Chapter 541

New York.

It's March 27th.

A business reception is being held in the ballroom of the Gramsci hotel in midtown.

The news of igrit's external financing was released a week ago. Although it failed to reach any intention, the phone calls of all the leaders were blown up.

In order to answer all kinds of questions from potential investors, westero held the reception in New York and invited a large number of heads of Wall Street investment banks and funds to participate.

"Simon, Boeing's recent market value is less than $12 billion. Do you think it's reasonable for a technology company that has been established for only four years to offer $15 billion?"

In the reception hall.

Simon listened to Goldman Sachs chairman Stephen Friedman's half true complaint and said with a smile: "Steven, if you want to make a stable investment with an annual growth rate of 10% or 20%, you can definitely go to Boeing. The aviation industry will not be out of date. But, of course, you need to take some risks if you want higher returns. I haven't paid attention to Boeing's stock price recently. If it's less than $12 billion, I'll let Lawrence buy as much as possible. "

Steven Friedman knew that Simon was talking about Lawrence as Lawrence Fink, head of cersei capital's black rock asset management company.

Black rock asset management has grown rapidly since it invested in cersei capital, a mutual fund investment company that recently controls more than $120 billion in assets.

The investment standard of mutual funds is to pursue low-risk large cap stocks with stable returns and highly rated treasury bonds and corporate bonds, so as to ensure the safety of funds as much as possible. In this way, although the investment profit will not be too high, but relying on the huge volume of the fund itself, it can still get good returns.

Goldman can't be so conservative.

After thinking about it, Stephen Friedman said: "but Simon, the offer of $1.5 billion is still too high. How about $1 billion? Goldman Sachs is very sincere in reaching this cooperation, with $1 billion. And igritte promised to IPO within three years. We can sign an equity transfer agreement in the near future."

Simon laughed, gestured to the crowd and said, "Steven, you should understand that it's the seller's market, so you don't have any bargaining power with me."

Stephen Friedman saw Simon with a smiling face, but there was no room for compromise in his tone, and his heart was somewhat unhappy. However, these emotions certainly do not appear in his expression. The young people in front of him are not the target that Goldman Sachs can handle. On the contrary, even if the business fails, Goldman Sachs still hopes to obtain the IPO underwriting rights of Denise entertainment, igritte and even other companies in the westero system.

In recent years, only a few IPO companies of westrow system have received the most attention in the industry.

as for the stake in igritt, Goldman Sachs is not divided internally. Some people think it should be eaten. Some people think that the bubble is huge. Stephen Friedman is hesitant. He is more than 50 years old. Although he can climb the position of chairman of Goldman Sachs, he is absolutely competent, but he knows little about the emerging Internet industry. .

In his view, the recent soaring stock prices of Cisco and AOL have obvious irrational factors.

However, the advantages and revenue data of these companies in the industry are real, which makes it difficult for people to judge the future trend of stock prices.

Of course, with the announcement of the "information superhighway plan", Steven Friedman is very optimistic about the Internet industry. However, if he invests in this field now, either the risk is too high or the cost is too high. If he doesn't pay attention to it, he may lead to huge losses.

The internal competition of Goldman Sachs is very fierce. In case of serious investment mistakes, he will abdicate as chairman of the board of directors almost immediately.

For 10% of igritte's shares, US $1 billion is a figure recognized by the core management of Goldman Sachs. Moreover, this still needs to be done on the premise that igritte must conduct an IPO within three years. After buying the shares, Goldman also hopes to get the underwriting right of igritte's IPO.

But, looking at the scene at today's reception, Stephen Friedman understands that Goldman Sachs has almost no possibility of doing this business with $1 billion.

In the hall tonight, the heads of Goldman Sachs, Morgan, Lehman, First Boston and even Solomon brothers, who are still struggling in the mud, have been present. In addition, there are senior executives of pioneer fund, Blackstone Group and KKR, as well as some capital forces on the periphery of Wall Street and even overseas.

Although it's in the name of 10% of igritte's stock trading, everyone's focus is on the whole westero system.

A few years ago, Denise entertainment cooperated closely with Morgan Stanley. In the IPO next year, unless there are too many changes, the main underwriter can be determined as Morgan Stanley. However, the IPO scale of Denise entertainment will be very large. Morgan Stanley will eat meat, and it is not impossible for us to win some soup.

In addition, within the westero system, companies such as igritte, Ltd group, tincobail and Verizon Telecom are likely to conduct IPO operations in the future. Even after listing, many companies still need to issue additional shares or bond financing, all of which are big business.If Simon westrow was smart enough, he would not have worked with the Morgan Stanley family all the time.

With these considerations in mind, Steven Friedman's mind on whether to join in the equity fight has also increased. Finally, he chatted with the young man in front of him for a moment. When he left, Friedman suddenly asked, "Simon, do you intend to sell all 10% of the shares to a company?"

Simon blinked his eyes and said, "of course not. 1.5 billion US dollars is really a large sum of money. If Goldman Sachs and some capital jointly buy it, as long as the two sides can reach an agreement, of course it's OK."

Getting the answer he wanted, Stephen Friedman said, "in this case, tomorrow Well, how about next Monday night? Let's have dinner together and have a chat? "

Simon smiles and shakes his head: "next Monday is the Oscars."

"Oh, I forgot about it, then..."

Simon interrupted: "Steven, I'll be back in Los Angeles tomorrow, maybe not in New York for the next week, so if you make a decision, you can talk to James. He's my spokesman."

Steven Friedman once again reached out and shook Simon's hand, and said, "it seems that's the only way. I'm looking forward to more cooperation opportunities."

