Chapter 483: The Trap

The reversal was too abrupt and sudden, making it hard for people to react.

However, this did not affect the sharp rise in the stock price of Bao Group, and for a time Bao Group was thriving.

Of course, it’s not just the Bao father and son who are happy about the surge in Bao Group’s stock price; the Red Star Group is also happy.

Red Star Group received two payments, the first was a mortgage loan of 5 billion, and the second was the down payment for Bao's acquisition of Red Star Group.

Therefore, all the senior executives of Red Star Group celebrated together. At the same time, the shareholders of Red Star Group also received the money that belonged to them.

And these shareholders can finally get rid of this mess.

In addition, Tan Zongming, Lin Hao and Andy were also very happy.

"Ding~!" The three of them raised their glasses together.

After taking a sip of red wine, Tan Zongming said admiringly:
"If anyone wants to talk about evil hearts, it has to be you guys in finance!"

Lin Hao drank the red wine in one gulp, and then said lightly:
"You're talking as if you're not in finance!"

Andy shook his glass and said speechlessly:
"It feels like you're insulting each other, but no matter how I listen, it seems like you're just praising each other!"

"Hahaha~!" Lin Hao and Tan Zongming looked at each other and burst into laughter.

At this time, Lin Hao said to Andy seriously:
"You were the one who came up with this plan. Why are you blaming us for it? Besides, you came out of the dark quagmire of Wall Street. We can't compare to you!"

Andy immediately disagreed when he heard this and immediately argued:

"What I used before were all normal financial means, and those ideas of harming others and benefiting yourself were all added by you later, and I was just following your advice!"

Andy then took the initiative to clink glasses with Lin Hao, drank the red wine in the glass in one gulp, and then said:
"Anyway, you are black from the root!"

Lin Hao raised his eyebrows. Why did this sound so vulgar? Then he started talking:

"Oh, it seems you know me very well. Tell me, do you have any intentions towards me? It's not impossible if you ask me~!"

Although Tan Zongming knew that it was unlikely for him to be with Andy, he felt uncomfortable when he saw Lin Hao flirting with Andy.

So Tan Zongming took the initiative to change the subject:
"By the way, when do we start?"

Hearing this, Lin Hao looked at Andy and motioned for Andy to speak. Andy nodded and said:
"There are only three days left. We must act before Bao finds out. But I think we can't calculate the time too tightly. We must leave enough buffer time. It's best to start the action tomorrow!"

Tan Zongdian smiled and said, "No problem, we will act at the same time then!"

Then Tan Zongming asked again:

"By the way, I'm quite curious, who did you ask to talk to Bao? We tricked them this time, Bao will definitely not believe us!"

Lin Hao smiled and said:

"Don't worry, we'll know soon!"

Looking at Lin Hao's smug smile, Tan Zongming and Andy felt a little itchy.

Then he recalled the series of events that happened a week ago after he learned that the Bao family had intervened in their acquisition of Red Star.

It turned out that after that, Lin Hao personally went to the Red Star Group, and then, somehow, he made a deal with the Red Star Group.

As for why the Red Star Group agreed, Lin Hao certainly would not tell them that he used his skills to make the deal.

Therefore, when Andy came to Red Star Group, she signed a contract that even she could not believe.

The Red Star Group mortgaged all of the company's patents, as well as the production department covering workshops and land, as well as marketing including personnel and direct and franchise stores to Lin Hao for 50 billion yuan.

In other words, after signing this contract, the Red Star Group, which is worth 150 billion, still has a market value of 100 billion.

But the problem is that what the Red Star Group mortgaged to Lin Hao were all its core industries, and apart from tens of thousands of employees, the only thing left was the "Red Star" brand!

In other words, when Bao acquired the Red Star Group, he actually just bought an empty shell and a large amount of debt.

Of course, concealing debts and transferring equity is a fraudulent act, and the injured party has the right to request the court or arbitration institution to change or cancel the contract.

But the absolute thing is, no one knows how Lin Hao got the Bao Group to sign the mortgage contract, which also informed the Bao Group that part of the Red Star Group's assets had been mortgaged, which means they had already been informed.

