There were two reasons why Windle decided to expand into Asia. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

It's a bit bizarre that these two reasons have nothing to do with the scented candle business itself, so to speak. This first reason, simply put, is because Cheng Fengchun is too idle. Let's start with the specific day of May 6, 2008.

There was nothing special about this day, that is, Cheng Fengchun, who has been paying attention to the international art auction market, saw an announcement from Sotheby's New York on this day:

The railway bridge of Argenteuil was sold for $41.48 million by the famous French Impressionist painter Monet, a painting that was not particularly famous.

That's nearly $5 million more than the $36.5 million that Cheng Fengchun wanted to sell in London in 2007 but eventually gave up on Monet's famous "Water Lilies." The previous $36.5 million was already the highest price for Monet's previous paintings. The rapid appreciation of Monet's paintings made Cheng Fengchun regret his initial abandonment.

In addition to regretting it, Cheng Fengchun fell in love with Argenteuil. It's not the painting that was taken away, it's the place of Argenteuil.

Argenteuil is a French town near Paris, where Monet was inspired and has a school that Cheng Fengchun really wanted to go to - Givaudan-Perfumery-School (Givaudan-Perfumery-School).

The school was established in 1946, but it is a spice school, and it does not issue any formal diplomas, and the admission requirements for the school are very strict, only 5 students are admitted every 18 months, and all of them must be employees of Givaudan (the world's largest spice group) or recommended by the company's management.

To put it bluntly, the main purpose of this school is to train its own perfumers for Givaudan in Switzerland, and rarely accept people from outside the company. Even if there is, it must be over 25 years old, have graduated from university, and preferably major in chemical engineering. These out-of-company trainees will have to stay with Givaudan for the first few years after graduation.

If Grasse is one of the best in the world, it would have to be before the Givaudan Fragrance School was founded.

This is no longer the case. Let's just say "today", Hermès perfumer Jean-Claude Élena and Chanel's chief perfumer Jacques Porge were both students here. It is no exaggeration to say that Givaudan's students are firmly in the middle of the global perfumery world.

Cheng Fengchun originally planned to take Zuo Zai to Grasse to learn perfumery, because his wife likes Grasse and also learned perfumery in Grasse. But the previous trip to Grasse almost scared Zuo Zai into disgusting with the profession of perfumer. Since then, Cheng Fengchun has no idea of sending Zuo to study at the perfume school again.

At this time, seeing the news that Monet's "The Railway Bridge of Argenteuil" was auctioned at a sky-high price, Cheng Fengchun suddenly felt that six years had passed, and although Zuo Zai still occasionally mixed some spices that were not in business, he had obviously begun to like the matter of fragrance. Cheng Fengchun felt that it was time to help Zuo find another perfume school and learn something systematic.

However, Zuo Zai in '08 was only a teenager and had not graduated from university, so he obviously did not meet the admission requirements of Givaudan's spice school.

But then again, what did Cheng Fengchun do? He was in the spice business.

Givaudan Fragrance Group is the largest in the world, and Cheng Fengchun's company is probably ranked sixth in the world. Although the company is not as big as others, if you want to find a senior executive from Givaudan to recommend Zuo Zai or something, Cheng Fengchun will definitely have no problem. Cheng Fengchun thought so and did so.

As a result, the problem came, people were unwilling to accept Zuo Zai. What's the deal with cultivating talent for competitors? Then, on the more serious part, Givaudan took a fancy to Cheng Fengchun's spice company. Bid $3.6 billion for the proposed acquisition.

After Cheng Fengchun knew about Givaudan's intention to acquire, he said that the intended purchase price given by Givaudan was very reasonable, and the acquisition could indeed be considered. Then he immediately proposed that if Givaudan acquired its own spice group, it would be a family in the future.

The acquisition was quickly put on the agenda, and the people of Givaudan Company in Switzerland inspected Zuo Zai's fragrance level, saying that according to Zuo Zai's level at this time, there was no need to go to any spice school, and he went directly to the fragrance application department of the Swiss company and followed the company's senior perfumer to learn a little more.

Because Cheng Fengchun agreed to be acquired, Givaudan's executives enthusiastically did not want to. To say that Cheng Fengchun is so exaggerated that he wants to sell the company in order to learn another perfume for Zuo, it is really nothing.

