Chapter 913 Threat

"I hope you can make the EU understand that Alstom's acquisition is imperative. At least one of Bombardier and Siemens' railway departments needs to be approved without any conditions. Otherwise, our high-speed rail line 2 project will be outsourced to Huaxia as a whole, and Europe will not get any orders."

For Alstom's acquisition this time, the negotiation team formed by Barron with relevant EU institutions was personally led by Ashley Weber. Members included Alstom, Standard Defense and representatives of Eurobank. William Weber Capital will provide consulting services for this acquisition, and Eurobank will provide financing services for this acquisition.

At the same time, the British and French governments will also send ministerial personnel to participate in this negotiation with the EU antitrust agency.

In fact, as early as when the British side passed the construction plan of the high-speed rail line 2, Huaxia showed interest in participating.

In January 2012, the South China Morning Post quoted the news from China Railway Co., Ltd., saying that if the British government wanted to build this high-speed rail project, China Railway would be interested in bidding.

At that time, China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corporation Limited also expressed interest in the project...

Earlier, in September 2011, China and the UK signed the "Memorandum of Understanding between the Two Governments on Strengthening Infrastructure Cooperation". Going back further, in June 2011, when the Chinese Prime Minister met with Cameron in London, he proposed China's intention to participate in the construction of the UK high-speed rail project HS2.

Although Cameron did not respond clearly at the time, only saying that Britain welcomes China's investment in British infrastructure, the words of Hoon, who serves as the UK's Minister of Energy and Climate Change, revealed his admiration for China's high-speed rail and other projects with energy-saving and emission-reduction effects.

And at the end of last year, when Cameron led a delegation to visit China, China expressed its intention to invest tens of billions of pounds in British infrastructure, including more than 40 billion pounds in the UK HS2 high-speed rail.

It can be said that China is very active in participating in the high-speed rail line 2 project, and is even willing to provide most of the loans needed for construction.

"We also need to consider that if most of the HS2 project is really opened to China, then the EU will inevitably withdraw the subsidy funds for the high-speed rail project in the UK..."

As the main representative of the government who assisted Barron in completing the acquisition of Bombardier, British Business Secretary Peter Mandelson immediately dissuaded Barron from his seemingly impulsive words:

"And if we do this, it will inevitably lead to criticism from some local companies, and we will be under great pressure."

"If such a consequence is caused, it is entirely because of the EU's excessive antitrust investigation, which has prevented us from using enough local European resources, and..."

Barron didn't care about Peter Mandelson's words in his heart, but on the surface, he still said in a slightly slower tone:

"If I take over this project, then first of all, it will be a commercial project. I only care about who can complete the project with higher efficiency and lower cost under the premise of ensuring quality and quantity, rather than blindly creating benefits for those uncompetitive companies."

Yes, as a private company, Barron only needs to consider how to complete the project in the most economical way, but as the British government, there are more things to consider.

This is why in his previous life, this high-speed rail line in England was delayed again and again, and eventually became a "negative example" in high-speed rail construction.

Of course, he will give all companies equal opportunities in the bidding for this project. If the British government or other EU countries are willing, they can provide corresponding subsidies to their own companies to increase their competitiveness.

Up to now, Barron has not started to acquire the First Group and Eversholt Railway Group. The meaning is very clear, that is, completing the acquisition of Bombardier is a prerequisite for him to take over the British High Speed ​​Rail Line 2.

Otherwise, even if he is willing to take over, he will choose a more cost-effective solution-of course, outsourcing most of this project to Huaxia Company is just Barron's "threat" to the EU antitrust agency, but if the other party really refuses himself, then as long as Barron takes over the High Speed ​​Rail Line 2, this will inevitably become a reality.

As for the merger of Alstom and Siemens' railway departments proposed by Barron and German Chancellor Merkel before, Siemens needs to agree to provide 1 billion euros in "compensation for failed mergers and acquisitions". Siemens has not yet responded to this.

But according to the information Barron has obtained, Germany and Siemens have already discussed with the EU about merging their railway businesses with Alstom. It seems that they want to test the waters first to assess the possibility of the other party's approval of this plan.

It is not just Alstom that needs to pay "M\u0026A failure compensation" to Siemens. From the current situation of Cavendish Trust and Alstom's contact with Bombardier, the other party does not mind being acquired, but they are also worried about the review of the EU antitrust agency. Therefore, Barron said that he also needs to provide "M\u0026A failure compensation" for the acquisition, and the amount is as high as 500 million euros.

Therefore, under the current situation, it is a little confusing. They need to obtain the commitment of relevant EU agencies before continuing this acquisition.

Of course, if the other party cannot make a clear commitment, Barron does not mind really cooperating with China on a large scale in this high-speed rail line 2 project.

At that time, Alstom, which had not completed the merger, could only obtain the orders they could undertake, and most of the rest would belong to China.

"The problem is much more complicated than expected at the beginning."

When Barron met Cameron again, the other party loosened his tie and couldn't help sighing.

"As long as you do things, you will always encounter various problems. Only when you talk nonsense, you don't need to solve the problems."

Barron shrugged and said so.

Having been in the position of prime minister for three years, Cameron naturally has a deep understanding of what Barron said.

Especially under the "democratic" system like Europe and the United States, it is particularly difficult to get things done.

After all, there are all kinds of debates in the parliament all day long, countless opinions are put forward, and the arguments back and forth on one thing, such a process day after day, always makes people particularly tired.

It can be said that no matter what the final evaluation is, anyone who first sits in a position like Cameron always has the idea of ​​making great plans and doing something.

However, in the face of various quarrels, there are still too few people who can finally persist in doing something.

Just like Obama, even though he served as the President of the United States for two terms, after several years, the impression he left on people was nothing more than "Aobanhai Medical Insurance".