Chapter 132 Going with the flow
What Barron meant by saying this was to give the other party the right to choose first.
When SDTV still doesn’t know its future, it needs to invest 300 million pounds in Digital UK over five years. It is not easy for any company.
What's more, at this time, Sinclair Group, as a listed company, has a market value of only about US$2 billion.
Speaking of SEM Group, Barron will sooner or later raise funds or accept shares from other companies. Even if there is no financial pressure, there is always a need to replace resources or win more allies through these methods.
As long as it is done properly, it will not affect the Devonshire family's control of the company.
Just like the Sinclair Group, even if it becomes a listed company and its shares are very dispersed, the Sinclair family's control of the company remains firm.
Founders release shares of the company either to seek funding or resources.
On the premise of not affecting his control of the company, if someone is willing to share the pressure of initial capital investment, Barron will not completely refuse.
"As a share to maintain our cooperative relationship, we don't need too many shares. 10%-20% of the shares are enough. In exchange, we are also willing to issue no more than 8.5 million additional Sinclair Group shares to you. .”
At present, the total share capital of Sinclair Group is about 85 million shares, which means that they can allow Barron to hold less than 10% of the group's shares, which can be regarded as its major shareholder - but whether Barron is willing to spend If this money is used to purchase these additional shares in full, then it is not within the scope of the other party's consideration.
Barron's has checked that Sinclair Group's current stock price is around US$24, so it would cost about US$200 million to fully purchase its shares.
He believes that if he had not brought up the need to invest heavily in Digital UK, I am afraid that the shares of SEM Group that John Smith wanted would not be as small as 10%-20%. It is also this matter that allows the other party to SEM Group's shareholdings have become "cautious".
"I can basically agree with this method, but I will send someone to discuss it with you on the specific operation method."
Speaking of which, now is not the best time for SEM Group to raise funds, because the development prospects of terrestrial digital TV are not yet clear; in addition, "Downton Abbey", a TV series that will become popular around the world, has not yet been broadcast, so the valuation that SEM Group can obtain will certainly not satisfy Barron.
But these are all negotiable. Anyway, it will only be half a month until "Downton Abbey" is completed and broadcast.
It would take half a month for their mutual shareholding negotiations to come to fruition, especially if Barron's side delays a little bit.
…
"Aren't you asleep yet? Barron."
Chrissy's words brought Barron back from his thoughts about the Sinclair Group's cooperation.
Turning his head to follow the sound, Barron saw the Viscountess standing at the top of the stairs wearing a slightly loose dress.
"I just went back and saw that Bonnie was already asleep. I didn't want to disturb her, so I came here to sit for a while."
In the villa, there is a small villa specially prepared for guests to stay, and Barron and the others live here.
"I just wanted to go see her again, so I won't go there so as not to wake her up."
As she spoke, the Viscountess walked to Barron's side.
When Barron raised his head and met her gaze, he found that her eyes seemed to be able to speak, and the meaning behind them...
The Viscountess knelt down in front of Barron, raised her head and looked at him with somewhat confused eyes.
When her hands on His Highness the Duke's legs began to move less honestly...
Barron took a deep breath and said calmly:
"Do you want to be here? Chris..."
"Are you scared?"
Faced with the Viscountess's slightly provocative words, Barron smiled slightly:
"How about going to Bonnie's place?"
"Think about it, I'm still looking forward to it. Do you really dare?"
The one who answered her was that Barron directly lifted the Viscountess on his shoulders, and then walked towards his and Bonnie's bedroom.
Seeing that the young Duke really did this, the Viscountess finally became a little panicked as she approached the door of the bedroom. She lowered her voice and said with a bit of impatience:
"Go, go to my room..."
"Actually, I'd rather try that balcony..."
…
"Bonnie, how are you feeling today?"
The next morning, during breakfast, Jenny Butt came to their villa and saw Bonnie sitting at the dining table, and asked enthusiastically.
"Thank you, Jenny, I feel better."
"That's great. You look much better than yesterday. Then we can go shopping together in the afternoon. There are some stores on Fifth Avenue that I think are great."
As she spoke, Jenny Butt looked at Barron:
"Your Highness the Duke, will you go with us?"
Well, regarding this issue, I am afraid that as a man, he will subconsciously avoid going shopping with women:
"Dear Jenny, I have promised John that I will visit the Sinclair Group with him, so..."
"Well, you men are always so boring."
This is not an excuse. Yesterday, Barron and John agreed on today's itinerary.
Mainly, he didn't have much impression of the programs owned by Sinclair Group, so he still wanted to see if there was any inspiration from past life memories during today's visit that could help him get better cooperation. result.
In addition, after visiting the Sinclair Group, John Smith will also take Barron to meet several of his friends, who are also members of American business families.
This time, John Smith did not talk too much about cooperation with SEM Group. After determining the general policy, they would each leave the remaining matters to their subordinates for "bargaining". This kind of thing , they naturally won’t do it themselves.
But in the end, the trip to the Avalon Hollywood nightclub in Los Angeles that they had talked about before did not happen.
Because there was something that needed to be dealt with in London, and the Viscountess also received a call from Viscount Bute, it seemed that something was going on, so they only stayed in New York for two days before taking a plane back to London.
"Your Highness the Duke, here is the information about the 'Imperial Shield' military company, as well as information about its founder, Melvin Coy."
In the intelligence team's office, Nigel Inkster handed a relatively thick folder to Barron.
After Barron opened it and glanced at it a few times, he said:
"Give me a brief introduction."
"The 'Imperial Shield' military company was founded three years ago and currently has about 200 employees. It is considered a relatively small scale among private military companies..."
Nigel said:
"Relatively large private military companies, such as the well-known Blackwater Company, have up to 20,000 employees, which is enough to subvert the regime of some small countries. As for the 'Imperial Shield', although the number of people is not large, the personnel are It’s quite elite, and the most important thing is, according to our investigation, this company currently has no affiliated groups or forces, and was completely developed by Melvin Coy and a few friends.”
