It was already late December, and Lu Feng put on a thin sweater. There was no heating here, and it was even colder indoors than outdoors. Forget about central air conditioning; there wasn't any. There were a few air conditioners in the office, but they were all in the leaders' offices. Everyone else could only rely on their righteous spirit.
Inside the conference room, several senior executives of the R&D company sat there rubbing their hands. Liu Cheng had several folders in front of him. During this period, they first contacted Rohm Semiconductor Group. When the other party heard that they wanted to buy an empty shell laboratory, they immediately became interested.
After several formal phone calls, a preliminary agreement was reached: the other party genuinely wanted to sell, and Jiafeng Electronics genuinely wanted to buy.
“Rohm Group’s offer of 130 million US dollars is too high. At the current exchange rate, we need to prepare more than 900 million!” Liu Cheng’s face changed after he finished speaking. He looked at Lu Feng and said, “Just a broken laboratory company that nobody wants, plus a bunch of outdated technologies in the communications industry, this price is simply astronomical!”
Those present echoed this sentiment, saying that even if they sold tens of millions of pagers a year, they might not break even if they bought them at this price.
"Mr. Lu, after my communication yesterday, the other party's attitude was quite tough. At that time, I said that if it really didn't work out, we could go to Kyoto for a face-to-face meeting. They said that if we wanted to talk about the price, we didn't need to come."
"To be honest, their attitude was rather arrogant."
"Damn those Japanese devils... sigh..."
As everyone chattered, Lu Feng reached out and took the folder. He knew that technologies like semiconductors and communications were concentrated in Japan, and there was nothing he could do about their arrogance.
Globally, there's only one company that fits their acquisition criteria. If they can't reach an agreement, they'll have to keep waiting, and by the time a suitable R&D company is available for sale, it might be too late.
"Have you written the international acquisition application?" Lu Feng asked, flipping through the folder. "Has it been submitted to the provincial government?"
"I've already submitted an international acquisition application and a foreign exchange application. When I talked to those leaders, they said that the higher-ups would definitely approve the international acquisition, especially since it's a core asset acquisition. But the foreign exchange is a problem. The exchange rate has been fluctuating a lot this year. I heard that by the end of the year, it will be 1 to 7.something."
"Mr. Lu, with such large exchange rate fluctuations, it's not a good time for an acquisition. Besides, the other party is asking for an exorbitant price. These two factors combined..."
The faces of the crowd were filled with worry. The RMB is depreciating continuously and its purchasing power in the international market is really weak. Don't be fooled by the fact that a few hundred million RMB is worth a lot of money in China. Once it leaves the country and is converted, it's only worth a little over fifty million RMB.
Liu Cheng cleared his throat and said to Lu Feng, "President Lu, the price difference is too great. If you really want to carry this out, then only you can do it. If all else fails, you can go to Dubai and organize another event."
Given the huge price difference between the two parties, the only solution Liu Cheng could think of was to have Lu Feng commit fraud. A senior executive of a legitimate company would never think of this solution first when faced with a problem; it's a kind of path dependence for them.
"Go to Dubai to organize one?" Lu Feng smiled and shook his head, saying, "If it works out, I'll live in Dubai every day. His price is obviously too high. Everything depends on communication. You guys aren't really suited for this kind of thing. The people in the marketing department are better suited for this."
"How about we have General Manager Zhu make the trip?" Liu Cheng said with difficulty, "You have to talk to him about this. If I do it, he'll definitely scold me."
Lu Feng saw through Liu Cheng's little scheme and lit a cigarette, saying, "Zhu Lidong doesn't understand R&D, so there's no way to talk to him. Let's celebrate the New Year first. I'll go with you then. Keep in touch by phone first, and try to find out who manages these overseas assets and who is the one who reports them to higher authorities."
"We also need to pull some strings regarding foreign exchange, otherwise things won't be very stable," Liu Cheng said in a low voice.
"I'll contact Vice Mayor Liu and see." Lu Feng glanced at the time; it was already past four in the afternoon. He stood up and said, "Let's stop here for now. This Ruixin Laboratory is an important project right now. You should set up a special technical team within the company to handle the acquisition. I'll have the investment department keep an eye on it as well. Let's try to secure it as soon as possible."
"Okay, Mr. Lu, take care."
Lu Feng left the conference room, returned to his office, and called Vice Mayor Liu.
"Who is this?" came the voice of Vice Mayor Liu from the phone.
"Vice Mayor Liu, it's me, Lu Feng from Jiafeng Electronics. How have you been lately?" Lu Feng asked politely.
When the other party heard that they were going to talk about some useless things first, they immediately felt uneasy. They were afraid that something was wrong. After Jiafeng Electronics was introduced to Shenzhen, it did not pay a single penny of tax revenue at the end of this year. The 400 million yuan in funds on the books were spread on the losses of other branches, and the remaining funds were all allocated to next year's R&D budget.
"I... I'm just like that, just say what you want to say."
"I just wanted to ask if we have a quota for foreign exchange next year?" Lu Feng said happily, "I'm going to do something big next year. If this is done, it will be a huge leap forward for our semiconductor industry. I need foreign exchange to make an international acquisition."
“There are quotas for foreign exchange. It’s more abundant now, but not that abundant. Many state-owned enterprises will be buying a lot of machinery next year. Besides, this matter is not under my jurisdiction.” Vice Mayor Liu deflected the question by saying, “Why don’t you call the city’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange and ask? Since it’s such a big acquisition, I think they should support you.”
"Isn't the State Administration of Foreign Exchange under your jurisdiction?" Lu Feng pressed.
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