The Crown Prince of France - Chapter 52

Chapter 52: The French Reserve Bank

Two days ago, Joseph acquired a small, near-bankrupt bank and promptly renamed it the French Reserve Bank. The entire process of renaming and registration was completed swiftly, thanks to his connections in the court.

With the bank’s storefront and staff already in place, operations began as early as yesterday.

The next day, at the request of Brent and with a hefty payment made, the Paris Stock Exchange added five traders dedicated to handling the business of the Paris Angel Company.

The speed of stock transactions increased significantly. By 4 PM, just before the market closed, a mysterious buyer appeared and purchased all 430,150 remaining shares of the Paris Angel Company in one sweep.

When the transaction record reading “Buy: Paris Angel Company, 2 livres, 430,150 shares, totaling 860,300 livres” appeared, the trading floor fell into a brief silence.

A few seconds later, the display board updated with: “Sell: Paris Angel Company, 2 livres 2 sous, 40 shares, totaling 84 livres.”

Almost instantly, a record showed that someone had purchased these 40 shares.

Soon, more sell orders appeared. Within less than ten minutes, the selling price rose to 2 livres 5 sous, and every batch was immediately bought up.

The following morning, the price of Paris Angel shares surged to 2 livres 8 sous. Yet demand continued to outstrip supply, sparking an active trading frenzy.

At the trading floor, a young American, surrounded by seven or eight bodyguards, sat quietly in a corner observing the trading data.

After a moment, he signaled to his assistant, who promptly approached a trader and listed 8,000 shares for sale at 3 livres.

Investors paid little attention to the listing. After all, the price seemed excessively high and unlikely to sell.

However, within less than three minutes, the entire batch of 8,000 shares was purchased in three separate transactions.

Suddenly, every stockholder on the trading floor sensed something unusual. The share price seemed far from its true potential. Otherwise, it wouldn’t sell out so quickly, no matter how high the asking price. In unison, they began to hoard their shares, refraining from selling.

The American continued to direct his team to buy and sell stocks over a dozen times. In most cases, he listed shares for sale and then used another intermediary to buy them back, each time at a higher price than before.

At the close of trading, the young American, accompanied by his bodyguards, retired to a luxurious hotel nearby. Behind the locked doors, he spread out a large stack of receipts on the table and began reconciling accounts with Joseph’s personal accountant.

Yes, this man was the broker hired by Joseph, and the bodyguards around him were members of the Royal Guard.

Due to restrictions in countries like England and France on corporate stock sales, the relatively unregulated United States had become a haven for stock trading, giving rise to numerous stock market prodigies.

Thanks to their adept trading techniques, the closing price had already approached 3 livres 5 sous.

The front pages of nearly all Parisian newspapers were abuzz with reports about the skyrocketing stock price of the Paris Angel Company. People from not just Paris but also nearby provinces flocked to the stock exchange to buy shares, flooding the market with immense capital.

By the sixth day of the Paris Angel Company’s stock sale, the share price reached 4 livres 5 sous. At this point, a significant number of sell orders appeared. However, whenever the price began to drop, large purchases immediately stabilized it.

Just past noon, the American broker sold the final batch of 100,000 shares and left the bustling trading floor with a relaxed expression.

Following Joseph’s instructions, the broker’s low-buy, high-sell operations allowed him to liquidate 200,000 original shares held by Joseph. Altogether, they had amassed 6.15 million livres in funds!

...

In the office of the Minister of Finance at Versailles, Joseph sat with a light-hearted demeanor, reviewing the loan agreement before him. The situation amused him somewhat. After all, he was not only an assistant to the finance minister—one party to the agreement—but also the owner of the French Reserve Bank, the other party. It was like shaking hands with himself.

In the end, he signed a loan agreement worth 6 million livres on behalf of the French government, with an interest rate of only 15%.

The transfer of funds posed no issue. At this moment, the account of the French Reserve Bank quietly held over 8.1 million livres.

...

At the Palais Royal, the Duke of Orléans stared at the headline of the Paris News: "The Crown Prince Struggles with the Financial Crisis, Government Debt on the Brink of Default." With a sudden burst of anger, he grabbed the newspaper and tore it into pieces.

That was the news from two days ago.

This morning, he had already received word that the 6 million livres in government debt had been paid in full, with the funds originating from the French Reserve Bank.

Half an hour earlier, representatives from Ravelle Bank and Laborde Bank had just left. To appease the two banks, he had been forced to allocate more of his British business to them.

The Duke of Orléans couldn't help but recall the banquet a month ago. During the event, under the pretext of introducing major French banks to investment opportunities in Britain’s automated textile machinery project, he had urged Ravelle Bank and Laborde Bank to obstruct the 6-million-livre loan and persuaded other banks to do the same.

At the time, he believed that with such minor manipulation, the Crown Prince would inevitably be left with no recourse. After all, the top figures of France’s financial world were present at the banquet. With their consent, no one would dare approve a large loan.

Who could have imagined that the young man would manage to raise the money?

Moments later, the butler entered and bowed. "My lord, we have uncovered the details. The bank was previously named the Certo Bank. It was acquired by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince just a few days ago."

The bank’s acquisition details were public, so they had been easy to trace.

The Duke of Orléans furrowed his brows deeply. How was this possible? How had the Crown Prince managed to create a bank with 6 million livres in capital?

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