After defeating all of its competitors, Jiagu and Gao Hong, the third-largest grain trader in the United States, entered into late-stage negotiations.

The later negotiation is related to the running-in issues brought about by business management and cultural conflicts.

For example, the key internal organizational and operational structure changes after the acquisition of Gao Hong. In the U.S., employment and labor laws have strict rules on all aspects of employee employment, and once an agreement is reached on the terms of the deal to retain the original workforce, subsequent layoffs can cause an uproar and even legal disputes, so be extremely cautious.

Generally speaking, in order to achieve the goal, overseas mergers and acquisitions of domestic enterprises will give a similar commitment of "no layoffs". But Jiagu is obviously more confident.

Jiagu only gave a promise to talent. For example, the management team has reached a long-term employment agreement with the management team of Jiagu, and after the merger, Jiagu Group will only send one or two representatives, and the specific operation will be taken care of by the management team of Gaohongyuan.

Then there are Gao Hong's top traders. Jiagu did not let go of any of these world-class grain business talents, and offered higher salaries at the first time to ensure that they would not be poached by competitors during the turbulent period of acquisition.

This is where the benefits of M&A into a private company come into play. As long as the shareholders, management and the backbone of the company are dealt with, ordinary employees will not even be able to make waves.

After intensive negotiations, on July 3, Jiagu and Gao Hong of the United States reached a consensus that Jiagu intends to acquire the latter for $5.3 billion, and the purchase price includes the purchase of 100% of the company's equity and the assumption of $1.7 billion in debt.

Gaohong has a grain handling capacity of 38 million tons, of which 30 million tons are sold in the United States and the remaining 8 million tons are exported. Combined with the 1,500 tonnes of trade in the valley itself, the total trade volume could reach 23 million tonnes, which would account for nearly 10% of the industry's estimated total world trade volume of 240 million tonnes.

Through the acquisition of Gaohong, Jiagu not only enriches its grain procurement network in the United States, strengthens its own transportation capacity, but also further expands grain sales to Africa and the Middle East.

At the same time, because Gaohong also has a considerable share of the U.S. fertilizer and energy market, with 59 fertilizer plants equipped with mixing equipment and terminal treatment stations, if Jiagu successfully acquires, if the retail business of agricultural production materials in the United States is integrated, it is expected that its fertilizer trade volume in the United States can increase to 14%, climbing to the first place in the country......

No matter how you look at it, Gao Hongzhi is a hearty meal for Jiagu.

But in order to really swallow this big meal, it is necessary to obtain the approval and permission of the relevant anti-monopoly laws of various countries.

The next day, Jiagu officially submitted the review documents to the relevant agencies in China and the United States.

At the critical moment, it is still the most powerful family member. China's Ministry of Commerce was the first to approve the deal without any strings attached.

You must know that Qi Zheng has the impression that in parallel time and space, the approval of Marubeni's acquisition of Gao Hong in China was delayed for almost a year, and finally it was approved with restrictive conditions - Marubeni and Gao Hong continued to sell soybeans to China as independent entities, set up two independent operation teams, and set up a firewall between the two to ensure that the two sides did not exchange market intelligence. The reason is that "China's soybeans are highly dependent on imports, and the concentration of domestic soybean crushing enterprises is low...... The bargaining power is weak, and this concentration of operators may further weaken the bargaining power of downstream (China) soybean crushing enterprises. ”

But in the case of Jiagu, the Chinese side was eager to concentrate the market to secure the supply channels of key commodities, so the deal was approved as quickly as possible within the scope of the procedure.

Now only the American side remains.

At this time, whether it is the nervous Jiagu team or the competitors, they are either holding their breath or making small moves, waiting for the final result.

Theoretically, for Marubeni Trading Company, they still have a chance. As long as the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, or any other agency vetoes the deal, they can take the opportunity to turn around.

This is where the Kagu team is nervous. Although all the PR lobbying that should be done has been done, who knows if American politicians will have a convulsion?

Of course, the consequences of US politicians' convulsions will also be very serious. They can fart after making a promise to the people, but the promise to capital must be fulfilled no matter what. This is because politicians who go back on capital will completely lose the foundation on which they depend.

Fortunately, the worst did not happen.

Subsequently, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States successively approved the transaction of Jiagu's acquisition of Gaohong - so far, Jiagu's wholly-owned merger and acquisition of Gaohong is finally a foregone conclusion!

When the news of the success came, Qi Zheng involuntarily waved his fist hard, looked at Zhang Zehong and laughed.

Whether it is the employees of the Jiagu team, or the large team of lawyers and accountants hired, the mood is extremely excited at the moment.

For the former, this may be the closest they have ever gotten to a major cross-border M&A battle in their lives, and for the latter, once the merger is successful, it means that they have won a long-term meal ticket.

The victor enjoys the feast, and the loser tastes the bitter fruit.

But no one can deny that at this moment, the competitive pattern of the world's grain merchants has also changed.

......

5.3 billion US dollars, 33.5 billion yuan, no matter which country it is placed in, it will be an astronomical amount.

In terms of amount, this is undoubtedly the largest overseas merger and acquisition of Chinese private enterprises, and it is also the largest overseas merger and acquisition of China's grain industry.

This transaction immediately grabbed the headlines of financial news in various countries.

"A Chinese who can shake the world's grain market" — this is the praise given to Qi Zheng by the headline of the New York Daily News's financial section.

The Wall Street Journal sourly reported: "Just three years ago, China imported negligible amounts of corn. But this year, China will become the world's largest importer of corn, and the agricultural market is talking about this 'game changer,' and the Chinese grain company has bought the American granary......"

On the contrary, the media of the island country, although they regretted the defeat of their own Marubeni trading company, expressed their heartfelt respect for Kaya: "China's Kaya's move is comparable to Mitsui & Co.'s acquisition of Cook Industries, a major American grain merchant in the last century. However, it took more than ten years for Mitsui to take a crucial step towards international grain merchants, while it took only a few years for China Jiagu to ......"

Well, it is said that this is a gesture of goodwill by the island nation consortium to Kaya.

In China, Jiagu's successful acquisition of Gaohong in the United States has also brought a strong shock.

Although most people have not heard of Gao Hong before, it does not prevent them from worshiping the acquisition amount - Wanda Group's $2.6 billion acquisition of AMC Cinemas in the United States has been set by Jiagu in just one month.

Only true industry insiders understand the meaning beyond money.

Although the official said that this is the market behavior of the company. But industry insiders at home and abroad agree that the acquisition is of strategic significance to China.

......