Standing at the pick-up gate, Tang Ning saw that passengers were pushing suitcases out of him one after another, and immediately meticulously held up a piece of cardboard with English (Carter Howard) written on it. He was a VP of Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong, and was sent by his boss to the airport to pick up an executive from the New York headquarters.

The full name of VP is VicePresident, which translates into Chinese as Vice President and Vice President. For example, USAVP is the vice president of the United States. Downing was arranged to pick up the airport as a dignified vice president, and the person he picked up must be extraordinary?

In fact, if the VP is in other industries, he must be one of the most powerful executives in the company. But in investment banking, VP is just a little higher than assistant and newcomer, not even middle management. As long as you have three or four years of qualifications, you can have the title of VP, so there are many vice presidents in investment banks such as Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs.

Tang Ning saw a tall middle-aged man with a beard and a stern face walking towards him, and immediately smiled at him. The other party should be the person he will take this time, Mr. Carter Friedman, the head of Merrill Lynch in charge of underwriting the listing business.

Equity underwriting and listing business is one of Merrill Lynch's most important and strongest core businesses. Mr. Friedman, next to Downing, can be regarded as the core executive of Merrill Lynch. Tang Ning really wanted to have a relationship with him, chat, and introduce him to the customs of Hong Kong.

But Mr. Carter Friedman apparently did not give Downing such a chance, and as soon as he got into the car, he immediately took out a copy of the paper from his briefcase. Then I began to read carefully, without showing the slightest hint of fatigue after a long journey of more than ten hours, and I didn't bother to pay attention to the cityscape of Hong Kong outside the car window.

Investment banking has always been known to be one of the most stressful industries to work in. Downing has been with Merrill Lynch since joining Hong Kong. I work overtime almost every day, and I rarely have the opportunity to have two days off on weekends. But he had to feel ashamed of himself compared to the Mr. Friedman in front of him. No wonder others can achieve a supervisory position, and Friedman's weight in Merrill Lynch is only higher than that of Downing's boss, George Howard, Merrill Lynch's president of Asia Pacific.

"Hi Carter, welcome to the East. Good luck with your trip to Hong Kong!" Howard warmly hugged Friedman. He had a good relationship with each other when he was in New York, and the two often went for drinks together after work.

"In Chinese terms, I hope to succeed immediately!"

Howard had clearly put a lot of effort into his trip to Hong Kong. Although his Chinese language is very awkward. But Tang Ning still understood the idiom "horse to success".

"Your opponents this time are very strong, Da Mo's 'Firebird' has arrived in Hong Kong, and Goldman Sachs has even sent that old guy from the investment banking department Beckland!" Howard told Friedman about the information he had gotten.

The big one is Morgan Stanley, and the United States introduced the Glass-Steagall Act in the thirties. Companies are prohibited from operating commercial banking and investment banking businesses at the same time. As a result, JP Morgan's investment banking business was spun off and Morgan Stanley was formed.

"Firebird" is the nickname of a well-known Wall Street manager in recent years, and his real name is Lloyd. Because he loved collecting Pontiac Motor Company's Firebird sports cars, he gradually got the nickname. Lloyd was originally a senior partner at Goldman Sachs, but was successfully poached by Morgan Stanley two years ago. Beckland is also a senior partner of Goldman Sachs Group, responsible for traditional investment banking business, and has completed a number of large-scale IPOs in recent years.

The fact that the two of them came to Hong Kong means that Da Mo and Goldman Sachs attach great importance to the listing business of computer park companies. Howard frowned. It seems that the competition is more fierce than he imagined, and the investment bank that can gain a foothold on Wall Street. No one is a fool. After tasting the taste of the food, everyone rushed to it like hyenas.

Investment banks are the name of the United States, and the United Kingdom calls these financial companies engaged in non-commercial banking business such as securities merchant banks, and later in China, they are called brokers, that is, securities companies, following the example of Japan.

"If you're not tired, Oriental Electronics will have a celebration reception at the Peninsula Hotel tonight. When the time comes, Mr. Li, the 'God of Wealth,' will definitely be there! The Oriental Group has just reached a cooperation agreement with IBM, and the blue giant has invested $300 million to acquire a 30 percent stake in one of their newly spun off subsidiaries, the Oriental Operating System Software Company! And the financial advisers on both sides who are responsible for this transaction are Da Mo and Goldman Sachs respectively!" Howard said.

"I guess it's Goldman Sachs who advises Oriental, they're anti-takeover experts!" Friedman and Howard looked at each other, and from each other's smiles, he was sure that his guess was not wrong.

