Return to 1958 and build a century-old giant

Chapter 836 Successful Acquisition of Mini
There are actually quite a few European car brands that would be suitable for him to acquire, but he still prioritizes Mini.

Firstly, the brand's positioning is suitable; in an era of high oil prices, small cars will inevitably become more popular in the future. Secondly, I am a Commonwealth citizen and have also invested in Thatcher, so my political security is relatively stronger.
Therefore, his first choice for acquiring a car brand was the British brand Mini. He would only consider other brands if negotiations failed, or after the acquisition of Mini was successful and it had been operating for a period of time before considering other brands.

Another factor is language. Communication between Hong Kong and the UK is quite simple, and even communication with German and Nordic companies is easy because people in these countries generally speak English well. However, France and Italy have the lowest average English proficiency in Europe.

He wasn't very familiar with Italian and French cars, and since neither country had successfully established a business in mainland China in his previous life, there must have been some reasons he wasn't aware of. So he decided to be conservative, at least for his main models, which he planned to eventually enter the mainland market.

Of course, Italy isn't without good cars, like Ferrari, but such luxury cars should only be considered after the country's own automotive industry has achieved success. Buying such luxury cars outright would definitely result in losses and has no strategic value. Only with its own car brand can luxury cars become a focus of promotion.
“Okay, I understand.” Ma Deming didn’t say much more; he was just offering a suggestion.

From his perspective, he naturally hopes that the group can invest more in Italy, which would give him greater opportunities for career development.

Italy's cultural characteristics make it difficult for external capital to invest on a large scale, and Yang Wendong is not particularly insistent on this.
After his family spent a few days sightseeing in Italy, Yang Wendong arrived in England, where he would begin his business ventures in Europe.

On March 2, Yang Wendong visited Buckingham Palace again and met with Thatcher: "Madam Prime Minister, you are getting younger and younger."

"Haha, thank you for the compliment," Thatcher said with a smile.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, the two quickly got down to business.

Yang Wendong asked, "Madam Prime Minister, will the British government approve the acquisition of Mini cars? Please give me a definite answer. If it will, I will begin the final stage of commercial negotiations with Leyland. If not, I will need to look for targets elsewhere."

Although UK Mini was his best acquisition target, he naturally couldn't just tell Thatcher that;

Thatcher replied, "Eric, after my meetings with the upper and lower councils and the union leaders, at the policy level, as long as you agree to a few conditions, then at the administrative level, we will not obstruct this acquisition."

"Please speak," Yang Wendong asked.

Thatcher said, "First, after you acquire it, you must inject an additional £5000 million into Mini to help Mini urgently repay its previous debts, develop new models, and pay the salaries of its employees for the next year."

"5000 million pounds?" Yang Wendong frowned and said, "If I acquire this Mini car, how it's operated afterwards will be my business, right?"

Thatcher said, "Yes, it's your business, but we're also considering this from the perspective of protecting mini suppliers, employees, and future domestic employment. Otherwise, there would be a lot of resistance from within the company and from the union."

Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "The 5000 million pounds is still mine, right? So how do you plan to spend this money? Do you need to agree on it beforehand?"

Thatcher said, "It can't be said that it's agreed that this money will serve as a guarantee for Mini. After all, only if you have enough money and it's in Mini's account can I convince those opponents that you can solve Mini's difficulties, right?"

“That works, but I will decide how the money is used. I will protect the interests of suppliers and employees within the bounds of British law.” Yang Wendong thought for a moment and then added, “Speaking of suppliers, I need to ensure that there will be no additional large-scale transactions between suppliers and Mini before the deal is finalized.”

This situation is common in acquisitions, for example, by signing large cooperation agreements with other suppliers before being acquired, in order to take advantage of the acquiring party;

There had been similar situations with previous acquisitions in Hong Kong, but as a local conglomerate, Yang Wendong was not afraid of such things. However, now that they were overseas, he had to be more cautious, especially in the automotive industry, which he was unfamiliar with.

Thatcher smiled and said, "Don't worry about that. Suppliers in the automotive industry have a long history of solid deals, everything is documented, and I will also inform Leyland that they will not do that."

"That's good." Yang Wendong nodded. He could still trust Thatcher's words; at least for now, their cooperation was going very well.

Thatcher continued, "The second point is that you must keep the existing jobs of your workers and not lay them off for five years."

