"Standard Chartered? I've heard of this company, and they're mainly commercial banks, right? Tian Xuecheng asked, Standard Chartered Bank is not a big bank, but Tian Xuecheng often goes to Hong Kong to report to the boss.

"It is mainly a commercial bank, but there is also investment banking business." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said: "You have been in the United States for too long, Europe is different from the United States, American banks, because of the anti-monopoly law at that time, so commercial banks and investment banks are completely separated, and Europe is also nominally separated, but in fact, many banks are not so meticulously divided, Standard Chartered, can also do investment banking business." ”

There have been a number of powerful monopoly groups in the United States, and the entire country's economy was monopolized by a number of giants at the beginning of the 20th century, which can be said to be infinitely harmful, therefore, the anti-monopoly law is also very strong, not only the trust giants such as oil, finance, steel, and minerals have been split, but also other industries have been affected, such as the banking industry must be separated from investment banks and commercial banks, Hollywood film companies are not allowed to control movie theater lines, automobile companies are not allowed to control terminal retail, etc., until Reagan came to power in the 80s, In order to get the U.S. economy out of the big inflation, it began to slowly loosen the restrictions on these industries.

On the European side, because most of them are small countries, even if there is a monopoly, there will be no supergiants, because it is impossible for German monopoly companies to control the French industry, and when the European Union appears, French counterparts will enter the German market competition, in this case, there is almost nothing that can monopolize the giant companies in Europe, whether it is a bank or a traditional manufacturing industry, even if a certain market is good, it also depends on technology, services, etc., such as German high-end cars.

As a result, there is almost no antitrust law in the EU, which was not enacted until 2002, and the main purpose is also to target American companies that are increasingly violating the rights and interests of the EU after globalization.

Therefore, the European financial industry does not have mandatory provisions for investment banks and commercial banks to be absolutely separated, such as Germany's Deutsche Bank, which is one of the largest commercial banks + investment banks in Europe, and the same is true for HSBC in the future.

Standard Chartered Bank is like this, the main business is commercial banking, but it also does the same investment banking business, although the scale is not as large as those giant companies in the United Kingdom, but those giant companies are also state-owned enterprises, let them come forward to help them acquire another state-owned enterprise, Chen Zhiwen does not know whether these people will be dedicated, and in Hong Kong, he has a very good relationship with Standard Chartered, so this time he chose to cooperate with Standard Chartered, how to say, the current Standard Chartered can also be regarded as the top ten in the UK, and the mini itself is not large, not every acquisition, You need to find the largest local investment bank.

"I see, do I need to get in touch with them first?" Tian Xuecheng asked.

"No, I've already arranged for someone to make an appointment, and tomorrow I will meet with one of their vice presidents in charge of investment business to find out, and then follow up, and then follow up on your side." Chen Zhiwen said.

"Okay." Tian Xuecheng said: "AMC has sent more than 10 people to the UK in the past few months, and they have been investigating various situations of mini cars, and their feedback is that this car is very good in terms of performance and fuel consumption, but the feedback from local consumers in the UK often has some quality problems, and the data has been collected, which may be useful data for investment banks." ”

"There must be some problems with mini, otherwise it will not be a loss for many years, but the most fundamental reason is that it cannot enter the overseas market, and there may also be cost-effective reasons, if we become the owner, the production capacity will increase after the market is opened, the cost of a single car will also decrease, and the quality will be well controlled, then it should be able to save the company." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

In the automotive industry, in addition to those high-end and high-priced brands, most car models need to rely on sales to spread the cost, because even in the 80s, the research and development cycle of a car is about 5 years, the investment cost is hundreds of millions of dollars, and if there is a new factory, it may be hundreds of millions of dollars. There are very few completely new cars launched, most of them are revised and re-released, and Volkswagen's cars are almost non-stop shells just for their appearance.

British automobiles, in addition to technology, there is no market is also an important reason, and even the market is more important than technology, because with the market, then there is capital for technology upgrading, quality control, etc., forming a virtuous circle, which is why the strong in the automotive industry are getting stronger and stronger, and the weak are getting weaker and weaker. Before the 80s, global trade was difficult, so there were many small brands in many places, but after global trade, big brands began to expand globally, so many small brands either died or were acquired, and British car companies are the epitome of this background.

