"What are the specific trading rules in France? Oh, you have almost forgotten? Well, let me simply tell you again. The trading hours of the French stock market are Monday to Friday, starting at 9:00 am Paris time , ending at 5:30 p.m. Before that, the market has a pre-opening phase, which usually starts at 8:00 a.m., allowing investors to make adjustments to their orders. There is also a pre-opening phase for the French stock market after trading closes at 5:30 p.m. The after-hours trading period, which usually lasts until 6:00 p.m. Although the liquidity of after-hours trading is lower, it still has a certain appeal for some investors who need to react quickly to market changes. The trading system implements a T+0 system, and investors can conduct multiple buying and selling operations on the same day to achieve rapid capital turnover. As for the rise and fall of stocks, there are no restrictions in principle..."
The time goes back five days to Wednesday, October 14, 1987.
At noon that day, Ning Weimin flew to Paris.
And he had just checked into the hotel when his boss, Master Pierre Cardon, came personally to introduce him to the situation in France.
In addition to the meaning of mutual handover, this move is also a necessary introduction to rearrange troops before the war.
"Ning, according to what you said, after you left, I continued your strategy. Through our account, I have been selling LVMH stocks high and buying low. I first bought a part of the stock as a bottom position, and then took advantage of it. As the price rises, short-sell the same amount at a high level, and do arbitrage transactions, etc. However, although this method can indeed affect the stock market and effectively increase the volatility, it can successfully reduce our acquisition costs. Our strategy was quickly grasped by the other party. ”
Having said this, the master sighed.
"Remember? Lazard Investment Bank is the financial backer of Bernard Arnault. As a professional investment bank, they are indeed very keen. They quickly discovered our actions and effectively attacked us. When the stock price was pulled down, When the time came, they competed with us to raise funds, and then rushed to distribute on the highs before us. Their methods were very sophisticated and their funds were very strong. They were always one step ahead of us. I have to say that we were no match at all. I even doubted it. They also relied on this kind of game to collect chips in the market. This is a skill they are good at, so compared with veterans like them, we have never taken advantage in the past two months. , but because of the confrontation with them, the losses on the book increased a lot..."
It was indeed not good news, but Ning Weimin was unmoved. His eyes were not worried at all, he just asked.
"So? What is the strength gap between us and the opponent now? How many chips do we and the opponent have in hand?"
At this time, the master took out a copy of the accounting information he had brought and handed it to Ning Weimin. At the same time, he also gave a general explanation of the relevant situation.
"The starting capital of you and me, plus all the trolley suitcase patent licensing fees that I later received, totaled a total investment of 500 million U.S. dollars. The current situation is that we spent 320 million U.S. dollars to acquire 100% of the Four stock shares, less than 3% of the stock shares were short-sold at almost parity price. Therefore, excluding the interest paid to the brokerage and handling fees, we currently have more in hand. There are US$350 million in capital, but considering that LVMH’s market value has been raised from US$6.5 billion when you left France, it has been raised to US$7.2 billion, and the market value of LVMH’s stock is still slowing down every day. If the stock price rises, we have to smooth out the amount of securities lending, so we will only have about 85 million U.S. dollars left, which is almost a floating loss of 100 million U.S. dollars..."
Unexpectedly, the situation on his side alone made Picardon shake his head sadly.
He seemed to be distressed by the astronomical huge property losses, and also seemed to be ashamed that he was not good at this kind of speculation.
But no matter why, it clearly expresses the master's lack of confidence in the future financial war.
"Don't worry too much about temporary losses. It's not easy to determine the outcome of the capital market. You don't have to worry too much. Besides, I brought a lot of money this time, and we now have more capital to use. Five hundred million dollars, I wonder if it can boost your confidence?”
Ning Weimin did not look at the accounts carefully. He was more concerned about Pierre Cardon's confidence.
Although he understood the master's mood at this time, the loss of 100 million US dollars would have to be earned by selling many clothes.
But he also sincerely thinks that foreigners are just too realistic, which is not good.
I care a little too much about financial figures, and I really take them seriously even if they are floating losses.
Compared with the Chinese people, the psychological quality is much stronger, because we know how to endure hardships and kill with one strike.
So he quickly reported the good news to everyone with a smile.
He felt that what could effectively improve the master's confidence at present was the funds he brought this time.
