The Son of Finance of the Great Age

  Chapter 631 Final Redemption (4)

   "Gentlemen, thank you for arriving in such a short time!"

  Paulsen took off his windbreaker, and the staff behind him immediately took it over, walked out softly, and closed the door of the conference room by the way.

  This is the 13th floor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building. The majestic and majestic building is not conspicuous in the concrete forest. But in the entire financial market, the position here is second only to the Federal Reserve Board in Washington. Because the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is not only the largest in the Federal Reserve System, but its president is also a permanent member of the Federal Reserve Board, and sometimes even serves as the vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, such as the current Geithner.

   More importantly, gold from all over the world is hidden here. After World War II, the establishment of the Bretton Woods system made the dollar and gold linked in value. At that time, gold from all over the world was shipped to New York and stored in the underground vault of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Although the Bretton Woods system collapsed later, and the central banks of various countries successively shipped back some of their gold reserves, so far, more than 60 billion US dollars of hard gold currency is still stored here.

Henry Paulson took a special plane from Washington, and could only land in New Jersey due to the weather. By the time he arrived at the Federal Reserve Building in New York, the well-known Wall Street CEOs had been waiting for 45 minutes. The meeting was originally scheduled for 6 p.m. Bell held.

  …

  In the past two days, Wall Street analysts and traders have fully understood what Lehman Brothers' asset restructuring plan is all about. There is no hope for the stock price of Leimen Brothers to recover. The most important thing now is to prevent a sudden collapse, and it is monitored every minute and every second.

  At 7 a.m., Dow Jones Newswires published an editorial declaring: "Rayman Brothers may be sold. But the question is, if the Fed is going to help, how will it be done?"

The New York Times said: "Given that the Treasury Department and the U.S. Federal Reserve are working together to facilitate the sale of Lehman Brothers, it is difficult to judge whether the Fed will support other institutions in a similar situation, especially if they have managed housing. After GeoMae and Fannie Mae."

The content of the Wall Street Journal is like this, "In the case of Bear Stearns' bankruptcy, the market still has concerns about systemic risks, which will have unpredictable risks to the market, so the Fed's move is reasonable. .”

"But the current Lehman is the exact opposite of Bear Stearns. Lehman's bankruptcy has been rumored for months, and the Fed's rediscount window has been opened to investment banks, which shows that they are morally There is no need to inject liquidity. The wider the rumors of bankruptcy, the more fully the market's expectations, so there is no need to worry about systemic risks."

"If the Federal Reserve bails out Leimen again, it will become normal for the government to bail out in future crises. This is equivalent to the government's endorsement for these large financial institutions, encouraging them to get involved in greater risks in disguise. in the field."

   At 9:45, CNBC released an exclusive news claiming that the government would not fund the rescue of Raymond Brothers.

  During the live broadcast, the male host told the market that the news came from an acquaintance close to Paulson. The reason why the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Reserve do not intend to rescue Lehman Brothers is that the reason coincides with the content of the "Wall Street Journal": first, the market has enough market to digest the expectations brought about by the possible bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers; The Federal Reserve has opened the rediscount window to provide liquidity to investment banks. In other words, the Federal Reserve and the Ministry of Finance have fulfilled their obligations.

  As soon as the news came out, Rayman Brothers' stock price immediately fell 9%, to $3.84 per share.

   At the same time, Merrill Lynch also suffered a decline. The focus of the market has gradually shifted from Lehman Brothers to this investment bank. Although Merrill Lynch ranks third among the five largest investment banks on Wall Street, compared with the top two, Goodman and Stanley, Merrill Lynch is undoubtedly the weakest one. But without the cover of Leimen Brothers, the short sellers quickly rushed in.

   In the last trading day, the share price of Merrill Lynch had fallen by 16%, and now that it was affected by the Lehman Brothers, the share price of Merrill Lynch also fell more than ever. By the morning's close, their shares were down another 10%.

  At noon, a terrible rumor began to circulate among Wall Street that the board of directors of Rayman Brothers planned to fire Dick Foud. Although there is no way to verify the source of the news, the convincing rumors still hit the stock price performance of Lehman Brothers again. By 2:20, the stock price of Lehman Brothers fell by 15.7% again, leaving only $3.57 per share.

   The same happened to Merrill Lynch and AIG, and their stock prices were hit as a result. This made Paulson determined to completely solve the problem of Raymond Brothers this weekend. Otherwise, the US market will be dragged down by this half-dead state.

  …

  The consortium participating in the meeting included bankers from Bank of America, Barclays, Merrill Lynch, AIG, ****, Stanley, Goodman, Citigroup and other institutions. Most of them are either CEO or co-president, or the role of chairman. In short, the top management of the top consortia in the United States gathered here, and the topic of discussion was how to save Raymond Brothers.

  These well-dressed guys packed this conference room, which can accommodate thirty people, to the brim. Naturally, the oval conference table is reserved for those big bosses, and behind the conference table are those lower-level managers, such as managing directors in charge of mergers and acquisitions or transactions.

