Page 35 of Vivacity
‘These cost-cutting measures are downright criminal!’ Miles’ father, Charles, spits out, staring at the appropriate page in the deck with what looks like utter disbelief. ‘Almost all of these are human costs—these arepeopleyou’re talking about slashing here. Employees who’ve given our family their undivided loyalty for years and years.’
‘Loyalty never helped the bottom line,’ my father says smoothly. ‘And you know as well as we do that cost synergies like these are precisely what the market will be looking for, no matter who acquires you.’
‘My father’s correct. The thing to focus on here is the creation of shareholder value. That’s what’ll get this deal over the line. We may both have built family businesses, but those businessesstopped being family at some point in their growth. They had to. And when we both took the leap and listed publicly, we pledged to make the creation of shareholder value our top priority.’
‘We will never not think of our employees as family, no matter what size we are,’ Miles interjects viciously, ‘and I wholeheartedly disagree that loyalty is not good for the bottom line.’
I give him a shrug. I suspect it spells out exactly what I think.Well, mate, that kind of approach is naïve at best and parochial at worst, and it’s precisely why you’re not fit to run a multi-billion-pound business.
‘This very substantial part of your pitch was notably absent in the first presentation you sent over,’ Miles continues. ‘I’d call that pretty fucking suspect.’
Under the table, I dig my thumbnail into the palm of my opposite hand.
Show nothing. Feel nothing. Win everything.
‘I’d call it commercially prudent.’
We glare at each other.
‘Let’s be clear. We’re going to fight this every step of the way. We intend to sit down with all of our major shareholders and appeal to each of them in turn.’
Dad scoffs. ‘No financial institution is going to turn down the chance to create this kind of value. You may not like the cost-cutting scenarios, but the reason they’re so aggressive is that our two companies have such significant synergies. There’s not much anyone can say to that.’
Control the room or lose everything.
‘Letmebe clear.’ I lean forward, addressing Miles and his father directly. ‘We will also spend the week making ourselves available to your major shareholders and persuading them of the wisdom of this deal. At the end of the day, we already have a good deal of overlap between our shareholder registers.These investors are already established relationships for us, and I believe most of them will be willing to swap their Montague Group shares for Kingsley Hotels ones, especially when they see that we’re not afraid of shying away from the tough actions necessary to create value for them. They’ll compare that to your, shall we say, sentimental inefficiency, and they’ll be in no doubt as to which horse to back in this race.’
I sit back in my chair and place my palms flat on the smooth walnut of our nemeses’ boardroom table, willing my heart rate to slow. Contrary to the coldly impassive expression I have fixed on my face, confrontations make me extremely anxious. But I know that the more anxiety, the more terror I feel about taking actions like this, the more critical it is to show no chinks at all in my well-crafted armour.
Show nothing.
Feel nothing.
Win everything.
In my peripheral vision, Dad gives me an approving nod. He likes it when I bare my teeth, make a show of strength. He likes having an ally when he’s bullying people. With my father, there are only ever two choices:
Stand with him, or stand against him.
Comply, or die.
And I’ll choose survival every time.
CHAPTER 17
Sophia
Ethan is true to his word. As soon as the meeting is done, he sweeps me out of there and into his waiting car and wastes no time in getting on the phone with The Montague Group’s largest shareholders.
‘Get me their shareholder register as of last night,’ he barks at me in the car and immediately puts calls through to the Chief Investment Officers of BlackRock and Legal & General, setting up urgent in-person meetings for tomorrow and Thursday.
I know this is a knee-jerk reaction to having come under fire in there. I can feel it is as surely as if he’s admitted it in so many words. He’s been confronted, his integrity attacked. He’s feeling out of control, and what’s the easiest way to regain a semblance of control?
Taking action.
What’s unclear is whetherEthanknows that. Also unclear: why he’s standing shoulder to shoulder with his father on this. From what little I know of Richard, this deal has him written all over it: egotistical empire-building and the total assumption of control over an old rival.
None of that saysEthanto me.
