Chapter 764 Huge Financing

……

The first day of the meeting didn't last long. Guo Shouyun only talked about the merger plan of Phoenix and Merrill Lynch, the direction of future discovery, and simple valuation methods. The real negotiation can only be negotiated after the representatives of the various consortia have read the detailed information of Phoenix and Merrill Lynch and have a clear idea of it.

Of course, two huge financial companies, with huge assets of $2.5 trillion, involving hundreds or thousands of documents, will be a huge amount of work to analyze thoroughly in two days. Fortunately, every representative of the consortium who came here brought enough people with him. Everyone worked overtime, and finally after two days, they had a detailed understanding of the operating information and financial situation of Phoenix and Merrill Lynch.

What followed was a cumbersome, almost fierce discussion comparable to the bargaining of uncles and aunts in the vegetable market. The threats, inducements, and prevarication are not enough for outsiders.

After three days of entanglement, representatives of the 15 parties, including the Morgan Family Fund, the Roosevelt Family Fund, the Bush Family Fund, the Kennedy Family Fund, Goldman Sachs, the Royal Bank of Scotland, KKR, Da Mön, Bain Capital, Bear Stearns, the Blackstone Group, the Carlyle Group, plus the Bruce Fund, Phoenix Bank, and Merrill Lynch, signed their names to the final agreement.

According to the terms of the contract, Merrill Lynch's shareholders will convert their shares into new shares of Phoenix Merrill Lynch on a three-share-for-share basis, while Phoenix Bank will convert their shares into new shares of Phoenix Merrill Lynch on a three-share-for-two-share basis.

This means that Guo Shouyun's 47.3% stake in Merrill Lynch through Bruce Fund will be converted into 15.77% of Phoenix Merrill Lynch's new shares. His 67.8% stake in Phoenix Bank will be converted into 42.94% of Phoenix Merrill Lynch's new shares. He still holds a controlling stake in the company with a total of 58.7% of Phoenix Merrill Lynch.

Next is financing.

After negotiations, the representatives of the 15 parties agreed that the basic market of Phoenix Merrill Lynch should be $190 billion! The Morgan Family Fund, the Roosevelt Family Fund, the Bush Family Fund, the Kennedy Family Fund, Goldman Sachs, the Royal Bank of Scotland, the KKR, the Da M. More, Bain Capital, Bear Stearns, the Blackstone Group, and the Carlyle Group, and the 13 parties used $75 billion to acquire a 28.3 percent stake in the Phoenix Merrill Lynch Company.

At this time, it can be seen that the gap in the strength of the consortium of all parties, I have to say that the Morgan family, a consortium rooted in the American financial circle for more than 100 years, is really powerful, and invested 12 billion US dollars to get 4.53% of the shares of Phoenix Merrill Lynch, plus their original Merrill Lynch equity, with 6.47% of the shares, making the Morgan family fund the second largest holding institution after the Bruce Fund.

After this dilution, Guo Shouyun's stake in Phoenix Merrill Lynch was also greatly reduced, and finally fixed at 42.09%!

However, this is also in line with his purpose, if he continues to control Phoenix Merrill Lynch, he is afraid that the monopoly hat will still be difficult to take off.

After talking about business, it is natural that there will be a celebration dinner! As the protagonist, Guo Shouyun is also the center of everyone's conversation.

"Bruce, when will Phoenix Merrill Lynch be officially listed?"

Walker Fairbank, CEO of Da Mo, asked.

"If the merger goes well, I intend to officially launch the listing of Phoenix Merrill Lynch in October in the second half of the year. ”

"What about the underwriters?"

"Walker, we're the second largest investment bank on Wall Street!" Guo Shouyun said with a smile.

"As a huge entity with an estimated market capitalization of more than $270 billion, two underwriters is not much!"

"The two underwriters are a good fit, but I think we are a better fit at Goldman Sachs!" Blank Fein walked over with a wine glass.

"Blank, Goldman Sachs' strength in securities underwriting can be ranked behind us!"

"Walker's clients are wealthy people who have a stronger investment ability and a better ability to identify good stocks. High-quality stocks like Phoenix Merrill Lynch are the most favored. ”

Goldman Sachs has always been a well-known 'white shoe' large company on Wall Street, although Merrill Lynch led the 'Wall Street to Main Street' action, so that investment is no longer a toy for the rich, but Goldman Sachs, which adheres to the partnership system, has always been a high-end player on Wall Street, unlike Merrill Lynch, who is among the best in wealth management and has huge assets. But he used his connections in high society to obtain rich returns through high-risk transactions.

Among the five major investment banks on Wall Street, the most cunning player is Goldman Sachs!

"Two, don't argue. Phoenix Merrill Lynch's listed underwriters, except for ourselves, will not be an exception!" Guo Shouyun said.

"Bruce, how many shares are you going to take out to raise money?"

Blank Fein also changed the subject.

