As the saying goes, once raw and twice ripe!

With the experience of acquiring Jaguar Land Rover, Han Hao is much more proficient in Volvo.

Now that Ford has signs of selling Volvo, it is not wrong for the Zhonghua Group to take the initiative to look for opportunities.

This time the private jet flew north, and the destination was none other than Sweden, the pearl of Northern Europe.

Sweden has a population of less than 10 million, but it is firmly at the forefront of developed countries, with a strong economy, and is home to multinational giants such as IKEA, Volvo Cars, Ericsson, and Tetra Pak. In 2006, six of the Fortune 500 companies were from Sweden, which shows the wealth and prosperity of this Nordic country that is protected by Thor.

In the automotive industry alone, Sweden has four major brands: Volvo, Saab, Koenigsegg supercar, and Scania heavy truck, all of which have a certain reputation in the world. However, with the exception of the small Koenigsegg supercar, which remained independent, Volvo married into Ford, Saab was acquired by General Motors, and Scania heavy-duty trucks were acquired by Volkswagen Group.

Ford's acquisition of Volvo led to the splitting of the Volvo brand into two parts, Volvo Cars, which mainly engaged in sedans and SUVs, and Volvo Group, which continued to operate heavy trucks, buses, construction equipment, ships and industrial engines.

Of course, what Han Hao wants to buy is Volvo Cars, which was swallowed by Ford in 1999 for $6.45 billion, and if it is sold today, it is likely to be sold at a 5% discount. Jaguar Land Rover was purchased for $5.4 billion that year, but in the end, it was only sold for $2.36 billion, which is equivalent to a 5% discount.

Now that the subprime mortgage crisis is not doing well, Volvo Cars, although it seems to be a high-quality asset, does not have a much higher realisation rate than Jaguar Land Rover.

Thinking of the four new forces of China Heavy Truck, China Bus, XCMG Machinery, and Yuchai Engine held by Han Hao, I found that they had a high degree of overlap with the Volvo Group. If he could, Han Hao felt that he was actually interested in another Volvo Group, because the other party could have a good chemistry with his own business.

Back then, Ford divided Volvo into two, and today maybe the China Group from the East has merged the two into one, which really fulfills the law that the world must be divided for a long time and divided for a long time.

Through the Chinese Embassy, Han Hao met with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Energy of Sweden, as well as the leaders of the Swedish Automobile Union.

With the support of the government and trade unions, the M&A is basically a third of the work, and the rest is a matter of bargaining. With Jaguar Land Rover's M&A experience, Han Hao has a clear understanding of cross-border acquisitions in Western countries.

Of course, the most important thing is that he really wants to do a good job in acquiring the company, and he has strong funds in his hands to impress the other party.

Now Volvo cars are in a bad situation, Ford cars are too busy to take care of themselves, although they keep saying that Volvo cars are not for sale, but many people think that Volvo will be the next Jaguar Land Rover.

Therefore, some Swedish media published articles, hoping that the country would come forward to take back the national pride, Volvo Cars, from Ford, and welcome it home to become a true symbol of the Nordic spirit.

During Han Hao's visit, this view was on the rise, and many Swedish nationals supported the move.

So in a meeting with the Swedish Deputy Prime Minister, Han Hao bluntly asked whether the government would have the will to nationalize Volvo?

"We are not an emergency bank, the survival and development of enterprises have their own specific rules, once we encounter difficulties, we can ask the government for non-compliance with laws and regulations, we cannot abuse taxpayers' money!"

As Sweden's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Industry, Olofsson was very decisive in the negative.

Although Volvo Cars originated in Sweden, the global auto market is highly competitive, and even if the government intervenes to save a while, it can't save a lifetime. Billions of dollars in spending will certainly not be passed by Congress. The main thing is that this money is too risky to spend, and the Swedish government is not sure that Volvo Cars will survive if it spends a lot of money.

In addition, there are not Chinese people coming to guarantee the bottom in front of them, since the China Group intends to take over, then of course the government will not take action.

Volvo Cars is a high-quality asset, and the Swedish government believes that even if the Chinese do not come, there will be many buyers willing to take over, so their neutrality is the most rational choice.

"I'm glad to hear that business is the way to long-term business development. ”

Han Hao is indeed very happy, most of the purpose of his visit has been achieved, as long as the Swedish government remains neutral, then the feasibility of selling Volvo cars to Chinese is greatly increased.

Compared with the conservative attitude of the government of an industrialized developed country such as Sweden, the Chinese government has a stronger sense of initiative and anxiety, because it sees the gap and realizes that if it is backward, it will be beaten, and all provincial, municipal and local governments are trying to implement a catch-up strategy.

Good at making use of the late-mover advantage to promote the development of industrial policy by the government, using the government's control and integration of resources, forcibly supporting potential industries, and forming industrial clusters in a certain region, so as to achieve the purpose of industrial catch-up.

This strategy has been recognized by China's top decision-makers, and many industrial parks have been born on 9.6 million yuan of land, and many local governments have begun to support the development of characteristic industrial economies according to their own advantages, using preferential conditions such as land, taxation and loans.

