Chapter 218 Selling Lotus Software

After all, Griffith still has some experience, and his initial offer was quickly rejected by the other party. The other side said Griffith and Monsanto were welcome to cooperate on the sale of Roundup, but Monsanto was not interested in the deal proposed by Dakota Pasta Growers.

"Not interested?" Griffith doesn't believe these nonsense? The overall chemical industry is currently in a downturn. Although Monsanto has the explosive product Nongda, it is not enough to support the current scale of operation. Otherwise, Monsanto will not wait to enter the seed industry.

Although Karim and Sergey didn't make a direct move, they have been paying attention to the deal. Because so far, Seryozha has no experience running an industrial enterprise of the scale of Monsanto. This company was established in 1901, 20 years earlier than the founding of the Soviet Union. Although it has not been listed, its scale has already ranked among the top ten American chemical companies, and it has a wide range of customers around the world.

Sergey Shale has been operating mainly in the fields of finance, real estate, agriculture and entertainment. Although Yota Communications is a technology company, it is far inferior to Monsanto in terms of scale and number of employees. Therefore, this acquisition can be regarded as a brand-new challenge that Sergei Shale and II have never faced before.

In fact, Seryozha knew very well that he was powerless to change the tragic fate of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and the most left behind by the Soviet Union after the disintegration were industrial enterprises like Monsanto. If he wants to have a better development in the future, then sooner or later, Seryozha will face the test of acquiring industrial enterprises. So Monsanto is considered to be Seryozha's first test product.

Griffith quickly told Karim the news of the other party’s refusal, and after obtaining Sergey’s consent, Karim authorized Griffith to pay a higher price, which was the overall valuation of Monsanto. It will reach seven billion dollars, which is already a sky-high price in this day and age. At the same time, in order to make the acquisition more certain, Griffith also found Monsanto's financial advisory firm Morgan Stanley to negotiate the deal together.

So a week later, Dakota Pasta Growers, Morgan Stanley, and Monsanto, represented by Griffith, started a new round of negotiations. In order to show his sincerity, Seriosha clearly proposed that the transaction will be paid entirely in cash, which greatly increased the attractiveness to the other party.

But this is the case with negotiations. The more you follow the other party, the higher the psychological expectations of the other party will be. Faced with the fair price proposed by Griffith, Monsanto's CEO has always been silent. Griffith knew very well that although the CEO is the leader of the company, he is also a part-time worker, and the shareholders are the owners of the company. The price must be approved by the board of directors before the possibility of further negotiation.

"Why not, Mr. Griffith! We still need to think about your price. You also know that we have many promising projects that are progressing smoothly. For example, our molecular biology laboratory has just opened The genetic engineering project has made significant progress, which is a revolutionary technology that is likely to overturn the entire seed production industry! However, I agree with you to conduct an early due diligence on us, and we will open up some necessary information to you..."Monsanto's The CEO responded calmly.

Hearing these words, Griffith finally took a reassurance. It seems that the price has really moved the other party. After all, having seven billion dollars in cash at once is definitely a good deal, and most people will be satisfied. this price. The other party accepted the acquisition of Dakota Pasta Growers Company precisely because of their enthusiasm, because the other party's meaning is very clear, you can inspect the goods now.

"Excuse me, gentlemen, can I intervene?" the Morgan Stanley representative said suddenly.

Both Monsanto's CEO and Griffith looked at him, wondering what he was going to do? I only heard the representative of Morgan Stanley say unhurriedly: "I have a report on the prospect of the seed production industry. According to our estimates, the profit of the entire seed production industry is about 10 billion yuan (the data in 2016 is 37 billion yuan. USD) USD,

We at Morgan Stanley don't think that Monsanto's molecular biology laboratory can bring much profit to the whole company. We are more optimistic about your company's development in the biomedical industry! However, Monsanto's chemical business has been showing a downward trend in the past few years. I hope that your company can consider our analysis and make a decision that is beneficial to investors! "

Griffith understood that Morgan Stanley's representatives were trying to persuade Monsanto to accept the deal. This was actually helping Griffith secretly, and Griffith glanced at this guy gratefully. In fact, the other party's overtures are also purposeful, and they hope to be able to finance a hugely expensive transaction.

Finally, some progress was made in the negotiations. While Monsanto was still hesitating, Griffith and Sergei behind him were not idle at all. Griffith’s investigation team soon came to Monsanto Investigate the financial status of the acquisition target. Seryozha, on the other hand, was raising legal funds for the acquisition. At the beginning of the year, Eva bought an office software company called Lotus Software. And this company's product lotus1-2-3 has been sought after by the market as soon as it was launched, and has become a dark horse this year. Originally, Seryozha wanted to introduce some technologies of this company to the Soviet Union to improve the office automation of the National Residential Bank, but from Seryozha's point of view, the current level of lotus 1-2-3 is still far behind.

Now Seryozha looks down on this company. It just happens that Monsanto is being acquired now, and Lotus Software is in the limelight. Therefore, Seryozha thinks it is a wise choice to sell this company at this time. Eva is still one of the major shareholders of Microsoft. Shortly after lotus 1-2-3 went public, Microsoft had a strong interest in this company, but Eva's attitude has always been rejected.

"Eva, talk to people from Microsoft! I don't think Lotus software will be of much use if we keep it in our hands!" Seryozha took a chance and said to Eva who came to Vancouver to meet him.

"But this company is now a star enterprise! And the profitability is also good!" Eva asked puzzled.

"I'm more interested in Monsanto now, and the limitations of office software are too great. Microsoft will enter this field sooner or later. It would be more cost-effective to buy them for some cash and shares!" Seryosha explained to Eva.

"Okay, I will contact them, what is the price in your mind?" Eva said obediently.

"Five billion dollars!"