Chapter 903: Wells Fargo is in hand, laying out the provincial capital

"BOSS, I have completed the task you assigned. Here are all the materials for Wells Fargo.'

'All the shares have been acquired, and a total of 1.383 billion US dollars has been spent.'

In the office of the chairman of Polaris Capital, Peter Lynch solemnly pushed a stack of documents in his hands in front of Xia Yu and said: 'All the shares have been acquired, and a total of 1.383 billion US dollars has been spent.'

'Well done!'

Xia Yu praised with a smile, and then picked up the materials and read them carefully, feeling a sense of emotion in his heart.

Wells Fargo, the fourth largest bank in the United States in the previous life and once the world's largest bank before the scandal broke out, had been acquired by him.

The price was just under 1.4 billion US dollars!

Although the future will require him to grow the bank through mergers and acquisitions like a greedy snake, which will also require a lot of capital, no matter how much money is spent, it will never be the tens of billions of dollars worth of the bank in the future.

After a moment of emotion, Xia Yu concentrated his attention and immersed himself in the information.

There were many share transaction contracts, from many shareholders, the largest of which was with the California consortium, and the price per share for the acquisition was the highest.

A total of 43% of the shares were acquired for 630 million US dollars.

As for the shares of the other minority shareholders, the purchase price was relatively low.

Xia Yu didn't care whether it was more or less, it was just a difference of a few hundred million US dollars, which was nothing to him now that he was so well-funded. As long as Wells Fargo was bought, he would make a huge profit!

As for the shareholding, Peter Lynch had handled it offshore when he made the acquisition. Currently, Wells Fargo belonged to a subsidiary of Polaris Capital that held 51% of the shares publicly, and the remaining 49% of the shares were all dispersed among other offshore shell companies.

Fifty-one percent is enough to declare sovereignty.

After putting down the materials, Xia Yu asked Peter Lynch, 'Peter, has the takeover of Wells Fargo Bank been completed? What is the current situation of the bank?'

Peter Lynch said, 'BOSS, I have now taken over Wells Fargo Bank, but because the company has changed hands and the bank president is about to leave, there are currently some concerns among the employees of Wells Fargo Bank.'

'So we need to find a suitable president for Wells Fargo as soon as possible. I suggest promoting a capable executive from within the bank.'

Xia Yu nodded slightly and asked, 'You know more about the personnel of Wells Fargo. Do you have a suitable candidate?'

Peter Lynch is very prudent in his work and has long been preparing for this moment, so he immediately said, 'There are still a few executives in Wells Fargo who are direct members of the California Consortium, but there are also many internally trained talents and professional managers.'

'One of them is very suitable, and that is the current vice president and chief financial officer, Yalman Simmons. He has worked for Wells Fargo since graduating from university, and has been there for 31 years, working his way up from the bottom to his current position.'

'I've brought his information with me.'

After saying this, Peter Lynch opened his briefcase again and took out a relatively thin document from it and presented it to Xia Yu.

Xia Yu took it and read it carefully.

After ten minutes, Xia Yu finished reading the information on Alman Simmons and confirmed in his heart Peter Lynch's recommendation.

This Alman Simmons is indeed an elite talent, and he is also one of the pillars of Wells Fargo Bank. With 31 years of work experience, he has become the person who knows the situation of Wells Fargo Bank best. Moreover, he has a strong personality and charm, and he is very suitable to take over the position of president of Wells Fargo Bank.

'Where is he now?'

Xia Yu put down the information and asked Peter Lynch.

The latter immediately replied, 'He is currently at the headquarters in San Francisco, because the company is about to change hands, none of the executives of Wells Fargo are currently travelling on business.'

Xia Yu nodded and said, 'In that case, let's not waste any more time, you go arrange it right away. This afternoon, I will go with you to complete the personnel transfer.'

'Okay!'

After saying this, Peter Lynch left the office.

At 2:30 pm, Wells Fargo held a meeting for all employees. Xia Yu sat in the middle of the podium, Peter Lynch as the host, and all the executives at the headquarters attended the meeting.

At the meeting, Peter Lynch first thanked the current president, Mitch Sardin, for his dedication, and then read out the decision of the parent company and the Wells Fargo board of directors to relieve Mitch Sardin of his duties as president and have Vice President Yalman Simmons take over as president.

As Xia Yu had expected, after giving his acceptance speech, Yalman Simmons received a round of applause.

The all-staff meeting did not officially end until 4:20 pm, and Xia Yu could clearly feel that the atmosphere in the bank had become less solemn and more relaxed.

After the staff meeting, Yalman Simmons went to the chairman's office and met with Xia Yu and Peter Lynch.

After a few brief teasing remarks to put Arman Simmons at ease, Xia Yu got down to business.

'Arman, although you have just taken up the post, you have after all worked at Wells Fargo for 31 years. I hope that you can take over all of Mickey Sardin's work as soon as possible and ensure that the company continues to function normally.'

Arman Simmons immediately nodded and firmly promised, 'Boss, I will strive to complete the handover within a week and will not let the company encounter any problems.'

