Chapter 368 Acquisition of Czech Telecom

"Honey, what are you thinking about?"

"Nothing, honey, are you back from shopping?"

Looking at Amanda sitting next to him and Lydia opposite him, Barron asked with a smile on his face.

"Yes, many brands have recently launched new spring styles. We bought some. How about you try them on?"

While Amanda was talking, the maids had already brought them the "results" of today's shopping in large and small packages.

"OK."

In fact, what Barron was thinking about just now was his meeting with John Bogle, the founder of Vanguard Group, yesterday.

If we talk about it, Vanguard Group is the largest shareholder of investment companies such as BlackRock Group and State Street Group. At the same time, BlackRock Group and State Street Group also hold shares in the other two groups...

This is how many financial giants in the United States "unite" by holding shares in each other and forming a chain of interests.

That’s not to say that Vanguard Group also hopes to do this with Barron’s companies—according to Bogle, that’s after they form a trusting relationship.

After all, currently DS Capital, even with its other industries, cannot be compared with these giants at the top of capital in the United States and even the world. In this case, holding shares in each other has no meaning at all. On the contrary, It will result in Barron being "swallowed" by the opponent.

For now, Bogle's meeting with Barron shows, on the one hand, a "goodwill" attitude, and on the other hand, he hopes to "cooperate" in many of Barron's projects. As for how to understand goodwill, The words "cooperation" and "cooperation" probably still need to be spoken in terms of strength.

But one thing is certain, that is, by joining them, certain restrictions will be broken in many areas that were originally difficult for him to enter.

Like a double-edged sword, some of his properties naturally need to be allowed to enter.

At least for now, what they have shown is mostly literal "goodwill." After all, there are many cooperations between Barron's and Goldman Sachs at this time, but how long can this "goodwill" last? It is not certain how long their patience in intervention will last.

So now, Barron has more sense of urgency - no matter what, strengthening his own strength is the most important thing.

…

"We succeeded, Your Highness the Duke. The Czech Republic just announced that our O2 Telecom successfully acquired 51% of Czech Telecom's shares with a bid of US$3.55 billion..."

Even through the phone, Barron could still feel the excitement of O2 Telecom CEO Berry Trelles:

"According to my private understanding, our bid this time is only 50 million US dollars higher than Telefonica. They gave us a high price of 3.5 billion US dollars, which is really thrilling..."

Okay, Czechs, you have won my respect. It seems that this time their bid for the privatization of Czech Telecom did not have any "off-site factors". They just wanted to sell more money...

This also means that O2 Telecom became the controlling shareholder of Czech Telecom, and after paying US$3.55 billion, it obtained 51% of Czech Telecom’s shares.

Then within the next six months, they can make an offer to other shareholders of Czech Telecom and choose to acquire 100% of the largest fixed-line and mobile communications operator in the Czech Republic.

This is indeed good news, but the question is, how to raise the next funds?

In this time, O2 Telecom chose Caesar Fund as their partner in the acquisition of 51% of Czech Telecom shares held by the Czech government.

Their bid, which is about $3.55 billion in funds to be paid to the Czech government, will be provided by Caesars Fund.

These funds will be used as convertible bonds issued by O2 Telecom to Caesar Fund. The interest rate is very low, but O2 Telecom needs to complete the IPO within two years, and the US$3.5 billion bond will be converted into O2 Telecom at its public issuance price. of common shares.

Therefore, the funds required to purchase the 51% shares of Czech Telecom are now available.

But if we want to complete the acquisition of 100% of the entire Czech Telecom, based on the current acquisition price, it will require approximately US$3.41 billion...

But this is not a problem. After all, O2 Telecom's current debt ratio - they only bear 2 billion pounds plus 3.5 billion US dollars of debt at this time, of which 1 billion pounds of convertible corporate bonds from the Saudi Public Investment Fund , and the 3.5 billion convertible corporate bonds from Caesars Fund, which can be converted into company stocks after their IPO, thus getting rid of these debts.

So what we really bear is only the initial 1 billion pounds of corporate bonds...

Based on O2 Telecom's operating conditions at this time, it is entirely possible to continue to raise funds to complete the acquisition of the remaining shares of Czech Telecom - it seems that Royal Bank of Scotland is also preparing to continue investing in the Madoff Fund...

They use their own money to invest in the Madoff Fund, and Barron's has no control over it, but if they use users' savings to waste it...

The kind-hearted Barron still doesn't want to see such a situation, so let's leave this business to them. O2 Telecom can use the acquired shares of Czech Telecom as collateral in exchange for financing from the Royal Bank of Scotland - of course, it must be borrowed Sterling funds.

Next, at Barron's instruction, O2 Telecom CEO Barry Trelles began to contact the Royal Bank of Scotland to discuss financing matters.

When I met an executive from the Royal Bank of Scotland at a financial reception in London, the other person once jokingly complained about DS Capital’s previous financings, most of which were in cooperation with Barclays Bank. They also hoped to cooperate with DS Capital. DS Capital cooperates.

Now, Barron is able to respond to requests...

As for O2 Telecom's IPO plan, Barron has also had discussions with O2 Telecom's management. They are preparing to consolidate the markets they currently occupy in the UK, Ireland, France and Germany, and also digest the Czech Republic where the newly acquired Czech Telecom is located. According to the market, in one year's time, around this time next year, O2 Telecom's listing process will begin.

By then, it will be exactly three years since Barron's acquired O2 Telecom. O2 Telecom fully meets the conditions for listing on the main board of the London Stock Exchange without any exceptions...

And I am afraid that based on O2 Telecom’s financial data, its valuation will be satisfactory by then - it will be a huge IPO project.

After reaching a financing agreement with the Royal Bank of Scotland totaling 2 billion pounds and an annual interest rate of 4.5%, O2 Telecom then issued a full acquisition to the remaining shareholders as the controlling shareholder of Czech Telecom with a 51% shareholding ratio. The offer will be to purchase the shares of other shareholders at the same consideration as their previous purchases of shares held by the Czech government.

As mentioned before, during the previous bidding process, O2 Telecom’s bid of US$3.55 billion was already much higher than their valuation of Czech Telecom. Therefore, at this price, the acquisition offer for other shareholders was also With quite a premium...

From their survey of the attitudes of many other shareholders holding Czech Telecom, most people still have a positive attitude towards this bid.

When the voting results are announced half a month later, it will be possible to determine whether O2 Telecom can complete the acquisition offer.