Chapter 470 European Seed Industry M&A Plan
Guo Yang arrived in Rotterdam before dark and joined in the celebration.

After the celebration, the M&A team began the next step.

Before bidding, Avic had already clearly and comprehensively sorted out the asset profile of Provimi and can now directly carry out in-depth docking.

First, sign an equity purchase and sale agreement with Provimi. There is nothing much to say about this, everything has been decided.

In mid-July, Quanwang Bio officially signed an agreement with Provimi.

This is followed by a notification to the European Commission under the EU Merger Regulation 2004.

This is the most crucial part.

It is also the last level.

After signing the agreement, the M&A team will conduct final checks and revisions to the application.

After submitting it to the European Commission, Kerston appeared beside Guo Yang, his face vaguely uneasy.

This cross-border merger and acquisition was large in scale, and the final transaction price was set at US$25.6 billion.

Among the other three companies, the lowest bid was from Cargill at US$21.4 billion. The bids from Taico and DSM were also around US$25 billion, slightly lower than that of Quanwang.

The premium rate reached 40%, but this was because Provimi's market value had shrunk.

Two years ago, Taigao also made an offer for Provimi, which reached 26 billion euros.

Today's premium is acceptable to everyone.

Compared with other domestic cross-border mergers and acquisitions, this premium rate is already extremely low.

Because the time was advanced, Kerston and others did a very thorough job, but they could not guarantee anything in front of the European Commission.

"Although I already understand it, I still want to confirm that Jiahe does not have state-owned capital background, right, Guo?"

"No, Jiahe is a private company. Among the shareholders of Tianhe and Muhe, there is a state-owned enterprise each, but they hold very small shares."

In the past two years, domestic companies have launched a series of mergers and acquisitions in Europe, which has caused concern among some people.

The European Commission has also tightened its review and restrictions on mergers and acquisitions by Chinese companies.

When reviewing turnover, not only the turnover of the acquiring entity will be calculated, but also the turnover of other similar enterprises on the SASAC platform to which the enterprise belongs.

The difficulty of cross-border mergers and acquisitions by state-owned enterprises has naturally increased significantly.

Both OmniKing and Golden Harvest are private companies, and the combined global sales of OmniKing and Provimi do not exceed 50 billion euros.

In the EU, only Provimi has sales exceeding 2.5 million euros.

In terms of the review terms, Quanwang Bio's acquisition of Provimi met all the requirements of the European Commission.

But when it came to the end, Kerston became nervous.

Guo Yang felt a little amused. "Relax, China Bluestar's acquisition of Norway's Elkem has been approved."

Hua Xia Bluestar is a subsidiary of Hua Xia Chemical. This merger and acquisition happened only two or three months ago and has been widely known in China. Guo Yang has also learned about it in detail.

Therefore, Guo Yang believes that there is no reason for the European Commission to block the King of All.

"Rather than worrying about that, I think you can move on to your next task."

"Well, what other work is there?"

Kerston was puzzled. He wanted to take this opportunity to take a vacation. Sunshine, beaches, beauties...

Guo Yang smiled and said, "You don't think that one bottle of Provimi can fill my stomach, do you?"

"You mean..."

Kerston thought about it in his mind.

According to the agreement signed between Avic and Golden Harvest, Avic Investment Bank has formulated a complete M&A strategy for Golden Harvest.

But it has never been implemented.

Strategic mergers and acquisitions are not just mergers and acquisitions, but also require screening of suitable acquisition targets globally according to the employer's strategic plan.

Avic Investment Bank has selected many M&A targets for Golden Harvest.

Guo Yang nodded. "I think it's time to start. The valuations of many companies are already very cheap."

The sun was shining brightly, but Kerston suddenly shuddered, "Guo, who do you like? Avik will definitely get you."

"Is Rex Wang okay?"

"..."

"What about Bijiu Company? Or Andi Company would be fine too."

"Uh..." Kerston shook his head awkwardly, "Guo, I admit that I boasted."

Rijk Zwaan, Ande and Beaujolais are all Dutch vegetable seed companies and are among the top ten in the world.

It doesn't mean it's not for sale.

However, these seed companies have excellent performance, and it is extremely difficult to acquire them.

Guo Yang said: "Let's sort out the information on the seed industry. Companies in three categories, field crop seeds, vegetable seeds, and flower seeds, need them."

These three categories cover all types of crop seeds traded around the world.

Kerston knew that this was also a big business, and the combined size might not be smaller than that of Provimi.

"Do you have any specific requirements?"

"At least if you have a certain market share in a certain region or field, especially for field crop seeds and vegetable seeds, you need to consider how to quickly enter the market."

Kerston pondered and said, "It's best to choose a vegetable seed company in the Netherlands, and field crops can be found in France or Germany..."

Guo Yang still agreed with Kerston's analysis.

The Netherlands, France and the United States have always been among the top three countries in terms of global crop seed exports.

The Netherlands has a huge lead in vegetable seed exports, and in many years has even doubled the exports of the second place.

But he also ranks first in vegetable seed imports.

