A person possessing 300 million dollars would only be ranked 250th on the Chinese Forbes list. On the world list, the bottom line was one billion dollars. Huang Xuan was one of the unknown magnates.
Anyway, owning 300 million dollars at the age of 16 was dramatic enough to give play to one’s fancy.
The banks couldn’t stop guessing where Huang Xuan’s wealth had come from. Undoubtedly, it was related to the Huang Family Funds. Somebody even thought that it was the means the family used to launder money.
However, it didn’t matter. Although the bank was universally thought to be the most authoritative institution, the bankers could definitely be counted as the most shameless people in the world. Money laundering didn’t go to the banks not because the bankers were too honest but because nobody could stand their greed. To attract more customers, they chose to let out depositors’ information. Although it didn’t happen a lot, betrayals of their customers were not rare. To the Jews in Germany, the infamous United Bank of Switzerland was a killer. While working for the bankers, Charles Dutoit was dreaming that one day he also could exploit others. To make his dream come true, he was working hard. Evil capitalism!
Dutoit had found opportunities from Huang Xuan’s case. “This is a successful teenager, who must like talking and acting surprisingly. If I want to earn enough money to support myself after my retirement before 40, I can realize it step by step. But if I want to become an evil capitalist, I have to take some risks and sacrifice.”
Having deliberated, Dutoit was convinced that Huang Xuan indeed intended to buy a great deal of goods on hand in a short time. He thought that his only advantage over the other two banks was that he held more free capital.
Charles Dutoit bought 100 units of Brent oil delivered in July with 9.2 million dollars and came to Sao Paulo with a plan and a futures agreement.
Huang Xuan met Charles in his newly-rented office of Hexin Industrial, next to the Square of the Republic and near the busiest street in Sao Paulo. Although the office was as big as over 5,000 square meters in area, here were only two employees and one temp. One of the employees was the receptionist slash the secretary, while the other one took care of the contact with Huang Xuan and other firms and the decoration. When Huang Xuan had come here, the office had been half decorated.
There were four of them, Huang Xuan, Charles, an interpreter, and a lawyer, but there were only three chairs. At last, the interpreter gave up the chair.
The small episode didn’t affect Charles’ mood. He had been focusing on the briefcase in his hands. If Huang Xuan didn’t approve of the price of the crude oil futures he had bought, he had to close the position before the trading day. And his acts were possible to be regarded as embezzlement, which would pull him off the steps of becoming a capitalist.
Charles took out the materials he had prepared seriously. Since there was no desk, he handed them directly to Huang Xuan.
“Mr. Huang, these are the 100,000 barrels of crude oil I have bought at your request, which are $92 each. It is the trading day the day after tomorrow. You need to present the relevant documents and offer the locations of the trading spot or the warehouse if you decide to transact goods on hand.
Huang Xuan took over the materials, surprised. Having read only the first page, he already knew that he had bought the futures with private capital, which was against what they had agreed on and meant that it was the bank, not the agent, that had bought the futures and sold them to Huang Xuan. Although Huang Xuan had just started studying commercial activities, he was able to tell the enormous difference.
It seemed that what Charles had done was extremely stupid. Huang Xuan kept looking at him for a long time. However, he was also glad that Charles had so actively completed the entrustment. The normal procedure would have taken at least one or two weeks, during which, something worse could have happened. Hence, hearing that the transaction could be completed within four days, Huang Xuan nodded merrily without even looking at the price again. Compared to Rolin, this money was trivial. Charles had won Huang Xuan’s preference at the cost of a little risk. It had to be admitted that he had done well.
Charles exhaled deeply. To him, Huang Xuan’s approval was half success. Actually, it was true. He handed the agreement to the lawyer carefully, collected himself and then said, “Mr. Huang, this is the purchase scheme our bank has made for you. Please have a look.”
“Oh?” It had just been two days later. Huang Xuan was pleased with their efficiency.
An overall volume of 280 million dollars? On seeing this number, Huang Xuan looked up at Dutoit, who was talking to the lawyer composedly.
Huang Xuan kept reading. Dutoit’s targets were the three sold, affiliated companies of Brazil Central Eletrobras, i.e. Furnas, Chesf, and Eletronorte. Furnas had possessed an installed capacity of 8,000 MW before itself and Chesf had been divided into two power generating firms respectively and Eletronorte three, most of which had been purchased by EDP years before, which was an electric power group worth seven billion dollars and had been conducting a slow restructure under the leadership of its CEO, Tavernay. Dutoit was trying to benefit from the giant, so he had written 50 pages in English with Chinese index. Rolin explained everything to Huang Xuan. He listened patiently and gave up the plan in the end. It was so professional and obscure to Huang Xuan that he disliked it.
In the last part of the file, the think tank of the United Bank of Switzerland made plans for Huang Xuan’s property. They suggested Huang Xuan to divide Shengfeng into two divisions, separate the farm from the sales, and make the former go public. In addition, Xihuang Industrial and Capres should be incorporated into Hexin Industrial; the electric power company should be separated. Thus, the cash received from selling the sales department of Shengfeng and the logistics department of Capres could compensate for the expense on the dividing and incorporation. By then, Huang Xuan smiled significantly. He finally understood why his mom laughed suddenly while reading files.
“Mr. Dutoit.”
“Mr. Huang.” Charles turned his head and pushed his glasses.
“The dividing of Shengfeng and Capres was given to Citigroup Global Markets. In this plan, your bank has gone beyond its commission.”
Charles had been confident that Huang Xuan would like an efficient team rather than a cautious one ever since he had agreed on his futures agreement, so he had decided to abandon all the banking codes that he had learned at university to add the last huge sum to his capital.
“Mr. Huang, I have faith in the service of the United Bank of Switzerland. We are specialized in investment. Meanwhile, we are efficient which can save both your time and your money. Besides, with our management, the scale of your property will be enlarged,” he responded calmly.
Huang Xuan indeed liked Charles’ efficiency. In comparison, Aubrey was like a steam train lacking coal, which could carry a lot but would never arrive at the expected time. Nevertheless, his mom had taught him that guarantee was necessary, but it should be given once a time, not all at once. Thinking this, Huang Xuan closed the file while Charles looked at him in expectation and said, “I hope the 100,000 barrels of crude oil will be in stock by this weekend. After that, I will have more faith with the United Bank of Switzerland, and you will get the certificate of entrustment worth 50 million dollars.”
Huang Xuan paused a little as he said the United Bank of Switzerland. Charles understood at once that Huang Xuan was more interested in the bank than the plan. Therefore, before reading the plans of the other banks, the teenager wouldn’t make his decision.
Having figured this out, Charles stood up in relaxation and was ready to leave.
“I will revise the plan when I get back and put someone in charge of the transaction. Please don’t worry.”
“Sure.” Huang Xuan shook hands with Charles. Having watched his mom’s style in business so many times, he had learned it naturally.