"We have closed our crude oil and gold futures positions since the beginning of the month, plus the £200 million loan you received from Barclays Bank, a total of about £520 million."
In DS Capital, Daisy reported the progress of this investment to Barron:
"Among them, Mars Fund has invested about 120 million pounds in shorting gold prices with a margin of about 20%. It is now basically fully invested, and the cost price of the position is about 257 pounds per ounce. The remaining 400 million pounds has also been invested in shorting crude oil futures. We use a margin of 10%, and the current cost of the position is about 35.8 US dollars per barrel."
"Is the position opening going smoothly?"
"This time, the position building was relatively smooth, because according to current news, OPEC has begun to have differences within the organization on the decision to further relax the production quotas of its member countries in order to suppress oil prices. They believe that Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries' request to relax the quotas in order to suppress oil prices is completely in line with the opinions of the United States, which damages the interests of oil-producing countries."
Daisy said carefully,
"Therefore, many analysts believe that oil prices may continue to rise under the current circumstances, which has led to a lot of funds in the market that are long on crude oil prices. In particular, oil-producing countries including Iraq and Russia have claimed that if the United States uses force against Iraq, they will even use production cuts as a means of responding to the United States' use of force. This increases the possibility that oil prices will skyrocket due to reduced production after the outbreak of war."
"Don't worry about these, they are just talking."
Barron shook his head and said nonchalantly,
"I am sure that many of these countries will secretly increase production at that time, and they may have even started now."
Even within OPEC, there is no unity. In order to maintain oil prices, OPEC has previously set limits on the daily crude oil production of member countries, but many member countries have privately increased production for economic benefits.
Now that crude oil prices are relatively high, Barron doesn't believe that they will really abide by the regulations. Even Russia will probably not miss the opportunity to sell more oil at this time.
"You mentioned one more thing before?"
"Yes, Boss, we got the news that Lloyd's Insurance Company is interested in selling the Lloyd's Building where we are currently located. Their asking price is 200 million pounds..."
The Lloyd's Building, where DS Capital is currently located, is a landmark building in the center of the City of London. It was built by Lloyd's Insurance Company in 1986. It includes a 12-story insurance business hall that can accommodate 10,000 people at the same time, and office buildings with a stepped layout on the side wings.
At this time, the main user of Lloyd's Building was the London branch of Lloyd's Insurance Company - more than two-thirds of the properties of Lloyd's Building were used by them.
Lloyd's Insurance Company is the largest insurance company in the UK. According to Daisy, Lloyd's Insurance Company plans to continue renting the building after selling it.
In other words, they hope to obtain the funds from selling the building in one go, but still rent the building for work. If they buy the building, they will also have a stable rental income...
Barron was also tempted by this, because he knew that the building was still relatively valuable. Eight years later, China Ping An Insurance spent 260 million pounds to buy the building. However, at that time, the building already belonged to a German real estate investment company. The other party originally planned to sell the Lloyd's Building for 290 million pounds.
So if Barron buys the building now, he can not only save on rent and continue to receive rent from Lloyd's Insurance Company, but he can also still sell it at a higher price in a few years.
The key point is that he does not need to invest all the money himself to buy this building. He can rely mostly on financing. Even if he has to pay a certain amount of interest, he can still continue to earn more profits.
Thinking of this, Barron had an idea and immediately called Amber, who was in charge of DS Asset Management Company, and asked him to contact Lloyd's Insurance Company to discuss the purchase of Lloyd's Building by DS Asset Management Company.
They can pay in cash, but they have to negotiate the price down. After all, the other party's asking price is 200 million pounds, and there is often a minimum psychological price.
If it is paid in cash, some of the money can definitely be negotiated down. Barron hopes that the final transaction amount can be less than 180 million pounds. In addition, the rent for the property that Lloyd's Insurance Company will rent here in the future also needs to be negotiated.
…
"You seem to be very busy, Your Highness."
After Barron returned to his office, he saw Viscountess Butt reading a magazine on the sofa. When she saw Barron come in, she said this to him.
"Laura, pour Mrs. Boot another cup of coffee, um, and give me another cup of black tea, thank you."
After Barron instructed his personal assistant Wang Wanting at the door, he said to the Viscountess,
"I just said that I have something to do today, but from now on, my time is yours, ma'am."
"Oh? Really…"
The Viscountess leaned against Barron and whispered in his ear:
"Then can we continue what we just did in the car..."
Her words reminded Barron of the charming scene between himself and the Viscountess in the back seat of the Rolls-Royce Phantom on the way to the Lloyd's Building.
It was also because his Rolls-Royce Phantom had a partition between the front and back rows. After he closed the partition, the two of them were quite unbridled...
At one point, Barron even pressed the back of the Viscountess's head, making it difficult for her to raise her head...
But at this moment, while the two were flirting, the office door was knocked.
"Thank you, Laura..."
Wang Wanting placed a cup of coffee and a cup of black tea on the coffee table beside her. She glanced at the Viscountess inconspicuously, then smiled at Barron and left the office.
"Your secretary is very beautiful, Your Highness. Perhaps she has an unusual relationship with you..."
Chris had noticed Wang Wanting before, and said this to Barron meaningfully.
"She is my personal assistant, not my secretary, and we are just a boss and subordinate relationship, don't think too much..."
"Haha, man... Ian's secretary is different from yours, he's a young man, but I dare say that both of you actually have the same relationship with your secretaries..."
The Viscountess suddenly revealed a charming smile and said to Barron,
"Also, Your Highness, your explanation is a little pale, because when I was talking to you about that... Ms. Laura just now, you were... a little dishonest."
Uh, is there?
But at this time, Barron didn't want to be teased by the Viscountess.
He placed his hands on the Viscountess's shoulders, and with his strength, the Viscountess slowly lowered her body and knelt on the carpet.
Barron sat down on the office chair, facing the charming face of the Viscountess.
"My dear lady, I think what you should do now is not to speak with your mouth, but to..."
"Hmm…"