Wind Rises 2005

Chapter 653 The confidence of the wealthy family

People who have no money worry about how to make more money all day long.

The worries of rich people are different. What they think about every day is how to protect their assets and prevent their wealth from shrinking.

Of course, it would be better if wealth could continue to grow.

But if you don't advance in business, you will retreat. The original business will eventually encounter bottlenecks. Finding new points of wealth growth has become the most troublesome thing for all the rich in the world.

Some people choose to delve deeper into the industrial chain and merge upstream and downstream businesses, while others choose to diversify their operations and enter different industries.

But when manpower will eventually be exhausted, neither of these two methods can solve the fundamental problem.

Because whether it is deeply exploring the industrial chain or diversifying operations, it will be constrained by the lack of top talents. No matter how powerful a company is, it is impossible to develop without restrictions.

No matter how talented the person at the helm is, his energy is limited and he cannot do everything personally, let alone directly manage so many businesses.

When wealth grows to a certain level, decline becomes the norm, so investment becomes the only solution.

This is true whether you are investing in the primary market or the secondary market.

But investment is like gambling. It is the most difficult thing to control. Not everyone can be as foresight as Ma Liang. It is common to lose nine out of ten bets.

Once there is a reliable investment target, it will usually attract countless capitals to scramble for it.

This is why the better a start-up company develops, the easier it is to obtain investment in the capital market. Sometimes the valuation is even so high that the main business cannot support it at all.

Especially those super unicorn projects, once they take off, they will never be short of money.

The fundamental reason is that there are countless old moneymen like Mr. Li from Xiangjiang around the world, and they are always looking for various investment opportunities.

And new forces like Ma Liang are their favorite investment targets.

If he were an ordinary successful entrepreneur, it would not be enough for the old man and Zhou Kaixuan to be so successful. The key point is that the attractiveness shown by Ma Liang is too great.

In just a few years, he succeeded in starting a business, and he made his fortune in the catering industry, which was considered the most thankless and difficult to become bigger and stronger in the past.

Moreover, Ma Liang has more than one successful brand and subsidiary. After investigation, they discovered that there is a steady stream of sub-brands waiting in line to be launched.

Of course, what the two of them are particularly concerned about is [Dale Capital].

Moreover, the record of this new investment institution that single-handedly supported Twitter goes far beyond that. It is behind many star startups in the United States.

This made the old man and Zhou Kaixuan unable to sit still. When Ma Liang came to Xiangjiang for the IPO of the subsidiary, they immediately came to make friends.

If he were an ordinary owner of a quasi-listed company, he wouldn't be worthy of being so condescended to by these old money men.

At this time, Ma Liang couldn't laugh or cry when he saw the olive branch extended by the old gentleman and Zhou Kaixuan.

He really wants it if the two big guys can help boost the stock price; he also wants to invest in Twitter, which is not out of the question.

However, he never expected to inject capital into [Dale Capital].

After all, these two old money men are not nouveau riche. They also have investment funds under their own umbrella, and there must be more than one.

So he directly asked back: "Dr. Jay, aren't you a venture capital investor yourself?
And as far as I know, Victoria Harbor Fund also invested in Facebook some time ago. It would not be appropriate to inject [Dale Capital] again, right? "

"What kind of words are these?" Zhou Kaixuan replied nonchalantly, "Who stipulates that since I am a venture capital investor, I can no longer invest money in [Gale Capital].

That’s how investing is, you can’t put all your eggs in the same basket, right?

If we go by what Mr. Ma said, then at least half of the funds from [SoftBank]’s Vision Fund will be withdrawn..."

Her teasing left Ma Liang speechless.

You must know that the funding sources of the famous SoftBank's private equity funds are very typical and extremely complicated.

Many countries' sovereign wealth funds have invested, and many investment companies have invested.

Such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan, Yahoo, Standard South Africa and United South Africa Fund, as well as Sharp Group, Mitsui Foundation, Larry Ellison's family fund and so on.

Many of these investing LPs have investment businesses of their own, so why don't they still invest their money in SoftBank?

And it’s not just SoftBank that gets this treatment, the same goes for Lao Maozi’s DST fund.

It can even be said that investment institutions that are well-known in the venture capital circle will have more or less of their funding sources from other investment institutions. This is almost a common phenomenon in the industry.

In the previous life, even Goose Factory, after being completely arrogant, invested a large amount of money into the DST fund and took advantage of it.

Therefore, it is nothing new for Zhou Kaixuan to invest in [Dale Capital].

After all, Ma Liang had promised Bald Yuri of DST Fund before and accepted the other party's investment of one billion US dollars.

Since we are going to do private equity, no matter whose money it is, just keep it, how can we turn it away.

So in the face of Zhou Kaixuan's ridicule, he had no choice but to respond: "Dr. Jay, thank you very much for your trust.

