Among the three candidate companies, Vacheron Constantin, which focuses on top watchmaking, has the oldest history and has been founded for more than 200 years.

In 1987, Jacques Cutler, the then head of the holding family of Vacheron Constantin, passed away. His children chose to sell the brand and were bought by former Saudi oil minister Ahmed Yamani, who had just immigrated to Switzerland.

As one of the few Saudi Arabian government leaders from non-royal backgrounds, Ahmed Yamani has achieved the position of Saudi Arabia as the core oil minister with his outstanding personal ability, and has planned the Middle East oil crisis in the 1970s, winning a lot of benefits for OPEC.

Unfortunately, personal abilities are ultimately beyond the court struggle.

In the mid-1980s, the Saudi crown prince, the biggest backer of Yamani, was assassinated. The oil minister was removed from his post by the new Saudi king the following year, and moved to Switzerland to avoid further purges.

At that time, Vacheron Constantin happened to be looking for a buyer, and Yamani took the opportunity to take action.

Media reports said that the former Saudi oil minister loved watch collections and bought Vacheron Constantin. However, in Simon's view, this incident is more like the memory of many wealthy people from emerging countries going to the West to acquire basketball or football teams, a typical way to protect themselves by name.

Vacheron Constantin, like Rolex and Patek Philippe, are both the top watch brands in Switzerland. Buying such a company can greatly enhance the international reputation of its holders.

Many times, fame is indeed an invisible amulet.

From the mid-1980s to the present, the political situation of Saudi Arabia has been solid for so many years. No one cares about a long-lost former oil minister. Only then did Yamani start to seek to sell the watch brand that occupied a large amount of his assets.

Unlike ordinary watch companies that are mass-produced, Vacheron Constantin's annual output has just exceeded 11,000 yuan. However, because the average price is over 10,000 US dollars, there are many luxury-level limited edition models every year, with a turnover in 1993 equivalent to US$143 million and a net profit of US$21 million.

During the initial contact, Yamani gave a quotation of US$300 million.

Top watch brands are not able to expand rapidly by significantly increasing production and strengthening marketing like luxury goods companies in clothing, luggage, and luxury goods. Therefore, although their profits are stable, their growth is very weak. According to the profit scale in 1993, the price-to-earnings ratio of 14 times is still relatively high.

According to the evaluation just now, the actual acquisition should be able to win the company at a price of no more than US$250 million.

Sofia gave Simon a glass of juice, but she still couldn't bear to get off his leg. When she heard the man say 'Everything is good and there are problems', she said, "That's why you want to make an idea."

Simon took a sip of cold fresh apple juice, and casually wrapped his other hand around the woman's waist in his arms, saying, "Three companies, you should want to get Bulgari the most, right?"

Sofia nodded, moved her body slightly to make it easier for the man to hug her, and said, "I have investigated many comprehensive jewelry watch brands, Cartier, Bulgari, Earl, etc., as well as our own Van Clerk Arpels. I found that these companies have a unified feature. The sales volume of jewelry is the largest, and the sales volume is basically more than 70% of the brand's total revenue, and watches often only account for about 20%.

Simon smiled and said, "So, it's better to make money from women."

Sofia gave him a light look and then said: "Unlike luggage and clothing companies like Gucci and CK, if the top jewelry and watch companies want to maintain brand value, they cannot expand too much. The turnover of a single brand is best maintained within US$1 billion. Therefore, if we want to expand this part of the business, we can only expand in disguise by acquiring multiple brands."

Simon pointed out the problem facing Sofia: "The Bulgari family is not willing to sell too many shares, how do you plan to solve it?"

Sofia said: "I have considered that if we are willing to give up part of Melisandra's shares, the Bulgari family should be tempted."

Melisandra's previous acquisitions have used cash, so now, except for Simon and Sofia, the company has no other shareholders.

In recent years, through several consecutive incentive equity transfers, Simon has given Sofia a total of up to 20% of Melisandra shares.

Because of its failure to go public, the outside world's valuation of Melisandra's company has always been very different, generally ranging from 5 billion to 10 billion US dollars. Even at the lowest valuation of 5 billion US dollars, Sofia is now a top female rich man with a net worth of 1 billion US dollars.

