Chapter 764 Raising Funds
The next afternoon, Song Yuanchao received Xu Hui in his study.
“That’s all…?” After listening to Xu Hui’s report, Song Yuanchao was a little surprised.
"Yes, Mr. Song, due to time constraints, this is the current situation we have." Xu Hui nodded.
"Then is there anything unusual with his funds?" Song Yuanchao asked.
Xu Hui looked embarrassed and shook her head. "It's hard to understand. You know Boss Liu's working style, especially the reason why he teamed up with Shenghua before. So I think even if he has any unusual changes in funds, we will never notice it. But Mr. Song, I can inquire about this matter through my relationship with the bank, but I think the possibility is very small."
"Let's ask around first." Song Yuanchao expressed his understanding. He stood up and walked a few steps in the room. After thinking for a while, he turned around and asked, "Sister Hui, do you think if we increase the shareholding ratio of Da Liu Company, will it be beneficial or detrimental to our Shenghua?"
Xu Hui seemed to know that Song Yuanchao would ask her this question a long time ago, and she immediately answered: "From my personal point of view, I do not recommend Shenghua to increase its shareholding in the other company."
"Oh, why do you say that? Tell me in detail."
"There are three main reasons. First, we cannot be sure of Mr. Liu's real intention to sell his shares. Moreover, Shenghua is at a critical moment in its listing process. Once we withdraw funds to purchase shares, it will be troublesome from a procedural point of view. Second, the home appliance industry is not our main business. We only hold shares in this company to consider cooperation in some products and equipment. As for the third reason, even if we increase our shareholding ratio in this company, from the perspective of the overall equity structure, Mr. Liu is still the controlling shareholder of the company, and there is no change to our position in the company."
Xu Hui's words were simple and clear. Song Yuanchao returned to the sofa and sat down, lighting a cigarette and thinking about the matter quietly.
Last night, Song Yuanchao called Xu Hui and asked her to check the real intention of Liu Da's doing this, but today Xu Hui told him that she did not find anything really reliable. She only learned through channels that Liu Da was dissatisfied with the home appliance company before.
This dissatisfaction is not about the control of the company or internal reasons of the company, because after Liu Cixin staged a comeback, the control of the company has returned to Liu's hands, and all the shareholders who had conflicts with him before have been kicked out. His so-called dissatisfaction is mainly because the profits of home appliances in overseas markets are constantly declining.
A few years ago, with his keen vision, Liu shifted the dominant direction of product exports from the original Middle East and Southeast Asian markets to the North American market. Relying on the huge North American market, he expanded the company to its current scale in a very short period of time.
At that time, the company's products sold very well in North America, and the profits were also very good. The sales of its flagship product, electric fans, continued to rise in North America. In the first year, electric fans achieved a huge sales volume of 240,000 units in the North American market. For several consecutive years, the North American market alone brought the company hundreds of millions in profits.
However, with the passage of time and the emergence of market competitors, the sales of Liu's products in the North American market are gradually becoming unsatisfactory. In order to maintain market share, it can only win by price in the competition, which has led to a continuous decline in profits.
The initial high profits are gone forever. Now the profits of electric fans in the North American market have dropped from nearly half of the initial profits to only about 4%-3%. Such a huge gap has made Liu privately tell his friends that the good days of making home appliances are over.
But if one concludes that Liu is going to withdraw from the home appliance industry just because of this one sentence, Song Yuanchao simply doesn't believe it.
The reason is very simple, because Liu has not only set up a factory in Pengcheng, but also transferred some products to the mainland market through cooperation with Shenghua. Although the profits of the North American market are decreasing year by year, the potential of the mainland market is very huge. Cooperation with Shenghua has already laid a market foundation, and since this year, the sales of water dispenser equipment and other home appliances in the mainland are also on the rise. As a qualified businessman, Liu will not fail to understand this.
In addition, if Liu really wants to withdraw from the home appliance industry, he will not just transfer a few shares to Song Yuanchao. I am afraid he will directly transfer all the shares.
According to the current share ratio, the number of shares transferred by Liu Da is just outside the red line. That is to say, even if he transfers these shares to Song Yuanchao, with the remaining shares in his hands, Liu Da will still be the controlling shareholder of the company, and his position in the company will not be shaken at all.
What Xu Hui said was right. In this case, there was no need for Shenghua to take over these shares. At best, the proportion of shares would be slightly larger, but what was the use of that?
Xu Hui also didn't say something else, but Song Yuanchao heard it. If Shenghua wanted to enter the home appliance industry, it could start from scratch.
