Chapter 1388: The Wind is Rising in the Philippines

The Mellon Consortium launched a major offensive against the Cleveland Consortium, directly dispelling the label of 'weakness' on itself.

The people in power within the Cleveland Consortium were shocked.

The aggressive Polaris Consortium had kept them on their toes, and other consortia were taking advantage of the situation.

Now the more powerful Mellon Consortium is back with a vengeance, and this is definitely not something that can be easily settled.

It's just that at this time.

Douglas Master and Reginald Hanna and others have been tossed and turned until they are about to spit blood.

For the Cleveland Trust Company and Cleveland National City Bank, although the consortium controls more than 50% of the equity, it does not have an absolute controlling stake, and there is still the risk of being restrained.

And Kocai International Group, American Financial Insurance Group and Wusan Bank Corporation are even worse. The highest was only 40.3% at the beginning, far from the relative holding line of 50%.

Therefore, this time, in the face of the takeover attack launched by the Polaris Consortium,

the Cleveland Consortium could only respond comprehensively.

The consequence of this action was that the stock prices of these five companies soared.

The lowest one, the stock price has doubled!

But they had to grab the shares, even if they had to pinch their noses!

However,

after waiting for the share prices of the five companies to rise, the Polaris Consortium began selling their shares at high prices.

The Cleveland Consortium was not unaware of this.

After some testing, they could only let the Polaris Consortium sell their shares at high prices.

This was because they had tried many times before, and if they did not buy the shares at high prices, then other buyers would.

These buyers might be other companies in the Polaris Consortium responsible for supporting the price, or they might really be other people with ulterior motives.

In any case, the stock price of these companies could never fall.

Unless the Cleveland Consortium was willing to crash the market and suppress the stock price themselves.

But this was absolutely impossible.

Therefore, no matter how high the stock price rose, before the set acquisition target was reached,

they could only endure the nausea and anger to buy stocks.

They even had to be grateful that their enemy had not driven the stock price to sky-high levels!

And it was during this period of time

that Xia Yu's Polaris Consortium's series of actions were being rapidly implemented.

Hughes Aircraft Company acquired a 5% stake in Parker Hannifin Corporation and disclosed the information to the New York Stock Exchange.

Founded in 1918, Parker Hannifin Corporation is a motion control manufacturing company with three major business segments: industrial, aerospace, and temperature and industrial controls.

The Cleveland Consortium was able to identify a shareholding of around 36.4% in this company.

GEICO Insurance Company also quietly acquired a 5% stake in Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, and then there was no further disclosure, but it was secretly buying up shares.

American consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble, as well as paint and coatings manufacturer Sherwin-Williams, were also secretly acquiring shares.

Xia Yu really wanted these companies, so the acquisitions were mainly low-key.

But there were also some companies that launched attacks with great fanfare.

For example, the New York branch of Jiuding Securities announced that it had acquired a 12.7% stake in Cleveland Natural Resources and made a general offer to acquire the company.

Cleveland Natural Resources is the largest iron ore producer in North America and also a major producer and supplier of metallurgical coal in North America.

It can be said that this company is the foundation of the steel industry for the Cleveland Consortium.

If control of this company is lost, steel companies such as Republic Steel and Lexen Steel will have to look to others for direction.

Production capacity would be affected by suppliers of iron ore and coal, and costs would face huge challenges. The competitiveness of the products of steel companies would have to be put in question!

In addition, two retail giants in the Cleveland Consortium's sphere of influence, Macy's and Kroger, also received acquisition offers from Polaris Capital!

This breaking news made Douglas Master and others' scalps explode.

However, they could not just ignore it.

After all, these companies were acquired during the growth of the consortium, and although their shareholdings are not extremely high, they are very important to the consortium.

Therefore, even though all the capital has been invested in the acquisition of the five financial companies, they must find a way to get the money to maintain control of these companies.

The pressure is simply too great!

With all this energy and financial resources being diverted to these matters, Xia Yu's actions to acquire the companies he really wants to acquire are progressing very smoothly.

And just as the American business world is in turmoil,

In the Philippines of Southeast Asia, a secret conversation is taking place in President Ferdinand's office.