Jiangzhou now relies on Zhonghua Group to successfully build a city of automobiles, which is a major success story. In addition, the solar energy industry, which is currently in full swing, has also been listed as a key support industry by many cities in China, and many Silicon Valley solar energy bases have been born overnight. As a result, China has become the world's largest producer of solar silicon wafers, and solar power generation equipment, which is considered one of the new energy sources, has been exported to all parts of the world.

The advantage of government-led industrial development clusters is that they can quickly achieve catch-up goals, and relying on the government's strong resource investment, China's emerging industries can develop and grow in a short period of time. However, the negative effect of such measures is also obvious, once the investment direction is wrong, the government's behavior of pulling the banner and throwing a lot of money will lead to losses beyond imagination, and it is easy for the local economy to sink and stagnate.

Thanks to the acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover to help advertise, now Han Hao does not have to bother to introduce his strength, and Zhonghua Group has been known by many foreign people.

In a meeting with the leaders of the auto union, the other party said that they have been paying attention to the acquisition process of Jaguar Land Rover by Zhonghua Group, and they are most satisfied with the move of not laying off employees and increasing investment after the merger.

Han Hao invited the other party to visit the new Jaguar Land Rover company to experience the changes after the merger and acquisition, and also welcomed them to China to inspect the strength of the group.

Seeing is believing, Han Hao wants the other party to understand that the Chinese are fully capable of playing with an international brand like Volvo Cars.

It can be said that this trip to Sweden has laid a good foundation for the official acquisition of Volvo in the future.

Unexpectedly, the influence of Zhonghua Group's acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover is so great, not only in the international fame, but also approved by the domestic government high-level, so through cross-border mergers and acquisitions to develop and grow, it has suddenly become one of the first choices of many domestic car companies.

Although Zhonghua Group is temporarily ahead, the shortcut they have taken to cross the river by feeling the stones, of course, other domestic car companies can learn from it.

Therefore, many senior executives of domestic car companies have begun to plan overseas mergers and acquisitions to screen the targets that may be launched in the world today.

Volvo is certainly one of the most likely brands to sell, and not only the Chunghwa Group, but also Ford's domestic partner, Changan Group, has its sights on this target.

Changan Group is Volvo's OEM production plant in China, and the S40 and S80L series of sedans have signed a 10-year labor agreement, which has been listed in China, and it can be said that it has a great friendship with Ford Group.

Changan Group, which further integrates its assets, owns three joint ventures of Ford, Suzuki and Mazda, and has invested heavily in the development of its own brands, making it one of the potentially competitive acquirers.

In addition, SAIC Motor is also interested in participating in the acquisition of Volvo Cars, as the most successful joint venture in China, SAIC Motor has a huge annual profit, and with the full support of the local government, they have plans to further internationalize after the integration of Nanqi.

However, Ssangyong is a lingering shadow for them, and in the absence of smooth integration, SAIC Motor is determined to get out of Ssangyong and travel lightly to see if it can mix with Volvo cars.

In addition to Volvo Cars, General Motors' Opel and Saab brands are all potential sale targets.

Opel is the leader of GM's European strategy, and Opel almost fell in love with GAC back then, but he didn't expect to be killed by Honda to grab the joint venture place. Now that Honda is thriving in the Chinese market, Opel is really beating his chest and regretting it.

With a good relationship with General Motors, SAIC also has a strong interest in Opel. The Opel brand is relatively independent, with its own R&D center in Europe, and new cars with the Opel logo can be produced in China after changing to the general logo.

Opel has played a significant role in the GM family, but it has been losing money for many years.

Now that General Motors is about to usher in its biggest loss year in history, the sale of Opel has been quietly put on the agenda.

Not only SAIC is interested in Opel, but even GAC, which was almost married, is anxious to find a company that can be acquired, and they are also interested in Opel.

When it comes to GAC, the first thing that comes to people's minds is the two major brands of Honda and Toyota, and the Chinese side has basically been reduced to the role of a foundry.

The development of its own brand is already a national-level strategy, but it is difficult to start from scratch, and it will be a shortcut if it can merge mature brands. Therefore, GAC is also looking for targets that can be started internationally.

As for another star in Sweden - Saab Automobile, it is also targeted by car companies from China, and after the joint venture with Mercedes-Benz, Shouqi Group has two joint venture partners, Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz, and its strength has grown rapidly, and it has been renamed BAIC Group.

Of course, they also covet high-quality brands like Volvo, but with a mountain like Zhonghua Group in front of them, everyone knows that Han Hao will not give up bidding, and the best way to choose the right one is to stagger the competition. Although Saab is not as good as Volvo, it is also a very tasty fat for BAIC Group.

Even Chery Automobile, which has always insisted on being a maverick and insisting on focusing on national brands, has also moved its heart and intends to contact Saab Automobile only to obtain the technology of the other party's turbocharged engine and mid-class sedan platform.

It can be said that driven by Zhonghua Group, domestic car companies suddenly woke up and planned to take the road of cross-border mergers and acquisitions to integrate resources and find a new direction for the development of China's independent auto brands.

As predicted by Western media, Chinese capital will take the lead in the automotive sector and seek suitable acquisition targets.

For Han Hao, the acquisition of Volvo this time is not as smooth as last time, because if you want to get the road of the National Development and Reform Commission, you must first compete in China.