Shenghua is not without some foundation in the home appliance industry. Shenghua Electronics, a subsidiary of Shenghua Telecom, can serve as a foundation. By investing funds and equipment on the basis of Shenghua Electronics, the goal can also be achieved by developing the home appliance industry. Why go around in circles?
So, what is Liu's real purpose? Is he short of money? Of course he is. Not to mention that Liu is already a billionaire , and he once again expanded his assets through stock market operations last year. From this point of view, Liu is not short of money at all. It can even be said that his cash flow is very good.
Although the true situation of Liu's funds has not been found, and it is impossible to prove what Liu's next move will be, Song Yuanchao can conclude that Liu must be preparing something secretly, but he just didn't let him know. Maybe Liu told him that the share transfer was a smokescreen deliberately thrown by this guy, with the purpose of taking this opportunity to confuse him, or for other purposes.
Song Yuanchao couldn't guess Liu's intention for a moment, but he vaguely felt that something was going on behind the scenes.
Xu Hui did not urge Song Yuanchao, but sat quietly by the side waiting for him to make a decision. It was unknown how long it had been before Song Yuanchao made up his mind and said to her, "Let's leave it at that. We regret to reject Boss Liu's suggestion, but you can tell Boss Liu on my behalf that if he needs funding, as a friend and partner, we may be able to help."
As soon as Song Yuanchao said this, Xu Hui smiled immediately. She nodded and said, "I know what to do. I will continue to inquire about the news from the bank, but don't worry, I will be careful about this matter and will never let Boss Liu know."
Song Yuanchao gave a praising smile, and then chatted with Xu Hui about other topics. After half an hour, Xu Hui got up to say goodbye, and Song Yuanchao personally saw Xu Hui out.
When Liu received Xu Hui's reply, he was very surprised, but he behaved very politely on the phone. He smiled and said that since Shenghua had no such intention, then forget it. Originally, he just wanted to use this method to thank Song Yuanchao. After all, they were all friends.
In this case, we can cooperate in the future. When Xu Hui asked Liu indirectly whether he needed financial support, Liu said cheerfully that he didn't need it at all. If he needed it, he would contact Shenghua on his own initiative. Then he chatted with Xu Hui for a few words and hung up the phone.
"Honey, have you finished your call? Why haven't you come yet?" A delicate voice sounded in the room. It was different from the voice of the little star at the cocktail party last time. It seemed that Liu Da had a new girlfriend now.
"What's wrong? Baby, are you anxious? Just wait for me obediently..." Da Liu said this to the room with a smile, then he frowned and thought for a while, closed the door first, and then picked up the phone and dialed a number.
"Second brother, it's me!"
The call was quickly connected. When the voice of his younger brother Xiao Liu came from the other end of the line, Da Liu first introduced his home address, and then directly asked: "How is the thing I asked you to do going?"
"Boss, don't worry, this matter is almost done. The bank has agreed and said that they will go through the procedures in the next few days. Once the procedures are completed..."
"That's all nonsense!" Before Xiao Liu could finish his words, Da Liu interrupted him rudely: "I just want the result, not the process. I want to ask you, when can everything be done?"
"This... this..." Xiao Liu hesitated and said, "It will take at most half a month. Yes! It can be done in half a month."
"Half a month? You loser, where do I get so much time? I'll give you a week! You must get it done in just one week!" Da Liu cursed, with a hint of anger in his words.
"One week? Boss, this time is too tight. I'm afraid it's not enough."
"Whether it's enough or not is your business. What I want is the result! Do you understand the result?" Da Liu cursed again. Suddenly, he felt that the temperature in the room was a little high. He pulled off the tie around his neck and threw it aside, and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt.
"What was the name of that foreign guy in the bank?"
"Philip?"
"Yes! That's Philip!" Da Liu whispered, "Tell him that as long as he can get it done in a week, I'll give him the benefits I promised him last time. If he can't get it done, then forget it. Let him go! I'll find someone else."
"Understood, sir. Don't worry, I'll go find him right away."
"Remember, you have to be quick! And you have to keep it secret. If the news leaks out, I'll throw you into the sea to feed the sharks!"
After saying that, without waiting for Xiao Liu to answer, Da Liu hung up the phone. He sat on the sofa with a gloomy expression for a while before returning to normal.
A few days later, Liu finally got the news that what he asked his brother to do was finally done. Hearing the result, Liu felt relieved and his mood became much better.
