Chereads / I Become A Noble in England / Chapter 277 - Chapter 277 IPO

Chapter 277 - Chapter 277 IPO

"Why are you up so early today, baby?"

  Although he is already a duke, Barron has always maintained a healthy lifestyle and still insists on doing morning exercises.

  But today, after he came out of the gym, he saw Bonnie, who usually was still asleep, now dressed, packed up, and ready for breakfast, so he couldn't help but ask.

  "The company has been busy lately, and I have to take time out to help Summit Studio prepare for the new season of the variety show."

  Although they already have their own business, Giant Studio also has shares in SEM Group and has offices in the SEM building. Their new variety show "Dancing Miracle" will also rent venues and equipment from SEM Group for recording, so Bonnie still serves as a consultant for Summit Studio to help them with the transition.

  After all, "The Traitors" and "Love Island" were previously led by Bonnie. Now that she has left Summit Studio, these two popular variety shows have changed cast, and she is also needed to help the newcomers adapt.

  "The brave Henry is about to lead Arsenal to the championship!"

  While eating breakfast, Barron picked up the newspaper and saw this headline in the sports section. He couldn't help but shake his head.

  Indeed, Arsenal is unstoppable this season. Under Wenger's coaching, the Gunners will become the only team in Premier League history to win the championship with an unbeaten record this season.

  Although Manchester United's performance is acceptable, after all, Cristiano Ronaldo, the core player, has just joined the team. It will take time for him to adapt to the rhythm of the Premier League and grow up.

  …

  "Your Highness, this is today's summary of the various companies."

  At eight o'clock, Wang Wanting came to Barron and reported to him the situation of each company after the reorganization.

  Barron flipped through the documents and asked casually,

  "How is the progress of the Marconi stock acquisition?"

  "We have bought about $150 million worth of shares so far, all through several offshore companies, and they need to be kept confidential, so the pace is not very fast."

  Although Marconi rejected Barron's previous offer, he did not give up on acquiring the company and is currently purchasing their shares in the secondary market through offshore companies.

  Since 2001, Marconi's operating conditions have begun to gradually deteriorate, and from time to time there have been reports that they were "struggling" in difficult situations.

  For example, in 2002, their negotiations with the bank regarding loans broke down, which caused their stock price to plummet. After that, Marconi also took measures such as layoffs to reduce spending.

  Marconi's current market value is around 650 million pounds, and after the last acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank's shares held by Standard Chartered Group, Rich23 Capital still has more than 300 million US dollars in funds on its books.

  In order not to alert the enemy, Marconi's shares were acquired through an offshore company under Rich23 Capital.

  According to Wang Wanting, they have already bought Marconi shares worth $150 million, accounting for a little over 13% of its total share capital...

  Because the shares were acquired through multiple offshore companies, and each company would not exceed the 5% limit for raising the stake, it has not attracted the attention of Marconi at present.

  However, there will always be limits to purchasing their stocks through the secondary market. Currently, Marconi's circulating shares in the secondary market account for about 40% of the total share capital. It is estimated that when the absorbed stocks exceed 20%-25%, as the market circulation volume decreases, if the stocks continue to be absorbed, it will easily cause large fluctuations in the stock price.

  Next, they will also try to contact some of Marconi's small shareholders and institutional shareholders. After all, the company's performance at this time has disappointed many people, and there are probably many shareholders and institutions willing to sell their stocks.

  If they want to buy out Marconi completely, they will probably have to wait until they fail in BT's "21st Century Network Plan" and lose their domestic market on which they depend for their survival. Only when they are faced with desperation will they face reality and prepare to "sell themselves for survival."

  The reason why Barron acquired a certain proportion of Marconi's shares in advance was to gain an advantage in the competition to acquire Marconi at that time in the future.  

  He didn't want to be like Huawei in his previous life, where he was snatched away by Ericsson after making a bid.

  Finally, the London Stock Exchange accepted Summit Media's IPO application and will allow the company to be listed on the AIM market.

  Yes, Summit Media, a subsidiary of SEM Group, is preparing to go public.

  Summit Media owns two major businesses: SDTV and Summit Studio. SDTV is currently the fourth largest TV station in the UK, with the number of users second only to Sky TV, BBC and ITV.

  You know, the other three TV stations either have a huge background, such as Sky TV, or have a long history, such as BBC and ITV...

  Sky TV's predecessor, BSB, was founded in 1989, and satellite broadcasting was even earlier...

  But SDTV has only been established for one year!

  As for Summit Studio, it is also eye-catching. They hold the three major IPs of "Downton Abbey", "The Traitors" and "Love Island", which are the most popular TV series and variety shows in the UK.

  As for this IPO, the purpose is that Summit Media hopes to raise funds to launch its own pay channel - SD Sports.

  The AIM market of the London Stock Exchange was established in 1995 specifically for the financing of fast-growing small and medium-sized enterprises. It is equivalent to the Growth Enterprise Market of Hong Kong, but with a different name.

  The reason why Summit Media chose to list on the AIM market instead of the main board of the London Stock Exchange is mainly because it currently cannot meet the conditions for main board listing.

  The main thing is that they require listed companies to have at least three years of profit record to support them. Although they can lower the requirements for some companies at their discretion, Dingfeng Media has only been established for a year and a half, so there is still a huge gap.

  In fact, Summit Media does not even meet the two-year profit record required by the AIM market. However, they can also allow companies with less than two years of history to be listed, but the condition is that directors and employees holding 10% of the shares must agree not to sell any interests they hold in the company's securities for at least one year from the date of listing on the AIM market.

  Currently, Summit Media's shareholders include DS Holdings and Sinclair Group - because Sinclair Group holds 10% of SEM Group's shares, it will also hold an equal proportion of shares when its wholly-owned subsidiary Summit Media goes public.

  Both of them meet the minimum shareholding requirement of 10%, so according to regulations, they cannot sell their shares within one year after Summit Media goes public.

  Therefore, from now on, Summit Media has entered the IPO listing process. The sponsor they chose is Barclays Bank, and they will carry out the listing action with the help of the other party.

  Currently, the total share capital of Summit Media is 100 million shares, of which DS Holdings holds 90 million shares and Sinclair Group holds 10 million shares.

  They plan to issue 25 million new shares for listing, accounting for 20% of the total share capital after the increase.

  After evaluation, Barclays Bank has set a guiding issue price of £12 for Summit Media's first roadshow. Based on this price, after listing, Summit Media's market value will reach £1.5 billion.

  DS Holdings' 90 million shares in Summit Media will be worth £1.08 billion, while Sinclair Group's shares will be worth £120 million.

  You know, when they first invested in SEM Group, they only paid 20 million pounds to get 10% of SEM Group's shares. Now, just relying on the listing of Summit Media, their investment has skyrocketed 6 times.

  Of course, this is based on the premise that Summit Media can successfully IPO at this price, and within one year, neither DS Holdings nor Sinclair Group can sell their shares.