A black Bentley sedan drove out of the Beverly Hills Hotel and rushed towards Century City to the south. In the back seat, Zhou Yang was wearing a white shirt and a suit, dressed in a classic Wall Street elite dress.

He looked out the window. Sunset Avenue was one of the most famous streets in Los Angeles, with endless palm trees and movie billboards standing on both sides of the road.

It is one pm in Western time now, and it is more than half an hour before he agreed to meet with Milken.

With Dechuang Securities achieving great success in the field of high-yield bonds, there are many rumors about Milken on Wall Street. The biggest impression he gave to the industry is undoubtedly a strong style.

It is said that he implemented the most militarized dictatorial management of his team. Dechuang's distribution in Los Angeles has become Milken's independent kingdom, and Dechuang's CEO Burnham is the most famous executive on Wall Street.

Some people may ask, since Dechong's mortgage bond business is so profitable, why did other colleagues on Wall Street not compete for this fat as soon as possible.

This is firstly because the market transparency of corporate bonds is far less than that of stock markets and treasury bonds. In particular, junk bonds are not popular in the market for a long time due to their high risks, which generally has poor liquidity.

If you want to buy junk bonds from Company A, it is impossible to directly see real-time public market quotations like buying stocks, but you can only inquire from brokers.

But the bids a broker for you are often stuck at the highest price you can accept. As for the price that broker for real buying from other people, outsiders don’t know at all.

For example, the asset management plan that Zhou Yang is operating, in addition to the team and senior management of Merrill Lynch, even other colleagues in Merrill Lynch Hong Kong do not know the real rate of return of Zhou Yang’s team.

Everyone can only judge Zhou Yang's subordinates' work status every day, like the New Year's, to judge that Zhou Yang's leadership's performance must be very good.

The same is true for DeChong's high-yield bond department. Wall Street colleagues can only judge that Milken's profit is good through some clues, but they can't guess that Milken can bring hundreds of millions of dollars in net profit to DeChong every year.

What's more, in addition to business, Milken is usually very low-key. So far, not only has he never accepted media interviews publicly, but his life is also relatively simple, and he doesn't look like he has made a lot of money at all.

Milken even restricts his employees from purchasing luxury cars and houses, so as not to guess his true profitability by his Wall Street colleagues.

Under the cover of his smokescreen, other Wall Street competitors would not be able to go all out to the All In high-yield bond business without certain returns on investment.

The most effective way for Wall Street to crack down on competitors is often to pay high prices to hollow out the other party's core personnel. However, Milken is a very generous boss under his opponent, a trader with an annual income of one million or even tens of millions of dollars. There are many people in his team.

This was in 1981, many Wall Street investment banks executives might not have had so much income. Therefore, other companies' attempts to enter the high-yield bond field by poaching people from DeChong Company have not been successful.

There are three main factors that determine the popularity of bonds: risk, yield and liquidity. The reason why junk bonds are called junk is because their risks are too high.

The reason why investors are willing to accept junk bonds is mainly because their yields are much higher than those of high-grade bonds, but the premise of all this is to have sufficient market liquidity.

The so-called market liquidity means that when you want to take out, you must have a competitor who is willing to buy it.

Merrill Lynch issued US dollar bonds for Deep Sea Urban Construction last year. One of the important reasons why overseas investors dared to buy boldly was that they promised Merrill Lynch that they would be responsible for matching transactions when the other party was preparing to sell in the future.

If you can't find a buyer, Merrill Lynch will repurchase it itself. The US dollar bonds of Deep Sea Urban Construction are typical junk bonds, but some investment banks will not make their own promises to guarantee the repurchase when issuing junk bonds.

The reason why Merrill Lynch made such a promise was, on the one hand, to open up the Asian market, and on the other hand, under Zhou Yang's analysis and persuasion, Komansky believed that the default risk of this US dollar bond was very small.

Milken is much bolder than Merrill Lynch. He assures his clients that whether it is the bonds he underwritten or the transactions he matches, as long as investors want to sell and cash, Dechuang will take over them at will.

It can be said that Dechong Company acts as the largest market maker in the junk bond market, providing a lot of liquidity for the entire market transaction. Therefore, under the same conditions, it is difficult for other companies to poach Milken's customers.

What's more, Milken has brought a lot of profits to customers in the past few years, so Dechong Company has actually built a strong moat in the field of high-yield bonds.

When Zhou Yang came to Dechong Securities' office in Century City, he did not see Dechong's sign at the door. If he hadn't been sure that he had found the wrong place, he would have thought he had walked into other securities companies.

The person who received Zhou Yang was an Irish man with a face full of acne. His eyes were covered with deep dark circles and he looked haggard. He obviously had a lot of work pressure.

Like China, the United States has a vast land area and spans multiple time zones. The opening time of the New York stock market is from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm Eastern Time.

The Luoshan Machine, located on the west coast of the United States, is 3 hours earlier than New York. In other words, the opening time of the US stock market is from 6:30 to 1:00 p.m. Western time.

Wall Street investment banks generally require employees to go to the company to do various preparations one hour before the stock market opens. Although Milken moved his high-yield bond department from New York to Los Angeles, the trading rules of the financial market cannot be changed due to him personally.

So if Milken's men live far from Century City, they can see Los Angeles at 4 a.m. every day.

The Irish guy led Zhou Yang to a small conference room. Zhou Yang saw six or seven such conference rooms along the way, and there were already people waiting in each room.

Some of the people in these rooms are very relaxed and are reading newspapers leisurely. Some are quite impatient and are paced back and forth. Zhou Yang guessed that they would all be waiting for the summons of the "King of Junk Bonds" like him.

"Hello Charlie, welcome to Los Angeles." Zhou Yang only waited for about ten minutes before Milken pushed the door open.