In the business field, Cheng Fengchun is also experienced in a hundred battles. Givaudan's price is indeed very good, but how can people give up their own company so easily? Cheng Fengchun agreed because he was well aware of the anti-monopoly laws in Europe and the United States. Industry giants like Givaudan are subject to antitrust investigations if they want to buy other spice companies.

Cheng Fengchun is very clear that Givaudan's acquisition of the world's sixth largest spice group, such an obvious monopolistic behavior, there is absolutely no way to pass the EU anti-monopoly investigation, and there is no precedent for success.

Therefore, as soon as Givaudan gave the acquisition plan and purchase price, Cheng Fengchun said that he accepted the plan and price. He didn't have to do anything anyway, just cooperate with Givaudan's due diligence. Givaudan checked and said that the company did not meet the acquisition requirements, and the matter was closed. Taking 10,000 steps back, the due diligence was passed, and in the end, the anti-monopoly investigation could not be passed, and the acquisition case could not be continued.

On the contrary, after such a toss, Zuo Zai has already finished learning. Cheng Fengchun's anti-takeover strategy is perfect.

It's a pity that no matter how perfect the fire is, there are times when the horse stumbles.

I don't know what method Givaudan used, but it quickly passed the EU's antitrust investigation. This is not in line with the usual slow efficiency of a European, nor is it in line with the usual strict EU antitrust investigations. The contract is signed, what else can I do? Cheng Fengchun sold the company like this, although it was a very good price, but the process was too outrageous.

After the completion of the acquisition, Cheng Fengchun must also work for five years in his own company that has been sold according to the acquisition contract to complete a series of complex follow-up matters such as the smooth transition of the two companies, the integration of marketing networks, and the docking of sales channels. In fact, Cheng Fengchun could have only "sold" himself for three years, but he felt that it was completely impossible to really sell it at the time, and he didn't bother to change the terms of the people.

In this way, when Cheng Fengchun has dealt with everything and all the money is in hand, it will be the second half of 13 years. Now that the Spice Group has changed hands, Cheng Fengchun's own business is only left, the Windle scented candle that has been independent before. This was originally good news, but it's a pity that as early as 08 years ago, Cheng Fengchun handed over the Windle business in Europe and the United States to his eldest son to take care of.

The final result is that after the completion of the handover of the spice company, Cheng Fengchun suddenly became very idle and very idle. Cheng Fengchun, who was idle and panicked, wanted to find something to do. Finally, he decided to extend his "magic grasp" to the Asian market.

Therefore, the first reason to open a branch in Shanghai is really complicated to explain.

But the second reason is much simpler.

The company was acquired in a strange but reasonably priced way, and Cheng felt that it might be providential, and that it was the will of God. Cheng Fengchun's eldest son who was only 28 years old is now 42 years old. Cheng Fengchun is a 70-year-old man, and he feels that it is time for him to return to his hometown.

Shanghai is the closest metropolis to Wenzhou, Cheng Fengchun's hometown, and Shanghai is also very close to Putuo Mountain and the Great Monk. With today's net worth of tens of billions, he can not only follow the great monk to do something to help the suffering, but also practice some Buddhist scriptures and study some Buddhism.

In the process of stepping up preparations for the Shanghai branch, Cheng Fengchun found that it turned out that just doing charity could become "very idle". He changed his mind about becoming the chairman of Windle's Shanghai branch, and instead asked his second son Cheng Yan to replace him as chairman, and appointed Zuo Zai as CEO.

To say that Cheng Yan, the chairman, is quite depressed.

As a wholly-owned subsidiary of London Windle, Windle Shanghai Branch is no different from the London company in terms of shareholder structure, and there is only Cheng Fengchun, Zuo Zai and Zuo Jianshe on the shareholder list, without him Cheng Yan.

In terms of rights, his father couldn't completely let go of his son who "only knew how to design packaging" before.

In terms of cumbersomeness, Zuo Zai, the CEO who was supposed to work hard, was not willing to care about anything other than perfume at all.

Therefore, Cheng Yan bears the name of the chairman, does not have the right of the chairman, and has to help the CEO handle all daily operations for free. This is no longer something that can be solved by depression, and Cheng Yan, the chairman of Windle's Shanghai branch, is simply sad.