   At the center of the conference table, there are a few vacancies reserved for Geithner, Paulson and others. While waiting for Paulson, the CEOs took out their BlackBerry phones one after another to check whether there was any new news in the market. At such a time, news that disrupts the market can appear every minute and every second. This situation makes CEOs also have to keep an eye on news that may be related to their own stocks.

   It's just a little strange, neither Dick Foud, the chairman of Rayman Brothers, nor Herbert McDart, the CEO, appeared in this meeting. Before Paulson appeared, bankers had a lively discussion about it, but after Paulson appeared, all voices died away. The bankers realized that Raymond was "quarantined".

"Lehman Brothers is very dangerous now. It can be said that it is on the verge of bankruptcy." Paulson scanned the audience and continued blankly, "In order to cope with the reaction of the market and the impact on other institutions, we must Get Raymond this weekend."

  Today is Friday. If it is done this weekend, there are only two days left for each family. Such a time is really too hasty. As soon as Paulson finished speaking, there was a burst of low-pitched discussion in this not-so-large conference room.

   "One thing I must emphasize is," Paulson continued after the discussion was a little quieter, "the government will not send out funds, and all problems need to be solved by you."

   Naturally, Paulson's words caused a commotion again.

"Now there are two buyers in the market, both of whom have expressed enough interest in Leimen Brothers!" Paulson ignored the discussion this time, and said to himself, "But according to their initial relationship with Leimen Brothers, contact, and the analysis and judgment of its balance sheet, the current conclusion is that they all need the help of the government or other institutions to complete the acquisition of Leimen Brothers. Any single company wants to independently complete the acquisition of Leimen Brothers Brother's takeover is unlikely."

  Although Paulson didn't mention who was interested in Raymond Brothers, all the people present here are people with good hands and eyes, and I don't know Bank of America and Barclays. Especially Bob Dimon of Barclays Bank, this British guy stands out among a group of Yankees.

"There is no unified opinion within the government on whether to take action, but the parliament does not agree." Paulson told the bankers present frankly, what kind of situation he is currently facing, "You need to come up with a private plan to take down Leimen Brothers, now you are responsible for the market.”

  “Although it is unpleasant to help competitors, it has to be said that if Raymond Brothers is really over, you will still taste this unpleasantness, even more unpleasantness than now.”

   Paulson threatened in the end.

As the former CEO of Goodman Company, Henry Paulson knows all too well what these guys here are thinking. Although Bank of America is one of them, Ken Lewis is quite mean, so those who want to help them are not would be too much. For Barclays Bank in the UK, not only them, but also HSBC, Standard Chartered or Deutsche Bank, these banks have always been second-rate players in the eyes of Bank of America, and it is at least psychologically unacceptable to help them.

   And helping them is equivalent to directly strengthening competitors and harming their own interests, so CEOs are very concerned. However, Paulson's words forced them to obey, because what the other party said was indeed reasonable. If the Leimen Brothers really failed, it would have a serious impact on them.

"A question!" Goodman's CEO, Lauder Blankfein, raised his hand at the right time and asked, "Since we are discussing the issue of Raymond Brothers, why didn't Dick Foud and Herbert McDart come?"

   "They are ruled out!"

  A sneer appeared on Paulson's face, "They can no longer control the fate of the Leimen brothers. I decided it would be better for them not to attend, lest they make some jokes when the time comes."

  Paulson did not hide his true emotion when he said these words. In fact, whether it is Bank of America or Barclays, they are not negotiating with Lehman Brothers, but with the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Reserve. So the opinion of Raymond Brothers management is not so important anymore. Just wait for these people to make a resolution and sign it for them.

  At such an important moment, the lack of the person in charge of the acquired organization seems unbelievable, but Paulson did it with confidence and did not feel that there was anything wrong. You know, this meeting basically decided the fate of Raymond Brothers.

  Thinking of this, the CEOs of Wall Street couldn't help but feel chills on their backs. This Minister of Finance is really...

   They couldn't find the right words to describe this behavior.

"Sir, I have your phone number, it's from the UK." Just when everyone was secretly startled, a staff member pushed the door in, leaned over and said in Paulson's ear, "It's their finance minister, Aris Ter Darling."

  From officials of the same rank, Paulson naturally dare not be careless. After winking at Geithner, he said, "Sorry, gentlemen, I need to answer an important call. Next, Vice Chairman Geithner will continue to chair the meeting."

  Paulson and Darling are not familiar with each other. The two sides only discussed a few times in public meetings, and there is no personal relationship at all. So the two of them greeted each other without pain on the phone, and then fell into an embarrassing situation with nothing to say. But Paulson knew very well that the other party must have come for Barclays' acquisition of Lehman Brothers.

   Thanks to book friends Nanquan 99 and Xiaoqi Civilization Miracle for continuing to vote monthly! It is still so deserted, I hope more book friends can support this book, thank you~

  (end of this chapter)