Chapter 641

On September 14, because the U.S. government did not agree to the Royal Bank of Scotland's plan to reduce the debt of Lehman Bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland officially announced that it would withdraw from the acquisition of Lehman Bank. (. The update is fast.

Although it was Sunday, the news quickly spread all over the world. Zhou Ziye even arranged an employee of the company's news department to station at the'door' of Lehman's headquarters to take pictures of the situation after the other party received the news. .

At midnight on September 15th, even New York, the city that never sleeps, entered a quiet moment at this time, but a message from Lehman headquarters detonated Wall Street and detonated the world. The fourth largest investment bank in the United States with a history of 158 years has officially announced that it has entered a bankruptcy period.

The little girl Ivanka got the news and still couldn't believe it. "God, how could this be?!"

Zhou Ziye looked through the window of the villa, and the dark night sky in the direction of New York still seemed so quiet, but I don't know how many people will have no intention of sleeping tonight. "Seeing him getting up from the Zhu Building, seeing him banqueting guests, seeing his building collapsed..."

"Do you still have the heart to write poetry?" Looking at Zhou Ziye's smiling face, she asked in surprise: "Is this a'conspiracy'? Is it because you forced Lehman into a desperate situation?! Media reports Goldman Sachs came out to'fuck' all of this, is it true?!"

"My dear, it's night, we should rest. Tomorrow will be a busy day."

"Why can you still sleep?!" Ivanka rushed to Zhou Ziye, wrapped his arms around his neck, staring into his eyes and asked: "Are you also involved in all this?!"

"No, I didn't participate, but I knew from beginning to end that Lehman would go bankrupt."

"My dear, tell me all this! Tell me what you know, or I won't be able to sleep."

Zhou Ziye hugged her and said with a smile: "It depends on whether you can satisfy me tonight!" He threw Ivanka onto the'bed', stood next to the'bed', and said with a smile. Take off a'fine' light.

Ivanka crawled over, looked at him winkingly, and caught his excitement. "Although I am not sure if I can satisfy you, I know that you will always satisfy me."

September 15, 2008, is a day of historic significance for the well-known Wall Street. In the early morning of this day, before work hours arrived, people rushed into the building. Among them, some of them were'tight' in their suits as usual, while some were uncharacteristically and came to the company in casual clothes. However, one thing is the same, they both have two more empty backpacks and suitcases in their hands. People with a dignified face, without much words, went into their respective offices one after another to organize and pack their personal belongings. It seems that this scene is like a collective move. Some people couldn't help crying when they walked out of the company's big door with their boxes.

The sidewalk outside the company was already crowded with reporters. When they saw the people packed out from Lehman, they swarmed on. Some employees could no longer contain the disappointment and anger in their hearts, and began to scold the reporters angrily. Indeed, it is difficult for everyone to accept reality.

Many employees said: "This is the saddest thing in my life." However, in the face of $600 billion in debt and the company that collapsed overnight, this company has a long history of 158 years in the U.S. mortgage bond industry. The fourth largest investment bank for 40 consecutive years, Lehman Brothers officially announced its application for bankruptcy protection. More than 20,000 employees have no choice but to leave. Many people face unemployment and choose jobs again.

Just when Lehman felt sad, Bank of America issued a statement announcing the acquisition of Merrill Lynch, the third largest investment bank in the United States, for a total price of nearly 50 billion U.S. dollars. Among the Wall Street giants that have fallen one after another, Merrill Lynch's experience is unique. On the crisis, it came the earliest, but Merrill Lynch won precious time to clean up its debt burden.

After the subprime mortgage crisis broke out, Merrill Lynch actively took various measures to protect itself, including raising huge amounts of capital, removing problematic assets, and selling large amounts of equity assets it held. In this case, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America suddenly reached an acquisition agreement. In a lightning-fast merger, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America reached an agreement at a purchase price of US$29 per share. Merrill Lynch sold the company to Bank of America for US$50 billion in a share swap.

When they fell together, the fact that everyone was embarrassed. However, Lehman's leadership must now actively seek solutions, and the bankruptcy committee must also take immediate action to transform high-quality assets by various means to reduce losses.

The US branch of the Bank of East Asia applied to Lehman Bank for its intention to purchase their headquarters on the same day. In Zhou Midnight's plan, their headquarters was worth acquiring, but it was Lehman Bank's data center that really attracted him. Through these two data centers, Lehman's 20,000 employees can communicate with any organization and individual in the world at any time.

