America's Road to Wealth

Chapter 279 Little Rabbit Obediently Moves His Hand

“$32.5 billion has been subscribed?”

120 Broadway, New York City. Four World Financial Center Tower in Manhattan.

Inside the 34-story Merrill Lynch headquarters.

CEO David Komansky heard the news from Charlie.

The CEO, who was almost ignored by the black president, couldn't believe it.

Charlie Scharf nodded and confirmed: "There is nothing wrong with the $32.5 billion. When David Mellon announced it, most of the executives of major Wall Street companies were present. He should not lie in front of so many people."

After hearing this, David Komansky still didn't quite believe it.

That's US$50 billion, a single private equity fund of US$50 billion!

Now it hasn't even been announced to the outside world, it's just an internal subscription, is it already such an exaggeration?

David Komansky didn't quite believe it.

Charlie Scharf once again added another piece of information.

"Berkshire Hathaway subscribed for $5 billion. PNC Financial Services Group also subscribed for $5 billion. Citibank also subscribed for $2 billion, Fidelity also subscribed for $2 billion, and Wells Fargo also subscribed for $2 billion. ."

"Just for these five companies, they have subscribed to US$16 billion in private placements and signed preliminary letters of intent."

"So I think these numbers should be true," said Charlie Scharf.

Hearing the names of these companies, David Komansky had to admit this.

The CEO of Merrill Lynch said:

"Charlie, you contact David Mellon immediately and say that Merrill Lynch is willing to subscribe for five billion US dollars."

"Understood." Binggui was so quick that Charlie Schar directly dialed David Mellon's phone number at the scene.

The phone has been unable to get through and the line has been busy.

The fight lasted for almost ten minutes, and Charlie hit him several times.

Finally got through to David.

"Hello, David. I'm Charlie, Charlie Scharf."

"Yes. I would like to ask about Smith Capital's seventh private placement."

"What? Only twelve billion dollars left?"

Charlie Scharf said in surprise, while looking at David Komansky.

The CEO naturally understood that Charlie Scharf was referring to Smith’s Seventh Private Equity.

Only US$12 billion has been subscribed.

An hour ago, this number was 17.5 billion.

In one hour, that's $5.5 billion less.

David Komanski is also a decisive person.

Otherwise, when O'Neal was brought down, the black president would not have been brought to court immediately.

David Komansky immediately whispered:

"Subscribe, subscribe, subscribe. A billion dollars. No, tell him Merrill Lynch wants $1.5 billion."

Charlie Schar held his phone, "Sir, are you sure it's 1.5 billion?"

"Absolutely," David Komanski said decisively.

Charlie Scharf then relayed Merrill Lynch's subscription intention to David.

Then by three o'clock in the afternoon, only four hours had passed.

Charlie Scharf and David Komansky received the news.

That is the private equity fund recruited by Smith Capital this time.

Before it was officially announced to the outside world, it had already been divided up internally by Wall Street giants.

In other words, the previous investors.

Except for Wall Street and certain financial institutions.

Ordinary rich people like Barron Hilton and Ted Lerner.

Before they even had time to learn the news, before they even started, the subscription intention had already exceeded US$50 billion.

After hearing the news, both David Komansky and Charlie Schar felt a little relieved.

"It's so popular." David Komanski said helplessly:

“It seems that Wall Street’s confidence in Abel Smith is very high.”

Charlie Scharf nodded too.

But as a consultant, I also want to clarify my own relationships and responsibilities.

Charlie Scharf said softly:

"Mr. Komansky, is there a possibility that Smith Capital is deliberately creating the illusion that their private placement is popular?"

"Because you know. Berkshire Hathaway and PNC Group have both recognized Smith's offer and are both shareholders of Smith Capital."

"Wells Fargo and Citigroup have always been good partners of Smith Capital. There is only one Fidelity company that has no connection with Smith Capital. However, there are also rumors on Wall Street that retired former Fidelity Vice Chairman Peter Lynch admires Abel Smith very much."

"Do you think this possibility exists?"

In fact, David Komansky has also considered the issue Charlie mentioned.

There is too much intrigue on Wall Street.

It is not impossible that Smith Capital deliberately creates illusions to attract investors' investment and create a situation where supply exceeds demand.

But David Komansky thinks it’s unlikely.

the reason is simple.

Smith Capital's first three private placements were all in short supply.

The total funds raised from those three private placements totaled US$9 billion.

The first three times were a huge success and investors made huge profits.

Smith Capital’s seventh private placement doubles or more from $9 billion.

There's not much pressure.

In this way, at least half of the US$50 billion private placement can be achieved.

At this time, if any large institutions are interested, bet that Abel Smith can succeed as always.

That could easily lead to the current robbery situation.

Everyone was scrambling for it, and since it was just a subscription, the money had not yet been transferred.

There is still room for regret.