In fact, Lin Hao didn’t care whether Bao canceled the acquisition contract or not, because no matter whether Bao gritted his teeth and swallowed Red Star or went to arbitration to cancel the acquisition contract, Lin Hao’s goal would be achieved.

Because the Bao Group itself is smaller than Red Star, it wants to acquire the Red Star Group, but it does not have much working capital, so it can only borrow money from the bank.

However, the bank was unable to provide all the funds because Bao himself was heavily in debt.

Of course, if the Bao family completes its plan of swallowing an elephant, once it has digested Red Star, its scale will be comparable to that of Shengxuan Group.

That was all Andy and Tan Zongming knew. Later they only knew that Lin Hao asked another company to lend 3 billion to Bao's company in the form of debt-to-equity swap.

In other words, if Bao is unable to repay the money, the debt will be converted into Bao's shares.

As for which company would come forward to lend the money, Lin Hao did not say, and even now he still keeps it secret from them.

However, Andy had a vague guess, and she believed that Lin Hao would not do anything useless.

······
The next day, it was Friday.

Bao's stock price, influenced by the previous successful acquisition of Red Star, still has a clear upward trend, and as they released a series of follow-up plans, the stock price rose further.

"Action~!" Lin Hao and Tan Zongming gave the order at the same time, and Shengxuan Group and Xingyuan Group started to sell Bao's stocks at the same time.

As the stocks on hand were sold quickly in small steps from hundreds of different accounts, the upward momentum of Bao's stock price began to slow down.

After all the stocks were sold, Bao's stock price had begun to show a downward trend, and this operation barely made a profit of 500 million, which was shared by Lin Hao and Tan Zongming.

But the big boss is not here, and neither Lin Hao nor Tan Zongming cares too much. After all, it is just a matter of taking advantage of the situation.

He then contacted the brokerage firm and began to short Bao’s stock. It was not until half an hour before the stock market closed that Lin Hao picked up the phone and made a call.

Less than five minutes later, news broke that during the acquisition of Red Star Group by Bao Group, Red Star Group had secretly mortgaged its own assets and borrowed 5 billion.

Suddenly, the entire stock market was in an uproar. At this critical juncture, the Red Star Group actually concealed its debts.

As a result, the share prices of Bao and Red Star responded with a sharp drop as if they were jumping off a cliff!

At the same time, Bao and his son also saw the news on their mobile phone recommendations. "How could this happen?" Mr. Bao muttered to himself.

"Dad, what should we do now? We can't go on like this. The company's stock price is about to hit the limit!" Bao Yifan looked at the stock market nervously. They lost hundreds of millions today.

Now they have two choices. One is to continue to acquire the Red Star Group and accept the billions of mortgage loans, but even a fool knows that this is a self-destructive choice.

At that time, the bank will definitely not continue to lend money to the Bao family, and may even withdraw the money in advance. Then their company will be unable to continue, and may even be bankrupt and liquidated.

Another option is to abandon the acquisition. Since it was Red Star that concealed the loan debt, Bao could directly arbitrate and cancel the contract to acquire Red Star.

Although the company will still suffer significant losses, everything is still within an acceptable range and at least things can get back on track.

Then Mr. Bao immediately instructed Bao Yifan:

"Yifan, immediately release the news to the public and apply for arbitration. On the grounds that Red Star Group concealed its debts first, cancel this acquisition and calm the situation as soon as possible!"

Bao Yifan frowned and asked, "Will this work?"

"As long as the stock price stops falling, it will still be within the controllable range!" Mr. Bao said calmly.

"Okay, I'll go right away!" Bao Yifan said and immediately went out to announce the news.

"No wonder Tan Zongming from Shengxuan Group has been negotiating with Red Star for so long but still failed to reach an agreement. I thought I had picked up a great bargain, but it turned out to be a pitfall!"

Looking at Bao Yifan leaving, Mr. Bao muttered to himself:

"I hope it's not too late!"

Even at this moment, Mr. Bao still felt that something was wrong, and he had a bad feeling in his heart.

It feels a bit strange when I think about how Shengxuan Group suddenly announced that it would give up the acquisition of Hongxing Group.

Although they claimed that they had set their sights on another better company, there has been no news so far, and Red Star suddenly collapsed.

