Two days later, on March 16, it was destined to leave an inscription on the history of world finance, as Bear Stearns, one of the five largest investment banks in the United States, was acquired.

It is said that it was acquired, but in fact it seems more appropriate to describe it as "selling itself", because Bear Stearns actively sought to be traded in a desperate situation. Allan. Schwartz first called Fed President Ben Bernanke, declaring that Bear Stearns was in a liquidity crisis and hoped that the Fed would come to the rescue in an emergency. During the conversation, he highlighted Bear Stearns' large position in subprime mortgage bonds, which could put the entire market in trouble if it were allowed to go bankrupt.

Because of the rat trap, the Fed had to urgently allocate $30 billion to Bear Stearns to ease its liquidity. Because if Bear Stearns declares bankruptcy, it will be a bombshell to the deteriorating subprime mortgage bond market, and it may even undo the previous efforts of the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury, because this time it will no longer affect the end of the entire financial ecosystem, but the middle link.

The entire ecological chain of subprime mortgage bonds unfolds in this way, first the buyer takes a loan from the mortgage institution and the lender, and then begins to buy the house and pay it in the form of a mortgage. The less creditworthy part of the resulting housing loans is sold by these institutions to intermediaries (investment banks) for securitization and turned into subordinated bonds, which are then rated and classified by rating agencies, and then sold by investment banks to bond dealers, such as mutual funds, bond funds, commercial banks, insurance institutions, etc.

So far, it has been a number of junior mortgage lenders and lenders that have fallen, which has had a widespread and heavy impact. And if the investment bank, which is both a trader and an intermediary, collapses again, even if there is only one, then the entire ecological chain may face the danger of collapse.

Neither the Fed nor the US Treasury can afford this risk at the moment and do not want to take it. So they quickly found JPMorgan Chase.

Since its merger with Chase, JPMorgan Chase has become a market behemoth and is now the world's second-largest bank stock by market capitalization. It is a top financial giant. But in addition to operating in traditional commercial banking business, the financial giant is also actively thinking about entering other financial businesses, including investment banking and brokerage business. Stanley, who was separated from them, has become the world's second largest investment bank, and its market value once exceeded that of JPMorgan Chase, which has made generations of JPMorgan Chase management haunted, and they have always wanted to surpass their former little brother in the investment banking business.

Although JPMorgan Chase has its own investment banking business, it is far from being comparable to other major investment banks on Wall Street. Buying an investment bank that is no less prevalent than Stanley in terms of prestige, asset size and staffing has become a shortcut. Naturally, the two sides hit it off and immediately sat down to discuss the acquisition of Bear Stearns.

Among them, there is naturally pressure exerted by the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury Department, but more with the opening up of mixed business operations, it is related to the fact that major commercial banks are interested in investment banking business, after all, these businesses are too profitable.

On March 16, after two days of emergency negotiations, Bear Stearns' board of directors and JPMorgan Chase finally reached an agreement. The Board of Directors of the two companies approved the transaction request in exchange for 1 share of Bear Stearns by exchanging 0.05473 shares of J.P. Morgan common stock for 1 share of Bear Stearns. According to the agreed price. Bear Stearns' market capitalization was compressed to $236 million, or about $2 per share.

As soon as the news spread, it immediately caused an uproar in the market.

There are three reasons for the shock: the first is based on the closing price two days ago, when Bear Stearns' stock was $30 and had a market capitalization of $3.54 billion. Now only $236 million has been sold, a 93% contraction, which is too staggering; The second is that three days ago, Alan. Schwartz also vowed on television that Bear Stearns was well liquid. There was no problem, who knew how things would change, and in just a few days, Bear Stearns was acquired; Finally, there was JPMorgan Chase's move, which had little to no warning before, and it was only after the announcement that many people realized that large commercial banks were moving towards mixed operations, ready to chase the same cake as separate investment banks.

