America 1919-Chapter 464: George Whitney

"Mr. Block, hello, I am George Whitney, a partner of Morgan!"

Standing in front of Donnie, George Whitney wore a bespoke suit, with a golden pocket watch hanging on his chest, his silver-gray hair combed meticulously; a certain natural pride emanated from him, the pride of being a Morgan partner.

In fact, George Whitney had good reason to be proud—he was not very old, under 30, which made him decidedly young among the partners at Morgan.

In the whole of New York, there were only 14 partners at Morgan, each managing a portfolio of no less than 300 million US Dollars.

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That was just one point of pride for George Whitney; in addition, his father was a banker in Boston, and his brother Richard Whitney was working at the NYSE and, barring any surprises, would take over as the President of the NYSE in 1929 due to his standout performance during the American financial crisis.

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Er, he also later became the first President of the NYSE to be convicted.

And George Whitney’s own achievements were no lesser than his brother’s; in 1950, he would become the helmsman of Morgan.

That Morgan had sent him here showed just how much they valued the cooperation with Donnie.

"Mr. Whitney, hello, please take a seat!"

Donnie welcomed George Whitney in the office of the Block Tavern!

After George Whitney sat down, he said in a relaxed manner, "Although this is my first meeting with Mr. Block, we have actually already cooperated before!"

Donnie asked Nate to serve George Whitney a cup of coffee, and then he asked with a smile, "Is that so? When might that have been?"

George Whitney said, "It was when Mr. Block was short-selling Sinclair Oil Corporation in New York. I was the one in charge of liaising with Mr. Astor at that time!"

"Then we truly are old friends. I should have gone to Morgan in person to thank everyone for last time, but there was just too much going on in Atlantic City, so I had to come back first!"

Donnie said politely.

"Now that we’re old friends, we certainly don’t need to say these courteous words. Besides, aren’t we meeting right now!"

George Whitney gave off a very pleasant impression. Even though he was very well-dressed and appeared quite proud on first glance, one couldn’t deny that he was a charming man.

After some pleasantries, George Whitney began to discuss the matter of ABC’s IPO with Donnie.

"Regarding Mr. Block’s plans to list ABC, which you’ve entrusted to us and Mellon, the company is already informed. Due to the consistently pleasant nature of our cooperation with Mr. Block, our company has no objections to this matter. Here is the IPO plan for ABC that our company has prepared for you, Mr. Block; please have a look!"

After speaking, George Whitney handed Donnie a proposal that Morgan had already prepared.

Donnie accepted the proposal and began to review it attentively.

In Donnie’s plans, 20% of ABC’s shares were to be released for the IPO, coming from the stock of Starry Entertainment and General Electric in proportion.

In addition, another 10% of the shares were to be offered internally, definitely including Morgan and Mellon.

"As underwriters for ABC, Morgan and Mellon can sign a subscription agreement with Mr. Block. With an ABC valuation of 50 million US Dollars as a base, we forecast a public offering of 20 million shares, priced at 60 cents a share, and an internal subscription of 10 million shares, priced at 50 cents a share. If we cannot sell all 20 million shares for ABC, Morgan will purchase the remaining shares!"

The last point was, in fact, more of a formality.

Given ABC’s current influence and its performance in the previous short selling war against Sinclair Oil, ABC’s stocks, even priced at 60 cents a share, were certain to sell out.

Moreover, in this venture, two of America’s top financial conglomerates, Morgan and Mellon, were endorsing ABC.

Which meant, as soon as ABC went public, its market value would rise from 50 million to 60 million, and the two financial giants, Morgan and Mellon, would earn 500,000 US Dollars during the listing process.

If ABC’s stock price climbed after going public, Morgan and Mellon’s earnings would be even greater!

Donnie didn’t respond to George Whitney immediately and instead said, "I need my lawyer to look over this document before I can give you a definite answer."

Even though Morgan wouldn’t likely deceive him for the sake of future long-term cooperation, Donnie couldn’t place all his trust in them without due diligence; hence, his lawyer must review this document first.

"Of course, may I know when Mr. Block’s lawyer will arrive? I mean, I hope we can complete this transaction as quickly as possible!"

Donnie glanced at the time and said, "It should be soon, but before that, I have another matter that I’d like to discuss with you, Mr. Whitney."

George Whitney nodded and said, "Of course, it has always been our pride to serve you, Mr. Block!"

Donnie continued, "Here’s the situation: you might already be aware that the infrastructure for Pandora Oil Company has been completed, and they have already signed fuel supply contracts with the army and the navy. But now a problem has arisen—the issue of transporting the oil."