Chapter 834 Investment
Pétain Road.
This is a very famous road in Shanghai. Guo Tao is now on this road, standing in front of a house facing the street.
This is the office of Zhongxing Investment in Shanghai. From the outside, it looks no different from the ordinary villas in the surrounding area, but there is a nameplate hanging in an inconspicuous place with the logo of Zhongxing Investment on it.
After hesitating for a moment, Guo Tao pressed the doorbell. A moment later, a young girl in professional attire opened the door and asked Guo Tao why he came.
When Guo Tao took out the business card Du Wenting gave him and told the other party who he was, the other party politely invited Guo Tao in.
After entering, Guo Tao found that the interior of the villa had been renovated. Compared with ordinary residential villas, the decoration here appeared brighter and simpler, which was more suitable for office use.
He led Guo Tao to wait in the reception room for a while, and then went out. After a while, a man in his thirties wearing a suit and tie came in, shook hands with Guo Tao who stood up, and introduced himself.
This man is Liang Baoluo, the head of Zhongxing Investment’s Shanghai office. He is from Hong Kong and speaks Mandarin quite well, but if you listen carefully you can still hear a slight Hong Kong accent.
"Hello, Mr. Guo. Please take a seat. Would you like tea or coffee?"
"Tea, please."
Liang Baoluo nodded to the girl behind him. After a while, the girl brought a cup of tea and a cup of coffee, put the tea in front of Guo Tao, and then put the coffee on Liang Baoluo's side.
Then the girl sat down aside and took out a notebook and pen, apparently to take notes of the conversation.
Liang Baoluo did not beat around the bush and told Guo Tao directly that he already had a preliminary understanding of his situation, but the details still needed to be inquired and confirmed in person.
Liang Baoluo asked Guo Tao if he had brought the company's information and the order contract. Guo Tao nodded and said he had brought it. He immediately opened the briefcase he carried with him, took out the information and handed it over.
After receiving the documents, Liang Baoluo gestured to Guo Tao to wait, and then he began to read them carefully. He first looked at Guo Tao's factory registration information, then looked at Guo Tao's previous loan information and repayment records at the credit union, and then looked at Guo Tao's current factory equipment and personnel structure information. After reading these, he continued to look through Guo Tao's factory's current order situation and foreign merchants' transaction records.
This lasted for a long while, during which Liang Baoluo asked Guo Tao a few questions, and Guo Tao answered them frankly.
After reading all of them, Liang Baoluo put the information back on the table and continued to ask Guo Tao some questions. Guo Tao answered them without hiding anything, while the young girl next to him kept taking notes without interrupting.
More than an hour later, Liang Baoluo smiled and nodded, “Mr. Guo, I have understood your situation. I would like to ask how much money you need at present?”
Guo Tao had thought about this question before he came here, and he answered: "600,000, 600,000 is enough."
"600,000..." Liang Baoluo thought for a moment, then said to Guo Tao: "Based on your company's current operating conditions, 600,000 alone may not be enough to completely complete the company's equipment upgrade, and there will also be a lot of pressure on subsequent production and raw material reserves, isn't that right?"
Guo Tao hesitated and said, "You are right, but from the current situation, there is no need to upgrade everything yet. Some basic equipment can still be used. I just want to solve some key equipment problems first, and then expand production appropriately to ensure subsequent production and order needs. As for the others, it won't be too late to improve them slowly later."
"That's not a bad idea, I understand." Liang Baoluo nodded with a smile: "But Mr. Guo, since you have decided to take this step, why not take this opportunity to go further. And a comprehensive change will also be quite beneficial to the development of your company."
"Of course, I understand your thinking. It's mainly because of the company's management and control rights, right?"
After hearing what Liang Baoluo said, Guo Tao nodded.
"Mr. Guo, do you know anything about our company?"
"This... I've heard a little about it, but I don't know much. I only know that your company is engaged in investment. You should invest in some potential companies, thereby acquiring the company's equity, and then obtain corresponding profits from the company's future operations, right?" Guo Tao thought for a while and replied.
Liang Baoluo smiled and said to Guo Tao: "You are right, but investing in a company is not just that simple..."
Liang Baoluo introduced Guo Tao to the situation and operation of the investment company. After listening carefully to Liang Baoluo's explanation, Guo Tao had a deeper understanding of the investment company.
"For your company's situation, from the perspective of future operations and development, the amount of 600,000 is still a bit conservative. My suggestion is to increase the amount of funds, but the specific increase needs to be verified by your factory before making a decision. Of course, what you are concerned about is nothing more than the issue of equity and management rights. You can rest assured that we will give you several options to choose from. Whether our company invests in you or you accept our investment, this is a two-way choice. What do you think?"
Guo Tao thought about it and felt that what Liang Baoluo said was not wrong, but Guo Tao was still wary of investing in the investment company. The main reason was because of the issue of company control and management rights mentioned by Liang Baoluo just now.
Although his company (factory) is only a small business, it was built by Guo Tao with all his efforts. It was not easy to grow from nothing to the current scale. If he gave up his business just for these investments, Guo Tao would never do so.
