Chapter 220 Worry
"I saw reports in the newspaper that you are planning to acquire Selfridges department store again. Well, please be gentle..."
The sun shines through the white gauze and shines on the Viscountess' body, making her whole body seem to be enveloped in golden light.
She is already more than three months pregnant and the outline of her belly can be clearly seen.
The Viscountess was holding on to the floor-to-ceiling window, but she raised her head slightly. Barron behind her could be said to have a slight influence on her whole body...
"Not necessarily, just buy some shares first. You know that young master of the Weston family has harassed Bonnie several times before. Teach him a lesson first."
Having said this, Barron had a malicious smile on his face:
"Dear Mrs. Boot, why did I feel like you were a little nervous when you heard Bonnie's name just now?"
So far, DS Capital has not only purchased nearly 5% of Selfridges shares in the secondary market, but also participated in the bidding for 51% of Selfridges shares held by the Selfridge family...
Before DS Capital, the Selfridge family bid for their 51% stake in Selfridges, and the highest bid was £300 million from the Weston family.
DS Capital directly called out a price of 350 million pounds, directly increasing the highest price of the bidding by 50 million pounds.
This time, the Weston family was a little embarrassed.
Because their original purpose was to privatize the entire Selfridges department store after taking over the shares of the Selfridges family, thereby turning the entire Selfridges department store into a wholly-owned subsidiary.
The price increase of DS Capital not only affects them to pay at least 50 million pounds more to acquire the shares of the Selfridge family, but also has a chain reaction. They will also have to pay a higher price to purchase other remaining shares. price……
All in all, the privatization of Selfridges is still completed, and the Weston family will spend more than 100 million pounds more than originally planned!
According to the information obtained by Barron's, the shares of Selfridges department store purchased by the Weston family in the secondary market at this time only accounted for about 8% of its total share capital, which was slightly more than that held by DS Capital.
Therefore, they only have a slight advantage in the progress of acquiring Selfridges department store.
As Barron said to the Viscountess, he is just teaching the Weston family a small lesson for the time being, but even so, if the Weston family chooses to continue to acquire Selfridges department store, DS Capital will not lose money.
If they give up the acquisition, DS Capital would not mind acquiring Selfridges department store to enter the high-end shopping mall sector in England.
…
"British Pension Fund Investment Survey"...
Barron raised his eyebrows when he saw the title of the Independent's report.
In today's report, a reporter from The Independent investigated and compared the current three pillars of British pensions - state pensions, occupational pensions and personal pensions. annual return on investment.
After reading this article, Barron frowned slightly...
The rate of return on British pension funds was much lower than he imagined.
For example, the first pillar pension, the state pension, is operated by the National Insurance Fund (NIF) and is invested and managed by the National Debt Relief Commission (CRND).
Its investment strategy is very conservative, mainly bank deposits and British treasury bonds. Well, at most, the Ministry of Finance specially issues a part of non-market treasury bonds NILO for it. Thanks to the British market benchmark interest rate reaching more than 5% in recent years, the national pension The rate of return of gold in the past two years has been able to maintain an average of above 3%...
But he knows that these "good times" will not last long. After 2008, the British market benchmark interest rate will drop sharply from 6% to 0.5%, and the rate of return of the national pension fund will also drop off a cliff!
Barron was worried about this.
As for the second and third pillars of private pensions (including occupational pensions and personal pensions), the total size of private pension funds in the UK currently exceeds 2 trillion pounds, and is managed by different pension funds. The largest Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has a scale of over £30 billion.
However, the investment strategies of these pension funds can only be said to be conservative and a bit blind. The average return rate is between 4% and 7%. This is the result of the recent good performance of the British stock market...
Alas, Barron was worried.
British people's pensions only get such low investment returns and cannot enjoy fund products with higher returns and stable value preservation. Barron believes that these are the dereliction of duty of the pension fund managers and the failure of his job. Get it right.
However, it seems that if the Athena Fund provides capital protection and guarantees fixed income, the annualized rate of return can be slightly reduced...
8%-12% should be enough.
At present, Athena Fund's quantitative trading mathematical model is undergoing verification of simulated trading. Wait until next month, and it will be able to officially start entering the securities market for automatic quantitative trading.
Although the quantitative trading of the entire Athena Fund is completely automated based on its mathematical model, it will be divided into five groups to formulate trading strategies and the securities markets they face, which can reduce a lot of risks in the early stage.
The current fund size of US$400 million can fully satisfy the initial transactions of the Athena Fund. However, as their mathematical model of quantitative trading is improved, they can gradually increase the scale of investment.
For example, the national pension fund, Barron's is not prepared to absorb it now. After all, on the one hand, this kind of pension fund involves the government, and it must be as stable as possible.
He plans to start with those private pension funds to increase the size of the Athena fund.
…
"Hello, His Royal Highness Duke Cavendish, can I have a chat with you?"
Barron had just walked out of the SEM building with Bonnie when a blond woman said this to him.
However, the woman was stopped by Barron's bodyguards as she left.
Feeling the doubtful look from Bonnie next to him, Barron immediately understood her suspicion and couldn't help feeling a little speechless. Although this woman could be called a "beauty", she looked almost thirty years old. My taste...not that bad.
"I'm from the Weston family. Can you give me a few minutes to talk?"
After hearing what the woman said, Barron signaled to his bodyguard, approached the woman, and said:
"Sorry, I'm off work now, you should make an appointment directly."
"I made an appointment, but your office kept saying you didn't have time..."
Well, Barron thought about it for a moment, and it seemed that Wang Wanting had indeed told him about this matter, but he was not interested in talking to the Weston family, so he asked her to find an excuse to pass away.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Alanna Weston, and I want to talk about Selfridges..."
Alanna Weston? Barron looked at the other party again, but he didn't expect the heir of the Weston family to come in person...
That's right, Alanna Weston is the sister of Galen G. Weston, whom Barron also met at the door of the SEM building before. She is also the family heir who will inherit the management rights of the Weston family holding company in the future.
"I'm about to have dinner with my girlfriend, but before that, I can give you a little time, Ms. Weston."
Not right here, of course, but Barron could invite Alana Weston into the car and give her time to talk things over on the way to the restaurant.
Alana agreed without thinking too much. After giving instructions to her bodyguard and driver, she got into Barron's Rolls-Royce Phantom, and her original car followed. After the Barron team.
