429: Chapter 429 Past Events

The stock market in China is closed for the Lunar New Year holiday, but America is still trading.

Chen Cheng smiled, "Jiang Han is ruthless enough to suddenly launch an attack on New Year's Eve."

Before the market opened tonight, Company Name officially issued a statement admitting to financial fraud.

This caused the stock price to flash-crash during pre-market trading.

The stock price was at $26 on the previous trading day, but today it opened at less than $5.

A few hours into trading, and it has already triggered circuit breakers seven times.

The stock price has stabilized at around $6.

Aks also received a margin call from the Investment Bank.

Aks immediately used liquid funds to add to the margin.

However, this completely drained the liquidity of Zhencheng Hong Kong.

When we first took a stake in Company Name, it cost 230 million, with half coming from leveraged funds, meaning we owed the Investment Bank 115 million, excluding interest.

Now, even if we put all $85 million on the books of Zhencheng Hong Kong into it, we still haven't fully deleveraged.

But it can be considered temporarily stabilized.

After reading the email, Chen Cheng still sent a message to John, asking him to 'lend' $50 million to Hong Kong first.

Let's get rid of the leverage first.

Chen Cheng was in no rush to pick up shares of Company Name.

He was facing a margin call. After Company Name went public, the major shareholder, the Han Family, heavily pledged their equity and would also not be able to escape a margin call.

There is a time limit for a margin call, and forced liquidation only happens after the deadline.

By tomorrow, if the Investment Bank discovers that the Han Family cannot come up with the money to supplement the margin,

or even realizes they have been played by the Han Family, the banks might join the sell-off.

Of course, some banks that didn't liquidate pre-market might just wait.

Since the losses already exceed the limit, there's still a chance to recover if they don't sell.

Selling now would mean certain doom, and waiting to be held accountable by senior management.

Looking at it now, the Han Family's strategy actually has traces of using pledging to achieve the goal of cashing out.

First, inflate the company bubble through financial maneuvering, then pledge the shares in hand to the bank, which can usually get you cash worth 60% of the stock's market value, or even less for large amounts.

If you don't redeem it, it's equivalent to selling the company directly to the bank.

It's the same principle for houses, it's just that ordinary people can no longer speculate on housing prices.

In fact, Chen Cheng did not expect Jiang Han to turn against them so quickly.

In his original plan, this matter was supposed to coincide with a market-wide circuit breaker in the lighthouse market.

This would compound the sentiment and kill off Company Name in one fell swoop.

Chen Cheng put down his phone and raised an eyebrow; it seems something unpleasant happened at the New Year's Eve dinner that provoked the Han Family's son-in-law.

Chen Cheng had long ago asked Karen to set up a honey trap for Jiang Han.

But he didn't expect the results to come so quickly.

Chen Cheng smiled; better to come at the right time than to come early.

He switched to an anonymous email account and sent the next set of instructions to Aks.

Aks would use the official social media account of Zhencheng Hong Kong that he had used before to post a single word.

[Stupid!!!]

Then, financial media and marketing accounts would quickly interpret this statement, combining it with Company Name's reaction and Company Name's previous stake in Company Name.

By the time the market closes, the market will see news that Zhencheng Hong Kong had to make two margin calls in a single trading day because Company Name admitted to financial fraud.

And report on Company Name's 'first investment loss.'

Chen Cheng wanted to portray Company Name as a victim.

Judging by the current results, Company Name is indeed a victim.

Company Name has already suffered a floating loss of 70% on Company Name.

At this moment, Wen Yongfei, who was sitting opposite Chen Cheng, suddenly muttered, "Huh?"

"Company Name admitted it?"

Chen Cheng heard the sound and looked up at him.

Suddenly, he remembered that he worked for a securities company, so it was not strange that he was paying attention to Company Name.

Wen Yongfei felt Chen Cheng's gaze and looked up at him, "Chen Cheng, you should also know about Company Name being shorted, right?"

Chen Cheng nodded, "Yes," and then smiled, "Brother-in-law, you didn't buy Company Name, did you?"

Wen Yongfei shook his head, "No, I didn't buy it."

He then asked Chen Cheng, "Chen Cheng, you know more about America. Now that Company Name has admitted it, what will be the final outcome?"

Chen Cheng smiled, "Delisting, huge fines, and then bankruptcy or acquisition by major capital."

Wen Yongfei was stunned, "Is it that serious?"

Chen Cheng smiled faintly; if this were in China, it might just be a slap on the wrist.

