Chapter 1321: One of the new top ten American consortia
Twenty-odd days is not enough time for Joseph Chretien's gunshot wound to heal completely.
But he is mobile.
And a speech delivered while wounded will have an even greater effect.
In the VIP ward, Joseph Clément's entire campaign team was there to welcome him home.
Pollster Ron Robert reported the good news directly to him as a celebration of his release.
'Joseph, the latest secret poll shows that the Liberal Party's approval rating has risen to 68%, and your approval rating has risen to 64%.'
'Especially in Quebec, your approval rating has reached 71%, which is a very frightening approval rating.'
'Your rival, Martin Blain, has dropped to 19% nationwide!'
'Now the public is looking forward to your recovery and discharge from hospital. Over the next ten days, as long as you get some exposure, your approval ratings will soar again!'
Joseph Chrétien gave a broad smile and said to everyone, 'Well done, everyone. This is the result of everyone's hard work.'
'This is what we should do.'
'Joseph, let's go, your supporters are outside the hospital now, go and accept their enthusiastic cheers!' General Manager Barlow Pierce said with a smile.
'Let's go, there's no point in staying here!'
With that, Joseph Cletain took the lead and walked out of the ward.
...
The news that Joseph Cletain had recovered and was discharged from the hospital was reported by major media outlets immediately, and his supporters all over Canada celebrated this.
In the following days, Joseph Chrétien, despite his illness, went around giving stump speeches.
Each speech was attended by huge crowds, who expressed their support for Joseph Chrétien by chanting 'Hero of the Canadian people'.
After each speech, the Liberal Party and Joseph Chrétien's approval ratings rose.
The Progressive Conservative Party and its leader Martin Brian became increasingly desperate.
As for the other minor parties, they had long since given up hope. They felt sorry for the Progressive Conservatives and just watched Joseph Chrétien's performance.
Time passed quickly.
Finally, the appointed day arrived.
On 30 June 1984, the general election for the Canadian House of Commons was held as scheduled.
When the final voting results came out, they shocked the entire political world.
Even though many people had expected the Liberals to win a large number of seats, they had not expected them to win so many.
In Ontario, the Liberals won 92 of the 100 seats.
In Quebec, the Liberals won 73 of the 75 seats.
In British Columbia, the Liberals won 25 of the 29 seats.
And
in the end, of the 285 seats in the House of Commons, Joseph Chrétien's Liberal Party won a total of 257 seats!
A whopping 90%!
The Progressive Conservatives, on the other hand, only won 17 seats, losing 21 seats compared to the previous 38 seats.
The Liberal Party has absolute power!
In the next five years, as long as Joseph Chrétien and the Liberal Party don't make any major mistakes, their position will be as stable as Mount Tai.
After the results came out, Joseph Chrétien had to be busy bestowing titles on his ministers.
The capitalists who supported the Progressive Conservative Party were all in a panic.
In particular, the shareholders of the six major banks were all worried.
The stock prices of the six major banks, which had already hit rock bottom after the election results came out, plummeted again.
Under these circumstances, companies such as the Bright Fund and HSBC, which had received Xia Yu's orders, began to take action.
It was time to reap the fruits of victory!
Buy on the cheap!
Buy on the cheap like crazy!
The stocks of major listed companies were all bought at bargain prices.
The most important thing is that the stocks of Scotiabank and TD Bank were continuously bought.
Scotiabank, the fourth largest bank in Canada, had bank assets of more than 48 billion US dollars, but at this time its market value had fallen to 2.55 billion Canadian dollars.
TD Bank, the fifth largest bank in Canada, had bank assets of more than 42 billion US dollars, but at this time its market value had fallen to 2.19 billion Canadian dollars.
This market value, compared to their peak market value, had shrunk by more than eight times!
The Toronto 300 Index has fallen by less than 50%, so you can imagine the dire situation of the banking stocks. They are definitely the outstanding contributing stocks that have dragged down the Toronto 300 Index.
The situation is similar for the other four of the top six banks.
Or rather, the biggest bank in Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, has seen the most severe share price decline, because as the leader, investors generally believe that it is most likely to be nationalised.
So no one wants the stock even if it is lost.
And Xia Yu didn't want it either.
Joseph Chrétien wanted to nationalise the bank, and this bank was indeed the most suitable for the first operation. If he took this bank, it would make Joseph Chrétien's first fire not burn strongly enough and would easily attract criticism.
