Top of the big era

"Madoff mode?"

"Madoff, um... is a veteran of Wall Street. He once participated in the destruction of the old financial family Henry Brothers, and also led Nasdaq to become a world-class trading center that rivaled the New York Stock Exchange. After retirement, he began to concentrate on doing business. Private equity. If you’re new to the industry, it’s not surprising if you haven’t heard of it. Because his fund is extremely confidential, outsiders don’t even know about it.”

Zhou Buqi asked: "What model is he?"

Rick Efron said: "It's similar to your method. It is only open to certain groups of people, such as social elites, celebrities and politicians, royal families, etc. If you want to buy his fund, you must have enough money. The intermediary introduced. It is said that the amount he raised has exceeded 50 billion U.S. dollars.”

"$50 billion?"

Zhou Buqi opened his eyes wide, quite surprised. At present, the world has not released a lot of water, the U.S. debt has not been issued in large quantities, and the currency has not depreciated excessively.

The world's top private equity firms Black Rock, Black Rock, and KKR have a scale of only US$20 billion to US$30 billion. This is already the largest private placement ever made public.

Unexpectedly, what was disclosed was only the tip of the iceberg, and the real boss never showed up in front of the public.

Zhou Buqi was a little excited.

Because he also wanted to hide behind the scenes and make a fortune silently.

Seeing that he was very interested, Rick Efron smiled and said: "After you have been busy for a while, I can introduce you to him. He is a wise old man. His client... is a bit like a threshold A very high club, many people regard it as a status symbol to be able to hand over money to him."

Zhou Buqi said: "What about the rate of return? How is it?"

"He's Madoff!" Rick Efron paused, as if he was afraid of hurting the young man. "His promise is more trustworthy than your terms. Sorry, I can only tell the truth."

Zhou Buqi accepted it calmly, and said with a smile: "It should be, I'm a newcomer."

Rick Efron said: "His private equity has no loss compensation clause, but he promised that his investment will not lose money, so he will definitely not lose money; his fund has no guaranteed return clause, but he promised that there will be 8% per year. If the income is around, it will definitely meet the standard.”

"done?"

"certainly."

"How many years?"

"Longer than Buffett, it has been more than 40 years." Rick Efron thought for a while, "I remember the lowest year, the annualized return was 7.3%. Well, it was the time of the bubble crisis, the economic crisis Well. But the highest year is an annualized return of 12%. The focus is on stability and low risk.”

"awesome!"

Zhou Buqi was surprised.

During the bubble crisis, can there be an annualized return of 7.3%?

That's great!

Even Buffett, if he encounters this kind of black swan year, he will lose money that year. The bubble crisis of that year and the subprime mortgage crisis of this year have all lost money.

This Madoff is fierce!

Rick Efron said confidently: "In comparison, your terms are better. If there are high-yield, low-risk projects, it will definitely trigger a rush to buy. For example, what you did. I believe that even Madoff’s clients, after hearing about your project, might pull out and vote for you.”

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "This will trouble you."

"It should." Rick Efron waved his hand. Goldman Sachs is not only the custodian, but also the distributor of the fund. They can get a certain percentage of the subscription fee. Of course they have to help Zhou Buqi sell the goods, "Yes , you want to invest in high technology, right?"

Zhou Buqi smiled, "Yes."

Rick Efron said: "This direction is very good. The high-tech industry will develop tremendously in the next few years. This is your strength, just like Bill Gates."

Zhou Buqi raised his eyebrows, "Bill Gates?"

"You didn't discuss asset management with him?"

"No."

"Then I suggest that you really should communicate with him more when you have time. His wealth has grown faster than Buffett in recent years, which shows that his return on investment is higher than Buffett."

Zhou Buqi nodded, "Yeah, everyone can only make money within their own knowledge. Buffett doesn't understand technology, so he doesn't dare to bet on technology companies. Bill Gates does this. He knows which tech companies have potential."

Rick Efron sighed, "Yeah, this is the biggest problem for Wall Street investors. The technology industry is too risky. Unless you have a special understanding of this industry, you dare to buy some technology company stocks. Economic Investors with backgrounds in finance, finance, and accounting can’t do this at all. Bill Gates only focuses on managing his personal wealth. If he does private equity, it must be the largest private equity fund in the world.”

Zhou Buqi knows this direction very well.

Not only in Silicon Valley, but also in China.

Investors do not understand the technology industry, so what about investment in the technology industry? The way is to go to the technology circle to poach people from the investment circle, and poach some talented people from the technology circle to invest. Because they understand the technology industry, they dare to make a move on the technology industry.

A typical representative is Peter Thiel, who was born in Silicon Valley and is known as the "Godfather of the Gangster" of PayPal; in China, Shen Nanpeng, the founder of Ctrip and later founded Sequoia China.

However, there is another problem here.

