Chapter 249 Romanee-Conti
To Milo's surprise, Bernard Arnaud surrendered.
To be precise, it was the people behind Bernard Arnault who approached Milo and expressed their willingness to sell the 33.4% of LVMH Group shares to Milo, allowing Milo to better complete the delisting and privatization of this listed company.
The reason is very simple, that is, Bernard Arnault’s biggest creditors have never been banks in France.
Rather, it is an American credit investment company, the Fidelity Group, which once produced the so-called stock angel Peter Lynch.
Just think about it, more than a decade ago, Bernard Arnault was the son of a wealthy man.
But how much money does he have? And then what? He just came back from the United States and could take out billions of francs to buy up shares of LVMH Group on the stock market.
You have to know that that was several billion francs more than a decade ago.
Taking inflation into account, it is roughly equivalent to more than 100 francs today.
Even before Mirja, the son-in-law of the Vuitton family, took the initiative to invite Bernard Arnault to join the LVMH Group, this guy already owned about 29% of the shares.
A young man in his thirties who was previously unknown and whose entire family's assets combined were estimated to be only a few billion francs.
Where did he get the money to buy so many shares? Someone paid behind the scenes to use his name to bypass the French government, which was very wary of foreign investment and even had strict control over it, to invest in French companies they were optimistic about.
And that foreign consortium is the American Fidelity Investments Group, headquartered in Boston.
As for Fidelity Investments...from its headquarters in Boston, you can tell that it is the white glove of a Boston consortium.
And what about Milo?
He is now almost regarded by the Boston consortium as an outstanding and even a leader of the younger generation.
So even if Bernard Arnault has almost repaid Fidelity.
But when Milo went straight in and took control of LVMH.
Milo just said this to the people back home.
Fidelity Investments then turned to Bernard Arnault again.
Whether it was coercion or bribery, he made Bernard Arnault understand what he was facing.
In the end, Bernard Arnault gave in and was willing to sell his 33.4% stake in LVMH.
Milo was not willing to go that far, so he bought Bernard Arnault's shares according to the prices of the three founding families.
Since then, his stake in LVMH has exceeded 70%, triggering the privatization buyback line, and everything went smoothly.
The contract was finally signed in a conference room at BNP Paribas.
After signing the contract.
Just as Milo was about to say goodbye, he saw David Baptiste taking out a bottle of red wine from the closet and said to Milo with a smile: "Mr. Blackburn, would you like to drink some red wine to celebrate the cooperation?"
"It is from the Rothschild family's Chateau Lafite, 1787, and it has been stored for nearly 210 years. It is definitely a pleasure!"
Milo glanced at David Baptiste and Bernard Arnault.
There are also people from Fidelity Investments in the United States next to them.
In the West, some people use champagne to celebrate the completion of a cooperation, and of course some more elegant people use red wine. Especially in France, which is a country that particularly loves to drink red wine, it is not surprising that Milo was used.
As for the Rothschild family's Lafite Winery, yes, it is the Lafite Winery.
The Rothschild family has another translation in Chinese, which is the Rothschild family.
Yes, the famous Lafite belongs to the Rothschild family.
Since the wine had been brought to him, he couldn't refuse it.
He smiled and nodded, "I haven't tasted a wine that's over 200 years old. I think this will be a nice treat!"
Hearing Milo's words, David Baptiste smiled, opened the red wine, and poured it into the goblet with an elegant posture.
“Bang!”
“I wish our cooperation goes smoothly!”
"Of course, happy cooperation!"
Several glasses clinked together, and Milo was a little slow to notice that the others actually drank the wine.
And the gospels give no hint of danger.
He drank it calmly and savored it carefully.
The nearly two hundred year old Lafite red wine has a very mellow taste and a strong aroma when you drink it. This is the mellow aroma that comes from the accumulation and fermentation of time.
The taste is really good! Milo smiled and praised: "The wine has a rich aroma and tastes very good!"
David Baptiste was very pleased with Milo's praise. He smiled and said:
"Mr. Blackburn, if you like Lafite, there aren't many left from 1787, but we have some over a hundred years old stored in our bank's clubhouse. Can I have someone send you a few bottles?"
David Baptiste is now particularly eager to get along well with Milo.
It can be said that in this acquisition of LVMH by Milo.
At present, the ones who make the most money are him and BNP Paribas.
First of all, Milo is losing money at the moment.
The premium was nearly 40%, plus the early repurchase of many LVMH corporate bonds, for a total of nearly $8 billion.
This even far exceeds the market value of LVMH itself.
This is at a time when the luxury goods market has not yet exploded on a large scale.
Milo certainly lost.
Let’s talk about Bernard Arnault.
After working hard for more than ten years and making all the calculations, he was finally kicked out.
Moreover, even the price is 50% lower than its peak period. Bernard Arnault has definitely suffered the biggest loss.
The founding families didn't make much money either.
So David Baptiste thinks he is the one who earns the most!
This time, BNP Paribas just used some connections and didn't even put out any capital.
As a result, in just one month, he made nearly $200 million from this matter...
David Baptiste will receive a commission of $30 million.
So now of course he wanted to please Milo, this super client, as much as possible.
What if Milo wants to make an acquisition in France or Europe next time?
If I could choose BNP Paribas again, let alone a few bottles of red wine.
Even if all the red wine was given to Milo, David Baptiste would feel that it was a profit! Milo smiled and shook his head and declined, saying: "Mr. Baptiste, thank you for your generosity, but it is not necessary. The LVMH Group also has thousands of acres of vineyards. Although most of them produce champagne and brandy, there are still some high-quality red wines."
David Baptiste said with a hint of regret: "Okay then!"
On the way back, Milo realized that the LVMH Group, which he had just successfully acquired and was now the wine giant behind the scenes in Europe, did not have a top wine estate, which was somewhat inconsistent with its value.
And to be honest, in France, the country of wine, owning a top wine estate would undoubtedly be a good choice.
Just like the Rothschild family owning Lafite, it is a gimmick and a business card.
And considering the prosperity of the wine market in the future, acquiring one or two top wine estates now is a business that is sure to make money.
After making up his mind, Milo returned to the company and immediately asked Andre to collect information about the top French wineries to see which one would be a more suitable acquisition target.
At the same time, the delisting process of LVMH Group officially began.
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When the dust settles, LVMH will truly become the Blackburn family’s aircraft carrier in the boutique market.
A big piece of the media system envisioned by Milo was finally realized.
The next afternoon, Andre efficiently collected information about the top wineries in France.
After entering Milo's office, Andre held the information and reported to Milo: "Boss, Alain Chevalier is very familiar with the wine industry. I asked him to help me collect information. This is the information that has been repeatedly checked three times. It should be the most detailed!"
"Andre, thank you for your hard work. Put the materials down first. I'll have someone notify you if anything happens!"
Milo said with a satisfied smile, sending Andre away.
Then he looked through the information of the top wine estates in France.
The most famous wine in the world is produced in France, and the top ten wine brands in France in later generations are produced from the top ten famous wineries in France!
The top ten wine estates are Chateau Lafite, Chateau Latour, Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Haut-Brion, Chateau Petrus, Chateau Cheval Blanc, Chateau Ausone, Chateau Le Pin and Chateau Romanee-Conti.
Among them, Chateau Lafite, Chateau Latour, Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Chateau Margaux and Chateau Haut-Brion are also known as the "Five Famous Wineries" because these five top wine estates are all produced on the left bank of Bordeaux.
In addition, there are three famous wineries on the right bank of Bordeaux: Château Petrus, Château Cheval Blanc and Château Ausson.
Therefore, together with the "Five Great Wineries" on the Left Bank, they are also known as the "Eight Great Wineries of Bordeaux"! It can be said that Bordeaux is the main production area of France's top red wines.
Of course, now Château Le Pin is just the last one.
