The people on the board of directors had already heard Wen Boyuan talk about this news in advance, so they were not surprised. If it weren't for this, this board would not have been convened.

However, why Wang Ye suddenly turned his gloves to this cosmetics company, everyone still doesn't know the inside story.

"The two brands of the Floating Flower Company have been very successful, why should Wang Ye sell them?" asked Old Man Leonard impatiently.

He has been coveting the brand for a long time!

The Estee Lauder Group itself focuses on being a high-end cosmetics brand, and La Mer was also the top cosmetics brand in the past.

As a result, a dream was born, and the high-end brands of Estee Lauder were suppressed.

Now in the circle of wives in high society, who still talks about the mystery of La Mer, the center of everyone's topic is like a dream.

As for Flower Story, Leonard doesn't care, although the brand is doing very well in sales, he feels that the brand positioning is a bit low, which does not meet his vision for the Estee Lauder Group.

But his younger brother, Ronald, was very interested in Flower Story.

Ronald's philosophy is different from his brother's, he thinks that although high-end brands are famous, they can't be popularized.

Why has the Estee Lauder Group been pressed down by L'Oreal, isn't it because L'Oreal Group has a mass brand and sales are high?

Therefore, Ronald has always believed that his own group should also appropriately acquire or create a relatively low-positioning brand to take on the responsibility of rushing sales.

Because of this, the brothers had countless disputes, and neither of them could convince anyone.

However, the elder brother Leonard's line has a greater say, after all, Leonard is the eldest son, and Leonard's son William also took over as chairman.

So Ronald can't fight their father and son.

……

In the face of Leonard's inquiry, Wen Boyuan was not in a hurry, and replied calmly: "I also have a serious thought about this question and ask for verification. As far as I know, most of Wang Ye's assets are being merged into the European Emperor Fund. ”

"Now Wang Ye's companies have been integrated into two group companies. The apparel brand company merged into Huayou Group. Meigou.com is an e-commerce platform, and Watsons chain is an offline sales platform, both of which are merged into the European Emperor Fund. But the only thing is that this cosmetics company has not been merged!"

"As for why he did it, I think there are two possibilities. ”

"One is that Wang Ye is not optimistic about the development of this company and is ready to give up. ”

"The other is the strategic choice, which is to sell the company to take a stake in a large cosmetics group, like Amorepacific and Shiseido. ”

Leonard bowed his head slightly after listening to Wen Boyuan's analysis.

As for Wang Ye is not optimistic about the development of Floating Flower Company, this possibility is basically none, because those two brands are now thriving, how can they not be optimistic.

The second possibility is very large!

Wang Ye took a stake in Shiseido and Amorepacific, two major cosmetics companies, through Meigo.com, and then helped the two companies increase their market share through Meigo.com's online and offline sales platforms.

In this way, Wang Ye will not only enjoy the profits of Meigo.com, but also Shiseido and Amorepacific!

It's just using the cards in your hand to the extreme!

In this case, Wang Ye doesn't need to run a cosmetics brand by himself, because his floating flower company, although the brand is doing well.

But after all, the foundation is very shallow, the R&D strength is not enough, and the brand is still too few.

In the long run, it will not be able to compete with these cosmetics giants.

Leonard estimates that Wang Ye released the "bait" this time to attract several large chemical giants to acquire.

It is then exchanged for shares in the acquirer's company.

This was not only thought of by Leonard, but also by several people in the conference room.

Chairman William pondered for a moment and then spoke: "I think it is very worthwhile to take even a part of the shares to acquire the floating flower cosmetics company! In addition, if the top luxury brand can be acquired, it will become the most dazzling pearl in the crown of Estee Lauder!"

Ronald also nodded in agreement: "I am very optimistic about the brand of Flower Story, and it can be seen from its upward trend in the Asia-Pacific region that it has the potential to compete with the L'Oreal brand on a global scale." ”

The Estée Lauder's board of directors has a rare unanimity of opinion on this matter.

Everyone unanimously agrees that for Fuhua Cosmetics Company, as long as Wang Ye intends to sell, then the Estee Lauder Group is bound to win!

