2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 567 A Wealthy and Conscientious Entrepreneur
The meeting was essentially a waste of time.

In the afternoon, as expected, the group of executives who had been stunned by Boss Tan in the morning were once again shocked in the afternoon.

Especially Huang Ming and others who are located in Hunan Province.

"Have you seen the news? Let's pause for a bit. There's been an emergency in China, so we need to stop for now, but we can make preparations privately."

"I understand. It's good that you went back on the 11th. If you had stayed abroad, there might have been negative public opinion."

Shen Nanpeng was also very relieved. For entrepreneurs like Tan Jincheng, who have a very high level of online public opinion and a very distinct personal image, it is actually a double-edged sword for the company.

If he maintains this image or persona, it will undoubtedly be very beneficial to his companies.

However, if a public opinion crisis occurs, it can be very damaging. During such major emergencies, willpower is the most unified, and this is also true for the propaganda front. If someone is stranded abroad and gets caught in the crossfire, they can only accept it.

"Yes, it's a good thing I was in a hurry to come back and take over Yangzi Automobile, otherwise things would have been really hard to explain."

Tan Jincheng, who came from a later generation, naturally knew how unreasonable the internet could be when it was not. Cyberbullying was everywhere. It didn't matter if it was a small matter; a little bit of criticism was fine. But on important issues of principle, there had to be no problems.

You can make up an excuse that it's because of work, but there's no need to.

"It's been so many disasters, with the beginning of the year and this one too. You should take care of things back home first. I'll prepare things on my own slowly. Anyway, this isn't something that can be decided in a day."

While such events may not affect the company's normal operations, some important matters will definitely have to be postponed.

Tan Jincheng also breathed a sigh of relief. For the time being, the plan to acquire Land Rover is still very difficult for Flash Group, mainly because the physical company does not have a good financing platform and has very few financing means.

To broaden financing channels, the primary task is to acquire Changfeng Group as soon as possible so that Flash Technology can achieve a backdoor listing.

I had just finished contacting Shen Nanpeng when Xie Hongjun, who was attending the meeting today, came knocking on my door. It was already 3:30 pm, an hour after the incident.

"What should we do? Should we still pursue the acquisition?"

Xie Hongjun, who works within the system, understands the significance of this matter even better than Tan Jincheng. He wants to do it, and if he can succeed, he will be incredibly awesome. He is aware of the Volvo acquisition, but the progress is quite slow.

Unlike Jin Chuanling and Wang Qinghua, Xie Hongjun was shocked by Tan Jincheng's audacity, but he was not afraid of this earth-shattering plan. On the contrary, he was somewhat excited.

"Let's stop for now and prepare some supplies. Also, we need to speed up the preparations for acquiring the entire Changfeng Group. Having another financing platform will help us raise more funds."

The market has closed. There were no significant changes in the performance of A-shares today. Changfeng Group rose 2.33% today, and the stock price is still adjusting below 10 yuan, but the trend is very good.

The A-share market was generally on the rise, and there was no sharp drop after 2:30 pm, which seemed very strange.

Unlike at the beginning of the year, Tan Jincheng didn't prepare any supplies this time. If he had prepared them in advance, he would have had to cut them up.

“Okay, I’ll get started on that too. Are you splitting the preparations into two separate entities, Flashlink and Orange Technology? How about we do a group purchase and go directly to the manufacturer?”

"Yes, it's divided into two main parts. As for supplies, each company should prepare 1000 million yuan."

Such a large-scale undertaking?

"There's nothing we can do. We just went public recently, and everyone's been bragging about how much my net worth has skyrocketed. It's better to buy more just in case."

Tan Jincheng hasn't decided how much to donate yet. I remember that the private enterprise that donated the most back then was that herbal tea company, which donated 1 million yuan. The publicity was very exaggerated, which also triggered a trend of comparing donations. Some companies even made up for the shortfall.

Tan Jincheng didn't want to be a scapegoat. Those schools were already impressive enough; there was no need for him to steal the spotlight. He'd rather let the herbal tea tycoon handle it.

After returning home, feeling slightly tired, Tan Jincheng discussed with Gu Qingqing that each of the two companies would donate 50 million yuan, which would amount to 100 million yuan, so that they would neither fall behind nor stand out.

No matter what happens, life goes on.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) approved the sale of Changfeng Group's subsidiary, Yangzi Automobile, on the evening of May 12. On May 13, Changfeng Group's stock price surged 7.23% to 10.33 yuan.

After a month and a half since April 1, the stock price has risen to double digits again, and the market value has returned to above 4 billion yuan.

With the stock price stabilized, Li Jianxin finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although he was very reluctant to sell his shares in Yangzi Automobile, he had to admit that it was the best solution at the moment.