Affected by this news, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fluctuated by 4% in intraday trading the following day, with the financial sector, especially the investment banking sector, falling sharply, while the commercial banks were bullish. Although the S&P 500 fell slightly, the market fluctuated by 2.37% throughout the day, forming a market that opened low and moved low.

And on Monday, that is, on the 17th, the trial of Zhong Shi was also announced, and after submitting relevant evidence, the prosecution voluntarily withdrew the charges against Zhong Shi, and instead issued a wanted order against one of the employees of the Tianyu Foundation, but the employee is now under judicial trial in Hong Kong, and it is believed that the future approval and imprisonment will be carried out in Hong Kong.

"Mr. Zhong, you successfully cleared the suspicion this time, do you want to say something?"

"It is said that someone deliberately framed you this time, I don't know if the rumors are true or not, what is there to respond to?"

"Mr. Chung, what do you think about Bear Stearns' takeover, and can you express it to us?"

……

There were still so many reporters gathered at the gate of the court, and when Zhong Shi and his party came out of the courtroom, they swarmed around, trying to send the microphone or microphone to Zhong Shi one by one, and at the same time, questions were thrown out one after another.

Zhong Shi naturally didn't respond to anything, just smiled slightly, and got into the car and drove away, leaving only Allen. Sean to deal with these reporters.

"Okay, guys, about this lawsuit, I can only tell you that this is a complete misunderstanding, simply after the prosecution realized its mistake. The complaint was withdrawn voluntarily, and it was a happy situation for all. "Alan. A rare smile appeared on Sean's old-fashioned face, "My client has been innocent throughout, and he and I believe it, and today's trial proves it." ”

"Can you elaborate on the details? Mr. Sean? A reporter immediately asked.

Because of the restraining order, reporters were not allowed to enter the trial. This is also because some details are inconvenient to disclose. The reporters were very curious about this, and naturally hoped to dig out more details from the lawyer's mouth.

Allan. Sean's face suddenly showed a look of amazement, and after scanning the crowd around him in anticipation, he said slowly, "Since I signed a confidentiality agreement, I can't reveal more details." But what I want to tell you is that among the economic dispute cases I have represented, this one is the most amazing, and there is no one. After this lawsuit, I found out. There really is a miracle in this world. ”

"Miracles? Mr. Sean, what are you referring to? The reporter quickly caught Allen. The focus of Sean's words was unrelentingly asked.

It was at this time that Jason. Butler walked over and bowed his head to Allen. Sean whispered something in his ear, and soon Alan. Sean's face showed a look of surprise. After about 20 seconds of communication, he nodded heavily before turning to the reporters and saying, "Gentlemen." I have just received authorization from Mr. Zhong to disclose some details about the operation of the Tianyu Fund. In fact, they started being bearish on certain companies more than a year ago. As for the exact name of the company, I will forgive you for not revealing it here, but I can give you a slight hint that it is the company that has recently become the talk of the market. Excuse me, an operation that started more than a year ago, could this be insider trading? Obviously impossible. ”

As soon as the news came out, except for a few reporters who had not yet reacted. The reaction of the other reporters was all shock, and they immediately thought of Bear Stearns, an investment bank that has recently been praised by public opinion. And Tianyu Fund actually targeted this company a year ago, you must know that at that time, Bear Stearns was at the peak of flowers and fire, and it started to operate at that time. How forward-looking and nuanced analysis does this require?

In response to this, the reporters were even more like a frying pan. Sean was furious, trying to get more details from him.

……

"Mr. Zhong, your phone!"

Just as Zhong Shi was closing his eyes in the car, Land Rover beside him handed the phone to him and said softly.

