Manhattan Reborn 1978

new York.

Wall Street, Stanley conference room on the fourth floor.

David lowered his head, and after a long silence, he let out a long breath~

Facing an uncertain future, there is no point in worrying too much~

He could only try his best to find more helpers for himself.

David raised his head and smiled bitterly at Leslie, who had been waiting for a long time~

"Wait for me first~"

After saying that, he walked out of the conference room, called Sam and Leon, asked them to sit down in the conference room, and said.

"I want to use half of the funds to purchase floating-rate bonds first and reduce leverage. Let's see the subsequent reaction in the market~"

Sam looked at the silent Leslie, wondering what the two of them had just talked about, which made David temporarily change his mind~

However, from his perspective, he is not very optimistic about David’s decision~

Because they were a step too late in making the purchase!

This morning, after the news came that the Federal Reserve announced to raise interest rates, as soon as the bond market opened, a large amount of money entered the market, sweeping away almost all floating rate bonds with a maturity of less than three years. .

The remaining hybrid interest rate bonds became the second target of the market after the floating rate bonds were swept away.

Which fool would let go of this kind of investment business where anyone with quick hands can make money?

. . .

Sam told David exactly what he had just received from his friends~

After hearing this, David smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Forget it~three-year term...there is not much interest rate space for us to operate in the five-year term~"

“Let’s just put aside the issue of investing in bonds and wait and see~”

“Guys, do you know about junk bonds?”

"Of course!"

"Junk bonds are all companies with low credit ratings. The high-risk investment bonds issued are mostly bonds with a BBB rating or below."

"Many fund companies on Wall Street, in order to maintain their high image, rarely pay attention to them~"

"You bring it up now because you want to..."

"Correct!"

"Do you know who has done better in this industry in recent years?"

After Sam and Leon looked at each other, he thought for a moment and then said: "The year before last, when I was at Goldman Sachs, I met a man, Geiger Milken."

"He worked as an analyst at Drexel Investment Company in Philadelphia. He came to Goldman Sachs to seek financing for several small companies."

"However, I heard that their company established a branch in New York last year, and Gayden Milken was promoted to department manager, and he seems to be doing a pretty good job..."

David was unfamiliar with the name Sam mentioned. He frowned and asked, "Is there anyone else?"

"..No more~"

"...Okay~" David scratched his head and looked at Leslie.

"What about you? Do you know anyone who is familiar with the junk bond market?"

Leslie smiled and shrugged: "Sam just mentioned Philadelphia Drakes Company, I know~"

"I don't know other people in the industry either~"

"You know? You can't..."

"Haha~ No, you are wrong~ Our family does not have shares in their company!"

"I'm just familiar with their current boss~"

David quickly raised his hands, made a pause gesture, and said with a smile: "I don't want to know who is the boss. I just want to know if this Gayden Milken can let me see him at noon and talk to him. ~"

Leslie smiled and shook his head, and Sam also smiled and answered: "I'm going to make a few calls and give it a try?"

"Ok~ Let's go!"

"Leon, help me find a better restaurant, book a seat, and let's have lunch together~"

"Ok~"

After the two went out, Leslie spread her hands to David, trying to get an answer. .

David just shook his head and whispered: "I thought about investing in bonds in a simple way, but I thought about some important things in a complicated way~"

"Man, this feeling is so fucking bad~"

"Haha~ I always thought you were an optimist!"

"Why are you still letting yourself go into a dead end?"

David rubbed his forehead and smiled bitterly. He raised his hand and simply took off his tie so that he could relax more.

"These are two different things~"

----

Manhattan area.

In a separate, closed room on the third floor of the Metropolitan Club at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and East 60th Street.

Panaris Norton Morgan, the eldest son of Morgan Sr., Seamus Norton of the Norton family, and Judith K. Morgan (Julie), who participated in yesterday's New York Fed meeting, were drinking coffee and chatting. What's been going on in New York in recent days.

Seamus, who had just returned from Washington, spoke first: "The Secretary of State, the Minister of Energy, and the Minister of Finance gathered in New York to meet with a group of negotiators from the Middle East~"

"The situation in Iran is getting worse. The diplomatic ambassador of the Saudi royal family has contacted the government many times and hopes to send more troops to the Middle East as soon as possible for maintenance."

