Chapter 443 Trip to France

On November 20, Barron came to Paris, where the opening ceremony of the new Devonshire Hotel, a luxury hotel brand under the Cavendish Hotel Group, was held.

This is the first Devonshire Hotel in France, and also the first Devonshire Hotel to open overseas in the UK after the Magic City of China.

The opening of the hotel was not long after France had just ended the 20-plus days of riots - this time it started in the suburbs of Paris and later spread to all of France, even to parts of Germany and Austria. The riots also affected Opening of the Devonshire (Paris) Hotel.

The original plan was to open on November 10th, but it was postponed by a full 10 days.

On the opening day of the Devonshire Hotel (Paris), Barron met Carla Bruni, whom he had not seen for a long time, and reviewed... well, French and Italian with her in the hotel's ducal suite. language teaching.

Speaking of which, Bruni at this time was not yet with her future husband from the original time and space, Lao Sa...

Speaking of the current Minister of the Interior of France, at the beginning of the previous riots, Lao Sal had a very tough attitude towards the immigration of ethnic minorities, which was one of the reasons for the expansion of the riots...

Speaking of which, Barron is very satisfied with the environment of this hotel.

The building of the Hotel Devonshire (Paris) was originally built in 1896 as the residence of Prince Roland Bonaparte, Napoleon's grandnephew.

It is located in the elegant and quiet 16th district of Paris, adjacent to Trocadero Square and the Champs Elysées.

In Barron's previous life, this building was listed as a French historical monument for protection in 2009. It was later purchased by the Shangri-La Hotel Group and built into the Shangri-La Hotel in Paris. However, this time, it was taken over by Devonshire Hotel. .

The hotel is located on the Chaillot Hill on the banks of the Seine River, across the river from the Eiffel Tower. According to previous reports, Prince Roland Bonaparte chose this location precisely because he could see the Eiffel Tower.

In order to open this hotel, the Cavendish Hotel Group specially invited French interior design master Pierre Yves Rochon to build this historical monument. Finally, it combined 19th-century imperialism and 20th-century minimalism to recreate the building. of magnificence.

It can be seen that the former palaces have been reborn under their renovation. Here, you can feel the unique leisure and intoxicating classical temperament of Paris.

The entire Devonshire (Paris) Hotel has 100 guest rooms and suites. The interior design is dominated by Rococo tones, and exquisite fabrics and oil paintings can be seen everywhere, making the interior full of Versailles style.

For example, in the ducal suite where Barron is currently located, in the sunlight filtering through the floating gauze, the classical-style furniture exudes soft luster and elegance, highlighting the aristocratic temperament that seems to be sealed in time.

…

When he comes to France this time, Barron has another thing to do. Asmodee, the board game company he previously invested in, will conduct another round of financing.

DS Capital has previously acquired 74.35% of Asmodee's shares through two investments.

They used these funds to acquire some small board game companies, not only increasing the categories of Asmodee's games, but also expanding their scale.

Asmodee is now one of the most well-known board game companies in Europe.

Through this process, Asmodee’s founding team has also tasted the sweetness of expansion through capital acquisitions. This time, DS Capital’s funds will invest 40 million euros to increase their total shareholding in Asmodee to more than 90%.

Next, Asmodee plans to purchase more than 60% of the shares of Esdevium Games, the largest tabletop game distributor in the UK, and take control of this company.

Generally speaking, in Barron's previous life, Asmodee's expansion was somewhat similar to that of LVMH Group in the luxury goods industry, which through continuous acquisitions brought companies with development prospects under its umbrella.

But in the final analysis, the scale of the current tabletop game industry is still limited. For example, Asmodee's revenue last year did not exceed 30 million euros. Even with large-scale growth this year, it is still within 50 million euros.

Therefore, this time Asmodee's financing did not require Barron to personally come forward.

Another target he came to France this time was the Hermès company, or to be precise, part of their shares.

"Your Highness the Duke, we have entrusted two banks to purchase the shares held by some members of the Hermès family. These shares will be held by offshore companies, keeping each company's shareholding ratio to no more than 5%."

They are very careful about the purchase of Hermès shares and will do so in a low-key manner. After all, they have learned from past mistakes.

Barron knows that LVMH Group Mobile Phones should already hold 4.9% of Hermès shares, which they secretly purchased in 2001-2002.

The purpose is to keep the ratio below 5% to avoid being announced and thus being noticed by the Hermès family.

This is Bernard Arnault's consistent strategy. He first stalks his prey, and then, targeting the opportunity, he begins to acquire shares aggressively...

The entire LVMH group includes many luxury brands, but in the field of leather goods and women's bags, Hermès is an out-and-out luxury brand that can support the entire group's style.

In the luxury goods industry, there has always been a certain chain of contempt.

Just like the "LV" in the LVMH group, Louis Vuitton is often called the entry-level brand of luxury goods...

In the world of luxury bags, only Hermès can be called the highest level of the despised chain.

Therefore, it can be said that Bernard Arnault has coveted Hermès for a long time.

Later, LVMH Group joined forces with French banks and through a financial product called "equity swap", it once again absorbed 17.1% of Hermès' shares in 2010, thus holding more than 22% of Hermès' shares, becoming its largest shareholder.

At this point, we need to briefly mention the ownership structure of Hermès. Although this is a family business, it has always been managed by the Hermès family. The family holds 70% of the shares, but these shares are scattered in the hands of more than 200 members of the family. , no one holds more than 10% of the shares.

The reason is that the Hermès family has more and more family members in its inheritance - it is worth mentioning that none of the members of the Hermès family now have the surname "Hermès", because in the early 1950s, the "head of the Hermès family" "After Emile Maurice passed away, the family business was inherited by his three daughters and sons-in-law. The current Hermès family members are all their descendants.

The LVMH Group took advantage of this and prepared to gain control of Hermès through a "sneak attack".

But what they didn't expect was that just when LVMH announced that it had become the major shareholder of Hermès, and was preparing to defeat the small shareholders of Hermès one by one, acquire more shares bit by bit, and make Hermès the company in LVMH's pocket...

In order to maintain the Hermès family's control of the company, 52 key members of the Hermès family held a secret meeting in Paris one day in December 2010.

It is said that the room where the meeting was held was protected against eavesdropping in advance, no minutes were left at the meeting, and even participating members were asked to hand over their mobile phones before entering the room.

After many rounds of communication, the Hermès family members decided to give up their personal interests and unite to protect Hermès.

They will place a total of 50.2% of their shares in strict custody and cannot sell them for 20 years.

At the same time, Hermès also began to use regulatory authorities and laws to defend its control. In July 2012, they submitted a complaint to the Paris Prosecutor's Office, accusing LVMH of unconventional means such as "insider trading" and "internal and external collusion." Holds 22.02% of Hermès shares.

In 2013, the French Financial Market Authority determined that the LVMH Group's transaction to increase its stake in Hermès was opaque and could be considered "fraud" and a serious misconduct.

On July 7, the French market regulator AMF announced that LVMH would be fined 8 million euros for increasing its large stake in rival Hermès and failing to make appropriate disclosures.

At the time, this was the largest fine ever imposed by the AMF.

In the end, LVMH Group could only give up its acquisition of Hermès, distribute its shares of Hermès to the company's shareholders, and promise not to increase its shares...