Chapter 367

Chapter 367 Repeated Strikes!

Since the vast majority of Gaoqi’s assets are scattered around the world, even after pooling all the funds from the New York headquarters, Smith managed to raise only around 12 billion.

However, for his purposes, that was more than enough to absorb the 80% of Class A bonds!

“Start buying immediately.”

Smith stared at the computer screen and said, “The faster the better – we can’t let anyone else get there first!”

The massive injection of capital produced immediate results! A third of the bonds circulating at low prices on the market were snapped up at once!

Seeing this, Smith let out a quiet sigh of relief.

He had no idea how much financial firepower the other side had behind this move, but no matter what they threw at him, he had to meet every move head-on and counter it one by one – otherwise, there would be no way out in the end!

“There’s a buyer driving up the price!” At that moment, the bond operations manager called out again.

“Driving up the price?”

Smith leaned in toward the screen, and the moment he saw the price the other side was bidding, he immediately snapped, “Are they out of their minds? Who bids like that?”

“They must be crazy – they’ve doubled the price outright!” The bond manager wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He had never seen such an aggressive bidding tactic in his life!

Normally when people competed against each other, wasn’t it always small increments – you add 1%, I add 2%? Why had the other side come in and doubled the price right off the bat?

That meant the remaining two-thirds of the bonds had just doubled in price!

What Smith had originally planned to wrap up for 9 billion now required 15 billion dollars to pull off.

But he only had 12 billion in liquid funds on hand – still 3 billion short!

“What do we do? Do we give up on buying back this batch of bonds?” The bond manager looked at Smith with a questioning expression, wiping his sweat again. He was genuinely shaken by the other side’s sheer audacity!

“No, we have to buy back every single one. We can’t let these people get their hands on these Class A bonds and stir up trouble. We have to keep the initiative in our own hands!” Smith said decisively!

“But our headquarters doesn’t have enough liquid funds – we need to raise at least another 3 billion from our other locations!”

“No, not 3 billion – turn every stone over, we need to find another 5 billion. We have to guard against them driving up the price again! In half an hour, I want to see 5 billion in funds fully deployed in the open market!”

“But… but what if the other side still has cash to spare?” the bond manager said. “If they have more capital than us, then we’ll truly be powerless to turn things around.”

“They have more liquid capital than us?” Smith pointed at the floor beneath him and said with a cold laugh, “Do you know where we are? This is the headquarters of Gaoqi Investment Bank – the world’s number one investment bank! If even we can’t come up with that much in liquid funds, what gives them the right to be richer than us?”

Smith’s argument sounded genuinely convincing!

“Understood. I’ll go raise another 5 billion right now.” The bond manager took a deep breath. He knew that Gaoqi Bank had invested in many new energy companies this year, and a large portion of its liquid funds had been tied up in those ventures – otherwise there was no way they would have only been able to scrape together a little over 10 billion!

The bond manager knew that raising this next 5 billion dollars would mean completely draining the liquid funds on the books of branch offices around the world.

Watching the bond manager rush out to execute the order, Smith felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him. He slumped back in his chair, slammed his fist hard on the desk, and muttered to himself over and over, “Who did this? Who did this? Can anyone tell me? Can anyone tell me?”

His words echoed through the empty office, and no one had an answer for him.

Because the subsidiaries under the Temple of the Sun had done an excellent job of concealing their identities, Smith had no reason at this point to connect any of this to Su Rui. The God of Wealth Stadtmeyer had put up 100 billion dollars, and under the full command of financial genius Feng Le, things were playing out brilliantly. One operating in the open, one in the shadows – one attacking, one defending – Smith still had plenty more to endure!

At this point, all Smith could do was pray that the other side wasn’t richer than Gaoqi.

As it turned out, his prayers were useless – the other side’s capital was nearly ten times his.

In fact, due to a shift in investment strategy, the vast majority of Gaoqi’s liquid funds this year had been converted into fixed assets around the world, which was precisely why they found themselves so strapped for cash when this situation arose.

In the past, it had always been Gaoqi doing the sniping against other investment banks – now the tables had completely turned, and Smith couldn’t help but be furious.

“Sir, your ice water is here.”

The secretary brought in the ice water, and Smith grabbed it immediately, twisting off the cap without hesitation and taking a long, deep gulp.

The cold water going down seemed to douse some of the fire burning inside him.

What happened next startled the secretary – instead of continuing to drink, Smith tilted his head back and poured the rest of the ice-cold water straight over his forehead.

His carefully styled hair was soaked into a mess, and his expensive suit was ruined. Smith needed to calm down, needed a clearer head to face the challenges ahead – but the way he looked right now made it easier for others to see him for what he was in that moment: he had lost his composure.

