The one who spoke was Barron's personal assistant Wang Wanting.
As her hands pressed on Barron's shoulders, the strength of the massage made him feel quite comfortable.
Barron felt a sense of relief all over and couldn't help but lean his head on the back of the chair.
However, due to his height, only the lower part of his head touched the top of the chair back, while the upper part of his head was sunk into softness.
I don't know if it was because Wang Wanting was too focused, but she didn't seem to notice and continued to help Barron press his temples.
Apart from anything else, Barron actually felt a little relieved after being massaged by her.
"Thank you, Laura, I think it worked great."
"This is what I should do, Your Highness. This is how I massaged my mother whenever she was tired."
…
"My fellow Americans, at this hour, America and our allies are in the early stages of a military disarmament of Iraq to liberate the Iraqi people and prevent the world from being put in danger.
Under my orders, coalition forces have begun destroying key military targets to reduce Saddam Hussein's ability to wage war. This is just the beginning of a full-scale, widespread attack.
More than 35 nations have provided vital support, whether through the use of naval and air bases, intellectual and moral assistance, or military contributions. Every nation in the alliance has chosen to shoulder the responsibility for this common defense and share the common honor.
To every man and woman of the American military in the Gulf, it is up to you to bring peace to this troubled world and hope to oppressed peoples.
We trust you.
..."
After putting pressure on the UN in vain and being doomed to fail to obtain its authorization to use force against Iraq, at 4:15 a.m. on March 20, London time, the President of the United States, George W. Bush, delivered a televised speech announcing the start of the war against Iraq.
Two days before that, on March 18, the House of Commons of the British Parliament voted to pass the government's motion to use force against Iraq.
On the same day, the House of Commons voted on the Prime Minister's proposal to disarm Iraq "by all necessary means", and the result was 412 votes to 149 in favor of Britain's policy of using force against Iraq.
Before voting on this proposal, the House of Commons also voted on an anti-war proposal put forward by anti-war MPs within the Labour Party, which was rejected by 396 votes to 217.
So starting from March 20, the coalition forces mainly composed of the United States and Britain entered the territory of Iraq, and the "Second Gulf War" began.
The joint force is composed of 120,000 American troops, 45,000 British troops, more than 2,000 Australian troops and 200 Polish troops, in addition to about 50,000 Iraqi rebels.
They officially launched a military strike against Iraq through the US military base stationed in Kuwait, and received support from a large number of air-based and sea-based aviation forces in the Gulf region.
The 3rd Infantry Division of the United States advanced toward Baghdad from the desert northwest of Kuwait, accompanied by several units of the 101st Airborne Division and the 82nd Airborne Division.
In another direction, southeast of Iraq, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and the British Expeditionary Force (including the 1st Armored Division composed of the 4th and 7th Armored Brigades and several Marines) launched a pincer attack to open Iraq's sea routes.
But to the surprise of most people, from mid-March until March 20, when the Iraq War broke out, the price of international crude oil began a period of continuous decline.
Until March 21, international oil prices even fell below $23!
Taking advantage of this opportunity, DS Capital began to close its short positions in crude oil futures, and eventually they completed the closing at an average price of US$23.3.
It can be said that this operation was the one in which DS Capital obtained the greatest profit. During the entire process, it earned more than 1.35 billion pounds just by shorting crude oil futures.
Barron knew that starting from the third day after the outbreak of the war, international oil prices would rebound slightly and at one point rise to above US$27.5.
However, he was not going to continue the operation in such a short time.
In addition to the Mars Fund, whose total capital has exceeded 150 million pounds, which will continue to go long on the international gold price, the funds he now has are prepared to wait until after April, approaching May, when the US army occupies Baghdad in less than a month, making the international community confident that Iraq will restore its crude oil production. After the crude oil price falls again, he will enter the market to go long on the crude oil price.
After all, it was easy to overthrow Saddam's regime, but the governance of Iraq by the Iraqi transitional government supported by the United States could be regarded as a complete failure. Even after the UN lifted sanctions on Iraq, it still faced many difficulties in restoring its crude oil production.
…
"Mr. Rolf, I believe you should have more confidence in me now regarding the acquisition of O2."
The cheerful repayment of the 200 million pounds mortgage and interest, coupled with the huge amount of funds in the DS capital account, indeed made the friendship between Rolf, Barclays Bank and the Devonshire family unbreakable at this time.
At this time, Rolf was also glad that he made the right choice and did not reveal too much information about DS Capital to the Butt family.
"Your Highness, the acquisition negotiations with O2 have actually reached the final moment. I think the price of 5.5 billion pounds is acceptable to both parties."
At this time, Rolf was extremely eager to help Barron complete the acquisition of O2.
Because if the acquisition is finally completed at a price of 5.5 billion pounds, Barclays Bank will provide approximately 2.5 billion pounds of financing for the acquisition!
You should know that the interest rate for this kind of high-leverage financing is very high!
At this time, the bank's basic loan interest rate is around 5%, but the interest rate for this financing will exceed 10%.
Naturally, Barclays Bank would not really take such a big risk. What they did was to package this financing into an investment product - a securities product with an interest rate of more than 10%, which is very popular among users. In this process, Barclays Bank can earn the interest rate difference with almost no risk as long as it sells these products.
As for whether investors think the risk of this product is too high?
Don't worry, O2 is there. If it doesn't work out, the agreement stipulates that in the event of a default, this securities product will be converted into O2's shares.
Goldman Sachs, which will also participate in this financing, basically operates in the same way.
As for the high interest rate of this loan, if it is a financing of 5 billion pounds, the interest alone will be 500 million pounds a year. Can Barron's DS Capital afford such a large debt?
There is no need to worry about this, because the market value of O2 alone has increased by more than this number in the past three years.
What's more, after the acquisition is completed, DS Capital can transfer the debt to O2 - of course, this is only the worst option.
A more reliable approach is for O2 to issue a certain amount of corporate bonds or new loans with lower interest rates to first repay the previous high-interest loans, thereby reducing debt costs.
In the final analysis, as long as the company's operations are positive, there are always more solutions than problems.