章節 234: Chapter 234: Kyoko Fukada
In the morning, in the hotel suite, Charles woke up hugging Kyoko Fukada.
"Are you awake? Do you have any plans today?" Kyoko Fukada asked.
"I don't know, nothing too important," Charles replied. He was treating this as a vacation since Hollywood was in an uproar because of Mel Gibson's incident.
After speaking, he bent down and kissed the girl on her chest, stirring up Kyoko Fukada's emotions.
"By the way, I heard that the income of Japanese stars isn't very high. How are you doing financially these days?" Charles asked suddenly.
"Me? Not bad. The drama I starred in last year, The Millionaire Detective, had very high ratings. I took on many advertisements, and my income exceeded 60 million yen, ranking me eighth among female stars," Kyoko Fukada openly shared.
Alright, over 500,000 dollars, not bad!
"It will be even higher this year. My ranking will go up," Kyoko Fukada added.
It seemed like artists such as Ayumi Hamasaki and Koda Kumi, who were Asian superstars, earned a lot more, with at least 300-400 million yen a year.
"I've been in Japan recently..." Charles said as the phone by the bed rang. "Let me get that!"
"Hello, Takahashi, unless it's really important, I'll make you into sashimi."
"Boss, I'm not trying to disturb you. The people from Nomura Securities are here and hope to talk to you," Masami Takahashi responded nervously over the phone.
"Nomura Securities?" Charles thought for a while. This was Japan's largest investment bank, their main businesses including securities brokerage, asset management, and financial services, comparable to Merrill Lynch.
"Give me the details," Charles said while patting Kyoko Fukada, who sensibly burrowed into the blanket.
"Phew," Charles enjoyed Kyoko Fukada's gentle service under the covers while listening to Takahashi's information about Nomura Securities.
They went public in New York in 2001, currently with a market value exceeding 45 billion dollars, and they hoped to form a partnership with Capet Entertainment.
"Let's meet in the afternoon then!" Charles wasn't opposed to them bringing in money.
"And by the way, send over the compiled information about Japanese music companies tonight," Charles not only valued Japan's film market but the music market as well.
After all, Japan had a well-established system for copyright awareness in entertainment. The music market was also large enough, with physical albums still able to compete with streaming music in the future.
After hanging up the phone, Charles pulled Kyoko Fukada from the blanket, making her kneel on the bed with her buttocks raised for a new round of intimacy...
At noon, after having lunch with Kyoko Fukada, Charles arranged for someone to send her away.
"Call me when you have time," Kyoko Fukada whispered into Charles's ear, "You're amazing!"
Charles smiled, "Wait for my call."
In the afternoon, Charles met with Junichi Uchikoshi, the President of Nomura Holdings, in Ginza.
As expected, Nomura Securities was very interested in investing in Hollywood. Capet Pictures had impressive box office successes, which made Nomura Securities envious.
"The global box office for The Da Vinci Code has now reached more than 750 million dollars. Although it might not reach the 800 million dollar mark worldwide, it's a blockbuster," Uchikoshi praised.
"And The Devil Wears Prada has also grossed over 200 million dollars globally. Capet Pictures' success in commercial films is astonishing!"
Faced with Uchikoshi's compliments, Charles remained unmoved and smiled. "So, Nomura Holdings is interested in film investment too?"
"We're small players on Wall Street and can't compete with European and American investment banks. If Capet Pictures is interested, we can help raise a film fund for you," Uchikoshi proposed thoughtfully.
"Of course, we hope to have some understanding of the films involved in the fund," Uchikoshi added.
"Are you talking about syndicated investment?" Charles looked at Uchikoshi and asked.
Uchikoshi nodded, and Charles smiled.
What is Nomura Holdings? They're big in Japan, but how do they stack up on Wall Street? Many private equity funds have more available cash than them.
"Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns, or JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, HSBC Holdings, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, and others all wish to help Capet Entertainment form a syndicated fund," Charles said while looking at Uchikoshi.
"None of them dared to ask me to explain what films Capet Pictures intends to develop. Nomura Securities, President Uchikoshi, what do you think I should do?" Charles concluded, gaining a new understanding of the Japanese way of thinking.
Uchikoshi laughed awkwardly. Capet Pictures' films never lacked investment, with Wall Street funds eager to participate.
But Capet Entertainment liked to develop their own projects, only issuing corporate bonds on Wall Street and directly borrowing from banks.
The risks and returns of the films were borne and gained by Capet Pictures themselves. Banks were also happy, as they made risk-free interest.
Capet Pictures' films had significant global influence, while Nomura Securities just wanted to expand their reputation through film investment and even tried to get involved in content creation?
"Mr. Capet, you misunderstood. We actually want to strengthen the cooperation between Nomura Securities and Capet Entertainment in Japan. We are also willing to support Capet Entertainment's business in Japan," Uchikoshi quickly explained.
Charles nodded. If you had said this earlier, it would have saved time. Strengthening cooperation in Japan could mean directly pre-selling the distribution rights for Japan. Theatrical release rights wouldn't be sold, but television, DVD, and online VOD rights could be.
"Supporting Capet Entertainment's business?" Charles saw it as an opportunity for them to provide funds.
"20 billion yen. I do have some Japanese investment projects that need cash recently," Charles stated. Although Capet Entertainment wasn't short on cash, he planned to acquire some real estate in Japan.
"Sure, Nomura Securities can completely loan Capet Entertainment the money with a five-year term at a low annual interest rate."
Uchikoshi readily agreed, and Charles smiled. To show his appreciation, Charles decided to include Nomura Securities as a counterparty when shorting the US real estate market in the future.
Since the Plaza Accord, Japan's real estate market had been in decline until last year, but prices had started to rise again this year.
Although there would be a decline after the financial crisis, the next three years would see a sharp increase. This year was pretty much the trough for real estate prices.
Capet Entertainment needed its own Japanese headquarters for its film and music business.
*****
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