Palm trees block out the blazing sun, the sea breeze blows, and it's cool to sit in an off-road vehicle.

Shen Ji talked about the group's investment arrangements for the West Africa branch next year, saying:

“...... Now that the price of palm plantation land is rising too fast, the follow-up acquisition will be suspended, and next year on the West Africa branch, I will only get a new investment budget of 10 million US dollars......"

"Don't think about bauxite development?" Cao Mo asked.

"Don't consider it for the time being, the cost of shipping is too high, and the industrial facilities in this mining area can't keep up at all, and the small capital of one billion and eight billion yuan can't play at all." Shen Ji shook his head and said.

With the existing industrial composition of Dongsheng, the relatively abundant high-quality bauxite resources in West Africa have a direct attraction to Dongsheng.

However, the sea distance from West Africa to the nearest seaport in Guangxi, Guangxi, is 17,000 kilometers, but West Africa lacks a super-large deep-water port, and compared with the import of bauxite from Indonesia, Australia and India, the cost of shipping alone is 40 or 50 US dollars per ton.

Unless the domestic bauxite arrival price and the downstream aluminum ingot price can further rise, otherwise, no matter how high-quality and easy the bauxite resources in West Africa are, the cost savings in various links will not be able to offset the huge gap in shipping costs for the time being.

In the alumina and electrolytic aluminum industry, the electricity consumption per ton of aluminum is even more terrifying, and the current power generation capacity of Conero Energy is not enough for a 100,000-ton electrolytic aluminum plant, and other industrial supporting capacity is also lacking.

In view of the current situation, it is impossible for Dongsheng to extend the upstream end of aluminum production to West Africa, and it is mainly regarded as a downstream market for expansion.

A considerable part of Dongsheng's new investment in Kanem next year will be placed in the Conero Lake Industrial Park.

This is mainly from Yang Deshan's suggestion, which is to rely on the aluminum profile processing plant that Dongsheng has just completed to invest in the construction of an aluminum finishing industrial park to attract aluminum finishing enterprises to settle in.

This will not only promote the continued development of the Conero Lake Industrial Park, but also promote Dongsheng's aluminum business to expand into the downstream market in West Africa......

Cao Mo sighed regretfully, there are quite good high-quality bauxite resources in the northeast of Oyo Prefecture, if Dongsheng is interested, he also wants to invest part of the funds, win a regional prospecting right to do preliminary preparations, and even consider adding a small-scale production line in the Conero cement plant to develop and produce specific special-purpose bauxite cement.

Dongsheng is not interested, the large-scale bauxite development that often requires hundreds of millions of dollars is not something he can play now; besides, the development of bauxite, there is no stable and reliable customer downstream, who will he sell to?

Build your own alumina and electrolytic aluminium plant?

The amount of capital required is much larger than that of bauxite development.

"Has Conero Foods considered accepting capital injection?" Shen Ji asked Cao Mo on another question.

"I'm very casual, the key is to see what price Dongsheng opens?" Cao Mo said.

Conero Foods is mainly engaged in the cocoa butter business, which is mainly modeled after Dongsheng's palm oil business model.

Although Conero Foods has not completely opened the market in China for the time being, with the development of the domestic economy, the demand for high-end food is becoming more and more vigorous, and no one can think that the future development prospects of Conero Foods will definitely be weaker than Dongsheng's palm oil business.

And the commodity market that is currently hot,

The cocoa butter industry has also benefited greatly.

Of course, Dongsheng's grain, oil and food is one of the most important business segments, and it is logical to want to get involved in the cocoa butter industry at this time.

"Conero food business development potential is very large, the industry is also a long chain design, the upstream end and Dongsheng's palm oil business has a strong complementary advantage, the main disadvantage is that the downstream market development is not too sharp, but Dongsheng grain and oil division can give great support in terms of customer resources," Shen Ji said, "However, Conero food is currently too short to be established, and the financial situation does not meet the requirements of mergers and acquisitions of listed companies - if you want, Hexi Fund can get involved first, so that I can personally participate in part of the investment...... ”

"Hexi Fund has the right price, I can give you a part of the shares privately. Cao Mo said shamelessly, regardless of Yang Deshan also sitting in the car.

"Ahem," Shen Ji coughed twice in embarrassment, and said, "You can agree to Conero Foods to accept the capital injection, and my uncle agrees that I personally follow the investment of three or five points......"

"In that case, I'll have to think about it. Cao Mo touched his chin and said with the appearance of a profiteer.

The higher the value of the commodity, the lower the cost of sea freight, and whether it is to export cocoa butter or cocoa beans from West Africa, it is not too far away.

In addition, West Africa, as the core area of global cocoa cultivation, accounts for 75% of the world's annual output.

If you want to develop the cocoa butter business separately through the West African branch, at least in Longta and the surrounding areas, where Dongsheng has the most industrial and geographical advantages, you should never want to compete with Cao Mo.

"If it weren't for that, Hexi would inject $200 million into Conero Foods and take away 50% of the shares?" Cao Mo asked.

