In addition, regarding the acquisition of Unocal, according to information obtained from Goldman Sachs, CNOOC has been conducting a new round of negotiations with Unocal.
In the end, CNOOC made certain compromises in this acquisition, including that they needed to deposit $2 billion in a special account in a US bank to prevent CNOOC from defaulting on the deal. In addition, if Unocal was eventually acquired by CNOOC, they would need to pay Chevron, whose negotiations had broken down, a "breakup fee" of $500 million...
During this negotiation, American congressmen also continued to be active...
On June 30, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass a fiscal appropriations amendment, which stipulates that "the Treasury Department is prohibited from using appropriations to approve CNOOC's acquisition of Unocal."
On July 11, two senators wrote to the U.S. Department of Commerce, requesting an examination of whether CNOOC's loans violated WTO rules.
On July 13, the U.S. Congress held a hearing, and the content of the meeting mainly revolved around the conflict of interests between the two countries.
In fact, the obstruction of many American congressmen surrounding CNOOC's acquisition of Unocal was not only due to Chevron's funding, but also due to the conflict between the two factions in the United States regarding their attitude towards the East...
In the event of CNOOC's acquisition of Unocal, the US government, including the President, took a relatively "neutral" attitude; almost all of those who jumped out to obstruct it were "members" of Congress.
The underlying reason is that after the September 11th incident, the Bush administration of the United States focused its main energy on "global counter-terrorism". On this issue, they needed the support of the East. Therefore, at this time, the US government's policy was mainly "engagement plus prevention". Relatively speaking, the atmosphere of cooperation was stronger, and they hoped to maintain stable relations between the two sides.
There are also neo-conservatives in the United States who advocate "containing the other side". This faction is the main force that took to the stage in this incident.
On July 14, Unocal held a board meeting and asked CNOOC and Chevron to increase their prices, and announced that if neither side raised their prices, they would be ready to look for other buyers.
It was at this time that the acquisition team of United Energy Group arrived in America.
This time, United Energy Group's acquisition team, including its CEO, Epery Singleton, who was once a senior executive at BP, as well as legal, accounting and public relations teams, are all hired from the top American talent.
After arriving in California, Epel Singleton had a secret meeting with Unocal Chairman Williams.
On July 15, Unocal Chairman Williams called CNOOC Chairman Fu Chengyu and asked CNOOC to raise prices for the second time.
On July 16, Fu Chengyu replied that the acquisition price could be increased to US$69 per share, but there were three conditions:
First, Unocal would pay Chevron a breakup fee of US$500 million. Second, Unocal would lobby the government and Congress on behalf of CNOOC. Third, it would promise Chevron to exit.
But Unocal insisted that the price increase should be unconditional, and the two sides were deadlocked.
On July 17, Epel Singleton, CEO of United Energy Group, who had already had contact with all parties, publicly announced that United Energy Group would intervene in the acquisition of Unocal.
And they announced their offer for Unocal - United Energy Group will acquire Unocal at a price of US$65.2 per share. In this acquisition, they will use 60% cash and 30% stock to complete the acquisition. If they choose cash, it will be a 5% premium over their current stock price.
This means that the acquisition price offered by United Energy Group for Unocal is around US$18 billion.
Once this news was announced, the already turbulent acquisition of Unocal became even more eye-catching.
After United Energy Group entered the market in a high-profile manner, Chevron was forced to raise its price on July 19, changing its offer to 40% in cash and 60% in stock, which works out to $63.1 per share, for a total offer of around $17.5 billion.
At this time, in fact, CNOOC's price advantage has basically been lost - although there is a higher price difference between CNOOC's quoted price of US$67 and the quotations of United Energy Group and Chevron, this price difference is not enough to compensate for the "political risk" and "time cost".
Having lost its price advantage, CNOOC did not rush to raise prices again, but instead adopted a wait-and-see approach.
Later, when Fu Chengyu, chairman of CNOOC, was interviewed and talked about this matter, he said:
"At this point, the acquisition was no longer a price issue, but a political issue... Under the political environment at the time, we had no way of judging how much money would be needed to complete the acquisition, $70, $80, or $90? As long as we were willing to spend money, we could definitely do it. But the success or failure of this matter was beyond the price factor."
At this moment, the battle for the acquisition of Unocal is mainly between the newly emerged United Energy Group and Chevron, the second largest oil company in the United States.
However, facing United Energy Group, it is unlikely that Chevron will be able to use the tactics it used against CNOOC and use "national security" as an excuse.
On the one hand, United Energy Group is a British company. Britain and the United States are close allies. There is no such factor as "threatening national security" or "posing a challenge to the West" between them.
More importantly, many British companies have too much American capital. The two countries have been open to each other before. If Chevron really uses the tactics it used against CNOOC to deal with United Energy Group, I am afraid that American capital in Britain will also be subject to reciprocal sanctions. There may be one or two congressmen who are willing to raise this issue with financial "funding", but they will not gather too many people like they did against CNOOC.
Moreover, at this time, part of the American capital that has reached a tacit understanding with Barron will also make an effort to escort their acquisition.
After all, on the surface, it looked like the British-owned United Energy Group was acquiring an American oil company, but in fact, it was also an opportunity for some American capital to enter the United Energy Group.
Under such circumstances, off-site political factors have almost ceased to exist, and it becomes a pure price competition between Chevron and United Energy Group.
But the same Unocal company has different value to the two acquirers.
For Chevron, not all of Unocal's assets are what they need. Even after the acquisition, they are considering the need to lay off employees... To put it bluntly, they value Unocal's market share and oil and gas resources more.
But for United Energy Group, a newly established energy company, all the components of Unocal can enhance their strength.
Not to mention that Chevron's commitment to Unocal's management is far less than that of United Energy Group, which can guarantee that all of these management will remain in office.