Simon arrived at Johnston's estate on the banks of the Yarra River just outside Melbourne near noon.

The morning call was from Anthony Johnston, but only Raymond Johnston and his wife dined together. During this time, Simon has come here more than once as a guest, and Janet's parents have treated him as a son-in-law, and the two sides have long since lost their original strangeness.

After lunch, Raymond Johnston took Simon to his study.

The two sat down on the sofa by the window in the study, and when the maid brought the coffee and left, Raymond Johnston got straight to the point and said, "Simon, I know you're busy, so I won't be verbose." Can you bring some more money with you this time?"

Simon had roughly guessed the old man's intentions before he came, and nodded briskly, "Yes." However, Ray, because of the events of the last few days, I can't see the situation clearly now, and I can't give any guarantees. Therefore, it is best to only use excess funds here, not to affect the normal operation of the company, and not to blindly raise funds through loans. ”

Raymond Johnston's expression was slightly surprised when he heard Simon say this, but then he smiled and said, "Of course I understand, Simon, I am still surprised that you can be so sober." ”

Simon also smiled, saying: "There is already a lot of room for development in the fields of entertainment, technology and fashion, and I don't plan to spend too much time on the financial markets, but this time I just feel that the time is right, and it doesn't matter how much I want to raise some money, so I won't bet too much." ”

Raymond Johnston nodded, and then asked, "So, how sure are you now?"

Simon thought for a while and said: "There should be no problem with profits, and the various restrictions introduced by the Japanese government after the 7 stock market crash ensure that the financial market will not rise and fall sharply in the short term, and even if the market turns, we can withdraw in time." ”

Both the Japanese stock market and the futures market now have strict limits on the rise and fall, and it is simply impossible for Simon to replicate the miracle of 7-year S&P 500 futures on Nikkei 225 futures. At the same time, these restrictions also mean that if the trend of the broader market changes, as long as the exit is timely, investors will not suffer too much loss.

Raymond Johnston was pleased with Simon's unwitting use of the word 'we', but he still restrained his expression and said, "Actually, Simon, it's not just me, there are some business partners who want to take some money out for you to help with the operation." ”

It was only in the preparatory stage that Simon had already felt the strong influence of the Johnston family in Australia. Some of the social parties held in the Johnston mansion clearly showed a big net in front of Simon.

If you want to maintain such a large network of contacts, in addition to friendship, interests are obviously the most solid bond.

Simon never had the idea of breaking up with Janet or anything like that, and Janet's attitude was clearly the same. Therefore, Simon is destined to be tied to the Johnston, and he has actually enjoyed the benefits of this network of contacts during the production process, and naturally needs to help maintain it.

Just as he was about to nod, Simon thought of something and asked, "Ray, how much money can this money have?"

Raymond Johnston said: "You still need your consent to count, but it should be no less than 500 million Australian dollars." ”

Simon was taken aback.

In Australia, Simon knows that the exchange rate of the Australian dollar against the US dollar is about 0.7 recently. $500 million, which translates to $000 million, is already twice the amount of money Simon plans to use.

At the end of the eighties, there were no hedge funds at the level of tens of billions.

Soros's quantum fund has been hit hard by the 7-stock market crash, and the scale in the past two years has been less than $2 billion, which is already a top giant in the industry, and more hedge funds are only tens of millions of dollars.

If Raymond Johnston only came up with three or five billion Australian dollars, Simon could have nodded directly, but if he jumped to the 000 million level all of a sudden, he would not dare to take it rashly.

"It's too much, Ray, and I'm not going to run a big hedge fund. ”

Simon's knowledge of the financial markets is limited to the knowledge he has accumulated over the course of seven years and the macroeconomic trends in his mind.

With a small scale of capital operation, he can invest all his chips in the field of financial derivatives such as stock index futures that he can understand according to the information he has. When it comes to billions of dollars of capital operation, a single financial product will certainly not be able to carry it, but he has little understanding of other fields such as foreign exchange and bonds, and he has no time to learn these now.

