The Conglomerate Family Became A Villain [EN]: Chapter 254

254. Rampage and Sprint (3)

Victoria Fund.

The company’s shares are held by Jung Hyun-woo, Sarah, and Victoria Corporation, each with 30%, and the remaining 10% is owned by CEO John Peer.

However, Victoria Fund did not pay dividends at the end of last year.

This was a decision to proceed with more investments as there were no assets to liquidate.

This trend has not changed this year, and they are making rapid moves, including executing a $3 billion loan from the beginning of the year and investing $2 billion in NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, a major Japanese telecom).

“Shouldn’t we admit it by now?”

Laira Marin’s question prompted a low groan from Bank of America CEO Paulo Giannini.

“Ugh.”

He highly valued Victoria Corporation and Jung Hyun-woo, but he thought that existing Wall Street traders were better at investment.

However, the results shown last year far exceeded his expectations.

“I think we should contact Victoria Fund.”

At Laira Marin’s suggestion, Paulo Giannini raised his right hand slightly.

“Are you saying we should entrust them with the management of our company’s funds?”

Laira Marin shook her head lightly.

“We can’t do that.”

“Then, in what sense are you suggesting we contact them?”

Laira Marin leaned forward and replied.

“We should engage in joint investments.”

“Joint investments?”

“We invest together in the places they invest, creating a synergy effect. For example, if they invest more in NTT, investing $2 billion rather than $1 billion would keep the stock price higher.”

Paulo Giannini supported his chin with his right hand.

“Will Victoria Fund allow that?”

Joint investment could easily turn into a split-the-spoils situation if done wrong.

“I will persuade them.”

“Looks like you trust Charlie.”

“Victoria Corporation and Charlie are our longtime friends.”

Looking at the history of Victoria Corporation, Bank of America could be considered a traditional ally.

However, in the more than 100-year history of Bank of America, Victoria Corporation was just a company that passed by briefly.

“Do you think they think that way too?”

“Paulo, I will take responsibility for this matter and push it forward.”

Paulo Giannini nodded at his cousin’s strong will.

“Alright. Do as you please. But more than $2 billion will be difficult.”

This meant that he was giving Laira Marin full authority, but limiting the investment amount to $2 billion.

“Give me just $1 billion more.”

“Laira.”

“$2 billion is less than 200 billion yen when converted to yen.”

Paulo Giannini shook the right hand that had been supporting his chin.

“Laira, we have already invested a considerable amount of money in Japan. No matter how much it is you, more than $2 billion is difficult.”

Laira Marin sighed briefly as if she couldn’t help it.

“Hoo… I understand. Then let’s do it with $2 billion.”

As Laira Marin retreated, Paulo Giannini asked.

“Has Charlie still not married?”

Laira Marin shrugged and replied.

“He hasn’t married, but I know he’s already living together.”

“With Miss Hilton?”

“I heard they bought a mansion together in Boston last year. It’s probably their honeymoon home.”

Paulo Giannini nodded as if he knew it would turn out that way.

“Women don’t easily let go of such a man.”

Laira Marin said with a bitter face.

“Maybe I never had a chance from the beginning.”

“Laira, don’t be disappointed. Half the world is men.”

Laira Marin raised her right index finger and said.

“But there’s always only one richest person in America. Besides, it’s rare for someone as young as Charlie to become number one.”

No matter how quickly they succeed, it’s usually in their late 30s.

It was unheard of for a businessman in his 20s to become the richest person in America.

“So, how was the man you met last time?”

Paulo Giannini had introduced her to a young man from a prestigious family.

“He has great ambition, but I felt like his talent couldn’t keep up.”

Paulo Giannini put his hands together and asked.

“You mean he’s below your standards?”

“He might be able to captivate a girl with many dreams, but not me.”

Paulo Giannini sighed deeply.

‘Hoo… Having seen the best luxury item, all the clumsy ones just look like fakes.’

He was just worried about his niece’s future.

* * *

John Peer frowned as he looked at the monthly report Yu Tanaka had sent by fax.

“Is this a typo?”

He immediately picked up the phone.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The signal kept going, but Yu Tanaka didn’t answer the phone.

‘Tsk, looks like he’s sleeping.’

Considering the time difference between New York and Tokyo, it was entirely possible.

He sighed deeply and pushed Yu Tanaka’s report to one side of his desk.

The next day.

John Peer received a call from Yu Tanaka as soon as he got to work.

“This is Tanaka.”

“Tanaka, you were late answering the phone yesterday.”

Yu Tanaka said in a dry voice.

“I couldn’t answer the phone because I was leaving work after sending the report. Is there something wrong with the monthly report I sent?”

John Peer answered his question in a slow tone.

“I see a typo in the report.”

“A typo, you say?”

“I think the decimal point is missing in the rate of return section.”

The monthly rate of return Yu Tanaka sent was 90%.

John Peer thought this was 9.0% or 9%, not 90%.

“Ah, if you’re talking about the rate of return, you mean 90%.”

John Peer received the words in a surprised voice.

“Yes, that’s exactly the part I’m talking about. Shouldn’t we fix it?”

