THE MONEY MAKERS by Harry Bingham

Author:Harry Bingham [Bingham, Harry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Published: 2014-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

9

Matthew touched a few buttons on his keyboard and his trading portfolio came up on screen. He hardly needed to look. All he cared about was the Western Instruments position and he knew that well enough. The bond price had rallied a bit, following some less-bad-than-expected results, but he was still heavily underwater. To sell or not to sell?

There wasn’t a question really. He had lost his faith in Cornish. Fiona was right. He must see a dozen opportunities like this every year, and he launched a bid only every four or five years. Betting on a takeover is like putting your money on the 30-1 outsider in a horse race: your odds of success are low, but the potential rewards are high. It’s an attractive way to gamble, but a dumb way to trade.

The phone rang. It was a client interested in unloading some IBM bonds, ‘in search of something with a higher yield’. As it happened, Matthew needed some IBM bonds to square out a trade from the week before, so he was able to quote a good price. The client hit his bid right away and Matthew began to scribble out a ticket.

‘You’re not interested in Western Instruments, are you?’ he asked, before hanging up. ‘I’ve got a position I need to unwind and I can let you have them at a quarter of a percent better than the market price.’

‘Western Instruments? You’re kidding. You’re not? Let me have a think and I’ll call you back.’

Fifteen minutes later the client called back, keen to proceed. Matthew confirmed the price and they did the deal for all twenty-five million. With a mixture of relief and pain, Matthew scribbled out the ticket.

He had sold his bonds at seventy-eight cents in the dollar, giving him a loss of one and a quarter million bucks. His first year in the markets was turning out to be a mess, but, on the positive side, Matthew had put an end to the fiasco and learned a lot in the process.

Now for Plan B.

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