However, Sofia was very low-key in this matter, and the equity structure of Melisandra has been kept confidential to the public. Many media still think that Melisandra is fully owned by Simon, so women have never appeared on any wealth list.

Using the shares of Melisandra, one of the four women in the Westeros system, for stock exchange acquisitions, as long as the Bulgari family is not stupid, they should understand the value of it.

Simon had no objection to Sophia's suggestion, but said: "You have to think about it, Sophie, use Melisandra's shares this time and acquire other brands in the future. The other party is likely to make the same request."

Sofia said: "I know, but it will be fine for us to maintain a controlling stake for a long time in the future. For example, this time, I think it is enough to transfer 3% of the shares to the Bulgari family, and the rest will still be paid in cash."

Simon asked again: "Where is the valuation?"

If you want to exchange stocks, Melisandra's valuation is also a very troublesome issue.

The huge difference in the valuation of Melisandra's company in the outside world is not unreasonable, because this company is indeed not easy to value. In the past few years, due to different holdings and different types of subsidiaries, Melisandra's financial reports have been calculated separately by each subsidiary.

Take 1993 as an example.

Gucci is still the core of Melisandra, with a shareholding ratio of 75%. In 1993, revenue was US$1.89 billion, growth rate was 32%, and net profit was US$310 million.

Then.

Van Clerk Arpels: Holding 60% of the shares, revenue of US$350 million in 1993, growth rate of 35%, and net profit of US$59 million

CK: Holding 55% of the shares, revenue of US$170 million in 1993, growth rate of 33%, net loss of US$8 million

Latu Winery: holds 100% of the shares, with annual revenue of US$36 million in 1993, a growth rate of 7%, and a net profit of US$6 million.

Christie's Auction House: Holding 31% of the shares, the auction turnover in 1993 was US$2.36 billion, with a growth rate of 41%, and a net profit of US$73 million.

Calculated based on shareholding ratio and profit figures, in 1993, the profit attributable to all Melisandra's parents' brands was approximately US$290 million.

However, for the sake of the development of these companies, Sofia did not execute the full dividend, but only recovered about half of the profits.

Not to mention this.

Based on the net profit of US$290 million attributable to the parent company, other brands under Melisandra Company except Simon as the collection Latu Winery, all maintain a high growth rate of more than 30%. Therefore, if IPO is carried out, it is easy to obtain an IPO valuation of 20 times the price-to-earnings ratio, which is close to US$6 billion.

If it is really listed, it will be a big problem to reach more than 30 times after listing, and then it will be a market value of 10 billion US dollars.

Therefore, when neither party is listed, if they want to adopt a stock exchange acquisition model, the valuation issue will inevitably lead to a tug-of-war between the two parties.

The best solution is of course to go public.

Sofia could probably guess Simon's thoughts. Although she was low-key over the years, she did not object to Melisandra's listing at the right time, saying: "If IPO is released, it will definitely be too late this year."

Simon thought for a while and said, "Then let's talk, try not to suffer too much. Moreover, you can ventilate the Bulgari family about listing in advance, which should also gain a lot of initiative for us."

Sofia nodded.

The market value miracle created by Daenerys Entertainment's IPO is well known even in Italy.

Melisandra is also a "woman" under Westeros, and no one will doubt her listing prospects. The Bulgari family should also know that if they acquire Melisandra's equity under privatization, once Melisandra conducts an IPO, the value of the other party's holdings may be doubled within one or two years.

This rate of return is absolutely tempting.

After talking about Bulgari, whom Sophia prefers, Simon asked again: "What's going on with Versace?"

Sofia said: "I met Gianni Versace in Cannes during the Cannes Film Festival in May. After a few chats, the other party invited me to a party of the Versace brand, and then had several contacts. In the middle of last month, Versace took the initiative to test whether I was interested in investing in his company."

Simon asked with a smile, "What do you think?"

Sofia took the cup that had already been bottomed out in Simon's hand, sucked the straw and drank the last of some juice, put the glass beside it, and said, "Versace obviously wants to use our influence to get rid of the mafia. So, this is not what I think, but what you think. You are a man, of course you have to decide on this kind of thing."

