"This is mainly because there are no particularly good plots of land suitable for development in Britain, especially in London. Those areas are also in rapid development and there are more opportunities..."
It would also be a good choice for Argent Real Estate Group to develop in emerging markets. To be honest, the regions he mentioned are all considered to have great potential in real estate, so Baron will not interfere too much in this regard.
After talking about the Argent Real Estate Group, Earl Bute talked to Barron about the United Energy Group.
Earlier last year, their family's Stuart Mining Group had invested in a number of mines in Kolo, including copper mines, iron mines, and a newly mined phosphate mine. The Stuart Mining Group also had in-depth cooperation with the West African mining industry.
Therefore, Earl Butt would also pay attention to Colo's discovery of rich offshore oil fields and seemed very interested.
During this period, two exploration wells in the Kolo offshore oil field were put into production one after another, and the output was very considerable.
In addition, the crude oil produced there is of excellent quality. Therefore, stimulated by this news, the share price of United Energy Group, which holds a 30% stake in Kolo Oil, has also risen a lot.
"To be honest, our family also bought some shares of United Energy Group, but the stock price rose sharply, and the company has too few outstanding shares, so..."
Count Bute spread his hands and asked,
"Is United Energy Group still accepting investments?"
Regarding the issue of United Energy Group having too few outstanding shares, in fact, their company has also received a warning from the London Stock Exchange regulator regarding the recent unusual rise in United Energy Group's stock price.
Normally, the circulating shares of many listed companies account for between 15% and 30%, and some companies have even achieved full circulation of shares...
After Northern Gas was acquired by Caesars, the circulating shares were only 12%. After the merger with British Oil and Gas Investments, excluding the 5.8% of shares held by Vanguard Group that were within the lock-up period, the circulating shares of United Energy Group have now been reduced to 5.05%...
This also includes the 1.5% inheritance from Northern Natural Gas that Barron originally received from Lady Emma, which has now been converted into 7.1775 million shares of United Energy Group, accounting for less than 0.63%.
Although the rise in United Energy Group's stock this time was entirely triggered by favorable news, the smaller the proportion of outstanding shares, the easier it is for the stock price to be manipulated artificially.
Even though the investigation into the rise in United Energy Group's stock price did not find any signs of manipulation, the regulator still issued a "good-intentioned" reminder about the small proportion of their outstanding shares.
"We are considering issuing new shares or convertible bonds in the near future, but the specific measures are still under discussion."
Barron didn't mind revealing some information to Earl Butt in advance. After all, he estimated that even if the Butt family wanted to invest in United Energy Group, they would only regard it as part of their investment portfolio. After all, energy companies like this were also the favorite investments of old money investors, and new and potential energy companies like United Energy Group were hard to come by at a time when the current global oil and gas landscape was largely fixed.
Even if they invest, they will only put out 300 to 500 million pounds at most, and will not risk betting too much money on a single company.
Such a radical family would have been educated by the market long ago and would not last for hundreds of years.
"What is the issue price of the new shares?"
It seems that Earl Bute is really concerned about this. He said,
"The share price of United Energy Group is not low now."
"If it is a new issue of shares, the price will definitely be higher than the current share price, not lower..."
Barron smiled and said:
"But if you think the current share price of United Energy Group is relatively too high, you can also have other options..."
"You mean...?"
"Convertible bonds. You can choose to buy this type of convertible bond issued by United Energy Group. Not only can the buyer receive a certain annual interest, but the buyer can also choose to convert the bonds into common stock at any time within two years at the average price of the day."
Hearing what Barron said, Earl Bute's eyes lit up and he began to think.
Currently, the share price of United Energy Group has exceeded 11 pounds, which is more than 130% higher than the price of Northern Gas Company of about 4.75 pounds before the merger of the two!
As Barron said, the current choice between United Energy Group issuing new shares and buying convertible bonds is nothing more than a question of whether you are optimistic about the future performance of United Energy Group's stock.
If you think that the current share price of United Energy Group is still undervalued, you can subscribe for new shares directly.
However, if you believe that its stock price is currently high and is likely to reach a lower price within the next two years, you can buy convertible bonds and convert them into common stock after the stock price of United Energy Group falls.
Barron naturally knew that the current share price of United Energy Group did not fully reflect its value until the total reserves of the entire Kolo offshore oil field were announced.
Therefore, he hopes that the other party will purchase convertible bonds, and when participating in the acquisition of Unocal in the future, he will try to reduce the proportion of acquisitions in the form of stocks.
…
Of course, with the scale of Barron's current business, if he has to take care of everything, it is unlikely that he will have time to relax...
"Your Highness, British Logistics has completed its merger with Speedy Logistics. After the merger, DS Holdings acquired 5% of the shares of the new company..."
"Okay, got it, anything else?"
British Logistics was acquired by Caesar Fund. After the acquisition of British Logistics, it cooperated with Argos Retail Group to provide door-to-door delivery for its e-commerce business.
Currently, London is the city with the highest proportion of e-commerce business of Argos Retail Group, so they also facilitated the merger of "Speedway" and British Logistics, which were originally developed by DS Capital on the basis of separating part of the logistics business from Argos department store.
After the merger, Caesar Fund held 95% of the shares of British Logistics, and DS Holdings exchanged "Speedbita" for 5% of the shares of British Logistics.
This kind of thing only needs to be resolved by DS Holdings and Caesars Fund themselves, and Barron only needs to know the result.
"Independent Newspapers' revenue in the first quarter was roughly the same as in the fourth quarter of last year. They proposed to acquire two local newspapers in Northern Ireland to expand the local market..."
Although briefings on these businesses were reported to Barron by his personal assistant, Wang Wanting, the scale of these businesses was now so large that she alone, or even the previous "secretary's office", could no longer handle it.
The office that handles Barron's business information, led by Wang Wanting, now has more than five departments!
Large investment companies or funds, including DS Capital, Caesars Fund, Global Industrial Investment Fund, and Rich23 Capital, all have corresponding departments responsible for screening and organizing information for Barron...
This will also allow Barron to focus on more important matters instead of being wasted on details.