Chapter 648 Barclays Financing
Barclays Bank's financing negotiations are progressing very quickly - there is no way around it. After all, the deadline required by the British government is getting closer and closer. In the end, Barclays Bank They could only make certain concessions in terms of the price of the additional stock issuance, but the final price of the additional stock issuance still had a certain premium, but the premium was less than 10%...
In the end, including Standard Chartered-U.S. Lam Group, Global Industrial Investment Fund (GII Fund) and Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund will jointly invest in Barclays Bank.
Standard Chartered-Merrill Lynch Group invested 4 billion pounds, and the GII Fund and the Saudi Public Investment Fund each contributed 2 billion pounds, for a total of 8 billion pounds, to obtain the additional shares issued by Barclays Bank.
After this, Standard Chartered-Merrill Lynch will hold a 14% stake in Barclays Bank, and the GII Fund and the Saudi Public Investment Fund will each hold a 7% stake in Barclays Bank.
Standard Chartered Merrill Lynch will assign a board member to Barclays Bank with one vote, and neither the GII Fund nor the Saudi Public Investment Fund will interfere with Barclays Bank's management.
As part of its obligation to become a majority shareholder, Standard Chartered Bank, a subsidiary of Standard Chartered Merrill Lynch, will also provide Barclays with a £2 billion credit line.
The reason for investing in Barclays Bank in this way is that Barclays does not want this financing to have an excessive impact on their board of directors structure - after all, if Standard Chartered-Merrill Lynch Group alone With this financing, they will obtain nearly 30% of Barclays Bank's shares and become its largest shareholder.
If this is the case, it would be better to go one step further and directly acquire Barclays Bank.
However, as two of the four largest commercial banks in the UK, the regulatory authorities will definitely not allow the merger of Standard Chartered-Merrill Lynch and Barclays, and the merger between the two parties will not have much synergy. ——Not only will many businesses of Standard Chartered-Merrill Lynch Group and Barclays Bank overlap, but it will also drag down the balance sheet of Standard Chartered-Merrill Lynch Group to a certain extent...
After several mergers and acquisitions, the more important thing for Standard Chartered-Merrill Lynch Group is to seize the time to complete the integration of the acquired businesses, which is not suitable for further expansion.
“Thank you very much, Your Highness the Duke, our friendship will be as solid as a rock.”
During this Barclays financing process, the President of the Saudi Public Investment Fund and the Saudi Prince Lid came to London and visited Barron.
They also expressed their gratitude to Barron's for being able to introduce the addition of their sovereign wealth fund to the financing of Barclays.
In everyone’s impression, the oil countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, are extremely rich, and their actions are also amazing.
Especially later, these countries frequently invested heavily in technology companies and new energy...
The main reason for this is also the sense of crisis in these countries.
After all, the environment in these countries in the Middle East is not good. It is entirely because of oil that they became "nouveau riche". Therefore, they also have a special sense of crisis and are afraid of waiting until there is no oil or oil is replaced by new energy. , they will fall into the mortal world.
So they have been actively making various investments with the wealth they gained from selling oil resources.
But unfortunately, due to well-known reasons, many of their investments, especially those invested in the United States... are constantly being harvested by the other side.
Also after this subprime mortgage crisis, because Wall Street's situation was really ugly, the funds of many wealthy countries in the Middle East began to be diverted to Europe and Asia. Being able to invest in Barclays Bank this time is a very good opportunity for the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
After all, finance itself is the pillar industry in the UK, and Barclays Bank, as one of the four major commercial banks in the UK, is a very good investment target even if it is facing a crisis—— Then again, if it weren't for the subprime mortgage crisis and Barclays encountered difficulties, how could it be their turn to invest?
And Barron's is also more stable - at least in the eyes of these Middle Eastern tycoons. After all, Wall Street capital always wants to harvest them, but the funds they invest in Barron's have always been there. Stable profits, so in their view, Barron is their "true friend".
In a word, it all depends on peers.
"I saw your handling of the 'non-performing assets' of those banks. It was very bold. It also shows that you are still optimistic about the future of British real estate, Your Highness."
I didn't expect that Vali Prince De was able to notice that Barron had recently entered the house rental industry, but this was not too surprising. After all, his Kingdom Investment Company was also involved in many real estate projects and was also buying real estate in London.
“Economic crises always have their cycles. Based on the British foundation, the real estate market will definitely pick up in the future. Indeed, I am very sure of this. It is just difficult to predict how long this will last. It will take at least two years. The above time..."
Hearing Barron's answer, Prince Walid nodded:
"So during this period, by renting out the property, we can also maintain a certain income. And your move to securitize these properties is indeed very creative, reducing capital investment.”
"Actually, this kind of thing has already happened..."
Barron is referring to the securitization of the properties of Cavendish Asset Management Company.
After all, the reason for this subprime mortgage crisis is that those subprime loan bond CDS have the same principle, but the bonds with subprime loans as the underlying are less risky than real real estate. Just bigger.
“I just strictly controlled the risks, and now that the basic interest rate is constantly falling, even a slightly lower yield is enough to attract a lot of funds.”
"If so, can I be a part of this project?"
Prince Walid naturally did not just come to talk to Barron about this matter. It seems that he is very interested in it and wants to invest in it:
"In fact, it's not just me, I have some Friends are also looking for suitable real estate projects, and I think your project is very promising. When the time comes, the funds will come in through our company..."
For Prince Walid and some people in the Middle East Barron is not prepared to refuse the proposal of funds to join this project. This can also help his Cavendish Asset Management Company to use this time to complete the expansion of scale. It can also help Standard Chartered Bank and other parties involved. Go to the banks in the mortgage crisis and deal with their "non-performing assets"...
It's just...
"Of course you can, but it needs to be stated in advance that the increase in funds needs to be gradual , after all, we are also slowly improving the process for house rental, and it will still take some time to renovate and expand the house. ”
(End of this chapter)