Chapter 245 Merger and Acquisition Completed
Fund companies invest in Giordano simply in the hope of pushing it to go public and then cashing in on the profits; even if they intend to hold the shares for a long time, they will still push for a listing.

Roger had to admire his boss. The all-round suppression was enough to scare the fund company.

The boss’s media won’t let you advertise, and the boss’s shopping mall won’t let you rent a store, but the impact is not fatal.

But it will have an impact after all. If the Jeanswest brand continues to exert targeted pressure, it will be difficult for Giordano to grow.

Of course, the real reason why Giordano depreciated is that the Jeanswest brand is good enough and has taken away Giordano's market.

Roger nodded and said, "Well, I believe the fund company will cooperate with me! However, I heard that Li Ziying only wants to sell most of the shares and keep a small portion of the shares. He may also want to intervene in Giordano!"

"Impossible! As long as we put pressure on him, he won't do this, otherwise the money he gets might be better.

I'll give you a standard, HK$6 million to HK$7 million, and then we'll take it down. If we can't take it down, our Jeanswest brand will launch a massive attack."

"Ok!"

At this time, the annual profit of Crocodile Garments Group was already around HK$4.5 million, and it had become a giant company in Hong Kong's manufacturing industry.

Despite such good development, Liu Zhicheng never thought about entering the European and American markets in the past two years. He believed that it would be more appropriate to enter the European and American markets in the mid-to-late 1990s.

At present, the main direction of Crocodile Garment Group is to develop in Asia, including RB, South Korea, Mainland China, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, etc.

Soon, the Jeanswest brand began to take action, advertising heavily in major media and TV stations, and celebrities came out to endorse it.

Suddenly, Giordano was under great pressure. There was even news that the mainland was planning to permanently ban Giordano, which meant that Giordano would lose a big market.

Roger privately found the heads of the two fund companies and explained to them: "If we cooperate, LEIT Group can give Giordano a brand new look, and it will not be banned in the mainland in the future, making Giordano a real Asian brand.

If they don’t cooperate, the two brands will have to compete. Given Giordano’s current situation, its quality, service, style and other aspects are not as good as Jeanswest’s. The overall situation is not favorable to Giordano. That would be a nightmare!”

The heads of the two fund companies looked at each other, and soon they compromised. First of all, they had not yet acquired Giordano, and secondly, Giordano was actually in a bad situation now, otherwise Fat Li Lao would not have sold it.

Roger continued, “Well, let one of our offshore companies join in, and you two will take the lead in purchasing Giordano at a low price!
There is a hard requirement that Fat Li Lao cannot own a share of Giordano, otherwise Giordano will be restricted! "

A fund manager said: "If there is no Fat Li Lao, will Giordano's business be affected?"

Roger said confidently: "Our Crocodile Group is a large comprehensive group with a wealth of talents. Once the acquisition of Giordano is completed, we will quickly send a management team to carry out 'brand reshaping'.

By then, Giordano will be completely renewed. We will take advantage of the booming stock market to list the company, and you will make the most profit no matter how you deal with it!"

As the head of the fund, he is naturally very familiar with the Crocodile Garment Group. Under the chairmanship of tycoon Mr. Liu Zhicheng, this company has achieved amazing performance growth in recent years.

In the end, the two sides reached a 10% agreement. Crocodile Group continued to exert pressure and a fund company took the lead in the negotiations.

As for Fei Li Lao, he entered the media industry this year and founded Apple Weekly, which has performed well.

Now he can earn about 80 Hong Kong dollars a month, which has become his second stable source of income. So he plans to sell Giordano.

It has to be sold. If it doesn't sell, it will be squeezed out by others and become worthless. The Jeanswest brand is willing to sacrifice profits to suppress Giordano.

When he saw the brains of the two fund companies again, Fei Li Lao was poured with a basin of cold water.

"Mr. Li, given Giordano's current situation, our two companies are very concerned!"

Fei Li Lao immediately said: "You two, this situation is only temporary. The Jeanswest brand cannot continue to carry out such large-scale advertising promotions. They also need to make a profit.

Moreover, our Giordano sales were not affected much, and our sales in Taiwan increased very fast."

"Mr. Li, I'm sorry! The market has announced that it has banned you, which gives us a bad outlook.

