Chapter 241 Public Investment Fund
"Then 30 million pounds, is it enough?"
Hearing Barron's unwavering words, both Phillips and Mark were shocked for a while. They looked at each other, and finally Mark said:
"Your Highness the Duke, do you want to invest 30 million pounds in our company?"
"Yes, invest according to the Naxicap fund's valuation of 22.4 million pounds."
"This...is a bit too much."
According to their team's plan, they can have 10 million pounds, which is equivalent to more than 1,450 euros, which is enough. 30 million pounds... After this huge investment, they will not have many remaining shares.
"For the current tabletop game market, the most important thing is to become a giant as quickly as possible. In this way, you can spend money to buy all the teams with potential and creativity..."
Barron said calmly:
"And I also believe in the management capabilities of your team. I am only making financial investments. As long as you don't make mistakes, Asmodee will still be managed by you. Maybe the next time Asmodee needs financing, it will be IPO listed."
Mark and Phillips also admitted that Barron's words did make sense, and what they valued more was the control of the company... If this aspect could be guaranteed, then with so much funding, they would be absolutely sure that they would be able to do so within the next two years. Asmodee has developed into the world's largest board game company. Thinking of that prospect...
Finally, after discussions, Asmodee's team accepted Barron's proposal, and they will receive an investment of 30 million pounds from DS Capital at a valuation of 22.4 million pounds for Asmodee.
In this way, after completing this financing, DS Capital's 30 million pound investment will obtain 57.25% of Asmodee's shares, plus the 40% of their previous shares, which will be diluted to 17.1% after this financing , so DS Capital holds a total of 74.35% of Asmodee's shares.
Asmodee's founding team, including Mark and Phillips, reduced its shareholding in the company to 25.65%.
But as Barron said, he has no interest in running Asmodee Company, and in his previous life, Mark and the others have always done a good job, developing Asmodee Company into one of the largest tabletop game companies in the world.
Therefore, he is willing to invest in Asmodee Company. On the one hand, it is to promote "Werewolf" and maximize the value of this IP; on the other hand, it is really a financial investment.
When, like in the previous life, a company is willing to acquire Asmodee for more than 3 billion euros, or when Asmodee's IPO increases its market value, it will be time for his investment to be realized.
…
"Your Highness the Duke, don't you have the idea of listing O2 Telecom again? After all, according to our investigation, you took on high-interest debt of up to 5 billion pounds when you acquired this telecommunications company."
On the day when Barron invited these Saudi princes, the three Saudi princes he last met at the Duke of Westminster's home, including Walid, all came to Barron's villa in Kensington.
In addition to these three princes, there was another guest - a senior executive of Saudi Arabia's public investment fund (PIF).
Only then did Barron realize that the backgrounds of these three princes were not simple. In addition to Walid, the "Middle East Stock God" and Mohammed bin Salman, the future Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, there was another one named Fei The prince of Sal bin Raziz, his father currently serves as Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Investment and is responsible for managing Saudi Arabia’s sovereign funds, including the earlier established Saudi Public Investment Fund.
The senior executive of the Saudi Public Investment Fund named Falih bin Al-Jubeir who came here today came to England to prepare for investment.
The Saudi Public Investment Fund was created in the 1970s. It was initially mainly funded by Saudi Aramco. Therefore, the president of Aramco often also serves as the head of the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
As of now, the total size of the Saudi Public Investment Fund has exceeded US$25 billion, and it has many investment projects overseas.
This time, Falih bin Jubeir asked this question, and it was obvious that they were interested in O2 Telecom.
"Mr. Falih, although the number of O2 Telecom users has increased by more than 100% compared to when I acquired the company at the beginning of the year, we are still upgrading our mobile communications and broadband networks. Especially in the newly opened markets of France and Germany, although the number of users is increasing rapidly, the investment is also huge, so in terms of performance, it is not conducive to IPO listing..."
As Barron's life assistant and an Arab, Alia Benti Hussein also attended the reception held at Barron's home.
When she was first introduced to these Saudis, they also marveled at the beauty of Barron, the female assistant, and praised her greatly.
This was also the first time Alia saw Barron talking about his business with others. Seeing him talking freely, she couldn't help but keep her eyes on him.
Just listen to Barron continue:
"But you can rest assured that when O2 Telecom's equipment upgrade is completed next year and its financial situation looks better, it will be ready to go public."
"Actually, after conducting a survey on the British market, our PIF is very optimistic about your O2 Telecom and has the idea of investing..."
Hearing what Falih bin Jubeir said, Barron's heart moved and he said:
"If we invest in O2 Telecom now, I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to agree on the company's valuation, because although O2 Telecom is not a start-up, after I bought the company, I formulated a super Expansion plan, although when I acquired this company at the beginning of this year, I only spent 5.5 billion pounds, and based on the current turnover and number of users, the company is valued at 10 billion pounds at most..."
When Barron said these words, he had been observing everyone's expressions without leaving a trace, especially Falih al-Jubeir, who was responsible for the Saudi Public Investment Fund's investment in the UK. Judging from his reaction, he should be thinking about O2 The valuation of Telecom is not much different from the price of 10 billion pounds.
He smiled and continued:
"But frankly speaking, I think O2 Telecom is currently worth more than 15 billion pounds, and by the time it IPOs, its market value will exceed 20 billion pounds!"
"I'm afraid this is a bit too high, Your Highness the Duke."
"That's why I said that it is difficult for us to reach an agreement at the moment, but this is not a problem. We can use other methods..."
Hearing what Barron said, Falih became interested:
"In what way?"
"O2 Telecom can first issue corporate bonds to you, with the annual interest rate set at around 3.5%, slightly higher than the interest rate of bank loans. Then at the end of next year, or early 2005, when O2 Telecom conducts its IPO, you can choose to use O2 Telecom's The stock issuance price converts these corporate bonds into common shares..."
After hearing Barron's proposal, although I can't invest in O2 Telecom right now, speaking of it, the investments of sovereign funds such as the Saudi Public Investment Fund are not too focused on return rates like those venture capital investments, but rather I prefer safer investments - after all, the scale of these funds can easily exceed tens of billions of dollars. Investments of this scale cannot take too much risk.
Therefore, the method proposed by Barron is safer. Although the annual interest rate of 3.5% is not high, it can at least be considered as an early entry. When the time comes, we will observe the situation of O2 Telecom IPO and decide whether to swap debt for equity. Otherwise, even if you want to participate in O2 Telecom's IPO, you may not be able to get a sufficient share of shares.
"I will report to the CEO and give you a reply as soon as possible, Your Highness the Duke."
"Looking forward to your reply, Mr. Falih."
Barron didn't really think that he could decide on such an investment in this meeting, so he said it very calmly.
