12 On Monday morning, June 29, the last investment agreement for Samsung Electronics signed by the three major South Korean consortia was in a conference room of SamSung group headquarters in Taiping Road, central Seoul.
One side of the agreement is the Western consortia led by westrow system, and the other side is the representative of a group of shareholders of Samsung Electronics.
There were no reporters at the scene.
This is a tacit agreement reached by both sides, because if the scene of the signing is exposed, it is easy to remind people of the scene when the Western powers wreaked havoc in Asia at the beginning of the century and forced all countries to sign all kinds of unequal treaties.
South Korean people's recent mood is still restless, we do not want to cause any trouble.
The main terms of the investment agreement involve a total investment of $3.975 billion.
Based on the average share price of Samsung Electronics in the past 30 days, according to the current exchange rate, the valuation of Samsung Electronics is about US $4.7 billion.
39.75 Of the $1.175 billion investment, $1.175 billion was used to buy about 25% of the shares of Samsung Electronics held by the original shareholders of Samsung Electronics, and the other $2.8 billion was used as an investment to get another new issue of Samsung Electronics.
After the completion of the transaction, Apollo management company controlled by westero system and other five investors will hold 53% of the shares of Samsung Electronics in total, realizing absolute control.
However, in the specific agreement, the five investment entities controlled by westero system hold no more than 15% of the shares individually, and Samsung Group holds 21% of the shares of Samsung Electronics through its subsidiaries, which is still the largest shareholder on the surface.
At the end of the signing ceremony at 10 a.m., the westero system team led by Chen Qing resolutely began to take over Samsung Electronics.
Even if it is obvious that the control of Samsung Electronics will still belong to the Li family of Samsung, which is also the promise made by Simon himself at the beginning, but in fact, the westero system must ensure its influence and control over the company.
Because it's not a world where you do good things for others, especially in the business world, where weak, decentralized investors usually end up with bad results.
For the rest of the day, with the signing of the agreement, the westrow system team issued a series of announcements as the latest absolute controlling party of Samsung Electronics.
The first is the dissolution and reorganization of the board of directors of Samsung Electronics.
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Immediately after that, the list of the new board of directors of westrow system, which has already been completed, was directly announced, with a total of nine members.
Jiang Jinqiu, the former chairman of Samsung Electronics, was promoted to the chairman of the board of directors in this reorganization and continued to serve as the chairman of Samsung. In fact, it is equivalent to the chairman meeting the CEO.
This arrangement is mainly for the purpose of reassuring people.
Another reassuring strategy is to introduce Li Zairong, Li Jianxi's only son, 29, to the board of Samsung Electronics.
Two reassuring people, one is the heart of Samsung Electronics employees, the other is the heart of Samsung Lee family.
The other seven came from the westero system.
One of Simon's key players is Cheng Shou Dong, a Korean American lawyer who was born in McKenzie international law firm and is good at corporate mergers and acquisitions. He also serves as a director of Bank of New York Mellon.
Zheng Shoudong joined Samsung's board of directors this time and will be responsible for supervising the subsequent business restructuring of Samsung Electronics.
Another local chess piece, Zong Zhenghao, a senior executive of Hanbao Steel's financial department, who went bankrupt at the beginning of the year, will join the board of directors of Samsung Electronics this time. At the same time, he will also serve as the financial director of Samsung Electronics, responsible for sorting out the financial situation of the whole Samsung Electronics and subsequent supervision.
The other five, according to the original strategy, were all Korean faces.
However, compared with Zheng Shoudong and Zong Zhenghao, these are either former government officials or new members of Korean university professors. They are more just ornaments, get a generous salary, and then honestly act as voting machines.
After the reorganization of the board of directors, the second measure is to seal up the accounts of Samsung Electronics and start the in-depth financial review.
This is mainly to clarify and control the financial power of Samsung Electronics.
Then, the third measure.
All the domestic and foreign senior executives of Samsung Electronics will report their work to the new board of directors in writing within a week. In January, the new board of directors will report their work to the new board of directors by random spot check.
This measure, to put it bluntly, calls for a statement of position.
The weather has changed.
It's a change of master.To Be or Not To Be。
Choose for yourself.
As for the management, of course, they should choose to be clear about the current situation and be loyal to the board of directors of Samsung Electronics instead of the senior management of the Li family of Samsung.
This measure will ensure that the westero system holds the personnel rights of Samsung Electronics.
Master the financial and personnel aspects, the basic completion of the control of an enterprise.
Of course, in practice, things are not so simple. But it's still the same saying, as time goes by, the water flows long.
Simon is very patient about it.
Li Jianxi, who has confirmed that he can win Kia, has been silent about the vigorous declaration of control of the westrow system.
If any enterprise has two owners at the same time, the result is often internal strife and internal friction.
