At first, Barron only planned to use the Munger base in Kolo as a base for his Protector Military Company.
After all, Africa has always been like this. It can be said to be an "adventurer's paradise" where many things that are inconvenient to do in other places can be done.
For example, when he detained and interrogated the "Raphael" organization, if it were somewhere else, he would have some concerns, but inside the Munger base, he felt very relieved.
But now that there is such an option in front of him, which allows him to control a country to a certain extent behind the scenes, it has to be said that it is indeed very tempting for Barron.
But temptation is only one thing. Even if he can achieve his desired goal, he needs to consider more issues.
For example, whether the UN will recognize the new government, and the French side - at this time in Colo, it can be said that the government forces still have some cooperation with them in military terms. This can be seen from the fact that Colo's most elite Nassin Brigade is fully equipped with French equipment.
Moreover, Colo has the richest phosphate resources, and many mines belong to French mining companies.
Although France is no longer the same as before when it ignored America, its influence in Africa is also much weaker than before, which can be said to be the "twilight of the empire."
But it did not reach the point nearly twenty years later when Niger confronted France and the other side was helpless.
At least now is not the time for the Protectorate Military Company to ignore France.
Therefore, even if you choose that path, you still need to make some judgments to see if there will be any unplanned situations.
However, one thing in their favor is that Kolo's capital, Loti, is a coastal city located in the southernmost part of the country. It is very convenient to launch a surprise attack on it - this is also the reason why Barron's Protector Military Company has armed forces not only in Kolo, but also in other places, and can reach there by sea.
Otherwise, didn't the other anti-government forces think of attacking the capital directly? Didn't they want to?
Moreover, most of the government troops in Kolo, especially the most elite Nassin Brigade, have been sent to the battlefield in the north. The capital is relatively empty, which also provides conditions for their actions.
Of course, before that, the Protector Military Company still needs to solve a problem. One is that it needs to take a leadership position among the anti-government armed forces - otherwise, even if the coup is successful, they will still need to replace the government forces to eliminate other anti-government armed forces, which is too laborious.
Another is to find a suitable "agent".
There are currently three candidates to choose from among the remaining Kolo Liberation Front.
After Barron and his team conducted research, they finally selected a Kolo man named Jammeh Bongo.
Jammeh Bongo is one of the few highly educated people in the Kolo Liberation Front. He once studied in Egypt and should have devoted himself to the construction of Kolo.
But because his father was shot after participating in activities against the military government 20 years ago, he joined the Kolo Liberation Front after returning home. Before that, he was in charge of the civil affairs work of the anti-government armed base and was considered a member who had more contact with the Protector Military Company.
If normal procedures were followed, the person who would take over the leadership of the Kolo Liberation Front should be Sheikh Hassan's military adjutant, Sasu Biya. After all, in such a military organization, soldiers have greater power.
However, Barron does not want another dictator to appear in Kolo. He wants to bring the dawn of "democracy" to the country - of course, this dawn needs to be under his "protection".
Therefore, if the plan can be completed, Kolo will hold elections, and in this case, Jammeh Bongo's situation will be the most acceptable to the people.
As for whether the other party is willing to "cooperate", we need to examine his ideas.
After the plan was made, Munger Base became busy with it.
…
After a series of negotiations, Northern Rock Bank represented by Colin Hall finally accepted Barron's conditions.
The third-party agency they invited valued O2 Telecom at £11 billion, exactly twice what Barron's value was when he acquired the company.
Even so, according to Barron's previous words, if he wants to borrow 3 billion pounds, he needs to mortgage at least 45% of O2 Telecom shares...
Seeing this, Barron had an idea and offered to mortgage 55% of O2 Telecom shares, but the condition was that he needed to borrow 4 billion pounds this time.
After Barron stated this condition, he keenly noticed a flash of joy in Colin Hall's eyes.
However, he still agreed to Barron's request after some hesitation.
This kid really has some ideas...
Ultimately, Barron will mortgage DS Capital's 55% stake in O2 Telecom to Northern Rock Bank and obtain a £4 billion mortgage loan from the other party for a period of five years at an interest rate of 3%.
Because at Barron's request, the repayment period of the loan was limited to 5 years, so the original interest rate was increased slightly to 3%.
Barron was very satisfied with this.
The current exchange rate of the pound to the US dollar is around 1.75. By the end of this year, it will reach above 1.9, and then at its highest point, it will exceed 2, around 2.11.
But Barron knew that by 2009, five years later, the exchange rate of the pound to the dollar would drop to 1.35...
No matter what evil intentions Colin Hall has against him, at least nothing will happen to him in the next five years.
As for 5 years later...
I'm afraid he could not have imagined that he would encounter something like the subprime mortgage crisis next. Northern Rock Bank was directly affected by it and was run on and went bankrupt.
…
After this, Barron reorganized DS Capital.
The Digital Standards Group was established, with Barron as president of the DS Group.
DS Group consists of three subsidiaries: DS Investment, DS Holdings and DS Asset Management.
The CEO of DS Investment is Daisy. It is a wealth management company divided into proprietary trading department and private equity fund department, and mainly invests in the securities market.
Its private equity division includes the Mars Fund, the Athena Fund and the Zeuss Fund for high-frequency investments in collaboration with Goldman Sachs.
DS Holdings' CEO is Amber Sheehan, who is the controlling shareholder of DS Group's subsidiaries, including Standard Entertainment and Media Group (SEM Group), which owns 90% of its shares; O2 Telecom, which owns 100% of its shares; Argos Retail Group, which owns 75% of its shares; Manchester United Football Club, which owns 100% of its shares; Woaw Technology, which owns 78.5% of its shares; Skype, which owns 60% of its shares; Asmodee, which owns 74.35% of its shares; Sinclair Group, which owns 9% of its shares; and Argent Property Group, which owns 31% of its shares.
In addition, there are other Internet companies in China and the United States that it has invested in, including Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu, NetEase, Netflix, Google and Apple.
The CEO of DS Asset Management is Fino Hamilton, who was promoted from the original DS Asset Management after Amber Sheehan became the CEO of DS Holdings.
DS Asset Management currently manages mainly real estate and properties under Barron's name, including the DS Financial Centre in the City of London, the Cavendish Building in Soho, London, the SEM Building in Canary Wharf, the Cavendish King Building in King's Cross, London, and the O2 Building, as well as the property of the Devonshire Chelsea Hotel.
There are also Barron's residences in London, including a villa in Kensington, The Holme, a villa in Regent's Park, two houses in London and Scotland inherited from Lady Emma, and a penthouse in the Woolworth Building in New York.
It is worth mentioning that the Protector Military Services Company, which was originally wholly owned by DS Capital, has been transferred to the control of an offshore company. On the surface, it has no relationship with the DS Group.