"Monsieur Jacques Nasser, there is your telephone, line one. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info”

In the BHP Billiton corporate headquarters building in Melbourne, Australia, Jacques Nasser, a non-executive director of the group and a member of the group risk and audit committee, was about to start his new day when the secretary knocked on the office door.

"Okay. Jacques Nascer picked up the phone, and as soon as he asked, he was stunned by the message on the other end of the phone, "What? Is this true?"

As we all know, when BHP Billiton completed the merger in 2004, it received strong support from the US financial community, including about $60 billion required for the acquisition, most of which was provided by Wall Street Capital, and its backers were the US energy industry and industrial consortiums.

At this time, the person who called Jacques Nasser was John Hannah, one of the veteran industrial conglomerates, John Hannah, who had long been behind the scenes, controlling a large number of steel producers such as Commonwealth Steel and Republic Steel, and had a superhuman status in the global bulk non-ferrous metals industry.

As the largest federal steel company in the United States, it also has a lot of raw material production sites in Brazil and Australia, and also controls the fund through private channels, and then controls a certain amount of BHP Billiton's shares, and Hanna himself is also one of the non-executive directors of BHP Billiton.

However, he called today and brought BHP Billiton a very good news, that is, the largest shareholder behind Rio Tinto, the world's second largest mining group, the West Coast United Group of the United States, intends to sell its shares in exchange for BHP Billiton's concessions in the orange technology cooperation.

"Yes, Nasser, you heard it right, Rio Tinto is willing to sell about 42% of their shares in exchange for BHP's concessions, and if you terminate the transfer of the two original mining areas in Peru and Western Australia, then these shares will be sold to BHP Billiton at market prices for about $28 billion to $32 billion, and if this plan is formally approved by the company's board of directors, then I will start negotiations with the West Coast United Group. Hannah spoke quickly on the phone with a cheerful tone.

"Is this true? If the company can complete the acquisition of Rio Tinto, then we will be responsible for more than 75% of the production capacity of raw materials such as copper, iron ore and aluminium in the global market, which will greatly improve the company's core competitiveness." ”

As early as 2004, when BHP Billiton merged, the majority of the company's shareholders were trying to control global commodities (except oil and gas), after all, a complete self-priced industry would fully protect the interests of shareholders.

However, Rio Tinto rejected BHP's acquisition request due to market research on strong global demand for commodities and BHP's inability to come up with enough cash at the time.

In the past three years, BHP Billiton has spent about $26 billion to acquire Brazil's largest copper and iron ore producing area, as well as Peru and other countries, to complete its global strategic layout.

Now, the consortium behind Rio Tinto is willing to sell these shares, plus the shares that are outstanding in the market, and if BHP Billiton is willing to pay a certain premium, then the completion can take a controlling stake in Rio Tinto before the market reacts.

"Of course, that's our long-term goal, isn't it?" Hannah smirked, "Think about it, once we successfully complete the full acquisition of Rio Tinto, then BHP Billiton will have a monopoly on global commodity trading for the next 20 years, and even the bargaining power is completely in our own hands." ”

"While this is a wonderful prospect, I have to regret to tell you, Mr. Hannah, that our company does not have enough cash to acquire Rio Tinto, and London and Canberra will not sit idly by and watch this happen, and the Federal Antitrust Bureau will urgently halt the acquisition before we can act. "Although the painting was wonderful, Nasser was calm because he knew that it was a long and difficult journey.

Even if Rio Tinto is willing to sell, BHP Billiton has so much cash, and the deal must be agreed by Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States before it can be successfully completed, which will be affected by BHP's monopoly on global commodity raw material trading, and even cause different degrees of fluctuations in raw material prices.

Although the short-term rise in raw material prices will add a lot of growth to the company's performance, but this pathological growth will collapse with the further escalation of the situation, when companies in various countries will choose to wait and see, and even the raw material demand market, which is already on a downward trend, will also collapse, in the long run, the sick demand does not meet the expectations of these large enterprises.

Hannah paused for a moment, but quickly said, "Please rest assured, this is not only the private behavior of BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, but also the joint support of Wall Street, they are willing to spend a lot of money in the industrial field to maintain value when the financial turmoil comes, at least the combined BHP Billiton will effectively guarantee the safety of investment." ”

"Can they make sense of the U.S. Congressional Antitrust Investigative Committee? If so, then I'm going to submit a takeover request to the company's board of directors immediately. Nasser quickly reacted that in such a situation, it would be difficult for the US federal government to prevent the capitalists from acting together, because they themselves were propped up by these people.

In the past, capitalists did not want a monopoly on the industry to appear, because it would greatly damage their profits, but now, when the financial turmoil comes, investors also need to ensure the safety of their funds to prevent huge losses, or they have already incurred losses and are eager to make up for it from elsewhere.

In this external environment, BHP Billiton is really faced with the best choice, as long as they can pass a resolution internally, then they will complete this acquisition that will shock the world in a short period of time.

"Of course, they've promised me that if BHP Billiton initiates a takeover, they'll be responsible for lobbying any member of Congress who might vote against it. Hannah's affirmative anticipation instantly relieved Nasser.

