Chapter 1255: Tiangong Automobile Group Reinforcement

The fundraising cocktail party for Jiuding Securities was held at the five-star Marco Polo Hotel in Tokyo.

That afternoon, reporters gathered outside the Marco Polo Hotel, but were stopped by security personnel at the outer perimeter.

It can be said that only the wealthy were eligible to attend this fundraising cocktail party. Those with assets of less than 100 million yen did not even have the qualifications to enter.

The fundraising cocktail party lasted five hours, from 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., and included a dinner.

The final result was very gratifying.

Investors were full of enthusiasm, and all four funds of 100 billion yen were fully subscribed.

There were also investors who were slow to act and were unable to get on board, and they could only regretfully wait for the next opportunity.

The next morning, in addition to the Zennihon Shimbun, many newspapers reported the news.

Jiuding Securities raised 400 billion yen in one fell swoop, shocking the entire financial market. The entire Tokyo was filled with the smell of lemons, and every financial company was jealous!

At the same time, all institutions raised the threat level of Jiuding Securities to the highest level.

Not to mention anything else, just thinking about the terrifying cash flow of Jiuding Securities is enough to make you back off.

After sniping Nippon Steel and earning 90 billion yen, it has successfully raised 400 billion yen this time, plus the cash flow that the company must have had before.

Many institutions conservatively estimate that Jiuding Securities has more than 600 billion yen in cash flow.

What's more, this huge amount of money has not been leveraged, so it can be used freely and is also more secretive due to a lack of supervision.

Anyone who knows that there is such a peaceful hunter hiding in the shadows has to be on full alert.

After all, with this amount of capital, it can push aside the vast majority of financial investment institutions on the island.

Without any skills, it can crush them!

Holding such a huge amount of capital, in order not to disappoint investors, Jiuding Securities Company definitely needs to make a big move and spend this money.

So.

After Nippon Steel, which direction will Jiuding Securities Company take?

For a time, the financial market was surging with undercurrents, and many institutions were secretly mobilising their forces in an attempt to discover clues.

Compared to the previous plan, the plan to acquire Aichi Steel, which was added later, was naturally discovered because it was shorter and had a special task.

On Sunday, the news broke.

Jiuding Securities was acquiring Aichi Steel, which was in the Nippon Steel camp!

After failing to acquire the parent company Nippon Steel, Jiuding Securities was still not giving up, and this time it was targeting this company!

Ichiro Fujiwara, who had received the news urgently, was instantly shocked.

'Baka!'

'Bastard, you've set your sights on us again, how dare you!'

'Baka...'

Because they had been tricked by Jiuding Securities, the capital market no longer sought after Nippon Steel's stock, causing Nippon Steel's stock price to fall from its peak to 859.4 yen per share at the close of trading on Friday.

As a result, according to the stock price at the close of trading on Friday, companies such as Mitsui Bank and Mitsui Trust Bank suffered a total loss of more than 230 billion yen.

Although these companies are part of the Mitsui Zaibatsu, they are not 100% owned by the Mitsui family. The shareholders of these companies have suffered losses and are naturally full of grievances.

The shareholders dare not vent their anger at Mitsui Genta, the head of the Zaibatsu, so Fujiwara Ichiro, the instigator, has become the target of their anger.

Although they have not gone too far, Fujiwara Ichiro has also been going through a very difficult time these days. If it weren't for the company, he would have long since wanted to find a place where no one is around to hide for a while.

But just as he was about to hide like an ostrich, Jiuding Securities Company suddenly turned its guns on him again.

This time, he really felt helpless.

Nippon Steel was definitely unable to find the money to save it again. Faced with Jiuding Securities Company, which had 500 to 600 billion yen in its hands, it would be extremely difficult to defend Aichi Steel Company, which now had a market value of more than 60 billion yen.

Just then.

'Ring ring ring...'

The phone on his desk rang urgently, startling Ichiro Fujiwara.

He looked at the number, hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath and picked up the receiver.

'President... Hey... Hey...'

Ichiro Fujiwara responded like a grandchild, nodding respectfully until the other end of the line hung up. Then he sat down in his chair, exhausted.

After a long while, he wiped the sweat that had appeared on his forehead and got up, leaving the office.

About half an hour later.

Ichiro Fujiwara once again arrived at the Mitsui family residence. When he got out of the car, he happened to see Shoichiro Toyoda, who had arrived at the same time. His face kept changing expressions, and finally he thought of a key point, and suddenly felt a sense of relief.

'Fujiwara-kun, you're here too.'

Shoichiro Toyoda also saw Ichiro Fujiwara, and he took the initiative to stop and wait for Ichiro Fujiwara, greeting him with a smile.

The more senior Toyota Shōichirō took the initiative to say hello, and Fujiwara Ichirō busily squeezed out a smile in response: 'Hello, Toyota-kun, I also rushed over as soon as I received a call from the president.'