"Five years is too long. According to international practice, it's usually two years. I can give you face and extend it to three years, but I can only guarantee that 90% of the people will not be laid off." Yang Wendong stated clearly: "It's not that I want to lay off 10%, but I have to give the employees who are just coasting a warning. If they can't be fired, or if the job security period is too long, then these employees will take the company even less seriously."

As the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and as a worker in a British state-owned enterprise, I think you know better than I do what your attitude is. If we want to truly save Mini, or even save the already declining British car industry, we must not be lenient with these people.

Yang Wendong agrees that the working class should indeed have its own interests, but it should not be given too many rights and benefits, because human nature is lazy.

He can accept employees of any company he acquires, even if they are not very capable, as long as they have the right attitude. However, he absolutely cannot accept those who are unruly.

Thatcher herself was asking for a lot of money, but after hearing Yang Wendong's description, she said, "Eric, what you said makes some sense. I need to discuss this with the union. This is indeed something we can discuss further."

“Okay,” Yang Wendong replied.

Thatcher added, "The third point is that future mini factories must be manufactured in the UK and cannot be moved to other countries or new factories built overseas."

Yang Wendong shook his head and said, "I'm afraid that won't work. It's hard to say what the future holds. I can't make such a long-term commitment. If Mini becomes successful in my hands one day, it's impossible for it not to be produced overseas. You know how high the cross-border transportation costs are in the automotive industry."

Thatcher firmly stated, "No, that's the bottom line. The British factories must be maintained, otherwise neither party can accept this deal."

“I understand the idea of ​​protecting employment,” Yang Wendong paused, then said, “In that case, I can promise that within 10 years, all cars in the European market will be produced in the UK, but for cars in Asia, if I succeed in developing the market there, I will need to build factories in Asia.”

“Build a factory in Asia? Where? Hong Kong? That’s impossible, isn’t it?” Thatcher asked, somewhat puzzled. “In the whole of Asia, only Japan has a relatively complete automotive industry chain. You can’t possibly build a factory in Japan, can you?” Yang Wendong smiled and said, “I haven’t thought about that yet, but I will definitely not tie myself to Britain.”

Thatcher pondered for a moment and said, "Okay, the Asian market is up to you. Ten years is too short. I need a commitment of 15 years. Also, not only Europe, but also the Americas market, must be produced in the UK."

She naturally didn't believe that Yang Wendong would build a factory in Japan; it was impossible for him to succeed. The local supply chain in Japan was controlled by Japanese automotive giants, and even American and European cars couldn't get in.

What she was eyeing was naturally the European and American markets. In particular, she knew that Yang Wendong had acquired more than 300 car retail stores of Chrysler in the United States. If these retail stores were willing to allocate resources to Mini, selling several thousand cars a year would definitely not be a problem.

In Asia, Yang Wendong owns even more car retail stores. Since there's no production base in Asia, they can only import cars from the UK.

"15 years? Okay, I agree." Yang Wendong thought for a moment and finally agreed.
He doesn't plan to open a factory in the US either, as that would be suicide, and Mini would hardly be as successful in the US; Japanese brands are not to be underestimated.
As for future factories in mainland China, even if they do start operations, given the efficiency of China's automotive supply chain, it is unlikely that they can meet the demand of mainland China and several Asian countries within 15 years. In the decade or so after the reform and opening up, cars were hard currency that money couldn't buy, and the possibility of exporting to the United States was also slim. So, production in the UK would indeed be the only option.

Furthermore, his overseas acquisitions were also intended to revive the companies when he had the capability to do so.
Of course, at worst he wouldn't die, but he couldn't possibly invest a lot of resources in causing trouble in Britain.

Thatcher smiled and said, "Okay, we've solved most of these three problems. I'll discuss the rest with the relevant people. I think it shouldn't be a big problem. You just need to prepare for the business negotiations with Leland."

"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded;
In fact, business negotiations with Leland had already begun long ago. This matter involves many departments, and they are basically being carried out simultaneously. As long as the authorities give their permission, the remaining issues will be funding and debt.

After spending another three days in Britain, Thatcher brought news that the British trade unions had finally agreed to Yang Wendong's conditions, and the last obstacle to the acquisition of Mini had been removed.

On March 8, Yang Wendong visited Mini's Longbridge factory in Birmingham, in central England. This is one of Mini's two major production bases in the UK and also the location of the company headquarters.

