On Easter April 14th, in the Manohus Hotel in London's West End, the young and energetic palm and the other slightly old palm were clasped together, Lin Xiaozhi looked at the bald Swede in front of him with a smile, and said with a chuckle in English: "Mr. Maersk, happy cooperation!" ”

The white man is old, and this short and fat Swede is none other than Anderson Maersk, the president of PolyGram, who is just over 50 years old this year!

Although his face was also full of smiles, it could be seen that Anderson Maersk was not in a very good mood, "Lin, I have to congratulate you on choosing the most suitable time for the board of directors to make the most wrong decision!" ”

In the other hand, the two each held a copy of the agreement that had just been signed, and the agreement had come into effect from the moment the black pen fell, Polygram Records officially sold its British UCT cinema line, which had only been acquired for a few years, to Hong Kong Media Asia Film Group, completely losing its influence in the British cinema market.

The diversification strategy is the future strategy that Maersk has formulated for PolyGram after joining PolyGram as president. Although selling UCT now makes a lot of money for PolyGram, the board of directors has made a big return for PolyGram, but the board of directors has made the decision to sell UCT means that his PolyGram diversity has been cut off a leg, and it is strange that he can laugh.

In fact, in Europe, the role and power of the president in the entire enterprise group is still very large, of course, PolyGram's situation is somewhat special, the two largest shareholders are Philips and Siemens, the two European electronics industry giants, although there are still some shareholders, but they are small shareholders with little energy (mainly the original company shareholders who were merged in the process of Polygram's acquisition), which is destined to the power and voice of PolyGram's board of directors is something that the company's executives must not ignore.

Clearly, the majority shareholder of the board of directors is starting to get a little dissatisfied with him because of the decline in PolyGram's interests over the past few years.

In the end, in exchange for the support of the board of directors, Maersk chose to compromise and make a fortune from the sale of UCT Cinemas to the satisfaction of the board of directors, so as to continue to support his diversification strategy, which has so far no profit prospects.

However, because the sale was unwilling, Maersk had no intention of contacting the media to attend the signing ceremony. He held a low-key signing ceremony, and then applied to re-file the information with the government for UCT Cinemas, one of the largest cinema companies in the UK, which became a subsidiary of Media Asia.

Lin Xiaozhi doesn't care about the filthiness of Polygram's top management, getting UCT is a victory for him, and Polygram doesn't plan to invite the media, but it doesn't mean that he Lin Xiaozhi will hide it, such a good opportunity not to take the opportunity to do a wave of publicity, it's too wasteful.

So, as soon as the signing ceremony ended. The second **** asked Chen Qiang to hold a press conference as the president of Media Asia, officially announcing in London that Media Asia Film Group will take 3. A huge investment of 25.7 billion pounds acquired the British UCT Cinema Line, which was originally owned by Polygram Records!

As soon as the press conference came out, it immediately attracted the attention of the media in the UK, and dozens of influential media in the UK sent teams to participate, and gave a lot of space to report after the press conference.

"Polygram Records sold UCT Cinemas at a sky-high price and chose to go out, and the European cinema giants can breathe a sigh of relief!" - The Sun

"Hong Kong Media Asia Film Group invested 3. £25.7 billion acquisition of UCT from PolyGram, becoming one of the largest hospital dealers in the UK! -- News of the World

"The counterattack of Hong Kong films, Media Asia Film Group 3. £25.7 billion acquisition of UCT, aiming at the European cinema market! - Manchester Times

Thanks to the continuous export of excellent works to the UK and Europe in the past few years, such as "Friends", "Killer Leon", "Fight Club", "Red Alert", "Resident Evil", "League of Assassins" and other films, which have either exploded in Europe and the United States or sold at the box office, Hong Kong Media Asia Film Group has already had a lot of popularity and reputation in the UK and Europe, and even has a lot of fans among young audiences in Europe and the United States.

Thanks to the hard work of the past, the United Kingdom, which has always been known for its arrogance and xenophobia, although many voices are surprised that PolyGram sold UCT Cinemas to a Hong Kong film company, you must know that PolyGram, the record giant, has been promoting a diversified business strategy in recent years, but it has now gained a lot of attention in European and American business circles, and 3. The £25.7 billion is not something that anyone can afford to come up with, at least in the UK.

Fortunately, surprise is surprise, but although there are voices of opposition, they have not formed a mainstream voice. The vast majority of the media focused on the amount of money raised by PolyGram, and repeatedly discussed whether Maersk's sale of UCT meant that he himself was beginning to waver in his diversification strategy. In addition, only a small part of the media focused on being able to easily come up with 3. 25.7 billion pounds in cash, eating UCT Cinemas' Media Asia Group.

