Chapter 496： It's still money

At the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Ronan met five VIPs from Cape Town, South Africa in a reception room. Scott Swift, who accompanied them to the downhill from South Africa, introduced them one by one.

"This is Mr. Si Goodson, President of Millard International Holdings Group, and this is Miss Charlotte, Mr. Si Goodson's senior assistant..."

As a landlord, Ronan shook hands and greeted these guests one by one.

Yesterday, Scott Swift took them to visit the Pacific Investment Foundation and Sand Sea Entertainment Company, which have upgraded their business, and introduced them to the film projects invested by the Taiping Investment Foundation.

Before Ronan came to see them, he also did a detailed understanding. Milad International Holdings Group is affiliated to the South African newspaper industry and is mainly engaged in investment, media and Internet technology support businesses. Investment is the core business of Milad International Holdings Group. They have heavyweight investments in regions such as Africa, North America and Southeast Asia.

As an investment group company engaged in the media business, they are also very interested in investments related to Hollywood.

Scott Swift has negotiated with them no less than ten times, and most of the matters have actually been negotiated. As the president of Millard International Holdings Group, Sigurdson came to Los Angeles in person. On the one hand, he was with Ronan. When the boss met, on the other hand, he also wanted to get better terms of return from Ronan.

Therefore, after the simple greetings between the two sides, they quickly entered the topic.

West Goodson, like most of the elite in South Africa, is a standard white man and speaks very fluent English: "Mr. Anderson, the Millard Group currently holds a large amount of funds in hand and has been screening suitable investment channels. We have all seen the foundation’s cooperation with Germany, island countries, India and South Korea. You are indeed a very powerful and reputable investment institution."

This is also the reason why he chose the Pacific Investment Fund. Reputation is very important.

Ronan smiled and said, "It is an honor for me and the Foundation."

He also responded politely when the other party said it was polite.

After the pretty words are over, Si Gudson said with a smile, "Your return on investment is a bit low."

Ronan said: "Looking at all formal foundations in the United States, the annual fixed investment rate of return of 4% is already the highest grade."

"That's not right." Si Gudson seemed to have no idea: "Many investment institutions on Wall Street have an annual fixed investment return rate of 78%. One fund company has an annual fixed investment return of as high as 78%. ten!"

Ronan laughed and did not explain the difference. Instead, he said: "Milad International Holdings Group is an established investment company. It has invested in the world for many years and must have a good understanding of the investment industry. Mr. Si Goodson, do you think the year is fixed? Is the return on investment of 78% or even 10% normal?"

Sigurdson glanced at Ronan's young face and began to put away the contempt in his heart.

Ronan added: "For those investment institutions with such a high annual fixed rate of return, do you dare to risk huge investments?"

Sigurdsson smiled and said, "Mr. Anderson said and laughed." He turned off the subject: "I saw your investment case yesterday, and it was indeed very successful."

Ronan also stopped mentioning the matter just now: "We will be responsible for every dollar invested by our customers."

With investments in Germany, island countries, India, and South Korea as the foundation, the negotiation between the Pacific Investment Foundation and the Milad International Holdings Group went very smoothly. After Ronan and Sigurdson had an interview, the two parties quickly entered the actual negotiation stage.

Pacific Investment Fund’s financing from Milad International Group is based on each calendar year, with a fixed annual rate of return of 4%. Milad International Group will contribute to Pacific Film Fund every year in the next five years. Will provide an investment of no less than US$200 million.

Another point is that this part of the funds can be used to invest in any legal industry, not a special film fund investment.

When Relativity Entertainment urgently needs funds in other areas, it also has external financial support.

Milad International Group has established that the first phase of investment is 200 million US dollars, which is a lot of money, but it cannot solve the problem of Universal Pictures that Ronan thought.

Pulling investment has never been simple, and tens of billions of dollars of funds are really difficult to solve.

Of course, as long as there is a slight possibility, Ronan has to fight for it, so he took the time to come to the Los Angeles branch of Bank of America and meet Judith, an old acquaintance.

The former business manager is already in charge of all Los Angeles credit operations.

Judith and Ronan are also old acquaintances, and asked with a smile: "Need financial support?"

Relativity Entertainment and Ronan personally repaid their loans in a timely manner and never defaulted on them. They have always been high-quality customers of Bank of America.

Ronan smiled and said, "Yes, I might need a large loan."

"A lot of money?" Judith didn't pay much attention to it. According to the actual situation of Relativity Entertainment, he asked: "It takes hundreds of millions of dollars?"

Ronan put a smile away and said seriously: "It may cost billions of dollars."

