Chapter 469 A Natural Acquisition

“Which companies have submitted bids?”

The decision to acquire Provimi was made by Cargill's new CEO Gary Page.

Changing CEOs is common for the long-established Cargill, but in recent years Cargill has changed several CEOs in succession.

Processing chicken in Russia, shipping soybeans to China, and providing sweeteners for Coca-Cola...

Whether in terms of the volume of agricultural product transactions or the scale of the industry, Cargill dwarfs its competitors.

But after first losing the Chinese soybean market, Cargill's domestic grain trade was also hit hard, and its days were not easy.

Gowrie wants to stay in this position for a few more years, so he wants to lead Cargill to make changes.

The animal nutrition sector is the growth direction chosen by him and the management team, and the acquisition of Provimi is a critical link.

His assistant Jenny is a beautiful woman who wears cool clothes in the summer, revealing her snow-white skin.

When asked which companies, he smiled confidently, "Tico, DSM, Quanwang Biotech, and the final winner: Cargill."

"Cargill doesn't have an advantage, Jenny. Our opponents are very strong, so don't underestimate them."

"DSM and Tega? There are too many business conflicts between them and Provimi. If they don't want to lay off a large number of employees, they won't choose DSM and Tega."

"I mean the other one."

"Quanwang Biology? Is this just a small Chinese company?"

"Small?"

Gao Li patted Jenny's exposed shoulder, and Jenny took two steps forward without making a sound.

"You just got here, so it's normal that you don't know. The company behind Quanwang Bio is very strong. Cargill lost the soybean and corn market in China because of its parent company Jiahe."

"Can anyone be stronger than Cargill?"

“Cargill is naturally larger, but the operation of such a large business span requires short-term financing to purchase corn and soybeans, and long-term investment to maintain refineries, pig farms, ports and ships, etc. 20% of the annual income must be distributed to shareholders as dividends.

As a private company, Cargill cannot raise funds by issuing stocks. It also has to ensure cash flow and support the entire family, forcing the board of directors to be cautious about every investment.

In some reasonable M&A transactions, Cargill may be subject to funding constraints.

It's the same this time.

Our offer is not competitive.”

Jenny knew that Cargill's offer, $21.4 billion, had a significant premium, which was a huge sum of money!
In order to persuade the sixth generation of the Cargill family, more than a dozen board meetings were held, and each one was as lively as a shareholders' meeting.

“Even though Cargill does not have an advantage in terms of capital, the help it can provide to the business is unmatched by other companies.”

“Maybe this is Cargill’s only advantage.”

They knew that Omni-King Biotech and Provimi had a collaboration, but they had no idea how much influence Omni-King had on Provimi.

I didn’t know that the King of All had set his sights on Provimi two or three years ago.

About 20 kilometers northeast of Rotterdam city, there is a small town: Gouda.

Gouda is most famous for its Gouda cheese, which attracts many tourists every year.

Guo Yang and others came for the branch of Provimi here.

The bidding for the merger and acquisition has closed, and the competitors are all as expected. Now all we have to do is wait for the results. Guo Yang also took this time to travel around.

In addition to being a cheese trading center, Gouda is also a large livestock breeding center.

Here, there is a premix R&D and production base of Provimi, which is mainly responsible for the R&D and production of premixes for ruminants.

The base is built on the edge of the town, with blue sky and white clouds, green grass, squeaking windmills, and black and white cows grazing leisurely.

In the workshop, Guo Yang witnessed the production process of Dutch premixes. The principle is not complicated. Simply put, it is to mix the raw materials together according to the formula.

The core is the recipe.

The second is raw materials, of which there are many types.

Natural plants and plant extracts are just one type of new feed additives. Their biggest advantages are that they are pollution-free, residue-free and free of antibiotic resistance.

The disadvantage is that bottlenecks such as its active ingredients and dosage forms need to be urgently resolved.

But for the branch's general manager, Olin, this is no problem.

Quanwang's plant extracts not only play a great role in traditional fields such as animal intestinal health, growth and development, reproductive genetics, and immunity.

The most exaggerated thing is the improvement in output and quality.

Even ordinary formulas can have excellent effects as long as Quanwang's additives are added.

The cows ate it and exclaimed how awesome it was!
Olin welcomed Guo Yang and his party and even gathered all employees to organize a joyful event.

Ren Fu is very familiar with these people, and this is not the first time Yu Qin has come here.

But at this event, many people learned for the first time that Quanwang was going to compete with companies such as Taigao and DSM for Provimi.

"Is this true, Ren?"

In front of many people, Ren Fu nodded affirmatively, "Really."

There was an uproar in the crowd.

“Will there be layoffs?”

