I Am a Nobleman in England

"...Britain is currently facing serious challenges to power supply security, which will pose a real threat to its future economic development and social stability. On the one hand, a large number of power stations will be offline one after another, and the power supply capacity is seriously insufficient.

The total installed capacity of coal-fired power stations is 28 million kilowatts, accounting for 30% of the total power generation. According to the European Union's "Large Combustion Power Station Directive", 8 million kilowatts of coal-fired power stations will be shut down by the end of 2015.

Nine of the 10 nuclear power plants in active service have reached the designed service life and will be decommissioned by the end of 2020, with a generating capacity of 4 million kilowatts going offline. It is estimated that 21% of power generation facilities will be shut down in the next 10 years, and the power generation capacity of the UK will be reduced by about 19.1 million kilowatts.

In addition, many gas-fired power plants in active service will also be decommissioned before 2030, and 21 million kilowatts of power generation capacity will be offline by then. At the same time, the eight new nuclear power plants planned to be built by 2025 are currently progressing slowly, and the prospects are worrying. It may be difficult to take on the heavy responsibility of generating electricity in the short term

On the other hand, with the steady growth of the total population and the gradual recovery of various sectors of the national economy after the financial crisis, the demand for electricity continues to expand and is expected to increase by 15% by 2020. At that time, in case of peak power consumption or emergencies, the extremely limited power generation and power supply capacity will not be able to guarantee the safety of electricity consumption across the country.

How to ensure the safety of power supply has become an important issue that the British government needs to solve urgently. "

Angela focused on the difficulties faced by British Power to increase the future prospects and profitability of the acquisition target, in fact, to put it bluntly. If the bank can't see enough benefits, they will definitely not join Arthur's acquisition plan.

When the data was presented, Arthur clearly saw the unexpected expression on Bob Diamond's face, and at the same time showed an interested reaction for the first time, and looked down at the acquisition plan in his hand again.

Arthur, who was smiling all the time, glanced at Angela who was drinking the black tea and nodded slightly. Angela raised the corners of her mouth, with a confident smile on her face, put down the black tea cup, and continued to talk.

"In power generation other than coal power, nuclear power has been operating at full capacity, but the power generation is limited by installed capacity. Hydropower supply is greatly affected by seasonal changes in dry and flood seasons, and power generation in wet and dry seasons is unbalanced.

Renewable energy power such as wind power and solar power has the characteristics of randomness and intermittent instability, making it difficult to undertake base load power generation. As for the cost of fuel power generation is relatively higher. Under the comparison of various power generation methods, natural gas power generation has become an important alternative to coal-fired power generation.

Although from the perspective of the power grid, electricity is an indifferent commodity, and the on-grid electricity price of gas is higher than that of coal-fired power generation. In order to pursue economic interests, the power grid prefers low-cost electricity such as coal power, but the high pollution of coal power is insurmountable. biggest problem.

The biggest advantage of gas-fired power generation over coal-fired power is that it is clean and environmentally friendly. The significance of building gas-fired power plants in most areas of my country is to reduce environmental pollution and improve the atmospheric environment. Restricting the development of coal-fired power has become an important means for the government to protect environmental quality.

Natural gas power generation has been developed in the UK for 20 years, with mature technology and many advantages. For example, the power generation level is stable, the peak-shaving ability is strong, the power transmission and transformation is simple and easy to connect to the grid, and the cost is low, and the construction period is short.

Under the urgent situation of current and future power supply security, the British government has regarded gas-fired power generation as a fire brigade and vigorously developed it, hoping to effectively increase the reserve capacity of power generation across the UK, and to protect it during peak power consumption or insufficient renewable energy power generation capacity Emergency power supply.

And, with electricity spot prices soaring day by day due to deteriorating weather conditions across the UK, a demand-led price surge is becoming irresistible for operators of UK gas-fired power plants. "

"So have you ever thought about it, in case there is excess gas production capacity and the price of natural gas continues to rise, which will put a huge downward pressure on the 'clean ignition spread', the operating cost of the power station will be too high, and the income will be too low? You know, once this happens If the situation arises, there is only one way for the power station to be shut down!"

