Chapter 724: Future Investment

……

When Guo Shouyun was talking to friends, he didn't forget to pay attention to Unocal's stock price. The upward curve makes people feel happy.

By the time the New York Stock Exchange closed at 3 p.m., Unocal's $62 issue price had risen to $73.4, an increase of 18.39% in one day. Compared to the situation when Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Yahoo and other companies went public, this growth is not high. However, Guo Shouyun is already very satisfied, Unocal is just a traditional oil company, not a technology company. For Wall Street, which is now focused on short-term earnings and has become impetuous, it is not a highly anticipated investment. It was able to rise so much at once, thanks to the background of rising oil prices.

Regardless, with the closure of the stock exchange, the market value of Unocal increased to $73.4 billion.

Business media such as Time, Business Week, and Bloomberg all used their front pages to provide detailed coverage of Unocal's listing.

Guo Shouyun, who has always been low-key, has once again become a figure in the global business community.

As Unocal entered the top 100 of the world's top 500 as soon as it was listed, it also once again aroused the question of how much wealth this Chinese rich man has.

Kwok's Business Group, Phoenix Bank, Thunder Fund, Unocal, Universal Corporation, Matrix Company, Pacific Energy Group, Ruby Corporation, Apple, Google, not counting Tesla Motors, which is still in research and development and has not been listed, among Guo Shouyun's many well-known assets, LinkedIn is listed as an independent subsidiary of Ruby and is now worth $13.7 billion, ranking behind Microsoft, Yahoo, eBay, AOL and Amazon, and is the United States and the sixth largest Internet company in the world.

Unocal, with a market capitalization of $73.4 billion, is the fourth-largest oil company in the United States after ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco and ConocoPhillips. However, there are many giants in the oil field, and Unocal is not in the top 10 in the world. But even so, in the field of oil, it is a giant.

It's just that judging from the list of shareholders released by Unocal, people can't find any shareholding information related to Guo Shouyun. What the hell is Red Diamond Fund and Rayco Investment Company?

Of course, as long as people with a certain amount of financial knowledge know, some of these shareholding institutions must be shell companies controlled by Guo Shouyun. However, none of these shell companies are listed and do not need to disclose information to the outside world. So how many of them belong to Guo Shouyun, and how many of them are real investment companies, except for Guo Shouyun himself and a few people, I'm afraid no one knows.

This also creates huge difficulties for business investigative agencies, especially Forbes.

Because more than 95% of Guo's assets in the United States are under the names of two public welfare funds, the Bruce Fund and the Guo's Charitable Foundation, they no longer bother to investigate Guo's assets in the United States, which are covered by the fog, but only evaluate his assets in Asia and rank them.

Guo Shouyun's assets in Asia are also not listed, and the scale is far from comparable to that of the United States, so after a conservative assessment, in 2003, his fortune on the American Forbes list was $9.83 billion.

Such a ranking is naturally unsatisfactory compared to the huge scale and influence of Kuok's Business Group, Phoenix Bank, Thunder Fund, Unocal, Universal, Matrix, Pacific Energy Group, Ruby Corporation, Apple Inc., and Google Inc.

However, Forbes also gave some explanations, but with little effect. Of course, the Forbes rich list is full of loopholes, except for the upper-class people who eat melons and really know the inside story, no one will really think that the list represents real personal wealth.

Guo Shouyun doesn't care about the disturbances of the outside world. After receiving congratulatory calls from many friends and thanking them one by one, he began to push forward with the things he really cared about.

"Boss, this is the list of outside directors to be hired. ”

He took the document in Rebecca's hand and looked at it, "Have you communicated in advance?"

"It has been confirmed that there are no strong people among them, and they are all business elites who have some knowledge of the oil industry or have worked in oil companies. ”

According to the U.S. Securities Act, public companies must establish an external board of directors, board of supervisors, and other institutions to oversee the company's operations and management.

In addition, the financial scandals of Enron and WorldCom in 2001 and 2002 directly led to the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, under which outside directors had more involvement and prosecutorial powers in the company's operations.

This means that Guo Shouyun's management of Unocal will be subject to more external constraints. Although he still holds 57.78% of Unocal shares, he has an absolute controlling stake and absolute control of the board of directors, but the opinions of the board of directors and outside directors are also taken into account. This is the price of going public, obtaining public funds, but also accepting public, or external supervision.

"Since it's okay, let's follow this list. ”

"The funds raised in this listing are $9.3 billion, have you ever thought about how to use them?"