Then Smith Capital has a quota of 50 billion US dollars.

Without any announcement, the possibility of being sold out in half a day is very high.

This is just like the pre-orders for certain new mobile phone products on Internet e-commerce in later generations.

No money required, or a very small deposit. The number of orders will be far greater than the number of people who actually buy the phone.

If something unexpected happens to Smith Capital in the middle, the subscription amount will be US$50 billion.

David Komanski figured it wouldn't be that easy.

But what the heck, David Komanski also decided to take advantage of the situation first.

Anyway, the formal contract signing and fund transfer can be observed later and transferred after making sure it is safe.

If you don't invest in the future, you will only lose some deposit, or at most a few million US dollars.

In fact, most Wall Street institutions do this.

So don’t look at Smith Capital. This exaggerated astronomical single private placement was completed so quickly.

Can it and Abe Smith ever really work out.

It also depends on the subsequent arrival of funds and formal signing.

Meanwhile, miles away from Merrill Lynch headquarters.

The LIC area of Queens faces Manhattan Island across the East River.

Smith Capital,

Smith Building.

In the office on the fourth floor.

David Mellon also informed Abel that the $50 billion private placement had been fully subscribed.

Abel's view on this is actually the same as David Komansky's.

Abel also knew that this intention to subscribe was all false before the money was credited to his account.

Therefore, Smith Capital’s approach is also very realistic, which is to continue to recruit external investors like other private equity funds.

In many cases, the subscription intention and subscription amount can often exceed the actual private placement amount.

For example, a private equity fund has a fixed amount of one billion U.S. dollars. When fund managers and management companies are relatively good.

If the investors agree, the subscription intention will often exceed one billion US dollars, and some may even be twice or twice as much.

Thinking of this, Abel said:

"Let's announce our plan to recruit investors. Smith Capital's seventh private placement is officially established. At the same time, tell investors that it's first come, first served. This time is the same as the previous three times. We only need 50 billion US dollars."

"Understood." David's reply was simple and quick.

The CEO of Smith Capital can be said to be the person in the entire Wall Street who trusts the investment ability of his company's chairman the most.

In this regard, on the afternoon of June 30, 2001.

Smith Capital, which has begun to be regarded as the sixth largest investment bank on Wall Street, announced the company's seventh private placement plan.

The private placement amount is US$50 billion.

The principal fund manager is Abel Smith.

The management team includes CEO David Mellon,

The two presidents, Jed and Melio,

and a dozen other Smith Capital elites.

The minimum subscription amount for a single person is US$1 million, with no upper limit.

First come, first served, whoever's funds arrive first and whose contract is signed first will be the winner.

At the same time, Smith Capital also announced the names of dozens of Wall Street institutions that had subscription intentions and signed letters of intent through the American Sun and Wall Street Journal, as well as the television station AMC.

Open this list, rich people all over America.

They will find that any of the names above are Wall Street giants or American financial giants——

Berkshire Hathaway, PNC Financial Services Group, Citibank, Fidelity Investments, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs Group, Lehman Brothers, JPMorgan Chase \u0026 Co., JPMorgan Stanley Group

That night, Abel was accompanying Ikana.

The call from Ikana's father came to Ikana.

Ikana answered the call, and after listening for a few minutes, she reluctantly handed the phone to her boyfriend next to her.

"My father is looking for you. He wants to invest in Smith Capital's seventh private placement, and he blames me for not informing him earlier."

"Oh my God! I never care about your business matters. It's not like he doesn't know. His blaming this time makes me very unhappy!"

Ikana complained to Abel about her father.

Abel smiled and said: "Are you really unhappy? Then let me help you take revenge on him. If I refuse his investment, does this count as revenge on him?"

Ikana was speechless, and then said coquettishly: "If that's the case, my father probably won't let me go back to Tedlena Building in the future!"

"Haha~"

Abel laughed, hugged Ikana and pecked her on the mouth.

Then he took her cell phone and started chatting with Ted Lerner.

As soon as he opened his mouth, Abel interrupted Ted Lerner's attempt to understand the private equity fund's intentions.

Abel spoke first:

"Hey, dear Ted. How was your chat with Michael Jackson? I read the latest news. In two days, Michael will go to court with Sony again."

"I asked him. He was hesitant." Ted Lerner said: "Let's not talk about it yet."

"Let's talk about this first." Abel said with a smile:

"That's MJ. God knows how much I want him to come to my company. Then I can tell others that I am MJ's boss. Don't you think that's cool?"

Ted Lerner had no choice but to whisper:

"It's really cool. But Abel, that's what Michael is like. He seems very gentle, but God can't change his mind about what he believes in."

After saying these words, Ted Lerner probably knew that Abel was deliberately tormenting him like this.

Ted Lerner did not give Abel this opportunity, "But don't worry, I will continue to talk to him. This is something that will happen later. But Abel, I think we should talk about private equity."

