Rebirth of England.

Chapter 617 Angry Youth
In the original time and space, the Permira investment fund sold its shares in Valentino to an investment fund owned by the Qatari royal family for 2012 million euros in 7.

But what the Qatari royal family bought at that time was the controlling stake in Valentino, that is, the majority of shares.

This is different from the Gucci-Hermès Group's direct purchase of all Valentino shares this time - in addition to the Permira investment fund, they also bought the remaining Valentino shares from the Marzotto family.

This is also because since Valentino's design director Valentino announced his retirement last year, although they have tried to invite some designers in the hope of continuing Valentino's style, they have not been successful. Therefore, Valentino's revenue has declined a lot from last year to the first half of this year.

Otherwise, if Valentino was still profitable, even if Permira Investment Fund and the Marzotto family were willing to sell, they would ask for a higher price.

However, Barron knew that Valentino's two newly hired creative directors, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, would perform very well in the future.

Starting from next year, Valentino's revenue will begin to grow - although the subprime mortgage crisis has had a greater impact on the luxury goods industry in Europe and the United States, their subsequent growth in the Asian and Middle Eastern markets is still visible to the naked eye.

According to statistics, the increase from 2009 to 2012 was as high as 60%!

This is also the reason why the Qatari royal family's investment fund later wanted to buy a majority stake in Valentino.

But in fact, a transaction worth hundreds of millions of euros would not occupy too much of Barron's attention. It was only when Beatrice asked about it that he casually talked to her about it.

"Yes, the yacht I ordered will be completed soon, Mr. Lagardere. It should take less than a month. It's a pity that the weather will be cold by then..."

When they arrived in Paris, Arnaud Lagardère, who had had a "very pleasant chat" with Barron last time, held a ball for Barron in his own mansion, and Barron brought Beatrice with him.

Now, what he was talking about to Arnaud Lagardere was the superyacht he had ordered in Germany. Before Barron got married, he had ordered a 500-foot superyacht named Devonshire Poseidon from the A&R shipyard in Germany.

The original estimated construction period was about two and a half years…

But three years later, Barron finally received news from the A&R shipyard that the Devonshire Poseidon would be completed and delivered in less than a month.

The delay of more than half a year was due to the fact that Barron made some improvements and upgrades to the internal structure and configuration of the Devonshire Poseidon, and the A&R shipyard had to stop work for more than three months due to the need to expand the dock scale.

Fortunately, Barron had previously purchased a super yacht named "Caesar" from this shipyard. Although the "Caesar" is smaller than the "Devonshire Poseidon", it is enough for Barron to use.

Besides, he didn't use the yacht very often. After all, he was quite busy most of the time during this period.

The last time he came to Paris to meet Arnault, he invited Barron to attend the "swimsuit party" he organized - after all, Lagardère Group is the largest media group in France, and the resources of its TV stations and fashion magazines are basically equivalent to models and beauty resources...

But now, Arnaud Lagardere is married again, and his wife used to be a model, so this time the old man is not so extravagant - at least the ball held in his mansion is still very "serious". Well, this time Barron brought Beatrice Borromeo with him, and the girl was chatting with Arnault's wife Jade not far away.

It can be seen that Arnault's wife Jade is worthy of being a former model. She is wearing a satin dress. Her figure is very eye-catching, but she looks a bit mature and her appearance is slightly inferior to Beatrice.

After the meeting, Barron did not immediately discuss with Arnault the matter of Lagardère Group selling Hachette Group, but talked about other things first. After all, this matter itself was under negotiation. Even if Arnault was a bit of a spendthrift, when there was a competitor like Hearst Group, even if he was a spendthrift, he would not be so stupid as to not understand the principle of the highest bidder wins...

Of course, in terms of bidding, SEM Group still has an advantage over Hearst Group.

But before that, Lagardère Group would rather sell Hachette Group's overseas business and retain the French operations of those magazines, which is why Hearst Group made a bid.

Baron will also try to convince Arnault to make up his mind to sell Hachette Group completely.

At this time, the topic of the subprime mortgage crisis is also inevitable.

"The government? I have to say that they are very slow in action. Sometimes they don't even know what to do. They even give money directly to those greedy bankers. This is simply using our tax money to please the hateful capitalists..."

What’s interesting is that, to some extent, Arnault has a bit of an “angry young man” vibe, even though he is one of the “big capitalists” and is not young anymore.

What he accused was the previous rescue of BNP Paribas by France - the French government decided to inject 51 billion euros into BNP Paribas and acquired non-voting shares in France's largest listed bank.

"After all, BNP Paribas is the largest bank in France, but I also think it would be better to let the market solve this problem at this time."

It is obvious that Arnault agrees very much with what Barron said. As for why Barron said that?

Because he really thought so, this way he would have the opportunity to acquire shares in BNP Paribas - as far as he knew, the Rothschild family had a considerable stake in BNP Paribas. Although the proportion was not high, it still had a certain influence on the bank...

If he could acquire shares in BNP Paribas, of course, shares with voting rights, then Baron believed that he could eliminate the Rothschild family's influence in BNP Paribas.

And in terms of returns, this investment can also generate good returns.

But there is no way. As the largest listed bank in France, the French government will definitely give priority to rescuing BNP Paribas at this time.

Of course, because they are all deeply involved in American subprime bond assets, and global stock markets are falling, some of the corresponding investments in banks continue to cause losses, and the situation of many French banks is not so good...

(End of this chapter)