After Seamus finished speaking, everyone looked at each other in silence, and Julie continued with a smile: "Next, they will have several days of meetings and negotiations at the Plaza Hotel~"

"We can find an appropriate time to contact them."

Everyone's eyes couldn't help but look at Panaris, the youngest person in the room.

Panaris pondered for a moment and then said: "At the weekend, I will hold a banquet at the Blue Crystal Hotel and invite some Wall Street colleagues to campaign for Mayor Lynch to become the new governor and win votes~"

"At that time, I will send an invitation to them? Let's test it out?"

"...Okay~"

Panaris nodded and asked another question: "The International Banking Law was passed in Congress this morning. What do you think?"

"Haha~ This is a good thing!"

"From now on, everyone can conduct various operations and transactions reasonably and legally within the framework of this new bill~"

"Hahaha~"

Everyone in the room laughed. .

As one of the active promoters behind this bill, they have long disliked the foreign banks on Wall Street. .

According to 1977 Treasury Department statistics, foreign banks located in the United States expanded to hold approximately 10% of total commercial loans.

In terms of their industry share, foreign banks have become part of the U.S. banking industry.

People have seen the competitive advantages that foreign banks have in the US market, as well as the substantial and cross-industry growth of these institutions’ activities ~

Judging from the newly passed "International Banking Act", the United States' supervision of foreign banks is developing in a relatively equal direction.

Its main purpose is to establish a federal management system to deal with all banks in the United States (whether owned by foreigners or foreigners) and achieve market principles of fair competition.

But behind the scenes, although market entry in the banking industry has been relaxed, market supervision has been strengthened a lot.

Because the main characteristic of equality clauses lies in the results of execution, it is easy to produce further restrictions!

For example: Every country in the world may strictly restrict the entry of foreign banks in the same way that foreign countries restrict the entry of their banks.

When national regulators respond to foreign restrictions, parity clauses can have side effects on the entry of foreign banks.

(Here are a few more words about the U.S. regulatory system for foreign banks entering the country and other details.

New York has replaced London as the world's new financial center.

The passage of this bill has played a positive role in financial and trade liberalization for European and American countries with developed banking industries.

After all, behind the world powers after World War II were bankers hidden behind the scenes, controlling the trends of many major events.

The subprime mortgage crisis that swept the world in 2008 started with a series of financial derivatives such as MBS in the 80s, and everyone started to play the bubble-blowing game. .

Conspiracy theorists never believe that there are so many coincidences happening in the world.

It seems that all major events in the world are the conspiracy and plan of certain people or organizations. . )

. . .

After everyone in the room laughed, as an elder of Panaris, Julie waved her hands to everyone and said with a smile.

"I will go to Fannie Mae tomorrow to talk about MBS and the meeting at the Plaza Hotel. Which one of you will go with me?"

"I'll do it~" Seamus raised his hand to signal.

"ok~"

"Is there anything else you can do?"

"No~"

"So...the meeting is over?"

"Hahaha~ Let's go!"

----

lunch time.

Manhattan area.

In a restaurant not far from Wall Street, David, Sam, and Leslie welcomed a guest, Gaydon Milken.

After Sam gave a brief introduction to several people, everyone took their seats. After looking at the menu, Gayden Milken called the waiter and ordered lunch for himself in a low voice.

David's eyes kept circling on Gaydon Milken, and he kept shouting in his heart, "This is another familiar face!". .

Gayden Milken, who is in his early thirties this year, has an [-]% resemblance to the actor Michael Douglas whom David met in his previous life. Even his height is almost the same. .

this. .Is he the character in that movie again?

David quickly searched through his memory, and then sighed helplessly in his heart~

He had no impression of this man. .

(Gayden Milken, from the movie "Wall Street", played by Michael Douglas ~ He appears here, his name has been changed, and his past experience draws on the real history of Michael Milken.)

On the table.

As today's introducer, Sam first chatted with Gayden Milken about his current situation.

When Milken answered Sam's question, his eyes kept moving back and forth on David and Leslie.

Leslie originally just wanted to use David's name to separate from Livlin and give herself more freedom.

But he didn't expect that David would start to enter a state similar to a fugue again. .

"Hey~ man, are you okay?"

"Ah~? Oh...it's okay!"

"Hahaha~"

David, who came to his senses, gave the three of them a haha, looked at Milken and asked, "Can I call you Gayden?"