People in Hong Kong can "operate" on New York stocks, London futures, buy a cup of coffee in Buenos Aires, and sell this cup of coffee to Frankfurt. These two data centers have the world's most complete data storage, with as many as 250,000 first-level "operation" qualifications, which is what Zhou Ziye really values.

If Zhou Ziye wants to build such a data center, it would be a small problem to spend time collecting data. The main reason is the qualifications for the operation, which cannot be bought by money. After all, Lehman is one of the world's largest financial institutions. The advantages they have accumulated over the past 100 years cannot be narrowed by him in the past few years.

In recent years, the Bank of East Asia has been seeking a first-level "operational" qualification in the global market, although they have now become the world's largest bank by market value, although their business has spread all over the world. However, due to time, he has not yet possessed a qualification like Lehman. After all, many things require time and manpower.

If these two data centers can be taken, it will be of great significance to the business promotion of the Bank of East Asia, and it can also promote the leap-forward development of the Bank of East Asia.

Since Lehman is bankrupt, they will definitely reposition their position. Some things are no longer useful to them. Just like this headquarters, they are no longer eligible to move in, because they can only complete the compensation work to the debtor under the most rudimentary conditions under the arrangement of the regulatory agency.

Lehman Bank did not reply that day, because they are not yet busy with this aspect. Now they need to dismiss their global workforce of more than 20,000 people, they need to set up a bankruptcy committee responsible for US politics, and they need to clarify debts and arrange compensation as soon as possible. plan.

After applying to Lehman, Zhou Ziye personally called Marcus Agius, chairman of Barclays Bank, to express his interest in Lehman's core business.

In the previous life, it was Barclays' acquisition of Lehman's core business. The headquarters building and data center totaled 1.35 billion U.S. dollars, plus a small amount of bonds, totaling 1.7 billion U.S. dollars. It is necessary to reach a tacit agreement with Barclays first. Otherwise, it would be illegal to reach a tacit agreement after Barclays Bank also contacted Lehman.

As a bank with a history of 320 years, Barclays does not pay much attention to Lehman's data center, because almost all of them have the'transaction' power that Lehman has. What they really value is Lehman's high-quality bonds and investment management business. Of course, Lehman's data center also has some qualifications that they care about. Zhou Ziye wants them to give up directly, and they need to show some sincerity.

Agius was quite surprised by Zhou Ziye's phone call. Although they knew each other, Zhou Ziye never talked about the business between the two banks, so he never talked about it. Hearing that Zhou Ziye specifically called to inform him just because he wanted to acquire Lehman's headquarters and data center, he asked strangely: "In addition to me, which banks have Mr. Zhou called?"

"only you."

This made Agius even more strange, and asked: "Why me?"

"Because under the current circumstances, only our two banks are likely to become competitors. I don't want to benefit the United States because of our competition. It is better to let us make better use of our funds to complete our The goal."

"Why does Mr. Zhou think that we, Barclays, will compete with you?"

"Looking at Barclays Bank's actions in the United States, there are many similarities with our Bank of East Asia's layout. We are willing to enter into a strategic alliance with Barclays Bank to optimize our investment structure in the United States. I don't know what Mr. Agius would like. how?!"

In the United Kingdom, Zhou Midnight has always been close to HSBC, the largest bank in the United Kingdom. Barclays Bank cannot compare with HSBC in many aspects, so HSBC has been tightly pressed by it. Zhou Ziye's suggestion hit their g point, which also gave Agius a feeling of pie in the sky.

Agius asked a little bit agitatedly: "Is it just an investment in the United States or a global cooperation?"

"Except for Asia, because of the relationship with HSBC, our cooperation cannot be given priority over HSBC. In other regions, we are willing to reach a strategic partnership with Barclays Bank."

"Then Barclays Bank needs to pay the price of not participating in Lehman's asset competition with the Bank of East Asia?"

"No, it should be us uniting together to jointly invest in Lehman Bank's high-quality assets."

Agius laughed. "Mr. Zhou, I personally would like to have in-depth cooperation with you on this, but we at Barclays, unlike the Bank of East Asia, are completely controlled by you alone, so I must hold a farewell meeting and get the authorization of the board of directors. I think, At this time tomorrow, I can reply to you."

"Then I will wait for the good news from Mr. Agius."

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