Rebirth of England

"This place... is so spectacular."

The Rolls-Royce Phantom drove into the manor along the straight driveway through the open wrought iron gate. When the car stopped at the entrance of the all-white, palace-like building, Fan Bingbing stepped out of the car and saw everything in sight. , is a magnificent garden, and a palace that is completely a miniature version of the Louvre, I can’t help but sigh like this.

The last time, I bought this manor after just taking a quick look at it - well, Barron's decisions are sometimes so "hasty"...

Mainly because he had heard of this mansion in his previous life. After all, it was listed as one of the top ten most expensive mansions in the world. Therefore, when Barron happened to see it being prepared for sale, he decisively bought it. .

The facilities of the manor are still very complete. After all, the space is large enough - the three huge gas storage tanks originally owned by the Barron family in King's Cross area only covered an area of ​​6 hectares, while this manor covers an area of ​​more than 6 hectares. 5 hectares, to put it more intuitively, is more than the area of ​​7 standard football fields.

If he were here, Barron would be able to run around the manor during his morning jog...

"You can just live here. The environment here is good and suitable for raising a baby. I will provide you with some servants and bodyguards when the time comes."

"Really?"

Not to mention that before this, although Fan Bingbing had become one of the most well-known actresses in China, China's film and television industry has not yet begun to invest large-scale capital, and actors' salaries are not as high as they were later. , compared to ordinary people, her income is high, but it is completely incomparable with those rich people.

Even the richest people in China are mostly very low-key, and it is completely impossible for them to enjoy such open and aboveboard luxury at home.

Therefore, let alone living in such a luxurious manor, it was hard for her to imagine the life of such a luxurious mansion and a group of servants before.

Therefore, it was hard to believe when Barron said that she would live in this luxurious mansion during her time in Los Angeles.

"Yes, I know it will be difficult for your mother to come and take care of you then, but don't worry, I will make arrangements for you then."

It is slightly different from Barron's other women. On the one hand, in his previous life, Barron liked Fan Bingbing's appearance very much; on the other hand, Fan Bingbing's identity and the company founded by her identity Tianhe Capital plays a very important role in Barron's future layout, so Barron will use various methods to tie her firmly to his side and form a close connection with her through interests.

She had also told her family about Fan Bingbing's pregnancy, but her younger brother was just 6 years old and was about to go to elementary school in Yanjing. Her parents would have to stay in Yanjing to take care of the child, and Fan's mother could only Take time to come and stay with her for a while. Most of the time, Fan Bingbing needs to stay here by himself.

Therefore, Barron will also arrange maids and bodyguards for her - she said she is going to Hollywood to further her studies, which is not entirely an excuse. Just like Rebecca before, she really wants to take advantage of this time. Study systematically here in Los Angeles and learn some of the advanced experiences here in Hollywood.

Soon, a full-time English teacher will be with her to help her overcome the language barrier.

After Fan Bingbing gives birth to her child and recovers, Barron will be able to arrange several roles in Hollywood movies for her. On the one hand, it can help her open up the international market and increase her popularity overseas. She can also take over the title of Gucci brand ambassador. ; In addition, it also made up for her previous excuse of "further studying in Hollywood", so it was logical that she disappeared from the Chinese film and television industry during this period.

"Is this place too big? After you leave, I will live here by myself. It will feel weird..."

Fan Bingbing’s words are correct. The Manor of Leith Flower includes the main house and the adjacent annex building. There are more than 100 rooms in total, including 12 bedroom suites, 15 bathrooms, and staff dormitories that can accommodate 10 people. Two kitchens, screening room for 50 people, 3 caretakers' bedrooms, 9-space garage and more...

Such a large manor may not be a big deal to a British Duke like Barron who is used to the more than 300 rooms at Chatsworth Manor.

But Fan Bingbing is not used to living in this way. In China, ordinary people living in villas are already big enough, but they only cover an area of ​​three to five hundred square meters...

"It's okay, honey, you'll get used to it gradually."

…

Before Barron left Los Angeles, he also met with Chen Fuyang who came over.

It has been more than two and a half years since Rich23 Capital acquired Agilent's semiconductor business and renamed it Avago. During this period, through the leadership of Chen Fuyang, Avago's operating conditions have become increasingly good.

In Barron's previous life, Avago completed the acquisition of Avago at the end of 2005, and then in 2009, Chen Fuyang led Avago to go public in the United States.

Now, Chen Fuyang expressed the hope that Avago can try to IPO in the near future, because Avago's performance has fully met the needs of listing.

The gap comes from the completely different acquisition and management methods of Avago between Rich23 Capital and the previous private equity funds KKR and Silver Lake Capital.