"Of course~"

"Haha~ I'm sorry! Our meeting is a bit hasty this time, so I'll introduce myself first~"

"My name is David Coleman, and I am..."

David said, the three of them listened, Milken smiled, thinking of the many rumors that have appeared on Wall Street recently ~

After David finished speaking, Milken said a few polite words and briefly introduced himself to everyone.

Gayden Milken, 32 years old, is from California. He has been interested in numbers since he was a child because his father was an accountant.

After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, with a major in business management, Milken entered the prestigious Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1970, Milken received his MBA degree with straight A's and joined Drexel Investment Company in Philadelphia as an analyst.

When David heard this, he couldn't help but curled his lips and glanced at Leslie beside him: Look, this is another top student. .

Leslie laughed and said nothing~

David felt that he was being bored, and shrugged nonchalantly, and continued: "Gaden, I asked Sam to invite you here today because I want to hear your understanding and opinions on the junk bond market~"

Milken's eyes lit up instantly!

He quickly organized his thoughts, glanced at Leslie, who regarded him as a spectator, and said with a smile: "Junk bonds are also called inferior bonds~"

"It has been around since the Great Depression of the 30s~"

"Generally refers to bonds issued by enterprises and companies with credit ratings lower than BBB."

“When I was studying at Wharton Business School, I noticed a phenomenon. When choosing loans or investment objects, traditional Wall Street investors only focus on blue-chip companies with good performance in the past, and those financial statements are not good-looking for the time being. A company with huge potential chooses to turn a blind eye~"

“So, I used my spare time as an analyst to research historical data and discovered a diversified portfolio of long-term, low-grade bonds.”

"This combination can not only bring higher income and returns to investors, but also greatly reduce investment risks."

“Moreover, after World War II, the country gradually improved many bond market regulatory mechanisms and measures to protect investors from losses due to corporate bankruptcy or default on debts~”

Milken nodded slightly to thank the waiter who brought him lunch, picked up the wine glass, took a sip, glanced at the three people waiting patiently, and continued.

"Until 1974, after the shock wave of the first oil crisis slowly subsided, credit was severely tightened. Many originally high-rated corporate bonds had their credit ratings downgraded and became junk bonds."

"These low-grade, high-yield junk bonds are very risky in the eyes of investors, and they are likely to cause people to lose all their money~"

"So, many fund companies are eager to sell the junk bonds in their hands quickly."

"I conducted a lot of research and investigation on the issuing companies of these junk bonds~"

"For example: their operating conditions after the crisis, market competitiveness, ability to repay bonds on schedule, etc.~"

"Then I decided to take over a large amount of these potential junk bonds based on the long-term sector bond portfolio I had previously conceived, and promoted the bond investment portfolio I created to many investors."

Gayden Milken raised his glass and smiled at the three Davids: "Everyone should know the result ~ I succeeded!"

"The profits from the bond trading department I manage have grown rapidly from about 35% to nearly 100%!"

"Last year, in the entire low-grade, high-yield bond market on Wall Street, the bonds traded by the bond trading department I managed accounted for the vast majority of the market share."

"Ding ~"

The four of them clinked their wine glasses~

The clear sound of the clinking wine glasses congratulated Milken on his success, and also gave the greatest recognition to Milken’s outstanding ability~

After putting down the wine glass.

The distance between the people at the dining table seems to be closer~

David put a piece of fish meat into his mouth and said with a smile: "Gayden, what about this year? How are you doing?"

Milken shrugged: "More and more people are buying junk bonds now, but the number in the bond market is limited."

"We cannot satisfy the strong desire to buy from the many people who want to invest, so we can only try our best to promote the transaction and circulation speed of bonds in the market~"

Sam smiled and continued: "So, today the Federal Reserve announced an interest rate hike. Is this great news for you?"

"Haha~ The impact of interest rate hikes on us is not as huge as you think~"

"The overall market this year has tended to be excessively calm, and many potential junk bond issuing companies have regained high ratings~"

"Among the companies that want to issue junk bonds, according to our investigation and research, there are very few companies that can guarantee their repayment ability."

"So, our overall profit margin so far this year is only about a quarter of last year."

Milken's expression as he spoke was full of helplessness~

He has become a recognized leader in the junk bond market on Wall Street!

