Chapter 144 Cooperation Achieved

In the early morning, from the floor-to-ceiling window of Barron's bedroom, one could see Chatsworth House covered in snow, which was very magnificent.

At this time, Emma Manners, Duchess of Rutland, was leaning against the window with her hand, looking down at the downstairs.

But her face was flushed, and she bit her lips tightly, and she seemed to have some signs of fever.

Of course, the enthusiastic Duke of Devonshire was standing behind her. Knowing a little about medicine, he was giving the Duchess of Rutland an injection.

"Are you feeling better now, ma'am?"

"Yes, much better. Thank you, Your Highness."

Although the Duchess of Rutland's face was still ruddy and there were beads of sweat on her forehead, her complexion looked much better...

After consideration and discussion, the Duke of Rutland's family finally accepted Barron's suggestion and prepared to cooperate with him to develop their Belvoir Castle.

Devonshire Cultural Tourism Group will be renamed British Grace Cultural Tourism Group to save the face of the Duke of Rutland's family and avoid giving people the illusion that their castle estate was bought by the Devonshire family.

After all, Grace means "elegant", and in the aristocratic tradition, Grace is a specific title for the duke.

In this way, the ownership of Belvoir Castle of the Rutland Family will still belong to the Rutland Family, while its management rights will be granted to Grace Cultural Tourism Group, and the Rutland Family will receive a share of its operating income.

Similarly, Cavendish Hotel Group will open a new castle hotel, Devonshire (Belvoir) Castle Hotel, in a joint venture with the Rutland Family in Belvoir Castle, and the operating income will also be shared with the Rutland Family.

From now on, Belvoir Castle will enjoy the unified promotion and customer resources of Grace Tourism Group, and it is expected to hold the Belvoir Music Festival in the summer to expand the popularity of Belvoir Manor.

After accompanying the Duchess of Rutland on a tour of Chatsworth House and learning a lot from her about... well, about the management of the house, Barron sent the Duchess away.

Next, he welcomed a new guest here - John Smith from the Sinclair family came to England again from New York and visited Chatsworth House.

"I have to say, Your Highness, after arriving at Chatsworth House, I seem to have entered the TV series Downton Abbey. It's a wonderful feeling."

After the meeting, John Smith took the initiative to say,

"Congratulations, Downton Abbey has achieved great success. Reports about this series can be seen in America."

"It is very nice to see you again, Mr. Smith, and the beautiful Miss Booth, and Mrs. Booth."

John Smith was accompanied by his girlfriend, Jenny Bute, the youngest daughter of the Bute family, and Viscountess Bute.

When in New York, Barron and John Smith confirmed their cooperation, but the two sides were still negotiating on the valuation of SEM Group and failed to reach a final agreement.

It was not until the broadcast of the series "Downton Abbey" that, although the number of users of the Freeview platform was not high at that time, the series still had a sensational impact.

It's no exaggeration to say that even Her Majesty the Queen has privately complained that the wait for this TV series is too long, and she hopes to be able to watch it all in one go…

Also influenced by this TV series and the explosion of production capacity of Huaxia factory, the number of users of Freeview platform increased by 200,000 in just two weeks after New Year's Day 2003, which was the number of users increased in the previous nearly two months.

And this speed is constantly being broken.

This time, John Smith came to England in person and visited Chatsworth House. His main purpose, in addition to hoping to introduce the series "Downton Abbey" to the TV station under the Sinclair Group for broadcast, was to speed up negotiations with SEM Group for a stake.

"We are willing to make concessions. Your Highness, we can invest in SEM Group at a valuation of 200 million pounds. We will pay 30 million US dollars to obtain 10% of SEM Group's shares. At the same time, you can obtain more resources from Sinclair Group and sell program content to SEM Group at a low price, thereby enriching your broadcast channels."

In fact, the total amount of money Barron invested in both SEM Group's Independent Newspapers and Summit Media is far less than 200 million pounds. However, the entire SEM Group is clearly in a good development stage, especially Summit Media, which has a promising development prospect. Therefore, the overall valuation of 200 million pounds can only be regarded as a price he can accept under the premise of Sinclair Group's content resources.

And this time, Sinclair Group only wants to take 10% of the shares, which is within Barron's expectations.

"There is no need for me to bargain with you, John. I can agree to it now, but there is one more thing. I need your additional help."

Seeing John Smith looking at him with an inquiring look, Barron said calmly,

"I know you have often carried out debt-based acquisitions before. I have such a plan recently and need to obtain more resources in terms of financing."

"That's no problem, Your Highness. We have a good relationship with Goldman Sachs. We can introduce their person in charge in England to you next."

From Rolf, Barron obtained some support from Barclays Bank, but in the subsequent acquisition of O2, Barclays Bank could only bear half of the funds at most, and he also needed to introduce more financing partners. Now Barron has set his sights on America.

If Sinclair Group can reach a cooperation with Goldman Sachs, the remaining funds for the acquisition of O2 can be made up.

"Also, regarding the additional shares of Sinclair Group, I will accept your additional issuance of 8.5 million shares in full through DS Capital, but I plan to carry out this transaction in two months."

"That's no problem, Barron. We will eventually trade at the average price of the stock price in the previous 30 business days. I am very happy to see that Sinclair Group and SEM Group have formed a closer alliance. This is very important for our development in each other's market."

Just like that, during their conversation, the cooperation on share exchange was reached.

However, Barron's investment in Sinclair Group is not based on the ultimate returns that can be obtained from these investments - more precisely, his investment in Sinclair Group can be seen as a stepping stone that will enable him to better utilize Sinclair Group's influence in the United States, thereby gaining more opportunities and development in the United States in the future.