"Is there any connection between these two things?" Mr. Bao was very confused.

Soon, the Bao Group released the latest news and applied for arbitration to cancel the acquisition contract, and the downward trend of Bao’s stock price also slowed down.

However, Bao and his son did not feel relieved. Not long after, the Red Star Group released a clarification video on its official website.

The person who issued the clarification was none other than Mr. Wang, who had previously negotiated with Tan Zongming. In the video, Mr. Wang took out a contract and said:
"Although we have provided external mortgage loans, we have already provided a written explanation to Bao!"

He pointed to the Red Star Group mortgage statement on the contract:

"This contract clearly lists that during the negotiation period between the Red Star Group and the Bao Group, the Red Star Group mortgaged and loaned 50 billion yuan to the Xingyuan Group at a bank interest rate of %!"

"Everyone, please look, there is the signature and seal of the Bao Group on it!"

"It is precisely because of this that our Red Star Group's assets, originally worth 150 billion, were bought out by the Bao family at a low price of 110 billion."

"And the statement from the Bao Group is pure slander..."

In the general manager's office of Bao Group, Mr. Bao looked at the clarification statement and took a deep breath. Then his brain got hot and he fainted in the office!

"Dad, Dad, what's wrong with you~!" Bao Yifan quickly stepped forward to support his father.

Fortunately, Bao Yifan was there too. After seeing his father unconscious, he immediately called and had Mr. Bao sent to the hospital.

The next day.

Mr. Bao finally rescued him and then asked Bao Yifan:
"Yifan, what's going on? Why is there a mortgage contract? Why have I never seen it? What's the matter with the seal and your signature on it?"

Facing his father's questioning, Bao Yifan explained aggrievedly:
"I don't know either. I haven't seen that contract. I haven't even looked at it, let alone signed it. And I see your company's seal on it!"

At this point, Bao Yifan's eyes lit up, and then he said:

"Dad, do you think they could have forged the contract?"

Mr. Bao shook his head and said in confusion:

"I'm also curious. Since neither my father nor I know about this contract, then this mortgage contract must be forged!"

"But the problem is, if it's fake, how dare they publish it? This kind of thing will be exposed with just one poke!"

"Knock, knock, knock!" Outside the medical room, a bank clerk knocked on the open door and said to the two:
"Hello, Mr. Bao, we meet again!"

The person who came was none other than Zhao Tianming, director of the bank's loan department.

"Hello, Director Zhao, is there anything I can help you with?" Bao Yifan asked politely.

But he didn't notice that Mr. Bao on the hospital bed looked a little unhappy.

Zhao Tianming saw Mr. Bao's expression, so he said apologetically:

"I'm sorry, I know I'm here at a bad time today, but there's something I think I need to remind you two CEOs in time!"

"After a rigorous and careful evaluation by our bank, we believe that your company does not have the ability to repay its debts, and the current acquisition also carries huge risks!"

"Therefore, the loan that your company applied for previously was not approved!"

"What? We~!" Bao Yifan reacted here and immediately understood that it was because of the clarification video from the Red Star Group.

When Mr. Bao heard this, his face turned pale. Originally, they, the Bao Group, could draw out 50 billion yuan of funds from themselves, and borrowed 30 billion yuan from friends through debt-to-equity swaps. If the bank approved a loan of 20 billion yuan, they would basically have raised enough funds for this acquisition.

By then, the Bao family will be able to become a giant in one fell swoop.

However, what he did not expect was that first it appeared that Hongxing concealed the debt, and then it was clarified that he had been notified and signed and stamped.

No matter how much the Bao father and son begged, the bank did not agree, and in the end they could only watch Director Li leave.

At this time, both Mr. Bao and Bao Yifan knew that they had encountered a difficult problem.

The previously agreed payment schedule was to pay 30 billion on the day of signing the contract, the second 50 billion within seven days, and the remaining 30 billion within one month.

Now there are only four days left before the second payment. The key point is that the company's stock price has plummeted because of this incident. It is conceivable that when the market opens on Monday, the stock price will only fall further.

"Dad, what should we do now?" Bao Yifan asked in panic.

(End of this chapter)