Chapter 908: Poison Pill Plan!
In the secret meeting, Zhao Licheng conveyed Su Yang’s suggestion: No matter who was in charge of Samsung, it would continue to develop smoothly. The priority of Jiadian Group was to ensure the interests of the major banks and investment banks.
Other than that, Samsung’s factories, production lines, and sales channels were the best supplement to Jiadian Group’s global strategy.
The share structure of Jiadian Group was simple, and it was not convenient for outsiders to interfere. However, Samsung’s share structure was complicated and loose. If Jiadian Group could control Samsung, it would be more beneficial for the banks and investment banks in the new technology products of Jiadian Group.
In order to express their sincerity, Samsung’s shares would be transferred to the Hermes Fund, allowing both China and America to partic.i.p.ate in the globalization of Samsung and Jiadian Group.
As for the Lees’s current struggle, it was not for the better development of Samsung, but for the continuation of their family business.
The speech had tied all the capitalists on Wall Street to the war chariot. It had successfully planted a psychological hint that the Lees were doing all of this for their family.
However, the truth was that the managers of every company were not willing to let the company out of their control. This was a common problem for all humans. If Su Yang was involved in this matter, he would not be able to accept being expelled from a company that was founded by an outsider.
As for Su Yang’s excuse, it was more like a pretty outer garment that could conceal the most b.l.o.o.d.y nature.
To put it bluntly, everything done in that world was all with profit in mind, especially for the capitalists of various countries, where money came first. As long as they could earn money, they would not care who controlled the company.
After all, was there a difference between Jiadian Group and the Lees?
The answer is… There was none.
As long as either party was able to bring in more USD, they would be deemed as successful businessmen.
The financial magnates had also conducted a few rounds of research.
In their research, they realized that it was just as Su Yang had said. If Jiadian Group had annexed Samsung, they would be able to reap more benefits from Jiadian’s dark technology products.
As for the operations of the corporation, there was no need to worry about that. Over the years, Jiadian Group had been expanding step by step, and had already proven to everyone that they had the ability to operate a large corporation.
In addition, during their research, they discovered that their side had already been tied to a war chariot. The Hermes Fund that they had invested and underwritten had already been bought over by Jiadian Group for the shares of Samsung.
If he asked Jiadian Group to withdraw from the acquisition, Hermes Fund would most likely lose a lot of money or even be dragged down.
Therefore, even though the banks did not express their support for Su Yang’s acquisition of Samsung, they gradually acquiesced.
Coincidentally, the Lees were requesting to issue new stocks to attack Su Yang.
It should be known that sniping at Su Yang was akin to sniping at the investment funds of the major banks and investment banks. Furthermore, the prerequisite for a successful sniping was to increase the number of shares, which would still harm the interests of the major banks and investment banks.
Having lost two layers of benefits, these financial magnates naturally would not agree!
On one hand, there was an increase in benefits, and on the other, it was harming his own benefits. There was no need to choose.
That was why Lee Jaerong was rejected by the major banks and investment banks.
After being rejected by Wall Street, Lee Jaerong returned to Korea angrily.
However, before he could sit down, Jiadian Group announced that they would transfer over 3% of the shares of more than 20 subsidiary companies under Samsung to the Hermes Fund. The price would be 15% of the market price.
90% of the profits were in cash while the remaining 10% was in shares.
After the entire transaction, Jiadian Group’s shares in the Hermes Fund would reach 50.87%, forming an absolute control.
After the transaction was completed, the Hermes Fund would hold 5.1% -5.24% of the shares of more than 20 subsidiaries under the company.
Because Hermes Fund was controlled by Jiadian Group, according to the securities market rules of each country, the shares of Jiadian Group and the Hermes Fund would be combined. Therefore, Jiadian Group officially held more than 20% of the shares of more than 20 subsidiaries of Samsung.
This was the fourth time that Jiadian Group had raised their board against more than 20 companies under Samsung!
