Pepe immediately put the laptop on his lap aside, picked up the TV remote, and turned up the volume.

At this time, the news anchor on the screen was saying, "Please turn the screen to the press conference of Merrill Lynch and the National Trust Savings Bank of America."

Immediately after that, the picture on the TV screen immediately jumped to the live interview screen.

On the TV screen, the first thing that caught Pepe's eye was a beautiful reporter with blonde hair who was holding a microphone, and behind the beautiful reporter was a collection of heads and flashing magnesium lights

I saw the beautiful reporter holding the microphone, facing the camera, and talked eloquently: "Audience friends, we meet again, I am standing at the scene of the press conference of Merrill Lynch Group at the moment, reporting to you the latest information of Merrill Lynch Group - just now, Mr. John Sain, CEO of Merrill Lynch, has formally signed an acquisition and restructuring agreement with Mr. Kenneth Lewis, CEO of the National Trust Savings Bank of America. According to the news announced at the on-site press conference, Bank of America will acquire Merrill Lynch, the third largest securities company in the United States, at a price of about $29 per share, with a total price of about $44 billion to $50 billion. After the agreement is signed, Bank of America will take three to five months to complete the restructuring and merger process of the entire Merrill Lynch Group! Some commentators say that the merger and reorganization of Merrill Lynch and Bank of America represents the complete annexation of Merrill Lynch, a century-old chaebol that is the third largest investment banking company in the United States! However, there are also comments that Merrill Lynch can be restructured at a price of $29 per share. It's an extremely beautiful crisis PR! Compared with Bear Stearns and AIG, which were also involved in the subprime mortgage crisis and were acquired, Merrill Lynch not only won a relatively reasonable share exchange price, but also retained the overall assets and avoided the crisis of being dismantled and carved up by the major chaebols! ”

With the real-time information report of the reporters on the scene, the live camera of the picture has been adjusted to the current situation of the press conference.

And at the same time-

The beautiful reporter's voice still did not pause: "No matter which comment is correct, just from the fact of analysis, the third largest investment banking company on Wall Street, Merrill Lynch Group, finally escaped the fate of bankruptcy!" Prior to this, the National Trust Savings Bank of America was the first to take a fancy to and the news of the acquisition was another Wall Street investment bank with the same qualification rating as Merrill Lynch Group - Lehman Brothers, the fourth largest investment banking company in the United States! But the end result was that the National Trust of the Americas Savings Bank abandoned Lehman and chose Merrill Lynch! There is information about this choice of the National Trust of the Americas. It was the willingness and intervention of the Federal Reserve that made it happen! Now there is a lot of speculation in the industry. What will be the future fate of Lehman, which was abandoned by the Fed? Do you continue to struggle to support it? Or is it the same as AIG, which is dismantled and divided by the major chaebols? ”

At this time, the picture once again turned to the face of the beautiful reporter-

"About the future fate of Lehman. Nothing is yet known. Our reporters will continue to follow Lehman Brothers' latest developments. Right now. Please let the director rewind the footage back to the anchor room, and let's hear what Wall Street critics have to say about why the National Trust of America, Savings Bank, abandoned the acquisition of Lehman in favor of Merrill Lynch."

As soon as the beautiful reporter's words fell, the picture on the TV screen immediately jumped back to the face of the news broadcaster in the anchor room.

This anchor staff. opened his mouth at a fast pace, and made a leading word for the on-site interview scene just now:

"In response to the question just interviewed by the reporter Miss Plimpton, we invited Mr. Gary Waedner, the chief senior analyst of Plante-Moran Financial Consulting, to give him his analytical answer to the question of 'why Bank of America gave up the acquisition of Lehman and chose to buy Merrill Lynch', and gave his analysis to the audience in front of the TV

As the news anchor's introductory speech ended, the screen gradually began to zoom in, revealing the face of the analyst named Gary Waedner sitting on the anchor's left hand side.

"Hello friends in front of the TV, I'm Gary Waedner!" After smiling and greeting the camera, the senior analyst said: "In response to the question raised by Mr. Anchor just now, the analytical answer I gave is that I think that Merrill Lynch's strategic vision is ahead of Lehman!" Therefore, its post-acquisition development value is also higher than Lehman! ”

"The reason why I give such an answer is based on the following reasons-" Mr. Wadner, an analyst, said eloquently to the camera: "First of all, it was also implicated in the subprime mortgage crisis, but Merrill Lynch's public relations approach to the crisis should be sharper than Lehman's!" Some people may have already felt that as early as February this year, when the news of Bear Stearns' possible acquisition spread, the signal that the subprime mortgage crisis was about to break out was actually faintly revealed! At that time, Lehman's response was to continue to expand the issuance of subprime bonds! It has set its sights on the Asian market, not only issuing 'minibonds' with a market value of about HK$36 billion in Hong Kong, but also issuing five-year and ten-year 'samurai bonds' with a market value of about 128 billion yen in Japan. Lehman's approach was to make up for the shortage of capital chains, but the end result was to quench his thirst! Merrill Lynch, which was also affected by the subprime mortgage crisis, responded by shrinking the issuance of subprime mortgage bonds around the world, and even stopped the issuance of subprime bonds in some European countries and regions! ”

When Pepe heard this, she inadvertently recalled the cordial and friendly meeting between the representative of Barclays Bank and Antonio Sr. at the banquet held by Anthony Sr. at the Locust Valley Manor when she accompanied Austin to the banquet held by the elder Anthony.

Combined with the analyst's comments on TV at this moment-

Pepe immediately reacted that the so-called "Merrill Lynch also stopped the issuance of subprime bonds in some European countries and regions", and this "country" is very likely to be aimed at Britain.

And the representative of the British Barclays Bank to the United States, which she saw at the banquet of the elder Antonio. Definitely played a crucial role in this!

