Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 445 Shan Yi Securities: Just the Beginning

Three days after the initial agreement was signed, Thailand finally succumbed to the relentless attacks from financial speculators led by George Soros and announced that the Thai baht would be converted to a floating exchange rate.

On that day, the Thai baht plummeted by 30%, and then fell by 60% in the following days.

Everything in Thailand became food for Soros and his ilk.

However, Soros only made some quick money; the real big profits went to American capital, led by Wall Street.

Because soon, major Thai companies will be acquired by American capital.

Masato Takeshita was naturally very envious, but he dared not snatch the best assets that American capital had its eye on.

However, Xinghai Group has no problem getting scraps.

So on the day the Thai baht collapsed, he immediately convened a meeting to discuss how to return to Thailand.

"After so many days, everyone should have found suitable targets by now. Tell me, which companies are you all planning to invest in or acquire?"

Since Soros launched his financial attack on Thailand in February of this year, Xinghai Group has been preparing to acquire stakes in companies that would benefit from the sharp decline in the Thai stock and currency markets.

Therefore, when faced with their president's questions, everyone displayed an air of confidence and assurance.

However, in accordance with the company's long-standing unspoken rules, Starsea Technology President Scully was the first to speak.

"We will increase our investment in Thailand's telecommunications industry. In addition to increasing our stake in Shinawatra Telecom, we will also invest in Asia Telecom, a subsidiary of the Bukit Bintang Group."

"With this, and considering the Thai state-owned telecommunications group, our company can achieve better development in Thailand."

The Thai telecommunications market is already showing signs of splitting into three parts: Shinawatra Telecom, led by future Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the state-owned Telecom Corporation of Thailand, and Asia Telecom.

Scully simply invested everything, thus allowing Xinghai Group to sit back and relax its grip on power.

"Sure, I think Bu Feng Group should be willing to give us that face."

Charoen Pokphand Group, also known as CP Group in China, is a large multinational conglomerate founded by the Xie family, a prominent Chinese family in Southeast Asia.

This group is very powerful and invested heavily when it entered the telecommunications market.

However, Xinghai Group has a complete solution for PHS phones adapted to developing countries, which should be able to persuade the Xie family.

"Yes, President."

Following closely behind, Hiroaki Kobayashi, the president of Seikai Life, revealed his desired goal.

However, he had great ambitions, and the goals he set surprised everyone.

"You mean you want to acquire stakes in Bufeng Group, Central Group, Central Thailand, and TCC Group?"

As mentioned earlier, the Bufeng Group can almost be called the largest multinational corporation in Thailand.

It is not only the largest agricultural company in Thailand, but also has a very strong presence in retail, real estate, finance and other fields.

As for Central Group and TCC Group, they are not as powerful as Charoen Pokphand Group, but they are still not to be underestimated.

Central Group, also known as Central Thai Group, shares the Thai retail market with Charoen Pokphand Group.

The only difference is that CP Group targets the low-to-mid-end market, while Central Group targets the mid-to-high-end market.

Many well-known hotels and high-end department stores in Thailand are projects under the Central Group.

In addition, this company has also left its mark in a series of fields such as finance and real estate, and is also a long-established Chinese business in Thailand.

The only one that is relatively weak at present is probably the TCC Group.

However, this company is already showing signs of monopolizing the Thai alcohol industry, making it a very high-quality investment project.

When asked by his own chairman, Hiroaki Kobayashi gave another affirmative answer.

"Yes, Xinghai Life is in charge of clothing, food, housing and transportation, and this is a good opportunity to achieve cooperation with relevant giants in Southeast Asia."

"Well, yes."

After pondering for a moment, Masato Takeshita finally agreed.

If Xinghai Life wants to become a world-class giant in the consumer goods industry, it needs to solidify its position in the East Asian and Southeast Asian markets.

What relationship could be stronger than the dual bond of shareholder relationship and interest relationship?

Although he was quite confident that his chairman would agree to his request, Kobayashi Hiroaki was still incredibly uneasy looking at the young man's thoughtful expression.

When Masato Takeshita finally agreed, he felt as if he had heard heavenly music, and his heart, which had been in his throat, finally settled back down.

However, thinking of the company's difficulties, he deliberately smiled awkwardly.

"Um, Chairman, the funds I need might be a bit large."

Most of the money Xinghai Life earns is used for investment and expansion, so they don't have that much cash on hand and need support from the group headquarters.

"No problem, half the funds."

“Xinghai Life and the headquarters will contribute half of the funding, and the remainder will be supported by Jiabensang’s Galaxy Capital.”

