Chapter 561: Delay
Thomas Kaboré is the leader of the Kolo Socialist Party.
Just three and a half years ago, he represented the Kolo Socialist Party and Jammeh Bongo, who represented the Kolo People's Party, in the general election to compete for the position of President of Kolo, but was defeated.
The last failure was due to the fact that Jammeh Bongo himself overthrew the previous military government through a coup with the support of Barron and formed a transitional government. Therefore, his prestige among the upper class and the people was higher.
Obviously, the purpose of his hope to be received by Barron this time is still the new general election to be held next year.
You know, during this term, Jammeh Bongo's political achievements are still very outstanding. The development of Kolo is obvious to all, and it has greatly improved the quality of life of the people...
The key is that Thomas Kaboré is 5 years older than Jammeh Bongo. Who knows what will happen if he fails to win the next general election and waits for another four years? Therefore, he also hopes to get the support of Barron, the big man behind the scenes.
At noon the next day, Barron had lunch with Thomas, but he mainly chatted with him, and the topic was about some of Kolo's developments and problems that needed to be faced in recent years.
As for some of Thomas Kaboré's obvious "loyalty" words, Barron did not give a clear answer, but only said that he would respect the choice of the people of Kolo and hoped that Thomas would have a wonderful performance in next year's general election.
After all, now, Barron no longer needs to directly influence the election results of Kolo most of the time. It's not that he respects "democracy" so much, but at the beginning, he had already planted the seed of the West African Group in the core of Kolo.
So his attitude towards Kolo is completely different from the mentality of imperialist countries such as Britain and France towards their colonies.
He doesn't have to worry that Kolo will get out of his control if it develops well, because with the development of Kolo, the West African Group will only take root deeper and deeper in it, absorb nutrients, and grow stronger.
Therefore, he would not ask about the election in Kolo. Anyway, no matter who sits on the presidential seat, he must respect the interests of the West African Group in Kolo, otherwise he will not be able to continue to sit.
Of course, Thomas Kaboré also needs to meet. As the leader of the opposition party, Barron will also appease the other party appropriately.
At the same time, the meeting with Thomas can also alert Jammeh Bongo a little, so that he will not lose himself in his position and the support of the people, and can be a little more sober.
…
"Your Highness, the Antitrust Bureau of the Ministry of Justice has received an application from Thomson Group to acquire Reuters Group again. This time their acquisition plan has been adjusted. I am afraid it will not be easy to continue to suppress it. If you cannot convince Reuters Group, then the result..."
The call was from Bloomberg. What he was talking about was the antitrust investigation of the Antitrust Bureau of the US Department of Justice against Thomson Group's acquisition of Reuters Group.
"Can we find a way to delay it for a while? Mr. Bloomberg, I think our goals are the same."
"I can only try my best, but I can't guarantee the result."
In terms of willingness, if Reuters Group is destined to be acquired, then as the owner of Bloomberg News, Bloomberg would definitely prefer the acquirer to be SEM Group. After all, Reuters Group will not increase its market share, and Bloomberg News will still have an advantage.
But from Bloomberg's words, it can be heard that being able to get the Antitrust Bureau of the US Department of Justice to reject the other party once is already the other party's best effort. After Thomson Group adjusted the acquisition plan in order to pass the antitrust investigation, I am afraid that even if it is delayed, it will not be delayed for too long.
It is the same in Britain, but it is slightly better than the US side. Barron has a greater influence on this side. After the last review was rejected, even if Thomson Group applied again, Barron can completely delay at least two or three months...
Two or three months is enough, because as long as Britain and the EU do not pass this acquisition plan, Thomson Group's acquisition of Reuters Group will not be successful.
The reason why they want America to delay as much as possible is that if America's antitrust review is passed, it will cause great pressure on the relevant review agencies in Britain and the European Union, so even if they delay, they can't delay for too long.
It is now mid-to-late September, and the American stock market will soon reach the peak before the subprime mortgage crisis, and then it will usher in a continuous decline.
Whether it is the decline in the share price of Thomson Group or the decline in the share price of Reuters Group, it will have an impact on their acquisition.
Speaking of it, since Thomson Group began to acquire Reuters Group in May this year, more than four months have passed...
In fact, in time and space, the acquisition of Thomson Group and Reuters Group was basically determined in May, so the fact that it can be delayed for four months, or even half a year, is the result of Barron's "efforts" in it...
However, even so, SEM Group's acquisition of Reuters Group has not made much progress.
It is obvious that the board of directors of Reuters, including Tom Grosser, president and CEO of Reuters, prefers to merge with Thomson Group.
The reason, as mentioned before, is that for Reuters, the merger with Thomson Group can make the new company's market share the first in the industry, and in terms of synergy, the merged company can reduce a lot of expenses and generate greater benefits.
After all, both parties' acquisitions have a share swap part. Putting aside the cash, they also hope that the shares of the new company they get can have greater value.
Unless...
SEM Group is willing to increase the acquisition price of Reuters Group, but then again, knowing that the subprime mortgage crisis will further erupt, affecting the stock market and causing the market value of Reuters Group to fall, how can Barron be willing to significantly increase the acquisition price?
Unless it is really the time when Thomson Group is about to acquire Reuters Group.
At present, it seems that he can still continue to postpone this time, which is why Barron will still be patient with this acquisition.
At this time, Barron had returned to London from West Africa. As soon as he came back, he asked his public relations team to continue to push the British Competition and Markets Authority to review Thomson Group's acquisition of Reuters Group.
At the same time, Tianhe Capital, far away in China, mobilized funds through an investment company in HK and began to short Thomson Group's stocks on a large scale in the stock markets in the United States and Canada!