I am a nobleman in England

"Sure enough, the lion opened his mouth!"

Arthur frowned and said with a sneer, then stretched out his hand to signal his subordinates to sit down.

After sitting down, the person in charge of the negotiation led the team and said helplessly: "It was all expected, but I didn't expect that their appetite was so big. Behind them daring to ask for this price, they were confident. This shrewd abacus, they have already recovered their equity investment, and they can make another profit by listing on AMC.

In fiscal year 2009, despite the economic crisis, AMC performed very well, achieving a net profit of $79.91 million that year.Private equity fund shareholders are full of confidence. They believe that the 2010 earnings performance will be more eye-catching, and the IPO should be a matter of course.

These factors add up to give them full confidence, but they also expressed enough welcome attitude towards our emergence, and everything can sit down and talk...In fact, they also know that if the IPO is unsuccessful, it is not easy to find a good buyer. The buyer must not only have enough money, but also have enough business level. Only in this way, the repayment will be safer. .

Therefore, in their eyes, your boss is one of the good buyers.Of course, if AMC can be listed, it would be great for them.After all, the stock market returns much higher than the bond market. Their calculation is that if AMC can go to the market, it will go, and if it cannot go, it will sell on two legs.

However, the key is still the issue of bonds. The AMC theaters have been cashed out by these guys for all their profits in the next few years."The person in charge of the negotiation took out a file bag from his bag, opened it, and drew a stack of documents from it, and handed it to Arthur, shaking his head helplessly.

"Bonds..." Arthur murmured, took the file and looked at it, frowning and vomiting: "What a bunch of bastards!"

If you are in a casino, then risk assessment and control are the key to ensuring that you have the capital to gamble.Similar to casinos, bonds also face the same problems. This is a game that can’t make any mistakes. It is also one of the biggest problems that Arthur needs to face in AMC M&A transactions.

This is because bond investors demand higher interest rates and repayment with absolute safety.And these bond investors are old acquaintances with AMC's five largest private equity fund shareholders and earn every penny together.

If Arthur wants to acquire AMC, he must face these bond investors and find ways to convince them that he can restructure and extend the repayment date of these short-term or about to mature debts.

You can imagine how difficult it will be to convince these people.This involves a change in the control of the bond, which is a major default clause in the bond.The confidence of creditors becomes the key.

And officially entered AMC.Strictly speaking, this is just a leveraged asset reorganization. After the reorganization, the debt increases and the equity structure is reshuffled. It is a friendly and cooperative leveraged buyout, not a hostile takeover.Next, the test for Arthur's side is to directly fight the Wall Street giants as the owner of AMC.

We cannot fail to mention the qian rule of Wall Street leveraged mergers and acquisitions.Mergers and acquisitions are the magic weapon for Wall Street's profitability, because Wall Street can earn commissions whether it succeeds or fails, leveraged buyout companies charge management fees, investment banks charge consulting fees, securities firms charge high-yield bond issuance fees, and so on.

Investment banks, private equity funds and brokerages, among them you have me, and I have you, the relationship is complicated, and many of them have maintained friendships for decades.Therefore, Wall Street's M&A business can be seen as a never-ending game between a bunch of old friends.

Of course, their group of vampires is not a harmonious group. There will also be fierce quarrels and conflicts for interests. At that time, Arthur can also pull a group, fight a group, and then disintegrate from the inside. However, these are all things to do.

Now, what he has to face is whether he can accept and tolerate the price blackmail of the other's fearless lion's mouth, and gritted his teeth to buy the AMC cinema.

"Boss, AMC's private equity fund shareholders are also facing two crises. One is the withdrawal period of the fund in 2012. The other is that there is a huge amount of due debt that needs to be refinanced. No matter from which perspective, the AMC private equity fund shareholders are facing The problems are very difficult.

If they don’t want to take out their own money to fill this hole, then either the IPO is successful, or they take the money out to fill it out. Haha, it’s okay for them to put money in their pockets, but it’s basically impossible for them to take money out. .

Since it is impossible to take money outside, the only way out is to choose a good buyer to take over and get rid of these debts.A term loan with a total principal amount of US$476.6 million matured on January 26, 2013, and US$160 million of bonds due in 2014 were not redeemed."

Hearing his report, Arthur nodded. You should know that in leveraged buyouts, private equity funds use only a small amount of their own funds. Most of the funds come from debt financing, including bond markets and banks, and A small amount of mezzanine debt.

If this is the repayment period, it is definitely the biggest problem that the acquired company and the acquirer need to face. If the capital chain is broken, then it means that the game has collapsed, and the only way to apply for bankruptcy protection is to carry out debt restructuring. go.

"Although shameless, the five major private equity companies hold the AMC listing card and can calmly carry out debt restructuring." After Arthur nodded and said, he smiled, looked at his men and continued: "We acquired AMC, equity is not the focus. , The huge debt is the wall in front of us.

When acquiring AMC, its equity price and debt are a package deal.AMC's debt problem is solved, and the equity transaction price is much easier to talk about...Whether it is equity or debt, I only have two requirements. Before the completion of the acquisition of AMC, one is to pay as little cash as possible, and I also hope that AMC's cash will flow out as little as possible. The other is that private equity fund shareholders should pay off AMC's short-term financing as much as possible. There must be sufficient capacity to cover long-term financing."

"Well, it does."

Arthur pondered for a while, frowning his brows stretched out, smiling and saying to his negotiator: "When will the negotiation officially begin?"

"Tomorrow at 10 o'clock in the morning."

"I'm here with you." Arthur made a decision.

"Okay, boss, but during the negotiation process, I hope you don’t make any light decisions on the spot..."

"Hehe, don't worry, I just let them understand my attitude and will not interfere with your negotiations." As for the worried reminder of his own subordinates, Arthur didn't care. He still has this measure.

The next morning, Arthur, who was in a tall black suit, looked very tall, and a chic and capable man, with a group of his own men, met Apo in the conference room of the ceiling holding company that controlled the five major holding private equity funds of AMC cinema. Luo Investment Fund, MG Chase Investment Fund, Bain Capital, Carlyle, and Spectral Investment Fund each dispatched the responsible person.

The two parties first shook hands and gave an introduction, and then they separated the two sides of the conference table. They were seated separately. Arthur sat in the position of deputy, and the person in charge of negotiations took the lead. After all, he was a layman in business negotiations. It won't mess around.

Only when Arthur saw the designated person in charge of the five major funds sitting in the middle position opposite, his eyes darkened. Sure enough, none of these five funds were vegetarian, and everyone was worried about their own interests. , No one believes anyone.

Everyone knows that one monk carries water to eat, but five monks have no water to eat.

Of the five responsible persons, anyone can speak, express their position and attitude, and make demands, but none of them counts. Tsk tsk, this is the deadliest.

"First of all, I want to state that for this acquisition, I want to acquire 100% of AMC's equity. If this condition is not met, the entire acquisition transaction will automatically stop. To be honest, like me, I can take a look at theaters that are already in decline. There are not many big buyers in the company. I also believe that once my acquisition transaction is cancelled and the news spreads out, it will not only scare away other buyers, but also your desire to get huge amounts of cash in the short term will be shattered." Here, Arthur, who originally wanted to stay deep and look at the atmosphere of the negotiation, decided to throw a bomb directly to give the five thoughtful people on the opposite side an excitement!