Chapter 226: Enron's connections

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The next day, after having breakfast, Guo Shouyun went to the headquarters of Pan Pacific Group again. Located in the heart of downtown San Francisco, this 22-storey, 180,000-square-meter commercial building was built in the 80s and was previously the headquarters of Pacific Power & Gas.

"Boss, morning!"

"Good morning, Boss!"

The employees passing by greeted respectfully and nodded, Guo Shouyun took the elevator straight to the 22nd floor, and then followed the sign on the door to find his office. The office is divided into two rooms, the outer room is about 40 square meters, which is reserved for the secretary's office. The inner room is about 100 square meters, which is not too big, but it is enough.

After a brief familiarization with the office environment, Guo Shouyun, who does not have high requirements for this, directly asked Wendy to call Jeff Durant over.

The CEO, who had already received the notice yesterday, had obviously prepared everything for a long time, and he had already sat down in front of Guo Shouyun not long after Wendy's phone call came in.

"Boss!"

"Sit!"

After pointing to the sofa across from the reception area, the two sat down opposite each other. Wendy served them coffee, and the conversation became more intense.

"I brought you here for one thing...!"

"Solve the company's financial problems?"

"That's right!" Guo Shouyun nodded.

"Boss, before we start, I have to tell you bad news. The company has just received a call from Enron, Dulij, and El Paso, which are offering a $1.2 increase in the price of natural gas and a $0.5 per kilowatt-hour increase in the price of electricity sales. And they also said that with the increase in energy supply prices, they do not rule out the possibility of continuing to increase prices!" Jeff Durant said angrily and helplessly.

As the former CFO of Southern California Edison, he had seen this kind of thing too many times in the past year, and he was close to numbness.

"How much loss will the price increase bring us?" Guo Shouyun said with a calm expression. He had expected that Enron's allies would raise the price of gas and electricity after he bought the companies in Southern California and the Pacific, but he didn't expect these guys to be so impatient.

"We have 10.37 million electricity users, as well as 6.78 million natural gas users. As soon as they raised the price, we increased our monthly losses by $125 million. The most important thing is that it is now close to the middle of May, and the peak of summer electricity consumption is approaching. If the price of electricity and the supply of natural gas continue to rise, then our losses will continue to rise. Jeff Durant worried.

Now Pan Pacific Energy Group's monthly floating loss is close to 500 million US dollars, and the Enron alliance has raised its price to 600 million. If Enron continues to raise prices, the loss value is likely to exceed 700 million, 800 million, 900 million, or even 1 billion. Although Guo Shouyun made more than 10 billion yuan in gold futures, he couldn't help this kind of large loss.

"Enron's plundering of California's energy market must be stopped!"

Guo Shouyun cut the railway.

"Boss, it's not easy to do. Jeff Durant shook his head, "It's too difficult. We used to work on it when we were in the Pacific. It's a pity that Kenneth Lee's influence in Washington, especially in the Federal Energy Commission, is too strong. ”

"Tell me specifically?" Guo Shouyun said.

After saying yes, Jeff Durant continued: "Kenneth Lee is Enron's chairman and CEO, but he focuses more on Washington, that is, politics. Those who know him say he's more of a politician than an entrepreneur. However, he does have superb communication skills, and with the platform of Enron, he has made many influential friends in Washington. Among them are the Walker brothers, retired Admiral Herbert Vinock, the former owner of Exxon, and Roger Morton, the secretary of the interior during the Nixon era. ”

In particular, Pinkney Walker, one of the Walker brothers, was appointed by President Richard Richard to manage the work of the Federal Energy Commission, although the time was only 18 months, Kenneth Lee, who was his deputy at the time, made a deep impression with his talent and was appointed by Nixon's White House office as the deputy secretary of energy in the Interior Department. This position helped Kenneth Lee accumulate a wealth of connections that helped him crack down on the natural gas and electricity trading market, which was affected by government policies at the time, and laid the foundation for Enron's rapid development. And now it's Kenneth Lee's influence in the federal energy system that makes it so difficult for the government to pass the bill to cap electricity prices. ”

Guo Shouyun nodded knowingly.

"In addition to Kenneth Lee, companies that can benefit from the energy crisis are also exercising their influence. That's the key difficulty!"