Needless to say, this matter is indeed of some use. The master is indeed like a shot in the arm, and his eyes widen in an instant.
"What? You brought so much money! In this case, the shares we can buy..."
However, a stronger sense of doubt also followed.
"But... this... how is this possible? Last time you brought 200 million US dollars... this time it is 500 million... you... you..."
The master was really confused, he himself started from scratch.
How much money did he have when he was Ning Weimin's age?
In his life, he had never seen anyone with such huge wealth as Ning Weimin at such a young age.
However, Ning Weimin had already prepared a reasonable excuse for this.
"Japan is a good place for financing. You won't believe it. The loan interest rate in Japan is now less than 3% per year. Banks are rushing to give me money. Moreover, I speculate in stocks and real estate in my wife's Japan. They all made a lot of money. Now the stocks are sold and the property is mortgaged. Back in the days, I just scraped together so much. I wonder if you know that there is a singer named Qian Masao in Japan. He only relied on the copyright of his song "Northland Spring", and the Bank of Japan was willing to lend him tens of billions of yen to build a hotel in Hawaii..."
Indeed, reality is more fantastic than one can imagine.
Although Ning Weimin did not tell the truth about the source of such a large amount of capital, it was true that Qian Changfu was approached by the bank and asked for a loan.
This incident spread widely in Japan.
Because the Bank of Japan believes that Chi Masao will sing a more touching song than "Spring in the Northland".
As a result, Qian Masao is now known as the "King of the Music World". His recent whereabouts in Hawaii have attracted the attention of Japanese reporters. Not only has he selected a land to build a hotel, but he has also found a blonde girlfriend.
So after hearing what he said with such certainty, it was hard for the master to say anything else.
Who made newspapers full of news every day about how Japanese people spend huge sums of money to make huge purchases around the world?
In particular, Japan's Yasuda Insurance bought Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" at a sky-high price this year, which made the French, no, the whole of Europe see just how abundant the Japanese people's money is.
But what was a bit strange was that even if he no longer doubted Ning Weimin's words, the master did not relax completely as Ning Weimin expected.
After a moment of silence, the master's expression became more serious.
"Ning, I didn't expect things to come to this. It seems that you have really staked everything on yourself. I am really grateful for your help, and especially appreciate your courage, but you have invested too much. , far beyond my expectations. Looking at it now, this plan is too risky. I still hope you will think more about it before making the final decision, especially since I haven’t had time to tell you about the other party’s situation..."
< br>
This doesn't sound good. The tone alone brings out the pessimism, and it actually sounds a bit like "backing down".
Ning Weimin didn't say anything, he just spread his hands, which meant "Please tell me, I'm waiting for you to tell me."
"Well, I'm afraid the current situation will be a bit bad, and I don't know if you will be disappointed..." Sure enough, Pierkaton frowned slightly and told a shocking news.
"Ning, I just learned last week that Bernard Arnault now controls 43.5% of the shares, which means that he has basically won. Even so, do you still think that we Is there an opportunity? ”
These words were beyond Ning Weimin's expectations.
If nothing else, a simple calculation shows that on their side, including the shares of Henri Lacamier, the head of LV, they own a total of 34% of the shares.
In this case, the shares held by the opposing parties have reached 77%.
Although there is still a portion of the stocks they shorted that must be subtracted from the shares they hold.
But if you include the shares of some company directors and small shareholders, then they are almost the same inside and out. At most 20% of the stocks still circulating on the stock market are available for trading.
Even if they try their best to get it, how much can they get?
Even if there is an imminent stock market crash, they can take advantage of it, but because there are too few chips circulating in the market, as long as they buy some, the stock price will easily rise.
If you look at it from the perspective of chips, it seems that it is indeed unable to change Bernard Arnault's dominance over LVMH.
But at this time, Ning Weimin also felt the same surprise that Pierre Cardon's heart was filled with just now. He also felt incredible about the source of Bernard Arnault's funds.
"But... but where did that Bernard Arnault get so much money? He increased his holdings by another six percent. If he increased his holdings while attacking us, the cost would definitely not be small. It’s at least 500 million US dollars. Is Lazard Bank actually supporting him this much? After all, Lazard Bank has probably lent him more than one billion US dollars, right?”
< br>
It's not surprising that Ning Weimin would be so confused.