“10%！”

"I'm more curious about what Phoenix Merrill Lynch will do with the $75 billion in financing?" Walker Fairbank asked.

"Phoenix Merrill Lynch has a lot of businesses, and although $75 billion is huge, it's nothing when broken down. However, the specific distribution plan still needs to be discussed and decided by the management!"

"Bruce, based on what I've seen from Phoenix Merrill Lynch, you seem to be reducing your holdings in private equity, as well as investments in different properties?" asked Blank Finn.

Guo Shouyun was a little surprised by this guy's carefulness, and nodded after a brief consideration.

"Why? Now all financial institutions know that real estate derivative bonds are the most profitable business!"

"Merrill Lynch's portfolio is overweighted in non-asset and derivative bonds and is overexposed. I need to balance that! As for the reduction of private equity holdings, we have just turned the net from casting a wide net and now focusing on fishing. In fact, Phoenix Merrill Lynch's overall investment in private equity has not changed, but its investment objectives are more concentrated than before. Guo Shouyun said.

"It's good to focus on investment, but aren't you afraid of losing money?"

"As long as you do a good job of investigation in advance and keep abreast of the movements of these companies, unless there is a black swan event, the possibility of losing money is very small. After a pause, "Besides, even investing in treasury bonds may lose money, isn't it?!"

Blank Fein nodded, smiled and raised his glass!

"Cheers!"

“cheers！”

……

"Bang...!"

The loud movement showed the anger of the master.

"Damn Goldman Sachs, damn Bear Stearns, they dare to betray us!!" Steven Lippin, the hot-tempered CEO of Halliburton Energy, slapped the table angrily.

Except for him, all the people in the entire room who participated in the alliance against Bruce Guo did not look good!

The betrayal of Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns was a heavy blow to them. Ironically, if it weren't for the voluntary withdrawal of the two families, they would not have known about it.

"There's no point in being angry, it's just that we have to figure out how to deal with it!" William Schiff said in a deep voice.

"What's the solution? Do you want us to chase those two bastards back?"

"Certainly not chasing it back. It's about how to deal with the ensuing dilemma. The betrayal of Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns is certainly not without reason, and since Bruce Guo is willing to spend a lot of money to win them over, he is naturally willing to win over others. And he has always been friendly with Carlyle, Blackstone and other private equity institutions, and he has the support of the Roosevelt family behind him, and now he has to add Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns, this force has burst out, and it is not weaker than us, even stronger than us!"

"The key is to figure out what exactly Bruce Guo used to win over Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns, and what other consortiums were co-opted by him?" said Cram Pandett, CEO of Citigroup.

"With the cunning and greed of Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns, plus the current state of Bruce Guo. The ones that most likely to turn their backs on us are the original shares of the new companies in the combined Phoenix and Merrill Lynch! And I've received news that the business jets of Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns had been to San Francisco a week earlier. Barclays Capital CEO Jerry Misel said.

"William, haven't your people been keeping an eye on Bruce Guo, aren't there any valuable discoveries?" asked Jerry Mityll.

"Bruce Kwok is very cautious. Moreover, the level of vigilance in the Hanshan Courtyard is very high, and there are no unique signs for vehicles coming and going, although we are monitoring the perimeter, we have not found anything. William Schiff shook his head.

Tracking and surveillance is normal in the United States, where private detectives are everywhere. But unfortunately, since Jasmine Bevan's accident, Guo Shouyun has attached great importance to the security of his residence and the workplace he frequents. Don't say it's a private detective, you're a CIA agent and don't want to come in unscathed.

After all, after more than five years, hundreds of millions of dollars have not been spent in vain. The members of Rudy Muller, Deng Feng, and Hua Lei have been training every day.

"Jingle bell...!"

Just then, William Schiff's phone rang suddenly.

Glancing at the caller ID, William's face changed slightly, and after making an apologetic look to everyone, he turned around and walked out of the conference room.

"Mrs. Snow, what's the matter with calling me...!"

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by the other party.

"Mr. Schiff, I'm afraid I can't continue what I promised you last time!"

"Why? Didn't the antitrust investigation begin?" asked William Schiff quickly.

"That's right. But this morning, Mr. President spoke to me personally. And repeatedly explained that the merger of Phoenix and Merrill Lynch should not involve monopoly, and the two sides are just ordinary business mergers and acquisitions!"

"President?!"

"Yes, the President has intervened! Obviously, your opponent is already preparing to fight back, and they have the advantage from the start!" Connelly said in a deep voice.

"Mrs. Snow, according to the Constitution, the members of the American Trade Council are politically neutral. Not even the president can directly interfere with your position!"

"Mr. Schiff, that being said. But we don't stand on our own. We have families, we have loved ones, and we have friends. We also need to think about them. In addition, other members of the Board of Trade agreed that the merger of Phoenix and Merrill Lynch was a normal business transaction. So even if I still support your strategy, it won't change the situation where the Trade Commission withdraws the antitrust investigation against the 'Phoenix and Merrill Lynch merger'!"