Chapter 304: , Preferred stock

Asking the Austrians to build their own power plants, Joseph felt no problem. After all, the science involved in this thing has been made public, and everyone knows the principles of power stations. If nothing happens, the British should be able to build their own power stations soon. At this time, taking advantage of this time difference, it is definitely a good thing to expand the power plants in France to the entire European continent, making the electricity of the entire European continent rely on French standards.
But producing electric lights in Austria is another matter. There is almost no difficulty in the scientific principles of electric lights. Anyone who knows a little bit of common sense about electricity can understand how electric lights emit light. However, electric lights are technically very difficult. It perfectly meets the two requirements that are difficult to copy. First, the process is difficult; second, the material is special.
In the manufacture of electric lamps, an important technical requirement is to evacuate the air. The efficiency of the evacuation directly determines the quality and service life of the electric lamp. In this regard, no one does not have the expertise of the French. Before the lights were made public, "Bonaparte General Electric" had already registered a lot of patents on air extraction technology. In fact, although these technologies themselves have some difficulties, they are not really stumped to the point where others can’t do it. However, with these patents, Napoleon’s France has made any product that infringes French patent rights cannot be sold in the European continent. The ability to legally sell in most countries on the Internet, so these patents have become a wall that prevents others from entering this field.
Of course, there are many ways to vacuum, but the commonly used ones, the cheapest and the easiest to implement, have all been patented by "General Electric Bonaparte", so any foreign manufacturer wants to bypass these patents. , Have to pay a huge price.
The second trouble is the special material. In fact, anyone who buys a light bulb back, clicks it on the ground, breaks it, and then takes out the filament to see that the filament is carbon. But the problem is, what is this thing carbonized, everyone does not know, at most they can only know that it should be carbonized by some kind of plant. It takes great effort to find suitable plants among various plants.
And if you cooperate with Austrians to produce electric lights, even if Austrian electric lights are really only sold in designated areas, some related technical secrets will still be easily leaked. Therefore, after careful consideration, Napoleon asked Metternich to inform Metternich that France "has no special views" on economic cooperation with Austria.
The so-called "no special opinion" means that you can talk to others, and I don't care what the final talk will be. It is very similar to "we don't know the rest of the matter" in the later Nihong country. In fact, it is done. I want to divide it up. If it is not done, this pot is not mine and has nothing to do with me.
Metternich understood that there was something to talk about, but the French must have other requirements. However, as long as there is something to talk about, it will definitely be able to talk about a certain result, and as long as a certain result is talked about, then there will be a contribution to him and a return to him.
Over the years, diplomats stationed in France and French diplomats stationed abroad have all increased their prices. Although the official posts such as ambassadors and consulates of various countries in France should be considered for other things such as loyalty and competence, but for other posts in embassies and consulates, it is really common that the higher price of. Because of course these positions can easily establish business relationships with the French and then make a fortune.
The subordinates can make money like this, and the ambassador or consul of the chief official is naturally not a vegetarian meal. Besides, it is one of the important responsibilities of ambassadors and consuls to promote economic and trade exchanges between the two countries.
So a man named François, holding a letter of introduction signed by Metternich, found "General Electric Bonaparte" and started talking to them about buying the factory.
The name "François" may be a pseudonym, but the letter signed by Metternich is not fake. More importantly, the certificate of deposit issued by Beauvais Bank is not fake. On the deposit receipt, the funds of one million francs were clearly there.
So the two sides had a frank discussion on the matter of cooperation to make money. And quickly reached a basic agreement on most of the issues, only the last one is left, and that is the filament factory supporting the lamp factory.
The French insisted that it is impossible to manage a filament factory with the technical and management level of the Austrians, and that the Austrian filament factory may become a loophole for some of the most critical business and technical secrets to be leaked out. Therefore, France It was proposed that the filament should be produced in France, then shipped to Austria for assembly, and then sold by the Austrians in the specified area.
But François believes that doing so will only increase costs in vain. Moreover, the French technical secrets are protected by patents, so worrying about the loss of technology is untenable.
Louis Bonaparte, who represents "General Electric Bonaparte", said that the transportation cost of the filament is not high. As for patent protection, although there is generally a relatively complete patent protection on the European continent, it is more important in some other cases. In remote areas, patent protection is still very imperfect, or even almost non-existent. For example, in Russia, although Russia has just enacted a patent law, it is difficult to say how they are implemented. As for Turkey, it's not even more of a spectrum.
