Kapitel 490: Chapter 490: The Spring Breeze Blows, War Drums Beat, and the Counterattack Begins
With 30 billion yen in funding ready, that night, Nine Dragons Securities began to take action.
Short-selling is fundamentally different from going long. It involves borrowing stocks first and then repaying them later, or betting against holding institutions.
Ichi Bridge Group's total market value was just over 80 billion yen. At the current stock price, 30 billion yen from Nine Dragons Securities would be enough to acquire over 35% of the shares.
However, it was unrealistic to deploy all 30 billion yen for short-selling.
Not all institutions were willing to bet against Nine Dragons Securities. The Sango family held 42% of the shares, and the remaining shares were in the hands of ordinary investors.
Among institutional investors, even reaching 40% was considered exceptional.
Among these, institutions willing to bet against Nine Dragons Securities were either those who firmly believed Ichi Bridge Group's stock price would rise in the long term and planned to hold onto their shares for a long time, or those intending to go long in the short term.
For institutions planning to hold shares long-term, they were indifferent to short-term stock price fluctuations as long as they did not use high leverage. They only cared if they were forced into a margin call.
If Nine Dragons Securities wanted to bet against these institutions, they were still willing to lend out their shares. After all, the stocks were idle, so they might as well lend them to Nine Dragons Securities for short-term purposes and enjoy the interest.
Earning some money was better than not doing so.
If Ichi Bridge Group's stock price did plummet in the short term, Nine Dragons Securities would be collecting money from ordinary investors, who planned to hold long-term. As long as they avoided margin calls, they could wait for the price to rise again.
If the stock price failed to recover or fell further, or if institutions lost confidence and sold their shares at a low price, there would be significant losses.
Nine Dragons Securities faced three types of opponents: the Sango family, ordinary investors, and the most threatening short-term long-position institutions.
The Sango family was an inherent enemy. Whatever their reaction, it was normal. Since they were not professional financial institutions, their countermeasures were limited to increasing their holdings to raise the stock price, which was not very effective.
As for ordinary investors?
Wang Qi dismissed them. Retail investors attacking large institutions was possible but highly unlikely, and it could only affect smaller institutions.
Retail investors targeting Nine Dragons Securities, a massive institution?
Wang Qi could only say that it's not necessarily an issue for the evening. In fact, any time of day or night was fair game; anything could happen in dreams!
As for the most threatening short-term long-position institutions?
With strong bottom cards, Wang Qi was not worried about those short-term institutions. If they showed up, it was perfect—an opportunity to eliminate them and sacrifice them for Nine Dragons Securities!
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In the following days, many holding institutions expressed interest in Nine Dragons Securities' short-selling agreement and thus agreed to lend their stocks.
There were even two institutions without holdings that signed betting agreements with Nine Dragons Securities to help acquire stocks.
This was the highest risk, and these institutions were also enemies of Nine Dragons Securities.
Because these two institutions did not hold any stocks themselves, they were different from other institutions that bought shares at low prices long ago and planned to hold them long-term. They were buying at high prices.
If the stock price indeed plummeted, as long as Nine Dragons Securities returned the stocks to them, they would suffer severe losses. Their only option would be to hold Ichi Bridge Group's stock long-term and wait to see if the price would recover before selling to mitigate losses.
In less than three days, 28 billion yen of the funds had been converted into stocks, leaving 2 billion yen as an emergency reserve.
However, during these three days, Nine Dragons Securities had been short-selling everywhere. Rumors had already started spreading, and it wouldn't be long before it was exposed.
But Wang Qi didn't care. In fact, he hoped for it to be exposed. With the funds already in place, the news of his aggressive short-selling would definitely have a huge impact on Ichi Bridge Group's stock price, which was beneficial to him!
At this moment, Xia Yu had three key players in Japan. With Ma Tengdong and Wang Qi taking action, Gavin Peter, with his inherent zeal for acquisitions, was certainly not idle.
Chairman Xia Yu had approved his acquisition plan and had also arranged funding support from Nine Dragons Bank. Naturally, Gavin Peter was eager to make a significant move.
He also aimed to assist Ma Tengdong and Wang Qi. After all, if he succeeded, it would surely shake the Japanese publishing industry and create a huge impact on Ichi Bridge Group.
Nine Dragons Publishing had already established a subsidiary in Japan, not a branch, but an independent subsidiary wholly owned by the Hong Kong Nine Dragons Publishing parent company.
Gavin Peter's acquisition plan in Japan was already underway at high speed.
The bookstores at the end of the publishing chain had completed initial arrangements, holding 10% of the shares in Kinokuniya and 10% in Junkudo.
Next came the upstream layout in the publishing field!
