"One million livres?!"
Mr. Montemar was startled for a moment, his always bright eyes slightly faded, and he sat there as if petrified, staring at Lawrence's extended index finger.
If someone else quoted such a ridiculous price, Mr. Montemar would just laugh at the other person's ignorance and leave the table.
Even in Paris, where prices are high, it only takes about ten livres to feed a low-level commoner for a month; the monthly salary of shop assistants and handicraftsmen at the higher level is only thirty livres.
You go up and down.
Five hundred livres is enough to cover all the expenses of a decent petty bourgeoisie or petty nobleman for a month, including rent and servants' salaries.
Even for a figure like the Duke of Choiseul, his annuity is only 60,000 livres. Of course, he has many other sources of income.
This is why Mr. Montemar couldn't help but be distracted when he looked at the index finger stretched out by Lawrence. In his eyes, behind this index finger was a mountain of silver coins.
Even with assets of tens of millions of livres, Mr. Montemar still felt panicked about such a huge investment.
Especially for a banker like him, this investment requires a considerable portion of his cash flow.
If there is any problem with the bank's cash flow, then a run and credit bankruptcy will follow. When the bank reaches credit bankruptcy, it can be declared truly bankrupt.
Thinking of this, Mr. Montemar couldn't help but swallow his saliva. Although he knew that he was facing huge risks, this excellent investment opportunity in front of him was unique.
Lawrence sat in his seat and looked at Mr. Montemar with a smile, waiting for him to make the final decision.
"Then...how many shares can I get?"
Mr. Montemar asked excitedly and nervously, twirling his fingers.
Lawrence was not an actuary, but he had never thought about running this company well, so after doing some silent calculations, he said casually:
"About a quarter, but I have to declare in advance that these shares only contain dividend rights and do not have corresponding board voting rights. Even after listing on the stock exchange, I will only issue non-voting shares."
"A quarter?! This is really...!"
After Mr. Montemar heard this figure, he immediately winked at his actuary in surprise and signaled him to start calculating the feasibility of the investment. At the same time, he subconsciously used his fingers to make calculations on the tablecloth.
As for the non-voting rights mentioned by Lawrence, Mr. Montemar is not concerned about it. Since the National Silver Company is run by the government, it is quite normal for the government to want to retain the right to make business decisions.
Even later stock investors will not care about this matter. After all, even if they have a vote on company affairs, it will not help. Once the two major shareholders, the Corsican government and the French royal family, make a decision, they will have no political opposition.
possibility.
The actuary, who had been instructed by Mr. Montemar, skillfully took out a large pile of documents and flipped through them quickly. At the same time, he moved a small mechanical device similar to an abacus in his hand and muttered softly.
After a few minutes, the actuary's face showed some joy, and he leaned into Mr. Montemar's ear and said:
"Sir, if we use the short-term government bond interest rate as the risk-free interest rate for discounting, and then use the earnings of companies in the same industry to make revised estimates, the net present value of this investment can reach 1.7234 million livres, although the investment cycle will be a bit long.
But it is undoubtedly an investment project with a 3a rating."
"More than 1.7 million? Hiss..."
Mr. Montemar couldn't help but take a breath after hearing this, and the greed in his eyes became even more difficult to conceal.
Net present value is the value of all future income discounted to the present, minus the current investment cost; in other words, as long as risks are not considered, Mr. Montemar's investment of one million is equivalent to him immediately earning one hundred and seventy-seven dollars.
More than 100,000.
As for possible risks, Mr. Montemar would not doubt a company with dual background guarantees from the royal family and the government.
Even Lord Mellie sat there with great annoyance after hearing this. He regretted that Lawrence had set a minimum investment amount, otherwise he would have invested most of his wealth in this silver company with a promising future.
"Hahaha, Your Excellency Bonaparte, you are so generous. I don't know how to praise you anymore."
Mr. Montemar was so excited that his whole body was trembling. He quickly signaled his employees to start drafting a shareholding contract agreement, and said gratefully:
"I am very satisfied with your proposal. If possible, can we sign the contract here?"
"Of course." Lawrence nodded calmly and said.
...
The contract between the two parties was quickly signed at the dining table. Mr. Montemar packed up the contract with satisfaction and took his subordinates to say goodbye to Lord Mellie and Lawrence.
Although the sumptuous lunch on the round table was almost untouched, Mr. Montemar had obviously feasted on a feast of capital and was secretly pleased with himself at getting a big deal.
As if he was afraid that Lawrence would regret it, Mr. Montemar hurriedly handed over to Lawrence a large stack of bearer deposit slips from the Bank of Commerce of France that had just been signed, and then hurriedly left with everyone.