Rebecca nodded, "Boss, now that the global economy, including the United States, is developing rapidly, increasing the demand for oil, and in the context of rising oil prices, the cost of acquiring oil companies is too high and the premium is too high." So I suggest that for the time being, we should abandon mergers and acquisitions with oil companies and instead support oil exploration and investment in oil product options. ”

Generally speaking, during the recession of the industry, there will be more mergers and acquisitions in the industry. During boom times, M&A activity decreases. The main reason is because of the premium, during the boom period of the industry, the acquisition of a company will often pay a premium of more than 20% on the basis of the company's market value, which will cause great financial pressure for the acquisition company.

Unocal started with its predecessor, Enron Petroleum's business, and until now, it has been mainly mergers and acquisitions. As he said when Unocal went public, the company's assets have skyrocketed from less than $10 billion in three years to nearly $100 billion now.

This was also a time of downturn for the U.S. economy, and the premium for M&A was low. But since 2004, things have changed.

"How much does Unocal invest in futures right now?"

"With a principal amount of $3.47 billion, the oil futures contract of $10.41 billion was held under 3x leverage, and a total of 43.78% net income growth was obtained over the past three years. ”

At Mr. Guo's request, Unocal invests 20 percent of its net income in oil futures each month, and that amount has now accumulated to $3.47 billion. If the position is closed, it will receive a net gain of $4.56 billion, which after deducting capital gains, Unocal will double the gain in three years.

From an operational point of view, the returns and returns on financial investment can be much higher than from oil development. That's why Rebecca wants to put $9.3 billion into oil futures.

What's more, she knows her boss well, who has been a staunch supporter of the long-term rise in oil prices. Her advice is in line with Guo Shouyun's investment philosophy, and the probability of being allowed is huge.

Guo Shouyun shook his head slightly after thinking about it for a while.

"It's not appropriate to invest all in oil futures. If all goes well, Iraq's oil resources will be officially allocated next year, and we will most likely get the Majinu field, but the war has destroyed the oil field facilities, and we need to reinvest, and I plan to increase the production of the Majinu oil field to 500,000 barrels per day, which will require us to invest at least $4 billion. In addition, I plan to expand the exploration rate of ultra-deepwater blocks in Brazil. If we find oil, we will need to invest a lot of money in extraction, which will require a lot of money, and Unocal alone may not be enough. ”

"And how much money are you going to leave behind?" Rebecca nodded.

"Make up $10 billion of the company's investment in futures, and put the rest in the company's currency account. "Although I am not going to take it out for investment, I have to ensure that the money will not depreciate.

"I see. ”

"Will Petrobras still have exploration tenders this year?"

"No news yet!"

"Always keep an eye on it, and if they continue to bid for it, you know what I'm asking for. ”

Looking at the majestic gaze of the big boss, Rebecca nodded. She really couldn't figure out why Guo Shouyun was so interested in the ultra-deep waters of Brazil's São Paulo Basin. Perhaps, as rumored by the outside world, he is betting that there are large oil fields in the ultra-deepwater area off the coast of Brazil. But the stakes are too high. Over the past year, Unocal has invested $150 million in ultra-deepwater exploration in Brazil, but not a single oil seedling has been seen. If the scale of exploration is expanded this year, then the investment will be several times greater. If you can't find the oil field again...!

Thinking of this, after hesitating for a moment, "Boss, if we expand the investment in Brazilian oil exploration, I'm afraid the board of directors will have a big opinion." After all, we haven't found anything surprising there in the past year or so. ”

"I'll handle the pressure on the board, you just have to do what I say. After a pause, Guo Shouyun squinted his eyes slightly and said slowly, "Rebecca, I trust my instincts, there is oil in that place, and there is a big oil field! As long as we persevere, God will give us a big surprise." ”

Looking at the big boss's determined expression, Rebecca sighed in her heart, and she guessed that the big boss would answer like this. In the past year, every time he talked about this issue, Guo Shouyun said so. In fact, Guo Shouyun doesn't have any good words. I can't tell the other party directly, I'm a reborn person, and there was a big oil field there in my last life. We must hurry up and occupy the pit, and we must not let others rob it.

Guo Shouyun estimated that the end of saying this was that Rebecca regarded him as a psychopath.

In contrast, pushing everything to one's own intuition is a solid answer. Anyway, it's not the first time he's used this to prevaricate other people's questions, and he can be said to be familiar with it.