But listing there, financial fraud is a red line.

Getting caught is almost certain death.

Seeing that Chen Cheng did not answer directly, Wen Yongfei already understood.

He sighed, "A store just opened near my office, and I quite like their coffee. It's a pity it's going bankrupt just like that."

A smile appeared on Chen Cheng's face, "Since you think it's a pity, just wait until Monday and find an opportunity to buy some."

Wen Yongfei's eyes widened immediately, wondering what Chen Cheng meant by that.

Time rewinds a few minutes.

At the bathroom door, Chen Liang looked at his brother-in-law, whose face had turned green from losing, and smiled, "Chen Cheng won't really take our money."

"Play with peace of mind. Just keep him happy."

The four brothers were playing cards, and Chen Cheng didn't go easy on them like he did with his sisters.

The result was that all three brothers lost, and only Chen Cheng won.

Jiang Jianjun didn't lose the most; the one in the room did.

It's just that Jiang Jianjun has the most financial pressure, limited tolerance, and his mentality isn't that good.

Jiang Jianjun nodded thoughtfully, and his complexion looked much better.

After midnight, after giving out red envelopes to the children, Chen Cheng started to exert his strength at the card table.

When he won, he won big; when he dealt a winning hand to others, it was always small.

In just three hours, Jiang Jianjun lost half of his son's New Year money.

Jiang Jianjun usually only plays with virtual beans.

Losing like this, his heart was pounding.

Chen Liang smiled and patted his shoulder, "Go to your bathroom."

As he said this, he turned and went out, went to the car to get two stacks of cash, and came back to stuff them into Jiang Jianjun's hands.

Chen Cheng and Wen Yongfei chatted for a few more minutes, and the two brothers-in-law came back.

The battle continued.

Sure enough, in the second half, Chen Cheng started to lose.

By dawn, he had even lost two stacks of points.

Chen Cheng glanced outside the window and stretched, "It's dawn, let's stop, let's stop."

Jiang Jianjun and Wen Yongfei showed no signs of fatigue on their faces and were even a little excited.

Only Chen Liang was so sleepy his eyelids were fighting each other. He's getting old, no way around it.

"Sleep, sleep."

A look of joy also appeared on Chen Liang's face.

The few people left the table, and Chen Cheng pulled Chen Liang aside and whispered a few words.

Chen Liang looked at Jiang Jianjun's back and nodded, "Okay, I'll find a chance to remind him."

Jiang Jianjun's mood tonight was like riding a roller coaster.

Chen Cheng was really afraid that this night of mahjong would hook this brother-in-law into some kind of addiction.

That would really hurt Chen Min, who loves him the most.

Wen Yongfei, Jiang Jianjun, and Chen Liang went to the old house to rest.

Chen Cheng didn't go upstairs to sleep; he had a cheat, and not sleeping all night really didn't make him feel anything at all.

He moved a chair, walked out of the courtyard, sat by the ditch where he fished yesterday, and looked towards the direction where the sun was about to rise in the east.

For a moment, his thoughts were in turmoil.

Last night, Chen Zhong was anxious and aggressive, and eventually got drunk.

In fact, Chen Cheng also saw why.

When Chen Zhong was still in school, Chen Hai got married and started a family.

At that time, Grandfather's health had already collapsed.

The burden of supporting his education fell on Chen Cheng's father.

It can be said that Chen Zhong relied on the support of Chen Cheng's father to complete the most important accumulation in his life.

Later, Chen Zhong worked, built a house, and started a family.

He bought a house in the town, slowly saved up some money, and then bought a house in the city.

During this period, because of building a new house, the old homestead sandwiched in the middle lost space, indirectly squeezing out his second brother.

This is the reason why Chen Cheng's house is standing all alone by the field.

But even so, Chen Zhong has never given back to his eldest brother or second brother.

All the money was used to buy houses in the city.

The way the Chen family is has a lot to do with Chen Cheng's grandmother.

After Grandfather passed away, the Chen family completely split up.

Grandmother naturally followed the most successful, and also her most beloved youngest son.

Chen Zhong did this, but he did support her. It's just that when he moved to the town, he didn't bring his mother along.

Occasionally she was invited to stay for a while, but the Old Madam never brought along Chen Cheng, who became a left-behind child when his parents went out to work.

It wasn't until Chen Cheng was in middle school in the city that he was "fortunate" enough to visit Chen Zhong's home in the town.

Now, Chen Cheng knows exactly who was really behind all this.