Then he lowered his voice and said, "Is the stake in Orange Technology so important to them? Even at the expense of giving up control of Rio Tinto in exchange for 5% of the shares of Orange Technology, you must know that it is not a stake with independent rights, and even what they will get in the end, no one can be sure." ”

"Well, I know that if I don't convince you, you will definitely be at the helm of BHP Billiton in the future non-executive director will not easily agree, according to their analysis, Orange Technology will be listed on the global stock market in the next three years, including its European market, North American market and East Asian market, will be the object of everyone's attention, according to the number of international patents of Orange Technology disclosed by the International Patent Examination Organization in Paris, as of last week, more than 12,800 patents have been reviewed, most of which are unlicensed patents related to smartphones, but there are still a considerable number of related technologies, which are being targeted by many technology companiesIt is estimated that the patent licensing fee of Orange Technology next year will be as high as more than 15 billion US dollars. ”

Hannah said that even he became interested in Orange Technology, if it weren't for the fact that his family and consortium had already occupied a dominant position in the field of commodity raw materials, otherwise even he would have the idea of entering the field of science and technology to get a piece of the pie, it was really Orange Technology making money at the same speed as a full-powered money printing machine, which made people blush.

Nasser made a slight estimate and quickly said, "Mr. Hannah, you must know that many people in the company are very interested in cooperating with Orange Technology at this time, because this part of the stake will bring us more than $2 billion a year in the future. ”

Hanna, as a qualified consortium controller, of course, will not allow the development of the enterprise in his hands to deviate, and immediately said, "But you have to figure out that the money in this world is inexhaustible, although the future of Orange Technology is reverie, but to complete the control of the global commodity raw material market, has been the company's long-term established goal, and now there is an excellent opportunity for us to complete the goal, do we have to change because of just the money?"

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but add, "Judging from the current global commodity trading volume, as long as we can complete the monopoly, then every dollar of price increase is a huge profit for us, and this kind of profit is visible and tangible, not the virtual profit that technology companies only show on market capitalization and stocks, I believe that many shareholders of the company will understand what I said." ”

Nasser nodded in agreement, "Okay, I'll try to explain it to the board of directors, but I don't think they will risk being recognized as a monopoly in the face of huge interests, and they may not rush to buy Rio Tinto, unless the U.S. Congressional Antitrust Committee makes it clear that it will not interfere in this acquisition." ”

Hannah pondered for a moment, then said with certainty, "I will urge them as soon as possible, and once we have a clear written answer from the U.S. Antitrust Investigation Board, we should immediately abandon our attempt to seek a stake in Orange Technology's U.S. branch." ”

"Of course, our goal will never change, BHP Billiton will be a giant based on the global supply of commodity raw materials, not a cross-industry integrated group. ”

Nasser's sentence is also the code of operation of many companies in Western countries, that is, a company, no matter how big it is, should be based on an industry or related to it, so as to avoid risks and maximize benefits, such as Microsoft, Wal-Mart and other global super groups, are the same, as long as they become bigger and stronger in the industry, they can be favored by market investors.

"What? The foundation and consortium behind Rio Tinto are willing to sell about 42% of our shares to us?"

Sure enough, when BHP's board of directors learned of the shocking news, it quickly split into two factions.

Shareholders who emphasize that the global commodity raw material market will show a significant downward trend in the future are still willing to cooperate with Orange Technology, because this can firmly protect the investment security of shareholders.

But for shareholders who are committed to developing BHP into a monopoly on the global mining market, diverting their efforts into the technology sector is not perfect for BHP, a century-old mining group, because market investors will not recognise BHP's profits from investing in technology.

It will even be disgusted by this move, and it will even affect the company's reputation and stock price at that time, resulting in serious consequences that market expectations do not match the company's development.

"Gentlemen, you must understand that at the moment, only the Eastern countries have seen a significant increase in resource demand, while most of the world's major economies are showing a significant contraction in demand, the market is bleak, etc., our company now controls about 45% of the world's mineral raw material supply, which has touched the antitrust regulations of many countries, once we seek control of Rio Tinto, the world's second largest mining group, then it will touch the nerves of many people, they will not watch all this happen smoothly. Christopher, the company's director and Australian mining tycoon, has made his opposition clear.

"Yes, I agree with this opinion, even if Rio Tinto is willing to sell this part of the shares now, we can only get relative control, gentlemen should know that 42% of the shares will need about 30 billion US dollars, although we can raise funds through Wall Street, but this kind of acquisition that may be stopped by the government at any time will bring great uncertainty to the development of the whole group, once it fails, it will cause more serious consequences. Another director also spoke out against it.

But there are also a lot of people in favor, such as Lawrence, the executive director of BHP Billiton, the British insurance industry fund, who clearly stood up and said, "I think the British government will never interfere with this behavior, and even in order to create more jobs and investment, the UK will take the initiative to help BHP Billiton persuade the US government to let the latter review the acquisition plan; please imagine if BHP Billiton could control 70% of the world The supply of commodity raw materials, then our voice will be changed dramatically, and then we can raise the price massively to increase the company's net profit, and every one of us here will get the necessary respect that we could not get before, and enough profit. ”

"I also think that the acquisition of Rio Tinto is more important than investing in Orange Technology, and it would be a huge drain on the company to get involved in a technology field that we are not familiar with, knowing that we are a mining company, not an investment management company. Luis, another major shareholder who also owns Rio Tinto and has been seeking a merger between the two companies, also agreed.