"Huh?" Zhong Shi took the phone, glanced at it, and found that the other party's number was hidden, and his heart moved, and he didn't answer the phone immediately, but lowered his head and thought for a moment, and then pressed the connect button, "Hello, I'm Zhong Shi, who are you?" ”

"Mr. Zhong Shi, hello, I'm Gao Dongfang!" A slightly unfamiliar voice suddenly sounded, first politely introduced himself, and then the other party seemed to remember something, and immediately explained, "I am the general manager of Huaxia Investment Company. ”

In addition to the industrial aspect, Zhongshi's Tianyu Fund rarely sets foot in the mainland, and basically invests in Hong Kong, Europe, the United States, Brazil, South Africa and other regions. Although he did not invest much in the mainland, this did not mean that he did not understand the current situation of his counterparts in the mainland, and Huaxia Investment Company had tried to hire him as a special adviser when it was first established, but Zhong Shi politely refused, because he did not even have the skills to manage his own funds, let alone other energy to help others.

Now the other party actually took the initiative to come to the door, although he hadn't explained his intentions, but it had already made Zhong Shi a little undecided. After a moment of silence, he decided to wait and see, "It turned out to be Mr. Gao, what a surprise." I don't know what Mr. Gao is looking for me? ”

Gao Dongfang didn't care about Zhong Shi's cold attitude, he also knew that he was indeed a little reckless in making this call, but because his situation was a little embarrassing at this time, he didn't care about this, and said directly at the moment: "That's right, Mr. Zhong, I just saw something about your lawsuit on TV, and one of the examples made us very interested." It just so happens that we're in some trouble here, so I'd like to ask you to come over and see if I can help us. ”

"I know this request is a bit abrupt, but because of the large amount of money involved, we have to be cautious and hope to hear more from professionals, especially big names like you. And, judging from what I just did, you have a much deeper understanding of the U.S. market than we do, so we would like you to come to CIC in New York and guide us in our work here. ”

Zhong Shi gradually heard some tastes, it turned out that the people from Huatou wanted to come to him and give some professional advice. Of course, such a meeting can be an academic lecture or an official meeting, but Gao Dongfang did not mention it, and I am afraid there is another hidden reason in this.

Zhong Shi thought about it and felt that he should still give the other party this face, firstly, Huade Real Estate's business in the mainland can hardly bypass the government, and it is naturally a good thing to be able to have a good relationship with the high-level, and the other is that Huatou's money comes from taxpayers, if it really lets these people lose, it will not be good. At that moment, he made an appointment with Gao Dongfang, and hung up the phone lightly.

"The people of Huatou?" Land Rover took the phone and asked casually, in the process of answering the phone, Zhong Shi did not deliberately hide it from him, so he heard it clearly.

"Yes!" Zhong Shi leaned back on the back seat, closed his eyes, and said as if to himself, "It seems that they are planning to come to the bottom!" ”

Jiang Shan, who was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, heard the conversation in the back seat, and quickly turned his head and asked, "Boss, the people from Huatou live at the Sheraton Hotel in Shang/Cheng, should we rush over now?" ”

"There's no hurry, let's go to Bear Stearns first!" Zhong Shi squinted his eyes, looked out the window at the high-rise buildings that were rapidly receding, and said casually.

Jiang Shan doesn't understand, and Land Rover doesn't understand, what are you doing at Bear Stearns now. It didn't take long to get there, so they didn't ask anything more.

It wasn't long before the Mercedes was parked on the side of the street in front of Bear Stearns, and as usual, Bear Stearns was still bustling with people in front of it, an unusually busy scene. It's just that the faces of everyone who came in and out were not the same as before, and after the sale to JPMorgan Chase, these people didn't know which departments the new owner would focus on in the future and which departments to cut, so except for a few people who came in and out and could keep their faces as usual, everyone else looked preoccupied.

After staring at it for a long time, Zhong Shi suddenly pushed the car door open, stepped out, and pasted a two-dollar cash bill to Bear Stearns' glass curtain wall in full view. (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you book friend Xing Xi Yuelang, it wasn't me last night, and Xiao Yang Maimai voted for the monthly ticket!