There are only two people in the large office: President Ferdinand and his absolute confidant, Enrique Brode, the Director of the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation.

At this time, Ferdinand's face is very ugly after reading the results in the newspaper.

He looks at Enrique Brode with a gloomy gaze and asks in a deep voice, 'Enrique, are the data on this page confirmed to be true?'

Enrique Brod nodded solemnly and replied affirmatively, 'President Ferdinand, I have verified it.'

'These survey statistics are actually the secret polling data of the Manila Standard Today, which has long been in the hands of the opposition party.'

'Members of our intelligence services knew that the opposition party was doing this before, but they never found an opportunity to obtain the polling data.'

'This time, after lurking inside for a period of time, they took the opportunity to make copies.'

'It is indeed authentic intelligence.'

After receiving a positive reply,

Ferdinand's face turned even uglier.

He lowered his head and looked again at the photocopy on the table, unable to help but snort.

The Manila Standard Today is the opposition's propaganda position. The reason it has not been forcibly shut down by him is because this newspaper has American and British capital, and it is pulling the tiger skin of the United States and Britain.

And now their internal polling data is very unfavourable to Ferdinand.

In September,

the support rating of Ferdinand's Socialist Party was 60.2%, while the combined opposition was 39.8%.

In October, the situation became much worse.

The support rating of the Socialist Party dropped a few points to 56.9%, while the combined opposition was 43.1%.

By November, the situation had further worsened.

The Socialist Party's poll ratings fell again, to 53.1%, and the opposition combined was 46.9%.

The gap between the two sides was closing, and the Socialist Party's advantage was no longer significant.

Then came the latest secret poll, just at the beginning of December.

The Socialist Party's support rating fell to 51.8%, a further decline.

In just over three months.

The Socialist Party's advantage was gone, and how could Ferdinand, the Socialist Party leader, not be alarmed?

He was well aware of the situation in the country. The opposition was gaining momentum, and the attitude of the United States towards him had also worsened considerably.

Therefore, his power was indeed on the verge of danger.

There was still a year or two before the next general election, which was more than enough time.

However, given the current situation and the secret poll data that had been uncovered, if he really dragged on until the next general election, there was a high probability that he would be forced from power.

By then, whoever came to power would definitely purge him and his family!

'Enrique, do you think I should wait until the time is right to call a general election, or should I call one sooner?'

After a long moment, Ferdinand looked at Enrique Broder and asked with a melancholy tone.

This question made Enrique Broder jump, and he looked up at the president, his mouth moving, but he didn't dare to speak up and give his opinion.

Being able to head the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation, he of course knew that he couldn't say anything carelessly.

'Enrique, don't think too much,'

'Someone must be working behind my back, but you are my eyes and can see the whole situation clearly.'

'In a critical moment, you must show your value. I need to hear the truth,'

Ferdinand ordered with a glare.

Enrique Brod took a deep breath and said with a stiff face, 'President Ferdinand, the situation discovered by the National Bureau of Investigation is not good. I have reported to you before that the opposition has united and increased its propaganda, inciting the people to hate us.'

'Those newspapers and media outlets are all backed by foreign capital, and they can't be moved. This has a huge impact on the foundations of our Socialist Party.'

'If it really drags on for a year or two, then our chances of winning are really not good...'

After saying this, Enrique Brod held his breath, lowered his head and didn't dare look at Ferdinand.

'I understand.'

'You can go first, continue to pay attention to the opposition's movements, and report to me as soon as you find out anything.'

'Yes!'

'Then I'll go first.'

said Enrique Brod, quickly leaving Ferdinand's office.

After he had gone,

Ferdinand got up from his seat and paced back and forth in the office, constantly reviewing the situation over the past six months in his mind.

His expression kept changing.

After a long while, he let out a long breath, his eyes full of malice.

'The opposition has become a force to be reckoned with this year, and it seems that I have been led by them all along.'

'We must disrupt their plans.'

'We must call an early election, otherwise our advantage will be eroded very quickly!'

Once he had made up his mind, he immediately told his trusted aides to gather together and discuss the matter.

The wind is getting stronger in the Philippines~