Simon knows this very well, as does Li Jianxi, who was born into a plutocrat and has been in business for many years. Giving up Samsung Electronics and developing Samsung automobile is the choice of Li Jianxi and the tacit understanding of both sides.
In addition to the measures related to the agreement, on the afternoon of that day, the Westeros electronics giants such as tincobail and Nokia began to discuss with the Samsung Electronics team about the procurement of components in the first quarter of next year.
Moreover, most of the $2.8 billion injected into Samsung Electronics by westero system will also be invested in the semiconductor business of Samsung Electronics for technology research and development and investment in the construction of semiconductor factories.
The semiconductor industry has not yet come out of the slump in 1996. It seems unwise to do so now. However, the reason why Samsung's semiconductor business can be so strong in the future lies in this counter cyclical operation. In the low period of the industry, regardless of local investment and fierce price war, competitors in the industry are constantly driven out.
The last one is the only one.
If we grasp the pricing power, we can make up for the losses in the early stage and make huge profits by increasing the price.
As for another LCD business that Simon also likes, it will be shelved for the time being. When LG gives in completely, it will be stripped from Samsung and integrated with LG.
This is also a strategy that has been finalized very early.
Even if he absolutely controls Samsung, Simon will not allow the electronics company, which is ultimately rooted in South Korea, to be too large and must be limited.
Samsung Group and Westeros signed an investment agreement for Samsung Electronics. The next day, on December 30, under the intervention of the South Korean government, Samsung automobile signed a merger memorandum with Kia automobile, which was in the state of takeover by the authorities. Representatives of the consortium controlled by Westeros also appeared on the signing site, The announcement will provide financial support for Samsung's merger with Kia.
According to the news, Hyundai Group, which has reached a tacit agreement in private, has been silent in response to the news, while Daewoo Group has a strong response.
Jin Yuzhong, chairman of Daewoo Group, even held a press conference that afternoon, denouncing that it is irresponsible for the authorities to hand over Kia to Samsung, which has no car making experience at all. This practice may lead to the complete collapse of Kia and more people lose their jobs.
Samsung quickly responded, tit for tat, criticizing Daewoo Group for preventing Samsung from accepting Kia purely for its own interests, in order to hinder industry competition and pursue monopoly.
There is a war of words in the media, and the two sides also act frequently under the table.
After all, what Samsung and Kia signed is only a memorandum of intent, and the specific details are still under negotiation, which means Daewoo still has the opportunity to seize Kia.
Hyundai, Daewoo and Kia previously occupied about 42% of the Korean auto industry, with a total of more than 80%.
So it's not hard to imagine why Daewoo had such a fierce reaction.
As far as Daewoo is concerned, if it can win Kia and merge the two sides, it will be able to formally stand side by side with the previous South Korea's largest auto giant, each of which is 40% of the market. On the contrary, without Kia, or even in the worst case, by Hyundai, Daewoo will completely lose the qualification to compete with Hyundai.
However, the reality is that Daewoo's Kim Yu Chung obviously still can't see the current situation in South Korea.
Politically, South Korea's general election is over.
12 In the general election of South Korea on June 18, after the devastation of the Asian financial crisis, the ruling party lost the hearts of the people, and Kim Dae Jung won the new presidency without any doubt.
Without electoral restraint, Kim Yong San, who has only two months left in power, does not need to worry too much. To be frank, how to deal with Kia is more beneficial to Kim Yong San's political party, and even to Kim Yong San's family, so the blue house will choose.Compared with Daewoo, Samsung Group now stands behind the westero system and even more American political and economic forces.
How to choose, almost without any hesitation.
Even if the Korean people don't know much about it, these people at the top of the Korean pyramid really know how much control the United States has over South Korea. Although Kim Yong San's party failed this time, the next term's attempt to win back the regime, in the final analysis, is still inseparable from the support of the United States, or even if there is no support, it can not be targeted.
Besides, what can Daewoo give them?
Do you have any money?
In addition, on the economic level, whether it is Daewoo's troubled financial situation or some of the arrangements that Chen Qing has already hinted to Kim Yong San, all confirm that the authorities do not have to worry about Daewoo at all.
As far as politicians are concerned, these plutocrats, who are becoming more and more arrogant in China, should indeed be eliminated and set an example to others.
As a result, the day after Kim Yu Chung held a press conference to attack the authorities' decision against Kia, on December 31, Korea's Chosun Ilbo suddenly exposed in a special issue the huge debt of Daewoo Group with a total amount of 70 billion US dollars, pointing out that Daewoo's business situation is actually in danger, and may collapse at any time like Kia, Hanbao and other consortia.
Other media quickly followed up, which immediately plunged Daewoo into a storm of public opinion.
