Video Game Empire

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The Hong Kong dollar crisis came and went quickly. After the Hong Kong government clearly expressed its attitude, speculation in the Hong Kong dollar was effectively curbed. Although the exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar against the US dollar has still fluctuated greatly, it has gradually recovered to below 8.5, and once reached 7.9 at the highest point.

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The sharp fluctuations in the exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar will definitely be a major blow to the banking industry. Especially in the three days of September 24th, 25th and 26th, almost all banks experienced a crowd-pull wave. No one wants to watch their wealth quickly depreciate in the bank.

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As a result, there was an unprecedented rush to buy in the Hong Kong market, and the shelves of many supermarkets were swept away by crazy citizens. Everyone is like locusts, buying whatever they grab, without considering whether these things are good for them.

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In this financial turmoil, Jiahua Bank's performance is undoubtedly the most dazzling. Although in the first few days, Jiahua Bank's deposits also experienced a considerable loss. However, after Li Xuan announced that he had deposited 100 million US dollars to Jiahua as an emergency in his own name, Jiahua's deposit balance began to rebound rapidly. .

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By the beginning of October, Jiahua Bank's Hong Kong dollar and foreign currency deposit balances had increased by a full 3 billion Hong Kong dollars compared to before the crisis. According to President Yang Lingjun, the current Jiahua Bank has steadily surpassed HSBC's Hang Seng Bank in terms of the number of branches, total assets, total deposits and other data, becoming second only to HSBC in Hong Kong and the third largest bank after Standard Chartered.

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"Li Sheng, your Jiahua Bank has been in the limelight recently!" Shen Bi said to Li Xuan with a smile.

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Li Xuan looked at the old man with a very kind smile in front of him, but he didn't show any smug expression. Despite Li Xuan's pre-judgment, Jiahua Bank transferred a large amount of cash into USD assets in a timely manner, not only made a fortune in this exchange rate turmoil, but also further consolidated its trustworthy image in the hearts of depositors in Hong Kong.

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But compared to HSBC, an invisible big hand that covers the entire Hong Kong economy, Jiahua is simply insignificant. There is no central bank in Hong Kong, and many government central bank functions are undertaken by HSBC. For example, HSBC is not only a note-issuing bank, but also the main correspondent bank of the Hong Kong government and the management bank of the Hong Kong Association of Banks Central Clearing House.

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It can be said that the entire banking industry in Hong Kong has no secrets in front of HSBC. It is by virtue of such a financial monopoly position that HSBC's Taipan is known as the "governor behind the scenes" of Hong Kong. Li Xuan can completely guess that HSBC is definitely the biggest vested interest in this Hong Kong dollar crisis. When the Hong Kong dollar depreciated rapidly, the largest foreign exchange seller in the market could not be anyone other than HSBC.

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"Sir Shen, I'm here today to discuss a big business with HSBC! If I am willing to mortgage all the shares of Computer Park Company held by Dongfang Holdings to SITC Bank, how much loan can you give?" Li Xuan asked bluntly.

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HSBC has been actively expanding overseas since the late 1970s. The reason for this is that after HSBC holds Hang Seng Bank, the local bank retail market share in Hong Kong has exceeded 60%, and the room for continued expansion is extremely limited, and it is necessary to strive for living space externally.

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Another reason is that the New Territories 97 lease is about to expire. As the chief banker of the Hong Kong government, HSBC naturally knows the inside story, so it actively promotes the group's internationalization strategy. Compared with the simple and rude methods of another British-owned representative company, Jardine Matheson, HSBC's deployment is more low-key and more careful.

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As early as 1977 when Shen Bi became the chairman of HSBC, HSBC started to plan and deploy the group's internationalization strategy, and planned to establish strategic bases in Asia, America and Europe, forming the so-called "three-legged stool" strategic layout.

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For this reason, when Standard Chartered Bank issued a general takeover offer to Royal Bank of Scotland in 1981, HSBC joined the fray at the first time. Although the acquisition plans of Standard Chartered and HSBC were ultimately rejected by the British Monopoly and Merger Commission, HSBC's first move into Europe suffered a setback.

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However, HSBC's layout in North America is much smoother. It successfully reached an agreement with the American Ocean Milan Bank, which stipulates that HSBC can eventually acquire 51 shares of Ocean Milan Bank. Although this agreement was repeatedly blocked by the New York State Banking Commissioner, HSBC still spent $314 million before 1980 to successfully acquire the equity of Oceanic Milan Bank 51.

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Ocean Millan Bank is the 13th largest bank in the United States, headquartered in Buffalo, upstate New York, with more than 300 branches and total assets of up to 20 billion US dollars. HSBC changed its name to HSBC Bank after taking control of Ocean Milan Bank.

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Haifeng Bank has an extensive business network in New York State, especially in commercial banking. In other words, SITC is a local snake in New York State, and as the quintessence of New York State, New York City is naturally one of the most rigorous places for SITC.