However, due to the capital limit of the junk bond market, Milken can rarely find low-risk, high-yield bonds in the market.

This ridiculous and helpless embarrassing situation, for Milken, who was just in his early thirties and full of energy, directly made him imagine that his future would be like those old-fashioned people he looked down on. Living a boring life of drinking coffee, reading newspapers, and bragging about sex every day. .

It's not what Milken wants!

. . .

David looked at Douglas sitting opposite. .No, it's Gaydon Milken. .

He mentally recalled a plan he had recorded in his notebook before speaking.

"Gayden, now that the junk bond market has calmed down, do you have any ideas or plans for your own development?"

"...What do you think of coming to my company and becoming a manager?"

Milken blinked, wondering why the rumored David Coleman kid in front of him suddenly extended an olive branch to him. .

"I... don't quite understand what you mean~"

David smiled, wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin, leaned forward, looked directly at Gayden Milken, and whispered.

"I have an innovative, bold idea!"

"You are its perfect executor!"

"If you are willing to cooperate with me and make it happen, we will become a big shot on Wall Street, rivaling JP Morgan in reputation!"

"Gaden, are you interested in continuing to listen?"

Milken frowned and looked at the frankness and expectation in David's eyes. He thought for a while before taking a deep breath and said.

"I guess... if I don't agree to cooperate with you, your bold idea will be realized in the hands of you and others, right?"

"Maybe~"

"However, after our meeting today, I think you are the partner I want to find most!"

"You, in my opinion, are the highest rated blue chip stock on Wall Street!"

"Investing in you, for me, will be one of the most proud masterpieces in my life!"

Milken seemed very moved by the big hat that David pushed over. .

No one will dislike it, and others will praise it from the bottom of their hearts~

"Okay, David~you've convinced me!"

"If this bold idea of ​​yours is really what you said~"

"I'll join!"

"Hahahaha~" David smiled and extended his right hand to Milken.

“You won’t be disappointed!”

"Hehe~"

After the two shook hands, David picked up the wine glass, took a sip, and began to tell his thoughts.

"You just said that the number of junk bonds in the market is limited~"

"Can we look at this from another angle?"

"For example, instead of waiting for companies that have issued bonds to have their credit ratings decline or even be downgraded~"

"We might as well go outside the existing junk bond market, find some companies that are developing and have potential, and lend money to them~!"

"Compared with those companies that have issued junk bonds, these existing OTC companies have similar credit ratings~"

"But they are in a stage of rapid development, and the quality of their bonds is much better than that of corporate bonds that continue to decline in efficiency, desperately reduce expenses, and stick to losses!"

“So, we can create an underwriting market for low-rated, high-yield bonds for these companies with lower ratings, good solvency, and high potential!”

When David said this, he left the three of them more than ten seconds to think before continuing.

"After our cooperation, we will establish a complete company strength assessment system that is in addition to the existing credit rating system."

“Any low-rated company with potential can be re-rated with us and issue high-yield bonds after approval!”

“These high-yield bonds can not only satisfy the purchasing desires of many investors, but also bring more opportunities and wealth to us and the companies that issue these bonds!”

David put away his smile and whispered solemnly to Gaydon Milken, who was a little dazed.

"As long as we can conscientiously and strictly implement the assessment standards in the initial series of inspections, and in the bond underwriting process, investors can obtain stable, low-risk returns from the high-yield bonds we sell."

"Then, in this emerging market, you, Gayden Milken, will become the god of wealth for all investors!"

"Your influence will, as we continue to grow, make all the people on Wall Street speechless and amazed!"

"Your name will be named as the father of high-yield bonds by future generations!"

"You, Gaydon Milken, will be the uncrowned king of Wall Street, dominating the high-yield bond market for decades to come!"

David said, took out a business card from his pocket, pressed it on the table, and pushed it in front of Milken.

“Our company is backed by Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Bank, Chase Manhattan Bank, Citibank, etc.”

"They are incomparable to Drexel Investment Company!"

"The choice is in your hands!"

"Gaiden, if you think about it, you can come to me at any time!"

After speaking, David gestured to Leslie and Sam beside him and said with a smile: "Guys, let's go?"

"Um..Okay~"

"Haha~ let's go~"

The three of them got up, walked to the door of the restaurant, paid the bill, and left~

Gaydon Milken stayed at the dining table, staring down at the small business card, dazed.