Chapter 269: The Mansion in the Magic City
After meeting with the big bosses in Zhejiang Province, Barron went to the Magic City.
At this time, Julia Moore, who was in charge of the family trust fund, also came here to join him.
The most important investment in Shanghai at present is the Devonshire Bund Hotel established by Cavendish Hotel Group at 2 on the Bund.
The new building of this hotel is expected to be completed in the second half of this year, and will be officially opened in 2005 after renovation and staff training.
This speed of construction also amazed Julia Moore from England.
When she accompanied Barron to visit here, she could already see the framework of the new building next to the old building of No. 2 on the Bund.
“This place is indeed very different from England and other European countries. It has a feeling of vigorous development. Every time I come here, I can see that there are high-rise buildings under construction here in Pudong. It’s hard to imagine what this place will look like in a few years.”
Yulia’s tone was full of surprise and appreciation.
“So, only when you really come to China can you feel how rapid the development here is. These are things you can hardly see in the media. Without these experiences, just from the inherent experience In my impression, I am afraid that my view of this country will be very one-sided and even distorted.”
At first, when Barron invested more and more funds in China, Yulia was very puzzled. She even linked it with his preference for "Chinese culture" and thought it was very irrational.
But after coming to China these two times, Yulia's thoughts gradually changed as she learned more about this place.
Yes, China is very different from the West, including some social conditions and cultural customs, but if we look at it from the perspective of "Western supremacy" or to put it more directly, "white supremacy", I'm afraid This is a place that is incompatible with the "civilized world".
But Yulia herself is a Slav. Compared to most Angsa people, because of her family’s past, it is relatively easier to look at everything in China from other perspectives. This is This makes her more and more confident in the future development of this place.
In addition to the Devonshire Bund Hotel, in the Magic City, Barron also met the newly appointed CEO of Pioneer Sports Group, Kebi Harper, who Barron hired from a well-known sports company in the United States through a headhunting company. He was hired by the entertainment group IMG and served as the group's vice president in charge of investment and acquisitions.
After Pioneer Sports acquired the F1 Group and held 90% of the shares of the F1 event operating company, Barron merged the Manchester United club and the related Manchester United brand operating company held by DS Capital into Pioneer Sports. Among them, the Pioneer Sports Group was formed and Kaibi Haber was invited to join the group as the group CEO.
In this way, due to the increase in the market value of the entire club after Barron's acquisition of Manchester United, DS Holdings will hold 55% of the shares of Pioneer Sports Group, while Rich23 Capital will hold 45% of the sports group. shares.
Pioneer Sports Group has become a sports group that includes the most valuable football club, Manchester United, and the highly influential sports event F1.
This time Kaibi Harper came to Magic City, not only to report to Barron about the group merger, but also because Magic City will host the 2004-2010 Chinese Grand Prix of the F1 World Championship.
The Magic City Circuit has been under construction since 2002 and is expected to be completed in June this year and opened in September to host the Chinese Grand Prix of the F1 event.
After inspecting the Magic City Circuit, the relevant personnel of the F1 Group he led were relatively satisfied with the construction of the Magic City Circuit.
Barron also knows that it is of great significance for the F1 event to enter a market with great development potential in China, which will expand the influence of the F1 event.
And judging from the previous life, the F1 events in Magic City have been continuously held, and the operations have become more and more mature. Generally speaking, they are relatively successful.
……
“This place looks so dilapidated. The houses are very old. No one has lived there for a long time.”
Yulia looked at the three-story English-style house with brick and wood structure in front of her at the location where she could vaguely see that it had once been a "garden" and said.
“Yes, but the previous owner here is also very famous in Shanghai. Moreover, in a place like Shanghai, it is not easy to find such a private house with a garden of 5,000 square meters. "
Hearing Barron's words, Yulia nodded in agreement. What they are currently in is a garden house located at No. 699 Yuyuan Road, Shanghai.
This bungalow also has a name, called Yanjia Garden.
This place was originally bought by the Yan family and his son, who were once famous in Shanghai, and became their family's mansion, so it was named Yan Family Garden.
But what made this place attract the attention of the world is that in 2009 in the original time and space, Chen Tianqiao, the richest man at the time and chairman of Shanda Group, spent 280 million to buy it, then repaired it, became his residence, and later listed it It was sold for 1 billion, making it the most expensive mansion in Shanghai.
Of course, at this time, Chen Tianqiao, an outstanding man who will become the richest man in China this year, has not yet taken a fancy to this place.
After all, he originally obtained this property through a court auction - most of the descendants of the Yan family have immigrated overseas, and the place has fallen into disrepair due to neglect and neglect. As for how to deal with the house, the 16 heirs of the Yan family have never reached a consensus, and eventually they went to court, and the house was publicly auctioned by the court.
But now that Barron has taken a fancy to this place, he has also received local assistance and contacted the descendants of the Yan family. After Barron offered 20 million US dollars to buy this bungalow, the other party quickly reached an agreement - sell the house and split the money.
So the Yan Family Garden here became Barron's property.
Of course, it is definitely not possible to move in directly as it is now. For this reason, Barron specially found the most professional design office to completely restore the perfect posture of the place through repairs, and to reinforce and modernize the interior, with a total cost of up to 5 million US dollars!
It will take almost a year before the place can be restored and ready for occupancy.
After spending a few days in the magical city, Barron went directly to Lijiapo after a short stay in HK.
On February 22, Barron met Qiu Teck Puat again and had lunch with him at the coffee house of the Goodwood Park Hotel.
At this time, after HK once again purchased some shares of Standard Chartered Bank from two wealthy people, Barron's shareholding in Standard Chartered Bank had reached 15%, exceeding the 13.5% shareholding held by Qiu Deba. , became the largest individual shareholder of Standard Chartered Bank.
During the meal, Barron once again proposed that he would pay a 20% premium to acquire the other party's shares for US$1.08 billion.
This is another US$80 million increase from the US$1 billion purchase price he proposed last time.
Qiu Deba was noncommittal about this, saying that it still needed to be considered.
"Your Highness the Duke, I hope you understand that I have held these shares for nearly 20 years and have some feelings for Standard Chartered Bank. I will not make a decision so quickly."
After hearing these words from the other party, Barron nodded and said very gracefully:
"I understand your thinking, Mr. Qiu, I will wait for you to be willing to sell, I just hope it won't take too long. "
"Thank you for your understanding. Hey, I am getting old and I am a little sleepy. I will go back and rest first..."
When he said this, Qiu Deba was just about to get up. But his face suddenly changed, showing a look of pain, and he was covering his heart...
Seeing this, Elizabeth Qiu, who had been by his side, hurried over to help him:
"Daddy, are you okay? Do you have a heart attack? Quickly, take him to the hospital..."
Just when they were about to lift him up and take him to the hospital, Barron said immediately :
"I have a doctor here, let him take care of it first..."
(End of this chapter)