Chapter 88 A Big Gamble

"You want to buy Aston Martin?"

Ulrich Bates was shocked and looked at Yang Huan in amazement.

In fact, no matter how harsh the conditions Yang Huan proposed now, he would not be so shocked.

A Chinese person actually wants to acquire Aston Martin?

"What's the problem?" Yang Huan was very calm and looked at Ulrich Bates calmly.

The German Mediterranean shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Don't joke with me, Mr. Yang Huan, I am very serious about discussing with you how to resolve this lawsuit. You should be able to feel my sincerity."

Yang Huan could indeed feel it, because Ulrich Bates had been waiting in Southampton for three days.

"Then I'll tell you, the best and most effective way to deal with Aston Martin is to sell it to me. Once it becomes mine, there will naturally be no problem of the left hand fighting the right hand."

At this point, Yang Huan revealed a confident smile, "And I believe you are also very clear that David Richards can't give you anything at all. His plan to bring Aston Martin into the Formula 1 racing field has completely failed. Aston Martin is now heavily in debt."

"But once Aston Martin becomes my property, I will provide you with ample funds for research and development. Otherwise, I believe you should know better than me that within two years, Aston Martin will be completely squeezed out of the ranks of top car brands and lose its last aristocratic halo."

Yang Huan's strong self-confidence and his words shocked Ulrich Bates.

He could see that Yang Huan knew about Aston Martin.

Ulrich Bates was not a pedantic British conservative. He once said something very controversial in public, and even now he dares not say it again.

“Aston Martin must be produced abroad!”

This was criticized by countless Aston Martin fans, because in their opinion, only by producing it in the UK can the authenticity of Aston Martin and its strong British aristocratic style be guaranteed to the greatest extent.

But they forget one other thing, a business needs cost control.

David Richards runs a business centered around racing technology and vehicle modification projects. His largest customers come from racing teams on racing tracks. His business is very fragmented, and he simply does not have enough funds to acquire Aston Martin.

One of the important reasons why he was able to take over Aston Martin from Ford in 2007 was that he attracted the support of two large investment companies in Kuwait through financing, and finally successfully acquired Aston Martin from Ford for 475 million pounds.

Yang Huan feels that there have been similar cases in the field of football.

That's Manchester United.

The Glazer family used capital and leverage to swallow up Manchester United, turning what was once the most profitable club in football into the most indebted club overnight.

Similarly, since Ulrich Bates took over Aston Martin, he has been pioneering and enterprising. From 2001 to 2007, it took him six years to increase Aston Martin's annual sales tenfold to 7,400 vehicles, which was the best sales performance in Aston Martin's history.

However, with the emergence of the subprime mortgage crisis and the European debt crisis, problems arose in David Richards' financing method. Not only was he unable to continue to increase investment and further consolidate the achievements made by Aston Martin in the previous six years, but he continued to suck blood from Aston Martin.

Coupled with the impact of the economic crisis, Aston Martin's sales have gradually declined since its peak in 2007. It is expected that the sales volume for the whole of 2010 will be around 4,000 vehicles, the annual revenue will be around 470 million pounds, and the loss will exceed 30 million pounds.

In other words, not only do they have no money to invest in new car research and development, but even maintaining normal operations of the company may be a problem.

This is why Yang Huan had previously booked four One-77s but has not yet received the vehicles.

Ulrich Bates looked at Yang Huan with a complicated expression. He never expected that he originally just wanted to resolve a lawsuit, but now the situation was completely beyond his expectations.

He has no doubt that the current Aston Martin chairman David Richards wants to sell Aston Martin. He has always wanted to do so after the failure of his plan to enter the Formula One racing field, but he has not waited for the right buyer.

As the CEO of Aston Martin, he watched his competitor Ferrari's sales climb steadily, and Volkswagen's Bentley turn losses into profits, while Aston Martin gradually declined. One can imagine how he felt.

But, can Yang Huan really become the savior of Aston Martin?

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Yang Huan saw Ulrich Bates pondering in silence, thinking about something with a distressed look on his face, so he didn't bother him.

This is indeed a big deal for Aston Martin.

But for Yang Huan, it was not a big deal.

At best, it is just part of his entrepreneurial plan.

However, the game seemed to have reached a stalemate due to Ulrich Betts's distress.

Throughout the first half, Southampton was in a situation where they had the upper hand but could not score. Poyet did a very good job in targeted tactics. After all, Isco was still young and it was difficult for him to help Southampton open up the situation.

"It seems that the midfield still needs further transformation."

The midfield is to a team what the waist is to a person.

The waist is strong, the talents are strong, and so is the team.

Southampton made some adjustments in the second half. James Rodriguez and Neymar began to retreat more to participate in the ball receiving and wing advancement in the midfield. David Alaba and Carvajal on both flanks also actively moved forward to participate in the attack.

