relieved herself of the pressure.

Zou Jingyi blurted out, "My father works for the Overseas Chinese Town Group, and is more interested in financial business. I occasionally rent their database to look up information."

"Cultural tourism investment, real estate finance?" Tang Man asked in depth.

Zou Jingyi nodded, "Yes, investment and operation of cultural industry parks."

"Tell me more specifically about the turning point significance of investing in Meituan." Xie Jingxing got back to the point.

"Okay. Judging from the investment scale and the stage of enterprise development, Xiyou's investment in New DAE has gone beyond the scope of venture capital (VC) and entered the field of private equity (PE) investment."

Zou Jingyi thought and slowed down her speech: "We all know that the nature of private equity investment can be roughly divided into two types. Hillhouse Capital is a representative of the 'growth type' in China, accompanying companies to go public and then exiting; KKR is a representative of the 'control investment and merger and acquisition type', deeply industrializing a certain industry to complete cost reduction and efficiency improvement integration and long-term holding."

"Xiyou's investment in Xinda'e belongs to the second type, achieving controlling stake. In the future, it can focus on this market-leading company and invest in the entire local lifestyle sector dominated by group buying and takeout."

She observed the expressions of several examiners, and added thoughtfully: "I feel that Xiyou is trying to build a large platform for investment ecology."

Xie Jingxing did not comment. Although the words "investment ecological platform" could sum it up, it was good enough to talk about it to this extent.

The little girl is quite smart. Tang Man wants to remind her that Hillhouse is actually shifting towards investment control, and even the domestic PE industry is evolving instinctively. She glances at He Chuan and decides to take another look at her potential.

"Be careful not to stray from the topic. You just mentioned the strategic concept of investing in Didi."

He Chuan received the signal and stepped forward. It was a blessing to be able to sit side by side with the big guys. He felt obliged to pretend to be an idiot and help them!
"I think the strategic purpose of Xiyou's investment in Didi is the same as that of its investment in Meituan, which is to deeply industrialize the field of smart travel from point to surface."

Zou Jingyi observed the other person's expression and relaxed her mind: "We can go one step further and introduce internationally renowned PE institutions such as SoftBank and Uber Global as strategic partners through mergers and acquisitions. It is reasonable to expect that Didi's globalization process will be faster in the future, and the smart travel ecosystem that Xiyou can invest in will radiate overseas."

"..."

Silence is Cambridge tonight. He Chuan squinted his eyes, not knowing how to respond.

A double-edged sword. Tang Man felt a little disappointed and crossed out the sword silently in her heart.

Because top investment institutions are popular in their own right, applicants can often collect and organize a large amount of public information during interviews, apply it to their own theories, and talk about corporate philosophy and strategic development in a way that sounds plausible.

But what you are swallowing is second-hand information. If you swallow it without digesting it, it is easy to make mistakes in the details under the eyes of the interviewer who has personally experienced the transaction.

"OCT's financial database hasn't updated this transaction yet, right?" Xie Jingxing brought up the topic again.

Zou Jingyi didn't understand and replied with a shy and modest smile: "I collected and sorted out the information through the Xiyou official website and consulted a senior who was in mergers and acquisitions."

"What do you think is worth paying attention to in this M&A transaction?" Xie Jingxing continued to ask.

"AB share structure. The divestiture of equity interests protects Didi's control. I think this reflects Didi's maturity in capital operation and Xiyou's strong post-investment management support!"

Zou Jingyi's eyes lit up, and she couldn't help but raise her hand and make a fist gesture, emphasizing the so-called sense of power.

In late February, there were rumors in the market that Didi was going to merge with Uber China. First, Kalanick publicly tweeted to praise Uber China for its year of rapid growth, indirectly denying the merger.

Immediately afterwards, Liu Qing denied it in his circle of friends, and Jinshajiang’s Zhu Xiaohu also jumped out to say that he knew nothing about it.

Then came the rumors of new regulations on online ride-hailing services. Didi and Uber China were spending money like crazy on subsidies until three days ago during the Two Sessions when the relevant departments decided to issue new regulations on online ride-hailing services, which will be officially implemented on June 1st.

The next day, Didi announced the acquisition of Uber China, and introduced US$40 billion in strategic financing led by SoftBank and US$20 billion in bond financing from China Life.

Based on the relevant information, it can be seen that the M&A transaction process was fierce, and both parties fought until the last minute, and only made a decision when the new policy was implemented.

Therefore, the divestiture of equity interests was a stroke of genius, which was almost equivalent to Didi driving Uber away. Sina Finance described the deal as "Kalanick, who came to conquer with great ambition, left in tears after 778 days."

