A recent article in the American "Business Week" pointed out that after four years of adjustment, European telecommunications companies have acquired the ability to merge and integrate.
Overall debt levels in Europe's telecoms industry have now fallen to 1.4 times earnings, the lowest level on record.
Merrill Lynch predicts that Europe's 20 largest telecom companies will spend $207 billion in "war funds" on mergers and acquisitions over the next three years.
Of course, abundant funds are only one of the reasons for the increase in mergers and acquisitions; the pursuit of profits is the biggest driving force behind mergers and acquisitions.
As the domestic market gradually becomes saturated, telecommunications giants in some major European countries have gradually turned their attention to foreign markets, with neighboring markets being their preferred targets.
Analysts point out that after these telecom giants have eaten the grass in their own backyard, they will shift their attention to more distant places.
The Yankee Group, an American telecommunications research organization, predicts that total revenue from mobile communications services in Western Europe will increase at an annual rate of 3.9% from 2005 to 2008, while the growth rate of similar services in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe will reach 12.6%.
It is precisely because of this that the telecom giants in Western Europe and Northern Europe have begun to step up their acquisitions of telecom companies in Eastern Europe and other countries...
Naturally, O2 Telecom is unwilling to miss such an opportunity.
According to O2 Telecom's analysis, the acquisition of Czech Telecom will enable O2 Telecom's business to expand from the current UK, France and German markets to the Eastern European market.
The competition in the British, French and German markets is relatively fierce, while the Eastern European market has greater development potential due to economic development - in recent years, more and more Eastern European countries have joined the European Union, and the economic development of these countries has been accelerated - and the telecommunications companies in these countries were mainly controlled by the government and were relatively underdeveloped.
If O2 Telecom can complete the acquisition of Czech Telecom, it will have a foothold in Eastern Europe and can use it to expand to more countries.
Immediately, after forming a merger and acquisition consortium with Caesar Fund, O2 Telecom sent people to the Czech Republic to participate in the merger and acquisition of Czech Telecom.
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"After seeing those pictures just now, you may feel deeply touched, just like me. We are used to living in the modern civilized world, which can only be said to be our luck, but don't forget that there are still many people who live in very poor conditions and cannot even meet basic medical and health needs. A large number of women and children die as a result. This is what our Devonshire Charity Foundation hopes to change and save. Since the establishment of our charity foundation, we have invested more than 50 million pounds to improve the medical conditions in underdeveloped areas around the world, including many areas in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. We have projects underway..."
Barron had a compassionate expression on his face and said sincerely to the people in the audience:
"Of course, the power of our Devonshire Charity Foundation is still small, but thank God, there are many like-minded friends who are working hard with us. This makes us believe that the future of mankind must be bright. Now, please invite our partner, Princess Amina from the Walid Foundation to come on stage to speak..."
Seeing Amina, wearing a bright long dress, walking onto the stage, Barron gentlemanly handed the microphone to her.
Since the last visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the Walid Foundation has worked with the Devonshire Charitable Foundation to invest in improving the medical and health care system in West Africa, mainly in Kolo, and has achieved some results so far.
After Barron returned to the stage, accepted the praise from many people around him and responded modestly, while watching Princess Amina begin her speech with grace and grace, his personal assistant Wang Wanting walked up to Barron and whispered in his ear in Chinese:
"Your Highness, there is news from Kolo, about the results of offshore oil and gas exploration..."
Hearing this news, Barron raised his eyebrows slightly and said:
"I will contact them later. Please receive the general information first and keep it confidential."
The total length of Kolo's coastline is nearly 80 kilometers.
The Gulf of Inner Asia is part of the Atlantic Ocean and is the largest bay in the continent. More than 10 countries along the coast and nearby areas have rich oil resources, and its geological reserves are estimated to exceed 80 billion barrels. About 80% of the oil reserves are distributed in the waters under the jurisdiction of Nigeria and Angola...
Experts from energy agencies have analyzed that the oil production in the West Sea will exceed that of the North Sea in the future, and even exceed the total production of Venezuela and Mexico. Due to the late start and the weak economic and technological strength of surrounding countries, the oil resources in this sea area have not yet been exploited on a large scale, and the prospects are huge.
However, if the results of oil and gas exploration near the coast of Kolo are announced, this conclusion may change.
After acquiring the British Oil and Gas Investment Company, the Caesar Fund asked them to send personnel to the coastal area of Kolo to conduct oil and gas exploration as quickly as possible.
Up to now, we finally have a preliminary conclusion. It can be said that the result is still very surprising. Oil and gas have been discovered in that area alone. The estimated oil reserves in the area currently being explored will exceed 550 million tons. What does this mean?
You know, the oil reserves of the entire North Sea oil field are nearly 5.7 billion tons, which means that the currently discovered reserves are close to one-tenth of the entire North Sea oil field!
And this is still a preliminary exploration result!
Moreover, most of this offshore oil field is located in shallow waters within 50 meters, and 80% of the area is less than 20 meters deep. It can be said that the difficulty and cost of mining are relatively low.
Before this, the exploration area had already been determined, and the Kolo government, West African Mining Group and British Oil and Gas Investment Company had signed an agreement.
The two sides will jointly establish Kolo Petroleum, in which the Kolo National Development Investment Company of the Kolo government will invest in the exploration and exploitation rights of this offshore oil field area and hold 40% of the shares of Kolo Petroleum. The West African Mining Group and the British Oil and Gas Investment Company will invest in development, and both parties will hold 30% of the shares.
If we look at this shareholding ratio from the perspective of Kolo, their government holdings, plus the holdings of local Kolo companies, account for 70% of the shares in Kolo Petroleum, and only 30% of the shares are held by "foreign capital" such as British Oil and Gas Investment Company, which completely retains most of the profits in Kolo and only uses foreign capital technology for mining.
In terms of actual control, West African Mining Group and British Oil and Gas Investment Company are both controlled by Barron, holding 60% of the shares. As for Kolo's state-owned shares...
The existence of the Kolo Legion will not give some local people in Kolo the possibility to escape from his control.
After its establishment, Kolo Oil Company will first exploit Block 1, which has been roughly determined and is more than ten kilometers away from the Kolo coast. This is the block with the lowest mining difficulty and the richest reserves discovered so far.
Of course, it will take some time from preparation to official mining. After all, neither the West African Mining Group nor the British Oil and Gas Investment Company has the ability to drill and mine offshore oil, and they need to issue bids to the outside world...