Raul Brentz, the editor-in-chief of the most authoritative British "Times", personally wrote such an article, "Friends", "Killer Leon", "Fight Club", "Red Alert", "Resident Evil", "League of Assassins", etc., among the movies that have been screened in the UK and even all over Europe in the past few years, are there any works you are familiar with? ”

"Some of them are famous film festivals and have been in the top 100 video rental stores for a long time; Some have an excellent reputation and have been praised by many authoritative film figures in Europe; Some of them rose to the top of the box office charts of various countries soon after their release, and won the heartfelt love of European fans; Among them, there are even works that rushed to the top of the box office charts in various countries after only one or two weeks of release, and won the top of the box office charts of the month in many countries! There is no doubt that these excellent movies are all from Hong Kong Media Asia Film Group! ”

"In recent years, the mainstream media in Europe have continued to speak out, admitting that on the road to film commercialization, European local films are far inferior to those of the United States, and even inferior to Hong Kong films. Although Hong Kong is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the Far East, its small size and lack of abundant resources doom its glory to be built on a specific foundation, and it is far inferior to Europe in terms of heritage, technology and resources. But it is such a small place, but with the data of at least four or five hundred films shot every year, Hong Kong movies continue to be exported to the outside world. ”

"In the past, we all believed that the success of Hong Kong films was based on the complete commercialization of the abandonment of art and the unique low production costs of the Chinese, and many Hong Kong films that were able to enter Europe for various reasons also left the audience with the impression that they were shoddy and unsightly! But now, we must see that Hong Kong films still do not ignore the pursuit of human nature, art and imagination, they are constantly innovating, absorbing the latest film technology and shooting techniques in Europe and the United States, constantly updating equipment, and creating one successful work after another, while also obtaining amazing returns. ”

"Now, Media Asia Pictures, Asia's strongest film giant, has invested heavily in the British cinema market, whether we want to admit it or not, this is a victory for commercial films, and a victory for Hong Kong films......"

Not to mention the kind of attention and discussion that the signed article by Raul Bolenc, editor-in-chief of the Times, "Hong Kong, the Rising Hollywood of the East," has aroused in Britain and even Europe, Hong Kong is still under British rule at this time, so many Hong Kong enterprises have set up offices in Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong media are even more common, in order to send the news that happened in Britain to Hong Kong as soon as possible.

Lin Xiaozhi's Media Asia spent a huge amount of money to buy UCT Cinemas from the hands of international record giant Polygram, and this acquisition can definitely rank among the top 10 ranks of Hong Kong enterprises in recent years' large-scale investment abroad, especially the other nine Hong Kong enterprises have invested in either land or terminals, and the other category is even more eye-catching.

"Media Asia Film Group spent 3.8 billion Hong Kong dollars to acquire the British cinema giant UCT!"

The South China Times was the first to report the news, and the goal of the English-language newspaper was to become the most authoritative English-language newspaper in Hong Kong and Asia, so it set up several offices in the UK as early as the 70s. A few years ago, after it was acquired by media tycoon Murdoch's News Corporation, this area has been strengthened, so long before the rival "English Standard" and other Hong Kong media, the news was transmitted back to Hong Kong as soon as possible, and then quickly caused a huge sensation in Hong Kong media and Hong Kong that are still looking for news from film companies such as Golden Princess, Weihe, and Tianmu.

Lin Xiaozhi also has a number of media, such as Sing Pao, Ming Pao, Tian Tian Daily, Hong Kong Fortune, etc., which are all newspapers and weekly magazines with huge circulation in Hong Kong. At the beginning, in order not to cause complications before the signing, Lin Xiaozhi even concealed several of his own media, but after the dust settled, there was no reason to continue to hide it. After the press conference, he immediately asked people to notify the Hong Kong side, and there was a lot of inside news.

Therefore, although "Cheng Pao" and "Ming Pao" were slower than "South China Times", they still exposed more accurate and comprehensive news in front of people in the first time.

"Spent nearly 4 billion Hong Kong dollars to acquire the British cinema chain, and Media Asia Pictures led the overseas investment of Hong Kong enterprises at the end of 93!"

"With the launch of the global layout, Media Asia Film Group has spent a huge amount of money to acquire British cinemas, completely opening up the European release channel!"

"With the acquisition of UCT, a British cinema chain owned by international record giant Polygram, with HK$3.8 billion, Media Asia has become a British cinema giant!"

"Behind the unknown negotiations, Polygram Records intends to oppose the acquisition of Media Asia, and it is ridiculed that you can't afford it!"

"Slowly promoting the global layout, Media Asia Pictures' cinema chain has nearly 500 cinemas in Hong Kong, mainland China, Japan, Southeast Asia and Europe, ranking among the world's first-tier cinema companies!"

With the sudden outbreak of the acquisition case of Media Asia, a group of media in Hong Kong finally understood what Media Asia had done with the foreign exchange management fund that managed Hong Kong's foreign exchange, which was exposed by the Hong Kong Economic Journal and the South China Morning Post not long ago.

But the speculation that had already died down now has new doubts.

Media Asia spent less than HK$4 billion on foreign exchange to acquire UCT, while Media Hong Kong Economic Journal and other media outlets reported that Media Asia and Kowloon Bank applied for exchange with the Hong Kong Exchange Management Fund for nearly double that amount. Does this also mean that Lin Xiaozhi is still plotting at least one overseas acquisition that requires almost a certain amount of money?!

With the acquisition of UCT by Media Asia, it has become one of the largest cinema dealers in the United Kingdom, which is not only another wave of attention and reporting on Hong Kong films, but also more people who are interested in setting their sights on Lin Xiaozhi, so soon after, another big revelation was poked out!