Melbourne.

These days, Anthony Johnston deliberately puts aside his work to assist Simon in handling the operations of the Japanese financial market.

In more than two weeks, the North American side successfully completed the cash-out of the technology stock market, and funds from Australia also gradually arrived. The final scale of funds reached US$1.57 billion. Among them, Simon's own capital amount was US$500 million, and John's capital amount was US$500 million.

The Stone family invested US$100 million, and other Australian capital forces totaled US$970 million.

Speaking of which, many people in North America have recently wanted to invest, but Simon chose to refuse this time.

A capital of more than 1.5 billion US dollars is already a huge goal, and continuing to increase it will only dilute profits. Simon has no intention of becoming a big banker that affects the direction of the Japanese stock market. If it brings down the Japanese stock market, other companies under his name will be destroyed in the future.

Stop trying to do business in this country.

Leading Australian capital to enter the market, Simon believes that the Johnston family will definitely be able to turn this favor into real connections and benefits.

Over in North America, although Simon has an American identity, he has very little connection with the local forces, and it is impossible for both parties to establish a deep friendship just by taking someone with him and making a lot of money.

In fact, Simon has unknowingly come up with the idea of ​​building the Australian gang as his personal backing. Of course, the Australian gang here is definitely not Australian filmmakers in Hollywood, but local capital forces in Australia.

The power structure of the American plutocrats has been established for many years. Simon, an upstart capital man, cannot compete with the established plutocrats after all, and he has no idea of ​​being attached to either side.

Therefore, to ensure that the industry under his name can continue to expand, Simon must have more chips.

In the confrontation between capitals, the bargaining chip is still capital after all.

Australia's current economy is still very small, but it is still a country.

Simon has brought together Australian capital forces through interest relationships, forming a chaebol power that is absolutely no less powerful than any established consortium in the United States. Moreover, as long as it operates properly, Simon can even gain a dominant position in this system.

Since he wanted to formalize his operations, Simon also officially registered a hedge fund in the Cayman Islands.

Compared with onshore funds that need to pay taxes on time every year, the biggest advantage of offshore hedge funds is that as long as the funds are not transferred back to the country, they do not need to pay high capital gains taxes. Fund holders can repeatedly use the funds that should be used as tax returns.

Use the funds to carry out capital operations.

Although it is not intended to operate for a long time, the fund always needs a name.

Simon once again channeled "Game of Thrones" and named the hedge fund Cersei-Capital, codenamed "Bad Woman." And, like Daenerys Entertainment and Melisandre Corporation, Cersei-Capital

Xi Capital also uses Westeros Corporation as its controlling parent company.

The entire US$1.57 billion cannot be concentrated under the name of one fund. Simon has established five sub-funds controlled by Cersei Capital. The capital size of each sub-fund is approximately US$300 million.

Affected by the Wall Street Journal article at the beginning of the month, Simon's own statements and other hot events, transactions in the Japanese financial market were very active in February, and Simon quickly completed the preliminary layout after receiving the funds.

As of the last trading day of the week on February 17, five sub-funds controlled by Cersei Capital have established long Nikkei 225 Index futures contracts with a total value of approximately US$7 billion on the two major exchanges in Singapore and Osaka.

Simon is very clear about his own advantages. What he can judge more accurately is only the macro trend of Japan's economy.

The average opening points of this batch of stock index futures contracts are approximately between 32,200 points and 32,700 points.

If Cersei Capital can maintain a long position of about US$7 billion in the next few months, when the Nikkei 225 index reaches the 37,000 point where Simon plans to leave the market, this investment alone can bring in profits of US$1 billion.

The long contracts with a total value of US$7 billion only used less than half of Cersei Capital's funds in terms of margin. The size of the Nikkei 225 Index futures is ultimately limited, although the two major exchanges in Singapore and Osaka still do not have strict requirements at this time.

There is a position limit, but due to the lack of takers, Simon cannot increase his position indefinitely.

With the remaining funds, Simon began to let the trading teams of the five sub-funds operate freely. Japanese stocks, government bond futures, stock index options and even other major capital markets that are also booming in Asia are the hunting targets of Cersei Capital.

Just this past week, Cersei Capital's trading team completed a beautiful Japanese government bond futures operation.

