National Tide 1980.

"What are the specific trading rules in France? Oh, you have almost forgotten them? Well, I will simply tell you again. The trading hours of the French stock market are from Monday to Friday, starting at 9:00 am Paris time and ending at 5:30 pm. Before that, the market has a pre-opening phase, usually starting at 8:00 am, allowing investors to adjust their orders. After the trading ends at 5:30 pm, the French stock market also has an after-hours trading phase, which usually lasts until 6:00 pm. Although the liquidity of after-hours trading is low, it is still attractive to some investors who need to respond quickly to market changes. The trading system here implements the T+0 system, and investors can conduct multiple buying and selling operations on the same day to achieve rapid turnover of funds. As for the rise and fall of stocks, in principle, there are no restrictions..."

Let’s go back five days, to Wednesday, October 1987, 10.

At noon that day, Ning Weimin flew to Paris.

He had just checked into the hotel when his boss, Master Pierre Cardin, came in person to introduce him to the situation in France.

This move not only represents a handover, but is also a necessary introduction to the rearrangement of troops before the war.

"Ning, as you said, after you left, I continued your strategy. Through our account, I have been constantly buying and selling LVMH stocks at a low price. I first bought a portion of the stocks as a base position, and then took advantage of the price increase to short sell the same number of stocks at a high price to make arbitrage transactions. When the price is relatively low, I will double the amount to buy back the short-sold stocks. However, although this method did affect the stock market at the beginning and effectively increased volatility, thereby successfully reducing our acquisition costs, it is a pity that our strategy was quickly mastered by the other party."

Having said that, the master sighed.

"Remember? Lazard Investment Bank is Bernard Arnault's financial backer. As a professional investment bank, they are indeed very sharp. They quickly discovered our actions and effectively sniped them. When the stock price was pulled down, they competed with us for shares. Then they distributed them at high prices before us. Their methods are very sophisticated and their funds are very strong. They are always one step ahead of us. I have to say that we are no match for them at all. I even suspect that they also relied on this game to collect chips in the market at the beginning. This is the skill they are good at. So compared with veterans like them, we are completely at a disadvantage. In the past two months, we have not taken advantage of them. On the contrary, because of the confrontation with them, the losses on the books have increased a lot..."

It was indeed not good news, but Ning Weimin remained unmoved. There was no worry in his eyes. He just asked.

"So what? What is the difference in strength between us and the other party now? How many chips do we and the other party have?"

At this time, the master took out a copy of the accounting information he had brought and handed it to Ning Weimin, while also giving a general explanation of the relevant situation.

"The initial capital you and I invested, plus all the royalties I received for the suitcase patents, totaled $500 million. The current situation is that we spent $320 million to acquire 4% of the shares, and sold less than 3% of the shares at almost par. So after deducting the interest paid to the brokerage and the handling fees, we still have $350 million in funds. But considering that the market value of LVMH has been raised from $6.5 billion when you left France to $7.2 billion. And now the market value of LVMH's stock is still rising slowly every day, if we want to offset the margin lending quota, then there will be about $85 million left, which is about a floating loss of $100 million..."

Unexpectedly, the situation on his side alone was enough to make Pierre Cardon shake his head sadly.

He seemed to be distressed by the astronomical loss of wealth, and also seemed to be ashamed of himself for not being good at this kind of speculation.

But no matter why, it clearly expresses that the master himself lacks confidence in the future financial battle.

"You don't need to worry too much about temporary losses. It's not so easy to determine the winners and losers in the capital market. You don't have to worry too much. Besides, I brought a lot of money with me this time. We now have an additional $500 million in capital available. I wonder if this can boost your confidence?"

Ning Weimin did not look at the accounts carefully, he was more concerned about Pierre Catton's confidence.

Although he understood the master's mood at the moment, he had to sell a lot of clothes to make back the loss of 100 million US dollars.

But he also sincerely believes that foreigners are too realistic, which is a bad thing.

I am a bit too concerned about financial figures, and I take even small losses to heart.

Compared with the Chinese people, our mental quality is much stronger, because we understand the beauty of enduring hardships and finally killing with one strike.

So he hurriedly reported the good news to the master with a smile.

He felt that the only thing that could effectively improve the master's confidence at the moment was the funds he brought this time.