“When the company has money in the future, you can also repurchase it from Galaxy Capital.”

The reason why Masato Takeshita established Galaxy Capital, a public fund, within Starsea Capital was to assist other companies in mergers and acquisitions.

In this way, the subsidiaries can avoid large-scale debt-financed development.

He didn't want to suddenly be chased by the bank for debt one day.

"Yes, thank you for your support, Chairman. I'll be relying on President Kamoto from now on."

Hiroaki Kobayashi's ambitions will not stop in Thailand.

The Kuok family conglomerate in Malaysia, the Shi family conglomerate in the Philippines, and the Lim and Huang families conglomerates in Indonesia are all targets he wants to invest in.

But there's no need to rush. The Asian financial crisis has only just begun, and Xinghai Group has plenty of time to make its plans at a leisurely pace.

After Xinghai Life, the next step is naturally Xinghai Capital, the most profitable part of the Xinghai Group.

However, Xinghai Capital is in a very awkward situation. The banks, securities companies, and other financial institutions it has its eye on are all already owned by Wall Street, so it dares not make a move.

Other companies, on the other hand, have various problems and do not quite meet Xinghai Investment's needs.

"Yeah, there really aren't any good opportunities."

Masato Takeshita also felt that Kamoto Ryūshō's words made a lot of sense, so he simply moved on to the next person.

However, before ending the meeting, he didn't forget to comfort this great contributor to the group.

"Don't worry, just because you didn't have a chance this time doesn't mean you won't have one in the future."

"There's still plenty of time; the ending you desire will come."

Masato Takeshita had long coveted banks and other financial institutions in East and Southeast Asia. He hadn't had the opportunity before, but now that it had, he was willing to pay a high price to complete his strategic plan.

For example, they could directly approach Wall Street and acquire several major banks in Southeast Asia at a high cost.

Of course, this higher level refers to the higher level after the financial crisis, while the cost is still lower than before the financial crisis.

The young man's actions amounted to paying a commission to Wall Street capitalists.

Wall Street made money, so naturally they wouldn't bother him.

Another approach is to directly acquire a small bank on the verge of bankruptcy and then gradually expand it.

This method would take a long time to develop and can only be considered as an alternative.

"Yes, President!"

Kamoto Takamasa was very happy to hear this, because the chairman had never failed to keep his promise.

Presumably, Xinghai Investment will soon become Xinghai Financial.

Following Xinghai Capital, companies like Xinghai Communications also made their own requests. Some wanted to invest to deepen cooperation, some wanted to buy land to build buildings, and some wanted to develop new industries...

In short, everyone wanted to take the opportunity to expand their company's interests.

There were many investment projects, but Thailand's capacity was limited, so conflicts soon arose.

The conflict is most prominent between Xinghai Technology and Xinghai Communications.

"The same old rule applies: the shares in the telecommunications companies will be split 50/50. The internet cafes will remain under the control of Xinghai Communications."

Labor costs in Japan are now higher than in Europe, and without acquiring stakes in telecommunications companies, it will be difficult to secure orders for telecommunications equipment.

After all, European telecommunications giants like Siemens have a history of over a century, while Starsea Communications is a newly established company.

Unless Xinghai Communications is willing to sell telecommunications equipment at a loss and engage in a price war.

While Xinghai Group was happily discussing how to take the opportunity to expand the company's scale, the leadership of Shanyi Securities was somewhat on tenterhooks.

President Nozawa Masahira, former senior executives, and major shareholders behind the scenes are all worried that Xinghai Group might back out.

Everyone knows that Wall Street, having invested so much, is unlikely to stop its harvesting spree in Thailand.

The remaining Southeast Asian countries, as well as Hong Kong Island, will be the focus of the attack.

As for Japan, although it was not Soros's main target, the collapse of the Southeast Asian market, which he had been developing since the 1980s, will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the financial industry, if not other sectors.

Looking at the senior leaders of Shan Yi Securities who had arrived together, the young man made a direct guarantee.

"Please rest assured, everyone. Since our Xinghai Group has agreed to the price of 750 billion yen, we will not go back on our word."

Although Masato Takeshita did not quite agree with the management philosophy of Sony founder Akio Morita, he did agree with some of his remarks.

He acquired Columbia Pictures in Hollywood just as the US stock market was crashing.

However, Akio Morita was very trustworthy and still acquired the shares at the price before the US stock market crash.

While it may seem like Sony has been taken advantage of, it has also conveyed to investors Sony's philosophy of prioritizing reputation.

From then on, Sony was virtually unstoppable in expanding its markets and distribution channels in Europe and America.