As a series of news in early February spurred a rapid rise in the Japanese stock market, people from all walks of life speculated that the Bank of Japan would have to introduce an interest rate hike policy as soon as possible to curb excessive speculation in the market.

Normally, interest rate increases tend to cause government bond prices to fall. Hedge funds can earn huge returns if they take advantage of short selling opportunities.

Simon remembered, however, that the Bank of Japan belatedly announced its first interest rate hike in several years in May. At that time, the Japanese stock market and property market had already missed the best opportunity to prevent market collapse through tightening policies.

opportunity.

Even if history has changed, Simon doesn't think the Japanese government will announce a rate hike three months in advance.

Just the rumored news caused a shock in the market. All classes in Japan, which have been immersed in the phantom of economic prosperity, obviously do not want to rashly introduce interest rate hikes as a last resort to break the current good situation.

Confirming this judgment, Cersei Capital's trading team has established Japanese government bond futures positions with a total value of US$6 billion since last week, half of which are long and half short.

The margin ratio for government bonds only requires 3%, which is about 33 times leverage.

As news spread that the Bank of Japan was about to raise interest rates, Japanese government bond futures fell sharply after the start of trading this week, and trading teams promptly closed all short positions before Wednesday.

Then, on Thursday morning, a spokesman for Japan's Ministry of Finance publicly clarified that the Bank of Japan had no intention to raise interest rates in the near future.

Japanese government bond futures rose in response.

Simon was not greedy for long and asked the trading teams of each sub-fund to liquidate all long positions before Friday.

The volatility of government bond futures is usually very small, which is why investment leverage can exceed 30 times. However, this week, Cersei Capital still successfully earned $36 million.

Speaking of which, this operation actually used some inside information, otherwise Cersei Capital would not have been able to accurately close the short position before Thursday.

Japan's rapid economic rise in recent years, especially the development of its real estate industry, has led to a substantial increase in its demand for various mining resources. Australia happens to be a country rich in mining resources.

Therefore, the economies of Japan and Australia have been very closely connected over the years, as well as the political and business circles. The Johnston family has a large subsidiary in Japan, which is managed by Norman Johnston, Janet's second brother.

Japan's Ministry of Finance will issue clarification news on Thursday, which was reported by Norman Johnston who was on a business trip in Tokyo recently.

Simon did not feel any guilt about this insider operation, and he was not worried about being discovered.

Many well-known hedge funds in my memory have invited a large number of politicians to join the company's board of directors. For example, the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who is still in office, joined the famous Tiger Fund as a board member in the 1990s.

Probably no one is naive enough to think that these hedge funds invite politicians to join them for investment advice.

On the other hand, affected by rumors of interest rate hikes, the Japanese stock market was also in turmoil this week, falling 236 points on Monday's opening day.

As of the close of trading on February 17, in five days, the Nikkei 225 Index only rose slightly by 76 points to 38,897 points compared with the 38,821 points at the close of last Friday. Compared with the huge gains through the operation of Japanese government bond futures, Cersei Capital

The long stock index futures holdings made a book profit of only US$13.71 million this week.

February 18, Saturday.

Because most of the stories in "Batman" take place at night, yesterday was still a night shoot.

This situation will probably last until mid-March, and the last few weeks will be studio shooting, so Simon will no longer need to juggle day and night.

Melbourne does not have a professional studio like the major studios in Los Angeles. During this period, the production and props team has been using a large factory building in an abandoned factory in the western suburbs of Melbourne to build film sets such as the ‘Bat Cave’.

Although it was the weekend, during this period, an extra three hours of work were added to the workload every day to take care of Cersei Capital, but the habit had been formed, and Simon still only slept for five hours before waking up on time.

Breakfast was with Anthony Johnston.

Out of caution, the dining location was not at the Kendall Hotel restaurant, but at a nearby cafe that served breakfast.

Simon does not expect the operations of Cersei Capital to be kept absolutely confidential. Being too airtight is actually not a good thing. He only hopes to keep the information within a certain range as much as possible.

However, because Simon's record in 1987 was so brilliant, the people staring at him this time are also all-pervasive.

The most important job of Anthony Johnston, who temporarily put aside other things to cooperate with Simon in running Cersei Capital, was to help improve confidentiality measures. For this purpose, the team also hired a retired official from the Australian National Security Department as a consultant.