Why was the former Jenny Versace shot to death?

Because Versace wants to IPO.

After an IPO of a company, it is necessary to publicly disclose its business and financial status. If some people do not want to be caught, they will never be able to use Versace's shell to launder money.

Ultimately, Gianni Versace is trying to get rid of the Italian mafia.

It's a pity that I didn't get what I wanted in the end.

Simon had no fear of the Mafia.

The Italian Mafia claims to be a group of desperate people. Simon, who dares to launch a war in Africa, isn't he a higher-level desperate person?

What's more, the Mafia should not have forgotten Mussolini's iron-blooded means back then.

Due to the deterioration of social security in the past few years, the Italian government has been continuously increasing its efforts to crack down on gangs in recent years. With the continuous layout of the Westeros system in all sectors of Italian politics and business over the years, if the mafia dares to provoke him, Simon doesn't mind instigating the Italian government to launch a larger-scale anti-gang campaign.

Sophia, who was waiting for Simon to make a decision, suddenly felt a kind of coldness and deepness emitted from the man in front of her, and soon realized that she had made a mistake.

A very serious mistake.

The little man who was so powerful that many people were desperate was certainly not afraid of those underground forces like bedbugs. This is why she put the information of Versace in front of him.

However, because of this little thing, it was not what she wanted to release the devilish side of his heart.

Sofia would rather his little man bully himself to death in bed than be wrapped up by the negative emotions that should never appear on him. He should always be decent.

Thinking of this, Sophia leaned over and pressed against Simon, kissed him gently, and said, "I have decided that the next target is Bulgari."

Simon wrapped his hands around the woman's waist, looked at her for a moment, and suddenly smiled and said, "Are you worried that I will suddenly become mentally ill one day..."

Before he could finish speaking, Sophia kissed him again.

After a while, the two of them had their lips parted. Sophia's face rubbed the man's cheek with a faint stubble, and her tone became more firm: "It's Bulgari."

Simon nodded slightly: "Okay, listen to you. However, it's good to buy Vacheron Constantin by the way."

The merger war between several major luxury giants in the world began in the late 1990s when the European economy recovered. Now, since there is no shortage of funds and enough strength, of course, the sooner it is planned to acquire more luxury brands, the better.

Sofia nodded softly.

The two of them then stopped mentioning Versace.

However, Simon occasionally had an idea that since he could not acquire it, such a company would definitely be completely destroyed. It is also an Italian brand, Versace's style has many similarities with Gucci, and is the most direct competitor. Since Jenny Versace has taken some thoughts and failed to rely on the Westeros system, he may be able to promote the other party to conduct Versace's IPO in advance.

After quietly making up his mind, Simon continued to discuss some details of the acquisition of Bulgari and Vacheron Constantin with Sophia. The two left Masa Vineyard Island together at around 10 o'clock in the morning.

Returning to Greenwich from the island was almost noon, so he simply had lunch at Sophia's house before Simon rushed to the airport to set off for the West Coast.

Boeing 767 front cabin.

After the plane took off smoothly, Girl A sent a thick stack of documents that needed to be read by Simon to the front cabin study. After getting on the plane, Neil Bennett also handed Simon a password suitcase, which contained regular operation reports and intelligence summary of the Westeros family intelligence team.

Simon did not rush to open the password box, but first looked at the box office data of North American theaters over the past week.

Today is Saturday, July 16th.

In the last box office week from July 8 to July 14, two new films from North American theaters, "The True Lies", relying on the two main creative partners of James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who created the "Terminator" series, successfully withstood the phenomenon of Forrest Gump crush, and earned $40.83 million in seven days in the first week.

This is actually because of the great differences in subject audiences of "The True Lies" and "Forrest Gump".

"The True Lies" is an action blockbuster with full popcorn attributes. In addition, the audience's desire to watch "Batman: The Rises of the Dark Knight" released in early June revived a month later, and no other top-notch films of the same type appeared during this period, so it was successful.

However, "The True Lies" still ranked second on the box office list in the first week.
To be continued...