Chapter 672 Gathering of vultures

   "The Porsche family hinted at stopping the acquisition of shares in the Volkswagen Group!"

  When the news from the Reuters terminal appeared on the screen, at least dozens of hedge funds in the financial city were thrown into chaos, including the well-known Blevin Howard Asset Management Company.

   This is a top hedge fund with a high reputation all over the world. It is headquartered in London and has offices around the world, including New York and Hong Kong. As a representative of European hedge funds, Brevin Howard Asset Management has an asset management scale of up to 30 billion U.S. dollars, and the capital scale of its flagship fund has reached 15 billion U.S. dollars, and its return rate reached an astonishing 24.1% last year. This number is not only leading in the European hedge fund industry at the same level, but also one of the few achievements in the world.

Alan Howard is the founder and senior partner of this hedge fund. He is over fifty years old and has a burly figure. He often wears a British-style suit and vest, and holds a black and shiny civilized stick in his hand. The aristocratic and gentleman style.

   "Are you sure this news is true?"

  At this time, Alan Howard was still in his office in the Financial City. Although it was late at night, he was full of energy and often didn't go home until after twelve o'clock. When news broke that the Porsche family might stop increasing their stake in Volkswagen, he and his star traders called an emergency meeting.

  Blevin Howard Fund has shorted a total of 1 billion euros in Volkswagen shares. This transaction is the flagship fund's largest holding this year.

   "I don't know, this thing is weird!"

Star trader James Whitehead frowned and replied, "If the acquisition is really to be stopped, the Porsche official will at least issue a statement of abandoning the acquisition, instead of casually announcing it in such a social occasion. Also, the statement this time Although the person in question is also a member of the Porsche family, according to the information we have found, this person named Schwartz Porsche is obviously a marginal character, and it remains to be seen how much credibility his words can have."

   "You mean..." Alan Howard's eyes flickered, "Are they planning to openly build plank roads and secretly store positions? Take the opportunity to paralyze market opponents, and then quietly make acquisitions?"

"I'm afraid that the German market regulation can't be avoided!" James Whitehead nodded vigorously, "If I were a senior executive of Porsche, I would persuade the current Volkswagen executives to give up their stocks on the one hand, and use covert The method is to use the name of an offshore company or an individual to acquire the shares of the Volkswagen Group in the market, wait for the right time to transfer them to the current Porsche Group, and then choose an appropriate time to make an announcement.”

"In any case, the Porsche family has been plotting for a long time, and they have recently borrowed a large amount of loans. These undoubtedly represent their determination and strength to actively plan to control the Volkswagen Group. As for the final amount, I don't think they have to reach 75%, even the acquisition of 50.1% is enough for them to control the Volkswagen Group."

"So after reaching 50.1%, it will be a major correction for the current inflated public shares?" Alan Howard's eyes no longer flickered, and he gradually became resolute, "At that time, our short-selling plan will come to fruition. when?"

"Not bad!" Another trader, Adrian Hilton, echoed, "No matter what, once the 50.1% threshold is reached, the Porsche family will inevitably announce to the public and seek to control the board of directors of the Volkswagen Group. Hope to do. The reason why the ambiguous rumors are released to the outside world is to reduce the acquisition cost. Because only in this way, those holders who are reluctant to sell will sell their stocks while the price is high. But they cannot lie publicly, so It can only be done by suggestion."

   "What if they really gave up on the acquisition?"

As the head of Blevin Howard Asset Management Company, Alan Howard must consider all aspects of the incident. Even if his two star traders persuaded him in this way, he still asked a little more, "What is the price of the stock price?" The decline will immediately make our position profitable, which may be the best result. But for this year's performance, I am afraid it will not help much?"

"good…"

   Just as James Whitehead was about to answer, the phone in his arms vibrated. He picked it up and just glanced at it, the expression on his face immediately changed dramatically, and he was beaming with joy.

"what happened?"

  The other two immediately noticed the change in his expression, and Adrian Hilton asked, "Is it news about Porsche?"

   "No!" James Whitehead shook his head, "It's not Porsche, but two hedge fund bosses who came to Germany. One is Zhongshi, and the other is who do you think it is?"

   "Block Stone? Tianyu Fund?" Alan Howard's mouth began to twitch rapidly, "Is that guy from Hong Kong? God, what is he doing here at this time?"

The reputation of Tianyu Fund in the hedge fund industry far exceeds that of Blevin Howard Fund, and its leader, Zhong Shi, is even more like a god, so when he heard that Zhong Shi had arrived in Germany, Alan Howard's heart immediately rose. Alerted. Although he is very clear that even Tianyu Fund will choose to short after understanding the ins and outs of this acquisition.

"Tianyu Fund announced that it will not get involved in the acquisition of Volkswagen by Porsche." Fortunately, James Whitehead's words dispelled Alan Howard's concerns in time. Yes, I believe he will not lie on this occasion. So there is no need for us to worry about Tianyu Fund. It is estimated that Zhong Shi only came to this party as a friend. But gentlemen, are you not interested in the second big guy? ?"

   "Second place? Not interested!"

After hearing Zhong Shi's announcement, Alan Howard breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "If Tianyu Fund is not interested in this, then there will be one less variable in the market, which is very beneficial to us. Regardless of I don’t care too much about who it is. I think we should continue to go short according to the established strategy and strive to maximize the benefits.”

