Recently, Geely announced the acquisition of 9.69% of the voting shares of Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz , through its overseas corporate entities. The transaction size is about US$9 billion.
Daimler represents the highest standard in the world's luxury car manufacturing industry. It has a history of more than 130 years and owns the Mercedes-Benz Maybach brand. Geely has only been founded for more than 30 years, but it has become Daimler's largest shareholder.
From this acquisition case, we can see that Chinese capital is enthusiastic about mergers and acquisitions of European companies. According to law firm Baker McKenzie and research firm Rhodium Group, Chinese investment in Europe hit a new high in 2017, exceeding US$80 billion. Ten years ago, China's investment in Europe only maintained around US$1 billion.
The author interviewed Geely founder Li Shufu at the China-Europe Business Summit in October 2010. At that time, Geely had just announced that it would buy the Volvo car business from Ford for $1.8 billion. Subsequently, a wave of Chinese companies investing in European corporate fields was set off.
Li Shufu said at the time: "Volvo is a luxury car brand, and Geely is a popular brand. We will respect the principle of respecting Europe's mature business civilization, fully respect Volvo's brand value in leading the world, and promote the world's automobile industry to achieve breakthroughs in safety and environmental protection technology."
After 8 years, Geely has won another game. At present, the global business environment is more complex, but full of more opportunities. On the one hand, Chinese companies have stronger national confidence and cultural confidence; on the other hand, global high-end brand giants also have a more open and inclusive attitude towards Chinese companies and have a desire to further understand Chinese culture.
is not only in the manufacturing and automobile field, but also in the high-end luxury goods and fashion consumer markets, the layout of Chinese capital is also moving towards "high-end". Last month, Shandong Ruyi announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Swiss luxury brand Bally. Industry insiders estimate that the acquisition is about 600 million euros. A few days later, Fosun International announced the acquisition of French haute couture fashion brand Jeanne Lanvin and became the controlling shareholder. People close to Lanvin told the author that the scale of the acquisition could reach 100 million euros.
Just as these two acquisitions were announced, European fashion giants announced their financial reports. Italian luxury brand Tod’s performed poorly in fiscal 2017, with sales falling more than 4% year-on-year to 936 million euros. To this end, Tod’s announced the implementation of a new brand plan. British shoe designer Charlotte Olympia filed a bankruptcy protection application in the US court because its physical stores in the United States have been unprofitable for a long time.
Overseas high-end brands have weak growth in the global market, providing opportunities for Chinese companies to acquire. Data report from Bain Company shows that in 2017, the overall scale of the global luxury goods market grew by only 5%, but the growth rate of luxury goods consumption in the mainland Chinese market reached an astonishing 20%. The demand for high-end brands by Chinese consumers also provides huge development potential for international brands to enter the Chinese market.
Asian high-end lifestyle platform Seku Founder CEO Li Rixue Just visited the European luxury goods market last month. After meeting with these executives of European companies, he was very moved. Li Rixue told the author: "First of all, foreign companies have put down their noble attitude and no longer excluded Chinese companies' mergers and acquisitions; on the other hand, they have begun to accept the integration of culture and are willing to take the initiative to understand Chinese culture, which is very important."
Li Rixue believes that the output of "culture" is more important than "selling goods". He said that after he meets with foreign executives, he often leaves WeChat contact information. During festivals, foreigners will also wish him New Year's greetings through WeChat. "This shows that the cultural barriers have been broken, and Chinese and foreign cultures have gradually begun to move towards integration." Li Rixue said.
The globalization strategy of Chinese enterprises is standing in a rare period of opportunity in history. On the one hand, Chinese capital invests in high-quality overseas assets, in the context of China's consumption upgrading, can introduce overseas high-end brands and lifestyles into China, allowing Chinese consumers to experience different cultures and products; on the other hand, it can also help those overseas brands open up a broader online and offline market in China.Based on such a "win-win" goal, we will see more cases of overseas acquisitions of Chinese companies this year.
comes from the private equity network under Qingke. Statistics show that in January 2018, Chinese companies experienced 19 overseas mergers and acquisitions, involving a total amount of US$4.7 billion. According to a recent report released by PwC, China's merger and acquisition market will grow in 2018 compared with 2017, close to or even exceed the historical record in 2016. High technology, industry and consumption are the most active areas of overseas investment.
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