Chapter 408 The dust has settled

On July 21, CNOOC issued a statement expressing three opinions:

1. I regret that Unocal did not change my recommendation; 2. I believe that CNOOC’s all-cash acquisition of US$67 per share is still very competitive; 3. In view of safeguarding the best interests of the company’s shareholders, I have no intention to change the price and will Continue to pay attention to market developments.

Basically, CNOOC's statement basically means that they have given up on continuing their efforts and will not increase their chips.

It is obvious that the final ownership of Unocal will definitely be between Chevron and United Energy Group, which anyone with a discerning eye can see.

On July 30, the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate passed new provisions in the energy bill, requiring the government to conduct a study on China's energy situation within 120 days. Only 21 days after the release of the study report can it approve CNOOC's acquisition of Unocal.

The passage of this bill basically rules out the possibility of CNOOC's successful bid.

On August 2, CNOOC announced that it had withdrawn its acquisition offer for Unocal.

At this time, there are still 8 days until the final vote of Unocal's board of directors on August 10 to decide "who is the winner."

Although CNOOC was ultimately the "loser" in its bid for Unocal, they did not gain nothing.

On the day CNOOC announced its exit, their shares rose 5.6%, indicating that investors also believed it was a wise move for them to exit the acquisition.

In fact, from June 23 to August 10, in just over a month, CNOOC's market value increased by more than 30%, from 22 billion to 30 billion US dollars.

Moreover, through this acquisition, CNOOC's international reputation has been greatly strengthened.

But in a dramatic twist, the day before Unocal's board of directors voted to decide which of two companies, Chevron and United Energy Group, would acquire them...

On August 7, Chevron publicly announced that it had withdrawn from its acquisition of Unocal.

In this way, there is no suspense about Unocal's final choice. Sure enough, on August 8, Unocal's Chairman Williams and United Energy Group CEO Epeli Singleton attended a press conference to announce that Unocal accepted United Energy Group’s acquisition proposal.

Now this acquisition plan only needs to be approved by relevant American agencies, and then United Energy Group will complete the acquisition of Unocal.

The reason why Chevron withdrew from this acquisition was that in addition to their unwillingness to raise their bid and feeling that the acquisition was hopeless, the promotion of the Vanguard Group and its allies was also a factor.

And they also had a secret meeting with Epeli Singleton, CEO of United Energy Group, and the two parties reached an agreement——

That is after United Energy Group completes its acquisition of Unocal, Chevron will give up the $500 million "breakup fee" they requested.

But at the same time, United Energy Group will sell Unocal's oil and gas resources in the United States, with approximately 500 million barrels of reserves, to Chevron for US$4 billion...

This is the main reason for Chevron's early exit. After all, this is the real benefit they have gained.

This time, America's efficiency was extremely high. On August 10, relevant agencies, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, announced that they would approve the acquisition.

United Energy Group officially started the merger process with Unocal.

In this acquisition, they will use a total of US$12.6 billion and stock worth US$5.4 billion to complete the acquisition.

Among the cash, United Energy Group itself has raised 5 billion pounds, equivalent to US$9.5 billion in funds; Goldman Sachs Group and JP Morgan Chase will provide them with US$1.5 billion in financing each to complete this acquisition.

In addition, United Energy Group will issue an additional 223 million shares at a price of 12.74 pounds per share to shareholders of United Energy Group who have selected stock options (in fact, more than half of these shares were obtained by Vanguard Group and related institutions). part of payment.

After the dust settled on this transaction, United Energy Group's share price rose by nearly 10% that day, and the share price exceeded 14 pounds per share.

In this way, after completing the acquisition of Unocal, the total share capital of United Energy Group reached 1.5265 billion shares, with a market value of nearly 21.4 billion pounds.

At this time, Caesars Fund held 1.0195 billion shares of United Energy Group, accounting for 66.79%; West Africa Group previously invested 2 billion pounds in United Energy Group at a price of 12.5 pounds per share and obtained 160 million shares. Accounting for 10.48%; and Linghang Group’s shareholding in United Energy Group has also increased from the previous 5.8% to about 10%...

The remaining nearly 13% of United Energy Group shares are in the hands of the secondary market and the remaining shareholders of Unocal.

After completing this transaction, the shareholding of Caesar Fund, the largest shareholder of United Energy Group, has dropped to 66.79%. In this way, the shareholding division of United Energy Group will no longer be subject to the London Stock Exchange and related supervision. Organizations are taking note.

In fact, together with West Africa Group, Barron's companies still firmly control the company.

By this time, Barron had already left the United States and returned to England.

Time goes back to early July. On July 6, London successfully won the right to host the 2012 Olympic Games. Suddenly, the whole of Britain was excited. All newspapers, radio and television stations were discussing how to host the 2012 Olympic Games. London hosted the most successful Olympic Games.

On the same day, the Prime Minister was receiving the leaders of the G8 meeting in Eagle Valley, Scotland, and his face was full of joy.

But a few hours later...

At 8:51, the computer screen of the London Public Transport Central Control Department showed: There was an abnormality on the Circle Line to the subway!

At 8:56, an abnormality occurred on the southbound Piccadilly Line subway, and the entire system was powered off!

At 8:59, an abnormality occurred in the westbound subway of the Circle Line. Ground personnel reported hearing a huge explosion and called an ambulance to the scene. The whole city was in chaos for a while!

On July 7, the London Underground bombing occurred!

You must know that the time of this explosion happened to be during the rush hour. Nearly 2 million people were traveling on the London Underground. Therefore, the consequences of this accident were serious. According to the subsequent investigation, 52 people died and more than 700 people were injured. .

What's more important is that panic pervades the entire London. Even not just London, cities across the UK are facing panic.

The first time Barron returned to London, to be precise, while he was still on the plane, he had already transferred 500 retired soldiers from the Protector Military Company who were being trained at Belu Castle to be sent to Iraq. , temporarily joined the British Protector security company and was sent to London to strengthen security measures for various companies under its umbrella.

Next, he knew that the government would soon increase investment in domestic anti-terrorism and security funds, and this would also be the best time for Protector Security Company to get involved in more domestic business.