"Of course."

When Stephen Friedman left, Simon took a sip of his wine and stood in the distance thinking about what had just happened.

Goldman has a very close relationship with Washington and is the standard democratic camp. After Bill Clinton became president, Robert Rubin, who served as co chairman of Goldman Sachs with Stephen Friedman several years ago, joined the White House as assistant to the president for economic policy and was responsible for leading the national economic policy committee established by Bill Clinton. Simon also knows that Robert Rubin will be qualified as US Treasury Secretary in a few years.

In the past, the subprime mortgage crisis around 2008, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the acquisition of Bear Stearns, and other investment banks were all chicken feathers. Only Goldman Sachs not only did not lose money, but also made good profits in the subprime mortgage crisis, and later became the most powerful investment bank on Wall Street, which absolutely did not lack the influence of close relationship with the government.

At this time, the relationship between westrow system and the White House is already very precise, and there is no need to establish a connection with Washington through Goldman Sachs. However, there is no harm in making friends with this investment bank.

Of course, the Morgan department, which has established close ties, will not give up either.

The focus of westrow system in the field of Wall Street investment banking is only Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

This time, Simon didn't sell all the 10% shares of igritte to a capital company from the beginning.

It seems that Wall Street capital can easily control hundreds of billions of dollars of assets, but few of them can actually take out 1.5 billion dollars of cash at one time.

Considering the risks, Wall Street's openness factor is even less than that when it invests $1.5 billion in cash into a new technology company and only gets 10% of the shares.

In fact, it is the best choice to unite with other capital to eat this group of shares.

Facing the covetous eyes of other capital, Morgan Stanley is also very interested in this group of shares, and even some worry that this group of shares will be bought by other companies, thus breaking the good cooperation between westrow system and Morgan system.

Simon's idea is that Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs will raise a sum of capital at the same time and eat the 10% shares together.

As for other capital forces in the banquet hall at this time, at least in the current business, Simon has been in the pass ranks in his mind.

Simon had just talked with Steve Schwarzman, chairman of Blackstone Group, and was about to go to Lawrence Fink, head of Apollo management company. Another middle-aged man in his fifties, who was wearing a pair of old-fashioned round glasses, came by.

Simon raised his glass to the other side, but glanced at the girl a beside him. Alison leaned up to him and whispered, "Joseph Lewis, chairman of Tavistock group."

Simon is not familiar with the two names mentioned by girl a. the middle-aged man has come near, and girl a can't explain them in detail. She takes the initiative to step aside.

"Hello, Simon. I'm Joseph Lewis. You can call me Joe."

Simon and Joseph Lewis shook hands and said, "Hello, Joe."

After greeting, Joseph Lewis looked around and said, "I'm a little late. It's really nice here."

Simon looked at each other and said with a smile, "thank you."

Joseph Lewis probably also found the doubt in Simon's eyes, and quickly said: "actually, Simon, I'm running an investment company now, and I cooperated with Mr. Soros last year."

Simon understood what Alison had just said about the nature of the Tavistock group.

Financial speculators.

Moreover, he is an international currency speculator who just "galloped" in last year's pound crisis.

To be more straightforward, the middle-aged man in front of him must have a lot of cash in his hand.Joseph Lewis noticed Simon's clear expression and said directly, "Simon, it's true. I'm very interested in igritte's shares. However, when I contacted Mr. Leibold and Mr. Li before, they said that only you can make the final decision. So, when do you think we can talk about the deal? "

It's so simple.

And bold enough.

If igritte's stake doesn't have other implications, Simon would be happy to say hello to such a person.

However, Simon could only shake his head at this time: "Joe, thank you very much for your interest in igritte company, but I'm afraid someone has made it first."

When Joseph Lewis heard Simon say this, he was not disappointed. He seemed to have expected it. He said: "it's a pity, but I think we will have other cooperation opportunities in the future. Simon, I hear you're trying to buy Christie's, right

Christie's auction house's acquisition negotiations continue, since the other side has heard the news, Simon did not hide, said: "yes."

"I'm also very interested in collections, and melisandro seems to be looking for other partners. Do you mind if I get involved?"

"Of course not, but Sophia is always in charge of this. You can talk to him first."

Joseph Lewis said with a smile: "I still think it's more efficient to talk with you. My company owner asks for a 20% shareholding and does not participate in the operation of Christie's. If the shares are sold in the future, melisandro also has the preemptive right. Of course, as a shareholder in the auction process, I still hope to get some special preferential treatment. "

Even though he didn't know the details of Joseph Lewis, Simon didn't mean to be stingy. He quickly reached out to him and said, "well, Joe, I'm glad to cooperate with you."

The middle-aged people in front of them are obviously eager to establish a connection with the westero system, and the entry point is very good.

Christie's auction house, which is only a business of less than 1 billion US dollars, has little influence on the whole westero system. The other party only requires shareholding, and does not pursue control. This sincerity is also very enough.

As for the deeper purpose, Simon can guess some, but he doesn't mind much.

They continued to chat for a while, and Joseph Lewis went on to introduce himself.

Lewis, an Englishman who started off in the early years of a chain restaurant and club, began to set foot in financial speculation in 80s. He experienced 87 stock disasters, the Japanese stock market bubble and the collapse of the US bond market, and, most importantly, the 1992 sterling crisis.

After several operations, it may be that he has accumulated enough capital. Recently, Joe Lewis has begun to return to real industry investment. If Simon agrees, the other party does intend to buy 10% of igrit's shares at one go. However, Joe Lewis probably understands that Simon's transfer of the shares is not simply to raise funds.