Ford did not expect that as soon as it announced that it was going to sell Jaguar and Land Rover, it immediately received two very sincere acquisition intentions, and Zhonghua Group located in China was one of them.

Another company that has come out of nowhere is Tata Motors, which is a cumbersome brand for Ford, but a treasure trove in developing countries like China and India.

With the support of the Indian government, Tata Steel defeated its rivals and successfully acquired Conlix Steel in Europe, becoming the world's fifth-largest steel company. The acquisition cost a whopping $14.5 billion, which was enough to rank among the top five global mergers and acquisitions in the year by value.

Tata Group's head Ratan tasted the sweetness of the merger, although he had just spent a lot of money to acquire Conlis, but heard that Jaguar and Land Rover were going to be sold, the business tycoon who had always had a dream of cars did not hesitate to contact Ford Motor to participate in the bid.

Steel and automobiles are an excellent industrial combination, especially since India is located within the British Commonwealth, and it will be their greatest glory to be able to take over the Jaguar and Land Rover brands, which represent the glory of British automobiles.

"Oh, it seems that it is really a hero who sees the same thing! I didn't expect to collide with Tata Motors here, but our Zhonghua Group is more sincere, and I believe that Jaguar and Land Rover will be their biggest stage when they come to China's rapidly developing automobile market. ”

After listening to Bill Ford's introduction of another opponent as Tata Motors, Han Hao was a little surprised, but he still had great confidence in the acquisition.

If even Tata Motors, an enterprise that can't even build engines, dares to get involved with Jaguar and Land Rover, then if a strong man like Zhonghua Group does not take the initiative to attack, wouldn't it weaken the reputation of the descendants of Yan and Huang!

"Han, although we have a good relationship in private, but business is business, which of you makes a more sincere offer, then we Ford will be more inclined to whom!"

Bill Ford thought to himself that with the competition between Chinese and Indian companies, Jaguar and Land Rover would not be able to sell at a good price.

"Jaguar and Land Rover, are you going to sell them separately or in a package?"

It is rare to have the opportunity to communicate directly with Ford's people, and Han Hao will not miss such first-hand information.

"It depends on the situation, which plan is best for Ford, and we will adopt which!"

Seeing that the Chinese were sincere, Bill Ford did not give the letter, he was telling the truth, and it was necessary to consider the return of funds.

"Bill, in the end, I want to ask seriously, does Volvo sell it?"

Compared with Jaguar and Land Rover, Volvo is the most important asset in Han Hao's heart.

"Not for sale, Volvo is not for sale!"

Refusing without any delay, Bill Ford persuaded Han Hao to extinguish such thoughts, and honestly prepared to compete for Jaguar and Land Rover at a high price.

As a joint venture partner, Chunghwa Group and Tata Motors have been working together happily in the Indian market, but now both parties have joined the bidding for the Jaguar and Land Rover brands. From a partner to a competitor, this is the charm of economic globalization.

After hanging up the phone call with Bill Ford, Han Hao directly dialed Rattan's phone again, trying to find out with this competitor. The secretary said that Ratan was in a meeting and would call back later.

Han Hao thought in his heart, although Tata Group has strong assets, it has just spent a huge amount of money to acquire Kanglisi Steel, and it should be tight in terms of funds. Although Zhonghua Group has high debts, its debt ratio has been greatly reduced after its own debt reduction and repayment during this period.

In order to acquire Jaguar and Land Rover, he called off his plan to continue to repay debts, intending to pool his funds and fight a tough battle with Tata Motors.

Tata has the support of the Indian government, and he also has the support of the Chinese government, and he will never have stage fright if he fights for financial resources.

However, in addition to money, overseas mergers and acquisitions will also involve factors such as the local government and labor unions where the brand is located.

The last time I talked about mergers and acquisitions with Mitsubishi Motors, it was over before it really began, and this time the Ford supermarket opened, and it was a big failure for Zhonghua Group not to move back a few gold mountains.

After an hour, Ratan took the initiative to call, and as a joint venture partner, the two sides established a good communication mechanism.

"I heard that you are also interested in the Jaguar and Land Rover brands, and it seems that we have answered the old Chinese adage, not that enemies do not get together. ”

Han Hao took the initiative to talk about Jaguar and Land Rover, and he wanted to hear Latan's thoughts so that he could make follow-up countermeasures.

"Han, you know what? When my men presented me with the proposal, they guessed that our primary competitor was you! When you called today, I knew we were definitely for the same purpose.

