When DS Capital initially made a takeover offer for Standard Chartered Bank, they faced the most likely competitors, that is, those who were likely to make a competing offer during their takeover offer period, mainly including Barclays Bank, Citibank and JP Morgan Chase.
However, during this period, Citibank and JP Morgan Chase had just completed acquisitions. For example, JP Morgan Chase needed time to digest the First Bank of America they had just acquired. Therefore, in fact, Barclays Bank was the most likely competitor.
Previously, Barron had many collaborations with Barclays Bank and the relationship between the two sides was close. Therefore, as early as after holding 30% of Standard Chartered Bank's shares, he had contacted Barclays Bank to inquire about their intentions.
It is impossible to say that Barclays Bank has no interest in Standard Chartered Bank. After all, Barclays Bank's business at that time covers Europe, America and Africa, but it does not have too much network in the Pan-Asia region. Merging with Standard Chartered Bank will help their layout in this region.
However, when DS Capital already held more than 30% of Standard Chartered Bank's shares, after analysis, they also believed that it was no longer a good time to intervene in the competition for the acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank.
This is not mainly due to the concern about the "friendship" with Barron. After all, friendship is something that has its price in the eyes of bankers. If the benefits are sufficient, they will abandon it without any hesitation.
The main reason is that Standard Chartered Bank's shares are too dispersed. Even Standard Chartered Bank's parent company, Standard Chartered Group, only holds about 10% of its shares. Moreover, compared with Barron, Standard Chartered Bank's management at this time would be more resistant to Barclays Bank's intervention.
The reason is easy to understand. Barron's DS Group currently has no banking business. After acquiring Standard Chartered Bank, according to his promise, it will still be run by the current management.
But Barclays Bank is different. Compared with Standard Chartered Bank, it is larger in scale. Therefore, after merging with Standard Chartered Bank, adjusting the management is definitely a necessary step.
Ultimately, in the shareholder vote on this tender offer, shareholders with more than 65% of the shareholdings agreed to DS Group's tender offer for Standard Chartered Bank.
This means that DS Capital's acquisition offer for Standard Chartered Bank at a total price of US$7 per share has taken effect.
After statistics, it was found that shareholders with more than 35% of the shares were willing to sell their Standard Chartered Bank shares to DS Group. Therefore, after paying nearly US$2.77 billion, DS Group's stake in Standard Chartered Bank reached 65%!
The 10% stake in Standard Chartered Bank originally held by Standard Chartered Group was sold to Rich23 Capital for US$790 million, bringing Rich23 Capital's stake in Standard Chartered Bank to 15%.
In this way, DS Group, together with its joint actor Rich23 Capital, holds a total of 80% of Standard Chartered Bank's shares!
This means that Standard Chartered Bank has officially become one of the subsidiaries of DS Group.
It's not that Barron's didn't want to privatize Standard Chartered Bank directly, but at that time Standard Chartered Bank had the right to issue banknotes in Hong Kong, South Africa and Malaysia. If it was privatized instead of a listed company, it might affect the continuation of the banknote issuance rights in these regions. Therefore, after consideration, Barron's finally kept Standard Chartered Bank listed in London and Hong Kong.
In the process of acquiring Standard Chartered Bank, DS Group cooperated with Goldman Sachs Group. After they currently hold 65% of Standard Chartered Bank's shares, they have cumulatively raised approximately US$3 billion in financing from Goldman Sachs Group.
Also because of this acquisition, DS Group used a relatively low leverage, so the interest rate of the $3 billion financing was relatively lower - plus the U.S. loan benchmark rate has remained at around 1% at this time, so the interest on these financings was only less than 5%, which Barron could fully accept.
After completing the acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank, they held a board meeting with Barron as chairman of the board of Standard Chartered Bank and Chen Fuyang, CEO of Rich23 Investments, as a director of Standard Chartered Bank.
Davis, the former CEO of Standard Chartered Bank, will take over the position of president and CEO. He will be responsible for running Standard Chartered Bank and report to Chairman Barron.
In addition, a new appointment was made in Standard Chartered Bank's Asia region. Zeng Jingxuan, who was born in Hong Kong, China, was appointed as the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Greater China. Her first task after taking office was to assist Penguin Company in its IPO in Hong Kong. At the instruction of DS Group, the major shareholder of Penguin Company, Standard Chartered Bank will serve as its sponsor for listing in Hong Kong.
Prior to this, Zeng Jingxuan served as Human Resources Director for Asia Pacific at Standard Chartered Bank.
After joining Standard Chartered Bank in 1992, she laid a good foundation for Standard Chartered Bank's famous employee training program and made it one of the reasons for attracting talent in the industry.
It is also worth mentioning that Zeng Jingxuan's elder brother is currently serving as the Chief Secretary for Administration of China Hong Kong, and will become the Chief Executive in a year.
…
"Your Highness, there is news from Louis Lafayette..."
While Barron was eating breakfast, Alia whispered beside him:
"The personnel responsible for monitoring their actions discovered that the people lurking around Subrata had already evacuated, and at the same time, a wanted notice for them was issued in India..."
After Alia told him about her adoptive father Louis Lafayette, although Barron had no interest in the Indian temple treasures and defrauding Subrata, the founder of the Sahara Company, there were still reasons for him to pay attention to Louis Lafayette's organization.
So the intelligence center sent out a team to collect and monitor information about the other party.
Now, Alia is responsible for contacting the intelligence center and following up on all these matters.
It seems that because of Alia's disappearance and the elimination of the Raphael organization by Barron, Louis Lafayette's original plan was not only greatly delayed, but also ultimately failed.
According to the intelligence obtained, the people who lurked around Subrata by Louis Lafayette fled there and took away some funds.
The wanted warrant issued by India shows that Mr. Subrata of Sahara Company was robbed of $100 million worth of property...
As to what exactly happened, further confirmation is needed.
It has to be said that although Sahara Company was later targeted by the Indian government, Subrata still has great influence in India today.
"They didn't touch the treasure of that temple?"
Barron was very curious, why did these people know the location of the treasure in advance? In the previous life, it was finally excavated by the Indian government?
"Not yet. Louis Lafayette is very cautious. At this time, I'm afraid the whole of India is searching for their people. So even if Louis himself is not exposed, he will definitely not go to the temple treasure in a short time."
That's it?
Barron, who had wanted to see a big show, couldn't help but feel bored:
"Then continue to pay attention to their subsequent news."