Chapter 1381: The Polaris Consortium, which has been targeted

'Damn Wells Fargo!'

'Damn Polaris Consortium!'

Douglas Master and Reginald Hanna, along with two others, gathered together once again. Reginald Hanna, who was relatively hot-tempered, cursed out loud in annoyance.

The other people didn't say anything, but their ugly faces showed that they were also in a terrible mood.

The expected resistance or strong counterattack from the Mellon Consortium did not happen.

Instead, the Mellon Consortium very casually sold the company they coveted.

But the one who took over was the Polaris Consortium in the west!

They went to great lengths, even risking being specifically targeted by the Mellon Consortium, to launch the takeover, but they made Polaris Consortium's wedding clothes.

How could Douglas Master and the others not be annoyed?

The North Star Consortium had completely and directly slapped each of them in the face.

'We've become clowns. Before I came here, I even received a phone call specifically to mock me,'

said Sam Eaton with a dark face.

He was responsible for the target National Steel Corporation, which was also run by the Eaton family.

Thanks to his efforts, although he had not yet managed to deal with the Mellon consortium, he had bought 7.4% of the shares from other shareholders, increasing his own shareholding in National Steel to 38.2%.

But now the Mellon consortium had sold 34.7% of the shares to Wells Fargo.

With Wells Fargo being the third largest bank in the United States, one bank alone was outclassing the entire Cleveland consortium of financial companies.

Trying to get the shares back from Wells Fargo?

It's hard!

It's as hard as climbing to the sky!

Sam Eaton doesn't have much confidence in that anyway.

It's already good that the aggressive Wells Fargo doesn't aim its gun at them.

'My situation is even worse!'

Kenneth Humphrey sighed, his face full of helplessness.

Armco Steel was the largest steel company, and the Cleveland consortium only had a cumulative stake of 34.1%. Apart from the Mellon consortium, which had a 33.5% stake, the other extreme was the Rockefeller consortium.

The Rockefeller consortium and its affiliates had a combined stake of 27.3%.

None of the Rockefeller consortium's shareholders were willing to let go, and it was clear that they had received instructions from the top to hold onto Armco Steel.

The Mellon consortium's 33.5% stake had also flown, and their acquisition plan could be declared a failure.

'Let's discuss what to do now.'

'All the targets in the steel sector have been snatched up, and we don't know how much liquidity the Mellon consortium has.'

'I was unable to snatch any shares of the Pittsburgh National Bank, and the Mellon family is fighting at all costs.'

'The Mellon family already had an absolute advantage, and now they have plenty of money, so we don't have any chance of success.'

Douglas Master looked worried.

At his level, he had rarely experienced failure.

He had to admit, the taste of failure... was not good.

'Forget it, we've already failed,' Sam Eaton sighed, tearing open the scar directly to make everyone accept the reality frankly.

'The Mellon Consortium, with its abundant funds, is now very aggressive. Their front lines have been narrowed, their strength concentrated, and we cannot resist.

'And with the powerful North Star consortium in the financial sector assisting them, if this continues, we are the ones in danger.'

'I'm just wondering, what's going on within the Mellon family?'

'I thought that with Richard King Mellon down, the Mellon family had no successor, but now it seems that there are still experienced elites within the Mellon family, and their every move is no worse than Richard King Mellon's!'

Kenneth Humphrey subconsciously touched his beard and guessed, 'Could it be Paul Mellon?'

'Among the Mellon family, he has the most assets. After Richard King Mellon fell ill, he was also the eldest, and his say in the family was definitely the greatest.'

Douglas MacArthur shook his head: 'It's not necessarily him. Although Paul Mellon is capable, he is not such a strong-willed person, otherwise Richard King Mellon would not have become the head of the Mellon family's third generation.'

'The Mellon family is now acting very decisively, and many assets have been given up without hesitation, which is not at all like Paul Mellon's style.'

'It is clear that the Mellon family wants to firmly control the four major financial cores. Even Gulf Oil Company was sold on its own initiative. Even if Richard King Mellon were here, he might not make this decision.'

'Okay, let's not discuss the Mellon family for now.'

'The targets we want, except for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, have all gone to the North Star Consortium.'

'Let's face these problems head-on first.'

'My opinion is that we cannot give up easily!'

Upon hearing this, the other three men's faces instantly grew grave.

After a while, Kenneth Humphrey asked suspiciously, 'Douglas, are you saying that we should fight against the North Star Consortium?'

Douglas MacArthur said without hesitation, 'That's right!'

'The North Star Consortium has so easily taken away our prey, we can't just let it go.'

'Everyone, think about it. From the moment they took over, the North Star Consortium has become our most direct competitor.

'They have complete control over Allegheny Ludlum Industries and Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel, and the only two steel companies we can completely control are also steel companies.'

'As for Armco Steel and National Steel, our strength is not much different.'

'But there is still the question of who dominates the market. If we don't take a stand, then the Polaris Consortium will definitely take advantage of the situation and squeeze our voice and market.'

'Why don't we fight them while they are still unsteady on their feet, and show the Polaris Consortium that we are not to be trifled with?'

'Even if we don't end up buying these companies, it will still deter the Polaris Consortium from acting recklessly in the future.'

Reginald Hanna said without hesitation: 'I agree with Douglas. We really can't just let this go, we must show our attitude.'

'Otherwise, our Cleveland Consortium will always be the butt of jokes.'

'The newly emerged Polaris Consortium is already more powerful than we are, and if we don't do anything, they will trample all over us!'

Kenneth Humphrey and Sam Eaton exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.

'So what should we do?'

Sam Eaton asked Douglas MacArthur.

'We can try to make Wells Fargo spit out the companies it has swallowed!'

Douglas MacArthur narrowed his eyes and gave a sneer.

The three men immediately perked up and looked at him with burning eyes.

All they could hear was Douglas MacArthur slowly say, 'Although we don't know exactly how much Wells Fargo spent, we can estimate the approximate amount!'

'The two companies, Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corporation and Allegheny Ludlum Industries, were originally valued at more than 3 billion US dollars each.'

'National Steel is worth more than 3.5 billion US dollars.'

'Armco Steel is worth nearly 5 billion US dollars.'

'Even if it doesn't sell at a premium, to take over the Mellon consortium's entire stake, Wells Fargo would need to come up with at least 8 billion US dollars!'

'At the same time, Wells Fargo also took over a large amount of assets from the Mellon consortium, which we conservatively estimate to be worth 3 billion US dollars.'

'Therefore, we can estimate that Wells Fargo has at least invested 11 billion US dollars!'

'This amount of capital accounts for one tenth of Wells Fargo's bank assets!'

'A liquidity ratio of 10% is extremely high. Under normal circumstances, our consortium's banks will not maintain such a high liquidity ratio.'

'Then can we speculate that Wells Fargo's capital chain is already under tension?'

At the end of his words, Douglas Master's face revealed a sinister expression.

The other three were all startled.

On second thought, it was indeed very possible!

'Yes, Douglas' analysis is likely the truth.'

'If we cause trouble for Wells Fargo, Wells Fargo may have to spit out the assets it has gobbled up.'

'And...we may even be able to stick our hands inside Wells Fargo!'

Kenneth Humphrey stroked his beard, and the more he analysed, the wider his smile became.

'Once Wells Fargo goes wrong, the Polaris Consortium will definitely be nervous.'

'We don't know how the Rockefeller and Morgan consortia will react, but the California consortium will definitely not miss the opportunity to strike at the Polaris Consortium.'

'After all, the Polaris Consortium rose in California and took away too much of the California consortium's interests...'