Japan had thousands of publishers, but only the top thirty were worth Gavin Peter's attention.
Among these top thirty, there were many independent publishers. After screening, Gavin Peter selected the most suitable combination of acquisition targets. Once completed, this would allow Nine Dragons Publishing to become a comprehensive publishing company, propelling it into the ranks of Japan's third-largest publishing company, posing a significant threat to Ichi Bridge Group and Otowa Group.
The selected acquisition targets included five publishers:
1. **Gakken** (Ranked 8th) - Specializes in educational books, including magazines, children's books, dictionaries, textbooks, and reference books.
2. **Taiyōsha** (Ranked 10th) - A general publisher, mainly producing magazines, novels, and picture books, with a particularly strong position in novel publishing.
3. **Seikatsu no Nihonsha** (Ranked 13th) - A general publisher with a diverse range of publications from reference books to comics and art, known for its travel books.
4. **Daiwa Shobo** (Ranked 18th) - Focuses on books about mental inspiration, women's issues, practical living, and history.
5. **Heibonsha** (Ranked 28th) - Specializes in encyclopedias, illustrated books, dictionaries, and annual reports.
All five publishers were privately owned and not listed on the stock exchange, providing substantial room for maneuver.
Acquiring these five publishers individually was the most foolish approach. A smarter method would be to pay for services to save time and use the saved time to earn more money.
Therefore, Gavin Peter approached the most powerful bank in Japan, Tokyo Mitsubishi Bank, to conduct a leveraged buyout. This method required less cash and was welcomed by Tokyo Mitsubishi Bank, as it would also make Nine Dragons Publishing a loan client.
While Gavin Peter was busy with the acquisition of publishers, the news of Ichi Bridge Group being targeted by massive capital short-selling finally broke, and the stock price dropped in response.
Ichi Bridge Group, already caught in a whirlpool of public opinion, attracted widespread attention when maliciously short-sold. Especially since Nine Dragons Securities did not hide and stood prominently, the sensation was even greater, drawing many commercial financial media to Nine Dragons Securities.
At Ichi Bridge Group's headquarters, the faces of Sango Kōhei and others were dark with worry.
"Dammit!"
"Nine Dragons Securities attacking our stock price is essentially helping Nine Dragons Animation. Now the stock price has dropped. What should we do?"
Sango Ichirō said furiously, but his panic was evident.
Sango Kōhei and Sango Reitarō were no better off than Sango Ichirō.
They did not expect the counterattack to come from the stock market and be so severe, directly short-selling their group.
"We must hold on. The enemy wants to force us into disarray. As long as we succeed, the stock price will definitely rebound strongly. At that time, Nine Dragons Securities will be the one suffering."
Sango Kōhei took a deep breath and said solemnly.
"That's right!"
"But we must prepare. We need to raise funds to avoid the enemy using fake short-selling as a real acquisition. That would be troublesome!"
Sango Ichirō slightly regained his composure and said heavily.
Sango Kōhei and Sango Reitarō immediately agreed, realizing that the Sango family only held 42% of the group's shares, causing some unease.
"Another issue—Nine Dragons Animation wants us to apologize and compensate for losses, otherwise, they will file a lawsuit in Tokyo. We don't know if they are serious or just trying to scare us."
At this moment, Sango Reitarō suddenly spoke.
Upon hearing this, Sango Ichirō and Sango Kōhei fell silent, their hearts racing. They truly couldn't guess.
If Nine Dragons Animation really filed a lawsuit, it would come down to a knife fight, where only lawyers and solid evidence would matter.
But was there enough evidence now?
Sango Ichirō and Sango Kōhei were uncertain.
At this moment, they felt a tinge of regret, wishing they hadn't been so blatant in their initial actions. They had been overconfident…
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As the saying goes, the more you worry about something, the more likely it is to happen!
While the Sango family was still doubting whether Nine Dragons Animation would dare to file a lawsuit, Ma Tengdong would use practical actions to prove it!
Upon learning that Nine Dragons Securities had aggressively short-sold Ichi Bridge Group, Ma Tengdong was exhilarated, sensing the signal for
a counterattack.
It was time to assist each other!
With Nine Dragons Securities having taken action, it was his turn!
Without hesitation, Ma Tengdong brought his team to the Tokyo District Court to formally file a lawsuit against Ichi Bridge Group!
Given the media frenzy around Nine Dragons Animation, many reporters were always lurking at their door, keen on capturing any valuable news.
When Ma Tengdong stepped into the Tokyo District Court, all the following reporters went wild, frantically snapping photos of this crucial moment!
All reporters knew that from this point on, the conflict between the two companies would intensify further!
The process of revealing the truth had begun.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein