Chapter 537: Don't sell it? Then I'll fight you with 750 million US dollars! First meeting with the Clone King!
"Boss, Mr. Chen from Senlian Capital is here!"
Maximilian's assistant said to Oliver and Maximilian after knocking on the office door.
"The main gate of the park or downstairs of the building?"
Oliver stood up subconsciously and asked casually.
"The park gate." The assistant replied quickly.
"Maximilian, let's go. I'll show you the youngest richest man in the world."
Oliver was in a good mood and joked.
A German, a Frenchman, and a Temasek employee took the elevator and walked quickly out of the first floor lobby.
I saw an all-black Maybach slowly driving over, followed by two Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles.
Xiao Li parked the car, got out first, and opened the door for Chen Yansen.
Gao Weilin, Song Yuncheng, Huang Zheng and the accompanying financial and legal staff filed out of the car one after another. They were all dressed in smart clothes, and their every move showed calmness and competence.
Among them were three foreign employees, holding briefcases in their hands. They were all experienced people in handling international affairs at Sunlink Capital.
Eight security guards in black suits quickly fanned out, tightly guarding the surroundings. Their eyes were as sharp as eagles, and their movements were full of power.
Oliver and Maximilian stood where they were, straightening their backs subconsciously.
He had a somewhat casual look just now, but now he has restrained himself a lot.
Even though Oliver had been in China for some time and had seen many super-rich people appear, he was still far inferior to Chen Yansen.
However, after considering the other party's identity, he thought it was reasonable.
Chen Yansen stepped out of the car with a calm smile on his face. He looked up at Oliver and the others.
The international king of counterfeit goods!
A master of reference who is even better at copying than Ma Wenteng!
He really wanted to recruit the other party into his team.
But he knew in his heart that people like Oliver, who only cared about making quick money, would never be able to concentrate on working for others.
"Mr. Chen, I've long heard of your name! In fact, I heard Zheng Yun mention your name during my time at Gaopeng. I never expected that in just three years, Mr. Chen's business and wealth would snowball and grow."
Oliver's face was all smiles, and he was extremely enthusiastic in front of his 'sugar daddy'.
You know, although Lazada has gone through several rounds of financing, Rocket Internet's shareholding ratio is still as high as 60%.
Once the acquisition is completed, he will make a profit of 500 million US dollars.
Zheng Yun?
Chen Yansen quickly remembered that the other party was the marketing director of Gaopeng.com, and the two had worked together on the FoxTao Super Rebate project.
He understood what Oliver meant.
Three years ago, Oliver copied the group buying giant Gaopeng.com from the Lighthouse Country in Germany and named it "City Deal".
Later, this project was noticed by the founder of Gaopeng, who bought it for 14% of Gaopeng's equity, and Oliver also joined Gaopeng.
Later, when Gaopeng entered the Chinese market, Oliver and Ma Wenteng jointly invested and established the Chinese version of Gaopeng.com.
But the project ultimately failed.
Oliver had no choice but to leave China in disgrace and move to Southeast Asia, Africa and other places, continuing the copy and paste operation.
Chen Yansen knew him but had never met him.
"Oliver, nice to meet you! I've heard of your name before."
Chen Yansen looked at the other person and said with a smile.
Oliver laughed dryly and said shamelessly, "Indeed, I have always been very famous in Europe, America and Asia."
He doesn't care about his borrowing behavior. Instead, he has a bit of an "I'm proud of plagiarism" attitude, as if as long as he can make money, nothing else matters.
Germany's Internet infrastructure was originally extremely weak, but with the promotion of Rocket Internet, it has been revitalized.
Employees who left Rocket Internet later founded companies that now occupy almost half of the German Internet industry.
It is no exaggeration to say that Rocket Internet is the Huangpu Military Academy of the German IT industry.
It provides a steady supply of cloning experts to the European Internet circle!
Chen Yansen looked at Oliver and secretly criticized him in his heart. Judging from the other party's style of doing things, he might sell Lazada and then go to Africa to open up a new track.
After all, Oliver's business principle is rapid replication, not deep operation.
“How much did Lazada lose last year?”
Chen Yansen asked suddenly.
"59 million US dollars." Oliver smiled and answered truthfully.
His entrepreneurial routine is to first choose a suitable model to imitate, then hire young and high-quality managers with high salaries, then set rapid expansion and growth goals, and finally start the "financing → burning money to occupy land → financing" cycle.
As long as there is money, the project will continue to move forward until the funds are exhausted.
Loss?
He never cares!
Anyway, it’s the investors’ money that’s being burned.
Chen Yansen burst out laughing. The German guy in front of him was really both cunning and honest.
The two chatted as they walked.
Oliver spoke English at first, but when he learned that Chen Yansen also knew German, he immediately switched to his native language.
Maximilian on the side was stunned for a moment and touched his fingertips awkwardly.
He is French and doesn't understand.
Not only him, most of the people present didn't understand.
After a few minutes, Oliver realized that speaking his native language was a pleasure, but everyone except his secretary looked confused.
He smiled awkwardly and switched back to English.
He took Chen Yansen on a tour around Lazada headquarters.
Because the office area was too small, there were only about 400 people in total. In less than ten minutes, the group finished the tour and walked into a conference room.