"I'm not going to lose my job and I don't want to leave Gouda."

"Maybe after being acquired by Omni-King, things will get better! The competition has been too fierce in the past two years. We have no advantage against Taigao."

Some people are excited, but the uncertain changes make more people worried.

This should have been the job of a subsequent public relations company, but seeing that the time was right, Guo Yang pulled Yu Qin and Olin to stand in the center of the venue.

"Hey guys, believe me, if it is ultimately OmniKing who acquires Provimi, there will be no major changes to the existing staff and management structure, and there will be no large-scale layoffs."

“Provimi has a broad nutritional expertise, premix technology and product portfolio.”

"And Quanwang has the best natural plants and Chinese medicine ingredients." "We need each other."

"The combination of Provimi's technology and Quanwang's additives will produce highly competitive products. By then, neither Taigao nor DSM will be our rivals..."

In fact, Guo Yang is not good at public speaking, but he just needs to stand up and state the facts.

Considering the past two years and the supply of raw materials from the King of All, the staff quickly calmed down.

Olin also came out at the right time and said: "Yes, this will be a great cooperation!"

“Provimi will get better!”

The Netherlands is a country with a high welfare system. The same work requires fewer workers in the country, which puts considerable pressure on companies.

However, the European feed market is large enough and profitable enough.

If you want to make money in Europe, hiring local staff can avoid a lot of trouble.

This is worth it.

A small country also has its advantages, as cities are very close to each other.

After the event, it only took an hour’s drive for Guo Yang and others to reach the hotel outside Wageningen University.

This is an ideal small quiet city.

Wageningen University is also recognized as a world-leading agricultural and environmental science research institution.

Many disciplines including plant science, animal science, agricultural science, environmental science, and food science are among the best in the world.

It is the most important scientific and technological support for Dutch agriculture.

Here, Guo Yang attended two academic conferences and had some exchanges with teachers and students of the school.

It also promoted the achievements made by Jiahe and brought a little shock to the school.

There are also international students from China on campus, including many from Northwest A&F University, some of whom have received Jiahe scholarships.

What Guo Yang showed is easy to verify.

Soon, Jiahe’s achievements in ecological management spread throughout the campus.

Some people have described him as a "warrior who conquered the desert and Gobi."

...

At the same time, Taigao Group and DSM Group were also taking action, but the efforts of the two companies could not satisfy Provimi.

At the board meeting, CEO Peter made a final presentation.

"This is the second time that Taigao has communicated with us, but they cannot give a clear answer regarding the overlapping business."

“DSM is only interested in the premix business and they may sell off the feed part after buying the whole company.”

“Moreover, none of the three parties, including Cargill, offered a highest price.”

"So, fellow directors, we prefer the Omni King. This is the best choice!"

Three competing companies and one upstream company that is a bit of a novice.

But Peter, on behalf of the management, chose Quanwang Bio, the 'newbie' in the feed industry.

What should have been surprising now seemed a bit natural.

Of the 11 board members, 10 chose the All-King.

Some people choose it because of the prospect, some because of the price, and some because of the social impact...

The results all point in the same direction.

When Guo Yang, who was investigating the European seed market, learned that the results came out, he was a little confused.

"Why so fast?"

“Because everything just happened.”

During the call, Yu Qin, who was waiting in Rotterdam, was still excited and his lips seemed to be trembling.

It’s been two or three years!
From having no direction in the beginning, to becoming a supplier of Provimi, to becoming one with its various business departments.

This process involved countless hardships and bitterness.

The moment the result came out, Ren Fu shed tears of excitement. He felt the same way.

Guo Yang heard the sobbing voice on the other end of the phone and said with a smile: "This is just like proposing. If I really want to marry you, you can propose successfully by taking out the ring after you're done in bed."

"Uh... that seems to make sense, but something is wrong."

"Don't worry about whether it's right or not, just celebrate today."

"Kerston and the others are already high."

"Okay, let's do this first."

Before my eyes was a field of well-growing beets, stretching as far as the eye could see.

But the actual sugar beet area in the Netherlands is very small, about 200 million acres.

Relying on these 200 million acres of sugar beets, the Netherlands can produce 90 tons of sugar each year, with an annual yield of nearly 1000 kilograms per acre, half of which is exported.

Excellent beet seeds are the key to success.

The Dutch company Ande is also the second largest beet seed company after Germany's KWS.

After checking out the Dutch beets, Guo Yang had an idea about the beet seeds that he had cultivated previously.

What should we do? We have become the world leader again by accident.

With a hint of depression, Guo Yang rushed back to Rotterdam from Amsterdam.

There, the grand ceremony for the King of All Kings has begun.

(End of this chapter)