Chapter 242 Two Children

The Saudi Public Investment Fund's interest in O2 Telecom is not unexpected.

Barron had heard of this fund in his previous life. They were initially more interested in investments in facilities such as airports and ports, and telecommunications companies were also on their investment list, especially in England. telecommunications companies in developed countries.

Later, after Mohammed bin Salman came to power, the investments of the Saudi public funds under his control became much bolder, including the most famous one, which was its subsequent purchase of the Premier League team Newcastle United. The head of PIF He also became the chairman of Newcastle United.

In addition to discussions with Saudi mutual funds, Prince Walid is interested in Barron's DS Capital, an investment company.

Initially, he was interested in the Mars fund. After all, the fund's profitability was impressive.

However, the Mars Fund has closed its investment window at this time and will not open it again until April or May next year.

After Barron introduced him to the fixed-income products of another fund, the Athena Fund, Prince Walid also had the intention to invest in this fund.

Speaking of which, the results of this meeting with several Saudi guests were quite good. In addition to having more contact with the future Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - now he is just 19 years old and still a student. Barron is not in a hurry to establish a close relationship with him. Everything needs to be done slowly - whether it is the Saudi Public Investment Fund or Prince Walid, there are results.

A few days later, the Saudi Public Investment Fund sent a team to negotiate with O2 Telecom. Ultimately, they will invest 1 billion pounds to purchase O2 Telecom's convertible corporate bonds with an annual interest rate of 3.5%.

According to the contract, the Saudi Public Investment Fund has the right to convert these corporate bonds into ordinary shares of O2 Telecom at the issuance price of its shares when O2 Telecom conducts its IPO.

The 1 billion pounds of funds received will continue to repay the debt Barron's incurred when purchasing O2 Telecom.

So far, he has paid back 2 billion pounds, and each has 1.5 billion pounds of high-interest debt with Barclays Bank and Goldman Sachs Group. At the same time, O2 Telecom also assumed 2 billion pounds of annual interest rates of 3.5%. debt.

As the UK and the EU continue to cut interest rates, their bank loan interest rates have dropped from the previous 5% to around 3%.

Therefore, now, Barron's will also begin to use various methods, through lower-interest loans or financing, to repay the high-interest debt it assumed during the leveraged buyout when it acquired O2 Telecom - you know, the debt was at that time The interest rate is as high as 12%, which is not a small burden.

While the world is cutting interest rates now, Barron's can also cover its previous high-interest debt with new low-interest financing, thereby reducing interest costs.

In addition, Prince Walid was also very generous. He directly purchased the US$500 million Athena Fund with a closing period of one year and a fixed annual return of 8%. Barron had already started to reduce the Athena Fund. Fixed income, as he told the Duke of Westminster, was already an exception for the 10% annual income of £100 million given to his Grosvenor Property Staff Pension Fund.

In this way, after Prince Walid's investment, the amount of funds controlled by Athena Fund successfully exceeded US$1 billion, reaching more than US$1.25 billion.

…

At this time, it is already November 10, and the exchange rate of the euro against the US dollar has exceeded 1.2. As of now, DS Capital uses 1 billion pounds as a margin and the profit from shorting the US dollar exchange rate with 20 times leverage has exceeded 6 billion US dollars.

But Barron knows that this is just the beginning, because not only by the end of this year, the exchange rate of the euro against the US dollar will reach a high of 1.25, but by April 2008, the exchange rate will reach a high of close to 1.6...

From then on, the exchange rate of the euro against the US dollar will continue to fall, even to the level of 1:1.

But this process is not a unilateral rise or fall, there will always be fluctuations.

Therefore, Barron plans to wait until the end of the year to close this investment, and then wait for the opportunity next year to enter the operation.

"Why are you going to America again?"

After Bonnie came back in the evening, she knew that Barron was going to the United States in two days, so she couldn't help but ask.

"I have some investments there before, and I need to take a look. In addition, I ordered a business jet before, and Gulfstream informed me that it can be handed over. I plan to fly it back directly then."

These are all reasons to go to the United States, but another more important reason is that Rebecca has Barron's child. She cannot always be left to wait for the birth alone in California, and she has to visit her from time to time.

Of course, he would definitely not say this reason. He hugged Bonnie and asked:

"Would you like to come with me?"

"You know, there are too many things going on at Giant Studio recently. I'm afraid I won't be able to leave."

In fact, Bonnie was also quite depressed. After all, the last time Barron went to the United States, it happened to be a period of conflict between the two. After he went to New York, he saw reports in the newspapers about him and the "New York Socialite."

Although Bonnie didn't show anything in front of her cousin at that time, no matter how she said it, she felt uncomfortable.

This time she really wanted to go to the United States with Barron, but unfortunately, she had just taken over Giant Studio and was too busy recently to leave.

After all, she wanted to start a business herself, so she couldn't just become the shopkeeper casually.

"How are you doing at Giant Studio?"

"It's the dance competition variety show we mentioned last time. Our tentative name is "Strictly Come Dancing." We have been making preparations. We need to negotiate with the appropriate judges and guest contestants to agree on their schedules and prepare We’ll start recording in April or May next year.”

"There's still nearly half a year left, so don't be so anxious."

Hearing what Barron said, Bonnie sighed and said:

"It's not that simple. After all, there are many contestants invited this time, including some well-known celebrities. These people need to book their time in advance. And since it is a dance show, they cannot really say that they are not prepared at all. It requires some practice in advance, and we have to take care of these."

Since this is the case, there is no other way. Barron suddenly thought of something:

"Have you been to see your cousin recently? I remember that her child seemed to be, er, I mean the Ukrainian girl's belly. If I remember correctly, she should be about to give birth."

When it comes to this matter, Bonnie's expression is very interesting.

Although she has now accepted that her cousin is pregnant with her boyfriend's child, she won't be very happy when she thinks about it.

"Yes, the due date is next month. Oh, God bless my cousin, she will soon take care of two children together..."

"Well……"

Barron already regrets mentioning this. He thinks that after next spring, he will have two children one after another. How does he feel...

Still looking forward to it with a bit of trepidation.

"I think, honey, we should work hard..."

How should I coax a woman? In addition to words, some practical actions are also needed.