Chapter 405 Blue Valley Capital

Just as Barron expected...

On June 24, the first day after CNOOC’s offer, Joe Barton and Ralph Hull, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee of the U.S. Congress, sent a letter to President Bush expressing concerns about CNOOC’s acquisition of Unocal…

Calling it a "clear threat" to U.S. energy and security, it requires the government to ensure that U.S. energy assets are not sold to China.

On that day, a total of 41 members of Congress submitted an open letter to the President of the United States, requesting the government to strictly review CNOOC's merger and acquisition plan.

As time goes by, the number of members of Congress writing letters to the White House "reporting problems" continues to increase. According to statistics, a total of 64 members of Congress have participated in the lobbying process against CNOOC's acquisition of Unocal.

The fact that so many members of Congress expressed "opposition" to CNOOC's merger and acquisition in such a concentrated manner does not seem to be fully explained by "concerns about national security."

According to public information later collected by media such as the Financial Times and The Independent, some U.S. lawmakers who opposed CNOOC’s acquisition of Unocal have received more than $100,000 from Chevron, CNOOC’s rival in the merger, since 2002. dollars in political donations.

The Financial Times and The Independent stated that this also triggered speculation that Chevron was suspected of manipulating political power and obstructing CNOOC's acquisition.

Of course, as a direct competitor, Chevron also lost no time in joining the noise surrounding CNOOC's acquisition attempts.

On June 24, Chevron Vice Chairman Pete Robertson gave a speech in the New York Times, saying that “Chevron’s competition with CNOOC is by no means a commercial competition, but a competition with the Chinese government, which is unfair. .”

On June 27, 52 members of the House of Representatives jointly sent a letter to President Bush and Treasury Secretary Snow, requesting the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment Review (CFIUS) to comply with the EXON-FLORIA Act. Strictly examine the role played by the Chinese government in this acquisition.

At this time, Barron had met again with John Bogle, the founder of Vanguard Group, and Lloyd, CEO of Goldman Sachs Group. After discussions, he finally reached an agreement on some plans for United Energy Group to acquire Unocal.

However, until this time, he still has not had contact with anyone from Unocal, nor has he announced that United Energy Group has intervened in the acquisition of Unocal and made an offer for it.

All communications with Unocal will be conducted privately by the Pilot Group.

At this time, regarding the acquisition of Unocal by CNOOC and Chevron, the CNOOC delegation began non-stop negotiations with Unocal.

However, Unocal, which had proactively made overtures to CNOOC, now seemed hesitant.

Unocal said that although CNOOC's offer is higher than Chevron's, there is great uncertainty.

The biggest uncertainty comes from the attitude of the Chinese government and the "Exon-Florio Amendment" bill in the United States.

The amendment measures foreign investment based on whether it endangers national security. If the answer is yes, the regulatory agency has the power to suspend all investment activities.

China's Lenovo Group struggled to cross this threshold when it acquired IBM's PC business.

As a Chinese energy company, the situation faced by CNOOC is obviously more complicated than Lenovo.

…

In order to distance himself from the relationship with IC Capital, Barron has rarely appeared with Ivanta in public, let alone shown an overly intimate attitude.

But during his stay in New York, Ivanta spent the night in his penthouse almost every night.

Ivanta also told Barron that Wendy Deng had repeatedly mentioned the acquisition of MySpace to her, and that News Corp. has had many contacts with the founding team of MySpace, and has had many communications regarding the acquisition so far.

Ivanta did not relax. After discussions with MySpace on behalf of IC Capital, she set the price of MySpace at US$700 million. They would not consider it too much if the price was lower than this price.

In addition, regarding Android companies, IC Capital once again spent US$30 million to acquire 100% of the company's equity in one fell swoop.

But this money is not a one-time delivery, but an initial payment of US$10 million, and subsequent funds will be paid based on the company's research and development of smartphone operating systems.

Moreover, all the team members of Android Company, after being reminded by Barron, were asked by Ivanta to sign a non-competition agreement. If they resign within five years, they will be prohibited from entering the same Android company for five years after their resignation. Work in conflicting companies or participate in founding related projects.

In addition, their team will also receive corresponding Android company shares as rewards after the successful launch of the Android system.

These measures are also intended to continue to incentivize the team's operating system research and development after IC Capital controls all the shares of the Android company.

Another news during this period is that Bank of Communications was successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on June 23.

In the end, the closing price of Bank of Communications' shares that day was HK$2.825, an increase of 13% compared to their issue price of HK$2.5.

Correspondingly, the Bank of Communications shares previously held by Standard Chartered Bank are now worth more than US$2.8 billion. It can be said that this investment has not only enabled Standard Chartered Bank's business to successfully penetrate into more areas in mainland China, but also Great rewards were reaped.

According to the anti-dilution clause previously signed by Standard Chartered Bank and Bank of Communications when investing, they continued to subscribe for corresponding shares during the IPO of Bank of Communications to maintain their shareholding in Bank of Communications at 19.9%.

After that, Barron temporarily left New York and went to Los Angeles on the West Coast, where Rebecca and their daughter Jennifer have recently been living in the Beverly Hills estate.

When he came here, in addition to visiting Rebecca and his daughter, Barron also registered a company called BlueValley Capital in Delaware in Rebecca's name.

As for why we chose to register in Delaware, it’s just because the tax and other policies here are very friendly to companies. Delaware is also the preferred registration place for American companies.

Later, Blue Valley Capital acquired a small film company in Hollywood called Summit Entertainment for US$50 million.

Yes, Summit Entertainment was the company that acquired the film rights to "The Twilight Saga" in Barron's previous life. However, after launching this series, it was acquired by Lionsgate for more than $400 million in 2012. acquisition.