Chapter 327 Privatization

The reason why de Sole made this request is obviously because he did not want the Gucci Group to make wedding dresses for others like LVMH did before.

To this, Barron readily agreed, saying:

"If the acquisition is completed, the Gucci Group will become the parent company of our luxury goods strategy in the future. This is a brand with a long history. I believe that in our hands, it will continue to create glory."

Of course, such an important thing cannot be accomplished with just a few words from them.

Prior to this, De Sol also conducted an investigation into Barron, the British Duke. On the one hand, Barron's status as a nobleman is indeed more consistent with the positioning of the Gucci Group; on the other hand, Barron's DS Holdings The acquired companies have indeed no record of being split up or sacrificed, and are all run by the original teams. In this regard, his reputation is also very good, which supports De Sol's decisions. The ultimate choice.

After it was disclosed that DS Holdings controlled 35% of the shares of Gucci Group, PPR Group also felt threatened and had not contacted De Sol.

However, although the cooperation with PPR Group was indeed good at the beginning, with the decline of Gucci Group's performance in the past two years, the conflict between PPR Group and De Sole has become more and more serious. Even at this time, PPR The group is eager to show favor to him, but De Sole is not a fool. What he has to consider is, even if he supports the PPR Group this time, will the other party remember this and maintain his management of the Gucci Group? Woolen cloth?

Having seen too many similar things, De Sol would certainly not be so naive.

It can be said that during this period, the competition between DS Holdings, owned by Barron Cavendish, the British Duke who ranks sixth on the world's richest list, and PPR Group for Gucci Group is the hottest news, covering and multiple channels such as finance and fashion.

The final ownership of the Gucci Group is also of concern to the public.

After completing many "She Tun Xiang" mergers and acquisitions, can DS Capital succeed in the Gucci Group this time?

After all, PPR Group is not weak, and it previously held up to 42% of the shares of Gucci Group!

After reaching a consensus agreement with the management of the Gucci Group headed by De Sole and spending US$4 billion, DS Holdings announced that their stake in the Gucci Group has reached 40%.

Their combined shareholding with the Gucci Group management has exceeded 50%. Therefore, with the cooperation between the two parties, the PPR Group has no chance at all.

What's more, the Gucci Group has a big killer weapon like private placement of shares, which is useless - PPR Group was also the beneficiary of this "big killer weapon". They naturally understand that even their current shareholdings are higher than they used to be. LVMH Group, but after controlling more than 50% of Gucci Group shares, the other alliance can still dilute the proportion of shares they currently hold by issuing additional shares.

Of course, this kind of thing is a tactic that can kill one thousand enemies and damage oneself eight hundred, so the Gucci Group will not use it easily unless it is absolutely necessary.

In frustration, they offered a price of US$4.5 billion for their 42% stake in Gucci, indicating that they could sell the shares to DS Holdings at this price.

At this time, DS Holdings only had $500 million left in the $4.5 billion loan it obtained from Northrock Bank by pledging the shares of several companies...

According to the PPR Group's bid, plus the subsequent acquisition of Gucci Group management shares, and a privatization tender offer for the remaining shares, it will probably cost about US$6 billion...

At this time, including Northrock Bank, Barclays Bank and Goldman Sachs Group, they all expressed that they could provide financing services for his acquisition...

After all, compared with the US$4.5 billion in funds that Barron has now provided, the remaining part will be used to mortgage all the shares of Gucci Group to obtain financing in the future, which is not too risky.

Although Barron's mortgage loan with Northen Rock Bank was not deliberately showing weakness, it did not mean that he was really willing to put his life and death in the hands of others, so in the end he chose to pass Standard Chartered Bank conducted the financing.

After agreeing to pledge future Gucci Group shares, DS Capital obtained a 3 billion pound financing loan from Standard Chartered Bank with an interest rate of 6%, which is slightly higher than ordinary mortgage loans and is considered acceptable.

Next, DS Holdings will complete the acquisition of 42% of the Gucci Group's shares from the PPR Group, and subsequently complete the privatization tender offer for the Gucci Group, including management shareholdings and other shares circulating in the secondary market.

In this way, this vigorous acquisition battle for the Gucci Group has ended, and DS Holdings has become the new owner of the Gucci Group.

Of course, these are all things for later...

…

It was mid-to-late September when Barron returned to London from Italy. At this time, Barron received news from Boeing that the Boeing 747 Devonshire he had ordered had been completed. According to his request, the other party would directly transfer the Boeing 747 Devonshire to London. A plane flew to London Airport to complete the handover with him.

While waiting for the plane, Barron also met Clara Firth, CEO of the London Stock Exchange.

Clara Firth, 46, has been the CEO of the New York Stock Exchange since January 2001. In this male-dominated field, Clara is also the first female CEO of the London Stock Exchange.

During this period, when DS Holdings was acquiring the Gucci Group, the Global Industrial Investment Fund was not idle either. Not only did they increase their stake in the London Stock Exchange to about 10% through purchases in the secondary market, , and also reached an agreement with Tianli Investment and Scottish Widows to acquire their shares in the London Stock Exchange at a price of 5 pounds per share, which is a premium of 25%.

At the beginning, the GII Fund's offer to the two investment institutions was 4.6 pounds per share, which was a 15% premium compared to the previous share price of less than 4 pounds on the London Stock Exchange.

However, both investment institutions believed that they were not "sincere" enough. Later, after the GII Fund quoted another price of 5 pounds per share, the price of 25% premium finally impressed them.

At a cost of more than £250 million, the GII funds obtained their combined 20.3% stake in the London Stock Exchange.

In this way, so far, the GII Fund's shares in the London Stock Exchange have reached 30.3%, making it the largest shareholder of the London Stock Exchange.

After reaching this shareholding ratio of more than 30%, the GII Fund issued its first comprehensive acquisition offer to the London Stock Exchange, and proposed their acquisition offer at a total market capitalization of 1.25 billion pounds.

When I met with Clara Firth this time, she also mentioned the GII Fund’s acquisition of the London Stock Exchange:

"Your Highness the Duke, the GII Fund is just an investment institution, not a financial institution with rich experience. Therefore, if you become an investor in the London Stock Exchange, we will be very welcome, but to completely acquire the London Stock Exchange, this is not a good idea for us. A feasible choice will not be of great benefit to the future development of the London Stock Exchange..."

"What if, Ms. Firth, we can commit to acquiring more exchanges in the future, such as...Euronext, or Lijiapo Exchange, or even Nasdaq, and merge them with Lone Exchange? "