Chapter 265 Action Begins

Barron's has more information about this than Goldman Sachs.

  Because he knew that in the original time and space, on February 22 this year, Khoo Teck Puat would unexpectedly pass away due to a sudden heart attack. After his death, his children were not as eager as Khoo Teck Puat to continue holding shares in Standard Chartered Bank, which made it possible for these shares to be sold.

  It really caused a lot of speculation at the time.

  Indeed, in 2006, his shares were acquired by Temasek Holdings, a state-owned investment company in Singapore.

  Currently, Standard Chartered Bank is listed in London and Hong Kong, with a total market value of approximately US$6.6 billion. Based on this calculation, the 13.5% stake in Standard Chartered Bank held by Khoo Teck Puat is worth approximately US$900 million.

  By 2006, when Temasek acquired these shares, their market value had reached US$4 billion.

  We can also see the future potential of Standard Chartered Bank from here.

  DS Capital previously obtained a loan of 4 billion pounds from Northern Rock Bank. After repaying the 3 billion financing from Barclays Bank and Goldman Sachs Group, it still had 1 billion pounds left, equivalent to about 1.75 billion US dollars. In addition to investing 600 million US dollars of it into the Zeuss Fund, it currently has more than 1.15 billion US dollars in funds.

  Originally, DS Capital was planning to acquire Marconi, the largest communications manufacturer in the UK, but unfortunately, the other party once again rejected their £800 million offer.

  Therefore, Barron has taken out part of this funds and started buying Standard Chartered Bank's outstanding shares on the London Stock Exchange.

  In the next two years, Standard Chartered Bank developed rapidly because of the successful management of the bank by Davis, who was the CEO at the time.

  Its market value will surge from around $6.6 billion now to nearly $30 billion - of course, because Standard Chartered is primarily listed on the London Stock Exchange, its market value will also benefit greatly from the appreciation of the pound against the dollar, when denominated in US dollars.

  But it has to be admitted that even if the acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank cannot be completed in the end, even as a financial investment, the increase in its market value is completely satisfactory.

  So far, Barron's DS Capital has used $150 million to purchase approximately 25.685 million shares of Standard Chartered Bank at an average price of $5.84, accounting for 2.27% of its total share capital.

  Next, his goal is to acquire the 13.5% stake in Standard Chartered Bank owned by Khoo Teck Puat, the richest man in Leekath.

  Barron also has a plan for this. Even if this acquisition fails, he will continue to purchase Standard Chartered Bank shares from other shareholders. He may even try to become the largest shareholder of Standard Chartered Bank by raising funds from Goldman Sachs Group, thereby taking over the bank.

  In fact, as an investment group, DS Group has always lacked its own financing channels, and Barron also hopes to make up for this shortcoming by acquiring Standard Chartered Bank.

  Just like Barclays Bank, Goldman Sachs Group and Northern Rock Bank, the reason why they are able to provide so many loans and financing to DS Capital is because these banks themselves can absorb a large amount of funds through deposits and other means.

  The interest they need to pay on these funds is much lower than the interest on loans and financing.

  This is equivalent to them obtaining "financial leverage" through deposits and other means, and through lending, they can obtain interest rate differentials and make money easily.

  This is why the world's Internet giants, including China, could not help but get involved in the financial business. It is really easy to make money in this way.

  Goldman Sachs is also very enthusiastic about Barron's acquisition of Standard Chartered Bank's "big business".

  The Kuo family itself is involved in the banking business and has many dealings with Goldman Sachs Group. Therefore, he said that he would personally come forward to create an opportunity for Barron to meet Mr. Kuo.

  …  

  As Barron met with Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, the atmosphere was extremely solemn on a small island far away in West Africa.

  This is a small island less than 10 nautical miles away from Loti, the capital of Kolo, and was originally uninhabited.

  A day ago, a passing cargo ship brought more than a hundred people on board to this island.

  Yes, these are the soldiers of the Kolo Liberation Front and the special operations team members who are about to participate in the coup against the capital of Kolo.

  Among them, there is a special member, that is, Jammeh Bongo, the leader of the Kolo Liberation Front. He will also participate in this coup under the protection of the soldiers and make a public speech after the success.

  It can be said that this time Jammeh Bongo has really given it his all.

  In fact, he would not be in much danger this time, because for this operation, Barron specially purchased two CH47 Chinook large transport helicopters from the US military in Iraq.

  The CH47 Chinook large transport aircraft can be said to be a very well-known military helicopter in the US military. It has been in service in the US military since 1962, and it has been more than 40 years now.

  However, starting this year, all of the US military's CH47 Chinook helicopters will begin to be retired one after another. This is why Barron was able to purchase this large transport helicopter in the name of Protector Military Services.

  The reason why they have waited until now to take action is not only because they need to continuously weaken the strength of the other two anti-government armed groups on the Kolo Liberation Front in the grassland area, but also because they are waiting for the two transport planes to arrive in West Africa.

  Under normal circumstances, a CH47 Chinook helicopter can easily accommodate 30 fully armed US troops.

  But in Africa, there is no need to be so particular. If we squeeze in, two CH47 Chinook helicopters can carry more than 100 people at a time without any problem.

  Only after making sure that the soldiers have control of the situation in the capital will the CH47 Chinook helicopter pick up Jammeh Bongo and his "security personnel" and go to the city of Loti. Therefore, overall, although there are some risks, Jammeh's safety can basically be guaranteed.

  After having enough rest, at five o'clock in the morning, the soldiers of the Kolo Liberation Front and members of the special operations team, carrying their weapons and equipment, began to board two CH47 Chinook helicopters.

  The helicopter took off and began to fly towards the capital's coastline a few miles away.

  Before this, relevant intelligence personnel had already entered the city of Loti and had mastered some basic intelligence.

  According to their information, the head of Color, Nassin Dema, and his family were in the presidential palace that night.

  This "coup" was relatively smooth. Although there were some minor problems, there were no major omissions.

  After all, for a small African country like Kolo, the security of both the capital and the presidential palace is not very tight, especially when the elite troops have already gone to the front line in the north.

  Nasin Dema could not have predicted that the anti-government forces in the north would cross the entire border and come to the southernmost capital to cause trouble.

  This is indeed the case. Without the resources of the Protector Military Service Company, it would be difficult for the anti-government armed forces to obtain the facilities and equipment to attack the capital from the sea...