As this group of people left, only Lawrence, Duke Choiseul, and two scholars from the Royal Academy of Sciences were left in the room.
"I didn't expect you to sell a quarter of your shares casually."
Duke Choiseul frowned slightly and looked at Lawrence who was counting the deposit slips, and said slightly unhappily:
"Although I don't understand finance, judging from the banker's expression, you seem to have let him get a big deal."
Half of the profits of the Corsican National Silver Company belong to the French. Lawrence's behavior of selling the company's shares will certainly affect the profits of the French royal family.
This is why Duke Choiseul felt slightly unhappy after Lawrence sold his shares at a low price.
Faced with the accusation from Duke Choiseul, Lawrence smiled nonchalantly and continued to count the bearer deposit slips in his hand.
There were basically no personal accounts in banks in this era. All deposits were reflected in this kind of anonymous deposit slip. Just like the several Venetian bank deposit slips that Lawrence had seized from the Genoese before, anyone could take them.
Use such a deposit slip to redeem.
In this sense, this kind of deposit certificate is actually more like an acceptance bill.
In Lawrence's hands, there were a hundred deposit slips with a face value of 10,000 livres, signed by Mr. Montemar himself.
Taking out one card at random is enough for any citizen to spend the rest of his life wealthy and worry-free.
After counting these deposit slips and keeping them properly, Lawrence smiled and shook his head, looked at Duke Choiseul and said:
"He may have really gotten a big deal, but I also got a return that was completely in line with the value."
Duke Choiseul glanced at the deposit slip in Lawrence's hand and asked in confusion:
"Reward? One million livres is a big number, but you can obviously sell for more."
Lawrence pursed his lips and smiled, took a small sip of the champagne, and said slowly:
"You may not know, but there is a very famous story in the financial world."
"Oh? What story?" Duke Choiseul became more interested and asked repeatedly.
"A young entrepreneur went to a well-known investor to seek investment. The investor expressed that he was very optimistic about the young man's project and was willing to invest half a million silver coins for him. The young man left with satisfaction, but after waiting for a long time,
No investor was seen sending the money. So the young man found the investor again, but the investor said that he had paid half a million silver coins to the young man."
Lawrence rubbed his chin and recounted:
"Do you know why?"
Duke Choiseul shook his head directly. He was good at politics, diplomacy and military affairs, but he didn't have much experience in finance and finance.
"The news that the well-known investor said that he is willing to invest 500,000 yuan for young people is worth 500,000 silver coins."
Lawrence chuckled and said:
"This sounds ridiculous, but it is like this in the financial world. As a person at the top of the investment world, Mr. Montemar's investment decisions will undoubtedly be valued and imitated by countless people. In other words, he gave me
His investment is only worth one million livres, and the fact that he invested one million livres in me is probably worth more than this one million livres."
"There is such a thing..."
Duke Choiseul put his forehead against his head and thought for a long time before he realized that what Lawrence said was indeed very reasonable. After all, the main body of transactions in the financial market is human beings. Once people gather together, they will inevitably form a collective mentality of following the trend and following the herd.
In this way, the value of the National Silver Company of Corsica and the capital injection of Mr. Montemar, a top banker, will cause the Paris financial community, and even the financial community of neighboring countries, to focus on this company that has not yet been formally established.
of the silver company.
Duke Choiseul didn't need to think about it to know that what would follow would be an unimaginable amount of capital injection, and he didn't know how much wealth would be gathered in this empty shell company.
Academician Lavoisier and Getard at the table were stunned when they heard this. From the conclusion of the deal amounting to one million livres just now to the follow-up plan mentioned by Lawrence, it was completely beyond the scope of these two natural people. Philosopher's cognition.
But Academician Geta is still very clear about one thing, that is, the National Silver Company where he is about to work will gather countless wealth, and as a consultant of the company, his salary will naturally increase.
When he thought of this, Academician Geta's eyes suddenly became more fiery, and he had made up his mind to use all means to be courteous to Lawrence to ensure that the position of company consultant fell into his hands.
Lawrence also noticed his fiery eyes, looked at Academician Geta with a smile, and said slowly:
"The argument you just made was excellent, Mr. Getta."
"You're very grateful. Since this is a report compiled by me, of course I have to use my reputation to defend its authenticity." Academician Geta said with a hurried smile.
Lawrence nodded, deliberately looked up at the wall clock in the room, and said in a non-committal tone to Academician Getta and Lavoisier:
To be continued...