Gu Kun's reaction and vision left Liang Jinsong with relief and surprise, which can only be said to be open.

Half of it was relieved, because he saw that Gu Kun was not the kind of madman who was "young and crazy, and he didn't know who he was after having tens of billions of dollars". Gu Kun still has a lot of numbers, he knows where the high-voltage red line of the luxury industry is, and he definitely doesn't dare to create his own brand.

No matter how good your own brand is, it is possible to call it a fashion brand, but it cannot be called a luxury brand.

The upper limit of fashion brands, that is, the level of ZARA, H&M, and Muji in later generations, has no greater room for imagination.

However, Liang Jinsong felt that the other half of the surprise was that Gu Kun completely looked down on the current Xiangjiang brands that were still hot, and he didn't look down on any of them, and he didn't bother to buy shares and acquisitions.

You must know that whether it is Xiangjiang Crocodile or Ebrel Emperor Chow Tai Fook, in the eyes of mainland customers in 98, they are still the hottest brand, and they are a symbol of successful people.

"Are you betting that mainland customers will become rich in just a few years, and they will no longer look down on the Xiangjiang brand? Don't you think these brands can show their identity when they are worn on your body?" Liang Jinsong asked rhetorically, his surprise overflowed.

98 years of Xiangjiang people, who would dare to think that after just ten years and eight years, mainlanders will no longer be proud of wearing Hong Kong cards, at least people in first- and second-tier cities will no longer be proud of wearing Hong Kong cards. (In the case of some third- and fourth-tier and rural markets, Hong Kong brands can maintain their status for ten more years, of course, there is no discrimination here, just an objective statement of consumption structure)

Seeing that Gu Kun's attitude was very resolute, Liang Jinsong spread his hands: "This is not worth it, then you can only consider buying French or Italian brands, but I don't think those international first-line brands will be willing to be acquired by the capital of the yellow race." I'm not saying that they discriminate, but that the French have too much cultural superiority. ”

Gu Kun looked more confident than Liang Jinsong: "How can you know if you don't try? The situation is changing, if you go back five years, do you dare to say that French brands like Givenchy and Lanzi will consider selling SHEN? But now, one has been sold, and the other is being discussed, so in the final analysis, it is still a matter of money." The price that Arnault offered Givenchy at the time of its acquisition was much higher than the valuation of the brands 95 years ago. ”

The two examples cited by Gu Kun can be described as the two representatives of the wave of mergers and acquisitions in the luxury industry in the 90s, and they can be regarded as weather vanes.

The buying and buying tide is that Arnault bought Givenchy that began in 95. The second important benchmark is the acquisition of Lanzi by Richemont, which is now under negotiation.

(Note: Considering that my books are all read by men, I don't know much about luxury industry groups, so I will say a little bit.) Later, the world's three major luxury groups were recognized as LVMH in Arnott, Richemont in second place, and Kering in third place. The order in which these three major groups enter the buy-buy-buy mode is also proportional to the strength, LVMH entered the financial expansion and M&A mode in 95 years, Richemont 97~98 only started, Kering responded the slowest, and at the beginning of the 21st century, it began to frantically merge and acquisition, so it is also the weakest.

However, in the field of clothing and bags, it is mainly LVMH and Kering that are competing, and Richemont, which ranks second, is more out of the way, because Richemont focuses on jewelry and watches - if it is a female frequency article, this paragraph is estimated to be completely unwritten, and the female frequency small sling readers must be familiar with these buying, buying, buying, and buying knowledge)

Liang Jinsong subconsciously reminded: "Givenchy is a French person buying a Frenchman, and there is no foreign intervention, which will not damage the cultural self-esteem of the French." ”

Gu Kun shrugged: "But Lanzi is a Swiss and a Frenchman." ”

Although the brand Lanzi is not well-known in China, its history is long enough, and it was created in 1876. In other words, Richemont's acquisition style is to focus on the long history. Starting with his 1755 watch brand Constantine, Jaeger-LeCoultre Count Lange & Söhne, a bunch of 19th-century goods.

The later generations of the jewelry brand Cartier are also owned by the Richemont Group, and it is also a 150-year-old brand in the 1850s, but in 98 Cartier has not been poisoned by Richemont, and it is still completely independent of the financial market.

Liang Jinsong saw that Gu Kun was so analyzed and realized that Gu Kun was definitely serious.

"Well, although I would like to say that being bought by the Swiss is not the same as being bought by the yellow race, and the psychological gap for the French. However, if you have to buy it, it's a big deal that we have a few more layers of skin.

For example, if you go to Switzerland or Monaco or the Netherlands and Belgium, and then get a shell company, you will be the majority shareholder, but not the legal representative, and the legal representative will find a white man to show his face as a puppet. In this way, it is possible to consider secondary shareholding to control some first-line French and Italian brands. ”

Gu Kun finally smiled: "It's good to figure it out, I'm not in a hurry." ”

Liang Jinsong rubbed the bridge of his nose: "Give me a few more days, I'll sort out the roundabout holdings in the hands of Xiangjiang Investment Bank and see if I can replace some big names that can be arbitraged." ”

"I'm waiting for your news. ”

......