Oliver winked at Maximilian, and soon someone came over with a thick stack of information and gave a copy to Chen Yansen and others.
Chen Yansen casually flipped through the pages and saw that the first page introduced Lazada's business coverage in Southeast Asia, as well as core data such as daily orders, sales, average order value, and conversion rate.
This is a promotional material covering financial and business information from the past few years.
Oliver does have considerable experience in selling companies.
Without waiting for Chen Yansen to speak, he handed over the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement.
Oliver spread out a document and explained in detail Lazada's platform operations, supply chain management and marketing promotion model.
Maximilian is responsible for supplementing Lazada's data on user numbers, user growth trends, user activity, user retention rate, etc.
After listening to this, Chen Yansen asked for information about the Lazada team members’ educational background, work experience, etc.
"Given Lazada's transaction volume, revenue, and gross profit margin, whether based on price-to-earnings ratio, price-to-sales ratio, or user number valuation, Lazada's valuation cannot reach US$850 million."
After a long time, Chen Yansen put down the documents and started the formal negotiations.
"Mr. Chen, Southeast Asia has a population of 600 million, and the e-commerce penetration rate is less than 10%. Lazada is in a period of rapid growth, so conventional price-to-earnings or price-to-sales ratio valuation methods cannot be used. Based on the Series D financing, US$1 billion is a reasonable valuation. I have already made concessions."
Oliver pondered for a few seconds and spoke slowly.
"After receiving funding from its Series D round, Lazada's growth has fallen short of expectations. There has been no progress in terms of merchant onboarding, logistics fulfillment capabilities, or after-sales processing capabilities. Given this lack of growth, how could its valuation have risen to $1 billion?"
Chen Yansen asked back.
Oliver was speechless, because what the other party said was true. So after a moment of silence, he asked directly, "What is Mr. Chen's target price?"
"750 million US dollars." Chen Yansen said lightly.
Oliver frowned slightly and was about to refuse.
Then Chen Yansen said, "If you don't want to sell, I will use the 750 million US dollars to build Pinbei branches in Southeast Asia. Let's talk with strength."
The implication is that either they lower the price or compete head-on with Pinbei.
Hold!
Oliver cursed inwardly. He accepted Chen Yansen's bargaining, but he couldn't accept the fact that the price was cut by 100 million US dollars right from the start.
But he has no intention of competing with Pinbei. If he did, he would not have thought of selling Lazada.
"Mr. Chen, how about we all compromise and set the price at 800 million US dollars?"
Oliver asked tentatively.
While speaking, he did not forget to observe Chen Yansen's facial expressions and look, but to his disappointment, the other party made very few micro-movements and he could not get any useful information at all.
"750 million U.S. dollars is the highest price I can offer."
Chen Yansen smiled lightly, unmoved.
Oliver frowned and thought deeply. He wanted to raise the price, but was afraid that the negotiations would break down.
Competition in the Southeast Asian market is already increasingly fierce, and Lazada's sluggish growth in the past two years has already made investors lose patience.
If it is really targeted by a strong competitor like Pinbei, let alone maintaining its current valuation, it is unclear whether it can survive the next round of financing.
750 million US dollars is 750 million US dollars!
Compared with the company's initial investment, he can earn at least 30 times the profit.
Oliver let out a long sigh, his tense shoulders relaxing. He then said, "I can agree to the price, but I have one condition: the deal must be completed within two months, and you must ensure the stability of Lazada's existing core team."
Chen Yansen nodded. "No problem. We can specify these details in the contract."
If you want to take over Lazada smoothly, ensuring the stability of the core team is the key.
He would have done it even if Oliver hadn't said it.
After all, Lazada has been deeply involved in the Southeast Asian market for many years, and its core team has a very good understanding of local consumption habits, market rules, and supply chain systems. Their experience is difficult to replace in the short term.
If the core team is in turmoil, even if the transaction is successfully completed, subsequent integration and operations will be difficult, and the best opportunity to seize the market may be missed.
Chen Yansen knew that Oliver proposed this condition not only to ensure a smooth transition for Lazada, but also to seek protection for the team.
In his opinion, as long as the ability is not a problem and the money is more important than the person, he is willing to accept it.
Once the general direction is agreed upon, the remaining details can be left to the legal and financial departments.
Next, Gao Weilin and Huang Zheng will stay in Temasek for a few more days to conduct a comprehensive review of Lazada's finances, team and human resources, business operations, and legal compliance information.
750 million US dollars is not a small amount of money. Who knows if Oliver will hide something secretly?
For example, the contracts with certain key suppliers are about to expire, and there is uncertainty about the renewal terms, which may affect the stability of product supply and thus weaken the true value of Lazada.
For example, whether local laws and regulations, such as the Consumer Rights Protection Law, the Data Privacy Protection Law, tax regulations, etc., are complied with, and whether there are potential legal disputes or violation risks, etc., will have a significant impact on the transaction.
Once all issues are confirmed and Pinbei takes over Lazada's business, it will make payments in batches in accordance with the contract requirements.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, Chen Yansen left the Lazada headquarters by car and drove towards No. 8 Stephen Road.
(End of this chapter)
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