"$150 million."

Abel said directly:

"I will give you a quota of 150 million U.S. dollars. You only need to come up with 130 million U.S. dollars. I will make up the remaining 20 million U.S. dollars for you."

"Then what's the price?"

Ted Lerner hesitated.

Wall Street or New York are saying that Abel Smith is very generous and his money is easy to get.

But after taking his money, you have to show off, otherwise

"The price is that no matter what happens to Ikana and I, you don't care. And you can't talk nonsense in the media."

Ted Lerner gets it.

Abel is paying himself hush money, which is as high as 20 million US dollars.

At this time, Ted Lerner did not know that his daughter had been pregnant by someone.

Ted Lerner was smart enough to guess that Abel had a reason for doing what he did.

Twenty million dollars is definitely not that easy to get.

But what does that have to do with Ted Lerner?

D. Ikana Lerner is Ikana.

D. Ted Lerner is Ted.

If you just ignore the matter of Abel and Ikana, you can get 20 million US dollars in vain.

Ted Lerner wouldn't take no for an answer.

"I agreed. But I don't have 130 million US dollars in cash yet. I don't need so much quota. Can I give up these quotas to others?"

"Of course it's no problem." Abel said with a smile.

"That's OK. By the way, Abel, I heard that the closure period this time is two years?"

"Yes."

Smith Capital’s first, second, and third private placements all had a closing period of only 180 days.

This is an incredibly short period of confinement.

For this seventh phase of private placement, Abel has raised the closing period to two years.

Investors can understand. After all, the private placement amount this time is as high as 50 billion US dollars.

Private equity management of US$3 billion and US$50 billion is still difficult to make a profit, which is obviously not the same.

In fact, the two-year closed period is already terrifyingly short.

Normally it's five years, ten years, or fifteen years.

To exaggerate, it could be twenty years, twenty-five years, or thirty years.

A two-year closed period for a private placement with such a large amount of capital.

If it had been managed by someone else, Wall Street would never have believed it.

Now it's Abel's turn, and he has the previous 180-day closed period as a foreshadowing.

Wall Street, including other investors, has a feeling of approval.

Of course, these are just simple expressions.

That's when the contract is signed. There will be a lot of tedious and detailed clauses down to decimal points after 0.00001.

There are so many PricewaterhouseCoopers and other similar companies on Wall Street that rely on accounting and financial calculations and financial laws to make a living.

Among these companies, there are already four that can be included in the top ten private companies in the United States.

This proves that legal traps and contracts relying on legal loopholes cannot exist when both parties on Wall Street are short of money.

Being able to sign a contract proves that both parties are satisfied with it.

This is also the reason for the existence of accounting and actuarial firms such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, which are also the backbone of Wall Street.

Hang up on Ted Lerner.

Abel handed the phone back to Ikana and hugged her.

"How is it? Have you thought about it?" Abel asked her with a smile, "Where do you want to raise a baby? I don't think New York is suitable for raising a baby. Compared with New York, Los Angeles is better."

The question Abel asked was after Ikana called him that day.

He returned to 8 East 63rd Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and asked Ikana to consider a question.

That's where she wanted to raise her baby.

Ordinary people's wives are pregnant and don't have that condition. Of course, wherever the home is, or where the husband works, the child will be raised.

When the wives of the rich are pregnant, they naturally don't have to be confined to one place like ordinary people.

There are so many places to choose from, and there are so many places in this world that would be paradise if you were rich.

This is what Ikana has been thinking about these days.

"Paris and I studied a lot of places." Ikana said enthusiastically. As she spoke, she found that Abel's hands were where they should go.

This made Ikana couldn't help but stop, and grabbed his hands coquettishly, "I'm pregnant!"

Abel spoke confidently and righteously: "If you're pregnant, you're pregnant. Which doctor said that after you become pregnant, I can't touch you? I didn't go any further!"

Ikana thought the same thing and could only endure the strange feeling and whispered:

"Then be gentle. I think they will start to swell after pregnancy."

"How could it be so fast? It's only been a few days?" Abel didn't believe it.

This time it was Ikana's turn to be confident, "The doctor said it. After pregnancy, the body's hormone changes will be obvious. It starts on the first day, and will become more obvious day by day."

"Okay." Abel said angrily, "Then I'll be gentler in the future."

Ikana also knew that it was impossible for him to let her go.

In fact, the more he likes it, the happier Ikana is.

This is her attraction, her attraction to him!

"Come on. Remember to be gentle." Ikana relaxed her body and let her boyfriend

While hugging each other, the two talked about the place where the baby was raised.

Just then, Paris came down.

The eldest daughter of Hilton has long turned a blind eye to this scene.

Paris walked to the two of them and sat down not far away, looking at Abel's big hands.

"Is it that easy to touch?"

Paris finally couldn't help but ask.

The voice is very soft.