Майкл Ридпат - The Marketmaker

‘You’re right, it is a private company,’ I replied. ‘But Ricardo owns very little.’

Stahl raised his eyebrows. They were pencil thin, as if they had been plucked.

‘Ricardo finds other ways to take cash out of Dekker,’ I said. ‘Lots of it.’

The eyebrows fell back to their normal position. ‘So who does own it?’

‘Fifty-one per cent is owned by Lord Kerton and his family. His ancestors founded the firm a hundred and thirty years ago. Chalmet et Companie, the private Swiss bank, owns twenty-nine per cent. They picked that up in 1985 just before Big Bang. And the remaining twenty per cent is owned by other directors.’

‘And Ross is one of those?’

‘No, actually. Ross refuses to go on the board. He wants his Emerging Markets Group to be as separate as possible from the rest of the firm.’

Wolpin and Stahl exchanged glances, Wolpin’s I-told-you-so, Stahl’s irritation. I realized I had briefly trespassed on a political battlefield. But in a moment Stahl’s attention was back on me. ‘Well, how can we buy the company if it’s that tightly held?’

‘Kerton doesn’t know what a hole Ross has got him into. If we tell him, he may want to sell. Especially if, once we’ve hit him with the problem, we give him the solution.’

‘Which is?’ asked Stahl, puffing on his cigar.

‘Bloomfield Weiss taking on the Dekker portfolio and trading their way out of it. There can’t be many firms in the world that could do that. They’d have to be big, they’d have to know how to trade, and they’d have to know emerging markets. That means Bloomfield Weiss and about nobody else.’

‘That would be one hell of a position,’ said Wolpin. ‘The risks would be substantial.’

I looked straight at Stahl. ‘I thought that’s what you did. Take risks.’

Stahl cackled again. ‘I like this guy. Of course we can handle the risk, Cy. We’re gonna be buying the bonds for peanuts. But what about the Swiss?’

‘I don’t know. I’ve no idea what Ross has told them about his position. It’s also impossible to tell where their money is coming from. You can get very little information on Chalmet. Theoretically it’s a small bank based in Geneva, but it has undisclosed billions under management, and I think that it’s using its clients’ money to fund Dekker.’

Wolpin interrupted, ‘Chalmet have a reputation in South America as a good place to park dirty money. I’ll bet they’ve got all kinds of drug dealers and corrupt politicians on their client list.’

This was a subject I wanted to steer well clear of. I didn’t want Bloomfield Weiss to scare themselves off with talk of money-laundering.

‘There must be a lot of loyalty to Ricardo Ross at Chalmet,’ I said. ‘But if they think they’re going to lose everything, they might be prepared to change their minds. And, once again, the best way for them to get their money back might be to have Bloomfield Weiss take over Dekker’s portfolio and trade out of it.’

‘Interesting,’ said Stahl. ‘So, what do you want, kid? A two per cent fee? We have our own people who know about this corporate-finance stuff, you know.’

I smiled. ‘I’m sure you do. And I don’t want a fee. I know you wouldn’t pay me one anyway. All I ask is that you keep me informed. Tell me what happens.’

‘So what’s in it for you?’

‘Dekker Ward treated me very badly,’ I said, the intensity of my voice surprising even me. ‘I want them to pay.’

Stahl smiled quickly. He understood revenge as well as greed. A more noble motive would have raised his suspicions. ‘Well, they will. That is, if we decide we want to go along with your idea,’ he added quickly. But there was something in his voice that made me feel sure he would. I couldn’t help smiling. He caught it, and his quick brown eyes twinkled. ‘OK,’ he said, standing up. ‘We’ll be in touch. Soon.’

‘So where were you going this morning in your nice little suit?’ asked Kate. We had just sat down to supper, a salad I had thrown together. ‘Interview?’

Both Kate and Jamie looked at me expectantly. I had been worrying about how to deal with this all day. There was no way I could tell them the truth. It would be expecting too much of Jamie for him to keep quiet, and it would be hard to stay in his house.

I was betraying him, and I felt bad about it.

‘Yes,’ I lied. ‘It was with a management consultancy. They’re looking to start some operations in Russia.’

‘Oh, which one?’ asked Jamie.

‘KEL,’ I said. ‘It’s only a small one.’

‘Oh, I know KEL! Christian Deerbury works there. He was at Oxford with us. Do you remember him?’

Damn! I did vaguely. ‘No, I don’t think so,’ I replied.

‘Well, I could give him a call. Get him to put in a good word.’

‘No, don’t bother. I’m sure they don’t want me. Consulting’s too much like banking anyway. I should never have gone.’

I felt uncomfortable, and Jamie and Kate could sense it. But I couldn’t tell them what I was really doing.

They realized I didn’t want to continue with the conversation, and fell silent.

I took a deep breath. ‘Perhaps I ought to leave soon. I should start looking for a place of my own.’

‘No!’ said Jamie and Kate together.

‘Stay here, Nick. Please,’ Kate said.

I looked at Jamie. He nodded his own encouragement. ‘OK,’ I said, and smiled weakly.

I sat up at my desk that night, looking out over the shallow valley, illuminated by a full moon. Should I stay? It was very pleasant, and I had nowhere else to go. The estate agent had successfully let my flat. Kate’s eagerness for me to remain was evident. Why? I wondered. I suspected it had something to do with Jamie. Perhaps she thought I could change him or, rather, prevent him from changing. I sighed. I feared there was little chance of that.

But, if I stayed, how would they react when they found out about the takeover, as they surely would? Well, Kate would probably approve. She thought as little of Dekker as I did. She was as angry as I was over the way they had treated me.

And Jamie?

It would be a shock. But it shouldn’t be too bad for him. One of the main attractions of Dekker to Bloomfield Weiss was its employees, and Jamie was an important one of those. And continued employment with them would be preferable to Dekker going bust.

So that was how I persuaded myself that I wasn’t letting down my friends.

And I would be giving Ricardo exactly what he deserved.

Stahl himself called me back at about eight the next morning.

‘We’re gonna go for it,’ he growled. ‘Be at our office in Broadgate at ten forty-five. We’re gonna see Lord Kerton.’

I waited for him in the Bloomfield Weiss lobby. He was flanked by two besuited bankers. Although they were both of average height, they towered above him. In fact, as he swept out of the office with one each on either side and slightly behind him, he looked like a Mafia boss with his two heavies in tow.

And these guys were heavies. Bloomfield Weiss had a reputation for aggression that applied to its corporate-finance dealings as well as everything else. These two had personally been involved in the dismemberment of dozens of corporations throughout the world. Technically the activity was known as mergers and acquisitions, or M and A. But some of the jargon gave a better idea of the flavour of what actually happened: ‘downsizing’, ‘giving value back to shareholders’, ‘shedding non-core activities’, ‘squeezing cash out of the business’. And then there was another set of phrases that dealt with the other side of the coin: ‘golden parachute’, ‘executive incentive scheme’ and especially that little three-letter word, ‘fee’.