Chapter 817 Charging Standards

As Ivanta said, when the matter of "David's death" had not been made public, the Maryland prosecutor could not even formally launch an investigation in order to "avoid the Sinclair Group". "Being negatively affected by unwarranted speculation", Ivanta, as the representative of the group's major shareholder, has every reason to ask his subordinates to intervene.

However, once the Maryland prosecutor officially launches the relevant investigation, Ivanta will definitely not be willing to take the risk of "interfering in the judicial investigation" and continue to interfere in this matter.

Therefore, if John Smith cannot quell the impact of this incident on his own, then for the normal operation of Sinclair Group, he must temporarily leave the company's important position.

You know, although the Sinclair Group owns the entire local TV station network and is a very important TV platform, they also have many competitors in the United States. If they have the opportunity to use the topic to their advantage, these competitors will definitely not easily do so. Let it go.

"I will find someone to talk to him. I believe he will understand the importance of the matter."

Barron finally said this to Ivanta.

"By the way, there is one more thing, dear..."

Evanta took Barron's hand and said:

"My father said that if we have time, we hope to go home and have a meal together. After all, he also cares about me..."

"Okay, honey, that's no problem, just make arrangements."

…

After entering August, United Energy Group finally reached an agreement with Germany's Rheinland Energy Group. They will acquire 32% of the shares of Italian National Electric Power Company (ENEL) from the other party at a price of 13 billion euros (equivalent to approximately 18.655 billion U.S. dollars).

This transaction will be conducted in cash, and within one month United Energy Group will complete the share delivery with Rheinland Energy Group and pay off the payment.

From now on, United Energy Group will become the second largest shareholder of Enel after the government.

In the early days, the Italian electric power industry was mainly operated by private enterprises. After 1962, according to the "Public Electricity State-Owned Law", the government took over the country's private electric power companies and established the state-owned Italian National Electric Power Company (ENEL) to handle power generation, transmission and distribution. Adopting a vertically integrated management system, it currently has 30 million customers across Italy, accounting for 87% of the entire Italy. It is the largest power generation and electricity supplier in Italy.

At present, Enel has two main business branches: electricity and natural gas.

Its subsidiary natural gas company (EnelReteGas) currently accounts for 15% of the Italian domestic market share and is Italy's second largest natural gas supplier.

In addition, Enel has more than 20 companies and institutions in electricity, energy equipment manufacturing, environmental protection equipment manufacturing, research and development, and new energy development.

Enel has more than 10 wholly-owned, joint-venture or equity-owned companies abroad, mainly located in Spain, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and other countries.

For example, Enel currently holds about 18% of the shares in Endessa, Spain's largest power company.

"Morgan Stanley currently holds 6.6% of the shares of Enel. They originally purchased it from the Italian government at a price of 2.17 billion euros. Now our bid of 2.68 billion euros is still relatively positive..."

United Energy Group CEO Epeli Singleton told Barron's on the phone:

"However, this transaction must be approved by Italy. After all, if we complete this transaction, our holdings of Enel's shares will exceed those of the Italian government and we will become the controlling shareholder of this company..."

"Then we can make a request to acquire part or all of the Italian government's shares at the same time, and we can show our plan to the Italian side, which is to merge the British Electricity Distribution Company and the British Gas Company under the United Energy Group with the Italian Enel , this will become the largest power group in Europe, and we can guarantee that the combined company will continue to increase its investment in Italy.”

Of course, negotiations with Italy may not go too smoothly.

But Barron knew that after Silvio Berlusconi resigned as prime minister in November this year, he was replaced by Mario Monti, known as "Super Mario", an academic economist. After taking office, he is committed to cutting government spending and liberalizing economic reforms in Italy. Therefore, the Italian government is likely to be willing to divest its holdings in Enel to obtain funds to deal with Italy's sovereignty. There's a debt crisis.

There are still more than three months to go. During this time, United Energy Group can first integrate their electricity and natural gas businesses so that they can be merged with Enel's business.

So he said to Epeli:

"The merger with Enel will also involve the EU's relevant antitrust review. In this regard, we also need to do a good job in advance."

Well, it’s worth mentioning that Mario Monti currently serves as the European Union’s Antitrust Commissioner.

…

Also in August, the British Automotive Group and Tesla jointly formed the "Standard Charging Alliance" and will launch the SCC (Standard Charging Connector) charging standard.

This charging standard is the result of an electric vehicle-related research center jointly established by both parties. This charging standard will be used on the Tesla Model S sedan to be launched next year.

At the same time, the Concept One supercar jointly launched by Rimac Automobili and Aston Martin, which will be delivered starting this year, will also use this charging standard.

And at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September this year, Rimac's second electric supercar will also be unveiled.

This electric supercar, named Nevera 11, will also use the SCC charging standard.

Based on the Concept One, the Nevera 11 electric supercar uses their latest battery pack technology to improve the performance of the sports car in all aspects. It once again refreshes a series of records created by the Concept One and will be the world's first The most powerful electric sports car.

And because the British Automobile Group's electric supercar manufacturing center in England has expanded in scale and increased production capacity, 99 units of the Nevera 11 electric supercar are expected to be sold worldwide, with each car expected to sell for US$1.2 million. Deliveries will be possible starting early next year.

At the same time, British Automobile Group will hold an electric car championship in Newport, where Aston Martin is headquartered, starting next year to promote electric racing.