Morgan Stanley is a well-known M&A expert on Wall Street, while Goldman Sachs is a well-known anti-M&A expert. Beginning in the 70s, when mergers and acquisitions between companies were no longer as gentle as before, and various hostile acquisitions emerged one after another, these two investment banks began to rise rapidly on Wall Street as strategic advisers for both sides.

Goldman Sachs' company, even if it fails to prevent the hostile taker from finally completing the merger, will use a series of tactics to raise the stock price to a very high price, so that the shareholders of the acquired party will make a lot of money. As a result, Goldman Sachs' M&A business unit is known as an anti-takeover expert by Wall Street peers and has a great reputation.

"It seems that we are already one step behind Goldman Sachs, but compared to their booming mergers and acquisitions, Goldman Sachs' securities business has not been conspicuous in recent years, and we still have a chance! I am full of energy now, will you attend the banquet tonight? I need a suitable introducer!" Howard said with a firm gaze.

"I'm sorry, I'll be flying to Tokyo to deal with some business later! And I don't know Mr. Li Xuan very well! But that's okay, but you don't have to worry, I've already arranged for you to have a close friend of Mr. Li, and he will be responsible for introducing you!" Howard gestured to Downing, who was standing quietly on the side, "George is one of the best VPs under me, and he is the investment advisor to Mr. Li Xuan's best friend, Mr. Xu. He has already invited this Mr. Xu to have dinner with him, you can communicate with him first, and then the three of you can go together for a cold dinner at the Peninsula Hotel at seven o'clock!"

George is Downing's English name. Howard smiled at him gently, and Downing seemed to have the illusion that the smile on the face of this unsmiling company boss was much more sincere than the formulaic smile he had just had at the airport.

It is said that Li Sheng's previous offer was $600 million, but IBM thought it was too high to accept, and could only give $500 million at most, and not all of them were paid in cash! So Li Sheng came up with a new plan, and he split the Oriental Software Company into two, so that the valuation of the Oriental Systems Company that IBM was interested in was reduced to only half of the original value.

Then Li Sheng finally persuaded IBM to buy a quarter of the shares of Dongfang System Company for 300 million US dollars, and before the acquisition was implemented, Li Sheng first let the split Dongfang System and Dongfang Application, two new software companies, each take out a part of the shares for a one-to-one exchange. In this way, the total valuation of the two new companies is $2.4 billion, which is actually compared to Li Sheng's initial offer, and there is no concession, which is the clever point!"

The two people sitting next to Tangning, one is a heavyweight executive in the company, and the other is a well-known wealthy son in Hong Kong, who is also one of Tangning's most important customers. Such an opportunity to express himself was very rare for Tang Ning, so he told the inside information about the negotiation between Dongfang Electronics and IBM like a story.

Another US$2.4 billion company, converted to more than HK$15 billion at the latest exchange rate. For Li Xuan, making money may be as easy as eating and drinking. Xu Jiankui could already guess that tomorrow's Hong Kong newspapers would definitely be in an uproar again. The story of wealth, even if it is fried a hundred times, is still the most attractive subject. Although the money in Xu Jiankui's hand is not even a fraction of Li Xuan's, he is one of Li Xuan's few friends in Hong Kong, and he feels very honored for it.

Compared with Xu Jiankui's joy and a little envy, Howard's mind is more complicated. Although he was shocked by the other party's wealth, he considered more about the impact of this incident.

Li Xuan has just received a cash sum of 300 million US dollars, and as far as he knows, the entire Dongfang Electronics Group has a very strong cash flow. So Mr. Li, nicknamed the "God of Wealth", is not short of money.

The funds in his hands are all able to support the continued expansion of the computer park company. So the other party released the news this time that it was preparing to start the listing plan of the computer park company, and the purpose was by no means just to make money! Howard felt that he seemed to have grasped some key points.

"It's almost time, it's time for us to go!" Downing reminded with a glance at his watch.

On the other side, Li Xuan was having dinner with John Martin, the president of Computer Park. Having learned the lessons of the previous Aikang Company, Li Xuan was much more comfortable with the control of the Computer Park Company. John Martin was promoted to president of the company after he acquired the company from Li Xuan, and in the past two years, he has done a great job of completing the expansion plan proposed by Li Xuan.

With the continuous investment of Dongfang Electronics Company, Computer Park Company has established a strong retail network around the world, and the total number of directly operated stores and franchises has increased from about 150 at the beginning to 282 at present in just two years. (To be continued......)