If Floating Flower Company was a listed company, it is estimated that many cosmetics companies would have been impatient to make a hostile takeover.

But it is a private company, and as long as Wang Ye does not nod, no one can do anything.

Now the opportunity has presented itself, and the Estée Lauder Companies certainly won't miss it.

In the end, the board of directors decided that the acquisition negotiation team composed of four company giants, Leonard, Ronald, Chairman William, and CEO Fu Yide, flew to Pengcheng to meet with Wang Ye.

It can also be seen from this that the Estee Lauder Group attaches great importance to this acquisition, which can be said to be overwhelming.

Moreover, as long as these four are present, any decision can be made on the spot, and there is no need to ask anyone for instructions, and there is no need to hold a board meeting to decide.

Because the four of them are already enough to represent the board of directors.

Of course, Fu Yide does not have much right to speak, but after all, he is the CEO of the company, and from a procedural point of view, he must also participate in and sign the company's acquisition.

……

The Estee Lauder Group has already begun to act, and in Pengcheng, Wang Ye is not idle.

Commanded remotely by phone, Frederick led the team, and HSBC provided professional team support.

Coupled with the help of Berkshire, it has begun to quietly contact the investment companies that hold Estee Lauder in the United States for off-market acquisitions.

These outstanding shares, with their low voting weighting, are not comparable to those held by members of the Lauder family.

But in this way, these outstanding shares are easier to get their hands on.

The reason why many investment companies hold shares of Estee Lauder is of course not because they support the company, but because they just want to make a profit through these stock dividends.

But since last year, Estee Lauder's fierce infighting and sluggish sales have made many investment companies dissatisfied.

The continuous decline in stock prices has seriously affected the annual returns of these asset management companies and investment companies.

So, through the stock exchange market, coupled with privately negotiating large transfers, Frederick has been slowly absorbing Estee Lauder's shares.

Compared to large companies with a market capitalization of $50 billion, and more than 60% of the outstanding shares, these actions are not so remarkable.

Originally, the tradable shares have been trading with each other and are constantly circulating.

In order to prevent the snakes from being alarmed, the acquired outstanding shares are dispersed into as many as a few accounts.

In this case, the shares under each account may be less than 0.5%, and it will not be on the list of major shareholders at all, and there is naturally no need for information disclosure.

Not to mention the signs.

……

Wang Ye received a consultation letter from the Estee Lauder Group.

In the consultation letter, the board of directors of The Estee Lauder Companies formally proposed its intention to acquire Fuhua Cosmetics Company, and proposed to send the group's senior team to China to meet with Wang Ye.

Of course, Wang Ye readily agreed and welcomed their arrival.

On February 20, the Estee Lauder Group negotiation team arrived in Pengcheng on the Lauder family's private jet and began formal negotiations with Wang Ye.

In the large conference room on the top floor of the Premium Building, the negotiators sit on opposite sides of the conference table.

Wang Ye looked at the real head of the legendary Estee Lauder, that is, Leonard, the father of the current chairman William.

This old man, although he is nearly seventy years old, is still in good spirits and physically tough.

His younger brother, Ronald, on the contrary, has all white hair and a fat body, and looks older than Leonard.

As for the chairman William, he has a kind face and kind eyes, and at first glance he is a kind person.

CEO Fu Yide still sat on the side and was silent, but Wang Ye knew that this man with curly hair and a big hooked nose on his face was the real master.

If Wang Ye does not get involved, it will not take two years for Fu Yide to "coerce the Son of Heaven to order the princes", and through William, the chairman of the good old man, he will drive Leonard and Ronald out of the board of directors!

Two years later, Fu Yide was the real helmsman of the Estee Lauder Group, and even got a lot of shares.

Of course, it was also his excellent performance that won the recognition and support of all members of the board of directors.

……

"Welcome to Pengcheng, I know that your time is precious, so don't go around the bush and get straight to the point. Wang Ye said with a smile.

"Very good! I want to ask Dong Wang, what do you want to get for selling Fuhua Cosmetics Company, money, shares?" Leonard came up with a fierce momentum.

