Chapter 422 Killing Two Birds with One Stone
In the afternoon, a silver helicopter flying from Nice Airport in France slowly landed at the Monaco Helicopter Airport.
This is also the only airport in the tiny country of Monaco.
The cabin door was opened by Zhao Yuanfang who came over. Long Wu was the first to get out of the cabin. After looking around, he jumped down.
Yang Huan and Zhuang Ziqing slowly walked out at this time, and Feng Jiu was the last one to come out.
"Hello, Mr. Yang Huan, welcome to Monaco"
Monaco Club's financial director Domadis, who had been waiting at the helicopter airport, immediately came forward, stretched out his hand from a distance, and looked very enthusiastic.
"Hello," Yang Huan shook hands with him politely.
Domadis didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
This Young Master Huan is now a world-famous figure, a big shot who has to be personally received by Prince Albert of Monaco. In front of him, I am nothing at all, and being treated with courtesy is already considered good enough.
After exchanging some polite words with Domadis, Yang Huan turned to Zhao Yuanfang and Pini of Li Harvey who came to pick him up at the airport.
The Israeli seemed very excited. If he could make this deal, he would be able to make a lot of commission from it.
And he could also feel that Yang Huan was paying more and more attention to him.
Considering Monaco's current situation in the French Ligue 2, once Yang Huan really takes over, he will definitely have to make drastic adjustments to the lineup. By that time, whether it is recruiting or selling players, he will be indispensable.
"Where is Prince Albert?" Yang Huan asked casually.
"Waiting in the palace," Zhao Yuanfang came over and said.
"They have booked a room at the Grand Hotel de Paris and have chosen this hotel as the meeting place. I wonder if Master Huan wants to take a rest first and then meet His Royal Highness, or will he meet to discuss things first and then take a rest?"
Yang Huan glanced at Zhuang Ziqing beside him, and there was a look of fatigue on his face.
Monaco itself does not have an airport, so Yang Huan and his group had to fly from London to Nice, and then take a helicopter from Nice.
It is inevitable that there will be some trouble in the middle, and it is normal to feel tired.
"Let's send Ziqing to the hotel to rest first, and then we can talk about things."
Zhao Yuanfang nodded immediately, asked Yang Huan to get in the car, and then went to tell Domadis about Young Master Huan's idea.
The latter immediately contacted the palace so that Prince Albert could make preparations early.
The purpose of Yang Huan's trip is to acquire Monaco Club.
But this is troublesome
The current shares of Monaco Club are mainly divided into two parts. One part is held by the Monaco royal family, and the other part is owned by a company called Monaco Football Investment Company, referred to as U1.
When I read newspapers in my previous life, many Chinese media confused UE Khorabchin's M1 company with the Russian tycoon Rebolovlev's acquisition of Monaco. Little did they know that there is a world of difference between the two.
NP1 was established in 2003, the year when Monaco was almost ordered to be relegated due to its debt crisis.
As the behind-the-scenes boss of the Monaco Club, Albert, who was a prince at the time, used his connections to bring in wealthy people including the famous European real estate developer Michel Pastor, Udrih, Piccinini and others to form the Monaco Football Investment Company, which acquired 10% of Monaco's shares.
The French Football Federation has strict regulations that any local government’s annual subsidy to a team may not exceed a certain proportion.
But at that time, Monaco was in debt of 50 million euros and was obviously unable to sustain it.
Therefore, Albert and others used the method of establishing a company and acquiring club shares to inject capital into the club in disguised form, thus circumventing this regulation.
Later, although Monaco reached the Champions League final and won the runner-up, which was a good result, its finances were still in deficit, and U1 company continued to inject capital.
The most impressive thing is that it is rumored that in order to stabilize Deschamps and the team's hearts, U1 company directly took out 16 million euros and promised the team high bonuses, which eventually helped Monaco reach the Champions League final.
But in the end, they lost to Mourinho's Porto in the final.
Due to the increasing debt, MPI is also continuously injecting capital and increasing its shareholding in the club.
Currently, NP1 holds 51% of Monaco's shares, while the Monaco royal family only holds 49%, having lost controlling rights.
But even so, the Monaco royal family still has the power of life and death over the Monaco Club.
In other words, if you want to acquire Monaco, you have to get Prince Albert's approval.
However, there is one good thing. After a few years of lows after being the runner-up of the Champions League, Monaco has successfully escaped from the debt crisis. However, selling players and cutting wages have made Monaco's competitive strength linger in the middle and lower reaches of Ligue 1. It was even relegated to Ligue 2 in 2011 and failed to impact the first division.
On the way to the Grand Hotel de Paris Monaco, Yang Huan's mind was constantly circling with information about Monaco.
Among the three Ligue 1 teams he is interested in, Rennes' behind-the-scenes boss has made it clear that Rennes is not for sale.
As the saying goes, a man without desires is strong. The boss is also a wealthy man and has plenty of money. Even if Yang Huan wants to buy it, it won't be that easy.
Another team, Marseille, is very enthusiastic and strong, asking for around 100 million euros, but according to Cash Harris's investigation, Marseille currently has a debt of around 100 million euros.
This gave Yang Huan a headache.
A French Ligue 1 team that doesn't own its stadium is asking for 200 million?
So Yang Huan set his main target on Monaco.
This team does have a natural flaw, which is that the home attendance is too low, but according to Yang Huan's investigation, the per capita consumption of Monaco fans in the stadium is quite high.