The phones in the Simon Hotel suite have now been converted into encrypted dedicated lines, and the daily meetings to discuss investment strategies with various sub-fund managers and analyst teams are not in the hotel, but in the tightly secured headquarters building of Johnston Holdings Group in downtown Melbourne.

Even, in order to avoid leaking Cersei Capital’s various investment holdings, the five sub-fund teams do not know who each other is.

Anthony also told Simon privately that he had arranged for people to monitor each team and would eliminate any insiders who leaked information as soon as possible.

Involving fund operations of more than one billion US dollars and considerable expected returns, this kind of strict caution is not excessive. Simon is very satisfied with Anthony's arrangement. At least, regular anti-eavesdropping tests can allow him to

Don't worry about bugs appearing in your room again.

Simon's scalp tingled every time he thought about the incident at the Manhattan Plaza Hotel.

There were not many people in the cafe on weekend mornings. Simon and Anthony sat in the corner by the window, with two bodyguards standing nearby to prevent outsiders from approaching.

After a few casual chats, Anthony mentioned Cersei Capital's 'meager' gains in the stock index futures market last week. He felt that Simon was a little too conservative.

Simon took a sip of juice, put down the cup and explained: "Tony, you must have seen my operation on the S&P 500 futures. Just like last time, I was betting on a macro trend. As long as the Japanese stock market continues to rise,

If this continues, our position in the Nikkei 225 Index futures will be able to obtain very stable and generous returns. As for government bond futures and other aspects, there are too many variables. We made a profit last week, but we may lose it all next week.

It seems to me that many excellent hedge funds are driven by this impulse to gain more and actually cause losses, thus lowering their profitability."

Anthony has already learned from Simon the general idea of ​​​​his operation.

Compared with the time in 1987, Simon's goal this time can be said to be very low. He only hopes that Cersei Capital's funds can be doubled before the Japanese market turns. He will never ask for more.

After chasing the rise and making some profits during the sell-off process to pay taxes and commissions for the trading team, Simon was satisfied.

If the Japanese stock market can maintain the same trend as in the original time and space, and Simon completes the operation here, he can just turn his attention to the crude oil futures market.

Of course, Simon also knows that due to the influence of his big butterfly, it is unrealistic to have such expectations now. However, he still firmly locks the peak of the Japanese market at 38,000 points, and plans to exit from 37,000 points.

Maybe it will collapse early this time, or it may unexpectedly break through 40,000 points.

but.

No matter what, Simon will suppress his fear of premature collapse and his greed for a higher market, and insist on locking in his goals.

Similarly, because he understands his true strength, Simon will not adopt too risky investment strategies. He has already planned to invest as much excess funds as possible in the Japanese stock market.

Compared with the ever-changing financial derivatives market, the risk of directly speculating on stocks is very low. The bull market cycle can last at least half a year, which is enough to ensure that Cersei Capital will receive very generous returns.

Anthony Johnston had actually been warned by his father not to interfere in Simon's decision because of his cleverness. He only needed to ensure that Simon could complete this operation without any distractions.

Listening to Simon's explanation, Anthony stopped at the right time and said with a smile: "Okay, Simon. Also, your birthday is coming soon, and you have to celebrate it. Do you want to make the arrangements yourself, or should I do it? Oh, Jenny.

I’ll be back in about two days.”

Simon was not polite and said: "Tony, I'm sorry to bother you. I will give the crew a day off next Wednesday, and you will decide the guest list."

Anthony nodded and said: "In that case, let's just stay at the mansion in the suburbs. I will start preparing for the party tomorrow."

The two chatted like this, and after breakfast, Simon returned to the hotel.

As usual, Jennifer prepared a stack of documents that Simon needed to review today.

Leaning back on the leather chair, Simon was really surprised to see Nancy Brill's plans for Blockbuster's data analysis team and movie database. He didn't expect that this woman had been so avant-garde before the Internet era.

The concept of 'big data' was born.

If you add Internet elements to the movie information database, it is obviously IMDB (Internet-Movie-Database). Amazon acquired IMDB for online sales of DVDs and video tapes, and Netflix used the concept of big data to establish its dominance in the streaming media field.

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Chapter completed!