Chapter 994: Meeting with Dolsen!
Western Hemisphere. London!
Early in the morning, the London Stock Exchange at 10 Pall Mall in the city center was already teeming with people.
Ever since the London Stock Exchange merged with exchanges in Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and Dublin nine years ago, its status had grown increasingly prominent, attracting more and more companies to list here and, in turn, drawing a large number of investors seeking to strike it rich.
Unlike the scattered exchanges on Hong Kong Island, the London Stock Exchange—one of the world’s four major stock exchanges—is far beyond comparison with those small exchanges on Hong Kong Island in terms of both scale and international reach.
It is the exchange with the highest number of companies listed from other countries worldwide and operates the most international stock market on the planet—a distinction even the “City of Freedom,” New York, cannot match.
Since there is still some time before the market opens, investors gather in the cafes next to the exchange, either leisurely sipping coffee or ordering a dessert for breakfast.
Others sit down with a few friends in a quiet corner to chat.
But just then, a news bulletin suddenly flashed across the café’s TV screen: the Xini Consortium and the Nanfei Consortium had issued an announcement stating that, after nearly a month of fierce competition, they had successfully secured controlling stakes in 96 listed companies under the Hong Kong Island Chinese Chamber of Commerce. Based on current market valuations, the combined market capitalization of the two companies had increased by at least 50%…
Upon hearing this news, the investors in the café could no longer sit still; they rushed one after another to the trading floor…
At nine o’clock, as the opening bell rang, the London Stock Exchange began its busy day.
Because the announcements from those two major companies were so shocking, their stock prices soared immediately upon the opening.
In just over ten minutes, the Sini Consortium’s share price soared from £36 to £39, while the Nanfei Consortium’s share price rose from £28 to £31, with both seeing gains of over 10%.
Spurred by this news, trading volume for both stocks surged.
However, investors failed to notice that as the share prices rose, orders exceeding 5,000 lots were continuously being sold off.
It was precisely because of these orders that, whenever the stock price began to rise more rapidly, these sell orders would appear in large numbers, directly affecting the pace at which the two companies’ stock prices rose.
Even so, these two conglomerates were considered today’s dark horses.
This trend continued until the market closed today, by which time the Xini Group’s share price had risen to 48 pounds, a gain of over 30%.
Meanwhile, the Nanfei Consortium’s stock price had climbed to 38 pounds, also up by more than 30%.
Even as the market was about to close, a series of large orders—each involving tens of thousands of shares—appeared, pushing the share prices down significantly.
Otherwise, judging by the market’s performance at the opening, the shares would likely have surged by more than 50%.
By the time the London Stock Exchange closed, the New York Stock Exchange had already opened.
Just as had happened here, Bayang and Felida had also released similar positive announcements prior to the opening bell.
As a result, the stock prices of these two companies shot up like rockets.
Similarly, as share prices continued to rise, a large volume of orders were placed.
On this day, these companies were undoubtedly the stars of both the London and New York stock exchanges.
However, just as these companies’ stocks were surging to unprecedented heights, undercurrents were already swirling beneath the surface, and a storm was brewing…
………
The next morning!
Li Yi was fast asleep when the phone by his bed began to ring urgently.
It rang several times before Li Yi finally opened his eyes and picked up the receiver.
“Who is this?”
“Boss, it’s me, Lan Xinming!”
Hearing the familiar voice on the line, Li Yi immediately asked, “What’s the matter, Manager Lan? Is something wrong that you’re calling me this early?”
“Mr. Li, we’ve received urgent news from London and New York. Xini, Nanfei, Bayang, and Feilida have all released positive news one after another, causing their stock prices to skyrocket. We shorted these companies yesterday and have lost over 2 billion US dollars!” Lan Xinming said.
Li Yi was taken aback for a moment, then asked, “What about the trading volume and turnover rate for those companies?”
“They’re performing exceptionally well. Trading volume for all of them has hit new highs, though the turnover rates haven’t changed much,” Lan Xinming replied.
Li Yi, on the other end of the line, immediately breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Don’t worry about them. They’re just cashing out at the peak. We don’t need to pay attention to that. Just keep proceeding with our original plan.”
Li Yi was certain that these conglomerates had sensed the danger and were trying to push the stock prices up before the storm hit, so they could cash out a portion of their holdings.
This way, the company would secure operating capital while minimizing its own losses.
This approach was actually quite similar to the strategy he was employing this time!
Unfortunately, both the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange impose strict controls on major shareholders looking to cash out.
Furthermore, the shareholdings of these conglomerates are relatively concentrated, unlike those of companies on Hong Kong Island, where ownership is highly dispersed. Therefore, even if they wanted to cash out, they wouldn’t be able to offload much—unless they engaged in illegal activities.
But if they actually dared to do so, the massive fines alone would be enough to give them a real headache.
Lan Xinming immediately acknowledged the order, then added, “Boss, according to our plan, tens of millions of copies of newspapers and magazines have been fully distributed, and the TV interviews have already been recorded and will air shortly. Stock prices are bound to plummet in the market soon—would you like to take a look?”
“No need. Knowing those bastards, no matter how much the stock price drops, they won’t back down until they’re backed into a corner. For now, we just need to make sure no fools step in to catch their falling stock!” Li Yi said indifferently.
“Yes, sir!”
Lan Xinming continued, “Mr. Li, I just received a call from Mr. Huang. He said he has a sum of funds to transfer into the company’s investment fund and asked Manager Zhao and me to handle the paperwork. What do you think about this…”
“How much?”
“Eight hundred million dollars!”
Li Yi immediately realized that this must be the funds from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.
With that in mind, he said at once, “Go ahead then. Set up a separate account for this money. Aside from taxes, we won’t charge any management fees or take a profit share.”
“Yes, sir!”
Lan Xinming assumed the boss was deliberately showing favor to Vice President Huang and didn’t think much of it.
After exchanging a few more words, they hung up.
After hanging up, Li Yi leaned back on the bed to catch his breath, then let out a soft sigh, threw on a robe, and headed to the bathroom.
He had originally planned to sleep in today, but Lan Xinming’s call had completely robbed him of his sleepiness.
Since he couldn’t sleep, he decided not to. After a quick shower, Li Yi changed into loose-fitting casual clothes and went downstairs.
He then called Dolsen himself to ask him out for a meeting.
Faced with Li Yi’s invitation, Dolsen naturally didn’t refuse and agreed immediately.
After agreeing on a time and place to meet, Li Yi left Cloudtop No. 1 under the protection of Zhang Ziqiang, Zhou Wen, and the others…
………..