The journey starts from the Titanic

"You said Eastman is the most suitable manager for Kodak." Situ Nan replied respectfully.

"Oh. That's it! Kodak's business will stop here. It is the beginning of a good cooperation between our two families."

Andrew said, then changed the conversation: "Before, I heard Robes say that you want to invest in the coal industry?"

"I have thought about it before, but I am not familiar with Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania, so I have never had a good chance." Situ Nan confessed.

"Well, I have a good vision. Now is the hot period for the coal industry. Our Mellon family has very rich experience in this industry. In addition to coal mining and transportation, we also opened a coke company called Pittsburgh Corpus.

The rich coal of Pittsburgh is smelted into coke and used for steel smelting. Even U.S. Steel has to use our Pittsburgh Corpus products."

Andrew was a little excited about this.

He continued to introduce the situation of Corpus.It turns out that this company was opened two years ago. When a young man named Ruster learned that the German Heinrich Corpus was raising funds to build a coke oven company, Ruster approached Andrew , Used his talent to persuade Andrew, and finally Andrew agreed to the investment, so they put aside the German Heinrich Corpus to work together.

The Mellon family accounted for 37.5 shares in the new company, and Ruster became the president of the new company. He managed the coke company well and actively supported the research of metallurgical technology.With the support of the Mellon family, the Pittsburgh Corpus Company developed rapidly. In addition to building basic industrial coke ovens, it also provided complete sets of by-product equipment, including coal handling machinery and light oil refineries.

And the by-products of coal coking, such as toluene and benzene, can be used as the chemical base of TNT explosives.

Seeing that the American war is approaching, Andrew has seen business opportunities in it, and is now raising funds for the Pittsburgh Corpus Company as an explosives factory.

"This is a very profitable thing. I hope we can cooperate." Andrew said.

Well, you keep talking so much, but you want to invest in his explosive factory!Situ Nan thought, but how could such a good thing fall on him?

"With the financial resources of the Mellon family, there should be no shortage of funds for the explosives factory? Why do you want to cooperate with me? I don't have the technology." Situ Nan asked.

"You are right. We can indeed cope with this investment with our financial resources, but you also know that there are so many opportunities to make money in the United States. We must not only invest in explosives factories, but also invest in steel, oil, transportation and other industries. After spreading out one after another, no amount of funds will be enough, so we have to bring in other partners, which is also normal.

You can't make money, but getting more partners to invest together can make more money.I hope you can join our business."

Andrew explained that if the time is not tight, the US government has not yet entered the war, otherwise, with Andrew's relationship, he can get a large investment directly from the government without the trouble now.

Now not only the Mellon family is doing this, but other families in the United States are doing the same. They are desperately financing and then investing in all profitable industries. Everyone knows that the White House will make that decision sooner or later.

If you don’t prepare in advance, when will you wait?Opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared, everyone is not stupid, so let's desperately spread the stalls one by one.

Well, Situ Nan did the same, otherwise he had no idea of ​​investing in coal before.

Needless to say, the importance of coal. Although oil has become more and more important with the rise of automobiles, coal is now the most important energy source in the world.

Even most of the British Royal Navy's warships use coal, not to mention the vast majority of commercial ships. Although oil has shown its importance, it is still too early to replace coal, so there is a lot to invest in coal.

Situ Nan knows this very well, but he has never had a good chance, and the cost of mining coal is very high. It’s not as fast as he did when he explored for oil. He drilled an oil well and sold the land for millions. Rich man.

Moreover, it is impossible for one person to do so many things at the same time, and Situ Nan has no three heads and six arms. His funds can only be concentrated in the industries he sees. Therefore, Situ Nan has always been desperately throwing money into Occidental Petroleum.

As for the coal industry, there is not much spare capacity for a while.

But now that Occidental Petroleum Corporation has grown up, it is time to invest in other industries, so Situ Nan's ambition has become ambitious.

Situ Nan did not object to Andrew's proposal, but felt that the Mellon family was taking the lead, and he was a little unaccustomed to it.

Situ Nan's companies are tightly controlled in his own hands, he can act arbitrarily, his orders are imperial edicts, and no one else can dictate.So naturally I don't want to be a little brother behind others, even if you are a little brother, you can drink some soup.

Well, it's normal for people who are used to being the boss and don't want to be a little brother, but things won't go well. When you meet someone stronger than you, it's not shameful to be a little brother behind him temporarily.

Situ Nan thought about it, and then he wanted to open it.This is no big deal, but there are some obstacles in my heart, and I can easily reverse it.

Besides, isn't it a matter of time?Now my own strength is not strong enough, maybe this cooperation with the Mellon family is also a good opportunity to let my business develop from this cooperation.

Besides, Andrew is still his future father-in-law, can't he refuse him the first time he speaks?That would be too ignorant to promote, so this cooperation must be supported and supported vigorously.

