Chapter 242 Two Children
The Saudi Public Investment Fund’s interest in O2 Telecom is not unexpected.
Barron had heard of this fund in his previous life. They were initially more interested in investments in facilities such as airports and ports, and telecommunications companies were also on their investment list. China, especially telecommunications companies in developed countries like the UK.
Later, after Mohammed bin Salman came to power, the investments of the Saudi public funds under his control became much bolder, including the most famous one, which was its subsequent purchase of the Premier League team Newcastle United, the head of the PIF, also became chairman of Newcastle United.
In addition to discussions with Saudi mutual funds, Prince Walid is interested in Barron's DS Capital, an investment company.
Initially, he was interested in the Mars fund. After all, the fund's profitability was impressive.
However, the Mars Fund has closed its investment window at this time and will not open it again until April or May next year.
After Barron introduced him to another fund, the fixed-income products of the Athena Fund, Prince Walid also had the intention to invest in this fund.
Speaking of which, the results of this meeting with several Saudi guests were quite good. In addition to having more contact with the future Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - he is just 19 years old now. , is still a student, and Barron is in no rush to establish a close relationship with him. Everything needs to be done slowly - whether it is the Saudi Public Investment Fund or Prince Walid, there are results.
A few days later, the Saudi Public Investment Fund sent a team to negotiate with O2 Telecom. Ultimately, they will invest 1 billion pounds to purchase O2 Telecom’s convertible corporate bonds with an annual interest rate of 3.5%.
According to the contract, the Saudi Public Investment Fund has the right to convert these corporate bonds into ordinary shares of O2 Telecom at the issuance price of its shares when O2 Telecom conducts its IPO.
The 1 billion pounds of funds received will continue to repay the debt assumed by Barron's when it purchased O2 Telecom.
So far, he has repaid 2 billion pounds, and each has 1.5 billion pounds of high-interest debt with Barclays Bank and Goldman Sachs Group. At the same time, O2 Telecom has also assumed 2 billion pounds of debt. Corporate bonds have an annual interest rate of 3.5%.
As the UK and the EU continue to cut interest rates, their bank loan interest rates have dropped from the previous 5% to around 3%.
So now, Barron's will also start to use various methods, through lower-interest loans or financing, to return the high-interest debt assumed by the leveraged buyout when acquiring O2 Telecom - to You know, the interest on these debts was as high as 12% at that time, and the interest was not a small burden.
While the world is cutting interest rates now, Barron's can also cover its previous high-interest debt with new low-interest financing, thereby reducing interest costs.
In addition, Prince Walid was also very generous. He directly purchased the US$500 million Athena Fund, which has a closed period of one year and a fixed annual return of 8%. Barron had previously Already, he has begun to reduce the fixed income of the Athena fund, as he told the Duke of Westminster that he would make an exception for the 10% annual income of £100 million of his Grosvenor Property Staff Pension Fund.
In this way, after the investment of Prince Walid, the amount of funds controlled by Athena Fund has successfully exceeded US$1 billion, reaching more than US$1.25 billion.
......
At this time, it is already November 10, and the exchange rate of the euro against the U.S. dollar has exceeded 1.2. As of now, DS Capital uses 1 billion pounds as a margin and is short with 20 times leverage. The profit from the U.S. dollar exchange rate has exceeded 6 billion U.S. dollars.
But Barron knows that this is just the beginning, because not only by the end of this year, the exchange rate of the euro against the US dollar will reach a high of 1.25, but by April 2008, the exchange rate will reach a high of close to 1.6...
From then on, the exchange rate of the euro against the US dollar will continue to fall, even to the level of 1:1.
But this process is not a unilateral rise or fall, there will always be fluctuations.
Therefore, Barron plans to wait until the end of the year to close this investment, and then wait for the opportunity next year before entering into operations.
“Why do you want to go to the United States again?”
After Bonnie came back in the evening, she knew that Barron was going to the United States in two days, so she couldn't help but ask. "I have some investments there before, and I need to take a look. In addition, I ordered a business jet before, and Gulfstream informed me that it can be handed over. I plan to fly it back directly then."
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These are all reasons to go to the United States, but another more important reason is that Rebecca has Barron’s child. She cannot always be left alone in California to wait for the birth, and she has to visit her from time to time. For a moment.
Of course, he would never say this reason. He hugged Bonnie and asked:
"Do you want to go with me?"
"You know, there are too many things going on at Giant Studio recently, I'm afraid I can't leave."
Actually, Bonnie is also quite depressed. After all, the last time Barron went to the United States, there happened to be a conflict between the two. During the period, after he went to New York, he saw reports in the newspapers about him and the "New York Socialite".
Although Bonnie didn't show anything in front of her cousin, no matter how she said it, she felt uncomfortable.
This time she really wanted to go to the United States with Barron, but unfortunately, she had just taken over Giant Studio and had been too busy recently and couldn't leave.
After all, she wanted to start a business herself, so she couldn't just become a shopkeeper casually.
"How's Giant Studio doing lately?"
"It's the dance competition variety show I mentioned last time. Our tentative name is "Strictly Come Dancing". We have been doing preparatory work and need to find the right judges. Negotiate with the guest players, agree on their schedule, and prepare to start recording in April or May next year.”
“There is still nearly half a year left, so don’t be so anxious.”
Hearing what Barron said, Bonnie sighed and said:
“It’s not that simple. After all, there are many players invited this time, including some well-known celebrities. These people need to book in advance. Good time. And since it’s a dance show, they can’t really be unprepared at all. They always need to do some practice in advance, and we have to take care of this.”
Since this is the case, there is no other way. Barron suddenly thought of something:
"Have you gone to see your cousin recently? I remember that her child, uh, I mean the Ukrainian girl's belly "Yes, if I remember correctly, she is about to give birth."
When it comes to this matter, Bonnie's expression is very interesting.
Although she has now accepted that her cousin is pregnant with her boyfriend's child, she will not be very happy when she thinks about it.
“Yes, it’s the due date next month. Oh, God bless my cousin, she will be raising two children together soon...”
"Uh..."
Barron already regrets mentioning this. He thinks that after next spring, he will have two children one after another, and he feels...
Still looking forward to it. With some trepidation.
"I think, honey, we should try harder..."
How should we coax women? In addition to words, some practical actions are also needed.
(End of this chapter)