It must be said that this matter was indeed of some use. The master really felt like he had received a shot of cardiac stimulant and his eyes widened in an instant.

"What? You brought so much money! In this way, the shares we can buy..."

However, a stronger sense of doubt also came with it.

"But... this... how is this possible? Last time you brought 200 million US dollars... this time it's 500 million... you... you..."

The master was indeed confused, as he himself had started from scratch.

How much money did he have when he was Ning Weimin's age?

In his life, he had never seen anyone like Ning Weimin who could possess such a huge wealth at such a young age.

However, Ning Weimin had already prepared a reasonable explanation for this.

"Japan is a good place to raise funds. You won't believe it, but the loan interest rate in Japan is less than 3% per year, and banks are all rushing to give me money. And I made a lot of money from my wife's speculation in stocks and real estate in Japan. Now the stocks have been sold and the properties have been mortgaged. I have collected so much money these days after returning home. This is nothing. I don't know if you know that there is a singer in Japan named Sen Changfu. Just based on the copyright of his song "Spring in the North", the Bank of Japan was willing to lend him tens of billions of yen to build a hotel in Hawaii..."

Indeed, reality is more fantastic than one can imagine.

Although Ning Weimin did not tell the whole truth about the source of such a large amount of capital, it is true that Qian Changfu was approached by the bank and forced to take out a loan.

This incident spread widely in Japan.

Because Japanese banks believed that Sen Changfu would definitely sing a song more touching than "Spring in the North".

Therefore, Sen Changfu is now known as the "King of Land in the Music Industry". His recent whereabouts in Hawaii have attracted much attention from Japanese reporters. Not only has he selected a piece of land to build a hotel, he has also found a blonde girlfriend.

So after hearing him speak so confidently, the master had nothing to say.

Who is it that the newspapers are filled with news every day about how the Japanese are spending lavishly and going on shopping sprees all over the world?

Especially the fact that Japan's Yasuda Insurance bought Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" at a sky-high price this year made the French, no, the whole of Europe realize how much money the Japanese have.

But what was a bit strange was that even though he no longer doubted Ning Weimin's words, the master did not completely relax as Ning Weimin had hoped.

After a moment's silence, the master's expression became even more serious.

"Ning, I didn't expect things to come to this. It seems that you are really willing to bet everything on this. I am really grateful for your help, and I especially admire your courage, but you have invested too much, far beyond my expectations. Now it seems that this plan is too risky. I still hope that you will think more before making the final decision. Especially since I haven't had time to tell you about the other party's situation..."

This doesn't sound good. The tone alone conveys a sense of pessimism, and it even sounds like "backing down".

Ning Weimin did not say anything, but just spread out his hands, which meant "Please go ahead, I'm waiting for you to tell me."

"Well, the current situation may be a bit bad, and I don't know if you will be disappointed..." Sure enough, Pierre Cardon frowned slightly and said an astonishing news.

"Ning, I just found out last week that Bernard Arnault now controls 43.5 percent of the shares, which means he has basically won. Even so, do you still think we have a chance?"

This was beyond Ning Weimin's expectations.

If nothing else, a simple calculation will show that, including the shares of LV head Henri Lacamier, they own a total of 34% of the shares.

In this case, the shares held by the two opposing parties have reached 77 percent.

Even though they still have a portion of the shares they shorted, they must deduct it from the shares they hold.

But if we include the shares of some company directors and small shareholders, then everything is almost the same, and now the maximum number of stocks still circulating and available for trading on the stock market is 20%.

Even if they try their best, how much can they get?
Even if there is an imminent stock market crash that they can take advantage of, because there are too few chips circulating in the market, as long as they buy some, the stock price will easily go up.
If we look at it from the perspective of bargaining chips, it seems that there is indeed no way to change Bernard Arnault's dominance over LVMH.

However, Ning Weimin also felt the same astonishment that Pierre Cardin had just felt, and he was also amazed at the source of Bernard Arnault's funds.

"But... but where did Bernard Arnault get so much money? He has increased his stake by another 6%. If he did it under the pretext of attacking us, the cost would definitely not be less, at least 500 million US dollars. Lazard Bank actually supports him so much? If you calculate it this way, Lazard Bank must have lent him more than a billion dollars, right?"

It's no surprise that Ning Weimin is so confused.