Bob Diamond had a faint smile on his face, and his eyes shone with wisdom. Looking at Angela, who had been talking eloquently and impressed him with her eloquence, he asked back.

Surprisingly, it was not Angela who answered this question, but Arthur who kept quiet all the time, "Of course, we have considered these possible risks. After all, investment is for profit, and no one wants to lose money." .

But to get involved in the energy industry, the most unavoidable and most uncontrollable thing is the BO fluctuation of energy prices. In order to reduce the risk, we have also prepared a series of follow-up plans to lay out upstream, so as to form a complete and safe industrial chain. "

"Well, that's it..." Bob Diamond didn't continue to ask, because since the other party didn't say much, then if he continued to ask, if it was a commercial secret, it would undoubtedly be difficult for others.

"The plan is very detailed and beautiful, so what do you mean..."

"I want to raise money from your bank, and then acquire half of the shares of this power plant, so as to control this power plant, which requires about 200 million pounds of funds." Arthur smiled, and said his thoughts straight to the point.

"200 million pounds... What financing channel do you plan to choose?" Bob Diamond continued to ask after pondering for a moment.

"I will use 50% of the equity of the power plant as collateral to carry out bond debt financing from your bank. I believe that once the power plant is successfully acquired, the operating profit will be enough to repay the principal and interest on schedule." Arthur's eyes flashed With a touch of splendor, he looked at each other with burning eyes.

LBO!

Snake swallows elephants!

Leveraged buyouts, also known as debt-operated buyouts, simply put, Arthur only pays a small part of the money, and most of the funds come from bank mortgages. Arthur first uses Bristol's coast, which has nothing to do with him. (Natural gas) power station assets and future cash flow and income are used to secure loans and be used to repay principal and interest.

Although this method is shameless, the bank is not a benevolent person. The handling fee for financing loans is as high as 1% of the total amount. That is to say, Arthur has to pay a handling fee of 2 million pounds for financing 200 million from Barclays. , and if the acquisition is successful and achieves the expected benefits, Arthur will not be able to share the benefits brought about by the appreciation of the company's assets, and must be used to repay the principal and interest.

"..." Bob Diamond frowned slightly. After pondering for a moment, he looked at Arthur and said, "I will take the plan back and let my subordinates study the feasibility. If the asset appraisal of the coastal (natural gas) power station is correct, I think that Barclays Bank is very willing to help you complete this project."

"Thank you, then I wish us a happy cooperation!" Arthur smiled and stretched out his hand to shake hands with the other party.

"I wish us a happy cooperation." Bob also said with a smile and shook hands with Arthur.

Returning to the car in the Financial City, Arthur smiled and said to Angela beside him: "You can start to form a negotiating team and contact the board of directors of Bristol's coastal (natural gas) power station for negotiations, and formally initiate an acquisition invitation to them."

"Okay boss, I'll start implementing the plan as soon as I get back." Angela nodded and said with an extremely bright light in her beautiful eyes.

"Hehe, this is our first step. We must take it well. This is related to our overall plan in the future. Whether we can realize the empire map you have planned for me will be the most critical step." Arthur looked at Angela smiled.

"Please rest assured, boss, I won't let you down." Angela said with a very solemn expression, and then smiled as if thinking of something: "Boss, to be honest, I didn't expect things to go so smoothly, Bob Diamond would have agreed to our plan so easily."

"Hehe, it's actually not difficult to understand. He himself came from a Wall Street investment bank. The move we want to play is undoubtedly a typical American-style debt acquisition financial game. This is not new to him at all, and it is commonplace. Impossible, even very reluctant projects are completed, and for them, the benefits are even more substantial, and people from Wall Street are unscrupulous in pursuit of capital profits!"

Arthur smiled indifferently and said that capital is profit-seeking, so his cooperation with Barclays Bank also owes no one to anyone.

The nearly 100-year history of Wall Street investment banks shows that investment banks will never disappear as a synonym for pioneering innovation and high profits, no matter whether they are separated or mixed. , while Barclays Bank, which has just transformed into an investment bank, needs to expand its business even more.

Therefore, Bob Diamond would not refuse when facing Arthur seeking support and cooperation. Even if the two met for the first time today, it would not affect the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two parties in the slightest.