In an interview, Kalanick said that the three days he spent waiting for confirmation of the final merger results at the Waldorf Astoria in Beijing was a moment of struggle that he did not want to experience again in his life.

Zhu Xiaohu repeatedly lamented that Uber initially wanted a 40% stake, and the huge gap in the psychological prices of both parties led to a tortuous process and everyone was suffering. We investors must firmly support Cheng Wei and Liu Qing %.

Therefore, Zou Jingyi wholeheartedly approves of Grapefruit Capital.

"From Didi to the recent Mobike, Grapefruit Capital has spared no effort in post-investment management to help invested projects make correct and important decisions since its establishment."

She looked at Xie Jingxing with a tone full of admiration: "This is something that most of the top venture capital institutions want to do but cannot do. I think this is the difference between companionship and guidance."

“Just like you have repeatedly created investment hotspots such as live streaming, shared bicycles, and short videos!”

Cough, He Chuan frowned slightly, lowered his head, raised his hand to cover his nose and cleared his throat.

How can a little girl just look up at the sky? You have to look down at your feet. You are just an intern who is being interviewed. It is enough for you to realize the complexity of M&A cases and the importance of post-investment management.

Grapefruit advocates strong leadership and creative leadership, but all this is not in vain - enjoy competition and accept failure, nothing is taken for granted.

The founder gave the team soul, and after three years, Grapefruit Capital’s own cultural concept has taken shape...

"You are right in your focus. The negotiation process for this acquisition was very difficult, and on paper, Didi has the upper hand."

Xie Jing Xing felt the little girl's gaze and suddenly laughed: "...but people's emotions are uncontrollable."

"In the last week before the acquisition was completed, Uber China burned through $1.5 million to clear its book liquidity and asked all employees to install data file shredding software on their work computers in advance. In other words, Didi took over a mess that was man-made."

He added helplessly: "SoftBank's investment and Didi's acquisition of Uber China have no strategic significance to us."

Uber China's management team and Chinese shareholders learned about the acquisition of their company from the news, and staged a drama where the ministers were waiting to fight to the death while the emperor surrendered first.

Liu Zhen left in tears and voluntarily submitted her resignation application. Baidu, as the largest Chinese strategic investor, became the biggest loser.

Of course, Robin Li brought Lu Qi back from Silicon Valley. He has thrown away online ride-hailing, group buying, and mobile payments, and is about to go all-in on artificial intelligence.

The war between Baidu and Didi is heading into the future, and will restart when driverless cars roam the streets.

Xie Jingxing realized it later. That day when Kalanick met on the rooftop, he had made up his mind to press the nuclear button and leave him a "surprise gift package". Unfortunately, this guy obviously did not get what he wanted, and he lost in defeat!
Didi introduced SoftBank to pursue overseas business, and completed a new round of financing at the same time as the merger and acquisition. There are more than 7 billion US dollars in cash on the books, and it is almost impossible to go public within two years. He accepted the failure of the new energy vehicle investment ecosystem. Kalanick left with a lot of hatred that he would never have the chance to resolve in this lifetime. Cheng Wei and Liu Qing licked their wounds and moved forward to their obsession.

It seems that there is no winner in this failed deal for the time being. Everyone is emotional. To this day, Liu Qing and Kalanick still have different opinions. The former says it is an acquisition, while the latter says it is a merger and acquisition.

Screw like-minded people, and go your separate ways is the truth.

"Do you have anything you want to ask Xiyou?" Xie Jingxing withdrew his thoughts with a sense of loss.

Zou Jingyi felt a chill in her heart. She felt that the platform strategy she had been analyzing for half a day was wrong, and she found it difficult to ask questions for a while.

"If all is well, let's end the interview here today."

Xie Jingxing paused for a moment, then carefully offered a suggestion: "The competition for interviews here at Xiyou is quite intense. Are you interested in considering other business departments?"

"Me, no thanks, venture capital is my dream job."

Zou Jingyi's mind went blank and she ignored the second half of his sentence. She thought she had created an unprecedented record of being rejected on the spot during an interview, so she forced herself to smile to maintain her dignity.

This interview lasted a little longer. By the time I saw the girl off, it was almost lunchtime, so the morning interview ended here.

Xie Jingxing packed up a pile of resumes: "Anyone you want?"

"I want this Zhang Youzhou, he was in the top ten of Harvard's undergraduate class." Tang Man was the first to choose.

He Chuan drank water tactically, looked around with ghostly eyes, looking like a constipated and troubled ghost.

