The oil crisis, for Japanese car companies, is a good thing, for the fuel consumption is moderate and the main is not fuel-efficient German cars, the impact is also but not very large, for the main power of the large space and do not care about fuel consumption of the American car, is a fatal blow, but the blow is also synchronous, not aimed at Chrysler, the same General Motors and Ford also suffered a lot of impact.

But Chen Zhiwen is specifically eyeing Chrysler, not that Chrysler can turn over again like Li Iacocca in the 80s, in fact, the future Chrysler will be mediocre for a lifetime, and after the third oil crisis passes, it will return to its previous state, stocks, maybe it can come out of the current trough, but the increase will not be very high, if it is just to make money, then Chen Zhiwen might as well build some office buildings in the mainland, and it is more cost-effective than investing in it.

The reason for the investment in Chrysler is, of course, because, a few years later, a shocking merger in the automotive industry: Daimler's acquisition of Chrysler.

In the late 90s of the original history, the Daimler Group, which had developed to the extreme, fell into a situation where the business could not grow, and in order to seek a breakthrough, it planned to focus on the American market, because at that time, BMW sold much better than Mercedes-Benz in the United States, and there was also a direction to enter the low-cost market, such as Volkswagen and Toyota, and the potential of this market was much greater than that of the BBA market.

It's just that whether it is Mercedes-Benz's large-scale entry into the U.S. market, or Daimler's re-establishment of a mid-range car brand, it is very difficult, not only requires a large amount of funds, but also needs a ten-year time layout, and a very high probability of failure, but the acquisition of a ready-made enterprise, it is much easier, with Daimler's vision, to acquire the natural choice of the United States king-level car brand.

But the scale of General Motors is larger than that of Daimler, and it is difficult to say who will acquire whom, Ford is a little smaller, but the Ford family has completely controlled the Ford Group through various financial methods, and if you want to acquire, you must obtain the consent of the Ford family, but this is almost impossible, the Ford family has always regarded the Ford Group as its own, and outsiders will be hit even if they are a little threatened, such as the former Lee Iacocca, who was the president of Ford before entering Chrysler, but was driven away by the Ford family because of his high achievements. But it also fulfilled the myth of saving Chrysler, and besides, even if Ford was really acquired, the Ford family's special control over Ford would not be finished if it was accidentally transferred to the merged Daimler.

Therefore, in the end, the right one is Chrysler.

As a traverser, Chen Zhiwen naturally knows about the most exciting merger in the automotive industry, although the final outcome is not good, but the two did merge a few years later, so if at this time, he is the majority shareholder of Chrysler, and he will naturally become the majority shareholder of Daimler Benz. In addition, before the acquisition, Chen Zhiwen could also increase his Daimler stake to 4.99%, or even increase it to 9.99%, after the merger of the two auto giants, he will become one of the largest shareholders of Daimler, just like Geely in later generations.

Although you can't get any management rights from Daimler, as long as you are a major shareholder, there will always be many benefits, especially if your AMC's market positioning is not at the same level as Mercedes-Benz, so if you have a good relationship, it is possible to get some technical support and market assistance.

Besides, the meaning of making money is not to become a shareholder of a large number of large companies? Why else do you need so much cash? Cash or data in the bank is actually virtual, and converting them into actual assets can drive a large number of jobs, output value, tax revenue, and even the major development of an industry, as well as change the living habits of many people around the world, that is the real value. Otherwise, the difference between tens of billions of dollars and hundreds of millions of dollars will not be spent without death.

Mercedes-Benz is Chen Zhiwen's ultimate goal, anyway, to become the majority shareholder of the world's largest auto company, it must be only more valuable than taking money to build a house.

"The fall is very bad, Chrysler is the worst among the Big Three, and after Li Iacocca retires, it is even worse day by day." George said.

"Well, you know this Chrysler CEO, right?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"Acquaintance, we've met a few times before." George said.

