Mixed in 1980

Chapter 373 Death Struggle
Upon hearing the words "strengthen cooperation," Shen Bi gave a bitter smile. The two sides were on the verge of war, with a mortal standoff between them, leaving no room for cooperation.

"Mr. Chen, please speak frankly. Unless you are willing to lend a hand to the real estate market, I really can't think of any other cooperation opportunities."

"Mr. Shen, you've taken this joke too far."

Chen Fan smiled slightly, secretly thinking, "They're trying to prop up Hong Kong's real estate market by using their own money to fund foreign investment and then dump it all on them. What a load of rubbish!"

After a slight pause, he said, "I won't beat around the bush. I'm interested in HSBC and Standard Chartered's businesses in Hong Kong."

Shen Bi was slightly taken aback and said in surprise, "Your joke is not funny at all."

“Mr. Shen, this is no joke.”

On the other end of the phone, Chen Fan took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a deep drag: "You know better than I do what's going on with HSBC right now. After July, I will definitely launch a full-scale attack."

"Do you think HSBC can withstand the pressure by then?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Bi fell silent!
HSBC is well aware of its current situation; it has very little cash flow left and cannot recover the loans it has issued.

It can't take any more damage!
During the British occupation, administrative means could still be used to intervene, but things changed after July, when the British had no say in Hong Kong.

Chen Fan's talk of launching a full-scale attack is definitely not as simple as it was last time. Given his ruthlessness, all his employees might just run on HSBC.

And his allies will surely swarm in, making HSBC's bankruptcy inevitable.

All of this was caused by the failure of the real estate market to be fully exploited.

The real estate market was successfully reaped, the British capital left with the money, and the bank's accounts were all cleared. No matter how Chen Fan attacked, HSBC could weather the storm safely.

Shen Bi hesitated for a long time, unsure how to speak. Chen Fan then said, "Rather than going bankrupt in the end, it's better to cash out and leave while there's still some value left."

"In addition, I plan to spend HK$2 million to acquire several antiques at this summer auction. If Mr. Shen has any suitable antiques, he can consign them for auction."

"Please consider it!"

After saying that, Chen Fan hung up the phone, leaving Shen Bi with a pained expression. The bank he had built up over the years was finally heading towards its end.

Rather than going bankrupt, it's better to cash out and leave while there's still some value left.

Chen Fan also offered benefits, promising to facilitate the matter himself. Once it was done, he would receive a reward of HK$200 million, which would be legally transferred to him through an auction.

But how much is HSBC worth now? With a mountain of bad debts that can't be recovered, its market value will be significantly reduced.

Since the housing market crash, HSBC's stock has been falling. There are people shorting HSBC in the securities market, and unsurprisingly, it's Chen Fan's group.

Shen Bi took out a cigarette, lit it, sighed helplessly, and looked at Shen Bi with intense resentment.

HSBC in Hong Kong was the culmination of his life's work.

"It doesn't necessarily mean bankruptcy. If we approach Sugarland Bank, and they're willing to lend a hand, HSBC might be able to weather this storm."

The Bank of Scotland is essentially the central bank of the United Kingdom!

As if seeing a glimmer of hope, Shen Bi quickly perked up, called a shareholders' meeting, and invited Pengdingkang to join him, so that they could all seek help from the central bank.

Especially Peng Dingkang, he was the one who caused this mess, so we have to get him involved.

At the same time, Chen Fan also called the taipan of Standard Chartered, promising the same benefits, hoping to take over Standard Chartered without bloodshed.

The original plan was to take advantage of the economic crisis and the collapse of the real estate market to completely cripple HSBC and Standard Chartered after July.

But if the higher-ups want to acquire it, we can't cripple it!

If you cripple a bank and then acquire it, you'll end up with two banks riddled with problems, significantly diminishing their value and requiring a long time to restore their operations.

In addition, we must be wary of Soros. Wall Street giants have already set their sights on Hong Kong and have invested their funds. They will trigger a financial crisis when the time is right.

Acquiring HSBC and Standard Chartered before that would undoubtedly be the most advantageous move, allowing for a better response to the impact of Wall Street capital.

But things didn't go smoothly!
Both HSBC and Standard Chartered were desperate to make a last-ditch effort and turned to Scottish Bank for help in order to save them and maintain British influence in Hong Kong.

Sugarland Bank is also assessing whether to bail it out!
As a member of HSBC's board of directors, Li Ka-shing attended the meeting and was momentarily at a loss for words, which only shows that Chen Fan's ambitions were too great.

Their methods are ruthless!
Taking over Hang Seng Bank would have a huge impact on the Hang Seng Index. If he were to also take over HSBC and Standard Chartered, the two banks that can issue Hong Kong dollars, Chen Fan would be able to control everything in Hong Kong.

Land, real estate, ports, retail, electricity, telecommunications, finance... that's not just half a Hong Kong king, that's a true Hong Kong king.

Whoever comes here has to admit they're convinced!
Li Ka-shing was also unhappy about this. As a member of HSBC's board of directors, he would suffer significant losses if HSBC couldn't hold on and was acquired at a low price.

The only saving grace is that he didn't own many shares; HSBC brought him in simply to better win him over.

Listening to the various shareholders' proposals for help from Scottish Bank, Li Ka-shing remained silent. Regardless of whether Scottish Bank intervened or not, HSBC's situation would not be easy.