Jin Xiu sat next to him, with her hair tied up and her makeup neatly done. She attacked him: "I want Liao Yan."

"That war correspondent?" Xie Jingxing was impressed.

He graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, went to the Middle East to work as a war correspondent and won an award. He returned to the United States to obtain a master’s degree in finance from Northwestern University. He graduated this year and returned to China at the age of 23.

A little genius who feels that there are no challenges in life. He can also be called the Mushroom King, a rich second-generation foreign trade person who exports mushrooms in Shandong.

"Hey, doesn't she want to join the Internet Innovation Group?"

He Chuan was nearly choked to death by the water. He was just being reserved. As the second MD of Xiyou, don’t you have a little face?

Jin Xiu shrugged: "Don't you want it?"

"I want it!" He Chuan straightened his back and spoke in a loud voice.

"Oh, and he's a baritone."

Jin Xiu was an old acquaintance and didn't spoil him. She smiled and joked, "I think Zou Jingyi is quite suitable for you. Liao Yan is a troublemaker and it's not convenient for you to take care of her."

"Do you want Zou Jingyi?" Xie Jingxing followed closely and blocked the way back.

After the dispute over the control of Panda TV, Jin Xiu took the blame and voluntarily resigned from Pusi Capital. He went to a small venture capital firm to get an MD position, and then went to be taken in by his junior.

However, Xiyou grew too fast, so Xie Jingxing only gave her the VP rank out of special care, and asked her to be responsible for building a consumer investment team like Budu Milk Tea.

Starting from scratch requires high-quality consumables to fill the gap, so try it for a year or two to see the results.

"I... Boss, should I reconsider this?"

He Chuan was embarrassed. Zou Jingyi was pretty good when he took her alone, especially her appearance.

Xie Jing Xing didn't care: "Don't give it to me. She has good strategic thinking and can slowly hone her stress resistance and learning abilities."

“I feel like I’m short of breath.”

He Chuan hesitated for a long time and finally made up his mind to decline. He said that the project that Xiyou worked on was awesome so Xiyou was awesome, not the other way around. This girl had gotten the cause and effect wrong.

Tang Man hesitated for a moment and interrupted, "How about I take it first, and then transfer it to you if it's not suitable."

"It's hard work. Grapefruit is our core business. Since we are training interns, I hope they can feel a sense of belonging to Grapefruit and identify with our business." Xie Jingxing explained the reason clearly.

He Chuan and Jin Xiu looked at each other, realizing that they were waiting here.

It seems that the young commander is very determined to adjust the business structure. No wonder such a poor interview performance is so impressive. It only occupies a strategic thinking position...

Xie Jingxing threw the rest of the three resumes into the trash can and led Tang Man and the others to eat.

The company's self-built restaurant is not very large and has been almost entirely occupied by job applicants in recent days, so they can only eat out.

While eating, Xie Jingxing briefly explained the subsequent interview selection trends, and then left on his own in the afternoon. He stayed in the office until the evening and finally finished writing the email.

[Fifteen years ago, along with the accession to the WTO, PE business came to China across the ocean. During the golden period of rapid economic growth, excellent domestic consumer companies such as Mengniu and Shuanghui emerged. At this stage, PE business could exit by investing and waiting for the companies to go public.

Eight years ago, the financial crisis slowed down the high growth of the real economy, but the domestic financial market ushered in a wave of securitization, and private enterprises went public on a large scale, which led the PE industry into the second stage - the last round of financing before listing.

However, the securities market is now cooling down, the high growth and listing pace of private enterprises have both stagnated, and the PE industry has entered the third stage, the "controlling investment and M&A type" represented by its foreign peer KKR.

At this stage, Xiyou Capital will integrate the two fields of local life and cultural entertainment to create a platform investment ecosystem and expand marginal profit efficiency...】

Xie Jingxing checked the full text and added a title - A letter to investors.

It’s hard to describe how I feel. Didi should have been on the list, but now it doesn’t matter.

After clicking send, his next focus was to find money and solve his own cash reserve problem.

It is mainly divided into three directions. The first one is naturally fundraising, which is intuitive, convenient and effective.

Second, clean up stock holdings and speed up the liquidation of those bad stocks held during last year's stock market crash, even if it means losing some money.

Finally, introducing strategic investment is of utmost importance.

The restructuring business strategy affects investors' valuation of Xiyou Capital, specifically, the state-owned asset giants' views on this private investment group.

Xie Jingxing didn't want to suffer a loss, so he first admitted his failure to the investors, and then showed off his wealth. (End of this chapter)