Top of the big era

Zhou Buqi communicated with the doctor that there was nothing wrong with her mother's health and she could go home now. However, if there are no other arrangements, a safer option is to stay in the hospital for a few more days and observe more.

The stitches are expected to be removed in 5 days.

You can wait until the sutures are removed before leaving the hospital.

Zhou Buqi felt that the hospital wanted to make more money, but it didn't matter. Money was not an issue. It would be better to stay a few more days. The environment and facilities here are so good, it's like staying in a hotel, without delaying anything.

During the day, he would go out to work.

Just come back and take care of me in the evening.

Then, he formed a group and called Senior Sister Zhen Yu, Bao Shan, Xu Baihui, and two secretaries Ning Yaxian and Ning Lu to accompany him, and together they went to meet the team responsible for the EMI acquisition case.

This is the most important thing for Ziweixing Global this year.

With the acquisition of EMI Records, Ziweixing Global has officially entered the music industry. For the music streaming media that Zhoubuqi has already laid out, it will form an ecological industry help.

As one of the four major music giants in the world, EMI records are expensive.

When Terra Firma Capital acquired EMI Records, it spent a total of 4.2 billion pounds. Among them, 800 million pounds was paid by Terra Firma Capital itself, 2.2 billion pounds was a leveraged loan borrowed from Citibank, and there was another 1.2 billion pounds of own debt.

In other words, EMI's current debt is as high as 3.4 billion pounds!

The annual interest exceeds 200 million pounds, which is unaffordable!

Terra Firma Capital collapsed!

I can't bear it anymore!

According to the terms of the leveraged buyout that year, Terra Firma Capital was unable to repay the interest, and Citibank had the right to convert debt into equity, converting 2.2 billion pounds of debt into 100% of EMI shares!

Terra Firma is almost out!

However, there are no definite guarantees.

Terra Firma and Citigroup are in the final stages of a year-long battle over control of EMI Records. Next, we have to wait for the New York Supreme Court jury’s verdict in November.

If Terra Firma loses, it will be out of the game completely.

Although the verdict has not yet been announced, all parties have already determined that Terra Firma Capital will undoubtedly lose. In the past two years, Terra Firma Capital has repeatedly violated its banking covenants due to the impact of the subprime mortgage crisis.

With this alone, Terra Firma Capital will definitely lose.

Now, Terra Firma Capital's defense mainly focuses on the legality of the loan contract signed with Citigroup when it leveraged the acquisition of EMI Records, saying that Citigroup used fraudulent means.

This is basically unreasonable.

In this multi-billion-dollar super deal, both parties will hire the best teams in the world to operate it. Will there be fraud? If it were really a fraud, wouldn’t the lawyers, accountants and investment banking consultants be able to tell? With Terra Firma Capital’s strength and experience in capital operations, would it be possible to tell?

Juries in civil lawsuits are different from criminal lawsuits. There is no clear law and it is more based on the basic logical cognition of society. Terra Firma Capital’s view goes against common sense at first glance.

So despite the fact that the battle for control between Citigroup and Terra Firma is not over yet, all parties have basically determined that EMI Records belongs to Citigroup!

Citigroup is just a bank. They have no interest in managing EMI and must package and sell it.

At this time, someone took the initiative to come to the door.

Not only Ziweixing Universal, but also Warner Records.

At the beginning, Zhou Buqi was very worried, worried that Citigroup and Warner Records were colluding and deliberately raising prices to increase the acquisition cost of Ziweixing Global.

Unexpectedly, Warner Records offered EMI's music business, and the offer was only 470 million pounds. In addition to assuming about 540 million pounds of debt, the total offer is only 1 billion pounds.

This is simply a big help to Ziweixing Global.

It really helped keep the price down!

EMI Records has two main businesses, one is the music business and the other is the publishing business.

The music business mainly refers to the music recording department, which is the department that records and releases new songs for its contracted singers, including popular singers such as Fruit Sister and Coldplay.

The publishing business is to distribute some songs whose copyrights are owned by EMI Records through various channels. The most famous one is a series of songs by The Beatles.

In terms of asset weight, the music business accounts for 45% and the copyright business accounts for 55%.

If Citigroup gets control of EMI Records, it would be equivalent to Citi spending 2.2 billion pounds and assuming 1.2 billion pounds of debt, for a total of 3.4 billion pounds to acquire EMI Records.

The music business accounts for 45% of assets, which is approximately 1.5 billion pounds.

Warner Records is only willing to invest 1 billion pounds to acquire it.

Such an offer is not surprising.

Even if Terra Firma is eliminated with a total loss of more than US$2 billion, and Citigroup owns Citigroup in the form of a debt-for-equity swap, it does not mean that Citigroup can make a lot of money from this transaction.

This is destined to be a failed investment.

From the subprime mortgage crisis to the European debt crisis, the prices of global assets have shrunk significantly, including of course EMI Records. Citigroup liquidated Terra Firma Capital. It was impossible to make money and the only option was to stop losses as much as possible.

Now, the negotiations are nearing completion.

It’s time to make a decision.