Therefore, we plan to introduce a third company to participate in the acquisition of Giordano, but the price can only be HK$6 million, and you must completely withdraw from Giordano, not leaving a single share. "

Fei Li Lao was immediately furious. He was still thinking of selling it for 8 to 10 billion Hong Kong dollars, but now he offered 6 million Hong Kong dollars. Who is he looking down on?

"I won't sell it, I'll keep it for myself to run!"

The two fund companies would certainly not be fooled easily. One of them said, “There is no other way. Mr. Li, you should think carefully about why the Jeanswest brand launched a full-scale attack at this critical juncture and why the authorities suddenly announced that they would ban Giordano.

Think about it carefully, did you offend a big shot in the past? Given the means of that big shot, he may not care whether a brand is profitable or not.

If this continues for a long time, Giordano will depreciate. More importantly, the current economic downturn in Hong Kong and the sluggish tourism industry will also lead to a decline in Giordano's performance."

40% of retail sales in Hong Kong are supplied by tourists.

Fei Li Lao was immediately shocked. Liu Zhicheng's reputation was beyond words. However, although he was afraid, he was still unhappy about the price being cut by 30% or 40%.

"Let's talk about this later. I need to think about this and come up with a strategy for Giordano!"

"Okay, I hope Mr. Li will consider it carefully! The reason why we are willing to buy it is because we hope that after we take over, we can get rid of the targeted attacks from bigwigs and officials. Otherwise, who would dare to take action at this time!"

.........

A week later, Fat Li Lao finally realized that it would be difficult to sell his Giordano at a high price under the heavy pressure of the Crocodile Group.

However, he also understood that the Crocodile Group must be behind the two fund companies.

In other words, the Crocodile Shirt Group has set its sights on Giordano, so it is settling both old and new accounts with him, and is not about to give up until it achieves its goal.

Faced with absolute strength, Fei Li Lao decided to surrender and start negotiations with the Crocodile Shirt Group.

Of course, the biggest reason was that he had intended to sell Giordano and concentrate on the media industry in order to achieve his ulterior 'ambitions'.

He wanted to sell it for HK$8-10 billion, but the Crocodile Group not only wanted to buy it, but also wanted to lower the price.

Finally, he contacted Crocodile Group through two fund companies and invited its president Chen Shiwen to negotiate in person.

Otherwise, he would rather not sell it. Of course, it is just a scare tactic. If he does not sell Giordano, Giordano will never be able to enter the mainland market (slander).

Huang Qisong brought Roger and, under the leadership of the heads of the two fund companies, came to Giordano's headquarters.

Before the negotiation, Huang Qisong, general manager of Crocodile Garment Group, reported to Liu Zhicheng. Liu Zhicheng's answer was that the purchase price should not exceed HK$7 million, and 40% of the shares should still be given to the two fund companies, and the company should seek to go public.

Huang Qisong knew and was confident that Giordano was not a must-buy product for the Crocodile Garment Group.

But if Fat Li Lao does not agree, the Jeanswest brand will still suppress Giordano. Of course, it will be a lose-lose situation, but who can blame the Crocodile Group for its wealth!
After arriving at the Giordano conference room, Fat Li Lao felt unwilling and resigned.

"Why should the Jeanswest brand do something that will hurt both sides? Besides, your promotion will also lower the quality of the brand!" Fei Li Lao wanted to take the initiative.

Unfortunately, Huang Qisong said directly: "Mr. Li, we are here to negotiate the acquisition of Giordano, not to discuss the overall policy of our company. Today, we will only talk about business, not other things!"

What is domineering? This is domineering!

The heads of the two fund companies thought so. The executives were so domineering. If their boss came, he would probably scold Fei Li directly.

Fei Li Lao was choked up immediately. Others didn't play by the rules at all!
"What if I don't sell Giordano!"

"No, you will sell it. Otherwise, why did you ask us to come here? Mr. Li, we in Crocodile Group all compete fairly. On the contrary, you used to play many tricks. Of course, we are here to buy your company today. What's your price?"

"8 million Hong Kong dollars!"

"No, 6 million Hong Kong dollars!"

Seeing that the two sides could no longer continue the talks, people from the two fund companies got involved and tried to mediate.

Finally, we finally negotiated to HK$6.9 million!
The money must be paid in installments, and Fei Li Lao must cooperate with the new consortium to take over the company.

When the Crocodile Garment Group announced that it would join forces with two fund companies to acquire Giordano, it caused a public opinion storm in Hong Kong.

In the past two years, the two companies have been competing fiercely, and the Jeanswest brand has come from behind and is superior to Giordano in all aspects.