Of course, these are not the most important, the most important thing is to guard against the British.
"The British are the first countries in Europe to have the Patent Law, so no one knows how to exploit the patent law better than the British. Besides, in those colonies of the British, they can have a way. To bypass the Patent Law.
For example, in India, we all know that most of India has actually fallen under the control of the British East India Company. But at least in name, these places still have Indian princes? The British can set up illegal factories in the name of these Indians to produce illegal products, and then sell them not only in India, but even in Europe through smuggling. What's more, they only need Indians to bear the name and put the factory in the UK directly. There is nothing we can do, because the Indians are doing this, not the British!
In theory, we can only take retaliatory measures against other commodities in a certain Indian state. Hell, we don't have much contact with India. What kind of revenge is there? Therefore, it is not unnecessary to worry about the risks of technology loss. Therefore, at least temporarily, the production of filaments cannot be in Austria.
In fact, even in France, although we have several light bulb factories, there is only one factory that produces filaments. Moreover, it is not economically cost-effective to build a filament factory for a bulb factory with limited output. "
The latter reason is actually more convincing. After all, the Austrians are operating this thing, in the final analysis, for making money. What's more, Louis put forward a new counter-proposal.
"In addition, Mr. François." Louis said, "We have another suggestion. You know, the demand for electric lights is very large and it is very profitable. Therefore, we naturally have to expand production. Well, this means that we To build more electric lamp factories, and more filament factories. We welcome anyone who is willing to be friends with us to make money together. Mr. Fritz, if you are interested in filament factories, I suggest that you can invest in our filament factories Factory and electric light factory, I wonder if you are interested."
If you just build an electric light factory and make money in the Balkans, although you can make some money, the total is still quite limited. But if you can buy a stake in "Bonaparte General Electric", you are simply picking up money. So when François heard this suggestion, his eyes flashed.
As expected by Napoleon and Joseph, this François is actually a representative of the Austrian high-level. When he came this time, there were actually a bunch of Austrian nobles behind him.
When France had just reached peace with Austria and other countries, Austria actually wanted to "gather for ten years, learn lessons for ten years, and retaliate." However, after the past two years, I found that France is developing better. At least for now, there is no sign that it will be finished. The gap between Austria and France in terms of national strength is also obviously getting bigger and bigger. If it was said that Austria could not beat France in those days, but if it worked hard, it could also make France a blood. But now, if there is another war between the two sides, even Archduke Karl will find it difficult to confront France, and even feel that even if he tries his best, he will be able to splash the blood of the French at best.
Faced with such a dangerous situation, now in the upper class of Austria, there has been a dispute between two lines. Some people headed by Karl Carl hope to develop industry, prosper the country and strengthen the army like France. On the other side, it is Emperor Freed. Izmir II. His Majesty the Emperor is very cautious about any changes. On the one hand, he is very worried that the development of industry and commerce will make the common people too powerful, thereby disrupting the fragile balance within the empire and causing bad things; but on the other hand, he is also very clear. Now the situation has reached the time to change. If you continue to be complacent, the collapse of the empire is almost inevitable.
Therefore, His Majesty the Emperor knew that he had to change, but he could not go too fast. If you go slow, you might be finished; but if you go faster, you might be finished. It is said that because he was worried that there would be the same result as his aunt and uncle, the emperor was so worried that he could not sleep at night and he lost a lot of weight.
It is said that Metternich later made a suggestion to the emperor, suggesting that the emperor tie his own interests with the interests of France, so that with the help of France, it should be easier to carry out social reforms. Even if they can't get much support from the French, as long as the French do not deliberately engage in exporting revolutions in Austria and do not make trouble, the situation in Austria will be much more stable.
Now, the French have agreed to help Austria build power plants and electric light factories. This is obviously in line with the proposition of Grand Duke Carl and their "rich country and strong soldier", at least in line with the "rich country" proposition; and Louis Bonaparte proposed, The proposal of inviting Austrians to join "General Electric Bonaparte" is also in line with the emperor's idea of ​​binding the interests of the upper Austrians, especially the Austrian royal family, with France.