"Yes. In addition to energy trading companies such as Enron, Dulis, and El Paso, power companies such as Duke Energy, Myron, Canadian Power, Baoying, and even some natural gas production companies have all played the role of looters in the energy crisis for profit, and their networks are amazingly large. And the electric and gas utilities they 'robbed' have limited influence in Washington because of past policies and closed state energy markets. After a year, the losses are staggering!"

"Are all the western states of the United States affected by the energy crisis?"

"Yes, California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Ioda, Utah, Arizona, the closer you get to California, the more severe the impact of the energy crisis becomes. ”

After Guo Shouyun nodded, "Enron and Dulizhi have raised the price of electricity and natural gas again, will other power and utility companies also be affected?"

"Of course. If they treat it differently and only raise the price of Pan Pacific, it is illegal. This is a better solution. ”

Hearing this, after thinking for a while, "The issue of rising electricity and gas supply prices will be discussed here for the time being. How to solve it, I'll figure it out. Now let's talk about the company's finances. ”

Jeff Durant brace himself and the biggest thing that the Pacific lacks right now is money. A year of California's energy crisis has drained the decades of accumulation between the two companies.

"During the three-month corporate consolidation period, the power company only needs some administrative expenses. But utilities are the big ones in need of capital. Huge sums of money are required to purchase the increasing supply of electricity and gas, as well as to upgrade aging power and gas transmission equipment. On a monthly basis, this represents an additional cost of about $820 million per month. ”

"The cost of building the energy trading website, as well as the expenses of the entire company in terms of administration, pensions, logistics, etc., is about 123 million US dollars per month. Excluding mergers and acquisitions, Pan Pacific would have to invest an additional $943 million per month on top of $17.127 billion in revenue to maintain the company's normal operations... I'm okay with that, right?"

Looking at the document handed over by Guo Shouyun, and after taking it over and reading it in detail, Jeff Durant nodded.

"Before the California energy crisis, the net profit of both companies was able to maintain around $1.8 billion, and now...!" Jeff Durant sighed.

Guo Shouyun smiled, "Don't be discouraged, there will always be a time when the energy crisis in California will pass." As for funding, I'm ready. In three days, the first $3 billion will be on the company's books. There will be a second and third investment in the future. ”

Now the shares of the entire Pan Pacific Energy Group are in his hands, and the investment does not involve equity disputes, so Guo Shouyun can invest without scruples.

Although $3 billion is a lot, Jeff Durant, who knows something about Guo Shouyun's financial situation, is not surprised that he can come up with so much money.

“… Of the $3 billion, $1 billion remains in the company's finances to meet the company's normal expenses. The remaining $2 billion is an investment!"

"Investment?" said Jeff Durant, surprised.

"Not bad!" Guo Shouyun nodded affirmatively. According to the VAM agreements he signed with Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Citigroup and Bank of America. If Pan Pacific loses more than $2 billion within six months, they have the right to buy all the shares from Guo Shouyun with half of the company's actual value.

Now Enron and its allies are already raising the price of electricity and natural gas, and the company could lose more than $2 billion in three months at most based on Pan Pacific Energy's energy and utilities revenues alone. Even, if Guo Shouyun plans to continue to buy other utilities, this loss will come sooner. So, he had to generate revenue for the company outside of energy and utilities to make ends meet. One of the best ways to do this is to invest, or speculate.

"I am personally responsible for this matter, and your task is to maintain the company's finances and cooperate with Jonathan's integration of the company!"

Jeff Durant nodded, he knew the talent of this big boss in investment, so wisely didn't ask too much.

"Knock...!"

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Boss, Mr. Douglas is here!" Wendy said, pushing the door in.

"Let him in. ”

The latter nodded, and turned sideways to let in Barbe Douglas, who was standing outside.

"Didn't disturb your work, did you?"

Seeing Guo Shouyun and Jeff Durant sitting on the sofa, the gray-haired visitor smiled.

"It's okay, we're done. ”

Guo Shouyun smiled and stood up.

"Boss, if it's okay, then I'll go first!"

After nodding to Balbe Douglas, Jeff Durant said.

"Okay, remember my words. Timely feedback if there is a problem!"

"Yes!"

The latter said yes, then turned and walked out of the room.

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