Chapter 407: Breaking out halfway

In addition, regarding the acquisition of Unocal, according to information obtained from Goldman Sachs Group, CNOOC has been conducting a new round of negotiations with Unocal.

In the end, CNOOC made certain compromises on this acquisition, including that in order to prevent CNOOC from defaulting on the acquisition, they needed to deposit US$2 billion in a special account at a bank in the United States; in addition, if Unocal was eventually acquired by CNOOC , they need to pay a "breakup fee" of US$500 million to Chevron, whose negotiations broke down...

During their current negotiations, American congressmen continued to be active...

On June 30, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass a fiscal appropriations amendment, which stipulates that "the Department of the Treasury is prohibited from using appropriations to approve CNOOC's acquisition of Unocal."

On July 11, two senators wrote to the U.S. Department of Commerce, requesting a review of whether CNOOC's loans violated WTO rules.

On July 13, the American Congress held a hearing. The content of the meeting mainly focused on the conflict of interests between China and the United States.

In fact, the obstruction by many U.S. lawmakers surrounding CNOOC's acquisition of Unocal was not only funded by Chevron, but also a conflict between two factions in the U.S. at this time regarding the attitude of the Eastern powers...

In this case of CNOOC's acquisition of Unocal, the American government, including the commander-in-chief, had a relatively "neutral" attitude; those who stood in the way were almost all "members" of Congress.

The underlying reason is that after the "911" incident, the Bush administration in the United States focused its main energy on "global terrorism prevention." On this issue, they needed the support of China. Therefore, at this time, the United States The government's China policy is mainly "engagement and prevention". Relatively speaking, the atmosphere of cooperation is stronger, and it is hoped to maintain the stability of mutual relations.

There are also neoconservatives in the United States who advocate "containing China." This group is the main force on stage in this incident.

On July 14, Unocal held a board meeting and asked CNOOC and Chevron to increase prices, and declared that if both parties did not increase prices, they would be prepared to find another buyer.

At this time, the acquisition team of United Energy Group arrived in the United States.

This time, the United Energy Group’s acquisition team includes its CEO, Epeli Singleton, who once served as an executive at British Petroleum (BP), as well as legal, accounting and public relations teams. They are all the most hired in the United States. Top.

After arriving in California, Epeli Singleton had a secret meeting with Williams, the chairman of Unocal.

On July 15, Unocal Chairman Williams called CNOOC Chairman Fu Chengyu and asked CNOOC to increase prices for the second time.

On July 16, Fu Chengyu replied to the other party that the purchase price could be increased to US$69 per share, but there were three conditions -

First, Unocal will pay a breakup fee of US$500 million to Chevron; second, Unocal will stand on CNOOC’s side and lobby the government and Congress; third, promise that Chevron will be eliminated.

But Unocal insisted that the price increase should be unconditional, and the two sides were in a stalemate.

On July 17, United Energy Group CEO Epeli Singleton, who had been in contact with all parties, publicly announced that United Energy Group would intervene in the acquisition of Unocal.

And they announced their bid for Unocal - United Energy Group will acquire Unocal at a price of US$65.2 per share. In this acquisition, they will use 60% of the cash and 30% of the stock to complete the acquisition. , if they choose cash, it will be a 5% premium to their current share price.

This is equivalent to the purchase price quoted by United Energy Group for Unocal at about US$18 billion.

Once this news was announced, it made the already troubled Unocal acquisition even more eye-catching.

After the high-profile entry of United Energy Group, Chevron was forced to increase its price on July 19. The offer was changed to 40% cash and 60% stock, which was calculated to be US$63.1 per share, and the total offer was around US$17.5 billion. .

At this time, in fact, CNOOC’s price advantage has basically been lost. Although there is a higher price difference between the US$67 quoted by CNOOC and the quotes of United Energy Group and Chevron, this difference is not enough to compensate.” political risk” and “time cost”.

CNOOC, which lost its price advantage, did not rush to raise prices, but adopted a wait-and-see approach.

Later, Fu Chengyu, the chairman of CNOOC, said in an interview:

"At this time, the acquisition was no longer a price issue, but a political issue... In the political environment at that time, we had no way of judging how much money we needed to complete the acquisition. Is it US$70, US$80, or US$90? As long as we are not afraid of spending money, It can be done. But the success or failure of this thing is beyond the price factor."

At this moment, the battle to acquire Unocal is mainly a battle between the newly emerged United Energy Group and Chevron, the second largest oil company in the United States.

In the face of United Energy Group, it is unlikely that Chevron will use the same tactics against CNOOC and use "national security" as the issue.

On the one hand, United Energy Group is a British company, and Britain and the United States are close allies. However, there is no such factor as "threatening national security" or "challenging the West" between them.

More importantly, many companies in the UK have too much American capital. The two countries have been open to each other before. If Chevron really uses the tactics it used against CNOOC to deal with United Energy Group, I am afraid that the next American capital in Britain will also be subject to reciprocal sanctions - there may be one or two members of Congress who are "funded" by money and are willing to mention this matter, but they will not gather as many people as they did against CNOOC.

Moreover, at this time, part of the capital in the United States, which has reached a tacit agreement with Barron's, will also exert its efforts to escort their acquisition.

After all, on the surface, it seems that the British-owned United Energy Group is acquiring an American oil company, but in fact, it is also an opportunity for some American capital to enter the United Energy Group.

Under this circumstance, off-site political factors are almost non-existent, and it just depends on the competition between Chevron and United Energy Group purely on price.

But the value of the same Unocal company to the two acquirers is different.

For Chevron, not all the assets in Unocal are what they need. Even after the acquisition, they are considering layoffs... To put it bluntly, what they value more is Unocal's market share and ownership. of oil and gas resources.

But for United Energy Group, a newly established energy company, all the components of Unocal can enrich their strength.

Not to mention that Chevron’s commitment to Unocal’s management is far less than that of United Energy Group, which can guarantee that all these management personnel will remain in office.