"No, boss, I think you should be interested in this!" James Whitehead no longer kept his secrets, "George Soros, my insider from Volkswagen just told me that Soros personally visited the chairman of Volkswagen, Pierre hope."

   "What? It turned out to be him?!"

  Alan Howard stood up suddenly, looking very excited, and kept talking to himself, "It turned out to be him! It turned out to be him! My God, the main event is finally here!"

Alan Howard's reaction was within James Whitehead's expectation, but what the star trader didn't expect was that Alan Howard quickly made a decision, "Gentlemen, immediately increase the intensity of shorting Volkswagen Group , increase the total amount by 30%, no, 50%."

In the shocked eyes of the two traders, Alan Howard said excitedly: "Gentlemen, the appearance of Soros represents the clarion call for the general offensive of hedge funds. Although the performance of Quantum Fund over the years is not counted It’s too prominent. But you don’t know, but I know it very well. Soros must be negotiating with Volkswagen Group about lending shares this time, and his purpose of being so discreet is to call on everyone to short. I believe the news will come soon It will spread throughout the market, and by then it will be too late for us to intensify our efforts.”

   "Trust me, it must be!" he added.

  The two traders looked at each other, not knowing what to say. They didn't personally experience the era when Soros shorted the pound, so they naturally didn't know the appeal of this guy in the market, at least they didn't feel it, so they didn't understand why Alan Howard would have such a big reaction. But if they can predict the follow-up reaction of the entire market as the news spreads, they will definitely admire Alan Howard's decisive decision.

  …

Werner Heisenberg is a researcher at Deutsche Bank. He is already well-known in this industry in his early thirties. Because of his outstanding macro research ability, he has won the trust of customers, so he has gathered Clients of dozens of institutions.

On the day when the European Court of Justice announced that the "Popular Law" was invalidated, he was busy until late at night, and after rushing out a report on the possible impact of changes in the auto industry on the macro economy, the phone rang suddenly. It was a call from Greenwich .

   On the phone, a small hedge fund manager asked him about Deutsche Bank's Volkswagen stock chips. Werner Heisenberg knew this well, because Porsche's acquisition of Volkswagen has become the focus of the world. But when the fund manager said the share he wanted to borrow, he was taken aback and realized the frenzy in the market.

It turned out to be a requirement of 100 million euros for securities lending. Although this is only a public stock of no more than 500,000 shares, as far as Werner Heisenberg knows, this hedge fund only has a fund management scale of about 300 million US dollars. . All of a sudden, more than one-third of the funds were bet on the shares of the Volkswagen Group. Werner Heisenberg felt that the fund manager was simply crazy.

  Although he was very disapproving, Werner Heisenberg still agreed to the other party's request for securities lending. But soon, Werner Heisenberg realized something was wrong when calls from other institutions requesting public securities lending or additional public securities lending came in one after another, and he quickly reported it to the senior management of Deutsche Bank.

The development of the situation was indeed as Alan Howard expected. Although it was a secret visit, the news that Soros appeared in Wolfsburg quickly spread to the entire market, from London to Johannesburg, from New York to Tokyo in the Far East. , as long as traders who pay attention to the German market will soon get this news.

   "Immediately call the German brokers and ask them to increase the amount of securities lending of the Volkswagen Group for us, and increase the amount by at least 50%." ManGroup's fund manager Andy Horn immediately ordered his traders. This London hedge fund, which is no less than Blevin Howard, also immediately realized the difference in the news of Soros' appearance. More securities lending possibilities.

Winton Capital Management, another top hedge fund in the Financial City, also reacted quickly. After learning that its broker could not provide more securities lending business for the Volkswagen Group, it decisively chose another German securities firm again. There is only one requirement, as low as possible into the shares of the Volkswagen Group.

   Like them, there were also hedge funds in New York, Frankfurt, Paris and other places, and overseas calls were even made from Tokyo to Frankfurt. Just that night, local German brokerages, as well as those brokerages that have obtained the qualifications of market makers in the Frankfurt market, poured funds from all over the world into their brokerage accounts. Their only goal is the securities lending of the Volkswagen Group.

  Nearly 400 million share capital, except for the 20.1% held by Lower Saxony, the total tradable public share capital exceeds 300 million shares, which does not include preferred shares and stock options. The current Volkswagen Group and its directors hold no more than 25% of the shares. Because of the support of the Lower Saxony state government, their shares are close to 45%, and they are still the largest shareholder. At present, Porsche Group holds 42.6% of the shares. Although it is close to the largest shareholder, other shareholders of tradable shares do not buy Porsche's account. So so far, the management of Volkswagen Group is still as stable as Mount Tai.

  These three parties occupy no more than 87.6% of the shares, and the remaining shares no longer have a large number of shareholders, and can basically circulate freely in the market. Among these 12.4% shares, although the market maker does not know what they own, it will never exceed half. Therefore, if the securities are not sold quickly, the hedge fund will not even be able to drink soup!

   Thanks to book friends Amy, Shihuangtian, cpower, and Flying Fei for voting for the monthly ticket! Thanks to the book friends for their sad feelings! I was delayed by some trifles today, but luckily I made it out. I am very happy to see that everyone supports the author of this book. I hope to get more support from book friends. The author will continue to work hard~!

  

  

  (end of this chapter)