Page 8 of Vivacity
BecauseI want it.
I want it all.
And what the Kingsley men want, we get, even if our motives are different. Dad wants the glory. The coup. The blood. He wants to lord it over his old rival, Charles Montague, conveniently ignoring that they were once on the same side when they rowed for Cambridge.
But I want the clout. The control. The jurisdiction over such a huge swathe of the industry that I can be assured my voice will be heard. By taking out a similar-sized player and bulking ourselves up so magnificently, I can assure Kingsley Hotels its autonomy for years longer. I can ensure we remain a force to be reckoned with. A whale—or should I sayshark—rather than a minnow.
‘You want me to set up a meeting with Miles Montague.’ It’s not a question.
He leans forward.Sharkis right. It’s like he can already taste the blood of his prey.
‘As soon as possible. Go in gently. You know how to play it.’
I do. In this game of chess we’re playing, the Kingsley board has planned for this day for a long, long time. Our bankers at Loeb drew up a detailed proposal for a takeover of The Montague Group years ago, and they keep the numbers up to date. We know how this deal could look. We know how much money we’d need to raise from our debt and equity investors. And we know exactly what their appetite would be for an acquisition like this. In a word: large.
Our investors would support us.
The market would reward us.
We just need the Montagues to agree to sit down with us.
Because what my father didn’t have to say is that there’s an easy way and a hard way for them to roll over. We can hashout a friendly acquisition between us and jointly pitch it to our investors and to the market more generally.
Or they can dig their heels in, and we go full hostile, buying out their stock in the open market and in blocks from their key shareholders until we have a majority stake. That route could not only get expensive for us pretty quickly, as all that buying drives their share price up and up and up, but it robs them of a lot of autonomy in the deal. When a predator moves in, the prey is usually fucked.
No, a friendly takeover is cheaper and easier for the acquirer and more pleasant for the target. It offers the Montagues a way to preserve the best of their culture. Their legacy. It’s the sensible solution.
I’m just not convinced that they’ll see sense, even when their backs are to the wall and we have them by the balls.
As soon asI’ve got rid of Dad to his token office along the corridor, where he’ll preen for an hour before going out to lunch for the afternoon, I turn my attention to getting hold of Miles Montague. There may be no great love lost between us, but there’s a grudging respect—at my end, at least—and we run in the same circles. We even play in the same golf tournaments on occasion, though he’s far less active on the social circuit since marrying his indecently attractive second wife and former nanny.
In any case, we have each other’s mobile phone numbers, and I stick my earbuds in so I can pace as I talk. I’ll feel far more in control of the conversation that way—if he actually accepts my call, that is. He’d be stupid not to. He has to know whyI’m calling, which makes him as obligated to take the call as he would be tempted to decline it.
Just as I’m pulling up his number, a WhatsApp comes in from my son, Jamie.
Can u top up my tuck card
For fuck’s sake. Fifteen grand a term after tax at one of the most elite schools in the country, and this is how they teach him to communicate. I’m bristling with nerves and apprehension, and I don’t need an illiterate fourteen-year-old being needy right now. Before I can stop myself, I hit reply.
Can u learn basic grammar and manners
I regret it as soon as I send it. It’s infantile and generally dickish, and it’s the last thing my already fraught relationship with my son needs.
He replies before I have a chance to delete the message.
Dad please
I sigh.
Sure. Give me a sec.
Even if this is his mother’s job rather than mine. Still standing, I crouch over my keyboard and pull up Westminster School’s parent portal, transferring a hundred quid. Hopefully that’ll keep him in doughnuts and sausage rolls for a few weeks.
Done.
K
One letter. How this kid is in the top set for English, I have no clue.
