Rebirth of England.

Chapter 648 Barclays Financing

Barclays Bank's financing negotiations progressed very quickly - there was nothing they could do about it, after all, the deadline required by the British government was getting closer and closer. In the end, Barclays Bank could only make some concessions in terms of the price of the additional stock issuance. However, the final price of the additional stock issuance still had a certain premium, but the premium was less than 10%...

Ultimately, Standard Chartered Merrill Lynch, Global Industrial Investment Fund (GII Fund) and Saudi Public Investment Fund will jointly invest in Barclays Bank.

Standard Chartered Merrill Lynch put up 40 billion pounds, GII Fund and Saudi Public Investment Fund each put up 20 billion pounds, a total of 80 billion pounds of funds, to acquire the additional shares issued by Barclays Bank.

After this, Standard Chartered Merrill Lynch will hold a 14% stake in Barclays, and GII Fund and Saudi Public Investment Fund will each hold a 7% stake in Barclays.

Standard Chartered Merrill Lynch will send a board member to Barclays with one vote, while neither the GII Fund nor the Saudi Public Investment Fund will interfere in the management of Barclays.

Standard Chartered, a unit of Standard Chartered Merrill Lynch, will also provide Barclays with a £20 billion credit line as part of its obligations as a majority shareholder.

The reason for investing in Barclays Bank in this way is that Barclays does not want this financing to have too much impact on their board structure - after all, if Standard Chartered Merrill Lynch conducts this financing alone, they will get nearly 30% of Barclays Bank's shares and become its largest shareholder.

If this is the case, it would be better to go a step further and directly acquire Barclays Bank.

However, as two of the four largest commercial banks in the UK, their regulators would definitely not allow Standard Chartered Merrill Lynch and Barclays Bank to merge, and there would not be much synergy if the two merged - not only would many businesses of Standard Chartered Merrill Lynch and Barclays Bank overlap, but it would also drag down the balance sheet of Standard Chartered Merrill Lynch to a certain extent...

After several mergers and acquisitions, the more important thing for Standard Chartered Merrill Lynch is to complete the integration of the acquired businesses as soon as possible, as it is not yet suitable for further expansion.

"Thank you very much, Your Highness. Our friendship will be as solid as a rock."

During this Barclays Bank financing process, the president of the Saudi Public Investment Fund and Prince Walid came to London and visited Barron.

They also expressed their gratitude to Barron for introducing their sovereign wealth funds to the financing of Barclays Bank.

In everyone's impression, the oil-rich countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, are all extremely rich, and their actions are also amazing.

Especially later, these countries frequently made large investments in technology companies and new energy...

The main reason for this is the sense of crisis in these countries.

After all, the environment of these Middle Eastern countries is not good. They became "nouveau riche" entirely because of oil. Therefore, they also have a special sense of crisis, fearing that when there is no oil or when oil is replaced by new energy, they will fall into the mortal world.

Therefore, they have been actively making various investments with the wealth they have obtained from selling oil resources.

But unfortunately, for well-known reasons, many of their investments, especially those in the United States... are constantly being harvested by the other side.

It was also after the subprime mortgage crisis that many wealthy countries in the Middle East began to divert their funds to Europe and Asia because of Wall Street's greed. For the Saudi Public Investment Fund, investing in Barclays Bank this time was a very good opportunity.

After all, finance itself is a pillar industry in the UK, and Barclays Bank, as one of the four major commercial banks in the UK, is a very good investment target even though it is facing a crisis now - but then again, if it weren't for the subprime mortgage crisis and Barclays Bank encountered difficulties, how could it be their turn to invest?
Barron is also relatively stable - at least that's the case in the eyes of these wealthy people in the Middle East. After all, Wall Street capital is always thinking about reaping the benefits from them, but the funds they invest in Barron have always made stable profits, so in their eyes, Barron is their "true friend."

In a word, it all depends on the support of peers.

"I saw how you handled the 'non-performing assets' of those banks. It was very bold. It also shows that you continue to be optimistic about the future of British real estate, Your Highness."

It was unexpected that Prince Walid would notice Barron's recent entry into the house rental industry, but this was not too surprising. After all, his kingdom investment company was also involved in many real estate projects and had also been buying real estate in London.

"Economic crises always have their cycles. With the foundation of the UK, the real estate market will definitely pick up in the future. I am very sure of this, but it is difficult to predict how long it will take. It will take at least two years..."

Hearing Baron's answer, Prince Walid nodded:
"So during this period, you can maintain a certain income by renting out the properties, and your move to securitize these properties is indeed very creative and reduces capital investment."

"In fact, this kind of thing has already happened..."

Barron was referring to the securitization of Cavendish Asset Management's properties.

After all, the cause of this subprime mortgage crisis is the same as that of subprime mortgage bond CDS, except that bonds backed by subprime mortgages are riskier than real real estate.

"I just strictly controlled the risks involved. Moreover, with the base interest rate continuously decreasing, even a slightly lower yield is enough to attract a lot of funds."

"If possible, can I join this project?"

Prince Walid certainly didn't just come to discuss this matter with Baron. It seemed that he was very interested in it and wanted to invest in it:

"In fact, it's not just me. Some of my friends are also looking for suitable real estate projects, and I think your project is very promising. When the time comes, the funds will come in through our company..."

Barron was not prepared to reject the proposal of Prince Alwaleed and some Middle Eastern funds to join the project. This could also help his Cavendish Asset Management Company to expand its scale at this time, and also help Standard Chartered Bank and other banks involved in the mortgage crisis to deal with their "bad assets"...

only……

"Of course it is possible, but it should be noted in advance that the increase in funds needs to be gradual. After all, we are also slowly improving the process for house rentals, and the renovation and expansion of housing resources still takes some time."

(End of this chapter)