"Michael, I'm very happy to see you!" Seeing Milken spread his arms enthusiastically, Zhou Yang had to stand up and give a big hug with the other party.

"How are your income from your projects in Asia? I welcome you to join at any time! I have read the information you sent a few days ago. Let's have a good talk today." Milken didn't talk much nonsense and went straight to the topic.

"What do you think? Is De Chong willing to take over? How much does it cost?" Zhou Yang also asked straight to the point.

"The current situation of the loan industry is very worrying, so I still have a few questions here, and you need to answer them." Milken said seriously.

"Please say it!"

"What is the core clause of the tax exemption bill you mentioned in the information before?" Milken asked.

"I don't know, Senator Edward is a very politically ethical politician and will not do anything that violates the Congress' confidentiality regulations." Zhou Yang shook his head and replied.

He doesn't want to leave too much talk in Milken, and you have to know that the other party will be imprisoned due to insider trading in the future.

Milken frowned and stared at Zhou Yang with his eyes, obviously dissatisfied with his answer. The ethics of Washington politicians are something less valuable than wastebaskets in trash cans.

"Well, my friend Caroline Kennedy only told me about the American Loan Association that there is a great chance to get rid of the previous losses.

In order to restart Robert Kennedy's community revival plan in Brooklyn, the Kennedy family decided to pay $1 million for a fight.

If the tax exemption bill that Congress is considering does not have a huge benefit from the provisions of the Savings and Loans Association, I don't think Senator Edward will transform our 'American Princess' into a banker."

Zhou Yang re-adjusted the logic of the story, making outsiders sound more in line with common sense.

"If Michael, you have connections in Washington, you can find someone to inquire about the specific situation by yourself. Of course, I have actually prepared two plans for you. I wonder if you are interested in listening." Zhou Yang continued to smile and said.

The confidence on his face made Milken feel a little uncomfortable, and he seemed to be gradually losing the dominance of the talks, so his brows tightened.

"Then please tell me first!"

"The first is a regular plan. You help ZKF Investment Company issue junk bonds of US$10 million, with an issuance rate of 2.5%. The second plan is my behalf on behalf of Merrill Lynch Hong Kong Asset Management Department to purchase junk bonds of ZKF from you. The issuance rate you can get is 1%. " Zhou Yang said slowly.

Milken was silent for a while before speaking out, “I want to know what the difference between these two plans is for you?”

“If you choose the regular plan, I will be the second largest shareholder in ZKF, after Caroline Kennedy.

But if you choose the latter, I can only give up my holdings in ZKF for the time being. After all, ‘transferring interests’ is a very bad crime.” Zhou Yang spread his hands and said.

"It seems that you are optimistic about the US loan industry and will have a turnaround next." Milken whispered while tapping the table with his fingers, as if he was weighing the pros and cons in his heart.

"This is for sure! To the Kennedy family, the most important thing is to choose a certain community in Brooklyn for reconstruction, but if the loan and loan association they acquired is facing a business crisis, then the entire plan will not be possible for the rest of the future."

In the game with Milken, Zhou Yang has been cleverly making use of the reputation of "Senate Lions" Edward Kennedy.

"I can raise $10 million in acquisition funds for your ZKF company. But the issuance rate should be increased to 3%, and you also have to buy $5 million in bonds from me.

Of course, in order to enable you to successfully hold shares in ZKF, I will only sell you other good bonds that are truly very high in investment returns." Milken gave his own conditions.

"No wonder I heard from others that Michael, you have a big appetite, and I finally saw it today. But Michael, you made a wrong judgment. ZKF's equity is not as important to me as you think.

I believe that the loan industry will turn around in the future, but if this business will soon become a profitable industry, I think even a fool will not believe it.

In fact, what I am more interested in is this opportunity to deepen the relationship with the Kennedy family, so I actively join the acquisition.

After all, I am a foreigner. If I want to show my strength in the United States, I need a backer like Edward Kennedy." Zhou Yang did not lie this time and smiled at Milken very calmly.

Milken was not in a hurry to answer the conversation, but instead was very patient and did not speak out.

"Okay, after all, I'm asking you for help, so I can give in first. The issuance rate will remain unchanged at 2.5%. In addition, I will buy $1 million junk bonds from you."

The two of them remained silent for nearly five minutes, but in the end, Zhou Yang was defeated first.

The issuance rate is 0.5%, which actually only allowed Milken to make 50,000 less. On the contrary, the $1 million junk bond that Zhou Yang bought from him next could make Milken make greater profits.

According to regulations, the price increase of US securities companies selling bonds to customers cannot exceed 5%, but Milken often dares to illegally increase the price increase of 25%.

This is also an important reason why other investment banks on Wall Street failed to accurately judge Dechong Company's real yield in the high-yield bond field.

"Issuing new junk bonds is also a good thing for you Dechong Company. After all, only by giving investors more investment options can they increase the turnover rate. Didn't your Dechong Company earn huge price difference by making up transactions?" Zhou Yang pointed out a little.

"Well, Charlie, you are my friend, and you will do your best to help you!"

Milken thought for another minute or two, finally showed a smile and stretched out his right hand. Zhou Yang smiled and shook hands with the other party, and the two successfully reached the deal.

After more than a year of experience, Zhou Yang's confidence is increasing. Today he meets Milken, a legendary Wall Street figure, and he is not afraid at all.

It is said that the CEOs of many listed companies in the United States were overwhelmed by Milken's strong momentum. But Zhou Yang was controlling the rhythm from beginning to end today, forcing Milken to accept his trading conditions bit by bit.

After returning to the Beverly Hills Hotel from Century City, Zhou Yang did not go to Hollywood, which was close to him to meet a romantic encounter, but instead took a plane back to New York that night.
Chapter completed!