That is, the top technology giants often don't end up in the investment circle. They all have their own missions and pursuits in this industry. Only those who are not doing well in this industry will jump to the investment circle. Peter Thiel was kicked out by PayPal, and Shen Nanpeng was also kicked out by Ctrip. They are both excellent. The vast majority of people who jump from the technology circle to the investment circle do not know much about the technology circle, and they are all losers in the technology circle.

Zhou Buqi is a special case, he is very successful in the technology circle. Success means having a deep understanding of the industry. The personal resume is there. He went to invest in technology companies, and everyone believed him.

If it were another investor who wanted to invest in a private equity fund and wanted to invest in high-tech... At most, he would only fool the wallets of some ordinary people, and the powerful would ignore it. Only at the level of Zhou Buqi can they be qualified to empty their wallets.

Next, Rick Efron and his assistant briefly talked about the private placement method.

Private equity in the United States is not the same as private equity in China.

Because private equity is a black box operation, there are too many gray areas, so the domestic control is too strict. The U.S. financial market is very open, and all hedge funds are private placements, so the method of operation is very flexible.

For example, how to guarantee a 20% annualized return? How can we ensure that fund managers can meet the standards every year and enjoy profit sharing every year?

In addition to choosing high-quality investment targets, the most important means is to make accounts.

For example, this year's annualized income is 28%, and you can get a profit share; but next year's economic situation is very bad, and it is expected that the annualized income will only be 15%, so you will not get a profit share. What should I do? Answer: Black box operation. I borrowed a sum of money this year and counted it as an expense, reducing this year's annualized return to 21%. Get the money back next year and count it as income. It is equivalent to transferring 7% of this year's income to next year's income book, and next year's annualized income will become 22%, and fund managers can share profits.

To put it bluntly, it is to cheat investors.

It's just a Wall Street routine.

This year's financial tsunami made many investors realize the cannibalism of Wall Street, and they all withdrew their funds one after another. Since then, in order to restore the reputation and the trust of investors, Wall Street offered a series of preferential, friendly, and benefit-making conditions for investors, and then they really flicked back the funds.

Especially the famous Heiyan Group, the conditions offered are so good and attractive. Many of its funds have better conditions than Zhou Buqi's "three red lines". More than ten years later, the assets of thousands of funds under the Black Rock Group are close to 10 trillion US dollars, which is more powerful than the foreign exchange administration of a country.

But the nature of Wall Street is unlikely to change.

What investment experts earn is commissions. They must first make money for themselves, and then the interests of investors.

Zhou Buqi is not interested in this set.

Totally unnecessary.

Buffett invests in traditional industries, and the average annualized return can reach 25%. Only 30%-40% of Bill Gates' assets are invested in the technology industry. Even if 10% of the total wealth is deducted every year for charity, the growth rate of wealth is still faster than that of Buffett. It can be seen that the growth rate of the technology industry far exceeds that of traditional industries.

Zhou Buqi invests 100% of the funds raised in the technology industry, and selects the best technology companies. The annualized return of 20% is not difficult or risky for him.

I can't see it myself anymore, and I can't do it as well as Bill Gates.

...

The big picture is settled.

On November 1st, a private equity fund named "PlutoFund" was established, that is, Pluto Capital. Under the operation of Goldman Sachs, formal fundraising began.

Fundraising amount: 10 billion US dollars

Closing period: 5 years

Subscription fee: 1.5%

Management fee: 2%

Custody fee: 0.45%

Redemption fee: 1.5%

Profit sharing: 30%

The cost is a bit high.

Especially in the current special economic situation, all newly issued funds are reducing prices and providing preferential welfare policies, hoping to win the favor of investors and get money.

Such a basic charging standard is a bit dazzling in the current market.

However, the welfare policy of Pluto Capital is great!

Good dazzle!

If the annualized return is less than 20%, the fund manager has no excess profit share; if the annualized return exceeds 20%, the fund manager can obtain a full 30% profit share.

If the annualized return is lower than 10%, the fund manager will refund all management fees; if the annualized return is lower than 0%, the fund manager will compensate investors for their losses.

The previous policy promises high returns, which means high risks; the next policy promises low-yield refunds and compensation for losses. These are not low-risk, but zero-risk.

In other words, if you invest your money in Pluto Capital, the worst case is to keep your capital.

You have the opportunity to reap high returns while preserving your capital... This is really the best investment project in the world.

For a time, the wind was surging.

That night, Goldman Sachs reserved a venue at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan and arranged a grand business event, inviting prominent people from all walks of life in the United States. More than 60 people gathered together to participate in the grand event.

Zhou Buqi attended with Sun Guanran in a full evening dress.

A little embarrassing.

Sun Wanran's English is not that good, especially many old men who have immigrated to the United States in the early years, they do not speak orthodox American English, and their accent is out of tune...Let's not talk about Sun Wanran, Zhou Buqi often can't understand, it's very uncomfortable polite.

"No, I have to contact the country as soon as possible and let Sister Bao come to town!"

There will be many such occasions in the future, so we need to find a professional translator.