Chapter 979 Independence Referendum
"Yes, we have successfully achieved the set goals. At present, the fundraising scale of the Vision Fund and the European Wealth Fund has exceeded 80% of the planned scale."
The time came to 2014. After New Year's Day, Daisy reported this good news to Barron.
The two funds that Barron planned to establish are the Vision Fund for investing in emerging markets and the European Wealth Fund for investing in the European market. The current fundraising process is very smooth. It is expected that before the end of January, the fundraising plans of 100 billion US dollars and 50 billion euros will be completed respectively.
As for the managers of the two funds, they have already been determined. The CEO of the Vision Fund is Heidi Collins, who was recommended by Daisy. She is 41 years old this year. She used to be in charge of the investment department of Standard Chartered Bank in Asia. Later, she joined DS Group and has been Daisy's assistant. According to Daisy's evaluation, Heidi has rich experience in company management, a global strategic vision, and is very good at communicating with people. Therefore, she is qualified for the position of CEO of the Vision Fund with a total fund size of up to 100 billion US dollars.
The CEO of the European Wealth Fund is Gerard Reynolds, who was recommended by Ashley Weber. Gerard was born in a once prominent aristocratic family in France. Although his family is not as well off as before, he still has certain connections in Europe. In addition, as the second son in the family, Gerard's personal ability is also very strong. He has participated in many mergers and acquisitions of William Weber Capital before.
After raising funds, the two super funds will need to spend the money and invest.
The Vision Fund is easier to say. After all, according to Barron's experience, there are still many investment opportunities for investment in emerging markets.
But the European Wealth Fund...
At present, in addition to participating in the acquisition of two Italian banks by Eurobank, Barron's request to Gerard Reynolds is to first study the basic livelihood industries in Europe, including electricity, gas, water, logistics and other industries, and list the companies suitable for investment or acquisition...
In addition, it is to target Europe's high-tech industries, including precision manufacturing, semiconductors and other industries.
After all, he understood that in many common industries, especially manufacturing, it would be difficult for Europe to compete with China in the future.
In a certain period of time, the decline of Europe is inevitable, so as an investment, Barron can only choose industries that are more stable and less susceptible to this decline.
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"According to the latest opinion poll, 30% of the people in Scotland firmly support independence, 51% do not support independence, and 19% of the people have no definite intentions..."
While eating in the morning, Bonnie flipped through the newspaper and casually told Barron about the Scottish independence referendum in the newspaper.
Yes, there will be an independence referendum in Scotland on September 18 this year...
Since it was confirmed in 2012, this matter has often become a hot topic in the UK.
In fact, in addition to the historical disputes between Scotland and England over thousands of years, the reason why Scotland clamors for independence from England every once in a while is nothing more than interests...
It can be said that Britain has been deindustrializing since World War II, shifting the country's industrial pillars to finance and services...
But Northern Ireland and Scotland are all places where British industrial manufacturing is concentrated. Unlike England, especially near London, these areas have not gained many benefits from the development of the British financial industry. Instead, they have been complaining about this because of the process of deindustrialization.
More importantly, the North Sea oil and gas fields owned by Britain are located in the area near Scotland. It can be said that 90% of the area of these oil and gas blocks belongs to Scotland.
However, Scotland can only get 10% of the benefits from the North Sea oil and gas fields. This also makes the Scots believe that once they leave Britain, almost all the North Sea oil and gas fields will be able to give them 10% of the population of Britain, and their income will inevitably increase significantly...
Of course, in addition to this, the Scottish government often talks about independence, which is also a means to fight for benefits with the British government.
Therefore, agreeing to the Scottish independence referendum can be said to be a risk for Cameron - if the final voting result is that most Scottish people do not support independence, then you don't have to shout all day long, just follow the country honestly...
In 2007, the Scottish National Party won more seats in the Scottish Parliament in the Scottish election and formed a minority government.
You should know that the Scottish National Party, as the name suggests, is a staunch supporter of Scottish independence...
After winning the election, the Scottish local government controlled by the Scottish National Party published a white paper called "Choosing Scotland's Future", which outlined possible options for Scotland's future, of course including independence...
Faced with this situation, the Scottish Labour Party, the Scottish Conservative Party and the Scottish Liberal Democrats jointly boycotted the referendum that took independence as an option.
The then Prime Minister Brown also publicly opposed this independence option.
The three major parties formed the Kalman Commission against independence, which reviewed the devolution of power and considered all constitutional provisions that prevented independence.
On August 2009, the Scottish National Party announced that the "Scottish Referendum Bill 2010" would be part of its 2009-2010 legislative programme, detailing the issues and implementation methods of the possible independence referendum.
According to the plan, the bill would be published on "Pence Night" on January 25, 2010, and the referendum was proposed to be held on "St. Andrew's Day" on November 30, 2010.
However, due to the Scottish National Party's position as a minority government and opposition from all major parties, the bill was not passed.
So in September 2010, the Scottish government could only announce that there would be no referendum before the 2011 election.
Then, the Scottish National Party, with the slogan of promoting Scottish independence, won the 2011 election and won an absolute majority of seats in the Scottish Parliament.
Afterwards, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond stated his desire to hold a referendum in 2014 or 2015.
After intensive discussions, the British government, Scottish Secretary of State and Prime Minister Cameron hinted that they wanted the British Parliament to decentralize power to hold a referendum, but disagreed with the Scottish National Party's timetable and related arrangements.
Alex Salmond and his Scottish National Party insisted that the Scottish Parliament already had the power to implement the referendum and no longer accepted the authority from Westminster.
Finally, on October 15, 2012, Prime Minister Cameron and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond signed the historic Edinburgh Agreement.
The agreement paved the way for a vote to be held in the fall of 2014.
According to the provisions of the Edinburgh Agreement, this referendum only provides a "yes/no" option on whether Scotland should leave the UK, and allows people aged 16 and 17 to participate in the vote. The British government grants the Scottish Parliament limited power to hold this legal referendum under a mechanism called "Section 30".
On November 14, 2013, the Scottish Parliament passed the Scottish Independence Referendum Act, allowing the Scots to vote on whether Scotland should become an independent country, and set the referendum date for September 18, 2014, which coincided with the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn.