In the next few days, Liang Jinsong worked overtime and finally sorted out a very complex material for cross-holdings.

As we all know, many financial institutions such as investment banks, after raising money, will buy a lot of high-quality assets in the international market as daily operating investments.

That is, they may be small shareholders in N quality companies, with the possibility of buying anything from Heinz ketchup to Coca-Cola to IBM. In such a situation, it is very normal for Heung Kong Investment Bank and financial institutions to hold scattered shares in European and American companies.

Now Gu Kun wants to completely throw away the stocks of these financial institutions in the circulating market, and with his size, of course, he can let the heads of those investment banks sit down with him and discuss the replacement one by one.

After all, if the replacement is successful, Gu Kun will be able to withdraw less funds from the Hong Kong stock market, and his book wealth will be less lost.

And for those financial institutions, the less money they siphon, the easier it is for the stock price to stabilize, and both sides are willing to see such a situation.

After completing his homework, Liang Jinsong reported to Gu Kun: "The financial institutions that we have yet to liquidate, including HSBC Standard Chartered, currently hold a total of the following shares of Franco-Italian luxury goods companies:

Progny (Italy) 17.5%, Giorgio Armani (Italy) 4.2%, Gucci (Italy) 2.3%, Lanzi (France) 11%, Cartier (France) 7%, Balenciaga (France) 9%, Dunhill (Brazzaville) 14%, Montblanc (Germany) 6%, Girard-Perregaux (Rui) 13.5% ......"

Gu Kun listened and listened, showing a hint of disgust like a fly: "Cross out the signs of the cloth dogs in Dunhill, don't read them, they will pollute my ears." With me taking care of someone for a day, Bugou's so-called luxury brand must be a piece of in the Chinese-speaking media industry, and I am sure to use my voice to bring this rhythm to the death. So, I don't need to think about buying those shares. ”

Liang Jinsong hurriedly apologized: "I'm sorry, it's because we have been colonized for a long time, and we haven't changed it for a while, so I'll cross it out immediately." However, even if you want to replace these remaining brands, you have to pick and choose, the current market value of our shares in the market is definitely not enough to replace, and we take the initiative to replace, more or less to give a little premium -

After all, many of these luxury companies are not listed companies, and their shares do not have a recognized circulation price, and some of them are still the shares obtained by those financial institutions when they used to do convertible bonds and other financing, and when the customer's due corporate bonds could not be executed. ”

Of course, those financial institutions that Gu Kun buys stocks have tradable shares and play casually in the secondary market.

However, few of the top luxury brands of the late 90s were listed on the financial markets.

For example, Giorgio Armani mentioned by Liang Jinsong is the most typical family business, to be precise, the founder business. As the founder and chief designer, Giorgio Armani himself is very reluctant to financial operations, and does not like to be interfered with by any shareholder in his decision-making, design style, and product rhythm, so he resolutely does not go public, resolutely does not let others point fingers, and is almost a small manual workshop management style.

However, Giorgio Armani also had a part of the equity outflow, mainly because in some years, when the capital chain was tight, he borrowed convertible bonds secured by the company's equity, and finally couldn't pay it off, so it was glued by financial institutions and turned into equity debts, which could not be shaken off after the company's recovery.

Therefore, if you want to buy shares in such a company, in addition to directly talking to the boss himself about the acquisition, you can only count on these debt-to-equity swaps in the financial market. The share of this kind of source will not be large, many of them are only a few percent, which can only be regarded as a grasp and focus point for entering the market.

As for Gucci and Cartier, they do not exclude equity transactions, although they are not fully circulated in the upper and secondary markets, but there are many external shareholders - when Arnault, the capital of the luxury industry in later generations, wanted to buy Gucci's 14% stake from other non-circulating small shareholders, and then raided the brand, but unfortunately Gucci contacted Kering Group to dilute and resist successfully.

"How much money do we have left in the financial stocks of Hong Kong stocks that we currently have on hand?"

"There's about $3 billion left, which is about half of the fungible shares you can pick on this chart, and you'll have to re-pay for the rest if you want them all. ”

"No, then I'll circle the range first. Gu Kun waved his hand very dryly.

The first time to test the water, the investment should not be too large.

Even if Gu Kun knew which brands were becoming more and more popular in later generations and which brands were declining, he couldn't bet.

What if he becomes a major shareholder, which causes the management to be lazy and demoralized.

There are some logics, but you still have to understand them thoroughly.

Liang Jinsong also felt that this should be the case, and he had to remind Gu Kun: "Mr. Gu, I have always had a question, how much do you know about these luxury brands, do you like their products, and before making a final decision, shouldn't you immerse yourself in their products and cultural symbols?"

Gu Kun touched his nose and had to admit: "It makes sense, I really didn't care about luxury goods before." I should stand in the perspective of consumers and ask more about the women around me. ”

Maybe you should take your wives out and buy a bag.

The wife is in charge of buying the bag, and he is in charge of the company that buys the bag that the wife bought.

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