Spark Investment and Hang Seng's shareholders gathered here!

Li Zhaoji, holding a teacup, smiled and said, "Old Huo, this battle was brilliantly fought. The timing was perfect. Siam is about to collapse."

Old Huo, puffing on his cigarette, laughed loudly: "It's only just begun. Siam still has foreign exchange reserves and can continue to interfere with the exchange rate."

Li Zhaoji nodded slightly: "The small Southeast Asian countries have all developed quite well in recent years. Tiny Siam actually has 250 billion US dollars in foreign exchange reserves; that's truly remarkable." "No matter how remarkable, it's still a fish on the chopping block!"

Dong, the shipping magnate, chuckled coldly, took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a deep drag: "Wall Street, along with us, caused the exchange rate to plummet by 60% in a single day. It won't last long."

Old Huo agreed, saying, "At the latest by tomorrow, Siam will lose its ability to intervene in foreign exchange and implement a managed floating exchange rate system."

"Before the attack, the exchange rate was 1 US dollar to 24.4 Thai baht. According to Comrade Chen's plan, the Thai baht was to be reduced to worthless paper."

"If 1 US dollar can be exchanged for 200 Thai baht or even more, then we estimate that we can make a profit of over 120 billion US dollars from the exchange rate."

Upon hearing this, everyone burst into laughter.

Exchange rate gains are secondary; asset returns are the main source of income. In the early stages, a large amount of assets were acquired through cash and hospitality arrangements.

When the Thai baht depreciates wildly and a large number of high-quality assets become non-performing assets, that's when they'll be waving US dollars and buying up the bargains.

After a while, the laughter subsided, and Old Huo looked at Zhou Wenya: "Assistant Zhou, Comrade Chen was ruthless this time, even more so than in England and Mexico."

Does he have any grudges against Southeast Asian countries?

Everyone had the same question: many of the things Chen Fan did were unnecessary. When the exchange rate dropped to 100 or 200, the revenue difference was actually not significant.

For example, if the exchange rate was originally 1 to 1 and you lent out 1 billion, and the exchange rate dropped to 100, you only need 100 million US dollars to repay the loan.

If it falls to 200, it will require $5000 million to pay off the debt.

The revenue difference is only 5000 million, but to earn an extra 5000 million US dollars, more Thai baht needs to be borrowed, and efforts need to be made to maintain public opinion.

The cost of giving it away might be more than that.

If you were to calculate all the accounts, you might find that the process of going from 100 to 200 resulted in an overall loss, making it clearly a pointless endeavor.

Zhou Wenya didn't understand this either!

Faced with Old Huo's question, he could only shake his head helplessly. Xin Yingjie, who came on behalf of the authorities, spoke up at the right time: "I do know about Mr. Huo's problem."

“We talked about it before. Chen Fan believes that Southeast Asian countries are not friendly to us and will jump out to cause trouble once they start living a good life.”

"The poorer they are, the easier they are to manipulate!"

"Once we've finished buying up the assets at rock-bottom prices and have acquired enough assets, we must make them economically dependent on us in order to completely control them."

Upon hearing this, everyone's heart skipped a beat!
Chen Fan is indeed ruthless. For this reason, he is willing to increase his efforts to destroy a country's financial and economic systems as much as possible.

Being targeted by him is really unlucky.

Chen Fan's plan wasn't limited to Siam; it encompassed the entire Southeast Asia. He aimed to destroy their financial system and plunder their assets to the greatest extent possible.

There are many political factors involved; it's not as simple as just making money.

Han Ting and Xin Yingjie came for this reason.

Only Liu Jianxiong secretly breathed a sigh of relief. See? This guy is crazy. Luckily, he backed down quickly enough. Not only did he suffer little loss, but he also made a fortune.

Another day has passed!
As expected, Siam couldn't hold on any longer and implemented a managed floating exchange rate system. The Thai baht plummeted once again, even more severely than the previous day.

By the afternoon, they could no longer hold on and removed the word "managed" from "managed floating exchange rate system," thus implementing a floating exchange rate system.

The Thai baht has completely fallen!

"It's Chen Fan again, and it's that group from Hong Kong again!"

Soros sensed the existence of another force that was deliberately and systematically suppressing the Thai baht, and was joining forces with his side to create a butterfly effect.

The investigation clearly revealed that it was Chen Fan!
They are both old rivals and old teammates. In England and Mexico, they were both competitors and allies.

It's the same now!

Soros welcomed the addition of this force, as his own sell-off was over and the stronger their attack, the more he would profit.

I wish the Thai baht would become worthless!
Soros further fueled the fire in public opinion, creating and amplifying panic, which accelerated the sell-off of Thai baht by foreign investors in Siam.

The current propaganda war is also very strange!

Chen Fan was at the forefront of attacks on the British pound and the peso, doing a lot of publicity. But this time, he has remained silent in the attack on Siam.

All the public opinion was focused on Soros and the Wall Street tycoons.

Hong Kong's capital has seemingly vanished.

Using Soros as a tool? Soros doesn't mind, he even welcomes it, as he needs this kind of momentum to attack more countries and regions.

A powerful force that commands overwhelming support!

Like a financial demon, he instills fear wherever he goes; when he begins to sell off local currency, foreign investors in the area follow suit.

PS: The first update is here~
(End of this chapter)