"I probably understand your scruples, Simon," said Raymond Johnston, "but the commander of an army does not need to be a skilled horseman, nor does he need to be a marksman, but only to use his strategy to command thousands of soldiers who are proficient in these subtle skills to win a war." The same is true for the problems you are facing now, you have a forward-looking and big-picture view that is difficult for others to achieve, and for those specific and small things, you can find someone else to do it. ”

When Simon heard Raymond Johnston's words, he immediately understood where Janet's 'Superior Labor Man' personality trait came from.

With a smile on the corner of his mouth, Simon said: "But, Ray, I can't find anyone who can be trusted and has enough ability to operate this fund in a short period of time, James can only help me keep an eye on the existing trading team, he doesn't know more than me in this regard." ”

Raymond Johnston said, "As long as you nod your head, I can recommend some people to you." ”

In the 80s, Australia's economy was still small, but with the Johnston family's heritage, it was obviously not a problem to find some reliable financial talent.

Simon leaned back on the couch, his mind pondering.

Accepting this $000 million, Simon needs to control the scale of funds to reach $500 million.

The larger the hedge fund, the more difficult it is to achieve too high profit margins, which is a disadvantage of accepting external funding.

However, although the commission has not been talked about, it is naturally impossible for Simon to help take care of such a fund for free. Hedge fund fees are very high, with a 2% management fee and a 20% revenue share as the norm, and with Simon's current appeal, he could even increase the fee percentage even further.

In any case, it is quite exciting to think about the huge amount of money that is more than a billion dollars in the financial markets.

As for success or failure.

To use a narrative in memory, the Japanese stock market is now a tuyere, and as long as you look in the right direction, pigs can fly.

What's more, Simon is not afraid of failure in his bones.

Simon also doesn't feel like he can't run a hedge fund as a layman, and laymen abound in this circle. In comparison, those who are really experts are all working for others. As Raymond Johnston just said, professional things are left to professional people, and they only need to control the overall situation.

In terms of timing, the time difference between Melbourne and Tokyo is only one hour, and Simon can keep an eye on the movements of the Japanese stock market during this time filmed in Australia.

If the Japanese stock market follows the development of Simon's memory, it will not reach its peak until the end of the year and turn down.

Simon plans to relax for a while after production is completed and let go of the company as much as possible, at least not as busy as it is now. When the time comes, he will also have more time to continue to keep an eye on the follow-up of the money.

Having made up his mind, Simon looked up at Raymond Johnston.

Raymond Johnston didn't bother Simon's thinking just now, and realized that he had made a decision, so the old man put down his coffee cup and looked over.

After reorganizing his thoughts, Simon said, "Ray, our own funds can be combined and operated. But for outsiders, if they want to join in, my condition is that the profit is within 30%, and I only charge 20% of the revenue share as a commission. If the profit is more than 30%, then the commission rate is increased to 30% for the part between 30% and 00%, and for the part above 00%, I ask for a 50% commission. Unlike other long-term hedge funds, this operation in the Japanese market is a one-time operation, maybe a year, maybe two years. As soon as the matter is over, I will choose the right time to liquidate all the funds to the investors. ”

Hedge funds often give the average person the impression of windfall profits, but in reality, most hedge funds only aim to outperform the market, and there are very few funds that can earn more than 30% per annum.

Raymond Johnston was more or less aware of this, so he was not surprised by Simon's offer, and he even took it for granted.

$500 million, not to mention a profit of more than 00%, even if it can double in the next year or two, everyone will be satisfied.

In fact, the net profit of the entire Johnston Holding Group last year was less than $200 million, and the annual profit of the companies behind the other investors this time is probably the same.

With normal investment methods, a return of 20 or 30 percent a year is already very good.

If it can really be doubled, it will actually mean that everyone will get a year's profit for nothing, and in this case, no one will be unwilling to pay a higher commission.

As for the profit of more than 00%, Raymond Johnston does not expect much, and he also knows the truth that the larger the hedge fund, the more difficult it is to achieve high profit margins.

