in Magic City After meeting with the bigwigs in Zhejiang Province, Barron went to Magic City.
At this time, Julia Moore, who was in charge of the family trust fund, also came here to join him.
The most important investment in Shanghai at present is the Devonshire Bund Hotel built by Cavendish Hotel Group at No. 2 The Bund.
The new building of the hotel is expected to be completed in the second half of this year, and will officially open in 2005 after decoration and staff training.
The speed of this construction also amazed Julia Moore from England.
When she accompanied Barron to visit here, they saw that the framework of the new building next to the old building of Bund No. 2 had already taken shape.
"This place is indeed very different from England and other European countries. There is a sense of booming development. Every time I come here, I can see high-rise buildings being built in Pudong. It is hard to imagine what it will be like in a few years."
Yulia's tone was full of surprise and appreciation.
"So, only when you come to China can you feel how fast it is developing. These are things you rarely see in the media. If you don't have these experiences and only have stereotypes, your view of this country will probably be very one-sided or even distorted."
When Barron Investments first invested more and more money in China, Yulia was very puzzled. She even associated it with the other party's preference for "Chinese culture", thinking it was very irrational.
But with these two visits to China, Yulia's thoughts have gradually changed as she has gotten to know this place better.
Yes, China is very different from the West, including some social conditions and cultural customs, but if we look at it from the perspective of "Western supremacy" or to be more direct, "white supremacy", I'm afraid this is incompatible with the "civilized world".
But Yulia herself is a Slav. Compared with most Anglais, because of her family's past, it is relatively easier for her to look at everything in China from other perspectives. This makes her more and more confident about the future development here.
In addition to the Devonshire Bund Hotel, in Shanghai, Barron also met with Cab Harber, the new CEO of Pioneer Sports Group. Harber was recruited by Barron from the well-known American sports and entertainment group IMG through a headhunting company. Harber had served as the group's vice president in charge of investment and acquisitions.
After Pioneer Sports acquired the F1 Group and held 90% of the shares of the F1 event operating company, Barron merged the Manchester United Club and the related Manchester United brand operating company held by DS Capital into Pioneer Sports, formed the Pioneer Sports Group, and invited Cab Harbour to join the group as the group's CEO.
Thus, due to the increase in the market value of the entire club after Barron's acquisition of Manchester United, DS Holdings will hold 55% of the shares of Pioneer Sports Group, while Rich23 Capital will hold 45% of the shares of the sports group.
Pioneer Sports Group has become a sports group that includes the most valuable football club, Manchester United, and the most influential sports event, F1.
This time, Cabby Harber came to Shanghai, not only to report to Barron about the group merger, but also because Shanghai will host the F1 World Championship 2004-2010 Chinese Grand Prix.
The construction of the Shanghai Circuit has begun since 2002. It is expected to be completed in June this year and put into use in September to host the F1 China Grand Prix.
After inspecting the Magic City Circuit, the relevant personnel of the F1 Group led by him were quite satisfied with the construction of the Magic City Circuit.
Barron also knows that the entry of F1 into China, a market with great development potential, will be of great significance for expanding the influence of F1.
And looking back at past lives, the F1 events in Shanghai have been held continuously, and the operations have become more and more mature. Overall, it is still relatively successful.
…
"This place looks so run-down. The houses are very old. I guess no one has lived here for a long time."
Yulia said as she looked at the three-story brick-and-wood English-style house in front of her, at the place where the "garden" had once been vaguely visible.
"Yes, but the previous owner was also very famous in Magic City. Moreover, in a place like Magic City, it is not easy to find a private house with a 5,000 square meter garden like this."
After hearing Barron's words, Yulia nodded in agreement.
They are now in a garden house located at No. 699 Yuyuan Road in Shanghai.
This villa has another name, Yan Family Garden.
This place was originally bought by the Yan father and son who were once famous in Shanghai, and became their family residence, so it was named Yan Family Garden.
However, what attracted the world's attention was that in 2009 in the original time and space, the richest man at the time, Chen Tianqiao, chairman of Shanda Group, spent 280 million to buy it, and then after renovation, it became his residence. Later, it was listed for sale at 1 billion, becoming the most expensive mansion in Shanghai.
Of course, at this time, Chen Tianqiao, the man who will become the richest man in China this year, has not yet taken a fancy to this place.
After all, he had acquired the house through a court auction. Most of the descendants of the Yan family had immigrated overseas, and the house had fallen into disrepair due to neglect of management. As for how to deal with the house, the 16 heirs of the Yan family had never reached a consensus, and eventually the case went to court, and the house was publicly auctioned by the court.
But now that Barron has taken a fancy to this place, he has received assistance from local people and contacted the descendants of the Yan family. After Barron offered 20 million US dollars to buy this villa, the other party quickly reached an agreement - sell the house and share the money.
So the Yan Family Garden here became Barron's property.
Of course, it is definitely not suitable for immediate move-in. For this reason, Barron found a professional design firm to restore the house to its perfect state through renovation, and to strengthen and modernize the interior, with a total cost of $5 million! It
took almost a year for the house to be restored to its original state and ready for move-in.
After staying in Shanghai for a few more days, Barron went directly to Lijiaopo after a brief stop in Hong Kong.
On February 22, Barron met Kuo Teck Puat again and had lunch with him in the coffee shop of the Goodwood Park Hotel.
At this time, after HK once again purchased part of Standard Chartered Bank's shares from the two tycoons, Baron's shareholding in Standard Chartered Bank had reached 15%, exceeding the 13.5% held by Qiu Depu, becoming the largest individual shareholder of Standard Chartered Bank.
During the meal, Barron again proposed that he was willing to pay a 20% premium to acquire the other party's shares for US$1.08 billion.
This is an increase of $80 million from the $1 billion acquisition price he proposed last time.
In response to this, Kuo Teck Puat did not comment and said he still needed to think about it.
"Your Highness, I hope you understand that I have held these shares for nearly 20 years and have developed some feelings for Standard Chartered Bank. I will not make a decision so quickly."
Hearing these words from the other party, Barron nodded and said very gracefully:
"I understand your thoughts, Mr. Qiu. I will wait until you are willing to sell it, but I hope it won't take too long."
"Thank you for your understanding. Well, I'm getting old and a little sleepy. I'll go back and rest first..."
When he said this, Qiu Deba was just about to stand up when his face suddenly changed. He looked in pain and covered his heart...
Seeing this, Elizabeth Qiu, who had been by his side, hurried over to support him:
"Daddy, are you okay? Did you have a heart attack? Quick, send him to the hospital..."
Just as they were about to help him up and send him to the hospital, Barron said immediately:
"I have a doctor here, let him take care of it first..."