Chapter 591 Hotel Group
“We have received notices from 3 of the 8 oil companies that they will transport crude oil to the port within the specified time. The other 5 companies have proposed to cooperate with us. Further negotiations..."
In early April, Duane Hurst, CEO of BFT Fund, gave Barron's the latest news.
It should be noted that the prices of international crude oil mentioned previously are usually based on the price of London North Sea Brent light crude oil - this crude oil is regarded as one of the highest quality crude oils. one.
The quality of crude oil produced by oil companies that have signed agreements with the BFT Fund, including Russia, Southeast Asia and Africa, is often lower than North Sea Brent crude oil.
For example, the price of Russian Urals crude oil is even more than ten dollars per barrel lower than the price of North Sea Brent crude oil...
At the same time, the spot crude oil price signed by BFT Fund and them is US$90 per barrel. In the purchase contract, the US$90 is the CIF price, which means that it includes the freight and insurance of crude oil. This was also the CIF price of crude oil that was set with reference to the Baltic Composite Index when the agreement was signed.
So far, according to the purchase contract made at that time, part of the crude oil spot obtained by the BFT Fund has been sent to three ports.
The oil produced by oil companies in Russia will be shipped to Indian ports and refined at the refinery jointly operated by United Energy Group and Reliance Group; the oil produced in Southeast Asia will be shipped to Guangxi, China. Province, refining is carried out at the refining and chemical base cooperated by United Energy Group and PetroChina; as for production in Africa The oil from Africa is transported directly to the refining base in Colo...
Of course, the production capacity of these refining bases at this time is not enough to digest the crude oil spot, so the excess crude oil is also sold by the BFT Fund to We have some partners of United Energy Group, including Reliance Group, PetroChina and Sinopec...
With the refining capacity of two barrels of oil at this time, the excess inventory can be fully absorbed.
As we all know, China has many oil fields and is also an oil-producing country.
But in fact, the cost of China’s local oil extraction is higher than that of purchased crude oil. This is just because of the need to maintain the country’s oil extraction capabilities and maintain a certain level of energy self-sufficiency, and there are a large number of related Upstream and downstream personnel and enterprises need to rely on this industry, so many refining and chemical bases with two barrels of oil still require internal procurement.
And two barrels of oil also have considerable crude oil storage capacity. In comparison, the oil from the BFT fund is naturally welcomed by them.
The five oil companies already hope to reduce some "default costs" through negotiations. As for the three oil companies that are still insisting, they will gradually start to do so as crude oil prices continue to rise. Choose to default.
Of course, as the subprime mortgage crisis becomes more and more powerful, BFT funds also need to start withdrawing funds and prepare to "buy the bottom". Even so, they still hope to get as much profit from these oil companies as possible.
......
"I heard that you are giving those oil companies a lot of headaches, Your Highness the Duke."
Prince Walid came to London again, and he and Barron were together When they met, they said so after hugging each other.
Obviously, he is referring to the large purchase orders between the BFT Fund and those oil companies...
Although Prince Walid's industry does not involve oil, Saudi Arabia itself is a major oil-producing country. They have always been very concerned about news about the crude oil market. Therefore, Prince Walid was able to learn about this matter, and Barron did not know at all. Accident.
"This is not what I want, dear Walid..."
Barron shrugged and said innocently: "No one could have expected that the price of crude oil would continue to rise. If oil prices are rising, contrary to what they are now, then the situation is completely different.”
Prince Walid also agreed with what Barron said:
"That can only mean that you are very lucky, Your Highness the Duke, or that your vision is very accurate. I believe it is the latter."
"Thank you for your compliment, maybe I should admit that... ..."
This time Prince Walid came, of course, not just to congratulate Barron...
Next, he talked to Barron about the Four Seasons Hotel Group matters - as early as last year, Barron took the initiative to bring it up, hoping to buy the remaining shares of the Four Seasons Hotel held by Prince Walid.
In the first phase of the Global Industrial Investment Fund, they completed the privatization of the Four Seasons Hotel Group together with Prince Walid’s Kingdom Investment Company. Currently, GII Fund and Kingdom Investment each hold the Four Seasons Hotel Group. 47.5% of the shares and the other 5% of the Four Seasons Hotel Group 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.
Last year, 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 valuation of the Four Seasons Hotel Group when it was privatized. Value, its price has increased by more than 22%, which is considered a very reasonable price.
But at that time, Prince Walid had no idea of selling his shares in the Four Seasons Hotel Group, so the matter has been delayed.
But this time when he came to London, it seemed that Prince Walid had the idea of selling his shares in the Four Seasons Hotel. According to Barron's guess, he must have seen the impact of the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis on the banking industry. , believes that now is an opportunity to continue to invest in it.
Prior to this, Prince Walid held considerable shares in Citigroup and was its largest private shareholder.
But in November last year, after Citigroup accepted a capital injection from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority held less than 5% of Citigroup's shares, surpassing Prince Walid and becoming Citigroup's shareholder. The largest private shareholder.
At that time, Prince Walid did not have no idea of increasing investment in Citigroup, but one of the reasons was that he was already the largest private shareholder of Citigroup. If given the choice, Citigroup would prefer to obtain Funding from other sources to prevent Prince Walid from holding too high a proportion of their shares.
On the other hand, some of Prince Waleed’s properties were also affected by the subprime mortgage crisis, and it was difficult to raise much funds to participate in the ceremony.
It is estimated that this incident gave Prince Walid the idea of selling his shares in the Four Seasons Hotel Group to obtain funds to subsequently increase investment in the American banking industry.
In this case, it can be said that Lang Youqing is interested in concubine.
Barron was still willing to give the previous conditions. Under the current impact of the subprime mortgage crisis on the global economy, stock markets everywhere have fallen more or less, so Prince Walid readily agreed.
In this way, the Devonshire Family Trust will acquire 47.5% of the shares of the Four Seasons Hotel Group at a cost of US$1.66 billion; GII-1 of the Global Industrial Investment Fund holds the other 47.5% of the shares of the Four Seasons Hotel.
Next, they will promote the merger of the Four Seasons Hotel Group and the Cavendish Hotel Group owned by the Devonshire Family Trust to form a hotel group with a larger scale.
(End of this chapter)