My 1999

Dongdong...

Xu Liang tapped the desk rhythmically with his fingers, looking at the documents in front of him, a thoughtful look on his face.

After a moment.

"Has Veolia finalized this document?"

Li Jinling confirmed: "They have reviewed it three times and confirmed the divestment of these assets."

Xu Liang nodded slightly.

Years ago in France, Christina discussed with him that Veolia Group should divest its "transportation and logistics" business and focus the company's main business on water treatment, solid waste and energy to become a comprehensive environmental service provider.

He thought about it and agreed.

However, the specific divestiture plan was not made at that time.

It has been done now, but the scale of the divestiture is much larger than he expected.

Throughout 2007, Veolia's transportation business developed rapidly.

In France, revenue grew by nearly 10%, and in international markets it grew by nearly 15%.

In addition, it also acquired France's SNCM and the United States' Supershuttle to consolidate and expand its own transportation business.

As of now, Veolia Transport operates various urban transportation vehicles in 30 countries around the world.

These include: buses, light rail, subways, taxis, trains, long-distance coaches and ferries, totaling more than 39,000 vehicles (ships), 81,500 employees, 2.5 billion transportation trips in 2007, more than 5,000 large customers worldwide, and a total operating mileage of 100 million kilometers.

Total revenue for the year was EUR 5.59 billion.

Among the global transportation companies, Veolia Transportation ranks among the top 20.

Although the profit margins in transportation are not high, the returns are stable.

Considering the scale of Veolia Transport, Xu Liang was reluctant to sell it.

He hesitated for a while.

I picked up my phone and called Christina.

The call was connected quickly.

"Honey, is that you?"

"Of course. Are the kids asleep?"

"Just went to bed."

After a brief chat about family matters.

“I have read the list of Veolia Transport businesses for sale that Anthony sent me, and there is basically no problem. However, the global market is not very good now, and I am afraid that it will be difficult for Veolia Transport to sell at a high price.

So, my idea is that Hongyan Fund should take over this asset.

Veolia Environment will use the funds to acquire Suez Group’s environmental assets.”

After a little consideration, Christina agreed.

Now global businesses are suffering from the US subprime mortgage crisis. Banks have suffered heavy losses and are consciously tightening credit. Without the support of banks, corporate mergers and acquisitions will become more difficult.

Prices will also be pushed lower.

Selling at this time is obviously not a good opportunity.

Hongyan Fund is our own company, so we will definitely not suffer any loss in price.

As expected, I can't make much.

After all, 55% of Veolia Environment's shares are circulating shares, and Xu Liang cannot use his own money to subsidize outsiders.

"How are the merger negotiations with Suez Group going?" Xu Liang asked.

“We are still discussing it.”

"Or the price?"

"Parachute" means that executives can avoid the impact of changes in company control and achieve a smooth transition.

This strategy of making the acquirer bleed heavily is one of the "poison pill plans" to prevent takeovers.

The principle can be expanded to apply to retirement compensation for operators for various reasons.

These compensations include stock options, bonuses, severance pay, etc.

Xu Liang couldn't help but frown.

He is not opposed to giving some compensation, but 500 million euros is really too much.

"What about GDF? Do they also have golden parachutes?"

"Yes, it's also 500 million euros, and the conditions are similar to ours."

“Suez wasn’t so harsh before.”

"Both companies want to merge. If it were me, I would also strive for more favorable conditions for myself," said Christina.

Xu Liang nodded slowly and asked, "What did Gaz de France say?"

"We have communicated several times and firmly disagreed with Suez's golden parachute plan. At the same time, we mobilized the political energy to put pressure on Suez."

"Be cautious of others and don't trust their words too much."

"I know. We have been communicating with Suez privately to see if we can find a way to divide them."

Xu Liang was about to offer to lure the other party with shares of Hanhua Pacific Fund, but he took it back.

After paying the price, he was able to acquire Suez Water, but the weakened Suez Energy would certainly not be able to resist the merger and acquisition of Gaz de France.

The latter is completely cheap.

He didn't want to be so generous yet.

"Any news from Nicholas?"

“I reached out, but all the president said was let’s follow the rules of business.”

“I see.”

Xu Liang touched his slightly rough jaw.

"Then let's just ignore it for now. We should remain unchanged in the face of ever-changing situations."

"Just in case..."

“Don’t worry, there aren’t many companies interested in environmental protection business, and even fewer that have the capability.”

Christina nodded.

The two chatted for a long time before hanging up the phone.

He picked up the documents on the table and took a final look at them, then asked Li Jinling to send them to Hongyan Fund.

