Love Affairs in Melbourne-Chapter 199 - 196: Some Changes (3) (Additional update for the number 1 Mo Fan, the 16th Alliance Hierarch)

Chapter 199: Chapter 196: Some Changes (3) (Additional update for the number 1 Mo Fan, the 16th Alliance Hierarch)

Under normal circumstances, not many people would be interested in a private equity fund that suddenly pops up.

But Ian’s family background drew countless curious glances, and on top of that, in the first month after its establishment, Ian delivered a 30% return on investment.

The second generation of the Ian family, that is, his parents, owned two Wall Street boutique investment banks, and Ian’s generation also included Wall Street stars.

But no one had ever heard of a third-generation member named Ian in this family.

On Wall Street, gossip spreads as quickly as financial information.

There had never been any legend about Ian on Wall Street, which made the authenticity of Ian’s background a matter of speculation.

Many speculated whether Ian was someone’s illegitimate child, which would explain why he suddenly touted his family background so "uncultivatedly."

Financial analysts on Wall Street are just as adept at analyzing a person’s background and gossip as they are at crunching numbers.

Ian was quickly "flesh-searched."

Before long, some started digging up Ian’s background, which had been kept low-profile to the point of obscurity, including his investment history at Barclays.

Ian was not a Wall Street star, nor did he have any "god-level" investments boasting high returns that people could talk about.

At first glance, Ian’s resume seemed quite ordinary for a Wall Street investment banker, not linked to any well-known projects, nor had he created any financing myths.

But a deeper look into Ian’s resume would reveal it was quite extraordinary.

Over the past five years, there hadn’t been a single project Ian invested in at Barclays that had gone sour or experienced a direct plunge after its listing.

Such a track record, even in Wall Street’s best years, was quite uncommon, given that investment banking is an industry where high risks are required for high returns.

And the five years during which Ian maintained this track record were the years the subprime crisis nearly destroyed Wall Street—one might consider them Wall Street’s worst years.

Five years ago, the stars of Wall Street had either faded away, declared bankruptcy, or jumped from buildings.

On Wall Street, success and failure can happen in the blink of an eye.

This down-to-earth track record allowed Ian, an originally low-profile wealthy third-generation heir, to attract a lot of family capital that had been displaced by the subprime crisis after he re-emerged in a high-profile manner.

Before the subprime crisis, many investments were targeting exorbitant profits.

After the reshuffle, Wall Street still had those chasing huge profits, but Ian’s grounded investment approach was more favored by families seeking stable returns.

Although most were still observing Ian’s first private fund from a distance, decisive families quickly took action.

Ian only wanted a small fund, ceasing to accept new capital after reaching a volume of three hundred million US dollars.

Ian’s trust fund, together with his own capital, had already approached two hundred million, and those who contacted Ian earliest valued this information highly.

Many small private funds in the domestic market would also require fund managers to invest their own money, aiming to reassure investors, as investing with other people’s money is completely different from investing with one’s own.

However, only those who came into close contact with Ian knew about his large personal capital contribution; otherwise, many more would have fervently pursued it.

With so much money, Ian could have chosen to be a limited partner in another private fund and started a luxurious retired life; it was under such special circumstances that Ian chose to establish his own private equity fund.

.........

Private equity funds are not like stocks, which can have both large shareholders and small investors.

Stocks are something where large sums of capital can enter, and scattered small amounts of money can also be invested for personal amusement.

But private equity funds have a threshold for entry.

Moreover, the threshold for private equity is much higher than that for general funds or stocks.

Ian’s private equity fund had a threshold of ten million US dollars.

This threshold meant that if you wanted to hold this fund, you had to put in at least ten million US dollars.

You could not have less than the threshold, but once it was reached, you could increase your investment by millions.

Ian’s investment methods were quite special, with many techniques that others couldn’t understand. When he first arrived at Barclays, the investment committee often rejected Ian’s proposals because they yielded low profits.

However, as time passed, Ian’s flawless track record was laid bare, and his projects were approved one after another. The voices opposing and questioning the newcomer, Ian, became increasingly rare.

Thus, as a VP at Barclays, Ian wielded authority that not only matched but even exceeded that of EDs. The projects Ian set his sights on would get approved, and once approved, they would make money.

Good performance was definitely something to be proud of within investment banking.

A year of good performance meant a year of holding your head high, and if it remained good, one could even afford to be "high above the rest."

After all, this was a game of money, a contest to see who could become closer friends with wealth.

However, beautiful track records needed careful nurturing; if there was a single flaw of not "preserving one’s late achievements," all would be undone.

That’s also why, when resigning, Ian took the handoff of the two unresolved cases in his portfolio extremely seriously.

Ian had to ensure that even after he left, the cases he had handled would not end up losing money.

At Barclays, Ian was an incredibly hardworking individual, known for his diligence, gentlemanly demeanor, humility, and kindness. Unless Ian spoke of it himself, no one would have guessed his background.

It was only after leaving Barclays that Ian began to raise his profile; otherwise, given Ian’s background, countless people would have clamored to do data analysis for him, and Qi Yi wouldn’t have mattered at all.

.........

The golden era of hedge funds was also the golden era for Quants.

Quants could make a fortune purely through data analysis and supercomputers, without understanding market principles.

But that golden era existed only before the subprime crisis.

Wall Street was reshuffling, and hedge funds were losing money.

After becoming a Quant, Qi Yi quickly comprehended how his predecessors made their money.

But their methods had become a thing of the past.

After weighing the pros and cons, Qi Yi decided to accept Ian’s offer.

Since Ian was willing to bring Qi Yi on board, offer him triple his current salary, and even suggested a VP position if Qi Yi wanted to move to front office work in the future.

With such tempting terms laid out before him, plus the opportunity to learn Ian’s investment philosophy, it was impossible for Qi Yi not to entertain the idea of working with Ian after fully understanding what he had planned. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

Qi Yi made up his mind two months ago.

He planned to resign after attending Yan Yan’s graduation ceremony in Melbourne.

If all went well, Qi Yi should have already joined Ian’s firm a month ago.

But after returning from Melbourne, Qi Yi overturned his earlier decision and began to hesitate.

Hesitation was rare for Qi Yi.

For things that would normally cause others to vacillate, Qi Yi, as a statistician, could just calculate the probabilities and come to a direct conclusion.

But the matter of changing jobs became different because it suddenly involved Yan Ling, the cousin of Yan Yan.