There are so many opportunities in the financial market, and small funds with millions of dollars can multiply several times a year by seizing the opportunity, which is probably the case with Simon's operation in 7 years. However, for large-scale hedge funds with hundreds of millions of billions of dollars, the investment must be diversified, which will inevitably lead to both profits and losses, and it is impossible to maintain too high profit margins.

Raymond Johnston didn't actually accept money from outsiders without any selection.

The expected money, except for some special partners, the investment threshold of other people was set by him as 100 million Australian dollars, and those who couldn't come up with so much money or couldn't afford to lose were directly excluded, and their son-in-law definitely couldn't be pitted.

Therefore, Simon made these conditions, and Raymond Johnston immediately nodded and agreed.

As for Simon's discourse about combining the Johnston's funds with his own and not talking about commissions, Raymond Johnston did not refuse such kindness. Each other has already acquiesced to their respective family identities, so they don't need to be so polite.

It's just that it would be better if this kid could marry his daughter as soon as possible.

Worry about it.

Sending Simon away, Raymond Johnston called his eldest son and asked him to start helping Simon choose some people who could use it, and by the way, he asked if the little sister who was in a bad mood after the New Year had come back from Europe.

It's also a cause for concern.

At the beginning of the year, the finance department was the busiest time, and the company's operation in the past two years was not smooth.

If you can really take a vacation and come back with a son-in-law, you will be alone every time.

When my father died, I was still talking about my little sister, and now that she is like this, how will I explain it to my parents in the future.

Feeling a little angry thinking about it, Raymond Johnston simply found the contact information and dialed London. After a few words, the woman over there must return to Melbourne next month, or she will fly to London to arrest people in person.

And repeated warnings, this time it was serious.

Simon returned to Melbourne's city centre, with the two major commodity exchanges in Singapore and Osaka having finished their day's trading, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange closing at 3 p.m. sharp.

Affected by the news that Simon Westeros is optimistic about the Japanese stock market, the trading volume of stock index futures contracts on the two major commodity exchanges in Singapore and Osaka has increased sharply after the opening of today, and even many futures types that have nothing to do with Japan have been stimulated.

At the same time, the Japanese stock market is also in the red today, and a large number of stocks have achieved daily limits. The Nikkei 225 rose 623 points throughout the day, accumulating 3,992 points, or .9%. In fact, if it weren't for the rise and fall limit of the Japanese stock market, the one-day gains of the broad market index would definitely be more than that.

Nikkei 225 futures have been around for less than three years, and they are far more expensive than many other futures types, and are usually bought and sold by powerful institutional investors. However, due to the high growth of the Japanese stock market, the trading volume of Nikkei 225 index futures has increased rapidly in recent years.

Many institutions had predicted that the total trading volume of Nikkei 225 index futures this year would reach 5 million lots, involving more than $00 billion. However, because of the turmoil caused by the article, just today, the trading volume of Nikkei 225 index futures on the two major commodity exchanges in Singapore and Osaka exceeded 60,000 lots.

Some people follow the trend to open positions, some people go against the trend to short, and some people cut positions and flee.

Simon, who caused the storm, didn't make any moves, he just checked today's settlement statement as soon as the market closed.

Since the last Black Monday margin crisis, major exchanges have adopted a daily debt-free settlement system, and investors are no longer able to settle the final income when buying and selling, as is the case with buying and selling stocks.

Now, after each day of trading, the exchange calculates the profit and loss data of the investor's contract and makes a cash transfer.

Simon's 5,000 contracts on the Nikkei 225 index earned 305 million yen, or 25.32 million dollars, in one day today.

With a principal of $200 million, the company made a profit of more than 2% in a day, but Simon was not too happy.

The Nikkei 225 index rose 63 points in a single day, which is already more than the broader market gains in the past month. If the limit of 3,000 points in memory is still calculated, Simon's follow-up funds may not be in place, and the Japanese market has already peaked.

If this continues, it will be tragic.