However, [Dafeng Capital] is different from other private equity, our requirements are a bit high! "

"Sheng Ma, this is not the first day I have invested. Especially since I have invested in many projects in the Mainland, I have never seen even the most demanding requirements.

You might as well talk about it. As long as it's not too much, my husband and I can agree on the spot. "

Zhou Kaixuan was actually not that surprised. If Ma Liang really agreed happily, then she would be even more surprised. Normal business operations, she didn't panic at all.

When it comes to black-heartedness, who can compare to those second-generation people from the Mainland? The projects those guys are tinkering with are purely for giving money.

Therefore, she had long been mentally prepared for the conditions of the young man in front of her.

Seeing this, Ma Liang was at a loss, so he had to repeat the conditions he had told Bald Yuri:
"Dr. Zhou, [Dale Capital]'s private equity fund conditions are really extremely harsh, and it's hard for ordinary LPs to agree to it.

For our first fund, the annual management fee alone will be 5% as the basic fee.

And the carry is also as high as 30%. Only if we agree to this condition will we accept the other party’s funds.

Of course, this is not an excuse to reject you two.

When we raised funds on Wall Street, we always operated under this condition externally. Moreover, DST Fund invested one billion US dollars in us before and received the same treatment..."

Ma Liang had to explain a little more, for fear that the two old men in front of him might misunderstand.

But he really thought too much. Zhou Kaixuan and the old gentleman not only didn't get angry when they heard this, but instead smiled at each other and nodded silently.

The expressions on the two people's faces seemed to say that it was just as I expected.

"Ma Sheng, is this the only condition?"

The old man was patiently waiting for Ma Liang to continue talking, but after waiting for a long time, he didn't speak, so he couldn't help but ask.

Ma Liang was confused when asked directly: "Yes, what else?"

"Hahaha……"

When the old man and Zhou Kaixuan heard this, they were stunned for a moment, looked at each other for a moment, and then suddenly burst out laughing again.

"Ma Sheng, you really underestimate me and the old man!

If this is just the condition, then there is no need to worry that we will not agree. Zhou Kaixuan replied grandly, obviously not paying attention to the conditions Ma Liang said.

Since the DST Fund and the big guys on Wall Street can accept it, how can they, the old moneymen in Hong Kong, be so petty.

Then again, as long as they are reasonable business rules, they don't care at all.

You must know that both Mr. Li from Xiangjiang and him have been inextricably linked with the mainland in recent years.

Sometimes, in order to conduct business in the mainland, the benefits and costs required are far more exaggerated than the conditions proposed by Ma Liang.

Therefore, facing the private placement requirements of [Dafeng Capital], the two of them did not feel that it was excessive at all, and even felt that it was easy.

The old man echoed on the spot: "Sheng Ma, Miss Zhou and I can raise US$5 million at any time as the first investment in the [Dale Capital] private equity fund.

If everyone can cooperate happily, this number can be doubled in the future. "

The two of them came here for Ma Liang today. Since the conditions were so simple, they were eager to do so. How could they refuse to agree?

"Uh!"

This time it was Ma Liang's turn to be a little embarrassed, and he was speechless for a while.

The confidence of the two old moneymen in front of them is indeed different. They paid for US$5 million without even frowning.

It was indeed a wealthy family that had been famous in both places for many years, and it made him a little unable to react.

Since everyone was talking about this, it would be unreasonable to refuse any more, so he had no choice but to agree: "Since the two seniors think so highly of me, what else can I say.

However, the first phase of [Dafeng Capital]’s private equity fund has been completed. Even if you want to invest, you have to wait until the second phase. "

"No rush, no rush!" Zhou Kaixuan nodded with satisfaction.

The old man was also overjoyed: "Ma Sheng is so refreshing. We are not in a hurry about the private equity fund. Let's talk about the project first.

I wonder if Ms. Zhou and I will still have a chance to participate in Twitter’s next round of financing? "

"This..." Ma Liang is not stupid, so he naturally refuses to let go of the rabbit before he sees it, "Let's talk about my company's IPO first today!

Regarding the project, I will hold a celebration party in a few days and we will discuss it in detail then. What do you think? "

"It's easy to say, but we were too eager, haha..."

Zhou Kaixuan smiled awkwardly, apologized quickly, and then took the old man with him to chat with Ma Liang about raising the stock price.

She really didn't expect that today's dinner trip would go so smoothly.

I had originally prepared a lot of words to persuade the new money in front of me, but in the end, none of them were used.

It can only be said that Ma Liang is different from ordinary nouveau riche. As a reborn boss, his knowledge is always much ahead of his peers, so his vision and structure are naturally different.

Later, under the "matchmaking" of the officer Xia Jiali, he met many giants in Hong Kong.

I can only say that today’s trip was a great harvest.

A historic event that completely affected the Hong Kong stock market was easily decided in a few words at the dinner party.

(End of this chapter)