I think you and I both understand the value of Jaguar and Land Rover, and if you try to persuade me to withdraw from this competition, it will be a futile move.

But what I said in front of me is that no matter what the outcome is, the friendship between the two of us, or even between the two companies, will remain the same!"

Being able to mix to the level of Latan, of course he knows what Han Hao's idea is, and he has shown that he will not waver in his determination to acquire.

"In business, I understand your position. However, I hope that the two of us can establish a certain communication mechanism for the acquisition plan to avoid unnecessary internal friction!"

Ford definitely hopes that Tata Motors and Zhonghua Group will compete so that the price is too high and above the normal valuation, and Han Hao has prepared a communication channel between the two sides in advance, hoping that each other will not bid irrationally.

"That's fine, stay in touch!"

Ford has not officially issued conditions for the sale of Jaguar and Land Rover, and Ratan agreed to Han Hao's suggestion and waited to see what happened.

Both Han Hao and Ratan have their sights set on Ford's first brand to deal with - Aston Martin.

Since taking Aston Martin into its arms in 1987, Ford has worked hard to revive the British supercar brand, but with little success and no reasonable return for Ford.

Being too high-end was at odds with Ford's positioning, and Aston Martin became the first brand to be abandoned.

After Ford's internal assessment, they offered Aston Martin a $2 billion bid and are openly recruiting bidders from around the world.

However, there were few bidders, and everyone did not accept the price of $2 billion, believing that Aston Martin was not worth that much money.

Ford had no choice but to lower the bar and ask would-be bidders to make their own bids, from which they would select five candidates to participate in the final bid.

Aston Martin has to offer $2 billion, and the valuation given by the outside world is only $1.2 billion, so Han Hao will not be low when he sees Ford's psychological price. It is rumored that Jaguar and Land Rover are valued at about $2 billion, and according to Ford's current asking price, it is estimated that each brand will not be less than 4 billion!

Presumably, Ford is also considering that the next brand sale will only start after dealing with Aston Martin.

For the sake of today's plan, Han Hao can only make various preparations first.

The last time I talked about mergers and acquisitions with Mitsubishi Motors, I didn't notify the National Development and Reform Commission in advance to ask for a "road", but this time Han Hao learned to report to them in advance.

In order to achieve overseas M&A, it is necessary to deal with the three central ministries and commissions of the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Commerce and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, among which the attitude of the National Development and Reform Commission is the most critical.

Since the competition between SAIC and NAIC for Rover Motors has caused a lot of infighting, the state has added an additional firewall to Chinese companies to overseas mergers and acquisitions, requiring them to review and file in China in advance. Only after obtaining national recognition can Chinese enterprises participate in competitive bidding and mergers and acquisitions, so as to avoid the chaos of internal strife among Chinese enterprises. Especially in the troublesome automobile industry, the National Development and Reform Commission is keeping a close eye on it, and overseas mergers and acquisitions must be reviewed in detail.

In accordance with the regulations, Zhonghua Group submitted an application to the National Development and Reform Commission for the acquisition of the two major brands, Jaguar and Land Rover, with a detailed explanation of the situation, and made a simple plan for how to dispose of the two luxury brands in the future.

The National Development and Reform Commission wondered if Ford had not yet announced that it would sell these two major brands, and now it would apply to the state for a "road strip", whether it was too early.

In addition, in order to take care of the sentiments of other domestic auto companies, especially large state-owned groups, the NDRC must breathe a sigh of relief from them and ask them if they are willing to participate in the bidding. If there is, then submit the plan, and the NDRC will internally evaluate who to support overseas mergers and acquisitions.

This actually leaks corporate secrets to a certain extent, and the fewer people who know about such things as mergers and acquisitions, the better.

The acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover by Zhonghua Group has sparked a big controversy within the National Development and Reform Commission.

"Brands like Jaguar and Land Rover are actually representatives of the decline of British cars, and they are no longer in line with the trends of today's times.

In particular, if we want to spend billions of dollars in foreign exchange to acquire such a loss-making brand, will we buy back a bunch of mascots, and will not help China's auto industry?

SAIC's attempt to acquire Ssangyong is very difficult, and SAIC has not been able to deal effectively with the local government or the labor union. It seems that cross-border mergers and acquisitions are not as simple as we imagined before.

After spending money, we have to spend a lot of thought, which is too advanced for our weak Chinese auto industry!"

A senior and weighty director is ruthlessly skeptical of Chinese mergers and acquisitions, and even a giant like Chung Hwa Group believes that now is not the time to annex loss-making foreign car brands.