Yu Tanaka shook his head and replied.

“No. It’s as it is here.”

“The monthly rate of return is 90%?”

“Yes, thanks to NTT, Victoria Fund’s rate of return was great last month.”

John Peer frowned instead of liking it.

“What does that mean? No matter how much NTT has risen, we only invested $2 billion.”

Thanks to NTT, the overall rate of return could have risen by more than 10%.

‘To get a monthly rate of return of 90%, NTT would have to rise by hundreds of units.’

He was convinced that Yu Tanaka’s method of calculating the rate of return was wrong.

But Yu Tanaka was a fund manager who had spent his entire career at JP Morgan.

There was no way he couldn’t even calculate the monthly rate of return.

“It’s not just NTT that has risen.”

“Even if real estate or stocks have risen…”

“Real estate has risen by more than 50%, and stocks have also risen by more than 70%.”

John Peer blinked his eyes at his words.

“Real estate has risen by 50% in a month?”

“To be exact, that’s the market price of the real estate that has been traded. The Japanese real estate market is crazy right now. The central areas, including Ginza and Shinjuku, are literally booming.”

“Even so…”

John Peer couldn’t continue his words.

‘A 90% annual rate of return is great, but it rose that much in just one month?’

It was difficult for stocks to rise this much unless they were commonly referred to as meme stocks.

“So, did the stocks rise a lot thanks to NTT?”

Yu Tanaka shook his head and replied.

“No.”

“No?”

“The 70% rate of return I mentioned is calculated excluding NTT.”

“No, does that make sense? Aren’t the rest of the stocks all real estate or car companies?”

Yu Tanaka replied in a calm voice.

“That connects to the answer I gave earlier.”

John Peer paused at the story that it was connected.

‘Hmm, does that mean that the Japanese real estate market has skyrocketed, and the stock prices of construction companies that make profits from that real estate have also skyrocketed?’

He couldn’t help but click his tongue inwardly.

‘Tsk, tsk, how can this be?’

John Peer sighed briefly and said.

“Okay. Let’s say that’s the case. Then, what’s going to happen this month?”

“The momentum is still scary this month. I can’t see it reaching 90% like last month when NTT was listed, but I think we can achieve at least 50%.”

John Peer frowned.

‘If it’s according to his report, does that mean that $25 billion has become $50 billion in just a few months…? And it’s going to rise by 50% again from here? That’s ridiculous.’

A 50% increase in $50 billion means that the money Victoria Fund invested this month would have to be $75 billion.

This was similar to the market capitalization of Microsoft, the third-largest company in the U.S. by market capitalization, or ExxonMobil, the fourth-largest company.

John Peer couldn’t believe it no matter how much he thought about it. So, he asked with strength in his voice.

“Tanaka, you’re not calculating the rate of return based on $3 billion, are you?”

He was convinced that Yu Tanaka was calculating the rate of return based on $3 billion, just like last year.

“No. As of today, the total capital including debt is $52.8 billion.”

John Peer inhaled.

‘If it’s $52.8 billion…’

Victoria Fund’s debt was about $15 billion. If you take that out, the net assets were close to $38 billion.

‘The initial investment was $3 billion, so if you base it on that, is that a 1,250% rate of return?’

Unbelievable…

No, it was an unbelievable rate of return.

John Peer asked, as if he had lost his soul.

“Is that really correct?”

Yu Tanaka’s voice answering his question was brighter than ever.

“Considering today’s last quote, I think the market will be good tomorrow as well. Maybe it will break through $54 billion.”

John Peer thought.

‘You shouldn’t make money this easily.’

Money was the product of human labor, effort, and sacrifice. If you make money this easily, people will no longer work, and they will no longer try to get good jobs.

“The Japanese stock market is severely overheated.”

Yu Tanaka corrected his voice and received his words.

“I think it’s true that the stock market is overheated.”

He didn’t think the current Tokyo stock market was normal either.

After the NTT listing, the Japanese securities industry was reveling as if they had been hit by a windfall.

John Peer lowered his voice and asked.

“Tanaka, what do you think is the best thing to do?”

Yu Tanaka thought for a moment and then shared his opinion.

“Considering the current atmosphere… I think it would be good to take out half at the right time and then re-enter.”

Falling into a short-term high was like a virtue for institutional investors.

“Okay. I’ll talk to Charlie about it.”

When managing small funds, it was possible with his judgment, but when taking out large funds, the owner, Jung Hyun-woo’s permission was required.

“Then, I’ll wait for your call.”

Morning in America was late night in Japan.

Yu Tanaka decided to delay his departure until midnight to receive a call from John Peer.

* * *

Wednesday morning.

Jung Hyun-woo was in a meeting with the heads of the development team.

John Peer waited for more than an hour before he could barely talk to him.

“This is John.”

Jung Hyun-woo received the words in a tired voice.

“This is Charlie.”

John Peer knew that he was suffering from overwork, so he apologized first.

“Charlie, I’m sorry for calling without notice.”

Jung Hyun-woo composed his voice and said.

“No worries, John. If you called, it must be important. I don’t think there’s any reason to apologize.”

