Chapter 111 Starting Negotiations

Barron is indeed a little impatient with the progress of England and MI6.

The "London Star" case has been going on for five months, but since the last time Sir Dearlove, the director of MI6, met with him, it can be said that there has been no update on the progress of this case.

Asked, it is still under investigation.

Barron also knows that, as Nigel Inkster said, MI6's main energy is now focused on targeting al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Although Al Qaeda has suffered a major blow, Brother Bin Laden has still not been captured.

Iraq is the next target for British-American cooperation. It can be said that since the Prime Minister went to the farm of the American leader's family in May this year and had that secret conversation, most of his energy has been focused on it. It proves that Iraq possesses "weapons of mass destruction" that need to be destroyed imminently, and hopes that this can persuade Parliament to agree to the British sending troops to Iraq.

Under such circumstances, MI6's main work will naturally revolve around this aspect. Relatively speaking, the effort invested in the "London Star" case is somewhat insignificant.

Therefore, after the meeting with Nigel Inkster and Barron, it was determined that he would take the lead and hire the most professional experts in intelligence analysis with high salaries to join in to form an "intelligence center" funded by Barron. The first was Collect and analyze relevant information about the "London Star" fraud gang, find the gang, and protect the dignity of the Devonshire family.

To this end, Barron met again with the director of MI6, Sir Dearlove. At his request, the other party agreed to hand over to Barron information that did not involve other highly confidential information about the "London Star" case. This way.

"At least within Britain, I don't want you to cross the line. Even abroad, I hope you won't cause trouble, because it is very likely that these people will be involved in some 'illegal violent organizations.' Your Highness, this is by no means alarmist."

After agreeing to Barron's request, Sir Dearlove said this to Barron with a serious face.

In fact, nothing can be accomplished overnight. Just like the intelligence team that Barron has formed now, what they can do currently is to analyze the relevant intelligence handed over to them by MI6, and then use some public information later. Looking for relevant information - at most, they can purchase valuable information for themselves from the international intelligence black market, and they do not have the ability to directly go to areas outside the UK to collect intelligence.

But in the beginning, it was enough to be able to do this, and it was better than waiting for news from others.

Later, Barron will gradually strengthen the capabilities of this intelligence team.

…

Two days later, news came from Johannesburg. Amber told Barron that he had contacted the South African newspaper. Although he had not yet met the CEO of the South African newspaper, Kus Becker, he had met with the South African newspaper. Tony Locks, the person in charge of Internet industry and investment, his Chinese department’s investment in Penguin was finalized with his approval.

It has to be said that as the Duke of England, Barron still has a certain reputation. After all, the South African newspaper industry is a listed company with a market value of tens of billions of dollars at this time. Not to mention the CEO of the group, even those who control the specific Not all business executives can be seen if they want to.

Comparatively speaking, DS Capital can be said to be little-known at this time. That is to say, the boss of this company is the Duke of Devonshire of England, which attracted the other party's interest at first sight - the Duke of England is comparable to the world. Billionaires are scarce...

The good thing is that the South African newspaper industry hopes to acquire the subsidiary of the South African newspaper industry at a 50% premium, which is 32 million pounds, for the DSIIC (DS Industrial Investment Company) proposed by Amber Sheehan. The South African MIH Group held a proposal of 46.5% of Penguin shares. Although they verbally stated that they were very optimistic about the future development of Penguin and were extremely optimistic about the future of the Internet industry in developing countries, especially China, they did not reject it. So straightforward, so there is still the possibility of continuing the discussion.

Before leaving London, Barron told Amber that he would accept a premium of up to twice as much for the Penguin shares held by South African newspapers.

But Amber naturally couldn't show his trump card at the first contact, so he was very strategic and started with the 50% premium. Speaking of which, such a premium actually meant that Amber It seems that it is already high enough.

You must know that the South African MIH Group only started to buy Penguin shares last year, and only increased its shareholding to 46.5% in June this year. After only three or four months in the past, it was able to give a 50% premium, which is already considered This investment was a great success.

What's more, it's still a time when related industries have shown no signs of recovery after the Internet bubble crisis. If they can make this offer at this time, I'm afraid no one else will do so except them.

Amber was not wrong in doing so, but Barron still reminded him. What needs to be noted is that since the other party was willing to take over Penguin after the Internet bubble burst and expand its shares, he must be very optimistic about this company. The company, or at least the vice president of the China branch, pushed hard to invest in Penguin, and finally convinced a key figure in the South African newspaper industry, Tony Locks, who was responsible for Internet affairs.

So if they start from its Chinese branch, there is a high probability that there will be no results. They can only impress the other party with enough profits through direct dialogue with the South African newspaper headquarters.

Amber can also see this. The South African newspaper industry is a listed company. As the CEO of the company, it is necessary to stabilize or even increase its stock price - in many cases, this is even related to their own income.

According to the data seen by Amber, the large-scale investment in Penguin at this time did have a certain negative impact on the stock price of the South African newspaper industry at a time when the Internet technology industry was relatively sluggish. The question now is, what if Soon they will be able to obtain good returns from this investment, even relatively high returns, which will definitely increase their stock price.

Amber needs to judge during negotiations with the other party at what price they are willing to accept the sale of Penguin, so that in their minds, the idea of ​​improving the company's stock price and performance will outweigh their optimism for Penguin's future?

If Amber's estimate of this price is too low, the other party will not agree; if it is too high, then he will be "taken advantage of" - Amber himself thinks that the 200% premium mentioned by Barron is really too high. Estimated.

After all, no matter how capable Amber is, he will not be able to "see the future" like Barron. Therefore, according to the prediction of the current situation, Penguin's shares are not worth more than 60 million pounds no matter what...

While waiting for the outcome of Amber's continued negotiations, Barron reminded him that the ultimate goal was to win Penguin's shares. Although a lower price would be better, it was not the primary consideration.