"You can't be so open-mouthed—how can you let me help you negotiate this offer?" Shen Ji smiled bitterly.

"The Oguta woodland in Benin is particularly suitable for planting cocoa trees, and it takes six years for cocoa seedlings to be planted in other places to bear fruit, but it doesn't take four years for Oguta to bear fruit," Cao Mo said. I didn't do this before, it's not that I don't have this idea, but I don't have much money in my hand for the time being, but I put this resource in Conero Foods, how much is it worth for you?"

"Even if Oguta can squeeze out more than 100,000 or 200,000 acres of planting land, even if the land price you get will be very low, but such a large-scale land reclamation and planting, you don't have a continuous investment of 100 million US dollars in the future, where will you go to hang fruit in four years? Besides, you have a certain foundation in Longta, in addition to investing in gold mines, the advantages in other aspects in Benin are not comparable to Longta, such a large-scale plantation, how are you going to take care of it?" You can't suddenly hear that Dongsheng is deliberately intervening, and you really don't count this piece as a resource for Conero Food......"

"Stari is in Agota," Cao Mo said leisurely, "The Tubman family has abandoned the plantation in the northern suburbs of Draculamo, and there is no buyer for it, so they can only let it be abandoned, but some stewards with management experience have also moved to Auguta with the Tubman family, and are currently relying on a secretly acquired cocoa plantation to engage in larger-scale cocoa cultivation cooperation with the surrounding tribes." So I'm sure I'm going to expand cocoa cultivation in Oguta on a large scale, and it's not just a casual talk, it's just

Now that the power of the Jidam family has not been completely weakened, it is not appropriate to do it in a big way for the time being......"

"......" Shen Ji opened his mouth, he really didn't expect that after the Tubman family escaped from Kanem, they would hide in Auguta, Benin, and after a while, he said, "So much woodland, if you want to develop it, in addition to hundreds of millions of dollars in funds and the corresponding management team, it is impossible to complete the development in just two or three years, and the Tubman family will not be able to surface in the short term, and it will definitely not be in a hurry to be included in Conero Foods......"

"The Tubman family can't surface for the time being, but I'm just telling you that you will definitely not suffer a loss this time with Conero Food," Cao Mo said with a smile, "And in addition to the contracted land for planting in Auguta, you also tell me, what is the highest price that Hexi Fund can offer me?"

"I don't know the financial data of Conero Foods very well, I talked to Lao Dong before going abroad, but Lao Dong doesn't care much about the current financial data of Conero Foods, he just thinks that Dongsheng can start to intervene in the cocoa butter industry from Conero Foods, which is worth 20 million US dollars," Shen Ji said, "That is to say, how much money you actually invest in Conero Foods, Hexi Fund will take out the same amount of funds to exchange for half of the shares, and then pay you an additional 20 million US dollars as a entry certificate......"

"Your uncle still doesn't have the courage to be a food giant, even if Conero Foods is merged into a listed company, there will be no future for development!" Cao Mo sighed lightly and said, "Not to mention Conero Foods, the palm oil business of the West African branch, even if the price of mature oil palm land is too high to continue to be acquired, it should also be properly planted and planted.

Shen Ji said with a wry smile: "Africa is still a strange land full of dangers for most people, no matter what, Dongsheng is far ahead of others. ”

"Also, we can't ask too much," Cao Mo nodded, and said, "In addition to the $5 million loan from the United Bank of Oman, I actually injected $25 million in funds - if Dongsheng is willing to share its own customers and resources for the development of Konero Foods, Hexi Fund will inject eight million dollars with you in exchange for 20% of the equity - this should be more reasonable, right?"

Cao Mo injected 25 million US dollars of real money into Conero Foods, and connected the upstream and downstream industrial chains, and finally accepted the capital injection of Hexi Fund at a valuation of only about 30 million US dollars, which can be said to be super conscientious.

Of course, Cao Mo is willing to suffer this loss, but also values the big customer resources in the hands of Dongsheng, which can help Coneiro Foods quickly open the domestic market - this is the biggest shortcoming of Coneiro Foods, if it can't be supplemented, don't say that the production capacity of Xinxuan Food can't be fully exerted, and there is no way to expand upstream, let alone think about how much sweetness you can eat in this international commodity market.

He suffered a little loss in equity valuation, allowing Dongsheng to take advantage of it, and the rapid development of the downstream market can be regarded as taking what each needs from him.

As for the half-shareholding or the transfer of the controlling stake, Cao Mo will not consider it for the time being.

"I personally can accept this," Shen Ji smiled, raised his hand to look at the time on his watch, and said, "I'll communicate with China later, my uncle now attaches more importance to Lao Dong's opinion, mainly depends on Lao Dong's opinion......"

Lao Dong, that is, Dong Chengpeng, is the executive president of Hexi Fund, and he is a descendant who is trusted by Ding Zhaoqiang like Guo Guangxin - in the Dongsheng system, the target of Zhao Xinyu and others is the position of Guo Guangxin and Dong Chengpeng.