When setting out, Old Ma felt this operation would be incredibly smooth, for a simple reason: the current explosive popularity of the Forty Thieves and the Gouhua Smart platform made it incredibly easy to secure twenty to thirty billion RMB in funding.
Not to mention his previous partners, the "Little Superman" from Pacific Century Group and HSBC, who would surely be eager to invest. After all, they had jointly established two immensely profitable financial tools, Money Bao and Youqianhua. With such a cooperative relationship, securing investment for his own company would be a breeze.
This was precisely why Old Ma's first visit was to Little Superman. However, to his utter disbelief, Little Superman was not in Hong Kong when he went to visit. He was reportedly in the UK handling some business.
This left Old Ma bewildered. Just the day before, he had called Little Superman, mentioning he would visit him to discuss matters. Little Superman had said nothing about going to the UK then, and now he was already there?
If Little Superman's unexpected disappearance puzzled Old Ma, then HSBC's refusal left him utterly helpless.
Firstly, his previous contact, Smith Yang, had been transferred out of the Greater China region to a position in Latin America. Moving from the highly potential Greater China region to Latin America was undoubtedly a demotion. Old Ma understood the reason: Smith Yang had mishandled the situation concerning Jiangnan Optoelectronics, leading to significant losses for HSBC.
Although, to be fair, HSBC hadn't incurred any direct monetary losses. However, from the perspective of HSBC's top management, they had missed an opportunity to make a fortune by acquiring Jiangnan Optoelectronics for just over a billion US dollars, a company now valued at at least five billion US dollars. Because of Smith Yang's foolish actions, this lucrative opportunity vanished. His reassignment to Latin America was already considered clemency; otherwise, he would have been directly sent into retirement.
With Smith Yang gone, a new Greater China president was appointed. This new president was of Chinese descent, raised in Hong Kong, and later obtained British nationality. He had worked in the UK for twenty years and had now returned to Hong Kong. Their communication was entirely in English.
Initially, Old Ma held onto a sliver of hope. Even though his original contact, Smith, was gone, the new president would surely need to make a mark and should, at the very least, maintain a basic professional courtesy towards his former partner.
In reality, the new president's attitude was indeed polite. He invited Old Ma into his office, had his blonde secretary serve Old Ma a cup of coffee, and then very directly stated that HSBC would not invest a single cent in the Forty Thieves.
"Why?" Old Ma couldn't help but ask.
"Because we have serious doubts that your company is facing a severe liquidity crisis. Investing now would be an extremely risky endeavor! Isn't your hasty arrival here seeking investment proof of your dire liquidity situation?" the president replied.
Old Ma was momentarily stunned. "But if you invest in me, my liquidity crisis will be alleviated, and our Forty Thieves will gain a massive market share. Once the company goes public, your stocks will yield astonishing profits!"
"Alright, dear Mr. Ma, there is one thing I must remind you of!" the new president suddenly stated. "According to the regulations of Mantis Finance, while you are eligible to use the funds within Money Bao, you must ensure that the total amount of funds in Money Bao always maintains at least a 30% reserve for security. This is to prevent situations where Money Bao cannot make payments due to a run or fails to pay interest!"
"Concurrently, the funds in Money Bao can only be used for Youqianhua and cannot be used for corporate operations. Mr. Ma, next month is the settlement inspection for this quarter. I don't care how you've used the money; I simply require the funds for Youqianhua and Money Bao to reconcile successfully. Otherwise, don't blame me for being harsh!" declared the new president. Old Ma immediately broke out in a cold sweat.
At this point, Money Bao had attracted over two billion RMB in funds, a significant portion of which had been diverted by his company for subsidies. The new HSBC president's demand for reconciliation next month meant Old Ma had to repay all the diverted funds. Failure to do so would mean HSBC had the right to send him to prison.
With a deficit of two billion RMB, he feared he would spend the rest of his life in jail.
Thinking of this, Old Ma almost lost the strength to stand.
"This shouldn't be happening. Doesn't he understand that if the Money Bao issue is exposed, HSBC will be the first to suffer!" As he left HSBC, Old Ma's mind raced, but he couldn't fathom why they would act this way.
It wasn't until that evening, when he secretly invited a well-connected manager from HSBC to a gathering, that he learned from this manager that the new president had a very poor relationship with the former president, Smith Yang.