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"Pledge all the equity in Computer Garden Company? It seems that Li Sheng is going to have a lot of money!" A strange look flashed in Shen Bi's eyes, and he immediately began to analyze in his mind.

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Li Xuan holds about 60% of the shares of Computer Park, and the market value of these stocks exceeds 2 billion US dollars based on the current stock price. If you use them as collateral, you can lend at least $1 billion! But Haifeng Bank simply could not afford such a huge loan.

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Don't look at the total assets of SITC as high as 20 billion US dollars, but HSBC only spent 314 million US dollars to acquire its 51 shares, which means that SITC's own assets are only 600 to 700 million US dollars. If a one-time loan of up to 1 billion U.S. dollars is made to the outside world, once the money cannot be recovered, Haifeng Bank will directly go bankrupt and liquidate.

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No shrewd banker would do such a high-risk thing. Although Haifeng Bank ranks as the 13th largest bank in the United States, it can only be regarded as a regional medium-sized bank. It mainly provides loans for small and medium-sized enterprises, and cannot afford huge loans of 1 billion at every turn.

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Although Haifeng is not strong, it still has HSBC behind it. Since Citibank dared to pledge the equity of Dongfang Game Company, it issued a loan of at least 2 billion US dollars to Li Xuan. HSBC used the same high-quality computer land company shares as collateral to eat up a $1 billion loan.

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But Li Xuan was talking about the loan from HSBC, not directly from HSBC. Shen Bi believed that Li Xuan was by no means a slip of the tongue. Compared with HSBC, Haifeng was much less well-known and could only be said to be a regional bank in New York State.

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New York! Shen Bi suddenly grasped the point. Isn't the "God of Wealth Li" in front of him making a big splash in New York recently! It seems that the purpose of the other party's stay in New York is not as simple as reading an EMBA on the surface. He must have taken a fancy to the special influence of SITC in New York.

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"If Li Sheng needs the assistance of SITC, we will do our best!" Shen Bi said with a smile.

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Shen Bi guessed right, Li Xuan was interested in SITC's influence in New York State. The company is headquartered in New York, with several factories located throughout New York State. In addition to dredging the White House and Congress, the Eastern Group's merger and acquisition move is also a hurdle that the local government must pass.

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Previously, when Li Xuan spent a lot of political cash in the United States, he concentrated all his efforts on high-level executives, such as the president, vice president, and heavyweight members of the two parties in the Senate and House of Representatives. Li Xuan is the weakest link in state-level politics.

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This requires an influential local snake to help him match up. And SITC Bank, which has branches all over New York State, is obviously a great guide. Therefore, Li Xuan did not directly choose to take a loan from HSBC, but first pulled HSBC into his own camp.

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Perhaps with the strength of SITC, it can only eat up to one or two hundred million US dollars in loans. But as long as it enters the urn, in order to ensure that its own interests are not lost, it will definitely actively manage local forces for the Eastern Group.

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In Li Xuan's plan, a consortium consisting of Citibank, SITC, HSBC, and Standard Chartered is responsible for providing loans of around US$4 billion to US$4.5 billion for the entire operation of Dongfang Electronics' acquisition of the company. The Goldman Sachs investment bank, who had worked with Li Xuan many times before, and the most famous public relations company in the United States, Yabo Company, are the general counsels of the merger plan. In addition, a number of powerful political lobbying companies hired by Li Xuan have begun to operate quietly in Washington.

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It can be said that Li Xuan made a very large and meticulous arrangement in order to successfully acquire the company. If the acquisition fails, Li Xuan's losses will be at least hundreds of millions of dollars.

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"Oriental Group is in contact with companies in the United States and is preparing to acquire companies through cash acquisitions, so it needs strong support from the bank!" Since Li Xuan plans to let HSBC participate in his actions, he doesn't need to continue to hide it, and directly said to Shen Bi out of his goals.

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"Company?" Shen Bi quickly searched for the company's information in his mind, "This is not an easy task!"

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Shen Bi himself understands how difficult it is for foreign capital to enjoy enough American companies. He personally made the decision for HSBC to acquire Ocean Milan Bank. As a result, the whole process dragged on for nearly two years, and the New York State government repeatedly investigated HSBC's internal reserves for various reasons.

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In fact, what HSBC really hopes is 100's holding SITC Bank, and for this reason, the acquisition negotiations between them and other shareholders of SITC have been going on intermittently.

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"Every acquisition is a gamble. We must have a strong heart to accept all kinds of challenges!" Li Xuan said confidently.

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Shen Bi didn't think Li Xuan was pretending to be coercive. To move forward, companies do need to overcome obstacles.

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"HSBC Bank is willing to be the best partner of Dongfang Electronics Corporation on the way forward!" Shen Bi said with a smile.

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As long as Li Xuan can provide high-quality mortgage assets to lock in the risks of HSBC, Shen Bi has no reason not to support it. After all, such a big business is very profitable. Of course, he still decided to let the assistant collect the company's information in detail later. R1152