Chapter 156 DS Financial Center

"What exactly happened? Has the investigation been clear? Was this an accidental bombing or an artillery attack targeting our company?"

The day after Barron got the news, Melvin's deputy, Markle Paulson, arrived in London in a whirlwind of travels.

Barron asked after seeing him.

"According to the intelligence analysis currently available, it should be an accidental bombing, because situations like ours are very common in Africa, and conflicts between armed groups generally do not affect us, but accidents are inevitable."

Markle looked very capable. Although he had a tired look on his face, he still said clearly:

"At present, Colonel Coy's condition has stabilized. He is still in the hospital and is protected by our soldiers. I came here this time to report to you the whole story."

"No matter what, Mr. Coy was affected, and there were also casualties among our employees. This matter must be resolved."

Barron looked Markle in the eyes and asked:

"What are you going to do?"

"At present, Colonel Coy still needs to recuperate. He has temporarily handed over the management of the company to me. Your Highness the Duke. After investigation, we are ready to help the current armed organization to carry out a strike against the other party in retaliation for this shelling."

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

"That's right, Your Highness the Duke, the armed organization currently entrusted to us needs more arms. They currently control an area, including several mineral deposits. They hope to use one of the gold mines to exchange part of it with us. Arms, and more support from us..."

It has to be said that there are numerous mineral deposits buried under the soil of Africa. In terms of reserves, the reserves of uranium, chromium, manganese, cobalt, vanadium, gold, bauxite, platinum group metals, rubidium, diamond, phosphorus and other advantageous minerals rank first in the world. At the forefront, platinum group metal reserves account for 93.04% of the world's total reserves, rubidium accounts for 80%, phosphorus (ore) accounts for 83.90%, titanium accounts for 80.85%, cobalt accounts for 57.22%, bauxite accounts for 33.60%, oil, natural gas, iron, Mineral reserves such as copper, palladium, germanium, fluorite, and graphite are also abundant.

The most famous thing is the diamonds there.

It's just because of this that except for a few countries in Africa that can maintain a stable political situation, the great powers have been carving up and plundering here through agents.

For the "Empire Shield", although this time they encountered an accident, it can still be regarded as an opportunity to expand their scale, and Markle's idea is also very clear, that is, he hopes to gain more support from His Royal Highness the Duke Barron.

After the last meeting with Melvin Coy, Barron injected 10 million pounds into the "Imperial Shield" military company and obtained 45% of the shares of this private military company. It can be said that besides Melvin Coy, Barron became other than the largest shareholder.

After experiencing this injury, Melvin Coy has been unable to continue to manage the "Imperial Shield" military company, and now he has such an opportunity to obtain a gold mine and enhance his local influence. For "Empire Shield" It was also a rare opportunity for "Shield", so he entrusted his deputy Michael to see Barron, hoping that he could provide him with more funds.

Of course, everyone is ambitious. For Markle, this is also an excellent opportunity for him. He also hopes that he can take over the position of Colonel Coy and become the manager of the "Empire Shield".

You know, if you really become one of those very powerful private military companies, it will be almost equivalent to a "Turkish Emperor" in Africa.

Naturally, Markle would not let go of this opportunity to meet His Highness the Duke in person and express her loyalty to him.

"Colonel Coy hopes to withdraw from the Imperial Shield Company after this revenge plan, sell his shares to you, and hopes to gain more support from you..."

The reason why Barron only held 45% of the shares of the "Imperial Shield" military company before was because he needed to judge whether the other party was worth his investment over a period of time.

But if it is true as Colonel Coy said, then after he continues to invest in "Imperial Shield", this company can only have one voice, and that is that everything will put his interests first.

It's not that he can't see Markle's ambitions, and he also allows the other party to have ambitions, but the premise is that they must be controlled.

He has previously sent personnel to the "Empire Shield" military company to supervise the company's financial situation. Now Barron has proposed that he can continue to provide more support to the other party, or he can let Markle manage it in the future. This company, but the premise is that Markle will only be responsible for the military operations of the "Empire Shield", and other aspects, including personnel and finance, need to be managed by others.

Of course, the most important aspect of intelligence belongs to the management of the intelligence team.

In this way, the next day, Barron's intelligence adviser Nigel Inkster went to Africa with Markle on Barron's behalf.

The purpose of his trip was to help "Imperial Shield" complete this "retaliation plan", and later to evaluate the "Imperial Shield" military company, and finally determine the additional investment and complete the handover of the company's shares.

…

In early April, Mars Fund once again opened channels for accepting investments.

At this time, this private equity fund, with an initial capital of only 50 million pounds, controlled assets of more than 170 million pounds, and its return rate exceeded 240%!

No wonder it is sought after by many investors.

This time, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince once again invested 30 million pounds, and the original investors, including Viscount Bute, Duke of Westminster and others, also increased their investment to a greater or lesser extent. With a large number of investors, Mars Fund has received more than 300 million pounds in new investment.

At this point, the total assets controlled by this private equity fund, which was just over half a year old, are close to 500 million pounds!

After this, the main investment direction of the Mars Fund is to go long!

Be long on gold prices, long on crude oil prices, long on raw material prices, and long on related real estate companies!

In short, before 2007, going long was the main direction of the Mars fund.

At almost the same time, on April 3, DS Capital finally reached an agreement with Lloyds Insurance Company. Their DS Asset Management Company will buy the Lloyds Building where the company is currently located for 175 million pounds.

After selling the building to DS Asset Management, Lloyds Insurance Company will still rent two-thirds of the building's area and continue to use it as the headquarters of its British company.

And Lloyds Insurance Company will lease it temporarily for 5 years at a price of 16 million pounds per year. After 5 years, DS Asset Management will be allowed to increase the rent appropriately based on the market price at that time.

In this case, DS Asset Management actually paid £95 million to Lloyds Insurance Company (excluding five years of rent), completing the handover of ownership of the building.

After purchasing the Lloyd Building, the building will be renamed Devonshire Financial Center and serve as the headquarters of DS Capital.

In fact, of the 95 million pounds, DS Capital only needs to pay 50 million pounds in cash, and the remaining funds are all paid by loans provided by Barclays Bank.