As everyone knows, Sony is very reputable, and you're unlikely to encounter any problems when cooperating with such a company.

Xinghai Group is also in the stage of establishing trust through negotiation; once a price is agreed upon, that's the price.

Even if he negotiates, the price will only be a hundred or two hundred million US dollars, which is not worth wasting Xinghai Group's reputation.

"As expected of the president, he is fair and generous in his actions."

"Not at all, Chairman Nozawa is too kind."

Masato Takeshita was very pleased with Nozawa Shohei's tact; after the preliminary agreement was reached, Nozawa immediately began addressing him as Chairman. Therefore, he planned to transfer Nozawa to Galaxy Capital as President.

Yes, the young people do not intend to appoint Nozawa Shohei as president of Yamaichi Securities.

And it's not just him; the entire leadership of Shan Yi Securities is going to be overhauled.

If there are no problems, transfer them to a position at the same level in another company within the group. If there are problems, have them demoted to a secondary role.

The same method was used to deal with the former chairman and president who concealed the losses.

He wasn't going to let them go to jail like he had in his previous life.

Shan Yi Securities has suffered too many problems and cannot withstand repeated setbacks, so it's better to just cover it up.

Of course, to avoid trouble from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office later, the losses still need to be disclosed. As for the reasons for the losses, just make up some excuse to cover it up.

The two sides only chatted briefly, but the leadership of Shan Yi Securities, worried that things might get complicated if they delayed, subtly hinted to the young man to sign a more comprehensive contract.

"No problem, let's sign the contract now."

"Yes, then thank you for your help, Chairman."

The signing process was very simple and was completed in just three to five minutes.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Japan's fourth-largest securities firm will soon be acquired by the Seikai Group.

Although they almost acquired Shan Yi Securities, the company still has a lot of problems to deal with.

The young man didn't bother with a celebratory banquet; he immediately convened a meeting with the two presidents of Xinghai Investment and the leaders of Shanyi Securities.

"You should all know these two people; they are former employees of your company. They are the president and vice president of our Starsea Capital, Takamasa Kamoto and Kazuo Nagasawa."

Starsea Investment is now thriving worldwide, and its president and vice president are well-known not only to Japanese financial institutions but also to Wall Street bigwigs.

Furthermore, since they both belong to the same financial institutions in Tokyo and both come from Yamaichi Securities, Yamaichi Securities is naturally more familiar with them.

Even without realizing it, the two became idols for employees of Shan Yi Securities.

After all, who wouldn't want to be a Xinghai Investment employee with an easy and comfortable job and an annual salary easily exceeding ten million?

You should know that the high salaries of employees in other financial institutions are often earned at the cost of working themselves to death.

The most typical example is JPMorgan Chase; the 996 work schedule is truly a blessing. They work no less than 14 hours a day.

Of course, there are also very easy jobs in financial institutions.

But those positions either pay less or have very high technical requirements.

This is completely contrary to the ideas of ordinary people entering the financial field.

"Yes, this is our former colleague. No, I should say current colleague."

Nozawa Shohei wasn't originally good at flattery, but people are often forced into it.

He's worried that the company will start laying off employees after being acquired by Xinghai Group. So he's doing everything he can to keep as many employees as possible.

"Yes, since everyone knows each other, I won't go into further introductions."

"Time is limited, so let's get straight to the point."

He hated endless meetings, so he got straight to the point without waiting for anyone to speak.

"You are all aware of the current situation at Shanyi Securities."

"There is external pressure from public opinion, and internally there is the huge bomb of concealed debt."

"The Xinghai Group can help resolve the external public opinion pressure."

The biggest problem facing Yamaichi Securities right now is the general public's lack of trust.

But it doesn't matter, with Xinghai Group as a guarantor, public opinion will soon be reversed.

This is also the main reason why Masato Takeshita has always been so tirelessly pursuing a good reputation.

The Xinghai Group's brand name naturally inspires public trust.

After lightly brushing aside the external public opinion pressure, Takeshita Masato frowned and continued speaking.

"The problem is the debt that was hidden internally, and I hope someone will take the initiative to uncover it."

Faced with the young man's order, Nozawa Shohei stood up responsibly.

"President, let me do it. It's my responsibility as the president."

In his previous life, Nozawa Shohei had already considered lifting the lid on the matter, but just as he was about to do so, the company's former president got into trouble.

There was no other way but to postpone dealing with the former president's shady scandal and prioritize handling it first.

As a result, the former president's issues were not yet resolved. The former chairman, also known as the former former president, encountered the same problem.

Ultimately, this bombshell was exposed by media reporters, which shattered Shan Yi Securities.

(End of this chapter)