Chapter 396 Second Marriage
In fact, in 2016, CK Infrastructure purchased a 51% stake in the natural gas business of National Grid Corporation of England. It paid 11 billion pounds, including the debt it assumed. The actual investment was not that high.
The current asset-liability ratio of National Grid Corporation of England is around 88%. Therefore, to purchase its natural gas business, United Energy Group will have to bear an additional liability of approximately 4.5 billion pounds. Plus the purchase price of 5 billion pounds, they will need to pay a total of 9.5 billion pounds. price.
If coupled with the current high exchange rate of the pound, the exchange rate of the pound against the US dollar is still around 1.9, but by 2016 it fell below 1.4...
Then the price in US dollars is not that big of a difference.
However, in addition to obtaining the consent of the other party to acquire the natural gas business of National Grid Corporation of England, another obstacle is the domestic antitrust review in the UK.
British gas users initially used coal-based gas, and the gas market was mainly scattered locally and operated by small companies.
According to the Gas Act of 1948, the British gas industry was nationalized in May 1949. More than 1,000 private gas companies and municipal gas companies were merged into 12 area gas companies (area gas boards). These companies were later Collectively known as British Gas (hereinafter referred to as BG).
The British Gas Industry thus opened up a market structure in which state-owned enterprises exclusively monopolized downstream supply.
Starting in 1986, England successively privatized BG, liberalized the large user market, and separated the pipeline business from the supply business. In 1998, it finally realized market competition in the natural gas supply and sales links, becoming the first European company to integrate natural gas supply. A country that has restructured its natural gas market integrated with transportation into a competitive market.
Of course, it is worth mentioning that the privatization of British Gas Company began during the administration of the "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher. At that time, she privatized most of the state-owned enterprises, including British Petroleum Company (BP ), the British Telecom Company, the aerospace company, the natural gas company, the steel company, the water company and other monopoly giants' stocks were sold to the public or split up. The slogan she put forward at the time was "privatization has no restricted areas"...
The Northern Natural Gas Pipeline Network previously owned by United Energy Group has approximately 6 million users, accounting for about 10% of the British natural gas pipeline network transmission market. If the natural gas business of National Grid Corporation of England is acquired, an additional 12 million users will be added. Users will occupy 30% of the British natural gas pipeline network transmission market, which will inevitably attract the attention of regulatory agencies including the Office of Fair Trading and the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.
However, since Li Chaoren's Yangtze River Infrastructure was able to complete the acquisition of these two companies in his previous life, Barron is not worried that these regulatory agencies will hinder his acquisition now.
Of course, whether it really needs to pass the review of these regulatory agencies... there is room for maneuver.
If it is really necessary for this acquisition to fail, then it is not impossible for the acquisition to be stuck in the review.
…
On April 15, Barron took his girlfriend Bonnie to the crown prince’s wedding.
This time, it’s the crown prince’s second marriage…
At the same time, because the marriage between the Crown Prince and Lady Camilla was not what the Queen wanted, their wedding was very low-key, and it could not be compared with the grand wedding of the century between the Crown Prince and Princess Diana in 1981.
In fact, in Barron's previous life, this wedding was held on April 9, and in this world, when he first talked to Barron, the time mentioned by the Crown Prince was also April 9, but Barron Lun found a reason and asked him to change the date, and it became today, April 15th.
"I didn't expect you to have such a... habit, Barron."
When Barron first talked about it, he saw that in ancient China, everyone from the royal family to the common people had to exchange each other's birthdays and horoscopes when getting married, and found wise men who studied the ancient sacred book "Book of Changes" to set the time for marriage. When he was able to make their marriage happy, the crown prince said to Barron in surprise.
"It is a country with thousands of years of history. There are always some mysterious things that are difficult to explain, right? Besides, it doesn't hurt. I used to know a Chinese who has done a lot of research on these things. Friend, if you are willing, I can introduce you."
It seems that the Crown Prince still cares about the wedding ceremony with Ms. Camilla, so he finally accepted this opinion and after "calculation", the wedding was scheduled for April 15.
But Barron couldn't tell him the real reason...
Sixteen years after the original time and space, the Crown Prince's father, Prince Philip, the Queen's husband, died on April 9th.
His father's memorial day is the same as his wedding anniversary, which may make the crown prince more embarrassed after that...
Although Barron did not meet Princess Diana in person, nor did he witness the wedding of the century in 1981, he had seen the original images.
To be honest, although the scene was indeed grand and the live broadcast was even watched by people all over the world, at that wedding, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's performance, even if it could not be said to be that of a puppet on a string, rarely showed a smile.
Today's low-key civil ceremony was not a grand wedding, but Barron could clearly see that the gray-haired Crown Prince's behavior was indeed different from before. He stood beside Ms. Camilla. Everyone around me had a smile on her face the whole time, and it was obvious that she was happy from the bottom of her heart.
On the contrary, during this wedding, the two sons of the crown prince did not smile during the whole process...
After all, as Princess Diana's sons, from their point of view, the two newcomers who performed sweetly at this time, one is their father, and the other has deeply influenced their parents. Feelings, and even the "third party" that eventually broke up their family...
Even the Crown Prince met Camilla before Princess Diana.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Camilla met at a polo match in Windsor Park in the 1970s. During their conversation, they discovered that they had many common interests, such as polo, outdoor sports, and a sense of humor.
Camilla also joked at the time that her great-grandmother was the mistress of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's great-great-grandfather, Edward VII, so what would happen between us.
In this way, the two came together after several negotiations.
However, the royal family did not agree with the Crown Prince marrying Camilla, so while His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was serving in the military, Camilla married Andrew, who was seven years older than herself, and gave birth to two children.
But the crown prince could never forget Camilla. He often went to see Camilla and was the godfather of Camilla's child. Over time, the two rekindled their old relationship.
Camilla's first husband had a relationship with Princess Anne, the sister of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, before they got married, but they broke up because of Camilla's intervention. This is why Princess Anne doesn't like Camilla. .
It has to be said that Princess Diana can be regarded as the best partner chosen by the royal family for the crown prince in terms of her background and other aspects, and she is also popular with the people...
The only thing is that she was not the crown prince's first choice.
Barron didn't want to comment too much on everything about them. What happened later is well known, that is, the crown prince and the princess finally chose to divorce. After the divorce, the princess unfortunately had a car accident because of the pursuit of reporters—— She was pregnant at the time, and the child's father was a son of a wealthy family.
As for His Majesty the Crown Prince, after several years of underground romance, he officially announced his relationship with Camilla in 2000.
Just because the late Queen Mother did not allow Camilla to enter the royal family, they waited until this year, after the Queen Mother had passed away and Her Royal Highness the Crown Prince had observed mourning for three years, before the two finally got married.
Even Her Majesty the Queen clearly does not support the marriage.