It was said that at one point, the new president and Smith Yang were competing for the position of Greater China president. The former was a vice president in Europe, while the latter was a country distribution manager. The new president, being half local and with family influence in Hong Kong, had the advantage and felt his victory was assured.
Then, he was ensnared. Near a bar, he picked up a blonde foreign woman. This woman was heavily intoxicated but also quite forward. The new president, whether by nature or habit, had a peculiar fascination with blonde foreign women and naturally took the woman home without hesitation. It was rumored they didn't even make it home, engaging in intimacy in the car.
However, he never expected this to be a trap. The blonde woman, while appearing mature and tall, was actually just over 17 years old, a clear minor. The rest, as one could imagine, was that the new president's career was instantly ruined, and he was fired by HSBC.
Yet, to his surprise, this president later managed to turn his fortunes around. Through some connections, he rose again within HSBC and eventually replaced Smith Yang as the Greater China president, effectively avenging his past humiliation.
However, the new president was clearly not satisfied with merely reclaiming what he felt was his. He also wanted to ruin Smith Yang, who had set him up, and make him experience the same tragic fate. The best way to achieve this was to ensure that the business Smith Yang had spearheaded before his departure encountered significant problems, causing immense losses to the company. In this way, Smith Yang would inevitably suffer the same consequences he once did.
As a major business led by Smith Yang before his departure, Money Bao naturally became the target for the new president. He would have welcomed a collapse of the Forty Thieves Group, which would then bring to light the issues with Money Bao, pinning the blame squarely on Smith Yang. Therefore, he would have no reason to help Old Ma.
Finally, the manager warned Old Ma that he absolutely had to find a way to repay the funds the following month, or everyone would be doomed. Old Ma did not doubt the manager's words one bit. This manager was also one of the main proponents of Money Bao. If Money Bao failed, the manager would be ruined as well. They were all in the same boat, and if one sank, they all sank.
Old Ma had come to Hong Kong intending to raise funds, but instead, he found himself needing to fill a 1.2 billion RMB deficit for Money Bao. At this moment, even Old Ma felt a desperate urge to jump into the sea.
Of course, Old Ma was not that kind of person. He was the type who, even if the sky were to fall, would raise his hands and pretend he could hold it up. In simpler terms, he was someone whose act of bravity had become instinctive. Such people did not give up easily.
Furthermore, Old Ma believed he had not yet reached the absolute point of crisis. As long as he could secure enough funding to cover the shortfall, and on the other hand, wait for the activity to conclude and utilize the funds the platform drew from the transaction center to compensate... If he could just get another 2 billion, no, 3 billion RMB, he could revive the company and soar to new heights.
Thus, the next day, Old Ma began working even more diligently in Hong Kong to seek financial support.
However, Old Ma soon experienced the same treatment that Huang He had faced in Hong Kong a few months prior. At that time, Huang He had spent a week traversing Hong Kong, approaching almost every wealthy individual to secure the 1 billion US dollars needed to repay the loan for Jiangnan Group. However, not a single person was willing to provide financial support to Jiangnan Group, and Huang He eventually departed in dejection.
When Old Ma heard this news, although his face showed no reaction, he was inwardly ecstatic. He had even told his wife then that the worst thing an entrepreneur could do was to develop blindly, over-leverage finances, and even pursue their enterprise with funds they could not possibly repay. What was even more terrifying was using those funds for investment and market expansion. If they failed, everything would be lost, leaving them to beg for alms for a slim chance of survival. Therefore, he vowed to never engage in such dangerous activities, but rather to develop step by step, strengthening the company's foundation while making it larger and stronger. Only then would the company have a long-term future.
Old Ma truly believed this at the time, but looking back now, it seemed like a joke. Even more amusing was that when Old Ma later tried to persuade these wealthy individuals in Hong Kong, he had to use examples, saying, "You refused to lend money to Huang He back then and missed the opportunity to invest in Jiangnan Group. Now, Jiangnan Group has soared, with its total market value exceeding ten billion US dollars. Now, a similar opportunity is presented to you. If you miss out on me, Old Ma, you will also miss out on the ten-billion-dollar Forty Thieves."
Alas, the only lesson humanity has learned from its two-thousand-year history is that humans never learn from their lessons. Furthermore, with the news of the Forty Thieves' dire financial crisis being spread everywhere by people from HSBC, no one dared to step into this dangerous vortex.
Meanwhile, the Forty Thieves were indeed facing a desperate crisis.