The merged Four Seasons Cavendish Hotel Group will own over 110 hotels and resorts in over 40 countries worldwide. Devonshire Family Trust will hold a 59% stake in the hotel group, GII-1 Holdings (Global Industrial Investment Fund I) will hold a 37% stake, and the Isadore Sharp family will hold a 4% stake.
Four Seasons Cavendish Hotel Group will implement a multi-brand strategy, expanding across three brands: Devonshire (luxury), Four Seasons (upscale), and Cavendish (luxury).
According to Four Seasons Cavendish Hotel Group's plan, over the next 10 years, they will open or acquire over 80 hotels worldwide, implementing a "10-20-50" strategy: adding 10 Devonshire luxury hotels, 20 Four Seasons upscale hotels, and 50 Cavendish luxury hotels.
Growth will primarily focus on Asia, with a particular emphasis on China, where emerging wealth is rapidly converging.
In China, the Cavendish hotel brand under the Four Seasons Cavendish Hotel Group will become a strategic partner with Tianhe Real Estate, opening Cavendish hotels in Tianhe Real Estate's new commercial centers.
For example, the commercial center currently under development by Tianhe Real Estate on Jinling Central Road will see the opening of China's first luxury Cavendish hotel.
As part of preferential conditions for Nanjing Automobile Group, owned by Tianhe Capital, to increase investment in Jiangsu Province, they have secured development rights to prime locations in several cities. In addition to Jinling City, Tianhe Real Estate will also develop three more commercial centers, with completion expected within three years.
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Your Highness, I've already met with Mr. Wang, and he welcomes our investment. Furthermore, I've heard that Berkshire Hathaway's Charlie Munger is also very optimistic about this company and has reportedly been recommending it to Buffett..."
"I will personally travel to China next month to finalize this matter as soon as possible. I hope to meet with Mr. Wang then to congratulate him on our successful partnership."
"Yes, Your Highness, I'll do my best."
This year is 2008, and the 29th Olympic Games will be held in Beijing in August. Baron will also be participating in this event.
However, it seems he will be leaving early.
But before that, he still needs to resolve the matter of British Energy Group.
As early as March, United Energy Group had already begun participating in the acquisition of British Energy Group.
Competition for this acquisition is quite fierce, with not only global nuclear power companies like EDF, but also Centrica, Britain's largest natural gas supplier, competing.
However, Centrica's offer for BEC was £7 per share, or £11.2 billion.
Both United Energy and EDF offered higher prices than Centrica—it was said that Centrica's board did not want them to overpay for BEC, and £7 per share was the upper limit they would accept.
Therefore, the final battle came down to United Energy and EDF.
During this period, Barron's public relations team naturally became busy, lobbying the British government on the grounds that British nuclear power could not be completely controlled by a French company. Related
reports also appeared in many media outlets, including those under SEM Group.
This was certainly not intended to completely exclude EDF, but rather Barron hoped to gain leverage in negotiations with them.
In fact, from the outset, he had no intention of completing the acquisition of BEC alone. After all, United Energy had no previous involvement in the nuclear power sector, and it could not take a big step all at once.
After initially approaching EDF, United Energy Group began to reveal its true intentions...
United Energy Group was willing to relinquish its majority stake in British Energy Group, but only if it acquired 100% of EDF's current stake in UK Power Networks Holdings Limited (UKPN).
Many may not be familiar with this company, but in Baron's previous life, Li Chaoren's Cheung Kong Group purchased it from EDF in 2010 for £5.8 billion. Then, in 2022, a consortium led by KKR and Australia's Macquarie will acquire the company from Li Chaoren for £15 billion...
In reality, UKPN's value stems not only from its appreciation over the past decade, but also from its stable annual profits as a public utility.
UKPN is the UK's largest electricity monopoly, and its profitability is considerable. UKPN provides electricity to approximately 8.3 million homes and businesses, and its revenue accounts for a quarter of the UK electricity industry's total revenue.
EDF is currently more eager for UKPN than for Constellation. After all, acquiring UKPN would give it a leading position in future nuclear power projects in the UK and access to Areva's ERP technology, which is inherently strategic for the French government.
Therefore, for EDF, in which the French government holds a nearly 85% stake, strategic priorities naturally take precedence over profitability. Furthermore, using French nuclear technology is inherently profitable.
It's important to understand that any technology requires a sufficient market to continue its research and development, especially in Western economies. Using profits to continue investing in research and development is a virtuous cycle.
Therefore, EDF ultimately reached an agreement with United Energy.
United Energy will acquire 100% of EDF's shares in UKPN (UK Power Distribution) for £5 billion. UKPN will then become a wholly-owned subsidiary of United Energy and merge with its existing power division.
Subsequently, United Energy and EDF will jointly acquire all of UKPN's shares for £12.5 billion.
EDF will invest £7.5 billion for a 60% stake in UKPN, while United Energy will invest $5 billion for a 40% stake.
Furthermore, following last year's New Energy White Paper, the British government followed up this year with a Nuclear Energy White Paper, announcing a plan to restart nuclear power projects.
Britain is arguably the world's first country to develop nuclear power, having begun construction on the world's first nuclear power plant in 1953.
However, by the 1980s, the British government abandoned its domestically designed technology and began importing pressurized water reactor technology. Construction began on Sizewell B in 1987, the last nuclear power plant built in the UK. This
was due to the wave of electricity market reform and privatization of energy companies in the 1980s and 1990s. Furthermore, the discovery of North Sea oil fields enabled the UK to enjoy cheap oil resources, even achieving energy self-sufficiency for a time.
Against this backdrop, nuclear power's advantages of cleanliness and high energy density lost their former appeal, while its disadvantages of large infrastructure investments and long payback periods became more pronounced.
Coupled with social anti-nuclear pressure, a loss of talent in the nuclear energy sector, and a lack of government development plans, nuclear power remained underappreciated in the UK for a long time.
This explains why the French government sought to acquire BEC to expand its market share for nuclear power technology. Otherwise, if the application of a technology stagnated for a decade or even several years, it could be left behind.
Currently, the UK has eight nuclear power plants (all owned by BEC), generating 20% of the country's electricity consumption. These plants are due for decommissioning around 2030.
According to the New Energy White Paper, all of Britain's thermal power plants will be closed around 2025.
The combination of these factors will cause Britain's national power generation to drop by 20% from the current level, and energy security has become a real threat to British society.
Therefore, according to the plan, in order to fill this power gap, the British government will successively identify eight sites suitable for the construction of nuclear power plants and then invest in construction. The top priority among them is the Hinkley Point nuclear power project.
Baron had heard of the Hinkley Point nuclear power project, because in his previous life, China's China General Nuclear Power Group had once participated in it, but later chose to withdraw for various reasons. These things were considered to be relatively hot news at the time.
Now that United Energy Group has become a shareholder of British Energy Group, they will definitely participate in this project in the future.