Purple Star Global's offer is 2.48 billion pounds, which is about 3.7 billion U.S. dollars, to acquire EMI Records. In other words, after deducting the debt of 1.2 billion pounds, there is still 1.28 billion pounds.

Citigroup paid 2.2 billion pounds that year, but now it can only recover 1.28 billion pounds.

It can be seen how failed the acquisition of EMI Records was.

Terra Firma Capital lost so much money that it vomited blood.

Citigroup also lost money and vomited blood. (In a previous life, Citi sold EMI Records to Universal Music Group and Sony Records for 2.65 billion pounds in late 2011.)

However, Ziweixing Global’s investment is already very sincere.

At least much better than Warner Records.

Due to its size, Warner Records can only purchase the music business. Because Warner Records already has too many music copyrights, coupled with the 2.1 million songs owned by EMI Records, it will form a monopoly situation.

This resulted in the need for EMI Records to be split up, which required more operating costs.

In contrast, selling EMI Records to Ziweixing Global is easy and convenient, does not require splitting, and the price is also high. Moreover, Citibank does not need to be responsible for managing EMI as a company and does not need to bear the risk of the more complex changes in the music market that may follow.

Zhou Buqi appeared and launched the final round of talks.

At 4:20 pm, the two sides finally reached an agreement!

The transaction price was 2.55 billion pounds.

The transaction method is stock-to-debt conversion.

After Citi gets 100% of the equity of EMI Records, it will transfer this 100% equity to Ziweixing Global in exchange for 1.35 billion pounds of corporate bonds from Ziweixing Global. In addition, Ziweixing Global will also have to bear 1.2 billion pounds of debt from other creditors, totaling 2.55 billion pounds.

Ziweixing Global is a real high-quality asset, and this year’s summer season exploded with box office performance that shocked the world!

"Iron Man 2", with a global box office of US$860 million; "Shrek 4", with a global box office of US$780 million; "The Twilight Saga", with a global box office of US$690 million; "Despicable Me", with a global box office of US$520 million "How to Train Your Dragon", with a global box office of US$480 million; "Big Bad", with a global box office of US$320 million; "Robin Hood", with a global box office of US$320 million...

This summer, Ziweixing Global is definitely the entertainment giant that cheers the world most.

This year, MSI Universal will definitely surpass Time Warner and become a super giant in the entertainment industry with the largest annual box office.

However, Ziweixing Global is still debt-free and light.

This is a quality asset.

Converting the equity of EMI Records into the corporate bonds of Ziweixing Global, which is lower risk and more reliable, is a business that the financial traders at Citibank understand better and are better at.

Moreover, Citibank also obtained a guaranteed clause.

That is, if the lawsuit between Citigroup and Terra Firma fails, and Citigroup fails to obtain the equity of EMI Records, it would logically be a breach of contract. This guarantee clause ensures that even if Citi loses the lawsuit, it does not need to pay liquidated damages to Ziweixing Global.

In short, Ziweixing Global is very sincere!

Citigroup gritted its teeth and suffered a loss.

feeling bad.

However, if we think about Terra Firma Capital again, we can balance it out. Terra Firma Capital lost more. Counting early purchases and later cumulative investments, Terra Firma Capital lost a total of more than 1.6 billion pounds in this case.

In 2007, Terra Firma Capital partnered with Citibank to acquire EMI Records for a total price of 4.2 billion pounds.

Three years later, Ziweixing Global acquired EMI Records for 2.55 billion pounds.

Boss Zhou succeeded in bargain-hunting and his excellent business operation ability once again shocked every participant.

The deal was agreed and there was a simple cocktail party in the evening.

The employees were very happy and had a good time.

Many people came over to congratulate me.

This business is unusual. There are complex capital operations behind it, such as debt-for-equity swaps, equity-for-debt swaps, and even unresolved lawsuits. Once this business is completed, the total commission may exceed 80 million pounds.

Xu Baihui walked over with a glass of red wine and said with a smile, "Boss Zhou, this case will definitely be successful, right?"

Zhou Buqi was very confident, "Absolutely right!"

"Congratulations, you have made a further step in your career." Xu Baihui knew some of his business plans, "By winning EMI Records, your layout in the music streaming market will be more stable."

Zhou Buqi nodded, "The next step is to promote further financing of Spotify, and Ziweixing will obtain more equity."

Xu Baihui said softly: "Jieyu Media is also going to enter the market. I have resources in the Asian market."

"Well, we'll talk about it later." Zhou Buqi waved his hand and coughed lightly, "Where is Jiang Shuying? Is he in London?"

Xu Baihui smiled half-heartedly, "Should I ask her to come over?"

"Can."

"That's okay. Winning EMI Records can be regarded as a reward for career achievements."

"What are the rewards and not rewards?" Zhou Buqi didn't care about this, "I'm just soft-hearted and can't bear to see others suffer."

Xu Baihui glanced at him and said meaningfully: "Well, where there is yin, there is yang, and where there is softness, there is hardness. It's okay to be soft-hearted, but you have to be tough when you need to be tough."

Zhou Buqi said: "Well, he is soft-hearted and hard-working, which is the standard of a good man."