Although Lenny has three or five contracted players, they are old and young. They are not well-known and have limited skills. They are like chicken ribs. They are neither full nor hungry. They are better than nothing.
Discovering players is the most basic job for an agent, which requires the agent's vision, experience and luck.
This year is the World Cup year, and all the big-name agents are very busy.
On the one hand, they chased and intercepted those players who performed well in the World Cup, waving their little hoe with great joy.
On the other hand, they are in constant contact with various clubs, improving the treatment of their players or seeking transfers, and conducting continuous negotiations.
Each club is also busy making adjustments to their team's lineup. Things are coming and going, and they are busy all the time.
At this time, small agents like Lenny, who didn't have many players in their hands, seemed to have nothing to do.
Just at this time, Lenny's classmates and friends David Smith and his wife were going to China to handle personal matters and asked him to go with them. So he gave himself a holiday and followed David and the others to China.
David Smith is a member of the wealthy generation. His ancestors were a small aristocrat, and he co-founded the Swiss Bank Skoll a hundred years ago.
Skoll Bank is not listed. It has nine shareholders in total. The top two shareholders hold 40% and 30% of the shares respectively. His family holds 20% of the shares in the bank, ranking third among all shareholders. Other shareholders hold shares. They are all in single digits, and they basically only receive dividends and do not participate in operations.
The first two shareholders had their own main businesses, so the operation of the bank was left to the Smith family, which continues to this day.
The Smith family is small in number, but has good banking capabilities. It has gradually developed a newly established bank into a small international bank with business in Asia, Europe and Australia.
So far, Skoll Bank has three branches, a total of thousands of employees, and total assets of more than 4 billion US dollars.
Skoll Bank also has some connections with China. At the beginning of this century, it opened an office in an island city under the jurisdiction of Germany. Later, as Germany left and Japanese pirates invaded the mainland, the office was closed.
Now, the manager of the bank is David's grandfather Hawat, and David himself also works in the bank to prepare for inheriting the ancestral business in the future.
David's father was rather unconventional. He gave up secular life when David came of age and engaged in his theological research.
In recent years, there has been some turmoil within the bank's board of directors.
The major shareholder is mainly engaged in oil, and his fixed assets are mainly in two oil fields in Iran. Affected by the Iran-Iraq War, he suffered huge losses. He revealed several times that he wanted to sell his shares in Skoll Bank, but he just Because of the price issue, we have never been able to reach an agreement.
The second shareholder holds 30% of the shares and has not participated in the bank's operations as always. The Smith family didn't care at first, but there was a small shareholder below who started to play tricks.
Since last year, they have attacked Hawat at every shareholder meeting, raising their eyebrows and raising their eyes and criticizing the measures he has taken in business management.
Hawat was puzzled as to why the Masardino family was doing this. After investigation, he found out that the other party had had business dealings with Eastern European money laundering organizations in recent years. Taking advantage of the departure of the major shareholder, they wanted to control the management rights. Create favorable conditions for future money laundering.
After Hawat found out, he immediately stopped working.
Although the Smith family is a minority shareholder in Skoll Bank, the bank has been run by his family for many years. They view Skoll Bank a bit like a housekeeper or a wet nurse who views the children they take care of alone.
At present, the Swiss government has stepped up its investigation and prosecution of money laundering. If the Masardino family obtains the right to operate a bank, once the money laundering is discovered by the Swiss government regulatory authorities, the bank will basically be destroyed.
Therefore, Hawat negotiated many times with some shareholders who supported him and decided to do his best to prevent the Masardino family from obtaining management rights.
However, the attitude of the second shareholder is rather ambiguous, which makes Hawat a little worried.
Therefore, he decided to sell off some of his family assets, raise cash, and prepare to draw down the funds if necessary, acquire some shares from the major shareholders, and ensure his family's right to operate Skoll Bank.
Hawat estimated that the 40% shares held by the major shareholders, plus a reasonable premium, are worth approximately US$200 million. This amount of money is required to be in cash, and neither the Masardino family nor the Smith family will be able to come up with it.
As for foreign aid, Hawat did not consider it. Banks are not a profit-making industry. There are many large and small banks in Switzerland. If the share premium is too high, not many people will buy them.
If Sun Dahai knew what he was thinking, he would definitely spit in his face, wipe him off quickly, and buy the shares at the same time.
After the 1990s, especially after the Asian financial crisis, international banking regulations have become increasingly strict. By that time, it will be very difficult for Sun Dahai to obtain an international banking license.
If Sun Dahai obtains a Swiss banking license, he will be able to provide financial coverage to all parts of the world through banks. It will be of great help to the entire company's capital mobilization, cross-border acquisitions, bank mergers and acquisitions and other businesses.
…
However, at this time, the Smith family was in intense preparations for war. Hawat was sitting in Switzerland, secretly raising funds, and was ready to launch a counter-acquisition at any time to retain the management rights.
His grandson David used the excuse of celebrating his wedding anniversary to start a trip to Australia and Asia. While he was traveling around the world in a secretive manner, he was secretly dealing with redundant fixed assets in the family and increasing cash flow.
After traveling for half a month, a group of five of them arrived in the capital and briefly played in the capital for a few days before taking a train to their real destination on the mainland, the island city.
On this trip, David and his wife Kellan not only invited Lenny, but also Kellan's sister Anna. Lenny and Anna served as the best man and maid of honor at their wedding.
David invited the two of them to travel together, not only to hide his reaction from others and prevent Masatino from discovering his family's reaction, but also to bring them together.
"David, didn't you and Kailan get married at the beginning of last year? Now it's been one year and less than two years. What wedding anniversary are you celebrating?"
Lennie had been wondering about this for several days, and now that he had some free time, he started to complain.
The three Davids looked at each other, and they all still trusted him very much, so they decided to tell him the truth.
…
David told Lenny all about the situation, and only then did Lenny know why the reason for this trip was so inconsistent. He was powerless to deal with David's predicament and could only try his best to accommodate his schedule.