Didn’t someone say that?
In Monaco, one out of every three people is a wealthy person.
More importantly, this is a tax haven.
In Monaco, the tax burden for paying players' salaries is around 7.5 percent.
In France, once President Hollande introduced the so-called special wealth tax, individuals with annual incomes of more than 1 million euros were taxed at 75 percent.
According to this tax calculation method, based on an annual salary of 10 million euros after tax, the club's cost for other Ligue 1 teams is approximately between 65 million and 70 million euros.
But what about in Monaco?
More than 11 million
In other words, with the same amount of money, other Ligue 1 teams can only support one player, but Monaco can support six.
This is Monaco's biggest advantage.
Even in Yang Huan's view, this advantage will not only affect the Monaco Club, but also help Southampton to avoid taxes more reasonably and safely.
This is just in the field of football, what if we magnify it?
As the European debt crisis continues to deepen, the European Union has been unable to escape the crisis. It is a foregone conclusion that all countries will have to raise taxes to save their government finances, even Germany and France are unavoidable.
By then, tax havens like Monaco will be more attractive than ever before.
In addition, there is another place in Monaco that attracts Yang Huan, that is the Royal Yacht Club of Monaco.
This is a top yacht organization that is very important in the world, with members from more than 60 countries and more than 1,200 super-rich people.
Currently, many top yacht clubs in China hope to become members of the Royal Yacht Club of Monaco, including the yacht club of the Yang Group. If in-depth and close cooperation can be carried out, it will be of great benefit to Sunseeker Yachts and Aston Martin under Yang Huan.
It is precisely because of various factors other than football that Yang Huan chose Monaco as his first choice.
"Master Huan, we are at the Paris Hotel."
Zhao Yuanfang in the front row turned around and said.
The car quickly stopped in front of the hotel gate.
Guards immediately came running over to help open the car door, and stood aside politely with an indescribably respectful attitude.
“Welcome to the Hotel de Paris Monaco”
Yang Huan and Zhuang Ziqing got out of the car on the left and right, arm in arm, and walked into this hotel, which was not high but decorated in an extremely luxurious style and was known as the top hotel in Monaco.
As soon as I entered the lobby, the manager who had already received the message came to greet me.
"Hello, Mr. Yang Huan, His Royal Highness Prince Albert has arrived and is waiting for you in the living room upstairs."
After a pause, the polite middle-aged Frenchman smiled gentlemanly again.
"In addition, the presidential suite that His Royal Highness has reserved for Mr. Yang Huan is also ready."
Yang Huan was very satisfied with this service attitude and turned to look at Zhuang Ziqing.
"You go up and rest first, I'll come back to find you"
Zhuang Ziqing knew that he had something to discuss, so she didn't say much. She just nodded and took Fengjiu with her.
Yang Huan, Zhao Yuanfang, Pini of Li Harvey, accompanied by Domadis, took the elevator to the reception room on the third floor of the hotel.
As soon as I got out of the elevator and walked into the reception room, I saw Prince Albert, who was already half bald, from afar.
"Hello, Your Royal Highness."
"Hello, Mr. Yang Huan, welcome to Monaco"
"Thanks"
After the two men shook hands, they introduced several assistants who would participate in the negotiations to each other.
It was through Prince Albert's introduction that Yang Huan met the famous European real estate developer Michel Pastor.
It is said that this wealthy old man rarely appears in public, but this time he showed up in person.
This more or less made Yang Huan feel the sincerity of Monaco.
"Mr. Yang Huan, since this is your first time in Monaco, you must stay for a few more days. I believe there will be countless people who would like to have the opportunity to meet you," Prince Albert said with a smile.
Yang Huan is now a world-renowned bachelor, needless to say his net worth is astonishing.
What he represents behind him is the Yang Group.
Nowadays, which place in the world does not value Chinese financial groups?
"Okay, since His Royal Highness has invited me so kindly, I will respectfully obey your command."
When Prince Albert heard Yang Huan agreed, he also laughed.
Although he is a prince and has a noble status, that is inherited from his father.
But what is the reality?
If this gets out there, in terms of influence, he can't catch up with Yang Huan even if he flatters.
At the very least, Yang Huan can get hundreds of thousands of people to follow suit just by shouting a few words on WeChat. Can he do it?
Prince Albert and others also had this self-awareness, so they were very polite when dealing with Yang Huan.
Especially when Yang Huan mentioned that he was very interested in investing in Monaco, the Prince of Monaco smiled from ear to ear and kept expressing his welcome.
It’s really a good idea to come to Monaco to invest.
If Yang Huan remembered correctly, real estate prices throughout Europe would generally fall in the next few years, but only Monaco, which had long occupied the position of the world's highest housing price, was still rising continuously.
The reason is just as Yang Huan said just now.
When the whole of Europe was raising taxes, the wealthy rushed to Monaco frantically in order to avoid taxes.
Real estate has undoubtedly become their preferred way to enter Monaco.
Because they have to find a place to live, right?
However, most of the apartment buildings in Monaco are very old, and coupled with the shortage of land resources, there is a strong demand for old city reconstruction and renovation of old buildings.
This is also normal.
Which rich person would want to live in a shabby apartment building like that?
Of course, it has to be a high-end, classy new building.
Besides, if the Yang Group comes to invest, it can also attract more Chinese people to buy houses overseas, killing two birds with one stone.
Therefore, when Prince Albert heard that Yang Huan had such an intention, he almost immediately decided to give his full support.