If cash flow cannot be replenished, the stock price will be unstable, and if the stock price is unstable, it will be impossible to raise funds again in the secondary market. As for banks, they have their own system, and if you have any problems, their first choice will definitely be to wait and see.

Tan Jincheng set off for Xiangcheng again on May 21 to discuss a series of acquisitions and cooperation agreements with Changfeng Group. Just like last time, Li Jianxin personally received Tan Jincheng.

This time, Li Jianxin didn't wait for Tan Jincheng in the R&D center office building, but greeted him at the factory gate, clearly showing that he valued him much more than last time.

Li Jianxin looked at the young man with a strange expression: "It's been over a month since I last saw you, Mr. Tan, you're still as charming as ever. I heard you're getting married during the National Day holiday?"

Two years ago, FlashTech held an event where the school songs selected by fans took the spotlight, and reports praising FlashTech Group as a conscientious company came one after another.

Li Jianxin could tell that none of this was arranged by Flash Group, but rather was done spontaneously by various media outlets.

Sometimes Li Jianxin would think that if Flash Motors hadn't rushed to purchase supplies like other companies after the incident, he would have even thought that they knew in advance. What company would donate to a school in such a grand manner?
Of course, Li Jianxin knew that this idea was too far-fetched. He could only say that this kid was a kind-hearted person who was not only good to his employees but also very serious about education.

If it weren't for the media digging it up, Li Jianxin wouldn't have known that Tan Jincheng himself and his company had been intermittently providing donations to children in impoverished areas since the very beginning of his business.

This time, Tan Jincheng's companies donated a considerable amount, but unlike some other companies, they did not publicize it extensively. They were truly doing charity quietly.

Tan Jincheng smiled faintly: "Yes, we're planning a simple banquet for National Day. It's been four years, and we should have a conclusion."

"I wonder if I, an old man, will have the honor of attending the wedding banquet on that specific day?"

Several schools further enhanced Li Jianxin's impression of Tan Jincheng. From a personal perspective, Li Jianxin wanted to get to know this young man who had recently had a company go public and maintained good relationships with capital tycoons and local governments.

"That would be my honor. I'll send you an invitation later." "Haha, okay, don't blame me for being presumptuous."

"Not at all, it's my pleasure."

Li Jianxin took the initiative to show goodwill and put aside his grudges, so the subsequent negotiations on the terms and conditions went very smoothly. 2.75 million yuan, ByteDance Engine Investment got 45% from Changfeng Group and 6% from Xinhua Lian, for a total of 51% equity, becoming the new controlling shareholder of Yangzi Automobile.

The shareholding structure of Yangzi Automobile changed to 51% held by ByteDance, 24% held by Xinhua Lian, 15% held by Yangzi Automobile, and 10% held by Changfeng Group. Tan Jincheng effectively owned a complete automobile company through the form of an investment company.

Although the negotiations went smoothly, there were still many things to discuss, mainly technical terms and cooperation on Mitsubishi engines. The engine company established by Weilai Automobile, Foton, and Cummins is not yet able to start production.

The SUV model, internally codenamed S1, is initially planned to use a Mitsubishi engine, a decision made before the collaboration with Changfeng Group.

One technical clause after another, one patent after another, were negotiated bit by bit. This is when the professional Zhang Yong came in handy. Apart from Zhang Yong, let alone Tan Jincheng, even Huang Ming would probably have been screwed over.

Cooperation is one thing, but if they can take advantage of you, they won't let you off the hook; that's the way things are among competitors.

If you get scammed, don't complain; just blame yourself for being a fool.

While the technical team was discussing technology, Tan Jincheng had another mischievous idea: "President Li, how about transferring some more shares of Changfeng Group to me? I don't need much, just 5% will do. That way, I'll be a small shareholder of Changfeng Group, which will make cooperation easier. Also, I'd like to ride the wave of the stock price increase. What do you think?"

Currently, Changfeng Group has three major shareholders. The third largest shareholder is Mitsubishi, which holds 14.59% of the shares. This is unwanted and should not be acquired. The largest shareholder, Xiangcheng State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, and the second largest shareholder, Changfeng Group, are actually one family.

The two major shareholders together hold a combined 50.98% stake, which is a very high concentration of shares.

"5% is easy to buy, right? You don't need to transfer it here; you can just buy it on the secondary market," Li Jianxin asked somewhat warily.

Li Jianxin is a strange person. He values ​​equity very much. If it were Tan Jincheng, since Yangzi Automobile was going to be sold, he would have simply sold it all, not to mention adding a superfluous repurchase clause.

I knew you wouldn't give me shares, and that's exactly what I was waiting for you to say.

“Acquiring a company in the secondary market is not out of the question, but it may affect the stock price. Also, if I really do acquire the company, Mr. Li, please don’t overthink it. Weilai Auto is still very weak. I just want to hold on to your coattails more firmly.”