Xia Yu nodded slightly and continued, 'After the handover is complete, there are still some things you need to do as soon as possible. The first is personnel-related. You should know that some of the executives were sent here by the California consortium, and some were corporate parasites that the accounting firm discovered during the takeover but have not yet been announced. These people must be resolutely removed. Peter Lynch will give you a list, and you should check it for errors or omissions.'

'For the positions of these people, you must find suitable candidates for succession, preferably promoted from within the bank. If you really can't find a suitable one, report it to Peter Lynch in advance, and he will contact the headhunting company to recruit.'

Armand Simmons felt a great deal of pressure, but he also sensed the firm resolve of his boss Xia Yu, who clearly wanted to completely wash away the colour of the California consortium. As it involved the relationship between the consortia, he did not understand it and it was not convenient for him to take a position. The only thing he could do was to perfectly execute the orders of his new boss.

Therefore, he nodded with a grave face and said, 'BOSS, I will do all the preparations, so please rest assured!'

Xia Yu continued, 'The above is the personnel arrangement. Next, I will talk about Fang's direction for Wells Fargo's development.'

'Wells Fargo's original development investment philosophy and model are very good and do not need to be changed, but in terms of volume, it is still small and is currently only a regional bank in the west.'

'North Star Capital needs a large bank that covers the whole of the United States, so the main theme in the next few years will be expansion.'

'Later, the parent company will inject one billion US dollars into Wells Fargo for mergers and acquisitions, and you need to identify suitable small and medium-sized banks as acquisition targets.'

'At present, with inflation across the United States, elites in all walks of life have been affected, and the banking industry has been greatly affected. Many banks are having a hard time now, and a large number of banks will definitely go bankrupt in the next few years. Even if the banks that have not gone bankrupt will also operate with difficulty.'

'This is the best opportunity to expand against the trend.'

'As long as you can fully control it, you can continue to merge and acquire, even if it's to merge and acquire a large bank. You don't need to worry about funding!'

Yalman Simmons was amazed to hear such domineering words, and quickly said, 'Boss, I will formulate a secret expansion plan as soon as possible.'

'Hm!'

'In addition, there are many companies under Polaris Capital, and these companies will all be clients of Wells Fargo. You should communicate more with President Peter Lynch, and discuss and decide on the specifics yourselves.'

'Peter, you'll need to work hard then.'

'I'll arrange for one billion dollars to be injected into Polaris Capital in the next few days, and you can transfer it to Wells Fargo at that time.'

'Okay, that's my responsibility.'

After Peter Lynch finished answering, he smiled and nodded at Alman Simmons.

After arranging for Wells Fargo, he was almost done for the day, so Xia Yu simply went straight home.

The next day, Xia Yu saw a piece of news.

The Taiwanese provincial authorities announced the construction of the first science and technology park in Hsinchu County, with a planned area of up to 21 square kilometres. The slogan was loud and clear: they declared their intention to create the 'Taiwanese Silicon Valley'.

As soon as the Hsinchu Science Park was established, the Taiwanese authorities announced a series of preferential policies to encourage Taiwanese and overseas capital to set up businesses in the park.

After pondering for a long time, Xia Yu once again went to Polaris Capital to find Peter Lynch, who was busy at work, and instructed him to select suitable personnel to go to the Hsinchu Science Park in Taiwan to establish the Taiwan branch of Polaris Capital.

The main task of the branch office is to invest in high-quality and promising enterprises in Taiwan and the future Hsinchu Science Park, thereby completing the capital penetration of Taiwan.

Xia Yu knew that although Taiwan was small, the future leader of the Four Little Dragons still had a lot of good things. There were nine Fortune 500 companies in the future, which was definitely worth investing in or taking control of.

However, Xia Yu also knew that the Hsinchu Science Park had just been established and could not possibly have any high-quality enterprises. Polaris Capital should be the first multinational large enterprise to settle in, and it would definitely be highly valued by the Taiwanese provincial authorities.

In order to avoid the branch company getting lost as soon as it arrived, Xia Yu also gave Peter Lynch some pointers, asking him to arrange for someone to go ahead and invest in a company called 'Hon Hai'.

Xia Yu had known about this company for a long time. It was founded in 1974 and was the parent company of the future Foxconn. However, due to the complicated situation in Taiwan, Xia Yu had never had the opportunity to invest and had never come into contact with Mr. Guo.

But now it was different. It was absolutely the right time for Polaris Capital to go there.

Even if the Taiwanese authorities knew about Xia Yu's relationship with Polaris Capital, they would not dare to do anything. After all, Polaris Capital was a large American company.

If some fool really causes trouble for Polaris Capital using Xia Yu as an excuse, Peter Lynch will naturally ask the US government to intervene, and the effect will definitely be the best.

Although this is like pulling the tiger skin of the United States, there is no other way. Who can let Taiwan's special situation be like this? At this time period, apart from pulling the tiger skin of the United States, which has a huge effect, no other method is safe.

At that time, no matter how hard it is for the Taiwanese provincial authorities or some people within them, they will have to hold their noses and force a smile to serve Polaris Capital.