"I saw a report in the newspaper that you are planning to acquire Selfridges department store again. Um, be gentle..."
The sunlight shone through the white gauze onto the Viscountess's body, making her look as if she was enveloped in golden light.
She is more than three months pregnant and the outline of her belly is clearly visible.
The Viscountess leaned against the French window, but raised her head slightly. Behind her, Barron was in a state of panic...
"Not necessarily. I'm just buying some shares first. You know the young master of the Weston family. He harassed Bonnie several times before. Let's teach him a lesson first."
At this point, Barron had a malicious smile on his face:
"Dear Mrs. Booth, why did I feel that you were a little nervous when you heard Bonnie's name just now?"
So far, DS Capital has not only bought nearly 5% of Selfridges shares in the secondary market, but also participated in the bidding for the 51% of Selfridges shares held by the Selfridge family...
Before DS Capital, the highest bid by the Selfridge family for their 51% stake in Selfridges department store was from the Weston family, which offered £300 million.
DS Capital directly offered a price of 350 million pounds, raising the highest price of this bid by 50 million pounds.
At this point, the Weston family felt a little embarrassed.
Because their original purpose was to privatize the entire Selfridges department store after acquiring the Selfridge family's shares, thereby turning the entire Selfridges department store into its wholly-owned subsidiary.
DS Capital's price hike not only affected the fact that they had to pay at least 50 million pounds more to acquire the Selfridge family's shares, but also had a chain reaction, and they had to pay a higher price to buy the remaining shares...
All in all, to complete the privatization of Selfridges department store, the Weston family will pay more than 100 million pounds more than originally planned!
According to the information obtained by Barron's, the Selfridges department store shares purchased by the Weston family in the secondary market at this time only accounted for about 8% of its total share capital, slightly more than what DS Capital held.
Therefore, they only have a slight advantage in the progress of acquiring Selfridges department store.
Just as Barron said to the Viscountess, he was just teaching the Weston family a small lesson for the time being. But even so, if the Weston family chose to continue to acquire Selfridges department store, DS Capital would not lose money.
If they give up the acquisition, DS Capital would not mind taking over Selfridges department store to enter the high-end shopping mall sector in Britain.
…
"UK Pension Fund Investment Survey"...
Barron raised his eyebrows when he saw the headline of this report in The Independent.
In today's report, The Independent's reporters conducted an investigation and compared the funding scale and investment strategies of the three major pillars of the UK's pension system - national pensions, occupational pensions and personal pensions - as well as their investment returns in recent years.
After reading this article, Barron frowned slightly...
The returns from British pension funds were far lower than he had imagined.
For example, the first pillar pension, that is, the national pension, is operated by the National Insurance Fund (NIF) and its investment is managed by the National Debt Relief Commission (CRND).
Its investment strategy is very conservative, mainly bank deposits and British government bonds. Well, at most, the Ministry of Finance issues a portion of non-market government bonds NILO for it. Thanks to the fact that the market benchmark interest rate in the UK has reached more than 5% in recent years, the national pension rate of return has been able to maintain an average of more than 3% in the past two years...
But he knew that this "good time" would not last long. After 2008, the benchmark interest rate in the British market would drop sharply from 6% to 0.5%, and the rate of return of the national pension fund would also drop precipitously!
Barron was worried about this.
As for the second and third pillar private pensions (including occupational pensions and personal pensions), the total size of private pension funds in the UK has exceeded 2 trillion pounds, which are managed by different pension funds. Among them, the largest one is the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), with a size of more than 30 billion pounds.
However, the investment strategies of these pension funds can only be described as conservative and a bit blind, with an average return of between 4% and 7%, and this is the result of the recent good performance of the British stock market...
Alas, Barron was worried.
The pensions of British people only get such low investment returns, and they cannot enjoy fund products with higher returns and stable value preservation. Baron believes that these are the dereliction of duty of pension fund managers and that they have not done their job well.
However, it seems that if the Athena Fund provides principal protection and guarantees fixed income, the annualized rate of return can be slightly lower...
8%-12% should be enough.
Currently, the quantitative trading mathematical model of the Athena Fund is being verified in a simulated trading session. Next month, it will be able to officially enter the securities market for automatic quantitative trading.
Although the quantitative trading of the entire Athena fund is completely automatic based on its mathematical model, it is divided into five groups to formulate trading strategies and face the securities market respectively, which can greatly reduce risks in the initial stage.
The current fund size of US$400 million is fully capable of meeting the initial transactions of the Athena Fund. However, as their quantitative trading mathematical model is improved, the scale of investment can be gradually increased.
For example, Barron is not planning to absorb the national pension fund now. After all, on the one hand, this kind of pension fund involves the government and must be as stable as possible.
He plans to start with those private pension funds to increase the size of the Athena fund.
…
"Hello, Your Highness, the Duke of Cavendish, can I talk to you?"
Barron had just walked out of the SEM building with Bonnie when a blonde woman said this to him.
However, the woman was stopped by Barron's bodyguards when she left.
Feeling Bonnie's puzzled gaze, Barron immediately understood her suspicion and felt speechless. Although this woman could be considered a "beauty", she looked to be almost thirty years old. His own taste... wasn't that up to par.
"I'm from the Weston family. Can you give me a few minutes to talk?"
After hearing the woman's words, Barron signaled to his bodyguard, walked closer to the woman and said:
"Sorry, I'm off work now, you should have made the appointment directly."
"I made an appointment, but your office kept saying you didn't have time..."
Well, Barron thought about it, and it seemed that Wang Wanting did talk to him about this matter, but he was not interested in discussing it with the Weston family, so he let her find an excuse to get rid of it.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Alanna Weston and I want to talk to you about Selfridges..."
Alana Weston? Barron looked at her again. He didn't expect that the heir of the Weston family would come in person...
That's right, Alana Weston is the sister of Galen G. Weston, whom Barron had met before at the entrance of the SEM building, and she is also the future heir to the management rights of the Weston family holding company.
"I'm about to go to dinner with my girlfriend, but before that, I can give you a little time, Ms. Weston."
Not right here, of course, but Barron could invite Alana Weston into the car and give her time to talk on the way to the restaurant.
Alana agreed without giving it too much thought. After giving some instructions to her bodyguard and driver, she got into Barron's Rolls-Royce Phantom, while her original car followed behind Barron's convoy.