In early September, Contini, who had been traveling around the western part of the Soviet Union, finally returned with satisfaction. The whole process was basically accompanied by Chechelin and Bukharin, giving him enough courtesy. Contini seemed to enjoy the feeling of being accompanied by a big shot. While guiding the country, he inspected various industries of the Soviet Union and signed a wide range of economic contracts:

Nickel ore contracts, manganese ore contracts, cement contracts, wood contracts... All the minerals that Contini is interested in have signed purchase contracts and agreed to offset them with patented technology, machines and other industrial products. After careful inventory, in addition to the initial more than 20 million US dollars, the additional purchase contract signed by the United Group reached more than 20 million US dollars, but all of them were raw materials or initially processed products.

The ones provided to the Soviet Union were all machinery and equipment. Zacharia, who accompanied Contini, was puzzled and confused. The United Group did not have so many equipment for export at all. He was still imported in the United States and Germany in a complete set. Why did he dare to agree to the Soviets? What should he do if he breached the contract?

When Contini found out, he laughed: "Isn't it enough to re-export it?"

"We will lose money when we go back and forth."

Contini smiled: "No, it may even be more economical..."

"Save?" Zakaria couldn't understand the president's business philosophy. Of course, he was the administrative secretary, so it was normal that he didn't understand, so he humbly asked for advice.

"First of all, we need equipment to sell to the Soviets. Do you think the unit price of buying one set is low or the unit price of buying two sets is low?"

Zakaria nodded.

"Secondly, we have increased our efforts in external procurement. Do you think the $10 million business has influence or the $40 million business has influence?"

Zacharya understood: With an order of $42 million, even a mastermind like this big thing and such a big one can suppress it, which shows its influence."

"In the end, don't we still have some German rags that were taken back from France? We can clean up and clean up, and we can sell them to the Soviets based on second-hand equipment."

Zakaria was stunned: "This...this..."

"Isn't it enough for everyone to spread it out? I don't cheat Russians, so I'll sell second-hand goods as second-hand prices... Anyway, second-hand goods from France, Germany, Italy, and the United States are still very popular in the Soviet Union. More importantly, I am the only one in the world who is willing to accept such a large amount of minerals and raw materials. If you go to see other countries, which consortium dares to accept it? Even if you are willing, you must lower the price and then lower the price, how can I give the justice?" Contini said proudly, "The honorary doctor of Moscow University and the old friend of the Russian people are not given for nothing. Look at who will accompany us to inspect? Politburo members, there are only a few Politburo members of the Soviet Union? They have to calculate both economic accounts and political accounts!"

"Besides, it's hard to say whether this deal will lose money in the future. At least now, I'm making money. The short order of crude oil in the New York off-market market has been brought back by more than 10 million US dollars. As long as the reason is of course the big oil field in Algeria, but the more than 10 million barrels of crude oil in Baku are the last straw that crushes the market."

There is a saying that Contini had not told him: After the great collapse of 1929 in history, the prices of industrial equipment in Europe and the United States fell to an outrageous level. At that time, the United Group with money can go to the big buy and buy specials, and then sell it to the Russians at the contract price. Wouldn't it be nice to buy low and sell high?

It doesn’t matter whether you say this or not. Anyway, the previous words alone have already convinced that President Zacharya is a fierce person to spend money, but making money is even more fierce! As expected, the pattern is different, the vision is different, and the career is different!

So, is the United Group so much money to burn out when importing so many raw materials from the Soviets?

No!

The project to dredge the two ports of Tripoli and Benghazi has been launched. Tens of thousands of German and Italian engineers, technicians and skilled workers, as well as Chinese workers of the same size (see Chapter 5 for details) have begun to arrive in Libya one after another, and the scene of large-scale construction will be launched soon.

The first step is to build a temporary residence site with bricks and tiles too slowly. The rapid construction site houses in later generations did not have the skills at this time, so the United Group had to use the American method to customize wooden structure housing and build it quickly.

Speaking of which, it is very suitable to build wooden structure housing in North Africa. First, the air is dry, the temperature is high, there are few pests, and it also prevents mold and ulceration. Even if the moisture in the wood exceeds the standard, it will not cause bad consequences. Second, the terrain is very flat and there is no need to lay the foundation at all. Just find the water source and use ready-made steel and wood structure materials to build the living site in 7-10 days. It can be achieved by using pure hand tools. It is used for cranes, forklifts, excavators and other modern equipment.

Of course, it will be faster if you don’t need it. Third, although wooden houses have poor ability to resist typhoons, they are at most sandstorms in North Africa. Where do they get hurricanes? Therefore, safety is not a problem at all. Living in them will have the effect of warm winter and cool summer. Last but not least, if these temporary residences are to be transferred, it is easy to dismantle. The houses built with convenient reconstruction of steel and cement in another place will be finished and can only watch them abandoned.

Before Contini brought Aida back slowly from the Black Sea, Antonio was negotiating with Standard Oil to increase capital and expand shares. Based on the current output and exploration volume, United Group proposed a price of US$30 million to obtain 10% of the shares. Standard Oil was very expensive because the total value of crude oil may exceed US$700 million, but after deducting infrastructure, the mining cost was worth up to US$300 million. The price of this share was obviously erased the subsequent appreciation space, but Antonio refused to give in, believing that there is still room for further improvement in oil reserves.

The two sides were in a stalemate for 5 days, and Standard Oil conceded the exploration team again in Algeria. The border near Libya found a new mining area, increasing at least 200 million barrels of exploitable capacity. Now Standard Oil is preparing to agree to the price of $30 million. Finally, Antonio knew that Contini had the intention of leaving the US forces to check and balance France, and did not raise the price significantly. He only reached an agreement at a price of $33 million, which means that the valuation of Algeria will reach 330 million.

Eight days later, the second amazing news came out that Texas Corporation (later renamed Texaco), the second largest oil company in the United States, reached a shareholding agreement, investing US$35 million, but only acquired 9% of the shares. Now Algeria's valuation is 389 million.

As if there was not enough news to be shocked, the exploration team announced on October 9 that it would discover high-yield areas again, increasing the exploitable volume of the Algerian Oil Company's blocks to 1.6 billion barrels, and the long-term reserves were close to 7 billion barrels. It was abolition of the British-Dutch Shell Company's shareholding agreement that had been negotiated for a long time. The price was basically negotiated by the two sides to obtain 10% of the shares after the capital increase. As a result, the vice chairman of the negotiations had to discuss with the controller behind the scenes. After all, it involved two important countries. The results of the negotiations had not yet come out, and the news of the huge increase in reserves had been spread all over the world. Antonio directly raised the price from 40 million to 50 million, and said that the British-Iran Oil Company also expressed interest in this.

What made the British and Dutch companies even more explosive was that the French also came to intervene at this time. The three major French banks that have invested in United Bank said they would support French Petroleum (later known as Total) to acquire shares in Algerian Petroleum. They were in a shocking tone and announced that US$100 million was exchanged for 20% of the shares, and their valuation jumped to 500 million!

Did the French gouging prices be so hard? Obviously not, because United Group signed an agreement with the three major investment banks of Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, and JP Morgan on October 11, and a joint sponsor team formed by them escorted United Bank. United Petroleum (for the time being only included in Algeria) went public and signed a progress table. United Bank was going public before mid-1927, and United Petroleum was going public before mid-1928. The three major French banks, as important shareholders of United Bank, found out that Wall Street tycoons priced United Petroleum's starting price was calculated at a starting valuation of US$800 million! They publicly allocated 10-15% of the shares.
Chapter completed!