This immediately made Southampton's entire attack active again.

Ibrahimovic was alone in the front, like a bridgehead for Southampton. The team's entire offense revolved around him, bringing the Swedish center's personal ability and dominance in the penalty area to the extreme.

Brighton's desperate resistance did not last long.

Less than ten minutes into the second half, Brighton was once again scored by Southampton.

This time, it was Ibrahimovic who dribbled past Brighton center back Painter with a juggling dribble and then volleyed the ball, further expanding the score for Southampton.

Falling behind by two goals, Brighton completely lost its final resolve to resist and was defeated.

Southampton then took advantage of the victory, Ibrahimovic scored twice, and Lambert, a British player who replaced the Swedish center forward, scored another goal, and finally locked the score at 4:0!

Southampton easily and cleanly defeated their top rival this season at St. Mary's Stadium.

This battle also made Brighton feel depressed and humiliated, but head coach Poyet said after the game that Brighton lost with conviction and admitted that Southampton is the number one favorite to win the English League One title this season.

After the First World War, the whole of Southampton was plunged into a sea of ​​​​joy, and almost everyone seemed to have seen the moment when Southampton was promoted to the Championship.

Yang Huan was also very happy because the team won a big victory over the opponent.

What made him even more excited was that after defeating Brighton, Southampton's excellent form did not decline at all. They also defeated their opponents in the English League Championship and FA Cup and successfully advanced to the next round.

Southampton's amazing offensive storm, with the publicity and care of many influential media such as the BBC, the Southern Echo, and Independent Television, quickly attracted considerable attention in the entire British football world.

Even in Europe and around the world, countless fans are cheering for this low-level league team that has a number of top stars, and are looking forward to the opportunity for it to compete with the top teams.

And when Yang Huan led the team to be invincible on the British football field.

At the headquarters of the Yang Group in Longhai City, Yang Wenfeng encountered an extremely troublesome matter.

This time, he mobilized resources and channels from all aspects of the company to collect all relevant intelligence in the shortest possible time.

An emergency high-level meeting was held at the Yang Group headquarters.

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Zhang Ning arrived at the headquarters of Yang Group.

As she walked through the gate, she couldn't help but recall the first time she came here.

That was the second day after she was kept by Yang Huan.

Before coming to the headquarters of Yang Group, Yang Huan went to the most expensive luxury goods mall in Longhai and bought a lot of things.

The money she spent that day was more than she had spent in the previous twenty years.

So, she was very impressed.

"Ms. Zhang, Director Yang is already waiting for you in the conference room."

As soon as the receptionist saw Zhang Ning, she came over to greet him.

"Okay, thank you!" Zhang Ning nodded politely and went straight to the elevator.

But I was wondering in my heart, why did they suddenly call me to a meeting?

Since you are here at the company, it must be for business.

This also made Zhang Ning relax a little. She was always a little afraid to face Yang Huan's family.

With a ding, the elevator arrived.

As Zhang Ning walked out of the elevator, Yang Wenfeng's secretary had received the message and was waiting for her outside the door. He took her directly to the meeting room.

Pushing the door open and entering, Zhang Ning was surprised by the person he saw in front of him.

She discovered that not only were all the senior management of the Yang Group present, but even old Mr. Yang Baoping was sitting in the center of the table.

When she walked in, everyone was looking at her.

However, she did not sense even a trace of distracting thoughts in the eyes of these people, only seriousness.

"Zhang Ning, you're here!" Yang Wenfeng turned around and greeted her.

"Yang...Grandpa, Mr. Yang." Zhang Ning greeted Yang Baoping and his son.

In response to Yang Baoping's smiling nod, Yang Wenfeng directly gestured for her to sit down in an empty seat not far from him.

If seats are divided according to status and importance, then Zhang Ning is undoubtedly very important.

This is definitely not just because she took over WeChat China, but also because she represents Yang Huan behind her.

The only future heir to the Yang Group.

After everyone was seated, the convener of the meeting, Yang Wenfeng, stood up.

"I urgently asked everyone to come to a meeting today, mainly to discuss one thing."

Following Yang Wenfeng's words, the secretary immediately distributed a thick document to each senior executive present at the meeting.

Zhang Ning also got a copy, and after opening it, she was shocked.

This document came from Yang Huan, who proposed to his father a huge bottom-fishing plan in the UK with an initial investment of up to 10 billion pounds. The plan will include many fields such as cars, yachts, jewelry, wine, etc.

When Zhang Ning saw this document, his first feeling was that his heart beat faster.

She wondered if Yang Huan was crazy?

At a time when the global economy is so depressed, you actually proposed to carry out such a large business plan in the UK?

But when she patiently read on, she had to admit that the plan was indeed very tempting.

Especially the blueprint for future prospects outlined by Yang Huan.

But no matter what, it's a gamble.

A gamble with huge risks.