Chapter 1039: The Taikoo Consortium's Last Struggles

'Chairman, something's wrong. Our measures to repurchase shares don't seem to have pacified investors, and sell orders are still being thrown in endlessly.'

'The funds are being depleted too quickly!'

Swire Finance, looking at the market more than an hour after it opened, saw that the rate of sell orders was still unabatedly high. Cedric Quincy was at a loss for words, and reported the situation to Norman Shi Yawei with a serious expression.

Although the chairman had obtained another 350 million Hong Kong dollars from London over the past two days of Saturday and Sunday, it still did not make him feel at ease.

After all, as of the close of trading last Friday, the funds in Swire Finance's account had dropped from over 700 million to just over 280 million.

Even after adding the 350 million borrowed over the weekend and the 210 million raised by related companies for the share buyback, Swire Finance's account would only have a total of 840 million before the market opened today.

However, in just over an hour, more than 90 million had been consumed.

According to his analysis, this rate of consumption was relatively slow, and there were two reasons for this: one was that retail investors were relatively slow to place orders, and the other, which he did not want to face, was that the institutions that might still hold shares had an understanding that they did not want to place a large order at a low price at once, as they were afraid that Swire Finance would not be able to digest it, causing the stock price to fall sharply and causing even greater losses.

After hearing Cedric Quincy's report, Norman Shi Yahuai hurriedly asked for details, and the former unreservedly told him the truth of what had happened and his own guess.

After hearing this, Norman Shi Yahuai's brows wrinkled into a question mark, and his face was full of gravity.

'According to your analysis, how many more days can the remaining 750 million Hong Kong dollars support?'

After a long while, Norman Shi Yahuai asked about his biggest concern.

Cedric Quincy thought carefully and said in a heavy tone, 'If the current situation does not ease, the best-case scenario is that all funds will be depleted by Wednesday.'

'The most conservative estimate is that the funds will hit rock bottom tomorrow.'

Norman Shi Yahuai's face was as dark as a pot sticker, and his mouth moved as he muttered something.

Seeing that the chairman was silent for a long time, Cedric Quincy hesitated for a moment and added, 'Chairman, unless you can come up with at least 3 billion Hong Kong dollars later, or reverse investors' impression of the Swire Group in one fell swoop, it will be difficult to alleviate the current situation.'

3 billion Hong Kong dollars!

It's easy to say, but it's hard to raise that much money!

Norman Shiawai's eldest son borrowed a total of 750 million Hong Kong dollars twice in London, and he still took out a mortgage loan with assets worth 1.8 billion Hong Kong dollars from his British parent company.

Cedric Quincy didn't know the situation, but Norman Shiawai knew very well that the debt ratio of the British parent company was already higher than that of the Hong Kong branch, and now it was completely impossible to borrow another 3 billion Hong Kong dollars!

Unless a bank or a friend is willing to lend on credit!

'Forget about 3 billion Hong Kong dollars. You'd better think of a way to see how the current situation can be reversed.'

Hearing Norman Shi Yawei's low voice, Cedric Quincy's heart sank, his expression growing more and more bitter. He has been brainstorming in meetings every night these days, and if he could think of a solution, he would have done so long ago, so why is he still waiting?

But if he directly says that he can't think of a solution, he is likely to attract the anger of the annoyed chairman onto himself.

Hearing the noise from downstairs, he winced slightly and said to Norman Shi Yaohuai with a bitter face: 'Chairman, investors who want their investments back are besieging our company every day. We have been stalling for time, but the patience of the investors has run out. I heard that some investors are already preparing to solve the problem through legal channels. As long as this problem remains unsolved, no matter what we do, we will not be able to inspire confidence in the shareholders.'

'Moreover, the investors' funds have basically been used by us to purchase shares in companies such as the Swire Group. Once our funds are depleted and we are unable to repay the investors' funds, our finance company will also go bankrupt.'

Norman Shi Yawei's breathing became increasingly rapid, and he could only feel his mind in a mess, unable to calm down and think of a solution.

He was on the verge of a breakdown.

His temper flared up as his emotions ran high, and he shouted at Cidric Quinzey, 'Cidric, Jiuding Bank can solve similar problems. You must quickly gather your subordinates to come up with an effective solution. Whoever comes up with a solution to the problem of investors claiming their investments back will be rewarded 10 million yuan!'

'The person who comes up with a solution to stabilise the share prices of these companies will be rewarded 10 million yuan! The team that implements the solution will be rewarded 10 million yuan!'

Cedric Quincy, who had been feeling a little emotional, was also taken aback by the figure, but since the chairman of the board had offered such a generous reward, what excuse could he possibly find?

He could only pray that someone would take the 30 million and be on his way.

He nodded emphatically and said, 'Chairman, I will immediately gather people to think of a solution.'

'Remember, it must be kept secret, not a word can be leaked out, and whoever dares to leak it will pay an unbearable price!'

'Hurry!'

After getting rid of Cidric Quincy, Norman Shiyai's furrowed brow did not relax. He didn't know if the reward of 30 million would work...

If Xia Yu knew Norman Shiyai's thoughts, he would not be able to stop laughing.

If his carefully laid out plan to defeat the Taikoo Group was really that easy to solve, then what the hell was he doing here!

If he couldn't even take down the Taikoo Group, then what was the point of fighting against the real global conglomerates in the future?

...

At the close of trading at noon, the Hang Seng Index had settled at 968 points, a loss of 119 points in the morning, a considerable reduction in the rate of decline.

But this was normal, after all, it had already plummeted by more than half from its peak, and if the daily rate of decline of more than 400 points continued, it would hit zero by Wednesday morning.

But the Hang Seng Index will never fall to zero.

According to the team at Jiuding Securities, the downward trend of the Hang Seng Index will slow down this afternoon, and by next week at the latest, the Hang Seng Index is expected to fall to a low of 650 points, and then it will enter a period of volatility.

Xia Yu agreed with this. After all, by the time the Hang Seng Index fell to around 650 points, the share prices of the vast majority of Hong Kong stocks would have no more room for manoeuvre, and would trigger the bottom lines of financial institutions and shareholders of listed companies.

They would do their utmost to protect this line. Although a Swire consortium and a Carrian Group are very large and can have a huge impact on the stock market, the destructive power of a bank run is also very strong. The future of Hong Kong is also very important, and it can severely damage the Hong Kong stock market, but none of these are enough to completely destroy it.

Around noon, just as Xia Yugang had finished eating and the nanny was clearing the table, Xia Jun arrived at Xia Yugang's home.