Rebirth of England.

Chapter 609 Washington Mutual Bank

"Your Highness, after Washington Mutual Bank was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on the 24th, JPMorgan Chase is actively negotiating with the other party to acquire most of Washington Mutual Bank's assets..."

Zhang Junning said softly to Barron:

"In order to complete this acquisition, JPMorgan Chase hopes to obtain at least $50 billion in financing. They proactively conveyed this intention to the BFT Fund. Half an hour ago, Mr. Duane Hurst called to ask for your opinion."

"Okay, I'll call him back right away."

"Then I'll be out first, Your Highness."

If before becoming Barron's personal assistant, Zhang Junning knew that her boss was a British aristocrat with astonishing wealth, then now, as Zhang Junning is around Barron and is exposed to more and more information, her awe of Barron is getting stronger and stronger.

You know, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and JPMorgan Chase, before this, Zhang Junning knew what these names meant. They are old companies at the top of the food chain in the global financial system.

Now, with Barron's simple words, they are either acquired or held...

The most thrilling thing about this feeling is not only the transactions involving tens or hundreds of billions of dollars, but also the experience of being closely involved in major events that are worthy of being written into history.

The reason why Zhang Junning needed to convey the call from BFT Fund CEO Duane Hurst to Barron was because they were now on a plane to China.

In August, the Yanjing Olympics was about to open, and Barron set off from New York to China.

It is worth mentioning that he went to China after reuniting with Fan Bingbing - Fan Bingbing came to the United States half a month ago to reshoot some shots for the second season of "Succession" and participated in some related activities.

Because they were on a plane and Barron had been resting in his bedroom, in order not to be disturbed, all incoming calls would first be answered by assistant Zhang Junning.

"It's me, Duane, about JPMorgan Chase..."

Barron quickly called Duane Hurst.

After acquiring the branches and assets of Merrill Lynch and IndyMac Bank, Standard Chartered Bank did not compete for Washington Mutual's assets.

After all, integrating Merrill Lynch Industrial Bank and IndyMac Bank into the Standard Chartered Bank system is already a challenge they need to face.

Not to mention the overlap between the various banking institutions, the previous acquisition of Merrill Lynch has not yet received final approval from US regulators, so there is no need for Standard Chartered Bank to create trouble now.

Headquartered in Seattle, Washington Mutual is the largest savings bank in the United States, with $3070 billion in assets and $1880 billion in deposits.

Its assets are far greater than those of Continental Illinois National Bank, which closed in 1984, and IndyMac Bank, which was taken over by the government earlier this year - making Washington Mutual's collapse the largest bank failure in the United States to date.

After Washington Mutual was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, JPMorgan Chase attempted to acquire the bank's 23 branches in 5400 states in the United States.

You know, in March this year, JPMorgan Chase just acquired Bear Stearns, the fifth largest investment bank on Wall Street. In that acquisition, JPMorgan Chase received nearly $300 billion in funding from the Federal Reserve. Now that it is going to acquire the branches and deposit business of Washington Mutual Bank again, JPMorgan Chase is also facing a shortage of funds.

This time, the Federal Reserve will not lend money to JPMorgan Chase to acquire the assets of Washington Mutual Bank, which has been taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

JPMorgan Chase will need to raise the corresponding funds on its own.

According to analysis, if JPMorgan Chase acquires Washington Mutual's branches and deposit business, it will have to pay $20 to $30 billion. It should be noted that Washington Mutual's asset size and deposit size are nearly ten times that of IndyMac Bank. This price is quite a bargain compared to the $15 billion that Standard Chartered Bank paid to acquire IndyMac's branches and deposits.

However, on the other hand, because Washington Mutual Bank has been actively developing subprime and other risky mortgage businesses, the risks it has accumulated while expanding rapidly are ten or even twenty times that of IndyMac Bank.

And unlike the handling of IndyMac Bank, this time the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation will not use its deposit insurance fund for Washington Mutual Bank. According to public data, after the collapse of IndyMac Bank earlier this year, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's deposit insurance fund plummeted from US$524 billion at the end of last year to US$452 billion, and federal regulators have been criticized by many parties for this.

Therefore, the price JPMorgan Chase had to pay to acquire the branch and deposit business of Washington Mutual, formerly the largest savings bank in the United States, at a lower price was that they needed to put up a considerable amount of funds to deal with some of the non-performing assets left by Washington Mutual, which were caused by the depositors' deposits invested in the subprime mortgage business.

This is also the reason why JPMorgan Chase needs to raise funds to complete this acquisition.

Of course, even if this is done, the benefits to JPMorgan Chase outweigh the disadvantages. According to Duane Hurst's disclosure to Barron's, once this acquisition is completed, JPMorgan Chase's earnings per share in 2009 will increase by 50 cents.

Therefore, it is still very necessary to take this opportunity to invest in JPMorgan Chase, but the specific investment plan still requires both parties to continue negotiations to determine.

……

The Devonshire landed at the Yanjing Airport. This time, Barron will live in the "Grand Duke's Palace" with four courtyards.

He and Fan Bingbing's two children were sent to Yanjing when Fan Bingbing went to America, and were taken care of by Fan Bingbing's parents and nanny.

When they arrived in Yanjing, they had already sent the two children here - Fan Bingbing missed them very much after not seeing them for a while.

Fan Bingbing is one year younger than Barron and has not yet turned 27. Now she looks a little more mature and charming than when Barron first met her.

It can be said that among his many women, Fan Bingbing is a very special one for Barron - not just because of her stunning beauty.

Speaking of beauty, there are many beauties around Barron. Bonnie and Alia are no less beautiful than Fan Bingbing. However, Fan Bingbing's Chinese-style beauty carries the bonus of the soul of the previous life for Barron.

Now, after they have a pair of children, this feeling has changed in a deeper way.

The courtyard house had been cleaned in advance before they moved in.

While Barron was playing with the child with Fan Bingbing, Alia was directing the maids who came here with Barron to decorate the entire courtyard to make it the way Barron was most accustomed to - after all, before this, he had hardly ever lived here, and the few times he came to Yandu, he stayed at the "Little Duke's Mansion" near the Forbidden City.

(End of this chapter)