50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 565 Two Contracts
Julian was not angry when he saw that Sun Zhiwei was unmoved by his threats.

He smiled and sat down opposite Sun Zhiwei, then took two documents from his briefcase and placed them on the coffee table.

Sun Zhiwei glanced at the document but didn't immediately look at it. Instead, he looked at Julian.

Julian explained gently, “This is a contract that De Beers offered after evaluating your diamond mine in Borneo.”

"The contract on the left is for the full acquisition of your diamond mine. De Beers is willing to acquire it for £3000 million."

"At the same time, your exquisite jewelry will also become a De Beers member, but the business scope will be limited to New York City."

Sun Zhiwei listened to the contents of the contract, and although his face remained expressionless, he was so angry he almost laughed.

His diamond mine in Borneo was sourced from the Premier Mine in South Africa, which is famous for its giant diamonds.

Although he hasn't buried most of the mines yet, the gem-quality diamonds produced last year alone were worth over $1000 million.

Not to mention that it also produced three giant diamonds worth hundreds of millions, including the 'Moon Angel' (which are nominally from this mine).

De Beers offered only £3000 million, which is $4680 million at the current exchange rate of 1:1.56.

After holding back for a while, Sun Zhiwei couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Julian, do you know how much the 'Moon Angel' is worth?"

“I heard you asked for $2 million,” Julian replied fluently. Since he was there to negotiate, he naturally knew a lot about Sun Zhiwei.

After hearing his answer, Sun Zhiwei spread his hands: "So, De Beers is planning to rob us outright?"

Julian was a little embarrassed upon hearing this, as the price was not set by him, but by the gentlemen in London.

What could he do? He could only offer a forced explanation: "According to our prospecting department, your Borneo diamond reserves are very limited. Therefore..."

Well, actually he didn't believe any of the mining department's nonsense reports at all; the data in those reports was completely illogical.

What kind of bullshit is this, that the mineral vein is only a small section, while the surrounding area suddenly becomes completely clean, with not a single diamond fragment left?

He guessed that some bigwig in London had instructed the prospecting department to modify the exploration data in order to force a reduction in the acquisition price.

They've done this kind of tasteless thing before.

"Since it's not important, what's the point of talking about it? Mr. Julian, how about I treat you to a drink? De Beers doesn't necessarily need to monopolize 100% of the world's diamond mines, does it?"

Julian knew that negotiations were unlikely to succeed, so he simply rejected the acquisition agreement and pointed to the agreement on the right, saying:

"If you are not satisfied with this acquisition agreement, you can also take a look at this cooperation agreement."

The terms of this cooperation agreement are slightly better than the acquisition agreement, but not by much.

In this agreement, De Beers is willing to acquire the Borneo diamond mine through a share swap, with their offer being 1% of the De Beers Group's shares.

If we consider all the diamond mines monopolized by the De Beers Group, this offer is reasonable.

But with only 1% of the shares, he can't even get a seat on the board of directors. He'll have no say in the future and can only wait for dividends every year.

Whether or not dividends are distributed, and how much they are distributed, is all decided by the board of directors. It is very possible that he will not receive a single penny for ten consecutive years.

Moreover, the diamond industry is gradually declining, so these shares are not so easy to acquire.

Thinking about their direct acquisition offer, Sun Zhiwei suddenly had a new idea. "Mr. Julian, go and report to London that my demand is a full acquisition for £8000 million, or in exchange for Anglo American's gold business."

Sun Zhiwei's offer is quite interesting; £8000 million is equivalent to $1.248 million.

Based on last year's diamond production in Borneo, this price means the investment could be recouped within 10 years. If a gem-quality diamond is unexpectedly discovered along the way, the payback period would be even shorter.

But he demanded £8000 million in cash.

Regardless, coming up with such a large sum of cash at once puts a lot of pressure on any company.

Anglo American was the mining group founded by Ernst Oppenheimer.

Ernst was able to take control of De Beers by exchanging shares between Anglo American and De Beers.

Anglo American's current key businesses include platinum, diamonds, coal, ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals, and industrial minerals.

The gold business is just a small part of Anglo American's early business. It currently owns only five gold mines that have been in operation for many years, and the reserves are already quite small.

He believes that De Beers would be happy to divest its aging gold business from Anglo American in exchange for a new, high-quality diamond mine.

As for the £8000 million offer, it was just a casual remark he made to highlight his gold business. De Beers isn't that foolish to spend so much cash to buy his diamond mine.

Julian had considered this point, which is why he didn't refute Sun Zhiwei, but instead promised him that he would do his best to persuade the board of directors to facilitate the transaction.

Although the two did not reach an agreement today, they did share a consensus on the character of the gentlemen at De Beers headquarters in London.

So, after the conversation ended, they actually had a drink together.

Soon, Julian relayed Sun Zhiwei's new offer back to London.

Many De Beers shareholders are interested in the proposal to exchange several old gold mines for a new diamond mine.

However, the current chairman, Harry Oppenheimer, has always regarded Anglo American as a family business to be passed down through generations, and he seems unwilling to divest this seemingly unimportant part of the business.

If Sun Zhiwei were here, he probably could understand him.

Ernst Oppenheimer earned his first fortune through his gold mine, which led to the founding of the Oppenheimer family.

These old gold mines hold a sentimental place in his heart, a place to commemorate his deceased father.

This actually embodies the balance that Jews seek between family ties and business transactions.

In our terms, family ties are very important, but if the interests are significant enough, compromises can be made for them.

Currently, it seems that Sun Zhiwei's Borneo diamond mine has not been able to overcome his longing for his father on the scales of profit.

Harry did not agree to exchange the gold mine for the diamond mine, but he was also unwilling to spend the £8000 million.

Therefore, they instructed Julian Maxwell in New York to take measures against Sun Zhiwei's businesses.

A few days later, Theodore Ellis, the store manager of Rose Jewelry, urgently reported that there was a problem with the company's diamond sourcing channels, and the New York IRS had also begun to audit their accounts.

Although there is no information indicating that De Beers was behind it, Sun Zhiwei immediately spotted De Beers' war signals inside.

(End of this chapter)