Chapter 156 DS Financial Center

"What exactly happened? Have you investigated it clearly? Was this an accidental bombing or an attack targeting our company?"

The day after Barron received the news, McEwen's deputy Markel Paulson arrived in London exhausted.

Barron asked after seeing him.

"According to the intelligence analysis we have obtained so far, it should be a mistaken bombing, because our situation is very common in Africa. In conflicts between armed groups, we are generally not affected, but accidents are inevitable."

Markel looked very capable. Although he looked tired, he still spoke clearly,

"Colonel Coy's condition is currently stable. He is still in the hospital and is protected by our soldiers. I came here this time to report to you the whole story."

"No matter what, Mr. Coe has been affected, and our employees have also been injured or killed. This matter must be resolved."

Barron looked Markle in the eye and asked,

"What are you going to do?"

"Colonel Coy still needs to rest, so he has temporarily handed over the management of the company to me. Your Highness, we plan to help the current armed group launch a strike against them after investigation in retaliation for the shelling."

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

"It's like this, Your Highness. The armed organization that has entrusted us with this task needs more arms. They currently control an area that includes several mines. They hope to use one of the gold mines to exchange some of our arms and more of our support..."

It has to be said that there are numerous mineral deposits buried under the land of Africa. In terms of reserves, the reserves of advantageous minerals such as uranium, chromium, manganese, cobalt, vanadium, gold, bauxite, platinum group metals, rubidium, diamond, and phosphorus are among the highest in the world. Platinum group metal reserves account for 93.04% of the world's total reserves, rubidium accounts for 80%, phosphate (ore) accounts for 83.90%, titanium accounts for 80.85%, cobalt accounts for 57.22%, and bauxite accounts for 33.60%. The reserves of minerals such as oil, natural gas, iron, copper, palladium, germanium, fluorite, and graphite are also very rich.

The most famous thing there is the diamonds.

However, it is also because of this that, except for a few countries in Africa that can maintain a stable political situation, the great powers have been dividing and plundering here through agents.

For "Imperial Shield", although they encountered an accident this time, it is also an opportunity to expand their scale. Markle's idea is also very clear, that is, he hopes to gain more support from His Royal Highness the Duke Barron.

After his last meeting with Melvin Coe, Barron invested 10 million pounds in the Imperial Shield military company and acquired 45% of the shares of this private military company. It can be said that he became the largest shareholder besides Melvin Coe.

After this injury, McVin Coy could no longer continue to manage the Imperial Shield military company. Now there was an opportunity to acquire a gold mine and increase its influence in the local area. This was also a rare opportunity for Imperial Shield. Therefore, he entrusted his deputy Michael to meet Barron, hoping that he could provide more funds.

Of course, everyone has ambitions. For Markel, this is also a great opportunity. He also hopes that he can take over Colonel Coy's position and become the manager of the "Imperial Shield".

You know, if you really become one of those extremely powerful private military companies, it would be almost like being a "local emperor" in Africa.

Markle naturally would not miss this opportunity to meet His Royal Highness the Duke in person and express his loyalty to him.

"Colonel Coy hopes to withdraw from the 'Imperial Shield' company after this revenge plan, sell his shares to you, and hope to gain more support from you..."

The reason why Barron only held 45% of the shares of "Imperial Shield" military company before was that he needed to take some time to judge whether the other party was worthy of his investment.

But if it is really as Colonel Coy said, then after he continues to invest in "Imperial Shield", the company can only have one voice, that is, everything is based on his interests first.

It's not that he doesn't see Markle's ambition, and he allows her to have ambition, but the premise is that it must be controlled.

He had previously sent personnel into the "Imperial Shield" military company to monitor the company's financial situation. Now Barron suggested that he could continue to give the other party more support, or he could let Markel manage the company in the future, but the prerequisite was that Markel would only be responsible for the military operations of "Imperial Shield", while aspects including personnel and finance would need to be managed by other people.

Of course, the most important aspect of intelligence is the management of the intelligence team.

So, the next day, Barron's intelligence adviser Nigel Inkster went to Africa with Markle on behalf of Barron.

The purpose of his trip is to help "Imperial Shield" complete this "revenge plan", and will later evaluate the "Imperial Shield" military company, and ultimately determine additional investment and complete the handover of the company's shares.

…

In early April, Mars Fund once again opened a channel to accept investments.

At this time, this private equity fund, which had an initial capital of only 50 million pounds, now controlled assets worth more than 170 million pounds, with a rate of return of more than 240%!

No wonder it is sought after by many investors.

This time, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince invested another 30 million pounds, and the original investors including Viscount Bute, the Duke of Westminster and others also made additional investments to varying degrees. Together with the addition of a large number of new investors, the Mars Fund received more than 300 million pounds in new investments.

So far, the total assets controlled by this private equity fund, which was established just over half a year ago, have reached nearly 500 million pounds!

After this, the main investment direction of the Mars Fund is to go long!

Go long on gold prices, go long on crude oil prices, go long on raw material prices, go long on related real estate companies!

In short, before 2007, long position was the main direction of Mars Fund.

Almost at the same time, on April 3, DS Capital finally reached an agreement with Lloyd's Insurance Company. Their DS Asset Management Company will buy the Lloyd's Building where the company is currently located for 175 million pounds.

After selling the building to DS Asset Management, Lloyd's Insurance Company will still rent two-thirds of the building and continue to use it as the headquarters of its British company.

Lloyd's Insurance Company will lease the property for 5 years at an annual price of 16 million pounds. After 5 years, DS Asset Management will be allowed to increase the rent appropriately based on the market price at that time.

In this way, DS Asset Management actually paid Lloyd's Insurance Company 95 million pounds (excluding 5 years' rent) and completed the transfer of ownership of the building.

After the acquisition of the Lloyds Building, the building will be renamed Devonshire Financial Center and serve as the headquarters of DS Capital.

In fact, out of the 95 million pounds, DS Capital only needs to pay 50 million pounds in cash, and the remaining funds will all be paid by loans provided by Barclays Bank.