Liang Baoluo also saw Guo Tao's concerns and gave this suggestion. Guo Tao hesitated and said that he could first take a look at the subsequent cooperation plan. If it was suitable, he would accept it. If it was not suitable, he could only have the opportunity to cooperate again in the future.
Seeing Guo Tao's answer, Liang Baoluo stood up and shook hands with Guo Tao, saying that this was no problem. Next, the investment company would conduct a practical evaluation and plan for Guo Tao's company as soon as possible, and Guo Tao only needed to cooperate.
Zhongxing Investment was very quick and sent people to Guo Tao's company that afternoon to begin evaluation and plan-making work.
Because Guo Tao's company was small and had only been established a short time ago, and Guo Tao had been a leader of a state-owned enterprise, he attached great importance to the financial system and had a complete account book, so many tasks were completed quickly. In just a few days, on the 29th day of the lunar year, the investment company completed all the work and provided several solutions.
After reading the plans, Guo Tao thought about it for a long time and finally decided on one of the plans, selling 39% of the equity to Zhongxing Investment in exchange for Zhongxing Investment's 1.5 million yuan of capital injection. In addition, Zhongxing Investment will not interfere with the normal operation of the enterprise, but will send a financial staff member to the enterprise to ensure the use of investment funds and daily financial work.
Early in the morning on New Year's Eve, Song Yuanchao received feedback from Zhongxing Investment. Liang Baoluo told Song Yuanchao that the formal agreement had been completed, and after the Spring Festival, the funds from Zhongxing Investment would be deposited into the account of Guo Tao's company. In addition, for the equipment renewal and upgrade of Guo Tao's company, Zhongxing Investment also helped Guo Tao find more suitable suppliers through its own channels. If there are no accidents, the company's upgrade can be completed in a month at most.
After knowing the news, Song Yuanchao felt relieved. He didn't expect that the first investment of his investment company would be in the husband of his old classmate. This could be considered as an unexpected blessing.
In fact, Guo Tao's company is not worth the money at all. You should know that although Guo Tao took out all his family assets when he founded this company, the money added up is not much. Even though this company has gradually grown under Guo Tao's management over the past year or so and has made a lot of profit, but considering the current scale of the company and the existing equipment and assets, let alone 1.5 million, these shares are probably not worth even one-third of the assets.
But the problem is that there are three main factors in this investment project.
The first factor is the products of Guo Tao’s company. Currently, Guo Tao’s products can be said to be relatively unique in China, and have also received long-term orders from abroad.
Compared with Guo Tao, Zhongxing Investment Company has much stronger channels. Zhongxing Company has learned about Guo Tao's current major client, Mr. Cork. After learning about the company represented by Mr. Cork, it can be determined that as long as Guo Tao can ensure the quality and supply of the products, the future profits can be very considerable relying solely on the retro series of products.
The second factor is Guo Tao’s personal reasons. Guo Tao is a rare talent both in terms of technology and management ability. People like him are very worthy of investment.
Although the investment company's investment target is the enterprise itself, in fact, it often pays more attention to the enterprise's operator. For the investment industry, selecting excellent operators or founders far exceeds the evaluation of the enterprise itself. In addition, although Guo Tao's company is currently inconspicuous, it has great potential. Although the current investment seems to be a loss for the investment company, it is still worthwhile to evaluate from the perspective of the future.
As for the third factor, it is Song Yuanchao's factor. Song Yuanchao had given instructions to invest in Guo Tao's company, and it was natural to give Guo Tao some convenience and support under appropriate circumstances. Of course, Song Yuanchao could have chosen not to do so. With Song Yuanchao's financial resources, it would have been easy for him to lend money to Guo Tao privately, but Song Yuanchao did not do so.
To put it in one sentence, friendship is friendship, and business is business. Since we are in the business world, many things are better done according to the rules of the business world. If Song Yuanchao lent money to Guo Tao out of his own pocket, it would be very simple to solve the problem, but doing so would break the rules of the business world and would also lead to subtle changes in the relationship between him and Guo Tao and his wife.
Many times, dealing with problems from a personal perspective and from a business perspective are completely different concepts. Song Yuanchao has experienced this truth very well. There is an old saying that goes, "help in emergencies but not in poverty." In fact, the same is true in the business world. If personal feelings are involved in business, the relationship between everyone may become sour, and there will be troubles of all kinds in the future.
It is precisely because of this that Song Yuanchao would avoid such a possibility through an investment company. This is not only to protect his own interests, but also to prevent Guo Tao and his wife from having direct financial dealings with him, thereby ensuring equal cooperation between the two parties.
In addition, Song Yuanchao himself was indeed optimistic about Guo Tao's company. Although Guo Tao's company was not a high-tech company, it should be noted that even after decades, industry would still have a place. A company that specialized and refined itself would have a bright future. Compared with high-tech companies, it might not make huge profits in a short period of time, but in the long run, this investment would not be bad.