"Another issue is that the current trading volume in the secondary market is too small, only about 1000 million yuan a day. If I were to acquire shares in the secondary market, it would take forever, and I might even be accused of insider trading."

Playing the victim and appearing weak and helpless is something Boss Tan is all too familiar with, as if he has returned to the early days of his business in foreign trade and trams.

Li Jianxin laughed and said, "So that's what it is. It would be faster for us to go through the transfer agreement. How about this, I'll discuss it with the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission."

It's not impossible to transfer 5%. As a listed company, it's reasonable to have shareholders of all sizes. Transferring 5% of the shares will not affect the company's control. On the contrary, it can bring in a strong shareholder and enhance the company's competitiveness.

In the process of strategic cooperation, it is reasonable to buy some shares of the other party. However, Changfeng itself cannot transfer these shares; it must persuade the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission to do so.

"Thank you, Mr. Li. I won't ask for much, just 5% will do. I just want to seek technical cooperation."

Li Jianxin pondered for a moment. Changfeng Group's shares had recently rebounded quite well, which was undoubtedly due to Tan Jincheng's popularity. If he became a shareholder of Changfeng Group, the effect would probably be even better.

"How about this, I'll try my best to persuade Xiangcheng to transfer it to you. Their transfer process should be simpler, and they can ignore the China Securities Regulatory Commission, so it won't delay our cooperation."

Selling a state-owned enterprise is troublesome, but transferring a portion of the shares and finding a new strategic partner is something local state-owned assets are quite happy to do, as the process is relatively much simpler.

Many things can be very troublesome when they are troublesome, but also very simple when they are simple.

In the eyes of the senior executives of Xiangcheng and Changfeng Group, Tan Jincheng is the epitome of wealth and power. Although it was a pity to sell Yangzi Automobile at a premium of nearly 40%, it was still a very profitable investment.

An investment with an annualized return of over 12% is hardly a loss.

"Give it to him. 5% of the shares is nothing. If he dares to mess with Changfeng, we can just issue new shares to dilute the equity. It's not a big problem."

For 5% of the shares, ByteDance offered 1.8 million yuan, which is based entirely on the current market value of 40 billion yuan, rather than the average share price over the past 30 days. This is quite a sincere offer, and Xiangcheng Chengcheng couldn't help but be tempted.

The Xiangcheng side was well aware of the company's cash shortage, but unfortunately the banks were not cooperating. This 1.8 million yuan, plus the 2.2 million yuan from the sale of Yangzi Automobile, totaling 4 million yuan in cash, was a lifeline for Changfeng Group.

"No wonder they're listed now, they're really rolling in money. They were haggling over a few million yuan when they bought Yangzi Automobile, but after their trip abroad, they just throw money around like that." Li Jianxin was quite satisfied with Tan Jincheng's offer.

On May 27, after a week of negotiations, when Tan Jincheng left Xiangcheng, he took with him 5% of the shares of Yangzi Automobile and Changfeng Group, becoming the fourth largest shareholder of Changfeng Group.

On that day, Changfeng Group's stock price surged 8.15% to close at 11.55 yuan, and the trading volume soared to 1.36 million yuan. This was the first time that Changfeng Group had stood above the five-day moving average since it fell below it on March 6 this year.

In the evening, Changfeng Group issued an announcement.

"The company reached a strategic cooperation agreement with ByteDance's advertising platform, selling 40% of Yangzi Automobile's equity for 2.2 million yuan, while Xiangcheng City Investment transferred 5% of its shares to ByteDance through an agreement transfer for 1.8 million yuan."

As soon as the announcement was released, the stock trading area erupted with comments like: "Damn! These shrewd manipulators knew about it beforehand again. I was wondering why it went up for several days after that. They were definitely shaking out weak hands."

"Damn, it almost broke down and then pulled back the day before yesterday, then surged back above 10 yuan, and started to adjust again yesterday. I thought it would be the same as the previous days, but then today there was a big positive news."

"I can't beat them, I can't beat them. Stocks are definitely not something ordinary people can play."

"Can we still chase it tomorrow? This is such a big positive development! Changfeng has secured 4 million yuan in cash."

"Boss Tan is really rich and powerful. Not only did the two companies donate a total of 1 million, but he also spent 4 million in the end. Is this the legendary practice of taking money from the US to subsidize the domestic market?"

"A conscientious entrepreneur."

At this moment, the conscientious entrepreneur had just returned to Ningbo and was very satisfied with acquiring 5% of Changfeng Group's shares. He was in a great mood and playing with various toys with Dr. Tan.

Just as there are only zero times or countless times when it comes to infidelity, if 5% has already happened, how far away is the 35%?

(End of this chapter)