In terms of vegetable seeds, the most correct approach is to acquire a Dutch local company as a branch. As for field crop seeds, Guo Yang is actually confused. He is familiar with all the major seed giants, but the possibility of acquisition is not high.

All major seed giants have grown through mergers and acquisitions.

There are not many options left for Tianhe Acquisition, and it can only let the investment bank screen them over and over again.

In Europe, Tianhe has also established R&D institutions, but it has no sales channels.

The head of the R&D institution is also an old acquaintance of Guo Yang: Chen Yunpeng.

His classmate during graduate school.

His first pot of gold was earned by exchanging the opportunity to study abroad at UC Davis for Chen Yunpeng.

The R&D facility is located in Hanover in northern Germany.

Germany's terrain is low in the north and high in the south, with plains in the north and west and mountains in the south.

However, the soil in the northern plains does not have enough organic matter and the accumulated temperature is not enough, so the main industries are animal husbandry and sugar beet cultivation.

The planting industry serves the animal husbandry industry and mainly produces forage grass and silage corn.

After submitting the application to the European Commission, Guo Yang came to Hanover again after many years.

The whole city seemed to have not changed at all. In a town called Burgdorf in Hanover, Guo Yang met Chen Yunpeng.

"You've lost a lot of weight. From now on, you should change your name to Skinny Tiger."

As soon as he came on, Guo Yang started to tease that he was afraid that Chen Yunpeng would not be able to adapt to their current change of identities.

The corners of Chen Yunpeng's mouth twitched as he remembered the nickname his classmates had given him behind his back.

A bit heartbroken.

But this means that Guo Yang still remembers this friendship. "I like playing football in recent years, so I lost weight."

"Very good. Are you used to working here?"

"It's OK, but I haven't achieved any results at work. Are you coming here to fire me?"

"Hahaha, you think too much. Breeding is not that easy. It's not like I don't understand it."

"Tianhe is quite easy."

"Uh……"

He is mainly responsible for the breeding of corn and forage here.

Normally, the breeding cycle of a variety is at least more than 5 years. In recent years, it can be said that there are no outstanding varieties.

However, Tianhe has achieved continuous success in the country, which makes Chen Yunpeng somewhat frustrated.

Guo Yang did not respond. Tianhe Science Park has the support of a seed store. In addition, Tianhe Science Academy has always had high investment in research and development.

"Let's go together."

In Burgdorf, farmlands, pastures and forests are intertwined. Guo Yang and Chen Yunpeng walked under the shade of the trees for a while.

The lack of seeds available for sale is the biggest problem Tianhe faces in its overseas expansion.

Even the more popular America has only two commercial varieties, which are bred based on the Tianyu series.

But the natural geography and climate conditions are completely different between continents.

It is normal for seeds that perform well in China to have problems adapting to local climate and soil when exported, and some targeted technical measures are needed.

Tianhe envisions a model: conducting research and development in foreign planting areas, producing seeds domestically, and then processing and exporting them abroad.

This maximizes profits, earning high profits in foreign markets while taking advantage of the low cost of domestic seed production.

Now it seems that the difficulty is a bit too high, and the first step of research and development has not yet been completely completed.

Even when multinational giants enter the Chinese market, most of their R&D, production, and sales are located in the country.

It took Pioneer 18 years to develop a Pioneer 335.

It is indeed very difficult to cultivate a seed of superior quality using normal breeding methods.

Chen Yunpeng's mentality is relatively good, which may be related to the fact that he has been through so many things.

People also become very calm, and this state is most likely to produce results.

At the end of the conversation, Guo Yang revealed his purpose, "We are still short of a person in charge of the European market. Are you interested?"

"me?"

"Yes, there are some seed acquisitions in the next two years, and we need someone trustworthy to check them. I think you are quite suitable."

"Thank you for thinking so highly of me."

"Uh... not interested?"

"No, I'm quite interested, but I'm a little emotional. What would have happened if I hadn't bought your study abroad quota?"

"You are either a high-ranking official or the son of an official. You behave recklessly and eat and drink as much as you want every day."

"Hahaha... Can't I run a business? Maybe it's even bigger than Jiahe!"

Guo Yang looked at him with disdain, as if to say, 'You, can't do that.'

Chen Yunpeng shook his head and said, "There is no chance to prove it now, but maybe we can create another Tianhe Seed Industry in Europe."

Guo Yang then smiled, "I don't ask to be comparable to Tianhe, as long as I can eat a piece of meat in each country, it will be enough to fatten many people."

After staying in Burgdorf for two days, he gave Chen Yunpeng some instructions on seed acquisition. Qu Yang was supposed to do this, but his main focus was in America.

The European seed market is huge. The Netherlands, France and Germany are both major exporters and importers. The seed market is very active, and other countries also have great market potential.

Someone is needed to take charge.

After careful consideration, Guo Yang found that Chen Yunpeng was one of the most suitable candidates. He knew Chen Yunpeng inside and out. His base was in Lan City, so he knew everything about his family.

Secondly, I have professional knowledge, overseas experience, and have spent several years in Europe. I can set up the stage first and see the results. If it doesn’t work, I can change it.

(End of this chapter)