Although France is now a republic, Napoleon, as the first ruling power, absolutely surpasses most of the monarchies, and can even be said to be no less than the Sun King of the "I am the country" back then. On the other hand, Napoleon’s family now has an equally astonishing influence in France, which is no less than the Bourbon family back then. If it wasn't for Napoleon that was only the first in power after all, and not a king who can be passed down to his descendants, then his Majesty the Emperor would have planned to marry him. Isn’t it the Austrian traditional art of marriage?
In short, in François's view, this approach is completely to satisfy the hopes of the two factions in the country. It is simply perfect. So he quickly asked about the investment in "Bonaparte General Electric."
"Ah, Mr. François, you may not be clear.'Bonaparte General Electric' itself is a company with many investors. The Bonaparte family's shareholding in the entire company is actually less than 100%. That is to say, we do not have full controlling rights. This also means that any large-scale share expansion must be approved by the shareholders meeting. However, you also know that we cannot allow the entire company’s equity distribution Too much change has taken place. So, normally, even if a general meeting of shareholders is held, under the current situation, the shares we can give up cannot be too large."
This statement made François quite disappointed, but it is also good to be able to invest a little bit. So he quickly asked, "So, how much equity can we get at most?"
Louis heard it and said, "Mr. François, you know that now'General Electric Bonaparte' will definitely make a lot of money, which everyone knows. This also makes our company very convenient in financing, we can It’s easy to borrow as much money as you want in any bank at an interest rate significantly lower than the market interest rate. In this case, I don’t think the general meeting of shareholders will agree to give you as many ordinary shares. I My personal opinion is that it will not exceed 5%."
The estimate of "no more than five percent" disappointed François. He knew that investing in "General Electric Bonaparte" would certainly make a lot of money economically, in addition to political significance. But no more than 5% of the share is really unsatisfactory.
"Mr. Bonaparte, with more funds, you can expand your business faster and make more money. Why are the restrictions so tight?" François asked, frowning slightly.
"Because the change of shares will bring about changes in the company's internal power structure, which will affect the company's future development. And the company's current development is very smooth, so most shareholders are naturally unwilling to let the company's power structure occur. Too much change. Therefore, shareholders are naturally more willing to use loans to obtain funds for expansion rather than introducing more partners. I think this is also very natural and easy to understand. You are right Isn't it right?" Louis explained, "but maybe we can cooperate in another way."
"What do you mean by another way?" Francois asked quickly.
"Ah, Mr. François, have you heard of preferred stock?" Louis asked.
François shook his head in confusion.
The so-called "preferred shares" are shares with "priority rights." The shareholders of preferred shares have priority over the company's assets and profit distribution, and their risks are relatively small. However, preference shareholders usually have no right to vote on the company's affairs other than matters involving the interests of preference shareholders. Preferred shareholders also do not have the right to vote or be elected. Generally speaking, they have no right to participate in the company's operation. Preferred shareholders cannot withdraw their shares, and can only be redeemed by the company through the redemption clause of the preferred shares.
This kind of "preferred stock" was actually invented by the British in the 16th century ~EbookFREE.me~. However, because the market was not standardized at that time, and the business was not developed enough, the advantages of preferred stocks were not reflected too much, but brought A lot of management troubles, so this approach has not been widely used, and even almost forgotten. In the original history, until the 1920s, when a British company was developing the canal, it encountered financial difficulties and wanted to borrow money from a bank. The interest rate was too high, and it was unable to attract new companies if it wanted to issue ordinary shares. Investors participated, so they reinvented the "preferred stock" hundreds of years ago, and the result was a big success. So this ancient "financial innovation" began to be widely used.
However, when Louis said "preferred shares" to François, it has been hundreds of years since the first unsuccessful attempt of "preferred shares". If you are not a person who specializes in this aspect of knowledge, indeed It is impossible to know the meaning of this word, so it is very normal for François to not know the word.
So Louis talked about the concept of "preferred shares" to François in general, and then said to him, "I think, you are willing to invest in our company, the most fundamental thing is to make money. In terms of making money, "preferred shares" There is not much difference from common stocks, even in dividends, there are certain discounts. And I think you should be more satisfied with our company’s current operating conditions and development prospects, and you should not want to change us The company’s business model and development ideas. Therefore, this kind of preferred stock should be a very suitable solution for the needs of both of us."