As he raised his board once again, the world seemed to have gotten used to it.
After all, they had already discovered it. For some reason, Jiadian Group was running around recklessly. It was as if they were planning to take advantage of the time when Samsung, Korea, and Wall Street had no time to react and take as many shares as possible. Then, they would have a greater advantage in negotiations.
However, in everyone’s heart, even though Jiadian Group was so powerful, in this financial war, it was not Jiadian Group that controlled the situation, but Korea and Wall Street.
In the end, it still depended on the att.i.tude of Wall Street and Korea’s policies and regulations.
Hence, it was futile no matter what Su Yang did now.
Everyone thought that Su Yang was just going crazy at the end of the day.
However, that was not what Lee Jaerong thought.
Lee Jaerong had been paying close attention to every move of Jiadian Group.
Initially, he was like an ordinary person. He was very relaxed and thought that Su Yang was just doing nothing. However, when he returned from Wall Street, his att.i.tude changed.
This was because he realized that things had gone out of his control, especially since the att.i.tude shown by Wall Street made him feel even more scared.
He was not a fool. Ever since he went to Wall Street, he felt that the att.i.tude of these financial magnates was ambiguous. It was very likely that they had reached an agreement with Su Yang in private.
Actually, he really wished that he could ignore Wall Street and fight on his own.
But… It was a fact that he couldn’t.
This was because most of the capital behind the five consortiums came from Wall Street. If Wall Street did not support him, then even if he forcibly issued a new stock through the board of directors, the other corporations would likely be pressured to prohibit buying those shares.
At that moment, making such a move would only be suicide.
What was even scarier was that Su Yang transferred the shares of Samsung to the Hermes Fund when he did not receive any support from Wall Street or the five consortiums.
‘What’s Hermes Fund’s purpose?
‘It’s Su Yang and the financial giants of Wall Street who were preparing to start a global business upgrade though…
‘It accounts for 25-30% of the shares in China.
‘So, why did he transfer his shares to this fund?
‘To buy-in?
‘Or to collaborate…’
Lee Jaerong felt like his speculation might come true.
Not only that, he was thinking about more.
‘What’s Hermes Fund’s goal?
‘In order to acquire suitable technology companies from all over the world, it would speed up Jiadian Group’s global strategy and allow Wall Street to have a share in it.
‘But… There are so many technology companies in the world. Isn’t it too slow to buy one country at a time?
‘If there was a company that could be bought and sold around the world, wouldn’t that be very tempting?
‘Hold on… Wouldn’t Samsung fit the description exactly?!
‘Acquiring Samsung would be much better than buying dozens of technology companies!’
Therefore, Lee Jaerong had to guess whether he had been targeted by the Hermes Fund.
‘This would also mean that I’ve most likely been abandoned by Wall Street!’
Thinking of this, Lee Jaerong’s heart turned colder and colder, but it was also filled with anger.
He felt like he had been betrayed.
He was betrayed by the person he trusted the most!
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He pulled his tie angrily and paced around the office.
His footsteps became heavier like the growing weight in his heart.
Finally, he raised his head and looked at the picture of his father, the current president of Samsung, Lee Kunhee. He gritted his teeth and thought… ‘Since I can’t get any support from Wall Street, I might as well betray Wall Street!
‘Anyway, it’s all about finding someone with a lot of funds!
‘There are a whole group of people who would fit this description!
‘In fact, which of the five consortiums couldn’t fit the bill!?
‘After all, besides Wall Street, there’s also Europe’s… England.
‘Also, the once global overlord, j.a.pan, may be in a difficult position at the moment, their strength shouldn’t be underestimated.
‘If I have their support, I would definitely be able to get through this.
‘When that happens, I could slowly ease my relations.h.i.+p with Wall Street.
‘After all, the victor would have special privileges, and Wall Street wouldn’t abandon such a fat slab of fresh meat.
