After the Divorce, I Could Hear the Voice of the Future-Chapter 994 - 951: Unyielding Arrogance
In the early hours at the end of September, Lu Liang participated in the Wall Street Round Table Meeting again via remote video connection.
He looked at Su Shimin and teased with a smile, "Power indeed is the best supplement for a man, you look much more spirited."
In the video image, although Su Shimin was full of white hair and wrinkles, his spirit was vibrant, and his face was glowing, exuding the confident demeanor of an old man, completely different from the frail patient he was months ago when he was first discharged from the hospital.
However, his eye would occasionally twitch, indicating the permanent damage the stroke had left on his facial nerves.
Su Shimin ignored Lu Liang’s jest and directly stated his intention, "Why hasn’t Tianxing Finance announced its listing plans yet?"
"Why, are you interested?" Lu Liang feigned surprise.
"A minimum 40 billion US Dollar IPO, do you think we wouldn’t be interested?" Gret replied coldly.
Based on the industry average P/E ratio of 8.72, with a net profit of 44.7 billion US Dollars, Tianxing Finance would at least be valued at 389.7 billion US Dollars. The minimum requirement for the IPO is to offer 10% of the shares for financing, which is 38.97 billion US Dollars.
Besides Lu Liang, there were seven other institutions in the chat room, and even if distributed evenly, each would have a share of 5.55 billion US Dollars.
Despite suppressing the Golden Science Index of Hong Kong stocks, they never denied Lu Liang’s market influence.
His influence has crossed borders and index sectors, establishing itself as an independent entity within the market.
The first day yields at least a 10% increase, and huge annual dividends may follow.
No one would turn down such profitable deals.
Moreover, listing the group implies a possible change of ownership.
Rather than waiting for an uncertain betrayal from Wilson, it’s better to target Tianxing Finance directly. Though it’s impossible now, it doesn’t mean it can’t happen in the future.
There’s a slang on Wall Street, "Even lions have their resting moments. Opportunities are given to those who are prepared."
"You pathetic loser, do you even have a say here?"
Lu Liang looked indifferent, picked up the receiver, saying, "Wen Chao, make a note to exclude Vanguard from the IPO."
"You..." Gret was startled and then boiled with anger.
Because he knew Lu Liang was using him to establish his authority, while also worrying about Vanguard losing the opportunity to invest in Tianxing Financial Group’s IPO.
Before this, they had had a concise meeting, temporarily reaching a consensus.
Tianxing Finance is more important than Hong Kong stocks. If seizing Tianxing Finance at the cost of some US Stock Market is worthwhile, they agreed on that aspect.
Though the deal hasn’t begun yet, Gret is already considering the future takeover of Tianxing Finance.
Investing is the entry ticket; in the future, a Wall Street institution capable of controlling Tianxing Finance will inherit Tianxing Finance’s entire East Asian market and lead the Round Table Meeting, becoming the undisputed financial king.
He cannot allow himself to miss this chance to take everything back.
During Su Shimin’s retirement due to illness, Gret served as the spokesperson for the Round Table Meeting for half a year. Nothing is crueller than letting a blind man see the light briefly.
Su Shimin waved his hand interrupting him, smiling and asking, "Lu Liang, you seem to have not answered my question yet."
"Still waiting." Lu Liang smiled without hiding that Tianxing Finance plans to go public.
Because their relationship has always oscillated between cooperation and looking for opportunities to kill each other.
Moreover, both parties adhere to the same idea: not acting won’t bring mistakes, but not acting also means no opportunity.
"Waiting for what?" Su Shimin asked.
"Waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity to further strengthen the Hong Kong Stock Market."
"Will there be one?" Su Shimin smiled faintly.
Over the past five years, Tianxing Finance smoothly developed, and though their arrogance and contempt were primarily responsible, it was partly due to Trump’s unexpected win and maintaining a small businessman’s mindset after taking office.
Back then, when the UK exited, shorting British Pounds was just Lu Liang’s first international market strike, but the battle that truly gained him global fame was capitalizing on Trump’s election to short Mexico’s Peso and London Gold.
Also later, under Trump’s extreme pressure, forcing General Motors to collaborate with Lu Liang, giving him some foundation in North America.
What’s past is past, wrong is wrong, Su Shimin neither pursues nor regrets. He only cares about the present and future.
Now, as Old Qiao’s victory is an established fact, everything will return to the right track. Especially now that the Federal Reserve sees Hong Kong stocks as a significant threat, immediately lowering interest rates to diminish the Golden Science Index’s impact upon its launch.
They are serious, and when they unleash their power, it could certainly surprise the world, so Su Shimin doubts Lu Liang will have a chance.
"How would you know without trying?" Lu Liang said.
Su Shimin smiled as if he expected Lu Liang wouldn’t easily surrender, then asked, "Can you at least tell when will the IPO be? Don’t worry, we won’t restrict the listing time. Whenever you think it’s the right opportunity."
"Mid-October, I guess." Lu Liang said.
After pondering a bit, Su Shimin smiled, "That’s about what I anticipated. By then, the Golden Science Index should have concluded this round of adjustments, and announcing Tianxing Finance’s IPO might slightly invigorate the sector’s recovery."
