Rebirth of England.

In addition, in terms of commercial real estate, Argent Real Estate Group has completed more than 5 office buildings and a commercial complex including shopping and entertainment in the first phase of the King's Cross urban renewal plan.

Except for two of the office buildings, which were sold to companies under Barron's name and became the Cavendish King Building and the O2 Building, the current occupancy rate of the remaining commercial buildings has exceeded 70%.

It can be said that this ratio is already very good and can bring stable and sustained profits to Argent Real Estate Group.

After all, there has always been a huge shortage of office space in London. After they opened these office and commercial spaces in King's Cross, they received a positive response from those companies and merchants.

After hiring a professional team to complete the financial "modification" of Argent Real Estate Group, they will hire Barclays Bank as their sponsor and underwriter to submit an application to the London Stock Exchange in preparation for an IPO.

You know, the King's Cross urban renewal plan is London's largest urban reconstruction project in the past 150 years.

As the main promoter of this huge plan, the listing of Argent Real Estate Group will inevitably attract great attention from the market.

At present, it seems that the preparation process of Argent Real Estate Group's listing is relatively smooth. Earl Butt also appeared very high-spirited when talking about this topic with Barron.

……

At present, Giant Studio has completed the integration after completing the acquisition of independent production company TalkbackTHAMES.

The new company name is Stuart Media, which currently includes the previous Giant Studio and the newly added TT Studio.

It is now May, Giant Studio has started the production of the second season of "Strictly Come Dancing", and TT Studio is also planning a new variety show.

Fortunately, since Barron persuaded Bonnie last time, she has gradually begun to delegate many execution tasks, and she is mainly responsible for management and creativity.

However, this change currently requires gradual adaptation.

Today is Bonnie’s birthday. Barron came to the SEM Media Building in advance to pick her up. Knowing that it would be some time before she could finish her work, he stopped by the SEM Group first - Stuart Media and SEM Group have always been in the same building. building.

"We have conducted several rounds of negotiations with ITV regarding the acquisition, and the current progress is pretty good..."

After knowing that Barron was coming, Fergal Hayden, CEO of SEM Group, was waiting for him:

"At present, we have once again confirmed the acquisition plan. It seems that both ITV's management and their board of directors have a relatively high degree of acceptance of this plan."

For the acquisition of ITV, SEM Group proposed to proceed in the form of cash and stocks. ITV stock holders can choose to sell their shares in pure cash, or they can choose the form of cash and stocks - that is to say, they get A certain share of cash, and the remaining share, will be exchanged for shares of Summit Media at a certain ratio.

However, in the sale process of ITV shareholders, only up to one-third of the ITV shares can be exchanged for Summit Media shares.

Because the market value of ITV is similar to that of Summit Media, choosing this method of acquisition is also to ensure that the proportion of SEM Group's shareholding in Summit Media will not be too diluted and to maintain control.

However, now that the progress of Summit Media's acquisition of ITV has reached this point, it is naturally impossible to keep it completely confidential. Many media have obtained relevant information from "sources".

Regarding these reports and related interviews, neither Summit Media nor ITV disclosed much. They only stated that the two parties had been in contact but had not reached an agreement.

Of course, after this news came out, it also attracted the attention of the BBC and Sky TV.

At present, in the British television broadcasting industry, since the emergence of Summit Media, the previous three-legged situation of BBC, ITV and Sky TV has gradually developed into the existence of four giants.

Among them, the BBC and Sky TV belong to the first echelon.

They are far ahead of other TV stations in terms of revenue and scale, while ITV and Summit Media are slightly behind these two TV stations and belong to the second tier.

But if the merger of the two is completed, the scale of the new TV station that will eventually be formed will completely threaten the BBC and Sky TV.

James Murdoch, Murdoch's eldest son and chairman of Sky TV, said in an interview that Summit Media's acquisition of ITV will change the current situation of the British television broadcasting industry and will cause cultural diversity. Threats, relevant regulatory agencies should review this acquisition.

The chairman of the BBC also made a similar statement recently.

Although Summit Media has refuted their claims, no matter what, it is very certain that if their transaction is finally finalized, they will inevitably need to face antitrust scrutiny from regulators.

At that time, neither the BBC nor Sky TV will let go of their attempts to hinder the completion of the transaction.

"By the way, that girl, Joe Harriman, isn't she? How is she doing?"

Hearing Barron's casual question, Fergal Hayden smiled:

"Joe's performance is very good, he is very hard-working and very smart, and he also contributed to the acquisition of ITV."

The Joe Harriman mentioned by Barron was recommended by Cameron.

The last time the two met, Cameron made a small request, that is, one of his friends needed to arrange a job in a large company for his junior.

Barron naturally agreed readily. This was nothing to him, and besides, he was able to make good friends with Cameron.

You have to do it well. After getting information about the other party, Joe Harriman, and knowing that she graduated from Oxford University with a degree in politics and economics, she offered several positions for the other party to choose from.

Joe Harriman finally chose SEM Group and quickly joined the company and became a member of the group's strategic mergers and acquisitions department.

At the same time, Barron also obtained a background check on Joe Harriman through his intelligence department.

Joe Harriman, born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1980, is 25 years old this year.

After graduating from Oxford University, he entered Ernst & Young and worked there for four years, moving from being a certified public accountant to the mergers and acquisitions consulting department.

This is also the reason why Joe Harriman was assigned to the merger and acquisition team of ITV after entering the SEM Group.

It can be said that Joe Harriman is not only a top academic, but her appearance is also very outstanding.

Barron has seen her photos in the information. If they just look at these photos, most people will not think that she is a top student who graduated from Oxford University with a double major in political science and economics. Instead, they will think that she is A supermodel.

She has a bright and majestic appearance, and has a model-like tall figure and curvy curves. She is an extraordinary beauty.

When Cameron recommended Joe Harriman to Barron, he also speculated that he had some close relationship with Cameron.

But after seeing Joe Harriman’s detailed background check, I understood why.

It is not so much that Cameron recommended Joe Harriman, but that he is deepening the relationship with the current Conservative Party leader Howard.

Joe Harriman's grandmother was very close friends with the wife of Conservative Party leader Howard, and their relationship began when they were both models many years ago.