‘As long as there are benefits to be gained, who would even bother about the past conflicts?
‘The only problem is that the few big investors in England haven’t got a lot of Samsung’s shares in their hands. So, they might not do their best if all they’re doing is providing support from behind.
‘So… It would be best for me to send them stocks in a targeted direction so that they could become one of the company’s major shareholders.
‘I could even provide two more board member seats for England and America to have them join the board as an independent director.
‘With both England and America would keep each other in check, I would still have a strong say in the corporation. Furthermore, I would be able to expand my business globally with less effort.’
With this thought, Lee Jaerong could not sit still anymore. He picked up the phone and made a few calls…
What Lee Jaerong did not know was that the moment he made up his mind, the [Future] destiny line, which had pa.s.sed through Samsung, started to solidify…
This meant that, under Su Yang’s planning and guidance, Samsung had finally set off on the path that Su Yang had chosen for them…
…
The next day, more than 20 listed companies under Samsung released a statement at the same time: Because it involved a major a.s.set restructuring project, all the stocks of the subsidiaries under the company were temporarily suspended.
It was rare for dozens of companies to stop their business altogether, and everyone sensed danger.
However, he did not know what Samsung was up to.
Su Yang, who knew about Samsung’s fate, did not panic at all. He even took the time to meet Chu Xia and went fis.h.i.+ng.
Even though the financial tyc.o.o.ns on Wall Street were a little surprised, they only thought that Samsung was done to protect themselves. If the stock price stopped, Su Yang would not be able to buy the shares anymore.
Therefore, they did not ask further.
After three days of silence, on the fourth day of the suspension, Samsung held an internal board meeting and voted for a future proposal.
After the proposal pa.s.sed, Samsung held a press conference that afternoon.
During the press conference, Samsung had defined Su Yang’s Jiadian Group as “Barbarians” who were involved in a “malicious acquisition”. In order to prevent the Barbarians from controlling the company, they had decided to implement the “Poison Pill Plan” and introduce the ‘White Knight’.
Barbarians, Poison Pills, and White Knight were all professional terms in the capital market.
Barbarians usually referred to capitalists who were rich and powerful, but without the consent of the target company, they would purchase the capital of the target company.
The official name of the Poison Pill Plan was “Equity Dilution Reverse Takeover Measures”. Generally speaking, when a company encountered malicious acquisitions, the management would increase the number of new shares at a low price in order to maintain their control.
The goal was to reduce the share of the buyer and increase the cost of the purchase so that the buyer could not achieve the goal of controlling the shares.
Samsung’s plan to distribute new shares in Korea was actually a type of “Poison Pill Plan”.
However, such a plan would normally harm the interests of the current shareholders. Furthermore, it was likely that large amounts of shares would flow to the market. If the Barbarians were determined to win, they might still get a large amount of chips.
At this time, the “White Knight” would be needed.
The White Knight was normally a large capital with a lot of money, but they were partners that the company had approved and accepted. The company could promote stocks to the White Knight, who would then protect them in return.
After that, the company could absorb the White Knight into the management, hold shares, or give him some profits through other agreements to withdraw.
With the deterrence of the “Poison Pill Plan” and the “White Knight”, the success rate of the malicious acquisition plan would be lowered to an infinitesimal level, which could deter the Barbarians and make them retreat.
This is a way for businesses to protect themselves.
Therefore, many companies would use this method to protect themselves when they encountered malicious acquisitions.
But… This was Samsung we’re talking about!
They were a Korean company well-known on a global scale!
Therefore, when the press conference was held, no one expected that Samsung would be forced to this extent by a company!
Everyone was shocked by the power of Jiadian Group!
He felt that Jiadian Group relied purely on business. They did not even rely on their own technology to force Samsung to search for the White Night.
This meant that Jiadian Group was a huge threat to Samsung!
However, while everyone was shocked by this, they did not realize the hidden danger lying behind Samsung’s actions!