The second largest Canadian Imperial Bank and the third largest Bank of Montreal were both shareholders of the Rothschild family, so it would be best to simply nationalise them all, which would maximise the losses of the Rothschild family.
As for the sixth largest bank, it was targeted by the Mellon consortium according to the distribution of interests.
The shareholders of those banks had no idea which banks would be nationalised, or whether all of them would be nationalised, so they were basically meat on the chopping block, at the mercy of others.
Even if some individual shareholders were clever enough to think that the banks would not be acquired when their shares were being bought, they would immediately be threatened that if they didn't sell, another bank would acquire them, and those shareholders would naturally hand over their shares obediently.
With no room for resistance, they had no choice!
Of course, to prevent accidents, the takeover of these banks was naturally kept secret and carried out quickly.
It only took five days.
The Canadian banks Scotiabank and TD Bank were sold.
Scotiabank was taken over by Bright Food, which acquired a total of 94.8% of the shares for 2.47 billion Canadian dollars.
The shares are very dispersed, held by Bright Funds, HSBC Bank Canada, Royal Bank of Scotland and some offshore shell companies.
The remaining shares are still in the hands of retail investors, and no further acquisition was made. If it were not for the current sensitivity, Scotiabank would have definitely chosen to delist.
Toronto-Dominion Bank was acquired by Polaris Capital, which acquired a total of 95.2% of the shares for CAD 2.13 billion.
However, in order to take care of the emotions of the Canadian people and to spare Joseph Chrétien some face, Polaris Capital and Wells Fargo did not appear in the shareholder ranks, and all of these shares were held through cross-shareholdings in offshore shell companies.
When the time was right later, some of these shares were transferred to Wells Fargo, putting Wells Fargo in the foreground.
These two banks were only a small part of the targets of the harvest, just an appetizer!
This time, the Canadian financial industry suffered heavy losses, and it wasn't just the banks.
The Canadian insurance industry, with its huge capital, was also a major loser.
After screening, Canada's second-largest Manulife and fourth-largest Canada Life became Xia Yu's prey.
These two companies were the insurance companies that suffered the heaviest losses, and their major shareholders also suffered heavy losses.
Xia Yu used the method of buying at the bottom of the market and contacting shareholders to acquire the companies.
On 11 July, Bright Fund acquired 71.5% of Manulife at a cost of 3.7 billion Canadian dollars.
On 13 July, Bright Fund acquired 69.4% of Canada Life at a cost of 2.9 billion Canadian dollars.
On 17 July, Bright Fund acquired 34% of Canada's largest retail company, Loblaw Companies, at a cost of 1.74 billion Canadian dollars.
On 18 July, Bright Fund acquired 61.8% of the shares in George Weston Limited, Canada's largest baking company, for 1.87 billion Canadian dollars.
On 22 July, taking advantage of the Bombardier family's cash-flow shortage, Bright Fund took various measures to forcefully acquire 68.4% of Bombardier Inc.
This company, which had achieved great success in the fields of tracked vehicles, urban rail transit, and railway and high-speed train locomotives, had not yet ventured into the field of aircraft manufacturing at this time.
However, just the patents for various modes of transport within Bombardier, as well as the large number of skilled workers, were enough to tempt Xia Yuyu.
After completing the acquisition of Bombardier,
Bright Fund also acquired the state-owned aircraft manufacturer, the Canadian Aeronautics Industry Corporation, which was suffering heavy losses, with the cooperation of the Canadian government. The purchase price was 1.1 billion Canadian dollars.
After the acquisition, Bright Fund immediately led Bombardier to merge with Canadian Aerospace Industries, and the Bombardier family could not stop it at all.
After the merger, the Bombardier family's equity was diluted again, while Bright Fund held 84.5% of the new Bombardier Group.
On July 21,
what had to come finally did.
The Canadian Parliament finally passed the nationalisation bill for the big banks.
The nationalised banks were the Royal Bank of Canada, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and the Bank of Montreal, the top three banks, and the latter three banks were all spared.
The Rothschild family suffered heavy losses.
And Xia Yu continued to enjoy the feast.
After the nationalisation of these three major banks, the will of the Canadian government completely dominated the banks.
With Xia Yu's energy, he could buy whatever he wanted, couldn't he?