Don't forget that a time traveler like him has all the cheats activated. He has been busy in Japan for the past six months, taking advantage of the right time, place and people, and even adding in some of his wife's capital.

In the end, they only managed to scrape together $500 million and returned to France for a comeback.

In contrast, given France's difficult and severe economic situation and the falling franc exchange rate, how could Bernard Arnault easily obtain such a large amount of financing to help him wear the crown of LVMH and become the king of the French luxury industry?

The CEO of Lazard Bank is his biological father! Doesn’t this make sense?
Even Sumitomo Bank, which has so much money that it doesn't know where to spend it, is not so generous to itself.

If this issue is not clarified, Ning Weimin will not be able to correctly assess the enemy and our own situation, let alone whether he can achieve final victory. Even his confidence in continuing to confront the enemy will be shaken.

Fortunately, Pierre Catton was well prepared in terms of data collection and took this opponent seriously enough.

As soon as Ning Weimin asked the question, the master clearly told Ning Weimin the ins and outs of it.

"Ah, Ning, you don't know yet. Dior Clothing under Bernard Arnault's name was listed two months ago, so most of the LVMH shares that this guy increased his holdings should have been purchased with the funds raised from the listing."

"What?" Ning Weimin couldn't help but repeat, "Dior clothing is on the market?"

"Yes, that's right. As I just said, Lazard is Dior's underwriter and sponsor..."

"You also said that he used the funds raised from the IPO to buy shares in LVMH..."

The master continued to nod in response to Ning Weimin's request for confirmation.

"Well, that should be the case. Bernard Arnault started to increase his holdings in large quantities only after Dior Clothing went public. Otherwise, where would he use the money? Although Lazard is an investment bank, its funds are limited. Moreover, France is just a branch. They can't really use 1 billion US dollars to support a client. The risk is too great and they can't afford it. Spending less money and doing big things is what they like..."

"So what is Dior's market value now? How many shares has Bernard Arnault issued?"

"Well...if you want to know, I'm afraid I have to ask..."

Then, the master asked Ning Weimin in confusion, "Is this matter important?"

Ning Weimin nodded without hesitation, "Very important," and even repeated with a solemn look, "Very important."

So the master no longer hesitated and picked up the phone in the hotel room. Five minutes later, he pushed the paper with the information recorded in front of Ning Weimin.

"Look, the current total market value of Dior Clothing is about 1.37 billion US dollars, and the circulating market value is 890 million US dollars. It has increased by 16% since the listing. Now it is right. Arnaud Bernard should have issued 65% of the shares to the outside world and raised about 650 million US dollars. He and Lazard are cooperating more and more tacitly. Originally, Dior's net assets were only 400 million US dollars, but by purchasing LVMH's shares, they not only consolidated their control over LVMH, but also increased their net assets, further supporting the market value of Dior Clothing. They really played a beautiful hand. Both parties made a lot of money in this business..."

The master refused to say anything against his will. Even though he looked depressed, he had to admit that his opponent was smart. This was a real way to kill two birds with one stone.

However, Ning Weimin's reaction was completely different from what he had imagined.

Instead of being discouraged, he looked at the note and suddenly burst into laughter.

And not only that, in addition to laughing, he also shouted excitedly.

"Master, my master! Great! This is not a bad thing, this is a good thing. I was originally worried that this guy was a tough guy and it would be hard to deal with him. I didn't expect that he would use the funds from issuing stocks to buy shares and even use Dior clothing to hold shares! Now we don't have to be afraid of anything, we are sure to win this time!"

"What? You said we can win?" The master couldn't believe it.

"Because he used the funds from the stock issuance to purchase shares and also used Dior Clothing to hold shares?"

"Yes, absolutely! That's exactly what I mean! This guy is simply courting his own death. Originally I was only 70% sure, but now it's 100%. His Dior costume is his weakness! If we catch his Dior, we'll have caught his tail."

The master blinked, still unable to understand.

After all, the old man was born in the 1920s. He only knew how to make clothes, sell clothes, reasonably reduce costs, and make money through OEM and licensing, but his understanding of the capital market game model was relatively limited.

But even so, Ning Weimin was so happy that he almost danced on the table.

Pierre Catton finally felt relieved.

Inexplicably, he had an inexplicable sense of trust in Ning Weimin.

I just think that since he said he can win, he should win. (End of this chapter)