"Mr. Leonard, do you think I'm short of money?" asked Wang Ye rhetorically.

Leonard was sluggish, and last year's Forbes rich list was announced, and Wang Ye was the richest man in China with a net worth of $30 billion.

This net worth, to be honest, is more than the wealth of the entire Lauder family!

"Haha, then what does Wang Dong mean is that he wants to exchange for Estee Lauder's shares?"

Ronald next to him saw his brother deflated, and happily took over the topic and asked.

Wang Ye nodded, not hiding his thoughts: "Yes, the reason why I sold Fuhua Cosmetics Company is that I integrate the industry under my control and only retain the core company."

In the cosmetics industry, only the sales channels are retained, and the real industry is liquidated or exchanged for shares of major companies.

Just like Meigou.com's stake in Amorepacific and Shiseido.

And then through my strong sales platform, I can improve the performance of these companies, so that everyone benefits. ”

Leonard and they nodded frequently, Wang Ye's idea was the same as their original guess.

You don't need to spend a lot of energy to manage the brand, as long as the sales platform is bigger, you can sit back and enjoy it, and you can eat the profits on both sides, why not.

"If Estee Lauder issued additional shares to acquire Fuhua Cosmetics, does Chairman Wang have a psychological price?" Leonard asked.

How much is Fuhua cosmetics company worth, of course, both sides have a measurement, which is nothing more than from several dimensions such as brand value, annual sales, profit margin, and growth curve.

However, Fuhua Company is a private company, and whether the acquisition can be successful or not depends more on Wang Ye's expectations.

If Estee Lauder values Floating Flower Company at $5 billion, but Wang Ye wants $20 billion, then how can it be discussed.

In 2012, the company has two major brands.

The annual sales of Flower Story have exceeded 12 billion yuan, that is, about 2 billion US dollars.

Fusheng Ruomeng is very stable, limited to production capacity, so the annual sales are one billion US dollars, half of which still belongs to the Danish royal family, and it is 500 million US dollars calculated into the accounts of Fuhua Company.

Of course, with the introduction of Flower Story to the Asia-Pacific market, it is foreseeable that sales will increase significantly this year.

But at present, the valuation can only be calculated based on last year's revenue, which is $2.5 billion.

Although Estee Lauder doesn't know about the profit margin, and Wang Ye hasn't made it public, everyone is making high-end cosmetics, and you can guess about it.

Therefore, Estee Lauder's valuation of Floating Flower Company is six billion US dollars, of which one billion US dollars is the brand value of the two brands.

This valuation should be said to be quite fair.

After Leonard quoted this price, Wang Ye also pondered for a moment, and he admitted that even if he let him evaluate it himself, it would be almost this number.

However, it is still a little bit close......

Wang Ye raised his head and said with a smile, "I wonder if you have forgotten something?"

Leonard was stunned and asked, "What? What have we forgotten?"

Oh, or rather, the Floating Flower Company also owns quite a lot of shares of another listed company! That company is Modu Jahwa, and Fuhua Company holds 40% of the shares of Modu Jahwa. This part of the market value needs to be taken into account. ”

This problem was ignored by Estee Lauder, because Wang Ye had a lot of properties, and he had been tossing and turning in the past two years.

One will integrate and one will split, plus the floating flower company is not listed, and the financial equity information has not been disclosed, so it is understandable that they don't know about this matter.

This is not a big problem, Modu Jahwa is a listed company, the valuation is easier to calculate, and there is not much ambiguity.

According to the current stock price, the market value of Modu Jahwa is only a little over 10 billion, and 40% is 4 billion yuan, which is less than 700 million US dollars.

Then it means that the overall valuation of Fuhua Company is now 3.2 billion US dollars. About one-fifteenth the size of the Estee Lauder Companies!

"If Mr. Wang agrees with this valuation, then our group will issue Class A shares of corresponding value to you!" Leonard said impatiently.

"No, I want Class B shares!"

Wang Ye simply dismissed Leonard's suggestion.