On July 21, CNOOC issued a statement expressing three opinions:
First, it regretted that Unocal did not change its recommendation; second, it believed that CNOOC's all-cash acquisition offer of US$67 per share was still very competitive; third, in view of maintaining the best interests of its own shareholders, it had no intention of changing the price and would continue to pay attention to market developments.
Basically, this statement from CNOOC has basically meant that they have given up on further efforts and will not increase their bargaining chips.
It is obvious that Unocal's final destination will definitely be between Chevron and United Energy Group, which anyone with a discerning eye can see.
On July 30, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives passed new provisions in the energy bill, requiring the government to study China's energy situation within 120 days. CNOOC's acquisition of Unocal can only be approved 21 days after the research report is released.
The passage of this bill basically ruled out the possibility of CNOOC's successful bid.
On August 2, CNOOC announced the withdrawal of its acquisition offer for Unocal.
At this time, there are still 8 days left until the final vote of Unocal's board of directors on August 10 to decide "who is the winner".
Although CNOOC was ultimately the "loser" in its bid for Unocal, they did not gain nothing.
On the day CNOOC announced its withdrawal, their shares rose 5.6%, indicating that investors also thought it was a wise move for them to withdraw from the acquisition.
In fact, from June 23 to August 10, in just over a month, CNOOC's market value increased by more than 30%, from 22 billion to 30 billion US dollars.
Moreover, through this acquisition, CNOOC's international reputation has been greatly enhanced.
But the dramatic thing is that the day before Unocal's board of directors voted on which of the two companies, Chevron and United Energy Group, would acquire them...
On August 7, Chevron publicly announced that it had withdrawn from its acquisition of Unocal.
There was no suspense about Unocal's final choice. Sure enough, on August 8, Unocal's Chairman Williams and United Energy Group's CEO Epely Singleton attended a press conference together and announced that Unocal accepted United Energy Group's acquisition plan.
Now this acquisition plan only needs to be approved by relevant American agencies, and then United Energy Group will complete the acquisition of Unocal.
The reason why Chevron withdrew from this acquisition was not only because they were unwilling to increase their offer price and felt the acquisition was hopeless, but also because of the push from Vanguard Group and its allies.
They also had a secret meeting with Epel Singleton, CEO of United Energy Group, and the two sides reached an agreement:
That is, after United Energy Group completes its acquisition of Unocal, Chevron will give up the $500 million "breakup fee" they requested.
But at the same time, United Energy Group will sell Unocal's oil and gas resources in the United States, which have a reserve of approximately 500 million barrels, to Chevron for $4 billion...
This is the main reason why Chevron withdrew early. After all, this is the real benefit they gained.
This time, America's efficiency was extremely high. On August 10, relevant agencies including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that they would approve the acquisition.
United Energy Group has officially started the merger process with Unocal Corporation.
In this acquisition, they will use a total of US$12.6 billion and stocks worth US$5.4 billion to complete the acquisition.
In terms of cash, United Energy Group has already raised 5 billion pounds, equivalent to 9.5 billion U.S. dollars; and Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase will provide them with 1.5 billion U.S. dollars in financing respectively to complete this acquisition.
In addition, United Energy Group will issue an additional 223 million shares to some shareholders of United Energy Group who have chosen to acquire the shares (in fact, more than half of these shares are acquired by Vanguard Group and related institutions) at a price of £12.74 per share as part of the payment.
After the deal was finalized, United Energy Group's share price rose by nearly 10% that day, exceeding 14 pounds per share.
In this way, after completing the acquisition of Unocal, United Energy Group's total share capital reached 1.5265 billion shares, with a market value of nearly 21.4 billion pounds.
At this time, Caesars Fund held 1.0195 billion shares of United Energy Group, accounting for 66.79%; West Africa Group previously invested 2 billion pounds in United Energy Group at a price of 12.5 pounds per share and obtained 160 million shares, accounting for 10.48%; and the holding of Vanguard Group in United Energy Group also increased from 5.8% to about 10%...
The remaining nearly 13% of United Energy Group shares are distributed in the secondary market and in the hands of Unocal's remaining shareholders.
After completing this transaction, Caesars Fund, the largest shareholder of United Energy Group, has reduced its shareholding to 66.79%. In this way, the shareholding division of United Energy Group will no longer attract the attention of the London Stock Exchange and relevant regulatory authorities.
In fact, together with the West African Group, Barron's companies still firmly control the company.
At this time, Barron had already left America and returned to England.
Back to the beginning of July, on July 6, London successfully won the right to host the 2012 Olympic Games. For a while, the whole of England was in an uproar, and all the newspapers, radio stations and television stations were discussing how to hold the most successful Olympic Games in London in 2012.
On the same day, the Prime Minister was receiving leaders of the G8 meeting in Glen Eagle in Scotland, and he was in high spirits.
But a few hours later...
At 8:51, the computer screen of the London Bus Central Control Department showed: There was an abnormality on the Circle Line subway!
At 8:56, there was an abnormality on the Piccadilly Line southbound subway, and all systems were out of power!
At 8:59, an abnormality occurred on the westbound subway line of the Loop Line. Ground personnel reported hearing a loud explosion and called an ambulance to the scene. For a moment, the whole city was in chaos!
On July 7, the London subway bombing occurred!
You have to know that the explosion occurred during rush hour, with nearly 2 million people traveling on the London Underground. Therefore, the consequences of this accident were serious. According to subsequent investigations, 52 people died and more than 700 were injured.
More importantly, panic spread throughout London, and not just London, but cities across England were facing panic.
The first moment Barron returned to London, or to be exact, when he was still on the plane, he temporarily recruited 500 veterans of the Protector Military Company who were training in the Belgrade Castle and were about to be sent to Iraq to join the British Protector Security Company and sent them to London to strengthen security measures for its various companies.
Next, he knew that the government would soon increase its investment in domestic anti-terrorism and security funds, and this would be the best time for Protector Security Company to get involved in more domestic business.