Mini's top executives, who are also Leland's top executives, were also there to greet Yang Wendong and his entourage at the company entrance. Regardless of whether the acquisition can be finalized, the other party is a super-rich man, and they want to be on good terms with him.

“Mr. Yang, this is Mr. Buster, the head of Mini Company,” Fang Xianming introduced.

"Hello, Mr. Buster," Yang Wendong said politely.

Buster shook hands in return and said, "Hello, Mr. Yang."

Then, the dozens of people present introduced themselves to each other. Yang Wendong didn't pay much attention, shaking hands with each of them, but he didn't remember them or need to.
Later, at Buster's invitation, Yang Wendong visited the Mini factory. Compared to the Chrysler factory he had seen before, this one was much smaller. After all, the difference was too great; one was one of the American Big Three, and the other was a small British car company.
“Last year, our factory produced 3 Mini cars,” Buster proudly stated.

Yang Wendong then asked, "Last year, the global sales volume of Mini was 4.7 units, right?"

Bastian nodded and said, "Yes."

"The sales volume is not bad, but why has it been losing money for so many years?" Yang Wendong asked with a smile. He also wanted to put down this arrogant character to facilitate the negotiations later.

Buster paused for a moment, then said, "The main reason is that the competition is too fierce. As you know, Japanese cars are expanding globally, and it's not easy for either British or American cars to compete."

Yang Wendong added, "But even though they're both small cars, Volkswagen's Polo sells quite well. Volkswagen shouldn't be losing money, right?"

"Indeed, Volkswagen is very strong in Germany."

Unable to find any excuses for himself, Buster could only say that Volkswagen was very powerful, after all, it was a German car legend.

Japanese cars have swept the globe, and relatively speaking, German cars have been least affected. BBA (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi) and Porsche are high-end cars, while Volkswagen, a mid-to-low-end brand, has managed to withstand the impact of Japanese cars, though it has also suffered some damage.

Yang Wendong nodded and said nothing more.
After the factory tour, the group went to a meeting room to prepare for the most important business negotiations.
Yang Wendong began by saying, “Everyone, I can make a promise first: after I acquire Mini, your job titles will remain unchanged, and your salaries will even increase to some extent, but the premise is that you are truly willing to follow me.”

This is also to appease the management, which will be beneficial for subsequent negotiations. Even if the decision-making power is not in their hands, their support will play a significant role.

Besides, that was his original plan anyway; he didn't have anyone in his team who knew about cars, so he had no choice but to hand it over to them for now.
It's probably too early for my trusted subordinates to truly take control of this overseas car company. In the future, when I invest in the mainland, I will need their cooperation.

“Alright, thank you very much, Mr. Yang.” Buster understood Yang Wendong’s meaning and smiled, “Then let’s discuss some details of this acquisition.”

"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded;
The acquisition of a car brand involves many details that need to be confirmed one by one. It took most of the day to basically settle most of them, and this was with Yang Wendong, the decision-maker, present; otherwise, the efficiency would have been even lower. Of course, these issues had already been screened by the negotiation teams of both parties beforehand.

The negotiations have reached the final step: price.

The Leyland Group's representative made an outrageous demand, asking for £1 million. Yang Wendong naturally refused, saying, "You're a car company that loses tens of millions of pounds a year. Even if I were willing to acquire it, I couldn't possibly pay that price. At most, I'd offer £5000 million."
The two sides parted on bad terms over the price, as the price difference was simply too large;
In the following week, various forces got involved, and Thatcher also sent a representative of the Prime Minister to participate, but he was clearly on Leland's side, after all, Leland was a state-owned enterprise;
Upon seeing this, Yang Wendong stopped rushing and instead took a two-day trip to Northern Europe, bringing the negotiations to a standstill.
Ultimately, Thatcher personally called Yang Wendong back, and the two parties held talks together. In the end, an agreement was reached, with Yang Wendong offering £7600 million to acquire Mini Motors.

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
Real-world business mergers and acquisitions are certainly much more complex than those in novels. In reality, BMW's acquisition of Rover (including brands such as Mini and Land Rover) took several years to negotiate. Mergers and acquisitions between European and American automotive companies or other large enterprises are also measured in years.

I don't want to make it too complicated, so I'll keep it simple. It's basically about six months, which is quite early in the timeline. At that point, other major automakers hadn't yet started paying attention to British cars.
Otherwise, if I write a timeline of an acquisition that takes several years, I'm afraid readers will forget that this event even happened.
(End of this chapter)