In fact, in 2016, China Yangtze Infrastructure purchased a 51% stake in the natural gas business of National Grid of the United Kingdom for 11 billion pounds, including the debt it assumed, and the actual investment was not that high.
Currently, the debt-to-asset ratio of the National Grid Company of the United Kingdom is around 88%. Therefore, to purchase its natural gas business, United Energy Group will have to assume an additional debt of approximately 4.5 billion pounds. Together with the purchase price of 5 billion pounds, they will have to pay a total of 9.5 billion pounds.
If we add the current high exchange rate of the British pound, the exchange rate of the British pound to the US dollar is still around 1.9, and by 2016 it has fallen below 1.4...
Then the prices calculated in US dollars will not be that different.
However, in addition to obtaining the other party's consent, another obstacle to acquiring the natural gas business of the British National Grid is the antitrust review in the UK.
British Gas users initially used coal-to-gas, and the gas market was mainly decentralized at the local level and operated by small companies.
In accordance with the Gas Act of 1948, Britain nationalized the gas industry in May 1949, and more than 1,000 private gas companies and municipal gas companies were merged into 12 area gas boards, which were later collectively referred to as British Gas (BG).
British Gas Industries thus opened up a market structure in which state-owned enterprises exclusively monopolized downstream supply.
Starting from 1986, Britain privatized BG, opened up the large-user market, and separated the pipeline business from the supply business. By 1998, it finally achieved market competition in the natural gas supply and sales links, becoming the first country in Europe to restructure the integrated supply and transportation natural gas market into a competitive market.
Of course, it is worth mentioning that the privatization of British Gas began during the reign of the "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher. She privatized most state-owned enterprises at the time, including British Petroleum (BP), British Telecom, Aerospace, Natural Gas, Steel, Water and other monopoly giants whose stocks were sold to the public or split up. Her slogan at the time was "No forbidden zone for privatization"...
Previously, the Northern Gas Network owned by United Energy Group had about 6 million users, accounting for about 10% of the UK's natural gas pipeline transmission market. If it acquires the natural gas business of National Grid, there will be 12 million new users, accounting for 30% of the UK's natural gas pipeline transmission market, which will inevitably attract the attention of regulatory agencies including the Office of Fair Trading and the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.
However, since Li Chaoren's Cheung Kong Infrastructure was able to complete the acquisition of these two companies in his previous life, Barron is not worried that these regulatory agencies will hinder his acquisition.
Of course, whether it really needs to pass the review of these regulatory agencies...there is room for maneuver.
If this acquisition really needs to fail, it is not impossible for it to be stuck during the review.
…
On April 15, Barron attended the Crown Prince's wedding with his girlfriend Bonnie.
This time, it's the crown prince's second marriage…
At the same time, because the marriage of the Crown Prince and Ms. Camilla was not the result that the Queen wanted, their wedding was very low-key, and it could not be compared with the grand wedding of the Crown Prince and Princess Diana in 1981.
In fact, in Barron's previous life, this wedding took place on April 9th, and in this world, when the crown prince first talked about it with Barron, the time he mentioned was also April 9th, but Barron found a reason to ask him to change the date, and it became today's April 15th.
"I didn't expect you to have such a...habit, Barron."
When Barron first talked about how he saw in ancient China, from the royal family to the common people, when they got married, they needed to exchange each other's birth dates and find a wise man who studied the ancient sacred book "The Book of Changes" to set the date of the wedding in order to make their marriage happy, the Crown Prince said to Barron in surprise.
"It's a country with thousands of years of history. There are always some mysterious things that are hard to explain, right? Besides, this won't hurt. I knew a Chinese friend who is well versed in these things. If you are willing, I can introduce him to you."
It seems that the Crown Prince still cares very much about the wedding ceremony with Ms. Camilla, so he finally accepted this opinion and after "calculation", he set the wedding on April 15th.
But Barron couldn't tell him the real reason...
Sixteen years later in the original time and space, the Crown Prince's father, Prince Philip, the Queen's husband, also died on April 9.
His father's death anniversary and his wedding anniversary are on the same day, which may make the crown prince feel embarrassed...
Although Barron never met Princess Diana in person, nor witnessed the wedding of the century in 1981, he did see the images taken from that time.
To be honest, although the scene was indeed grand and even broadcast live to be watched by people all over the world, during the wedding, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's performance was not like that of a puppet, as he rarely smiled.
Although today's low-key civil wedding was not grand, Barron could clearly see that the now gray-haired Crown Prince's behavior was indeed different from before. He stood next to Ms. Camilla with a smile on his face the whole time, and it was obvious that he was happy from the bottom of his heart.
On the contrary, during this wedding, the two sons of the Crown Prince did not smile at all...
After all, no matter what, from the perspective of Princess Diana's sons, the two newlyweds who were showing sweetness at this time were, one of them was their father, and the other was the "third party" who deeply affected their parents' relationship and even eventually broke up their family...
Even the Crown Prince met Lady Camilla before Princess Diana.
His Royal Highness and Camilla met at a polo match at Windsor Park in the 1970s. During their conversation, they discovered that they had many common interests, such as polo, outdoor sports, and a sense of humor.
Camilla also joked at the time that her great-grandmother was the mistress of His Royal Highness' great-great-grandfather, King Edward VII, so what would happen between us?
In this way, the two came together after several negotiations.
However, the royal family did not agree with the Crown Prince marrying Camilla. Therefore, while His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was serving in the military, Camilla married Andrew, who was seven years older than her, and gave birth to two children.
But the Crown Prince could never forget Camilla. He often visited Camilla and was also the godfather of Camilla's children. Over time, their old love was rekindled.
Before getting married, Camilla's first husband had been in a relationship with Princess Anne, the Crown Prince's younger sister, but they broke up because of Camilla's interference. This is why Princess Anne doesn't like Camilla.
It has to be said that Princess Diana, in terms of her family background and other aspects, can be regarded as the best partner chosen by the royal family for the crown prince, and is also popular among the people...
The only thing is, she wasn't the first choice for the crown prince.
Barron did not want to comment too much on their affairs. What happened later was well known. The Crown Prince and the Princess eventually chose to divorce. After the divorce, the Princess unfortunately had a car accident because of the pursuit of reporters. She was pregnant at the time, and the father of the child was a rich man.
As for His Majesty the Crown Prince, after several years of underground romance, he officially announced his relationship with Ms. Camilla in 2000.
It was only because the late Queen Mother did not allow Camilla to enter the royal family that the two finally got married until this year, after the Queen Mother passed away and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had completed three years of mourning.
Even Her Majesty the Queen clearly did not support the marriage.