Chapter 539 Merger?
“Hello, my friend.”
“Welcome to London, Walid.”
In May, Prince Walid and his wife Princess Amina came to London, and as an important partner, Barron hosted a banquet for the couple at his villa in Kensington.
In the early days of DS Capital, Prince Walid was one of their main investors, and until now, both parties have maintained a good cooperative relationship.
"Your Highness the Duke, I found that your fund has reduced its holdings in a lot of company stocks. Are you not optimistic about the future market?"
After dinner, when the two sat down to chat, Wa Prince Lid suddenly raised this issue.
Unlike when he first founded DS Capital’s private equity fund, Barron still had to use various methods to seek investors. Now the funds under DS Group have been able to attract more and more investors. Adding funds to investments or purchasing their financial products is in itself because of Barron's investment capabilities, which have been widely recognized.
At the same time, for this reason, many people will also be studying the investment directions of some of his funds to observe his investment strategies.
Even though many of DS Group's investments are not public, we can still have a general understanding of them from the disclosure of some capital flows and shareholdings.
Just like when Buffett is not optimistic about the market, many people will become more cautious in investing. This is the same reason.
Prince Walid is a very well-known investor, but he has also known Barron for a longer time and has a better understanding of the other party’s investment strength, so he will also refer to Barron’s views on the entire market. .
This is also the reason why Barron’s short-selling in response to the subprime mortgage crisis through the low-key acquisition of Black Swan Funds. It is also because by now, DS Group has become one of the most well-known investment companies in the UK. There are too many eyes on this. It can be said that many of his investments can affect more funds, thereby affecting part of the investment market.
“Some of my funds are indeed reducing their holdings of some stocks. After all, some investments are about to withdraw part of their profits, and I will also have some acquisition plans recently and need to raise some funds.”< br>
Barron will naturally not reveal his true thoughts, but he will not hide them completely. After all, the two parties still have a close cooperative relationship, so there is no need to "act" too much.
He said sternly to Walid:
“Of course, frankly speaking, there is also the idea of avoiding risks. You should understand that when the funds reach the current scale, the investment proportion needs to be appropriately adjusted. "
"This may be necessary for some securities investments, but my investment direction is still mainly based on entities. Even if there are cyclical fluctuations in the economy, I only need to hold it. ”
This is true. Most of Waleed’s investments are relatively high-quality assets. Even Citibank, which he invested in, saw its stock price plummet during the subprime mortgage crisis. However, in the following few years, its stock price gradually declined. Recovered - this is the importance of not adding too high leverage in investment. Even if you encounter huge fluctuations in the short term, as long as you still hold it, those high-quality assets will always return to their due prices. .
Next, Barron talked to Walid about the Four Seasons Hotel Group.
When the Global Industrial Investment Fund was the first phase of the GII Fund, they completed the privatization of the Four Seasons Hotel Group together with Prince Walid's Kingdom Investment. Currently, the GII Fund and Kingdom Investment each hold 47.5% of the Four Seasons Hotel Group. The other 5% of the Four Seasons Hotel Group's shares are held by the Isadore Sharp family, the founder of the Four Seasons Hotel Group - they have also been responsible for the operation of the Four Seasons Hotel. This time, the Devonshire Family Trust hopes to continue to acquire the shares of the Four Seasons Hotel Group held by Prince Walid, and finally complete the merger of the Four Seasons Hotel Group and the Cavendish Hotel Group owned by the Devonshire Family Trust.
As for why we didn’t wait until after the subprime mortgage crisis broke out, the global economy was affected, and the market value of many companies fell before making this acquisition.
The reason is, first of all, the Four Seasons Hotel Group has completed privatization, and its market value will not be reflected through the stock price. Of course, their revenue will also be affected and fall to a certain extent, but the other reason is that As Prince Walid said, his investments will be held for a long time, and naturally they will not be sold at low prices during the economic crisis - unless it is due to the impact of the economic crisis that he needs to give up some assets to raise funds. to save other industries.
But it is obvious that Prince Walid will not have such a situation.
Therefore, since this is the case, it is better to propose a more reasonable price now. Even if the other party does not agree for the time being, when the subprime mortgage crisis breaks out, if Barron's is still willing to make an acquisition at that price, then the other party's feelings will be It would be completely different - well, a feeling of friendship.
This time Barron proposed to acquire the 47.5% stake in the Four Seasons Hotel Group held by Prince Walid for US$1.66 billion.
Based on this price, the Devonshire Family Trust’s valuation of the Four Seasons Hotel Group this time will reach about US$3.5 billion, compared with the US$2.86 billion when the Four Seasons Hotel Group was privatized. Valuation, its price has increased by more than 22%, which is considered a very reasonable price.
“I have stayed at the Devonshire Hotel in London and Paris, and I am really impressed by the brand of this hotel. I would be very happy if the Four Seasons Hotel Group and the Cavendish Hotel Group merged. Agreed, this can also benefit both parties, but if the shares are sold, Barron, I haven’t considered this issue yet.”
“This is just a proposal. I have the idea of promoting this plan. Of course, it also needs the right time. I hope you can consider it carefully. Waleed, I will keep this price forever.”
Since Walid temporarily rejected the proposal, Barron temporarily put the matter aside and turned the topic to other aspects.
Prince Walid is still very interested in the British Automobile Group established by Barron. When he heard that Bentley and Aston Martin were going to launch new models, he was very interested. I hope that during my stay in England, I can visit the production bases of the two brands and see those new models with my own eyes.
Bentley's new flagship Mulsanne was first unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March. However, what was displayed at that time was still an initial standard model car. However, once it was unveiled at the time, it also caused a stir. received great attention.
So far, Bentley's Crewe factory has only completed the production of two Mulsanne sedans, and has not yet begun to openly accept reservation orders.
These two cars, one of which is a Queen's car specially customized for the royal family, will be delivered to the royal family this month and will be unveiled in a public ceremony next month.
The other car is an extended version of the Mulsanne customized for Barron. The car's exterior and interior leather will bear the Devonshire family emblem.
Barron naturally welcomed Prince Walid's desire to visit the Bentley factory. After all, he was very likely to be one of Bentley's first customers.
(End of this chapter)