Chapter 1645: Manipulating the Market

The next day, inside a meeting room at the Star Sky Hotel.

With the help of w.a.n.g Peng, Lu Zhou met the senior executives who were sent by the AIIB to Tiangong City to conduct bankruptcy and liquidation of the Alpha Centauri Colonial Exploration Foundation. However, what he did not expect was that the person who came was actually his acquaintance, Zhong Ziyu, the former managing director of East Asia Energy.

Last year, he was transferred from the board of directors of East Asia Energy to the headquarters of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. The last time Lu Zhou saw him, he had already achieved the position of branch president.

Lu Zhou did not expect that he was actually the person in charge of the bankruptcy liquidation for the Alpha Centauri Colonial Exploration Foundation.

Is this a promotion or a demotion?

“h.e.l.lo, Academician Lu.” Looking at Lu Zhou standing in the conference room, this elegant and easygoing man showed a smile on his face. He extended his right hand and said, “We met again.”

“Yeah we do, what a coincidence…” After shaking hands with him, Lu Zhou asked curiously, “How did you get sent here?”

Zhong Ziyu shrugged his shoulders helplessly and said, “There was no other way. This matter is very important, and it involves tens of billions of bad debt. A low-level manager wouldn’t be able to handle the pressure, while a high-level manager might do a bad job. So a middle-level guy like me was sent over.”

Lu Zhou: “So you got screwed?”

“Not exactly screwed, but if I don’t handle it well, it will be difficult to receive a promotion in the future.” Zhong Ziyu smiled and continued, “But thinking from another angle, if I can handle this matter well, it may be an opportunity for me. For example, the headquarters directly promoted my position from branch manager to Tiangong branch manager, which is equivalent to skipping two levels.”

Lu Zhou: “I always thought that pract.i.tioners in the financial industry would consider risks more carefully.”

“Risks and opportunities coexist.” Zhong Ziyu smiled and continued, “Speaking of which, I heard about the Alpha Centauri Colonial Exploration Fund. Did you want to talk to me about something?”

“There is indeed something I want to discuss with you.” Lu Zhou made a gesture for him to sit down, smiled, and continued, “Let’s sit and talk.”

Zhong Ziyu raised his eyebrows with a hint of curiosity. He sat down at the conference table with his hands and fingers crossed on his knees, quietly waiting for Lu Zhou to speak.

To be honest, he did not have a clear and feasible idea on how to solve the mess of the Alpha Centauri Colonial Exploration Foundation. After all, there were so many things involved, which were far more than just 10 billion credit points on the surface.

The current opinion of the acting mayor, who was appointed by the Pan-Asian Cooperation to take over the Tiangong town hall, was that Tiangong City needed to be rebuilt. So the 5 billion funds that had already been transferred to the town hall account couldn’t be returned. At most, they could return it in the form of bonds.

However, the credit rating of Tiangong City had crashed with the failure of the civil war, and the bonds issued were no different from useless papers. When the acting mayor quitted, the next mayor might not recognize the bonds.

Unless there was a Pan-Asian Cooperation guarantee…

But the Pan-Asian Cooperation was not stupid. Why would they take on such a guarantee without any benefit!

Therefore, it was obviously impossible for Zhong Ziyu to agree to such a proposal.

In addition to the bad debt of 5 billion credits, there was also the money that had been invested in the “Noah’s Ark” project. Now that Gladstone had been arrested, the normal operations of the Alpha Centauri Colonial Exploration Foundation had come to a halt, and the entire project had completely shut down. According to the contracts, they even had to pay a dismantling fee for the s.h.i.+pyard.

Unless there was someone who was willing to take over the project…

But this was even more unrealistic than the Pan-Asian Cooperation officials stepping up to help Tiangong City’s finances. Therefore, Zhong Ziyu didn’t have any hope in this regard at all.

However…

The first words Lu Zhou spoke after sitting down made him stunned.

The man who was called the pinnacle of mankind took a sip of tea and slowly threw out a proposal.

“I want to buy the Alpha Centauri Colonial Exploration Foundation.”

After sitting there stunned for a long time, Zhong Ziyu immediately sat upright from the chair and spoke calmly.

“Do you mean… You are planning to take over the project of the Alpha Centauri Colonial Exploration Foundation?”

If someone else said this to him, he would probably think it was a joke. But since it was Lu Zhou who said this, he knew it wasn’t a joke at all.

After all, Lu Zhou was rich, richer than some small countries.

Staring at the guy that was speechless, Lu Zhou coughed and spoke.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I said…”

“Oh, sorry…” Zhong Ziyu smiled awkwardly and quickly continued, “This is of course no problem. We have roughly estimated their a.s.sets. You only need to spend about half a billion credits to buy the entire company. But…”

Lu Zhou: “But?”

“But I really don’t recommend you to do this.” Zhong Ziyu smiled bitterly and continued, “After all, we can’t lie to you… Other than a large colonial s.h.i.+p that has not yet been built, there are a lot of uncleared debts left. Remember the 10 billion corporate bonds they issued before? Most of the funds have already been used up, and the rest is not enough to pay for their debts.”

“I see…” Lu Zhou showed a look of pity on his face. “That’s a shame, I was planning to buy the stars.h.i.+p and continue to build it.”

Zhong Ziyu was taken aback for a moment. He then suddenly snapped back to reality and stood up with his hands on the conference table.

“Wait, you mean… you plan to continue the Noah’s Ark project?”

“Yeah.” Lu Zhou continued with a strange look at him, “Otherwise, why would I buy that company?”

He had seen the stars.h.i.+p design plan of the Alpha Centauri Colonial Exploration Foundation before, and he could see the brilliance just from looking at the concept drawing.

After all, this was a masterpiece of Academician Yang Chongping, a leading engineer in the academic and industrial circles of Mars. Gladstone’s att.i.tude towards this project was serious, so it would be a shame to abandon the project and wait for it to rust.

“I thought you just wanted to buy something for cents on the dollar.” Zhong Ziyu smiled embarra.s.sedly. Looking at Lu Zhou’s baffled expression, he quickly continued, “If you are really optimistic about the Noah’s Ark project and plan to finish it… I can think of a way for you to save a lot of money.”

“Oh yeah?” Lu Zhou raised his eyebrows and said with interest, “Tell me about it.”

Although he was not particularly interested in making money, he was still interested in saving money.

Looking at Lu Zhou’s intrigued expression, Zhong Ziyu smiled mysteriously and leaned closer to whisper to him.

After listening to this guy’s words, Lu Zhou was silent for a while. He then sighed.

“I guess bankers really are experts at manipulating the market.”

“How could you say that?” Zhong Ziyu leaned back on the chair and said in a good mood, “This is just a reasonable application of the law to efficiently allocate social resources.”