But Romanee-Conti is different. This winery is located in the Burgundy region, and Romanee-Conti is widely regarded as the world's top red wine estate.
This super winery located in the heart of the Cote de Nuits in the Burgundy region is enough to elevate the Burgundy region to a position on par with Bordeaux.
Moreover, Domaine de la Romanee-Conti is one of the oldest wine estates in France, dating back to the Abbey of Saint-Vivant-de-Vege 11 centuries ago.
These days, Milo was thinking about the acquisition target of a winery.
In the case that it is impossible to buy Château Lafite Rothschild.
His favorite wine is Domaine Romanee-Conti.
There is no other reason, it is a line from a movie in later times: “This is Romanee-Conti!”
After reading the information, his idea became more firm.
This compares to the Rothschild family's Château Lafite's annual production of approximately 210,000 bottles.
Romanee-Conti's annual production is controlled at around 6,000 bottles.
Although there is a reason that Domaine de la Romanee-Conti has a smaller area than Chateau Lafite.
But another important reason is that Romanee-Conti pays great attention to quality, and on average only one bottle of wine can be produced from every three grapes.
This winery was taken over by Prince Conti, the cousin of Louis XV, in 1760 and renamed after him.
In the past two hundred years, it has changed hands several times, the last time in 1942, the Divo-Blocher family and the Henri Leroy family each held 50% of the shares! These two families were not the original owners of Romanee-Conti. Without the factor of family glory, Milo could have easily bought Romanee-Conti with money! If a 50% premium is not enough, then double the premium.
If all else fails, then double the premium. He doesn't believe that the Divo-Blocher and Henri-Leroy families can withstand the franc's offensive.
Anyway, the future potential of the value of Domaine Romanee-Conti is amazing.
Before Milo's rebirth, a bottle of Romanee-Conti wine from 1945 was sold at a price of RMB 3.86 million, setting a world record for red wine! Romanee-Conti has a reserve of 600 bottles of 1945 red wine.
If we store this batch of wine until the future, it can be sold for hundreds of millions of dollars if we manage it properly! It is really a great deal to buy all of it now!
Then Milo considered that the production of Romanee-Conti was indeed too low.
In addition to Lafite, the Rothschild family also owns Mouton Rothschild. It would be a bit frivolous if they only owned Romanee-Conti.
After some consideration, he chose Château Latour, which was designated as the second of the "Four Great Wineries" by Napoleon III in 1855.
Although in the first classification in 1855, Château Latour was ranked below Château Lafite.
But after all these years of development, Chateau Latour is not much different from Chateau Lafite.
That is to say, the annual production is 10,000 bottles less than that of Chateau Lafite, only 200,000 bottles.
However, considering that the Rothschild family's Mouton Rothschild was only named one of the top five wineries on the left bank of Bordeaux in 1973, it was only a second-class winery in 1855.
If Milo could own Château Latour and Château Romanee-Conti, he would actually be much better off than the Rothschild family.
Moreover, Château Latour is also very easy to acquire. In 1963, the Segur family sold the winery to a British earl.
It was later bought back by the French Kering Group in 1993, but Kering Group has not yet officially entered the luxury goods field.
Their main industry is still wood, so it shouldn't be difficult to buy it over.
After identifying the prey, Milo called Andre and asked him to be responsible for the acquisition of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti and Domaine Latour.
LVMH can be directly asked to step in, because this is LVMH’s industry.
Once the acquisition is successful, LVMH Group will immediately have two more big brands in the wine industry.
Red wine reminded him of champagne, and champagne easily reminded him of Spade champagne, which was hyped up to the sky in later generations, especially in China and the United States, where it was extremely popular among the nouveau riche.
So he also asked Alain Chevalier about the winery.
As a result, I learned from Alain Chevalier that there is indeed such a small winery in France.
But whether in terms of quality, output or fame, it is just average.
Alain Chevalier himself didn't know why his boss liked it.
(End of this chapter)