He wondered if something had happened on the Victoria Fund side.

‘There have been too many good things recently.’

It was time for something bad to happen.

“I’m calling to inquire about Victoria Fund.”

“Did something happen?”

“No accident has occurred.”

Jung Hyun-woo raised the end of his words slightly.

“Then what is it?”

John Peer paused for a moment before answering.

“That’s… the overheating of the Japanese stock market is severe. I wonder if we should take out about half of it first.”

Jung Hyun-woo was checking NTT’s stock price every day.

‘Hmm, it’s risen more than 300% in a month, so you could say it’s overheated.’

He thought it wasn’t unreasonable for John Peer to worry.

“NTT has certainly risen a lot.”

John Peer put a little strength in his neck.

“It’s not just NTT.”

“It’s not just NTT?”

John Peer told him Yu Tanaka’s monthly report as it was.

Jung Hyun-woo frowned as he listened to John Peer’s report.

“John, are you sure you’ve checked?”

He couldn’t help but doubt it first.

“I called Japan directly and checked it several times.”

“If the report is accurate, doesn’t that mean that Victoria Fund’s assets have exceeded $50 billion?”

“That’s right. As of today, it has exceeded $50 billion.”

Jung Hyun-woo said with an unbelievable face.

“How could that happen…”

Victoria Corporation’s market capitalization didn’t rise this quickly either.

“The world’s funds are now flocking to Japan.”

Stimulated by the success of Victoria Fund and a few hedge funds at the end of last year, Wall Street investors rushed to invest in Japan and made high profits in January and February.

As a result, investors from Europe, the Middle East, Singapore, and Hong Kong turned to Japan again.

As a result, March in Tokyo was experiencing a boom that was not enough to be described as a massive surge.

“That’s not good.”

John Peer nodded and received his words.

“That’s right. If stock prices rise this high, the real economy is bound to collapse.”

Jung Hyun-woo was also worried about what he was worried about.

“A trend of taking money lightly will spread widely in Japan.”

“Tanaka says that investing by taking out loans is already a huge trend.”

Jung Hyun-woo was also investing by taking out loans, so he was no different from them.

However, Jung Hyun-woo knew the future of the bubble economy and invested.

‘This side is like using a cheat key.’

On the other hand, those who are investing by taking out loans now were just pouring oil on the burning flames.

‘The fire is bound to go out after burning everything.’

After the fire went out, only ashes that could not be used anywhere remained.

Jung Hyun-woo asked him.

“John, what do you want to do?”

“As I said earlier, I want to take out half of it.”

John Peer wanted to get off the hot plate.

“Hmm. Take out half.”

John Peer raised the end of his words as if urging him.

“Charlie, shouldn’t we take it out now?”

After hesitating for a while, Jung Hyun-woo replied.

“John, let’s not take it out.”

John Peer’s eyes widened as big as coins.

“No, Charlie!”

He wondered if even Jung Hyun-woo had become like that.

“Perhaps the Japanese stock market is just the beginning.”

John Peer thought it was nonsense.

“Charlie, NTT’s market capitalization is not $15 billion, but $150 billion. Do you think this is normal?”

The market capitalization of $150 billion was the same as the combined market capitalization of IBM, the second-largest company in the U.S., and ExxonMobil, the fourth-largest company.

Or, it was the same as combining the market capitalization of Victoria Corporation, the number one company, and Walmart, the number nine company.

“NTT’s market capitalization may rise to $200 billion.”

John Peer frowned and said.

“Charlie, that shouldn’t happen.”

He thought that if the Japanese stock market overheated that much, no one could solve it.

‘Isn’t this something that goes against the common sense of economics?’

The economy had to operate within a minimum of common sense.

“What we want and what actually happens are bound to be different.”

“Does Charlie really think that such a thing might happen?”

“I think there’s a high probability that such a thing will happen.”

John Peer was shocked.

‘I don’t know what Charlie is thinking.’

Jung Hyun-woo was not a simple investor or fund manager. He was the CEO of a giant company with the world’s second-largest market capitalization and one of the best investors.

“So, Charlie thinks it’s right to maintain the investment as it is?”

Jung Hyun-woo replied.

“On the contrary, I’m thinking of investing more.”

Victoria Corporation had made a considerable profit in the past two months.

Jung Hyun-woo was thinking of investing all that money in Victoria Fund.

“Charlie, this is not it.”

Jung Hyun-woo said in a soft voice.

“John, it’s going to be tough to trust me on this, but please follow my lead this time.”

John Peer couldn’t even get angry at his soft voice.

“If Charlie says that much… I understand. I will maintain the investment as it is. But I don’t think this is right.”

Jung Hyun-woo knew what kind of heart he was saying it with.

“John, if you jump off the back of a wild horse that’s running wild, you’re likely to be seriously injured. But if you get off after the wild horse is tired, you can stand on the ground without getting hurt. I think of the Japanese stock market as a wild horse.”

This meant that it was okay to sell after the current rough upward trend had subsided.

John Peer understood his words with his head, but he couldn’t understand them with his heart.