Chapter 1356: Reaping the Westpac Bank

In order to acquire a 55.7% stake in Wheelock Shipping, Australia's拓领公司 has spent a total of 8.71 billion Hong Kong dollars, equivalent to 1.428 billion US dollars.

However, the acquired Wheelock Shipping is suspected of financial fraud, with actual losses of up to 75 million US dollars!

and the shipping business has reached a critical point of assets and liabilities.

In the long term, the share price of Wheelock Shipping Company is bound to plummet.

This international investment by Top Leader was extremely wrong, resulting in a loss of up to 968 million US dollars, and the company's reputation has also been seriously affected.

After the news was exposed, Top Leader's share price plummeted.

Dainst, one of the ten major accounting firms involved, has suffered serious damage to its reputation.

Just as the outside world was shocked by the news of Top Leader,

Three cars pulled up outside the headquarters of Westpac Bank, and a group of people got out and were personally greeted by Westpac Bank Chairman Milo Knox before entering the building.

After the group went upstairs, they split into two groups.

One of them, Bright Funds Vice President and Australian Branch President Stanley Kelson, entered an office with Milo Knox alone.

During this time, Milo Knox was exhausted and worn out, as could be seen from his somewhat haggard appearance.

'President Kelson, may I ask why you have come to our company?'

Milo Knox asked with a slightly nervous tone, his gaze fixed on Stanley Kelson.

After receiving the invitation from the Bright Foundation, Milo Knox was also shocked. It is true that Westpac has reached its limits and cannot withstand the tossing and turning of any large institution, so he has been avoiding these large foreign institutions for some time.

However, since the invitation came to his door, there was no way he could avoid it, so he had to meet it head on.

Stanley Kelson smiled and said, 'President Knox, I have come this time to save the Knox family and Westpac.'

Upon hearing these words, Milo Knox felt his blood rise, as these were really very insulting words.

In an instant, his heart sank, and he began to prepare for the worst.

'President Kelston, our Westpac is doing well, and our Knox family is also doing well. You must be joking,'

Milo Knox replied with a forced smile.

Stanley Kelson shook his head and said loudly, 'No, no, no, I never joke. I'm a very pragmatic person.'

'The crisis at Westpac may be hidden from the ordinary people, but it cannot hide from people like us.'

'Westpac is on the verge of bankruptcy, and I'm not the only one who can see it.'

'I really came here to save the Knox family. If you sell me your shares in Westpac, then any future crisis at Westpac will have nothing to do with you.'

Milo Knox said with a pale face, 'Impossible. Our family will not sell its holdings, and Westpac will not go bankrupt. President Kelson, please leave!'

As he said this, Milo Knox also made a gesture to send him away.

However, Stanley Kelson still did not get up, but the smile on his face disappeared.

If you don't know how to take a hint, then Stanley Keelson will not hold back.

His gaze was sharp as a knife, fixed on Milo Knox, and he sneered, 'President Knox, as far as I know, Westpac Bank has sold a total of 5.5 billion US dollars of forward foreign exchange contracts to Bridgewater and Tiger Funds, and then lent 6.3 billion Australian dollars to other institutions, of which just Bridgewater and Tiger Funds alone account for 5.2 billion Australian dollars.

'Now that the Australian dollar exchange rate has fallen by a third, your bank has lost more than A$3.7 billion on these two businesses!'

'Now that the Australian stock market and bond market have plummeted, the equity assets of major companies held by your bank as collateral have all shrunk, and they have definitely become bad debts.'

'In addition, as far as I know, Westpac is the largest financial supporter of Toll's acquisition of Wheelock Shipping.'

'Because of the special relationship between Top Leader and your bank, Top Leader used a leveraged buyout for this acquisition, with a leverage ratio as high as 20 times. It only used 42.5 million of its own funds, while the 807.5 million in funding was provided by Westpac.'

'Now that Wheelock Shipping has gone bust, the shares of Wheelock Shipping pledged with your bank have seriously depreciated in value.'

'Tell me, if all this news becomes public, what will investors and depositors choose to do?'

