The Son of Finance of the Great Age

  Chapter 566 The Giant Falls (3)

"Really?" The director named Mick was slightly moved, stared at Schwartz carefully for a moment, and then asked in a solemn tone, "Alan, are you sure this matter has nothing to do with us? Also, then What kind of insider trading is Mr. Wei Zhong accused of?"

Schwartz looked at him, then at the other directors who were looking forward to it, nodded calmly, and replied: "Indeed, it has nothing to do with us. According to the news from Stanley, this Mr. Zhong is involved in their stock market." The transaction is said to be related to the work mistakes of a senior executive, so it was targeted by the SEC."

   After he said this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, saying that it is impossible to be targeted by such a person without pressure, especially when the other party is not buying but suppressing. It's just that their relief didn't last long, and Alan Schwartz poured cold water on them, "Gentlemen, please return to the topic we discussed just now. Now our situation is far worse than that of Mr. Zhong Much more, and if we don’t have enough cash, I’m afraid we won’t last long.”

  After the Financial Times reported that Bear Stearns might be in a liquidity panic, just a few days later, investors from all over the world demanded to redeem the cash in the Bear Stearns account. Although Bear Stearns has made every effort to retain them, the other party seems to be determined and will not listen to Bear Stearns' explanation at all. A total of 80 billion U.S. dollars has been withdrawn.

"Don't you still have a cash reserve of 60 billion?" Hunter rolled his eyes and said casually, "Relax, Alan, although you have been in this position for a short time, we have absolute trust in your ability. The problem now Yes, they have withdrawn the funds and we have no way to refuse them, as long as we can make up the funds in a timely manner, similar things have not been experienced before. On the contrary, I think the most important thing is not the loss of cash flow, but the current stock price The decline has been too severe to be attractive to investors, so I strongly recommend that you make raising the stock price your first task, rather than worrying about the so-called market rumors.”

  Hunter's words reached the hearts of most directors, because it was directly related to their wealth, so they nodded frequently to express their approval, even the director named Mick was no exception.

The representative of the shareholders is the board of directors, and Alan Schwartz is a professional manager. The two parties are not in the same class, and their interests are different. Therefore, there may be a moral hazard, which has been recognized in management for decades was discovered before. And the problem of solving this moral hazard is also very simple. It is to include professional managers into this class, attract them with a part of stock dividends or options, and bind their interests with the interests of shareholders firmly. Every decision they make is based on maximizing the interests of shareholders, so the problem is naturally solved.

   But the current situation is not a moral hazard of professional managers, but rather that the group of guys on the board of directors only care about their own interests, regardless of the deteriorating financial situation of Bear Stearns, which makes Alan Schwartz very embarrassed. Because firstly, he can't offend these people, they can fire him at any time; secondly, he still needs the help of these people.

   "What is James' plan?"

   Just when everyone only cared about the stock price and didn't care about the loss of cash, a hoarse voice suddenly sounded. Everyone looked up and found that the person who was speaking was an old man whose hair was already pale, so they all closed their mouths knowingly. It turns out that the person who spoke was Alan Greenberg. This 80-year-old man is the former chairman of Bear Stearns and is currently a member of the board of directors of Bear Stearns. He is dressed in a suit and leather shoes, with a straight waist and quick movements, without any signs of aging. The only difference from today's investment bankers is that he does not wear a wrist watch, but a pocket watch on his right chest.

  When such a respected person speaks out, others naturally have to listen. Alan Schwartz was overjoyed, knowing that with the support of this old man, maybe the resistance to the plan he was about to propose would be much less, so he quickly replied: "Mr. Greenberg, James is now in Las Vegas. Gus, I can't make it. However, I have already discussed a plan with him, and as long as it is approved by the board of directors, it can be implemented immediately. According to my estimation, at least part of the funds can be raised in the short term to solve the current urgent need. "

   Although there are still hundreds of millions of dollars in Bear Stearns' account, these funds do not belong to Bear Stearns. In other words, if the owner wants to withdraw this part of the funds, Bear Stearns may really fall into the abyss of eternal doom. So Bear Stearns had to find new sources of funding, even just in case.

"Since this is the case, let's talk about the plan you discussed first!" Alan Greenberg snorted, dissatisfied with the chairman's obsession with bridge under the current circumstances, but he had no choice but to do so, after all Now is not the time for him to be the head of the family, and other people respect him only because of his seniority.

   "The specific plan is like this!" Alan Schwartz waved, and the secretary who had been waiting outside the door for a long time came in with a stack of thick documents and distributed them in front of each director. While distributing the documents, he took the opportunity to explain, "Mortgaging a part of the company's equity together with the ownership of the building is expected to bring in more than 2 billion US dollars in cash, which is enough to support us for a period of time. gone."

  Bear Stearns' headquarters building located on Wall Street, the current market price is about 1.5 billion US dollars. Coupled with the re-mortgage of part of the equity, there is no big problem with the capital injection of 2 billion US dollars. But Schwartz's suggestion was like dropping a drop of water into a boiling oil pan, and the entire conference room immediately exploded.

   "What? You actually want to mortgage the property?"

   "God, can't we even keep our own building?"

   "Damn James, don't you have any solid advice? What the **** is going on?"

  …

   "Keep quiet, keep quiet!"

  Among the noise, Greenberg's voice was extremely small. Even though he stood up and yelled several times, the dissatisfaction of many directors still filled the entire meeting room. So much so that Greenberg had to pick up his crutches and tap twice on the mahogany conference table, only then did he regain his silence.

"All of this is a rainy day. If the situation is really bad enough, I'm afraid we won't have enough time left for us to cash out!" Schwartz glanced at Greenberg gratefully, and the corners of his mouth twitched a few times. He went on to say, "Of course, the situation is far from that bad. And just recently, I plan to make a public appearance to refute the rumors against us in the current market one by one, and reverse the current unfavorable situation."

  When they heard that Schwartz decided to make a public appearance, all the directors breathed a sigh of relief. Generally speaking, although this kind of public appearance does not reveal much information, it can basically reverse the negative impact caused by public opinion.

"About the stock pledge, although it has happened before, but now because the stock price has fallen sharply, I am afraid that the share will be more." After thinking carefully, Greenberg frowned and said, "But now we don't So much money is needed, so the mortgage plan for the headquarters building should be suspended for a while. The share is enough. Don’t we still have about 60 billion funds? If the problem is really bad enough, we can discuss how to mortgage The headquarters building is not too late."

"In addition, from the British side, let's see if that gentleman is interested in acquiring shares again. If he is interested, the company's shares can be relinquished." Greenberg said decisively, "As long as there is new capital injection , we will not worry about not being able to overcome the current difficulties.”

  The so-called "Mr. from England" naturally refers to Joseph Lewis. He did not attend this meeting, but his agent declared that he would agree to the agreement reached on the board of directors.

   Thanks to the book friend cpower for voting for the monthly ticket! BTW: Please wait patiently, we are not far away from court~

  (end of this chapter)