Judith was taken aback, looked at Ronan, and asked: "Are you kidding?" She looked at Ronan for a while, confirmed that Ronan was not joking, and slowly asked, "You are doing this. What? You want to borrow so much money?"

Ronan said: "Trade secrets."

Judith adjusted his mood and tone, and said: "I can't help you, I don't have the authority. To be precise, no bank can lend you so much money. If you want to lend 100 million US dollars, you The good reputation in the past does not even require mortgage, but..."

She smiled bitterly and said, "Ronan, we are old friends, so I won’t tell you unnecessary words. Even if you use Relativity Entertainment as your collateral, you can’t borrow billions of dollars. No bank will lend you. The fund raising and risk control involved..."

Needless to say the rest, Ronan can also understand that after all, it is impossible for Relativity Entertainment to loan funds that exceed the estimated value of the outside world.

Ronan simply asked: "Judith, if I need to spend money within this year, how much can you lend to Relativity Entertainment?"

Judith thought about it for a while and said: "I can apply for about 500 million US dollars, but for such a large loan, it takes time to process the approval, and the corresponding assets or company shares must be used as collateral."

Ronan nodded: "I understand."

After leaving Bank of America, Ronan went to other banks to test it, and the answer he got was not as good as Judith's side.

Later, he contacted Wall Street specifically. For this kind of acquisition similar to the empty glove white wolf, Wall Street's large investment institutions are not very interested, and several interested small companies are far too weak.

The next day, Robert Lee came to Ronan's office again.

"Universal Pictures has a very tight tone, and I have not been able to hear specific news." Robert Lee sat on the chair opposite Ronan's desk and said directly: "I specially sent someone to the headquarters of Vivendi Group in France to collect news. After going through many ways, it can finally be confirmed that Vivendi Group really wants to sell Universal Pictures Group for cash to pay off several imminent debts, and they have already had preliminary contact with a company in the United States, and I believe it will not take too long. Time will be made public."

Ronan nodded and asked, "Which company?"

Robert Lee replied: "NBC."

"NBC?" Ronan really didn't have any surprises at all: "They intend that Universal Pictures will not be short."

According to relevant information collected by Connie, when the Panasonic Group sold Universal Pictures to the Seagram Group, NBC had participated in the acquisition, but it was out because of the low bid.

Later, Seagram Group encountered a crisis and NBC TV station proposed to acquire Universal Pictures, but the bid of USD 6 billion was directly rejected by Seagram. Then Vivendi bought all of Seagram Group directly for USD 34 billion. business.

NBC's two acquisitions of Universal Pictures were frustrated, and there was no other reason. The bid was too low.

Obviously, NBC has always wanted to spend the lowest price to win Universal Pictures.

Unexpectedly, Universal Pictures went round and round and once again contacted NBC.

Robert-Lee said at this time: "We have no way of knowing which step the two sides have come into contact with, but Vivendi seems to be dissatisfied with NBC's bid. It is said that they will publicly promote the global move no later than the end of August. Film and Entertainment Group in order to sell it at a higher price."

Ronan thought for a while and asked, "What do you think is Vivendi's psychological reserve price?"

"This is not easy to guess." Robert Lee considered it and said: "There is a situation that can be used for reference. Vivendi's urgent need to deal with loans is probably more than 11 billion US dollars."

Ronan nodded slightly: "I see."

If this is the psychological base price of the Vivendi Group, it is $1 billion less than Robert Iger's estimate.

But is Relativity Entertainment a company that lacks that $1 billion?

Therefore, more than a billion, less than a billion, is meaningless for relativity entertainment.

Thinking of this, Ronan was somewhat depressed. There was an opportunity in front of him. Even if he bankrupted his family, or even raised debts with all his strength, he could be said to be powerless.

This feeling is very bad Ronan quickly got rid of this sentiment, thinking of the possible opportunities in it, and said: "Robert, wait until Vivendi’s news is released, you contact them for me to express A kind of Relativity Entertainment's intention to finance and participate in the acquisition."

Robert Lee asked: "We really want to participate in the acquisition?"

"On the one hand is to practice hands to accumulate experience." Ronan tried his best not to let the frustration affect him: "On the other hand, see if you can take advantage of this period that will inevitably cause turmoil in Universal Pictures, and get some benefits from it, such as green The giant’s video adaptation copyright."

Robert Lee said, "I understand."

Later, Ronan called Robert Iger again, and the three discussed for a long time.

Unexpectedly, only five days later, Vivendi Group announced through multiple media simultaneously that it intends to transfer its Universal Entertainment Group.

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