Chapter 443 Acquisition
After getting Edward's guarantee, Wang Deming whispered a few instructions to Buckley of the Royal Bank of England and took his people to live in the manor outside London.

In this era, a large portion of the castles and manors in Britain no longer belong to the nobility. They have either been nationalized or sold to wealthy people from various countries.

The main reason why it was nationalized by the United Kingdom is that the inheritance tax in capitalist countries such as the United Kingdom is particularly high, basically around 50%.

In addition to the inheritance tax levied by the British government's tax department, the British construction department will also require the owners of the castle to regularly maintain the castle estate, which is another amount of money.

If the traditional British aristocracy had no other industries to support them, they would not be able to survive at all, so they would either sell it out once and for all, or become deadbeats and have their properties taken back by the British government.

However, after the British government recovered these castles and manors, they simply repaired them and then found new owners to sell them.

The manor that Wang Deming bought is somewhat similar to the one in the TV series Wuthering Heights. It covers an area of ​​more than 100 acres. It not only has farmers' cultivated land, but also stables, horse farms, tennis courts, and lawn gardens.

In the center is a traditional Victorian-style castle, 5 stories high and built of bluestone.

After Wang Deming bought it, he sent the architectural master Mr. Chen and construction workers from Hong Kong to renovate it.

Today, the exterior of the manor still retains the style of an ancient castle, but the interior has been completely modernized.

Wang Deming rarely comes to this manor, and he uses it as a family vacation, but the service staff is fully equipped.

As soon as he returned to the manor, the British butler was already standing at the door, with his back straight, his hands crossed on his abdomen, and greeted him respectfully, "Master, welcome home."

"The bath water is ready for you."

"In addition, the French chef we invited today is ready and waiting for your orders at any time."

"Yes!" Wang Deming nodded, "Let the chef start preparing, for about 10 people."

"Yes!"

The British housekeeper called the French chef to prepare dinner. After taking a bath, Wang Deming had a simple meal and then lived the life of a wealthy British landlord.

The British butler was also a sensible man. Two days later, he asked Wang Deming whether he should hold a dinner party to make friends with several families around the manor.

Wang Deming had no objection. Many of the rules in Hong Kong were learned from the British. Dinner parties and dances were often held, which were both for socializing and to pass the time.

After receiving Wang Deming's consent, the British butler immediately became energetic.

How could he demonstrate his abilities at the manor? Only by hosting a dinner party could he let his master see that he could arrange everything in an orderly manner and live up to the noble style.

The butler has to do everything he can to prepare for this banquet, including sending invitations, making large purchases, studying the identities and status of the neighbors, and preparing appropriate etiquette.

Wang Deming also took the opportunity to ask his butler to send invitations to Edward, John and others from Leyland Motor Company.

Although he also knew that Britain had been preparing for the marriage of Crown Prince Charles recently and was unlikely to have time to hold a meeting to discuss his acquisition of the car company, but what if?
To have more customers, doing business is all about doing favors, so having a few more drinks is also good for maintaining relationships.

If there are any discordant voices from the British government, he can also use his golden fingers to make them understand.

It's called a banquet, but the time is half a month later. On the one hand, the host needs to prepare, and on the other hand, the invited people also need to prepare. It can be said that the so-called upper class in the UK or Hong Kong is just like this. Hypocrisy.

The reason why there were so many clubs in the country in the past life was because of this.

Half a month later, the wedding of Charles and Diana was just over. After these people found out about Wang Deming's identity and status, they all readily agreed to attend the banquet.

On the night of the banquet, the entire manor was ablaze with lights, reflecting the Milky Way in the sky. Starting from the manor gate and along both sides of the road leading to the castle, there were flower beds of tulips and other flowers that had just been shipped from the Netherlands that morning.

The faint floral fragrance made the guests attending the banquet feel relaxed and happy.

Entering the castle, the banquet hall was radiant with light, as bright as day, reflecting the golden splendor of the entire banquet hall.

Dozens of handsome men and beautiful women who were hired as waiters were flitting among the crowd like butterflies, holding various kinds of champagne in their hands.

On the long table at one end of the banquet hall were a variety of fruits and pastries.

The men were in suits and the women in backless dresses, all were neatly dressed. From time to time they gathered in a circle and chatted in low voices. Their topics always revolved around Wang Deming.

Wang Deming spoke a few words at the beginning of the banquet, and then started talking about the acquisition with Edward, John, and Buckley.

Edward was older and more cunning, and he knew the other meaning of Wang Deming's hosting of the banquet, so this time he specially invited officials from the British government who were in charge of reviewing and approving acquisitions.

At this time, he was holding a glass of champagne in his hand and shaking it gently, talking about the acquisition with a smile, "James, why does our British Empire need so many car brands?"

"So as early as ten years ago, the government supported the collection of all car companies into Leyland."

He smiled bitterly and said, "But our company has 35 brands, which is too many and our strength is too dispersed. How can we compete with Volkswagen of Germany and Renault of France in the European market?"

James was a middle-aged man in his 40s, tall and in very good shape. He had a smile on his face. He glanced at Wang Deming casually and hinted, "Edward, your judgment is the same as Mrs. Thatcher's."

“Mrs Thatcher spoke to us about this before Prince Charles’ wedding.”

"She is also inclined to sell off some of Leyland's automobile factories and reduce their size and expenses."

Then, he looked at Wang Deming, "However, we still hope that you can keep all the factories in the UK. After all, the UK has good supporting factories for the automotive industry. After you take over, it will not delay production."

Wang Deming raised his eyebrows, not giving any face, "And the more we produce, the greater the backlog?"

"Am I buying the car for charity?"

"Then why don't I just give the British government 1 million pounds and spend it however you want?"

James looked very unhappy, as if he was constipated, and said very firmly: "If you plan to move to Hong Kong, then our British government will not agree to this acquisition!"

(End of this chapter)