Thinking of this, Situ Nan said: "Since how you can value me, then I am not hypocritical. Let's go, Andrew, how do you want to cooperate?"

"It's very simple. Now we have raised $30 million in funding, and there is still a gap of $20 million. You can subscribe as much as you can. If it is not enough, I will find someone else."

Andrew said, those gray eyes looked at Situ Nan with some expectation.

Chapter 97

Situ Nan had the final say, after spending 10 million US dollars to invest in Kodak, he still had 50 to 60 million US dollars on hand.

However, he already has other clear investment projects for this money, and he cannot change it casually. In the past two years, he has continuously fertilized his oil companies and steel companies in order to raise funds. More than one hundred million dollars.

Fortunately, these debts are all benign debts. After more than two years of continuous investment, Situ Nan's oil and steel companies have begun to turn losses into profits. This has made some thoughtful bankers gratified and disappointed.

Fortunately, the bank’s loans can be recovered. They are also profiters. What is disappointed is that their coveted goals have not been achieved. Situ Nan has finally gone through a difficult two years. Now Occidental Petroleum and California Steel have grown. After getting fat, Situ Nan is finally no longer afraid of being coveted by others.

However, even if his industry is gaining gold, Situ Nan has not been able to allocate half of the money, because since he swallowed the British US Treasury bonds worth 300 million US dollars, he has shouldered more than 200 million US dollars in debt.

These debts are all repaid with the products of his company.Therefore, the British are the biggest creditors of Situ Nan. Before paying off these debts, Situ Nan could not get a penny of profit. The only advantage was that he was holding the US$300 million in US Treasury bonds.

These treasury bonds were sold by Robles Securities last year by a quarter, which made Situ Nan breathe a sigh of relief. The pressure on funds was not that great. His previous stall was too big, so he must keep it in his hands. There is a certain amount of capital, otherwise once the capital chain is broken, the trouble will be big, or it will go bankrupt!

Now that three-quarters of the US Treasury bonds are left in his hands. They can’t be sold for a while, and it’s too bad to take them to the bank for mortgage. It’s better to wait and wait for two more months, then these things will be valuable. Now, the American people are not buying crazy?

However, the result of this is that a large amount of Situ Nan's funds are occupied, so the pressure on funds is still quite large.

Robles returned to New York immediately after Christmas in Pittsburgh to be responsible for the sales of Treasury bonds, because Situ Nan said: This year it depends on the sales of these bonds if they eat porridge or eat, so Robles dare not sloppy.

At the beginning, Situ Nan thought that he would spend a billion dollars into Occidental Petroleum and 50 million dollars into California Steel, and then two super companies would be built.

But sometimes the gap between reality and ideal is quite big, and the actual situation has troubled Situ Nan for a while.because:

For Occidental Petroleum to be competitive with Mobil, and for California Steel to compete with steel companies in the northeast, the capital needed far exceeded Situ Nan’s expectations, so he had to grit his teeth and borrow from banks and private equity institutions. .

He is also a bachelor. Since he wants to borrow, he should borrow more, the more the better, so he is also in debt.

Like Occidental Petroleum, Situ Nan invested 300 million U.S. dollars before and after, California Steel invested 100 million U.S. dollars. The initial investment of these two super gold swallowers came from Situ Nan’s own funds, and most of the subsequent investments were banks and private individuals. Of borrowing.

There is no free lunch in the world. These loans were lent in the name of Occidental Petroleum.

If they cannot be returned at maturity, part of Occidental Petroleum’s shares will fall into the hands of creditors, and the amount of these borrowings is relatively large. If it is not good, we will make wedding clothes for them.So there is still a certain degree of risk.

As for inviting new investors, Situ Nan didn't think about it. Not only must he have certain strength, but he must not pose a threat to Situ Nan. Such a choice is hard to find.

However, after Hengda's reminder, Situ Nan really found a bunch of local rich men.

Situ Nan has always been cautiously vigilant against the giant families in the east, not to mention letting the shares of Occidental Petroleum's companies flow into their hands, especially Rockefeller. People all over the world know how greedy he is for oil!

However, he left a back door. He postponed the repayment period of all loans until four or five years at the earliest. That was the end of the war, and Occidental Petroleum had made enough money and naturally had the ability to repay.

Moreover, Situ Nan adopted the method of installment payment, which prolonged the repayment period, which means that in the previous few years, Occidental Petroleum only needed to pay a certain amount of interest.

As long as the capital chain of Occidental Petroleum is maintained, with the strong demand for oil in the market in the next two years, Situ Nan believes that the difficult days of these two years are about to pass.

On the one hand, Situ Nan had to maintain a certain amount of cash flow. On the other hand, he had many projects to invest in, and he always felt that the money was not enough.