"Old Su, you always know too much." Lu Liang smiled calmly, openly admitting his intentions.
Su Shimin laughed heartily, "How many times have I told you, Su Shimin is just a transliteration, that’s not my real last name."
"Really? Maybe I forgot."
"I think you’re doing it on purpose."
"Just because I’ve seen through it doesn’t mean I have to say it."
The two chatted and laughed as if no one else were there, neither of them took Gret’s issues to heart.
Even though his face had turned the color of a pig’s liver from suffocation, being weak is the original sin, and dissatisfaction must be suppressed.
Subsequently, Lu Liang informed that in this IPO, 15% of the equity would be used to raise 67.5 billion US Dollars.
They plan to use this sum to replace HSBC as one of the issuing institutions for the Hong Kong Dollar.
Lu Liang feigned concern and asked, "HSBC won’t have any objections, right?"
Su Shimin squinted his eyes, "You’re ruthless as always, but HSBC is not in Xiangjiang, so even if they had objections, would it matter?"
"We’re just equally matched." Lu Liang said with a smile.
Originally, HSBC dominated Xiangjiang, shrinking back within its little patch, but due to Xiangjiang’s unique geographic location, HSBC had strong control over this market. Even though it only had the combined resources of a second-tier financial group, it wielded power comparable to a first-tier group.
However, the newly appointed Wenster discarded his predecessor Qi Yaonian’s plan, effectively interpreting one wrong step leads to another.
Yesterday, Lu Liang heard from Wilson about HSBC Group’s encounters when leaving Hong Kong stocks for US stocks.
It was heartbreaking to hear, bringing tears to one’s eyes. Just entering the US Stock Market, they experienced three circuit breakers, with assets decreasing by 30%.
After barely enduring three circuit breakers, they intended to cash in on the market dip, only to be countered by an alliance of various Wall Street institutions.
After all, they nearly got buried alive by Lu Liang, although they dodged disaster, the returns fell far short of expectations.
But their efforts could not go unrewarded, otherwise, there would be no explaining to the group’s shareholders.
If HSBC wasn’t around, they might have turned on each other, a matter of survival of the fittest, as it has been all these years.
But now with HSBC present, being the new entrant, if they can’t take down Tianxing, surely they can take on HSBC.
And so, they sharpened their knives for the slaughter.
HSBC was forced into a position where Wenster had to buy shares or provide loans to help some businesses out of the circuit breaker’s shadow.
Unlike Delimei’s opportunistic tactics, Delimei targeted well-performing, stable enterprises.
In contrast, HSBC could only hold shares in garbage companies, helping institutions cash out to survive.
Back then, Wenster resisted fiercely, but to no avail, a rootless duckweed, holding massive wealth, fleeing to foreign lands.
To put it bluntly, it’s like a moving big juicy piece of meat; if you don’t make yourself presentable, someone naturally will.
It’s said that HSBC has now become a vassal to institutions like Blackstone, JPMorgan, and BlackRock, completely losing sovereignty, not exactly a slave, but close enough.
The night grew deep, past two in the morning, and the remote meeting concluded. Lu Liang didn’t head home but stayed in the office for a while.
Close to three, Wilson called, hurriedly explaining, "Just finished another chat with Su Shimin."
He honestly reported everything that transpired after the meeting concluded.
A 450 billion US Dollar valuation, even though it exceeded 10 times the price-to-earnings ratio, they had no objections.
"What are the conditions, just say it," Lu Liang was surprised but quickly realized there must be additional terms.
Because according to industry averages, Tianxing Financial Group was at most valued at 400 billion US Dollars.
After all, he raised it by a full 50 billion US Dollars, meaning subscribing institutions would have to pay a 12.5% premium on top of the original valuation.
Large-listed companies rarely see such premiums; 12.5% perhaps equals the stock rise on the first day of listing.
Wilson flattered with a compensative smile, "Lu, truly nothing escapes you, so I’ll be candid. Ensuring we hold over 10% equity and have exclusive stock issuance rights in Europe and America is Su Shimin’s condition for agreeing to a 450 billion valuation."
He further added, "It’s just the six of us, Vanguard has already been excluded." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
Lu Liang pondered for a moment, then said, "10% equity isn’t an issue, just that I’m quite curious, do you really think you can have me figured out?"
He personally held substantial equity and wasn’t worried about the group changing hands in a short time, so letting them collectively own 10% in exchange for higher valuation wasn’t out of the question.
He was just puzzled, countless times in the past have proven that ignorance is not the survival obstacle but arrogance.
Why haven’t they changed?
Wilson’s expression turned serious, immediately correcting, "It’s they, not you all, Lu, you must believe I always stand with you."
Lu Liang’s lips curled into an amused smile, "Sorry, I misspoke. 10% equity is fine, but exclusive stock issuance rights in Europe and America won’t do, at least 20% must be reserved for Delimei."
"Deal," Wilson agreed swiftly, Su Shimin predicted right, Lu Liang wouldn’t miss this chance to boost Delimei and the Hong Kong Stock Market.
