Friends Provident Group, founded in 1832, boasts a 176-year history.
It was the first company in the UK to offer life insurance and other related products to private clients and is currently the fifth-largest life insurance company in the UK.
It manages over £100 billion in funds, employs over 3,900 people, and manages over three million policies and bills for clients worldwide.
In fact, just two years ago, Friends Provident Group was the second-largest life insurance company in the UK. However, due to the subprime mortgage crisis, Friends Provident Group's investment losses widened. This, coupled with a significant decline in sales of its group pension funds and protective products, made it unable to retain additional funds, leading to a sharp decline in its size.
A look at Friends Provident Group's revenue figures reveals this: in 2006, it had made a profit of £328 million, but last year, Friends Provident Group announced a loss of £56 million!
As a result, just this year, Friendship Group has suffered losses of £330 million in the first three quarters, and its full-year losses are projected to exceed £450 million.
This can be described as a sharp decline...
According to Barron's information, Friendship Group, as an insurance company, hasn't encountered any problems, but the key lies in their investment of policy premiums...
As we all know, a key profit source for insurance companies is collecting premiums from customers and investing these funds to generate a return differential.
However, the problem is that Friendship Group's investments are truly complex. Due to Friendship Group's massive losses, its shareholders are pressuring management to sell the company.
Previously, DS Holdings (Cavendish Trust) contacted Friendship Group, and Amber Sheen, at Barron's direction, offered a $2.35 billion
acquisition price. However, while DS Holdings' all-cash offer was appealing to Friendship Group's shareholders, the company's continued and increasing losses had driven them to despair and they were eager to divest their shares.
But in the end, Youcheng Group rejected DS Holdings' bid on the grounds that "the bid was too low." You must know that although Youcheng Group's current market value is around US$2.2 billion, they still believe that this is mainly due to the sell-off caused by recent bad news, and the actual value of Youcheng Insurance Group is higher than this figure...
In fact, DS Holdings, after analyzing the situation of Youcheng Insurance Group, also thinks so. However, since they failed to pick up the bargain, they will continue to negotiate with Youcheng Insurance Group and prepare to increase the acquisition price...
...
"I saw that SEM Group bought "ELLE"? "
"Yes, baby, are you interested in these magazines?"
Bonnie gently stirred the coffee, took a sip, and said with a smile:
"Not bad, I often read these, and Zhukova told me a while ago that she was going to buy "POP" to try it out..."
In the end, SEM Group successfully defeated Hearst Group for 1.5 billion euros, and purchased Hachette Group as a whole from Lagardère Vitality Media Group, making this media group with fashion magazines as its main business a wholly-owned subsidiary of SEM Group.
As for Zhukova, she's married to Abramovich. Barron remembered that in the original timeline, she had indeed acquired a youth fashion magazine and found success after a revamp.
"So, is she still trying to convince you to join her?"
"Not really. After I declined her offer last time, Zhukova only occasionally gets advice from me..."
Bonnie said.
"But I heard she's been contacting some friends in the fashion world, including the former editor-in-chief of French Vogue, hoping they'll join her magazine."
Zhukova had indeed been involved in some initiatives over the past two years, such as launching the fashion brand Kova & T with her childhood friend, Christina Tang, a woman from Hong Kong, China. The brand's name is an abbreviation of her and her childhood friend's surnames. She also founded an arts and creative center in Russia, but these have only made some noise, far from being successful.
"Although I think Zhukova is a bit more business-savvy than Victoria, I still suggest you find something interesting to do within SEM Group..."
"Okay, but let's wait until Richard is a little older. I've only been going to the company sporadically lately."
Although Bonnie has more experience with their second child, Richard, than she did with George,
he's still so young. Even with the help of maids, Bonnie still needs time with him.
Therefore, as a director of SEM Group, her visits to the company have been limited lately.
Barron's birthdays have always been very low-key, celebrating his 28th birthday with his wife and children.
Well, he didn't hold a birthday party this year, not even inviting those close to him. Perhaps as he gets older, he's no longer interested in such things.
It had been six years since Barron's arrival in this world. If one included his past life, Barron's mental age was already over forty...
"I've found those people, Your Highness."
In Barron's study, Mikhail Ritter, dressed in black, sat in the shadows of the lamplight, seemingly blending in with the shadows.
As Barron's guardian in the dark, Mikhail not only provided a covert security team in addition to his public bodyguards, but also took on some... under-the-table tasks for Barron.
This time, Mikhail had outsmarted the London police and tracked down the perpetrators of Joe Harriman's burglary.
"I started with the sale of stolen goods. Someone in East London was secretly selling jewelry from another family in the same neighborhood where Ms. Harriman was robbed on the same day..."
Following this lead, Mikhail dispatched his men to identify a thief group and apprehend them...
As for the claim of illegal detention?
Rest assured, the London police won't even know about this.
"It's basically confirmed that one of the people they stole from was Ms. Joe Harriman, and the stolen goods are still in their possession. I've already recovered the stolen goods from their hiding place..."
"I need to know if this was just a random theft, and not an act with other motives."
Hearing Barron's words, Mikhail nodded.
"I will confirm this again, Your Highness."
He believed that given the "good behavior" of these people at this point, they would confess the truth.
After all, back on Sonaran Island in Cyprus, Mikhail had a lot of experience in how to make people "good."