"I agree with Director Dai's opinion that although our Chinese automobile industry has made great achievements, there is still a big gap compared with the world's first-class enterprises.

Cross-border mergers and acquisitions of automobile brands are more difficult than we imagined.

Far away from BMW's acquisition of Rover was unsuccessful, Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler are about to break up, not to mention a large group of sub-brands that were merged by GM and Ford, no one is really successful.

If even Ford, the world's second largest car group, cannot operate the Jaguar and Land Rover brands well, why believe that we Chinese can play with them?

I admit that Zhonghua Group has developed well in recent years, but if it acquires Jaguar and Land Rover, I am personally not optimistic about such a deal.

Although Han Shou is rich, I hope that his money can be spent more than he can! To a certain extent, this is also the responsibility of our National Development and Reform Commission, which uses macroeconomic regulation and control to make the allocation of domestic resources more reasonable. ”

Another young deputy director agreed, agreeing that cross-border mergers and acquisitions are now doing more harm than good.

At the outset of the internal discussion, the NDRC was met with overwhelming opposition.

"There is some truth in what the two comrades said just now, and I agree with some of them. But—"

There was a moment of silence in the venue, and another director took over the conversation and prepared to express his opinion, as soon as the two words "but" came out, everyone knew that there was going to be a collision of different opinions.

"Zhonghua Group's desire to acquire Jaguar and Land Rover is, in the final analysis, a corporate behavior and a normal business activity. They are not state-owned enterprises, so there is no risk of loss of state-owned assets, which is the premise that we have always considered things.

We, the National Development and Reform Commission, want to consider the overall planning of the national economy, but we cannot regard ourselves as the indominants of all domestic enterprises and impose our own will on them. Excessive intervention in the market runs counter to the main purpose of developing a socialist market economy.

Although most of the cross-border mergers and acquisitions of foreign automobile companies have not been successful, this does not mean that we Chinese will not succeed. If you don't even have the opportunity to try, then how can you talk about success!

Isn't reform just crossing the river by feeling the stones, you always have to let people go into the water before you can talk about how to cross the river by what means.

I read the application materials submitted by Zhonghua Group, although it is a little simple, but at least there is a clear idea, that is, to use the acquired brands to break into the mid-to-high-end automotive market, and rely on the rapidly developing domestic market to save the acquired brands.

Now there is no saying that domestic cars can't cross the 150,000 red line, which shows that it is difficult for our domestic cars to develop to the high-end.

If there is a ready-made mid-to-high-end brand after the merger, won't this red line be crossed in the future!"

The discussion within the NDRC is still very open, and everyone has the opportunity to speak freely, after all, the starting point is for the good of the country.

"This Zhonghua Group's acquisition application is only filed with our National Development and Reform Commission, and the real huge plan has not yet been determined, so we don't need to make too many comments on it.

As long as it is not money laundering, malicious transfer of assets, and damage to the interests of the state and the public, I think that the bold business practices of the China Group should be encouraged.

The strategy of going out has been shouted for many years, but when the enterprise really wants to go out, you are stuck in the door, which is a big paradox.

Taking 10,000 steps back, the money spent on mergers and acquisitions belongs to Han's richest man, and he has his own freedom to spend it as he wants. Of course, I'm just making an analogy to show that we at the NDRC shouldn't interfere too much with normal corporate behavior.

SAIC is SAIC, and the failure of their merger and acquisition does not mean that Zhonghua Group will repeat the mistakes of the past, maybe we can really witness Zhonghua Group go abroad and break into another world?"

The director's speech was also supported by many colleagues, and it is of great strategic significance for Chinese enterprises to go abroad.

Before Ford announced the official sale of the Jaguar and Land Rover brands, a debate was launched in the distant East about whether the two British brands would be unaccustomed to the soil after coming to China, and whether they should turn them into car brands with Chinese capital at a high price?

It is a good thing that there is controversy, which shows that the National Development and Reform Commission attaches great importance to this.

Han Hao's biggest worry is that Ford suddenly announced that it would sell Jaguar and Land Rover, and then other foreign buyers bid one after another, while Zhonghua Group could only watch the show at a loss because it did not get the national "road", so it missed the great opportunity.

The National Development and Reform Commission was given enough time to discuss in advance, so that it would be prepared when it really took the "road" in the future.

According to Goldman Sachs, which provides M&A services, it will take at least half a year for Ford to deal with the Aston Martin brand, and Jaguar and Land Rover will be put on the auction table after the dust settles on this matter.

All Han Hao could do was to wait patiently for this day to come.