"No problem, then we will bear the remaining 150 million pounds, and I can let Mr. Sheen sign the contract tomorrow."
In this way, Barron's original 20% stake was diluted to 16%. With the newly added 15% stake, his stake in Argent Real Estate Group will exceed 30%, making him the second largest shareholder after the Butt family.
Although I was a little skeptical at first whether Barron could come up with so much money, since he had already said it, it would definitely not be false.
This was indeed somewhat beyond Viscount Butt's expectations, but when he thought about the fact that the shares of Argent Real Estate Group controlled by his family still held an advantage, and that he could use 150 million pounds in exchange for 15% of the shares of Argent Real Estate Group, then their main goal was achieved - not only did it solve the funding problem of Argent Real Estate Group, but in this way, the market value of Argent Real Estate Group also reached 1 billion pounds, which could be said to be good news for all shareholders.
And as a major shareholder of Argent Real Estate Group, Barron also has the right to have priority when investing in shares - except for him and the Butt family, other shareholders of Argent Real Estate Group have no intention of participating in this financing at this time.
Just like that, the matter was settled.
After the show, there is a cocktail party, which has a certain social nature. This time, guests of the fashion week, designers, models, etc. will attend.
However, Barron knew that in such occasions, there were often some tacit "deals", and he was not very interested in this.
Just as he was about to leave, he saw a familiar face and stopped.
"Do you know her, too?"
Noticing Barron's movements, Viscount Bute followed his gaze and asked.
"It just feels familiar."
"Haha, you men always come up with lame excuses like this."
The Viscountess's words could be said to be a direct range attack, and the two men beside her were affected...
But after taking a look, she revealed the identity of the woman:
"She is Carla Bruni, a very famous model. She released an album last year and it received quite good reviews."
"You know her?"
"I met him at a fashion show before, but we're not that close."
No wonder, but after hearing the other party's name, Barron also remembered that this was the one who had a rich love history and eventually became the first lady of France. When the French president was in office, this first lady was the one who made the most news...
It has to be said that Carla Bruni looked younger at this time than she did later. Although she was already in her thirties, her figure and appearance were both outstanding.
As if she noticed the gazes from Barron and the others, Bruni also looked over there, as if she recognized Chris, the beauty in the dark green dress, who was walking towards them.
"Hello, Mrs. Booth, we meet again."
Bruni was born in Italy and later lived in France, but her English is also very good. After all, as a supermodel, she always appeared in international occasions.
She took the Viscountess's arm affectionately, with a charming smile on her face, and said:
"Is one of these two gentlemen your husband?"
On such occasions, the Viscountess always remained elegant as she introduced Viscount Bute and Barron to Bruni.
Bruni was also surprised to hear that besides the Viscountess's husband, there was another handsome young man who was actually a duke. She said in a beautiful voice:
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Bute, and His Royal Highness the Duke of Cavendish."
Barron clearly felt that when the beauty in front of him shook hands with him, her little finger seemed to accidentally stroke his palm. Was she seducing him?
While thinking this, Barron suddenly noticed that the Viscountess looked at him with a certain... warning? Was
her gaze so sharp? Or was it purely a woman's sixth sense?
"Kara, I didn't see you just now. Are you here for the fashion show this time?"
"I no longer participate in fashion shows of this scale. Today, the organizing committee invited me to come and watch."
Bruni is different from many models who come from ordinary families. She herself grew up in a wealthy family and was pampered. Her future partners were also mostly of high status, so she has a very good temperament. She said enthusiastically:
"Let's go sit over there together, Mrs. Boot."
"What a coincidence, Kara. His Royal Highness the Duke just said that he had something to do and was going back. I'm afraid we have to leave first. But if you have time, I sincerely invite you to visit our home."
"Yeah?"
After hearing what the Viscountess said, Bruni looked at Barron - why did she feel like she was flirting...what was going on?
"Do you think this place is too boring, Your Highness?"
Well, I just said I was going to leave. Facing the beauty in front of him, Barron couldn't change his words immediately. He smiled and said:
"Yes, I have something else to do later. I'm really sorry, Ms. Bruni, but like Mrs. Boot said, you are welcome to visit us later."
"That's perfect. I seldom come to England, and I was hoping someone could take me on a tour. If you have time later..."
Just like that, under the Viscountess's meaningful gaze, Barron and Bruni exchanged mobile phone numbers...
The main reason is that Barron is more enthusiastic and doesn't have the heart to reject others, especially a beauty like Bruni.
"I wonder if Bonnie will be sad when she sees this."
As she walked out of the hall, the Viscountess said these words lightly.
As for Viscount Bute beside her, he seemed to be just enjoying the show...
"Ma'am, don't misunderstand me, it's just a courtesy."
"hehe..."
The Viscountess rolled her eyes at him.
…
"We have also acquired some shares from several Manchester United shareholders. Together with the shares we subsequently acquired from the stock market, our current shareholding accounts for 14.5% of the total shares of Manchester United, making us the second largest shareholder of Manchester United."
Daisy said to Barron:
"Among the current shareholders of Manchester United, we are currently in contact with Scottish Dobson who holds 6.45% of the shares. His offer for these shares is much higher than their market value, so we are still negotiating. Once we buy his shares, we will be very close to becoming the largest shareholder. If we continue to buy in the secondary market, we will have a good chance of surpassing him and becoming the largest shareholder."
Currently, the largest shareholder of Manchester United is Cubic Expression, jointly owned by John Magnier and McManus. The two own nearly 28.7% of the shares, while the remaining shares are scattered in the hands of different people and in the secondary stock market where they can be freely bought and sold.
When DS Capital's stake in Manchester United exceeded 10%, it began to declare its desire to acquire Manchester United, but the largest shareholder, Cubic Expression, rejected their acquisition request.
Therefore, they could only contact other small shareholders and try to acquire the Manchester United club shares from them.
Of course, the purchase of stocks in the secondary market has not been relaxed.
It's just that because DS Capital, which just acquired O2, has once again joined in the acquisition of Manchester United, this news has also attracted public attention. The stock price of Manchester United has also risen a lot in the stock market recently. In just one week, its stock price has increased by more than 15%.
But even so, the market value of Manchester United Club is still within the "cheap" range for Barron. However, in order to maintain costs, the acquisition of stocks in the stock market is not carried out at a very fast pace, and some interfering news is released from time to time.
At the same time, other small shareholders of Manchester United also began to ask for sky-high prices when facing the acquisition by DS Capital. For example, Mr. Dobson directly valued his 6.45% stake in Manchester United at nearly 40 million pounds. The corresponding market value of Manchester United almost doubled compared to the initial price, which was definitely unacceptable to DS Capital.