Chapter 62: Short-Term Investment

Chapter 62: Short-Term Investment

Someone else intends to sell?

Klein considered the sentence and did not immediately ask further. He waited until a maid came in, set down the silver three-tiered tray for afternoon tea, and left. Only then did he smile and speak.

“Madam, why do you not acquire them yourself?

“Even a blind person can tell that, in the future, Loen will pay more and more attention to controlling environmental pollution. Therefore, Coim Company, whose main businesses are smokeless coal and high-quality charcoal, will certainly have excellent prospects. A value of 500,000 pounds—or even 1,000,000 pounds—will no longer be mere fantasy. Of course, the premise is that the company’s management can keep up with its expansion.

“Under such circumstances, acquiring Coim shares is absolutely profitable. If I were you, even if it meant shouldering heavy debt, I would buy them myself.”

Mary picked up a cucumber sandwich from the bottom layer of the silver tray with two fingers, took a small bite, chewed slowly, and swallowed.

With that buffer, she finally organized her words.

“Ever since the law on air pollution control passed, Coim Company has developed rapidly, and the faces among the shareholders began to change. You know how it is. Those who chase money always possess a keen sense for such matters, and behind them often hide important figures.

“If I had not been a member of the Air Pollution Investigation Committee and had not, through that, come to know many nobles and senior government employees, I believe I would also have had to bear the pressure, sell my shares at a relatively good price, obtain decent returns, and leave the stage.

“But even so, a large quantity of shares is rapidly being concentrated. I am about to lose my status as the largest shareholder and my ability to steer the company.

“This is an asset my father left to me. I do not want to watch it become someone else’s toy. I hope it can gradually develop into the largest supplier of smokeless coal and high-quality charcoal in Backlund—even in the entire Loen Kingdom. Heh, I have not been idle. I pledged shares, sold properties and estates, invested the vast majority of my liquid funds, and quietly absorbed fifteen percent of the shares. I also asked trustworthy friends around me to help, and together they acquired another ten percent. Adding the twenty percent I originally owned, the portion I can control has reached forty-five percent.

“This time, a minor shareholder suddenly intends to sell the three percent stake he holds, and for the moment, my friends and I lack enough cash to buy it.”

So this is commercial struggle… Klein, who was accustomed to clashes between Beyonders, was encountering such a thing for the first time. It felt both novel and unfamiliar.

He also reached for the bottom layer of the three-tiered silver tray and picked up a sandwich filled with high-quality ham. As he ate, he thought for over ten seconds before asking, “The shares you later absorbed should also be eligible as collateral, correct?”

“There is not enough time. The other side has already offered a price and can trade at any time,” Mary said after finishing the food in her hand.

Klein leaned back against the sofa as if relaxed.

“Why come to me?”

Hearing him ask this, Mary slightly relaxed.

“First, you certainly brought a good deal of cash to Backlund. You do not need to raise money through other methods. Second, you have only recently arrived here and do not yet have deep ties with that side—or with any side. That is an advantage none of the others I could ask possess. Frankly speaking, it also means I do not fear you violating the agreement once it is signed. Even if you were to lean toward the other side, they would still have to consider whether it would be worthwhile to oppose the law for your sake. Third, although we have met only once before, I believe you are a man of experience, wisdom, and gentlemanly bearing.”

With praise like this, I’m…