——

In the morning, John Paulson jogged along the lakeside path in New York's Central Park as usual. Running has become a habit he has developed over the past year or so, both for exercise and to relieve stress.

When the Paulson Fund began shorting subprime mortgages in 2006, it came under tremendous market pressure, suffered heavy losses, and many LPs requested to withdraw their investments.

There is an overwhelming amount of good news about the real estate market, with optimistic real estate market experts and lenders constantly touting that house prices will continue to rise or that the federal government will lower interest rates to maintain the market.

He survived all these darkness before dawn.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

Today, the Paulson Fund has been honored with the leap from a small to medium-sized hedge fund to a large hedge fund ranked among the top in the market.

Countless investors were crying and shouting for investment.

He also became the top investment expert in Wall Street and even in the world.

Government officials, wealthy businessmen and New York old money who used to despise and even look down on him are now scrambling to have lunch with him.

This feeling of achieving success is great!

After running for a few miles, the 53-year-old Paulson stopped, panting.

He took the towel handed to him by the bodyguard and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

After all, time is unforgiving.

After returning home, taking a quick shower and having breakfast, I drove my newly bought extended version of Cadillac to the company on Wall Street.

As soon as I entered the door, the secretary brought me bad news.

"John, this is not good!" In the office, an executive of the Paulson Fund handed him a stack of newspapers.

Paulson Greed

The New King of Wall Street...

The eye-catching news headlines quickly made his face darken.

Although the contents of the articles vary, they are generally similar.

He first used flowery words to describe in detail the story of his rise to wealth, and made a big fuss about how, in just two years, the Paulson Fund grew from a small $1 billion fund to a $28 billion asset management company.

Then the subject changed.

They criticized him for shorting the United States and sucking the blood of the people, saying that he was the most greedy capitalist in history and should go to hell...

This is still conservative. What's even more extreme is that some tabloids, in order to pursue sales, directly cursed his ancestors.

This is simply unbearable!

"Damn it, these damn bastards, they should go to hell!!"

Paulson roared.

It looks ferocious, as if it is choosing someone to devour.

The people around saw this and lowered their heads. It was the first time they saw the boss so angry.

But thinking about what was in the newspaper, if they were in Paulson's position, it probably wouldn't be much better.

After taking a deep breath, Paulson said quickly.

"John, the current public opinion is very unfavorable to us. There are more and more people protesting against us outside the company. We must find a way to solve this problem as soon as possible." A senior piper said.

"Fuck, of course I want to solve the problem. Bex, I pay you hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary and millions of dollars in bonuses just for you to sit here and let me give you advice?!"

Seeing the boss's eyes filled with anger, Bex shuddered in his heart, knowing that he had been reckless.

Why do you want to be the first to stand out? Isn't it better to live a peaceful and stable life?

Feeling the hidden sarcastic and mocking looks around him, Bex gritted his teeth.

He fought hard to keep his job.

"Boss, if you want to divert the public's attention, you must replace it with more eye-catching news. So, we can collect some explosive entertainment news, or things that the public cares about, and let the media expose it.

In addition, although we ranked first in the hedge fund profit ranking this time, Pacific Fund and Thiel Fund also had high profits.

We can pull them out.

Even if we can’t completely extricate ourselves by then, it’s better for three companies to share the public’s anger than for us to bear it alone.”

John Paulson stroked his chin, which was covered with green stubble.

"Pacific Fund is our most important GP after all. It's not a good idea to push them out, right?"

Having said that, Becks, who was familiar with the boss's style, already knew that the boss had actually agreed to his suggestion, otherwise he would have firmly refused instead of being ambiguous.

“Boss, although Pacific Fund is our GP and has provided us with billions of dollars in ammunition, we have also brought them generous returns.

Now that we are in trouble, it is only right for them to provide help.

Mr. Jin Caesar is famous for his generosity. I believe that even if he knew, he would definitely forgive our difficulties. "

Paulson sighed, "Is this the only solution?"

"This is the only solution I can think of. Of course, maybe others will have better suggestions," Becks said quickly.

The other executives in the conference room saw the look in the big boss's eyes and quickly expressed their support for Becks' opinion.

Anyway, even if the truth comes out, I won’t be the one to take the blame.

"Let's do it. Hank, contact the media we are familiar with immediately."

A bearded man quickly agreed.

"Also, everyone present here must sign a confidentiality agreement. If anyone leaks it, I will make him lose everything!"

Seeing the sinister look of the big boss, naturally no one would dare to get into trouble.