Rebirth of England.

Chapter 638 The advantage is mine
The Cavendish Trust Fund previously owned by Barron acquired the British Friends Group for US$28.5 billion, and together with the subsequent restructuring funds injected into it, it was only about US$30 billion.

The value of AIA Group exceeded US$200 billion, even though it was affected by the subprime mortgage crisis and the value of companies in the entire market fell.

The reason why American International Group has fallen into its current situation is mainly because their financial department is too much involved in the secondary securities insurance business, while their other businesses do not actually have too many problems. This is also one of the main reasons why the US government is finally willing to rescue it.

Then, the merger of AIA through AIC Insurance Group is seen by the outside world as a move of a snake swallowing an elephant...

"Your Highness, we do have the idea of ​​selling some of our assets, but we are currently only planning to sell 49% of AIA's shares to introduce new investors to it..."

Next, when Barron met with Edward Reedy, chairman and CEO of American International Group, he said:

"And there are many companies interested in this, including China Life Insurance and Prudential plc who hope to discuss this."

"If I were you, I probably wouldn't make such a choice, Mr. Li Di."

Barron said, shaking his head.

"why?"

Although Edward thought it was not strange for Barron to say such a thing given his position, he still asked with a little curiosity.

"What American International Group needs most now is money and time. Of these, time is a higher priority so that your losses in CDS will not cause too many chain reactions and accumulate."

Edward had to agree with what Barron said. He heard the Duke of England continue to say:
"If the US government had been able to directly provide more than $1500 billion to AIG in the beginning, I'm afraid your situation would have been under control. But the key is that this decision could not have been made a few months ago, and in the end only the first $850 billion bailout was possible. This is like adding fuel to the fire, and it fails to decisively solve the problem."

"It seems so now, Your Highness, but the situation at that time..."

Indeed, it seems now that what Barron said was the right approach, but the overall picture can only be seen after the dust settles. As for four or five months ago... not to mention that American International Group itself did not know how big a hole they had fallen into, even if it really knew, how could it dare to report it truthfully?
If the US government knew at the time that it would require more than $1500 billion, or even close to $2000 billion, to successfully rescue the company, I am afraid that even if the bankruptcy of American International Group would bring about a larger chain reaction, it would not be so easy for them to make the decision to rescue the company.

"Yes, it's useless to say this now, but at least there are some things that can be done. You and I both know, sir, that AIG cannot continue to retain all its businesses. It must make some choices. AIA is not only more valuable, but also has its main business in Asia. Therefore, it is the most suitable one to exchange for precious funds..."

"Even if selling AIA is an option, Your Highness, you also said that we need time and money, so at this time, we also need a sincere offer."

Well, Edward Liddy said it directly, that is, in the end they still have to make a decision based on the bid!
……

"We have communicated with the Ministry of Finance today, Your Highness. They welcome our acquisition, and the relevant regulatory authorities will not conduct overly strict reviews on it..."

Barron agreed with Amber Sheen's words. After all, in the current situation, whether it is for the purpose of stabilizing American finance or for the "struggle" of the Democratic Party for the election situation, such acquisitions that can help American International Group save itself will be treated specially. Moreover, they are British capital and are not targets that need to be strictly scrutinized.

After arriving in New York, Barron moved into a manor on Long Island. Relatively speaking, the environment here was more satisfactory to Barron than the penthouse in Manhattan.

Amber Sheehan had already rushed over from London and was personally in charge of the acquisition of AIA - this acquisition was destined to become the world's largest insurance company merger this year.

In the pursuit of AIA, it seems that Prudential Insurance Group is still in a relatively advantageous position. Their two biggest competitors are China Life Insurance and Prudential plc, which is also a British insurance company and ranks first.

However, China Life Insurance is only prepared to purchase part of AIA's shares. If it hopes to acquire it as a whole, there is no doubt that due to certain factors, it will inevitably face strict scrutiny from relevant American parties and may very likely repeat the mistake of PetroChina's acquisition of Unocal.

As for Prudential Group...

They themselves have a large amount of business in Asia. Prudential has been rooted in the Asian market for nearly a hundred years. It currently has more than 13 million customers in Asia and more than US$600 billion in assets in markets in the region. It is one of the largest foreign insurance companies in Asia.

Last year, Asia accounted for a third of Prudential's global sales and half of its profits.

This is also the reason why they are interested in investing in AIA and even acquiring it.

According to the analysis of the think tank led by Baron, if Prudential Group completes the acquisition of AIA, then 80% to 90% of Prudential Group's future sales and profits will come from the Asian market, and Prudential Group will gain a dominant position in the region.

In Barron's previous life, Prudential Group had intended to acquire AIA, but the acquisition ultimately failed.

After all, a merger of this scale, involving two insurance companies of such size, will inevitably be reviewed by relevant regulatory authorities in various countries in Asia, and even relevant agencies in the European Union and the United States will conduct a review.

In addition, AIA will also consider whether there will be any conflicts with the relevant businesses of the original Prudential Group after the acquisition.

In this way, given the current size of the A-Life Insurance Group and the huge gap in its business in Asia compared to that of AIA, it is more likely to win in this merger.

After all, time is very important to American International Group, and even if the regulatory review is passed, the time required will become longer and longer as the scale and market share of the two parties to the merger and acquisition increase.

In this regard, I am afraid that American International Group will not have the patience to wait any longer.

In addition, on the American government side, it is not just Barron's side. After hiring JPMorgan Chase as the service provider for their acquisition of AIA Insurance Company under American International Group, Jamie Dimon also used JPMorgan Chase's connections to start running for this purpose...

(End of this chapter)