'Will the funding chain of Westpac Bank be broken by a run on the bank, and will the bank go bankrupt?'

This series of words was like a sharp knife, piercing Milo Knox's heart, making his face turn pale, and his gaze at Stanley Kelson was full of panic.

This was the secret of Westpac Bank, and he knew it all!

The Bright Foundation is in cahoots with them!

'You...you...'

Milo Knox pointed at Stanley Kelson, trying to say something but unable to, and could only gasp for breath.

'President Knox, fortunately, this information has not been exposed yet, and the equity held by your family is still valuable. Do you think I am helping you by taking over the equity held by your family and taking on the risks for you?'

Stanley Kelson said softly.

But these light words sounded like the worst insults in hell to Milo Knox.

This was a blatant threat!

However, he dared not show his anger, and his remaining reason told him that he could not turn his back.

For a moment, the room fell silent, and all that could be heard was the sound of heavy breathing.

Stanley Kelston just quietly looked at Milo Knox.

Nearly ten minutes passed.

Milo Knox gradually calmed down and accepted this cruel and merciless reality.

In a somewhat hoarse voice, he asked, 'Our family holds 19.4% of the shares of Westpac. How much are you prepared to pay?'

Stanley Kelson revealed a smile and said lightly, 'One hundred million Australian dollars.'

Milo Knox's face turned purple as he said, 'Impossible, it's too low, it's an insulting price, I'd rather the bank went bankrupt than sell!'

Now that the Australian dollar exchange rate has been smashed, 100 million Australian dollars is only about 60 million US dollars when converted to US dollars.

Based on the 19.4% stake held by the Knox family, Westpac is only worth 515 million Australian dollars, or 300 million US dollars!

Although Westpac had suffered heavy losses, this price was still too low!

Stanley Kelson backed off slightly and raised the price by 10 million Australian dollars: 'I can only come up with an extra 10 million Australian dollars. Westpac is on the verge of bankruptcy. You need to face reality, Mr Knox.'

'No way, it has to be at least 500 million Australian dollars!'

...

As this involved the sale of the Knox family's shares, there was no need for the involvement of Westpac executives, and Milo Knox, as head of the family, had complete control.

After fierce negotiations, Milo Knox, who had long since lost the initiative, finally lost and accepted the harsh reality.

The 19.4% stake in Westpac held by the Knox family was transferred to Guangming Fund for 210 million Australian dollars, and they were also required to ensure that no insider information about the bank was disclosed to the outside world.

The reason Guangming Fund was willing to spend this amount of money to acquire the stake was that, apart from the fact that it would be difficult to compete if the bank really went bankrupt, the most important reason was that they did not want Westpac to be swamped by depositors and have a credit crisis.

Despite the losses of Westpac, Bright Fund naturally had the means to hedge them after taking over. However, a run on the bank would deal a huge blow to its reputation and result in a rapid loss of assets, leaving it a crippled bank.

Miro Knox was aware of this, and he used it to his advantage in the negotiations. Otherwise, he would never have been able to negotiate the price of 210 million Australian dollars.

On the same day, Bright Fund signed an equity transfer agreement with the Knox family.

Over the next two days, Bright Funds used the same tactics against the other shareholders, and one by one they all surrendered their shares, choosing to cut their losses.

This, together with the bargain-basement shares bought on the stock market,

Bright Funds ended up with 82.7% of the shares in Westpac, at a total cost of A$944 million.

The second largest bank in Australia and the financial core of the Sydney consortium had a new owner.

When the news broke, it sent shockwaves through the Australian domestic capital and political circles, as well as international institutions.

The Sydney consortium is finished!

The UK-based Bright Fund seized the initiative, and international institutions immediately adjusted their strategies, turning their guns on consortia other than the Sydney consortium to avoid getting caught up in a pointless fight.

The Fairfax family, the Knox family, the Jonathan family, the Johnston family, and many other families also all surrendered, reluctantly cutting losses to stop the bleeding, and shrinking their strength in preparation for a comeback.

With the help of the Westpac Banking Corporation, the Bright Fund's harvesting operations against the Sydney consortium once again accelerated.