Don't forget, a time traveler like him has all the cheats turned on. He has been busy in Japan for the past six months, taking advantage of the right time, place and people, and even added part of his wife's capital.
In the end, he could only scrape together US$500 million and return to France to "make a comeback."
Looking at the difficult and severe economic situation in France and the declining franc exchange rate, how could Bernard Arnault easily obtain such a large amount of financing to help him wear the LVMH crown and help him become a leader in the French luxury goods industry? King.
The CEO of Lazard Bank is his biological father! Isn't this unreasonable?
Even Sumitomo Bank, which has too much money and no place to spend it, is not so generous to itself.
If this issue is not clarified, let alone whether he can win the final victory, Ning Weimin will not be able to correctly assess the situation between the enemy and ourselves, and even his confidence in continuing the confrontation will be shaken.
Fortunately, Picardon was well prepared in collecting information and paid enough attention to this opponent.
As soon as Ning Weimin asked the question, the master clearly told Ning Weimin the secret.
"Ah, Ning, you don't know yet. Dior clothing under Bernard Arnault's name was listed two months ago, so most of the LVMH shares this guy increased his holdings should have been purchased with the funds raised from the listing. ”
"What?" Ning Weimin couldn't help but repeat, "Dior clothing is on the market?"
"Yes, that's right. As I just said, Lazard is Dior's underwriter and sponsor..."
"You also said that he used the funds raised from the listing to purchase LVMH shares..."
Facing Ning Weimin's need for confirmation, the master continued to nod.
"Well, it should be like this. Bernard Arnault started to increase his holdings in Dior clothing after it went public. Otherwise, how would he use the money? Although Lazard is an investment bank, its funds are limited, not to mention France. It's just a branch. They can't really spend a billion dollars to support one customer. The risk taken is too great. They can't afford to spend less and do big things. That's their preference..."
"What is the market value of Dior now? How many shares has Bernard Arnault issued?"
"This...if you want to know, I'm afraid I have to ask..."
After saying that, the master asked Ning Weimin with some confusion, "Is this matter important?"
Ning Weimin nodded without hesitation, "very important", and even repeated, "very important" with a solemn expression.
So the master no longer hesitated and picked up the phone in the hotel room. Five minutes later, the paper on which he recorded the information was pushed in front of Ning Weimin.
"Look, the current total market value of Dior clothing is about 1.37 billion US dollars, and the circulating market value is 890 million US dollars. It has increased by 16% since it was listed. Now it is right. Arnault Bernard should have issued 65% of the shares and raised about 650 million U.S. dollars. He and Lazard have become more and more cooperative. Originally, Dior's net assets were only 400 million U.S. dollars. , but by purchasing LVMH shares, they not only consolidated their control over LVMH, but also increased their net assets, further supporting the market value of Dior Clothing. They really played a good hand in this deal. I made a lot of money in the business..."
The master refuses to say anything against his will. Even if he looks gloomy, he can only admit that his opponent is shrewd. This kills two birds with one stone.
However, Ning Weimin's reaction was completely different from what he imagined.
Not only was he not discouraged at all, but he suddenly burst into laughter when he looked at the note.
And not only that, besides laughing, he also shouted excitedly.
"Master, my master! Great! This is not a bad thing, this is a good thing. Originally, I was worried that this guy was a tough hedgehog and would not be easy to talk to. I didn't expect that this guy actually used the funds from the stock issuance to buy shares, and also used Dior Clothing comes to hold shares! Now there is nothing to fear, this time we will win!”
"What? You think we can win?" The master couldn't believe it.
"Just because he used the funds from the stock issuance to purchase shares and also used Dior clothing to hold shares?"
"Yes, that's right! That's what I mean! This guy is simply asking for death, and his Dior clothing is his weakness! If we catch his Dior, we have caught his tail."
The master blinked, still unable to understand.
After all, the old man was born in the 1920s. He only knows how to make and sell clothes, reduce costs reasonably, and make money through OEM licensing, but his understanding of the capital market game model is relatively limited.
But even so, Ning Weimin was so happy that he almost stood on the table and danced.
Picardon finally felt relaxed.
Inexplicably, he had an inexplicable sense of trust in Ning Weimin.
I just feel that since he said he could win, he should be able to win. (End of chapter)