You know, even if the media frequently exposed the bad financial situation of bankrupt consortia such as Kia and Hanbao in the past year, such a huge debt scale of $70 billion is still unique. Even the public would not have believed that Daewoo's debt would be so huge if it had not been deliberately collected and provided very detailed evidence.
The biggest characteristic of Korean consortia is that they are intertwined.
Even some insiders may not be able to figure out the complicated debt disputes among a large number of subsidiaries of the consortium.
For the South Korean people, the bad situation of the country at this time, forced to sign a power loss agreement with the IMF, are the consequences of these chaebols' reckless lending.
When the news came to light, Daewoo, who was already holding a stream of anger, soon became the target of thousands of people.
In response to the media opinions surrounding Daewoo, the IMF team in South Korea, which has been relatively silent during this period, unexpectedly made a public statement, claiming that considering the serious financial risks of Daewoo Group, the IMF and relevant rescue capital will carefully consider the capital transfer to Daewoo.
That's the real kill.
IMF In the last trading day of 1997, the share prices of Daewoo Group's related enterprises plummeted, and even dragged down the Kospi market of South Korea again. After the IMF rescue agreement, there was a single day's highest 3.8% drop.
The crisis in South Korea, or the crisis in Asia as a whole, is largely due to the domino effect of panic, which leads to one-sided shorting and flight of capital, just like a bank run.
Now, this panic effect has hit the latest target of Daewoo Group.
For a long time, the wanton expansion has made the South Korean consortium firmly believe in the principle of "being big but not collapsing".
Probably after a long time in the wind and water, the chaebol families behind these consortia have gradually ignored that the so-called "big but not collapsed" is not that the enterprises themselves will not collapse, but that in order to avoid huge negative social impact, the government will try its best to help these large enterprises to avoid collapse.
It's simpler.
It's not that you can't do it yourself, it's that you can't do it with the help of the government.
However, when the government is unable or unwilling to provide the bottom up, once the big chaebols get into trouble, the result can be imagined.
For South Korea, in the first half of 1997, Han Bao, Kia and other giants went bankrupt one after another. The reason is that the South Korean government at that time was not willing to disclose the details because of the public opinion and financial pressure. After the financial storm swept South Korea, the current South Korean government, want to get the bottom up, but also powerless.
This time it's Daewoo's turn.
The IMF and related international capital, which the government is unable to find out, have the ability to find out for Daewoo, not only have no intention to find out, but also stab it.
The end of Daewoo Group is doomed.
The time soon came to January 1, 1998.
New year.
In the mansion of Litai courtyard.
Chen Qing didn't return with a slight drunkenness until more than one o'clock in the morning.
I attended the new year's reception hosted by President elect Kim Dae Jung tonight. Although Kim Yong San also sent an invitation to her, Chen Qing didn't care. She only stood on the side of the winner.
In addition, Kim Dae Jung has been very enthusiastic about the westero system recently, much more than the ruling party.The reason is also very simple. Kim Dae Jung needs support.
This is a very realistic problem.
Even if Kim Yong San won the power from the military government and founded the first literati government since the founding of the Republic of Korea, he still inherited the mantle of the military government and has a deep foundation in South Korea.
In contrast, Kim Dae Jung, who is 73 years old this year, spent most of his time in opposition. Later he was called "Mandela of South Korea", which is very appropriate.
However, compared with Mandela's idealism, Kim Dae Jung is much more practical. He is very clear that he has united with a group of small parties, and the presidential position he has won is not stable. If he doesn't pay attention, he may be elevated by the former ruling party, which is still deeply rooted in the authority system.
As for wooing the power of the former ruling party to take refuge in itself, it is certainly feasible if Kim Dae Jung has enough time.
Unfortunately, he didn't.
The president of South Korea can only serve one term.
In this case, it is very important to find an immediate backer.
So it's not hard to see why Kim Dae Jung was called "the running dog of the United States" by the later Korean media.
On the other hand, Kim Dae Jung is also smart.
The United States, as a whole, is too big and too close, and is likely to become a puppet. If there is no other choice, to be a puppet is to be a puppet. Now, another option, the westero system, is just right.
At least Kim Dae Jung himself probably felt just right.
Therefore, during the period after the election, Kim Dae Jung has quietly reached some tacit understanding with this side, and plans to recommend some people from the past to Chen Qing and put them in the next cabinet of Qingwa Tai.
The vistrow system of senior officials at the top of the cabinet level is not pursued. It is too conspicuous and easy to become a target. It may even embarrass Kim Dae Jung.
Only a few key positions are needed here.
For example, a deputy director of the Ministry of information and communications, which manages the Korean telecommunications industry, or one of the five permanent members with voting rights of the Broadcasting Commission, which is responsible for formulating and supervising the Korean radio and television industry.