It was entirely up to which assets he liked, and the three major banks sold those assets!
The prices may not be super low, but given the current market situation, they are definitely bargain prices.
The three major banks have a very good reason for selling off their assets: they need to dispose of non-performing assets, recycle capital, and ensure the safety of the banks' funds.
The first area is energy.
With the help of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Pacific Oil acquired 52% of the medium-sized Canadian Husky Oil Company for 290 million Canadian dollars.
Then it acquired Canada's Cantar Energy for 272 million Canadian dollars.
Then, with the assistance of the Royal Bank of Canada and the Bank of Montreal, Pacific Oil acquired a 51% stake in the large Sunko Energy Corporation for 3.4 billion Canadian dollars.
Acquired a 35% stake in Canada's Enbridge Natural Gas for 2.1 billion Canadian dollars.
Then there is the mining sector.
Lanshan Mining acquired a 56% stake in Barrick Gold Corporation of Canada for 1.7 billion Canadian dollars.
This is Canada's largest gold mining company, and it is now controlled by a bargain price.
Then there is Canada's second largest gold mining company, Goldcorp, which acquired a 43.8% stake for 820 million Canadian dollars.
Lanshan Mining acquired a 63.8% stake in Teck Resources of Canada for 3.46 billion Canadian dollars.
Teck Resources is Canada's largest diversified mining company. Teck Resources mainly operates mining and smelting assets located in Canada, the United States and South America, as well as exploration activities worldwide, including mine exploration, development, smelting, refining, recycling and research.
Teck Resources Canada's main business projects are copper, coking coal, zinc, and energy. It also produces special metals such as germanium and indium. It owns 13 mines in Canada, the United States, Chile, Peru, and other places, and owns a smelter. It is North America's largest coking coal producer, the world's second-largest seaborne coking coal exporter, and the world's third-largest zinc concentrate producer.
By swallowing up so many energy and mining companies at once, Pacific Oil and Blue Star Mining instantly became giants in the Canadian energy and mining sectors.
This, combined with the two major banks already under their control, insurance companies, and the industrial and retail companies they acquired,
has made Xia Yu a top dog in the Canadian capital sector. Coupled with his connections to the Liberal Party, he can be said to be in a position to call the shots.
Unfortunately, in June, the major shareholders of the banks, led by Harris Rothschild, urgently raised funds and bought out the equity of the most important companies held by the major banks at low prices.
Otherwise, Xia Yu would have been able to exhaust all the funds.
Unlike now, he has only laid six pillars in Canada.
But even so, Xia Yu is very satisfied. His current strength in Canada has surpassed the strength of the Harris Rothschild branch during its heyday.
Not to mention now.
The Harris Rothschild branch was dealt a heavy blow, leaving the Rothschild family severely weakened.
But Xia Yu's conflict with the Rothschild family had also reached a new level.
This time, in order to reap the assets in Canada, Xia Yu had revealed a lot.
But Xia Yu no longer cared, he had revealed a lot, swallowed a large number of assets in Canada, and participated in dismembering the Chicago Consortium.
In terms of overall strength, Xia Yu was not in the least bit intimidated, even if he went to war with the Rothschild family on all fronts!
Two flowers blooming at the same time, each representing a branch.
When the time came in August,
the battle for control of the Chicago Consortium finally came to a close.
When disaster struck, the four families of the Chicago Consortium all flew off in their own directions, only concerned with preserving their own strength.
The First National Bank of Chicago was still acquired by Chase Manhattan Bank and swallowed up by the Rockefeller Consortium.
Harris Trust and Savings Bank was jointly controlled by the Citibank consortium and the California consortium.
And Northern Trust Bank was wholly acquired by Wells Fargo Bank.
As for the International Harvester Company and Deere & Company that Xia Yu wanted, they were also acquired by Polaris Capital, with 69.2% and 73.4% of the equity respectively.
The Dun & Bradstreet Group, which was a casual addition, acquired 38.4% of the equity and became a major shareholder, which was enough.
This battle ended with the Chicago Consortium falling from power, which truly shocked everyone.
And Polaris Capital has been listed among all the forces. What's more, some people say in private that Polaris Capital has replaced the Chicago Consortium and become one of the new top ten consortia. Although it is only at the bottom, being in the top ten is being in the top ten!