"Okay, find a time to make an appointment, and say I want to see him." Chen Zhiwen said.

George asked, "On what grounds?" ”

"Let's just say, I want to invest in Chrysler." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"Okay, then I'll contact him, although it may not guarantee success, they should come out to meet you." George said that his boss's reputation in the United States is also very big, the electronics industry, the financial industry, and the automobile industry are not bad, such a person asks the CEO of Chrysler to come out, and the other party does not dare to put on a score, mainly because it is not necessary, and everyone has no hatred, and they will not make trouble for themselves.

"Okay." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

As Chen Zhiwen expected, Chrysler's current CEO Eaton heard of Chen Zhiwen's invitation and immediately arranged a time to meet him, and two days later, in a five-star Hilton hotel in Detroit, Chen Zhiwen met the heir of Lee Iacocca.

"Hello, Mr. Eaton." Chen Zhiwen said politely.

"Hello Mr. Chen, I have heard of your name for a long time, and when Mr. Iacocca was still in Chrysler, he spoke very highly of you." Eaton said with a smile.

"Oh, Iacocca is still like this?" Chen Zhiwen said in surprise.

"Yes, he commented, if you were an American, then Chrysler would definitely be acquired by you, and your performance in the capital market would be much higher than now." Eaton said.

"That's right." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said with a smile, if he was an American, he would have bought a fart AMC at the beginning, and it would be better to directly target Chrysler, although he was extremely indebted at the time, but he would not take it seriously if he knew the future, and besides, wouldn't there still be Iacocca?

If he can acquire Chrysler, it will be because Chrysler is larger, has a stronger technical background, and has more technicians, so whether it is to develop turbocharging or other fuel-saving technologies, it will be much stronger and faster, and it will be much easier and faster to enter the mainland, and it will be much easier and faster to form an automobile business empire in the future.

It's a pity that he is not, he will not change his nationality for the sake of an automobile industry, and business is not all, and besides, in the mainland, Hong Kong and even Southeast Asia, there are many industries, and the combined scale is much stronger than a Chrysler.

If he were an American, it would be impossible for Hong Kong to become the lifeblood of Hong Kong's commerce, and neither the British government nor the mainland government would allow an American to control Hong Kong to that extent.

Also, it is also because he has enough achievements in Hong Kong and Asia, and his career expansion in the United States will be smooth, if he was only a Chinese American at the beginning, he may not be able to achieve today's results, unless he directly crosses into a white American, then the upper limit may indeed be higher than now.

"Listen to Mr. George, Mr. Chen wants to invest in Chrysler? It can't be an acquisition, right? During Iacocca's reign, Chrysler carried out several mergers and acquisitions, annexing a European truck group, two small car brands in the United States and several auto parts companies, although the ultimate goal is to integrate these resources, so as to obtain greater benefits, but the imagination is beautiful, in fact did not succeed, but affected Chrysler's capital chain.

Originally, it could have persevered, but the emergence of the oil crisis made everyone frightened, for fear that the situation more than ten years ago would reappear, especially now that Japanese cars are produced in the United States, they have no way to persuade the US Congress to suppress Japanese cars.

Once the oil crisis lasts for a long time, Chrysler will inevitably fall into a crisis, so Eaton also needs to prepare early, not to mention others, at least to get enough cash flow first, so that it is safer, as for the introduction of other shareholders, for Chrysler's management, it doesn't matter, anyway, the equity has long been diluted to the point that shareholders can not unite, in companies like Europe and the United States, the management does not make big mistakes, it will not be threatened by the shareholders' meeting, and under the oil crisis, The company's long-term heavy losses are the biggest factor that may make them roll up and leave.

Therefore, when he knew that Chen Zhiwen had the intention to invest in Chrysler, Eaton hurriedly pushed away other things, and obtained funds in hand first, so everything would be much safer.