However, it is easy to expand the market, which requires a large amount of money to do marketing, at the same time, when the sales have not come up, you have to find a way to improve the quality and technology, otherwise no consumer will pay for new products, the easiest way is to have a large number of terminal retail stores, or cooperate with these stores, at least to ensure perfect after-sales service, in order to impress those hesitant consumers.

To be able to do this, either big brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, and Toyota will guarantee the new brand, or Chen Zhiwen is ready to do it, in Europe, America and Asia to expand the car terminal retail stores on a large scale, there is almost no third plan, and even so, it may not be able to guarantee success, such as the British car brand Jaguar and Land Rover, which were acquired by Ford and tossed for more than ten years, but the result is still not good, and in the end it can only be sold, with a loss of 2.4 billion US dollars. It was $2.4 billion in the 90s.

This is also why Chen Zhiwen did not choose Jaguar, Land Rover, Lotus, Luofu, etc., these brands in the original history even if they were acquired by the auto giants could not be saved, Chen Zhiwen does not feel that he will have a stronger ability. It's Jaguar Land Rover, after the 21st century, there is a period of time to mix OK, but that's also 20 years later, he doesn't want to raise two car companies for 20 years, besides, Jaguar Land Rover can turn over in the 21st century, or because of Ford's continuous investment for more than ten years, if there is a chance in the future, he can compete with the three companies on the line, save money and worry.

Only mini, relatively speaking, is the easiest to succeed, as for some technical support from BMW in the original history, Chen Zhiwen will indeed be a little worse, but it is not absolutely impossible, AMC also has some foundations, and then he will invest in research and development, and in another ten years, he thinks that his capital volume will definitely exceed BMW.

"That's the reason, it depends on whether the British side is willing to sell." Tian Xuecheng smiled and said that he also knew part of the financial resources of his group, just the boss's capital in the United States, a Costco and a Disney, together it is estimated that he can buy the entire British automobile industry, but too many British companies are too rubbish, and they can't look down on it.

The next day, on the balcony on the top floor of the InterContinental Hotel in the United Kingdom, Chen Zhiwen and Tian Xuecheng met with Mr. Jones, the head of the investment department of Standard Chartered Bank.

"Hello, Mr. Jones!" Chen Zhiwen said with a smile: "Please take a seat, all kinds of coffee have been prepared here, and what do you need later." ”

"Thank you. Mr. Chen, Mr. Tian, just call me Jones. Jones also said in the top hat. Then he ordered a cappuccino to the waiter next to him.

"Latte, thank you." Chen Zhiwen also said to the waiter.

The balcony on the top floor of the Intercontinental Hotel is also a large leisure place, which can be used for various entertainment banquets after decoration, and many wealthy people in the UK also like to have parties here, with a view of almost half of London, and a large swimming pool, where you can enjoy the surrounding city scenery while useful.

As a signature project of a five-star hotel, the price is naturally expensive, but it is naturally nothing to Chen Zhiwen, so he directly chartered here. If there is a real need, there will be no problem if the entire InterContinental Hotel is acquired.

"Jones, you already know our purpose, I want to know, how successful is the acquisition of Mini and Rolls-Royce, by your Standard Chartered Bank?" Chen Zhiwen asked bluntly.

"Mr. Chen, we will not make 100% of this promise, and we can't do it, even any other investment bank, it is impossible to dare to make this kind of promise, but considering that the mini company has been losing money for more than 5 consecutive years, it is difficult to send out the salaries of internal personnel, and it is necessary to ask the British government for it. They will certainly seek to work for their highest good. Jones analyzed:

"As for Rolls-Royce, it's hard to say because this brand is a symbol of the United Kingdom, and I don't think they will sell this brand to foreigners, especially Chinese like you."

"Okay, then get the mini first, Rolls-Royce, don't rush later, just take your time." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

Relatively speaking, the importance of mini is obviously greater, Rolls-Royce and Bentley, just a face, can buy naturally good, if not, he will go to the European continent to find those good brand sports cars is the same, Red Bull is now just investing in the global market, including F1 cars, the acquisition of a sports car brand is also in their own interests.

"Okay, then we'll start contacting Langley Motors right away, and I'll let you know if there's any progress in the future." Jones said.

(End of chapter)