Pepe figured out the guess and quickly returned his attention to the TV screen.

I just heard the senior analyst Mr. Wadner say: "When it comes to why the Fed gave up on saving Lehman, the reason is that according to statistics, Lehman has issued more than 110 billion (dollar) worth of subprime bonds around the world!" When the first batch of bonds reaches the redemption period, Lehman will use the funds raised by the second batch of bonds to fill the funding gap of the first batch of bonds. And the guarantor of these bonds is not the US Government Department of Finance! Therefore, once Lehman's investment business incurs a large loss. And at the same time. It just so happens that when the redemption period of the bond is about to expire, the consequence will inevitably cause a fault in the capital chain! If it is subjected to a large-scale financial sniping, the decline in stock prices will cause panic selling by investors and a run on the banking business! With a full $110 billion in subprime bonds, how does the Fed reach out to the rescue? ”

Hear here. Pepe couldn't help but pout.

If it weren't for the fact that I had seen that "list of victims" from Austin beforehand. Pepe might have really believed the analyst on TV.

Lehman owes $110 billion in subprime bonds. But they still have established the fourth largest investment bank on Wall Street for more than 150 years, and the sum of all the assets under their names is valued at the normal market price. It's not even worth $110 billion.

If it weren't for the fall of a large number of peers, Lehman would not have become the first "victim" to be "sheared"!

The essence of what this analyst just said is not to serve as a mouthpiece of the government and give a high-sounding reason for the Fed to stand by and watch!

-- Only ordinary people will believe this set of rhetoric!

After Pepe sneered disdainfully, he picked up a packet of potato chips from the coffee table and opened it, and then continued to listen to the analyst's follow-up remarks while eating the potato chips.

"Compared with Lehman's 110 billion subprime mortgage bonds to be redeemed, the total amount of subprime mortgage bonds issued by Merrill Lynch in the world, according to statistics, is about 30 billion (US dollars)! Therefore, even if the overall market value of Merrill Lynch is assessed according to the purchase price of $29 per share offered by the National Trust Savings Bank of America, Merrill Lynch's current total asset value is at least $44 billion to $50 billion! After deducting the redemption gap of 30 billion subprime bonds, there will be at least 14 billion investment returns left! Taking this as a comparison alone, the total asset market value of Lehman's stock price after the crash is about $20 billion, deducting the book redemption of $110 billion of subprime mortgage bonds, if you want to save Lehman, you will have to invest at least $90 billion in huge cash flow! So, in comparison, although Lehman is facing the same crisis situation as Merrill Lynch, it lacks sufficient buffer time and sufficient cash flow. However, discerning investors will eventually make the choice of 'Pageant over Lehman', who said that Merrill Lynch's investment return rate is much higher than that of Lehman Brothers! ”

-- This analysis is quite convincing!

Pepe nodded thoughtfully, adjusted his sitting position, let himself lie on his side on the sofa, and then continued to eat potato chips while listening to the comments of the senior analyst on TV.

"In addition, Merrill Lynch's investment value does not stop at its own assets! And even more importantly - and its added value! After Mr. Waitner had finished saying this, he lowered his head and opened a certain document in front of him.

Mr. Analyst's hand moved quickly, and after a while, he held the information in his hand and spoke again: "And the added value of Merrill Lynch is that 'Merrill Lynch's strategic vision was ahead of Lehman Brothers'!" ”

On the TV screen, Mr. Analyst's voice just fell.

Immediately afterwards, Pepe saw the anchor smile and said, "I have an impression of this sentence!" I remember it was like that opening remark, Mr. Wadener, when you first came to power! ”

"That's right!" Mr. Analyst turned in the direction of the camera, smiled and nodded, "Next, I'm going to give you a copy of the relevant information I have researched-"

Mr. Analyst smiled and shook the documents in his hand, and then continued: "Through the holding of the Beijing Olympic Games, which just ended last month, the Chinese government took this opportunity to show the world its economic strength, and at the same time, it also triggered the world's investment eyes to start focusing on this ancient oriental country that is in the period of take-off. ”

As soon as he heard that the analyst on TV led the topic to his home country Huaxia, Pepe's body involuntarily sat up straight.

She put the snack bag in her hand on the coffee table, then picked up the remote control, turned up the volume, and looked at the analyst on the TV screen with burning eyes-

I only heard the other party continue: "As early as 1993, when the whole world was still treating China as a dangerous country with proletarian terror, Merrill Lynch Group had already aimed its strategic vision at the market of Chinese mainland!" According to the information I have checked, Merrill Lynch is the first American investment bank to be invited to open an office in China! ”

This argument is the first time Pepe has heard it.

In order to verify whether what the other party said was true, Pepe immediately picked up his laptop, turned on the power, put it on his lap, and listened to the follow-up remarks of the analyst on the TV, while his fingers quickly searched the Internet for information in this regard

"Since 1993, when Merrill Lynch officially opened its first office in Shanghai. Over the past few years, Merrill Lynch has participated in more Chinese government financing projects and Chinese corporate financing projects led by the Chinese government through initial public offerings and bond issuances, surpassing any other European and American investment banks, and the total financing has reached nearly $10 billion! "When the analyst on TV said this-- (To be continued......

PS: This chapter is only 4,000 words, but it took me nearly six hours and several revisions before I finally finalized the content of this chapter.

Here's a preview of the next few chapters -- from the 9/15/08 Lehman bankruptcy to the series of episodes that led to the Republican candidate's unsuccessful presidential campaign.

This paragraph will definitely consume a lot of my time and effort, and I can only try to ensure that the logic is smooth and the data is true. If there are some unconfirmed rumors quoted in the article, or if there are some errors in the details, please be merciful to the party's subordinates and don't find faults!