However, everyone is curious, what does Crocodile Group need two casual fashion brands for?
Crocodile Group Building.

Liu Zhicheng convened a high-level meeting of the group. At this time, the power of the Crocodile Group had been concentrated in the hands of the group's management, and the group had great management capabilities.

Of course, people like the presidents of important sub-brands also work part-time in the group.

The meeting officially began, and Liu Zhicheng said: "I am here to tell you about a concept called 'fast-moving consumer goods brand'. This is the path that Jeanswest will take. How can this brand expand its market? It is like spreading oil stains. When promoting overseas, first open stores in large supermarkets in central cities, and then spread out to achieve low-cost store operations through a unique product planning, development and sales system."

Everyone was listening intently. It seemed that the boss was talking about a concept, and the rest required everyone to summarize, practice, summarize, and practice.
"GAP in the United States, ZARA in Spain, and Uniqlo in RB are all similar brands in this industry. You can pay attention to them!"

Everyone nodded!
In fact, the group has a business unit that specializes in clothing research. However, Liu Zhicheng proposed this, and they also avoided many detours.

Then, Liu Zhicheng defined Giordano's style.

"From now on, Giordano will take the route of mid-range casual fashion, with prices slightly higher than Jeanswest, and its stores will adopt a franchise model, allowing for franchising, but they will be planned and managed by us."

Crocodile shirts are mid-to-high-end clothing, Giordano is mid-to-low-end clothing, and Jeanswest is mid-to-low-end clothing. Of course, the styles are somewhat different.

Huang Qisong said: "This year Giordano entered the mainland and opened exclusive stores."

Liu Zhicheng said: "There is no problem with this, but we need to wait until the second half of the year to integrate and control it first!"

"Ok!"

Because the company intends to operate independently and prepare for a listing, all funds for the acquisition of Giordano are provided by loans.

Moreover, the loan will be repaid with Giordano's future dividends.

Giordano's original profit level was around HK$1 million. After being transformed by the Crocodile Garment Group, its profits would soon increase a lot, and it would be easy to repay the loan.

…………

Liu Zhicheng has learned a lot about real estate over the years, and knows as much as the heads of several large real estate companies.

He regards the Huangpu Group as a building factory, and he would never think of stopping production all year round except for the Spring Festival.

They will only continue to produce, sell, reinvest, re-produce, and re-sell. In short, they want to keep the prices low and the products good, and the goods will keep turning around.

However, this established purpose has been implemented all the time, and there are also differences in urgency and importance.

That is to say, there are many steps from purchasing "raw materials" to designing and building "finished products" and then selling or renting them.

Which process should be accelerated at which time, and which stage should be slowed down, is the highest level of control skill.

It all depends on whether the leader has a smart mind and flexible methods.

On this point, no real estate developer in Hong Kong can compare to Liu Zhicheng.

At the beginning of March, Hong Kong enters the season of spring flowers.

In the morning, Liu Zhicheng attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the large shopping mall "Tsuen New World" in Tsuen Wan. After the completion of this shopping mall, it will have a shopping area of ​​58 square feet and a total of 156 stores.

The entire project consists of four floors above ground and two floors underground. The construction period is 22 months and it is expected to open during the Spring Festival of 1992.

Hao Qingwen smiled and said, "Boss, this project has arranged a lot of bus routes, such as the circular route from Tsuen Wan Railway Station to Tsuen Wan Plaza, so that Tsuen Wan New World can absorb a large number of residents from the New Territories."

Liu Zhicheng nodded and said, "Tsuen Wan Plaza and Citywalk are another masterpiece of our Whampoa Group in the New Territories commercial real estate. The more citizens the commercial radiates, the better. Transportation is very important."

“Well, we will take it seriously!”

There are many commendable designs in Citywalk, for example: the center is a large atrium, and the musical fountain is built along the steps. When there are large-scale events, the sides of each floor of the shopping mall and the elevators for going up and down can allow visitors to stop and watch.

A "sky restaurant" is set up on the third floor, and the exterior walls have been changed from concrete walls to glass walls, allowing diners to look out to the Tsuen Wan Town Hall outside.

The fifth floor (top terrace) is an outdoor recreation plaza with special gardening arrangements, themed amusement equipment and outdoor performance venues in an effort to attract young family customers in the area.

The entire front exterior wall is made of glass curtain walls, which makes passing tourists unable to resist going in to stroll around.

(End of this chapter)