The secretary quietly shook their head. They had always seen this CEO looking calm and collected, always in control – but now it was clear that was only because he had never faced a truly formidable opponent. The moment one appeared, he was just like anyone else – anxious, angry, and rattled.

After a brief moment of shock, the secretary quickly ran back to the office to find a towel, intending to help Smith dry off.

“No need to wipe it. I just needed to cool down.” Smith wiped the water from his face and said, “Without a clear head, there’s no way to face what’s coming.”

The secretary nodded in silence.

“Go on out for now – let me have a moment.” Smith closed his eyes and waved a hand, and the secretary immediately withdrew.

Half an hour later.

“The 5 billion has been fully raised.” The bond manager stood before Smith, hesitated for a moment, and said, “Are we really putting all of it in to buy back the remaining Class A bonds?”

“Of course. We’ve already lost equity in four new energy companies – if we lose this portion of the bonds on top of that, we’ll be completely on the back foot.”

Smith’s confidence seemed to be returning bit by bit. After all, what company in the world could possibly have more money than Gaoqi? He refused to believe the other side could go toe-to-toe with him all the way to the end!

Although Smith normally came across as modest and courteous, having stood at the top of Wall Street for so long had given him a habitual tendency to look down on others. That sense of superiority, ingrained deep in his bones, was something that could never be erased.

“Put it all in. I want to see what they’re really made of.” Smith let out a cold snort.

“Understood, all in.” The securities manager immediately relayed Smith’s order.

15 billion dollars to buy back bonds they had issued themselves at a premium – Gaoqi was probably the only company in the world that had ever done something like that.

“Let’s see if they’ll back off now.” Smith let out a long breath.

With 80% of the bonds in hand, there was no longer any fear of the other side using them to stir up trouble.

“Looks like they’ve run out of money too.” More than ten minutes passed with no new developments, and the heavy weight Smith had been carrying finally lifted.

When all was tallied up, Gaoqi had lost over 3 billion dollars in total – but it was the equivalent of pulling back from the brink of defeat and reclaiming the initiative.

“3 billion – consider it the price of a lesson. Going forward, we need to be far more vigilant about bond issuance and secondary market trading. We absolutely cannot let anyone exploit loopholes like this again.”

Smith waved his hand, appearing unbothered by the 3 billion dollar loss.

Yet everyone present understood that a loss of this magnitude at Gaoqi Bank would require someone to be held accountable – and it was entirely possible that Smith might have to resign and take responsibility.

Just then, there was another knock at Smith’s office door.

“What is it now?”

Smith’s brow furrowed. By this point, he had become unbearably sensitive to the sound of knocking today.

“This is bad – the Class B bonds are showing abnormal sell-offs!” Another manager rushed in breathlessly, his face filled with panic!

“The Class B bonds are showing abnormal sell-offs too?” Smith could barely believe his own ears!

“Yes, same as the Class A bonds – 80% of Gaoqi’s Class B bonds have already been dumped onto the market at low prices!”

The report left Smith barely able to stay on his feet.

Just minutes ago, he had been confidently telling himself that Gaoqi was the richest company in the world, that the other side had run out of liquid funds and had nothing left to fight with!

“We have absolutely no liquid funds left.” The bond manager from before said bitterly.

Smith took a step back and sank into his chair, saying in disbelief, “80% of the Class A bonds, and now 80% of the Class B bonds – how could they possibly hold that many Gaoqi bonds? There were purchase limits per buyer when they were issued!”

The thing he had feared most had come to pass – the other side’s financial resources had completely exceeded anything they had imagined.

“They must have completed the transactions privately.” The securities manager was also struggling to believe it. “Our bondholders are spread all over the world – to pull off an acquisition of this scale, they must have truly gone to every corner of the globe and left no stone unturned!”

“These bonds were only issued at the beginning of this year! We’re barely halfway through the year, and they already hold this many! If this keeps up until year-end, will all the bonds end up in their hands? And in a few more years, will the entire Gaoqi company be quietly swallowed up without anyone even noticing?”

Smith seemed to be addressing everyone in the room, and yet also seemed to be talking to himself – but no one could answer his questions.

It was clear that this was a carefully premeditated operation targeting Gaoqi.

The first wave with the Class A bonds had cost Gaoqi 3 billion dollars, and now the second wave of Class B bond sell-offs sent Gaoqi’s stock price tumbling – in just over ten minutes, Gaoqi’s stock had hit its daily limit down!

In all the decades since Gaoqi had listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the company had never once hit a limit down. This was a first – an absolute, unprecedented first.