Chapter 12 - The Rival's Return
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The peace of the cabin felt very distant when Clara returned to the city on Monday morning.
Maya was waiting for her in the office, looking pale.
“Ms. Vance, we have a situation.”
Clara set down her briefcase.
“What kind of situation?”
“Vanguard Holdings has just announced a hostile takeover bid for our primary European subsidiary.”
Clara’s jaw tightened.
Vanguard Holdings was the conglomerate previously run by Adrian.
After his conviction, the company had been restructured under new leadership, but their aggressive tactics apparently remained.
“Who is leading the bid?” Clara asked, walking to her desk.
“A man named Marcus Thorne,” Maya reported.
Clara recognized the name.
Thorne was a ruthless corporate raider known for dismantling legacy companies and selling off their assets.
“Get the legal team and the European directors on a conference call in ten minutes,” Clara ordered.
“Yes, Ms. Vance.”
The meeting was tense.
The European directors were panicked.
“Thorne is offering a thirty percent premium on the current stock price,” the lead director explained via video link. “The shareholders will be tempted.”
“If Thorne takes over, he will gut the R&D department and lay off half the workforce,” Clara stated flatly.
“What is our counter-move?” the general counsel asked.
Clara looked at the financial projections.
Vance Technologies had the capital to fight the bid, but it would be a long, bloody war of attrition.
“We don't fight the bid,” Clara said slowly.
The room went silent.
“Ms. Vance, are you suggesting we surrender?”
“I am suggesting we change the battlefield.”
Clara stood up.
“Thorne is targeting the subsidiary because he believes it’s our weakest link. He doesn't want the technology; he wants the patents.”
“So?”
“So, we transfer the patents,” Clara smiled a predatory smile. “We move all intellectual property associated with the European division into the Vance Foundation as a philanthropic endowment.”
The general counsel gasped.
“You want to give billions of dollars of IP to a charity?”
“The Foundation will license the technology back to Vance Technologies at a nominal fee,” Clara explained. “But legally, the patents will belong to a non-profit entity.”
“Making them utterly useless to a corporate raider,” the European director realized, awe in his voice.
“Exactly,” Clara said. “Thorne can buy the buildings and the desks if he wants. But he won't get the technology.”
May you like
It was a brilliant, unorthodox, and entirely bulletproof strategy.
“Draft the transfer documents,” Clara ordered. “I want this done before the market opens tomorrow.”