"I'm not interested in buying Chrysler, it's just a pure investment." Chen Zhiwen gave him a reassurance, there is such a thing as UAW, he must think carefully about the acquisition, and he may consider it when the mainland market is not open to the outside world in the early days, but now he will not give it to him for free.

"Well, why did you invest in Chrysler?" Eaton asked again.

"It's purely an economic investment, and I believe that the oil crisis will not last a lifetime, and after the price of oil is lowered, the U.S. auto industry will still rise." Chen Zhiwen explained casually that this is the only reason he can say, and it is in line with the basic investment logic anyway.

"Well, I don't know, how much does Mr. Chen want to invest?" Eaton asked again.

"30% shares, how?" Chen Zhiwen said that he really doesn't want to manage Chrysler, if it is a normal investment, it doesn't need so many shares, a dozen points are enough, rather than deliberately buying too much, it is better to take other money to invest in other companies, but in the future Chrysler and Daimler merger, Chrysler itself only has 4 percent of the shares of the new company, if he does not grasp a little more, then the shares will be less, therefore, now it is natural that the more the better.

"That's too much, Mr. Chen, if you own so many shares, wouldn't that be the same as buying Chrysler?" Eaton hurriedly shook his head and said, and at the same time doubted in his heart, this guy in front of him can't really buy Chrysler, right? Although the U.S. government has no restrictions on foreign capital investment in the auto industry, after all, it involves tens of thousands of U.S. companies, and any acquisition of foreign companies requires the consent of the U.S. government.

"I'm also more optimistic about Chrysler's future, so how much can you give on your side?" Chen Zhiwen asked rhetorically.

"Mr. Chen had already invested in Chrysler before, and he worked well with Mr. Iacocca at that time, so this time, we can give up 14.9% of the shares." Eaton said.

"This ratio is too low, you know, I can directly buy in the stock market, every 5%, just announce it, you can't stop me." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said.

The disclosure requirement of 5% of the stock shares in the United States law is simply public, and it is not like the mandatory requirement in Commonwealth law after the takeover offer is triggered, as long as you reach 5% and then make a public statement, then you have legal voting rights and can even become a director of the company, unless it is a legally protected industry, such as high-tech, media, etc.

In addition, when the shares exceed a certain number of shares, any step, whether it is selling shares or increasing holdings, needs to disclose the news in advance, set an approximate time, generally speaking, must be after the quarterly report of the listed company, this is to prevent the board of directors or major shareholders, relying on their own knowledge of the situation of the listed company, so as to cash out in advance before the news is made public.

There are many restrictions, but this can't stop Chen Zhiwen, not to mention, in the United States, Chen Zhiwen also has a special investment and legal team, which can easily deal with these problems, but they are all operated in the stock market, which will be more troublesome and will take a lot of time, in short, it is much simpler to directly discuss the private placement with Chrysler's board of directors, but if the total amount is too small, then Chen Zhiwen will not agree, this is a matter of principle, if you can't acquire enough shares, then why invest in Chrysler? He's not in it for the money, and it doesn't matter if you have more or less.

"But if you do this, your costs will inevitably increase significantly, and other investors will not let go of such an opportunity?" Eaton said.

"Yes, but it can still be successful, but if it does this, Chrysler will not get a penny, but other investors will benefit, so for you and me, it is a lose-lose, then it is better for us to cooperate again, you can't stop it, I get the share of Chrysler stock I want." Chen Zhiwen said with a light smile, this is also a tug-of-war, if you really force yourself to toss in the stock market, then you will spend more money and time costs, and Chrysler is also a huge loss, and they can't get the funds they need.

Of course, in fact, Chen Zhiwen has already arranged for someone to buy Chrysler, but it has not exceeded 5%.

"What about the 19.9 percent?" Eaton said again.

"In this way, 24.9%, my final bottom line." Chen Zhiwen said.

"I need to talk to the other directors of the company." Eaton said after a moment of thought.

"Yes." Chen Zhiwen agreed. (End of chapter)