“Old Zhou, how are you going to solve this problem? Everyone outside is saying Jianlibao is finished and will be bankrupt. Do you know how bad this is for our reputation? Didn’t I tell you to suppress the rumors and not let it spread?” Sanshui Government’s No. 1, Xu Sicheng said.
“We can control the local media, and it is the media from other regions that reported this. The only solution we have now is to get the banks to give Jianlibao loans!” Sanshui Government’s No. 2, Zhou Dawei said.
Just as both were still discussing the solution, Xu Sicheng’s secretary entered the room to tell him that the Investment Promotion Agency’s head, Chief Wang Liang, have a piece of good news.
Good news? Xu Sicheng and Zhou Dawei looked at each other and asked Chief Wang Liang to enter.
“Leaders, I had just received a piece of good news. Two days ago, I went to Guangzhou and invited a few wealthy businessmen over to our city!” Wang Liang excitedly said.
“Wealthy businessmen? Old Wang, I know you are working hard, but which businessman will want to invest in a place like Sanshui? You brought those businessmen from Guangzhou, and their purpose should be making use of us to negotiate with the Guangzhou’s government.” Zhou Dawei replied and shook his head.
Last year, a few businessmen also visited Sanshui, but in the end, they chose to invest in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, despite the Sanshui Government offered lucrative terms.
“This time is different. The businessmen are thinking of investing in beverage businesses. They had contacted Le Bashi not long ago!” Wang Liang said.
Invest in beverage businesses? Then there will be room for negotiations. Jianlibao is China’s beverage industry leader. That’s right. If they can get foreign investments, it will solve Jianlibao’s financial issues and will answer to the higher-ups of attracting foreign investors. This is also considered a political credit.
“Where are the foreign businessmen? Prepare a banquet tonight. Old Zhou and I will receive them personally. We must get them to invest in Sanshui!” Xu Sicheng decisively said.
Wang Liang asked. “Leader, should we call Manager Li along?”
In Sanshui, only Li Jingwei is called Manager Li. During the City’s annual meeting, Li Jingwei will sit together with the City’s leaders and is seen as the City Government’s No. 3 man.
Most of the Sanshui Government’s income is from Jianlibao. Without Jianlibao, Sanshui will not become a County Level city.
Xu Sicheng and Zhou Dawei looked at each other and said. “Don’t tell him. Let the city speak to the businessmen first!”
Wang Liang was shocked. This matter concerns Jianlibao, and the leaders do not want Li Jingwei to get involved? Did the leaders really fall out with Li Jingwei?
It’s not a secret that Li Jingwei wanted Jianlibao to be listed and get a management buyout. A lot of people in the city know about this, but the City leaders rejected this request. All the leaders know about this despite sitting in the office all the time.
“Leaders let me introduce them to you. This is Mr. Kirilenko from Russia and Mr. Feng from the US. They run a company in New York and this is Mr. Li. He owns a company in Canada. This is Mr. Fu. He has an investment company in Singapore. This is our Sanshui Mayor Zhou and Party Secretary Xu.”
Xu Sicheng already knows that Mr. Li is Superman Li’s youngest son, and Mr. Fu is the Hong Kong businessman who owns several factories in Dongguan. Mr. Feng is also from Hong Kong, but he does business in the US. These are all wealthy foreign businessmen.
Feng Yu and the rest gave out their name cards. Other than Kirilenko, the rest of the name cards are in English.
Feng Yu knew Xu Sicheng does not know English, but he purposely prepared name cards in English. In this era, English name cards are more prestigious than Chinese name cards!
Xu Sicheng pretended to look at the name card, but he does not know a single word. He laughed and said: “Welcome to Sanshui. I will make sure you all will get the best government subsidies if you all invest here!”
“Secretary Xu, we are only here to inspect the surroundings. Thanks for dinner.” Fu Guangzheng purposely said.
Xu Sicheng and Zhou Dawei’s face changed. They were panicking, and Zhou Dawei said: “Mr. Fu, I heard that you all are going to invest in the beverage industry? Our Sanshui’s Jianlibao is China’s top beverage brand. No other brands can compete with us.”
“Of course. We will not come here if Jianlibao is not located here. After all, we are about to start negotiations with Lebaishi.” Fu Guangzheng replied calmly.
Fu Guangzheng had met Lebaishi once, but Lebaishi has no intention of letting them invest.
“That means you all have some interest in Jianlibao, right? What sort of cooperation do you all have in mind?” Zhou Dawei asked.
“We have distribution channels in many regions. Mr. Feng have connections with several supermarket chains in the US, Mr. Kirilenko have sales offices in many European countries and Mr. Li have partners in Canada and the UK. I am familiar with the business environment in Southeast Asia and Australia. We are thinking of setting up a joint venture company with Jianlibao with our funds and distribution channels.” Fu Guangzheng explained.
Among them, Fu Guangzheng’s Cantonese is the best, and he is the one heading the negotiations. Feng Yu and the rest pretended that Fu Guangzheng is the leader of the group.
“How much are you all going to invest and how many shares are you all asking for?” Zhou Dawei asked.
This was the most crucial question. If Fu Guangzheng wanted a lot of shares, Sanshui Government would never agree!
“We are planning to invest 40 million USD with our sales distribution channels in exchange for 60% shares.” Fu Guangzhen replied.
“This is not possible. We must have control over Jianlibao. We can only give you all 40% at most.” Zhou Dawei said.
How can Zhou Dawei let Jianlibao falls into some outsiders’ hands? The government will not be able to plant people in and withdraw the funds as and when they want.
“Everyone, let’s not make the decision now, we can talk about the details later. I will bring all of you to Jianlibao tomorrow and you all can make the decision then.” Xu Sicheng said.
The government officials were good at playing good cops bad cops. 40 million USD is more than enough to move them. With this money, Jianlibao can solve all its financial woes and help them get credit.
The new fund can also help the US branch to develop new products, and this year’s sales will reach a new peak.
The city will be able to solve Jianlibao’s troubles, and the leaders can score brownie points with their higher-ups. The leaders do not mind selling away part of the company’s shares as this was encouraged by the central government!
Feng Yu looked at the expressions of the two leaders and knew 40 million USD had convinced them!