'Well, let's go, Mitsui-kun should have been waiting for a while.'

Saying this, Toyota Shōichirō led Fujiwara Ichirō in together, the latter taking the initiative to lag behind by half a body length.

Although Fujiwara Ichirō was the president of Nippon Steel, he was, after all, a professional manager.

Toyota Shirokichi is different. Not only did he take over the burden of becoming the president of the Toyota Group from his father Toyota Kiichiro last year, but he also took over the position of head of the Toyota family. This is a real capitalist boss, the second-in-command in the Mitsui Foundation after Mitsui Genta!

Soon, the two men arrived in the living room.

Mitsui Genta, who was originally sitting, stood up and welcomed Toyota Shirokichi's arrival.

'Toyota-kun, you're here, please sit!'

'Fujiwara-kun, please sit!'

Mitsui Genta treated the two men differently, being noticeably more cold towards Fujiwara Ichiro, and even his smile was much more restrained.

Fujiwara Ichiro dared not be offended and sat down obediently, subconsciously placing his hands on his knees, looking completely prim and proper.

...

We're all on the same side, so after a few brief pleasantries, we got straight to the point.

The topic was none other than Jiuding Securities and Aichi Steel.

'Fujiwara-kun, tell us about Aichi Steel.'

After being asked by Genta Mitsui, Ichiro Fujiwara immediately replied, 'President, Aichi Steel's market value was relatively stable before the market closed last Friday, fluctuating around 62 billion yen.'

'Currently, our company holds 11.2% of the shares, Toyota Motor Corporation holds 6.4%, in addition to which the Mitsui Bank holds 2.1% and Mitsui & Co. holds 1.4%. Our total shareholding ratio is 21.1%.

This shareholding ratio is actually not low, but just average.

After all, Aichi Steel was later incorporated into the Nippon Steel camp, and the process of incorporation went very smoothly. The reason was that the original shareholders of Aichi Steel wanted to board the Mitsui Group ship and bind the Toyota Group and Mitsui & Co. to solve the problem of product sales.

It was precisely because they did not have to worry about sales that Aichi Steel was able to focus on research in a specific direction. From a company that originally produced only the most basic crude steel, it gradually upgraded its products and was able to develop and produce high-quality automotive steel and engine forgings, becoming an important supplier to Toyota Motor Corporation.

Because Aichi Steel's shareholders were very obedient, Nippon Steel was able to dominate Aichi Steel's operations despite its low shareholding.

Under these circumstances, Nippon Steel naturally would not spend too much money to increase its stake in Aichi Steel. With that money, Nippon Steel would have long since used it to enhance its own foundation.

After hearing this, Mitsui Genta nodded slightly and looked at Toyoda Shoichiro, saying, 'Toyoda-kun, what is your attitude?'

Toyoda Shoichiro said without hesitation, 'Aichi Steel is already an extremely important supplier. The quality of its products has always been very stable. Although they are not irreplaceable, if the supply is cut off, it will have a significant impact on our side. Therefore, my attitude is to do my best to keep Aichi Steel.'

'For us, Aichi Steel is as important as Nippon Steel.'

Mitsui Genta understood what Toyota Shoichiro meant. His face fell, and he asked again, 'Toyota-kun, I wonder how things are going with your side of the car development?'

'It's going relatively well. We have a strong R&D capability, and the urban SUV won't be too difficult to make. According to the current progress of development, it will take a maximum of ten months before the finished car can be launched on the market.'

'This speed is actually very fast. There's nothing we can do about it. The most time we spend is on the design, and we need to avoid Tiangong Automobile Group's patents as much as possible.'

'So has the encirclement of Tiangong Automobile Group been effective?'

Mitsui Genta asked again.

As soon as this question was asked, Toyota Shouichirou's face twitched, and it was obvious that this question was not so pleasant.

He shook his head slightly and said, 'It hasn't been very smooth. The Jiuding consortium behind Tiangong Automobile Group is very powerful and has a very strong network of connections. The steel and auto parts that were lacking have temporarily found substitutes.'

'Several consortia in South Korea are competing to provide Tiangong Automobile Group with steel.'

'As for auto parts, Tiangong Automobile Group spent 100 million US dollars last month to acquire the American company Federal-Mogul in Detroit, Michigan, which greatly compensated for the shortcomings.'

'Federal-Mogul is an established auto parts supplier founded in the last century. Although it once fell on hard times and was on the verge of bankruptcy due to the decline of Detroit, its products are not only complete in variety, but also of very good quality. Our company still purchases Federal-Mogul's brake pads, spark plugs and wiper blades.'

At this, Toyoda Shoichiro couldn't help but shake his head, obviously in a bad mood.

Tiangong Automobile Group has already been regarded by him as a competitor with a huge threat, and he has therefore made great efforts to block it. However, the blocking process has been so unsuccessful, and he has watched his opponent continuously strengthen itself, which is undoubtedly quite frustrating.