Rich23 Capital's acquisition of Avago was an all-cash acquisition without financing. At that time, Rich23 Capital had sufficient funds and did not need to use a leveraged buyout. Therefore, after the acquisition, Avago became Agilent. The semiconductor business has been completely retained, which also allows their subsequent business development to get on track faster.

The acquisition of Avago by the original space-time private equity funds KKR and Silver Lake Capital was, to put it bluntly, a "barbarian at the door" type of acquisition. After the acquisition through leveraged financing, the company was reorganized and unimportant businesses were sold. Then try your best to complete the re-listing, and finally sell the stocks or sell them as a whole again to obtain profits.

In Barron's previous life in 2005, KKR teamed up with Silver Lake Capital to take the lead in acquiring the Agilent Semiconductor Division. The total transaction cost at that time was US$2.715 billion, and the transaction consideration was US$2.66 billion.

They are a consortium led by KKR and Silver Lake Capital, plus some other institutions, which directly invested US$1.3 billion in acquisition principal - US$1.05 billion in common stock and US$250 million in convertible preferred stock.

In addition to direct investment, the rest of the funds came from debt financing, including the issuance of US$1 billion in bonds in the U.S. market with a term of 8-10 years and a very high interest rate. The floating interest rate was 5.5 higher than the Libor (London Interbank Offered Rate) at that time. percentage points.

The Libor U.S. dollar interest rate in the second half of 2005 was between 4-4.8%. Therefore, the interest rate on the bonds issued by KKR and Silver Lake Capital to acquire Avago was already as high as about 10%, and the financing cost was not cheap.

In addition, they also obtained a US$750 million 7-year long-term loan from the bank and a US$250 million 6-year revolving loan facility - these only used US$475 million in long-term loans during the acquisition process.

Then, during the acquisition process and after the acquisition was completed, the board of directors controlled by KKR and Silver Lake Capital quickly reorganized and divested Avago's assets, sold assets that had little to do with its next development positioning, and quickly withdraw funds.

For example, in October 2005, before the acquisition of Avago was completed (delivery on December 1), an agreement was reached to sell the storage business to PMC. The transaction was completed at the end of February 2006, and US$420 million was obtained after deducting costs.

In February 2006, the printer-specific chip business was sold to Marvell. The transaction was completed in May 2006, and US$245 million was obtained after deducting costs. The transaction also agreed on excess income sharing terms, and the sold business segment reached the set revenue target. The transferee, Marvell, shall pay an additional transfer fee of no more than US$35 million.

In November 2006, the image sensor business was sold to Micron for US$53 million, and it was agreed that after the performance indicators reached the expected goals, Micron would pay an additional performance share of no more than US$17 million.

In addition, Avago also packaged and sold intellectual property rights related to the image sensing business to another company for US$12 million.

Then in October 2007, the infrared business was sold for US$20 million.

During this period, Avago continued to reduce financial costs and the interest on bonds and loans through skilled capital operation skills.

Through rapid asset divestiture and debt restructuring, Avago's financial cost pressure has continued to improve, with interest/debt expenses falling from US$143 million in 2006 to US$34 million in 2010, a very significant decline.

Such an operation shows the superb capital operation skills of the management team and the acquirer.

Of course, Avago also needs to "knowledge payment" for these capital operations - that is, paying high service fees to KKR and Silver Lake Capital. From the implementation of mergers and acquisitions to the public listing of Avago, the two funds have changed from Avago to Avago. The various consulting fees and advisory fees collected are approximately US$120 million.

Finally, Avago's IPO was launched, and the two funds began to "profit exit." The acquisition was completed in December 2005, and it took less than four years to complete the restructuring and listing. The expected returns of the two funds exceeded 12 times. By 2012, the two funds The fund basically exited Avago.

Unlike them who "make a quick buck and leave", Barron's purchase of Avago is more concerned about the synergy of this semiconductor company, which will be among the top five in the future, for some of the industries he has laid out. Therefore, not only in After the acquisition, it did not cut down its business, but also carried out targeted acquisitions and strengthening of future mobile phone, automotive sensor and other related businesses.

As for Chen Fuyang’s hope that Avago will IPO in the near future...

In fact, Barron's heart does not actually want Avago to go public so early, because it is about to face the subprime mortgage crisis. When the subprime mortgage crisis breaks out more than a year later, Avago will definitely be affected.

However, he himself does not have much operating experience in the semiconductor business, and in the original time and space, Chen Fuyang also led Avago through step-by-step capital operations after its listing, and finally She Tunxiang acquired the semiconductor giant Broadcom...

Therefore, he decided to trust Chen Fuyang's judgment in this regard.