Hot Stuff

Bangkok, Tuesday, 25 April 1995

Robbie walked briskly out of Don Maung airport arrival hall and almost jumped into the back of Somboon’s waiting car. The market had been open for one hour in London while he had been stuck in the plane. He grabbed the car phone and dialled Clyde and Clyde’s sugar-trading desk and was delighted to hear Gordon’s reassuring voice answering the phone.

‘Gordon, I’ve just arrived. What’s it doing?’

‘Still going down without touching the sides. The trouble is it’s all one way… Since some madman conned the market yesterday into believing it should go the other way and the trade in general lost their shirts, there haven’t been too many buyers around. Other than that it’s been quite quiet.’

‘Any announcement from the food industry?’

‘Yeah, Coke and Pepsi have announced new brands containing only artificial sweeteners. Nothing yet from any cake or sweetie people but the buzz is they will go the same way. So far the plan is paying off – we’re making out like bandits. What’s happening with you and our little Thai friends. Can you talk?’

‘No problem, it’s just me and the driver. Anyway, nothing yet – I’ve only been out of the plane fifteen minutes. I’ve got dinner with Somboon and James in a couple of hours. That’s when I’ve got to do my act. It’s going to be tough. At this rate Somboon is going to get millions less for his sales than if he had fixed the price last week. I hope he doesn’t get any funny ideas about trying not to deliver for the moment and hoping the price picks up.’

‘That would certainly screw things up a bit.’

‘More than a bit. Can you give me a call in about an hour to give me the latest? Earlier if anything interesting happens.’

‘Okay, will do. By the way, I wouldn’t hurry back. I don’t know what your life insurance is like but after yesterday there are a few people who wouldn’t mind finding out. And by the way, despite the normal multiple bookings you were spotted at Heathrow so the trade knows where you are.’

‘It all sounds pretty cloak and dagger. Anyway, thanks for the warning. Speak to you later.’

*

Robbie looked Somboon straight in the eye.

‘Look, Somboon, it’s hardly my fault if the bloody Yanks make a completely unanticipated announcement. It’s caused us a lot of problems too. Obviously we’re concerned about your position otherwise I wouldn’t be here. To be honest, I should be at home minding the shop.’

They were seated around the dining table of a private room in the Oriental Hotel’s Thai restaurant. Somboon looked sullenly across the table at Robbie, seemingly unimpressed with Robbie’s explanation. Lee Lee sat next to Somboon staring down at her plate.

James cleared his throat. ‘Er… I think my cousin feels that a company with Clyde and Clyde’s connections must have had an idea what was going on and that he is being… er, how can I put it…’

‘Stitched up?’ suggested Robbie.

‘Yes,’ said Somboon. ‘Bloody well stitched up by your fancy company with its smart traders.’

Robbie paused for thought. ‘Somboon, look at it this way. Why would we need to stitch you up? We are relying on you to be the supply for a contract on which we will make a reasonable profit doing what we are supposed to do, i.e. putting buyers and sellers together.’

‘To make more money,’ answered Somboon, who in his heart of hearts had never been comfortable selling to Western trading companies who did fancy things on the futures market. Why couldn’t he just sell to the Chinese himself without these damn foreign pirates getting in the way?

‘Perhaps Somboon might feel better if he knew that Clyde and Clyde had also lost money due to the latest market changes,’ suggested James, wondering why Robbie was taking so long to play the ‘loss-of-face card’ that they had discussed earlier. James was always amazed that these western trade houses seemed to have no idea that, in Asia, face could be almost as important as profit.

Robbie let out a long pre-rehearsed sigh. ‘James, you know I am not supposed to discuss my company’s position with anyone, let alone clients. As a director, I receive a lot of privileged information and if anyone found out I was releasing this I could be slung out.’ Somboon looked unmoved by this show of western ethics.

Robbie coughed and continued. ‘Anyway, given the circumstances, I am prepared to bend the rules a bit. I can tell you quite truthfully that the American information caught us completely by surprise and that as a result we have lost a hell of a lot of money.’

In saying this Robbie felt he was telling at least a form of truth. As far as he was concerned if he had had any inkling of the impending USDA announcement he would have taken a massive position and made millions. As it was, an opportunity had been passed up. A state of affairs known in Asia as a Chinese profit.

Somboon looked sullenly at Robbie. ‘How much?’

‘Somboon, don’t push me too far. I’ve had a rough couple of days and a long flight. I’m sorry that on paper you’re losing money. Let’s just leave it that; I am too.’

James said something quickly in Teochew to Somboon, who grunted in assent. James spoke carefully to Robbie.

‘Given the current uncertainty in the market, I think it might be attractive to Somboon to fix the price of at least half of the contracted tonnage. Am I right, Somboon?’ James turned to his cousin.

‘No. Not half Fix the lot. And at last week’s price. I still don’t—’

James cut in. ‘Somboon, it’s no good crying over spilt milk. You know as well as I do that the price of sugar moves both up and down. Why don’t we just agree to fix fifty per cent at today’s price and be done with it?’ He fixed Somboon with a look that made it clear he was to argue no further and then added something in Chinese. Lee Lee looked up sharply, her eyes wide open, but said nothing.

‘No. Fix the price for the whole contract at the best price we can get now. And I want letters of credit opened by Clyde and Clyde to guarantee payment. If I am to believe Robbie that Clyde and Clyde has lost so much, then I don’t particularly want to take the risk of them being unable to pay me in a few weeks time.’

‘Aren’t you both assuming rather a lot,’ cut in Robbie. ‘It might not be possible to fix the price of that much sugar the way the price is moving at the moment. And as for the letters of credit, I have to say that I’m bloody insulted.’ Having made his point Robbie continued quickly to avoid losing the momentum of the conversation. ‘Anyway, let me call London to see if the pricing can be arranged. I’ll go up to my room right now.’

The waiter who had been hovering around took the opportunity to ask for orders.

‘Shall we get on with ordering the meal,’ said James. ‘Perhaps we will all feel a bit better once we have eaten.’

‘Fine by me,’ said Robbie. ‘Choose whatever you want. I’ll only be away a few minutes.’ As he got up to leave, he glanced apologetically across the table at Lee Lee, who gave him a shy but warm smile.

*

Robbie stood in his hotel room, phone in hand, looking out of his window over the glinting Chao Phraya river and waiting for Gordon to answer his direct line. Finally…

‘Gordon, he’s hooked! The crafty bastard wants to fix the price on the whole contract. He’s still bloody pissed off about not selling at last week’s price…’

‘But that’s his damn fault, he could have fixed the price any time he wanted… Just because the greedy little bastard wanted to hang out for an even bigger profit and got his balls cut off in the process…’

‘Gordon, that’s a wonderfully intellectual, Western view on life. Try telling that to a Thai miller who has just lost – according to his view – $150 million of profit. You wouldn’t get very far. You might not even leave the country alive – it costs twenty quid to have someone knocked off here!’

‘I guess that’s why you’re sitting there, not me! But, honestly Robbie, I couldn’t put up with all that funny Asian face crap… Anyway, how do you want to play it?’

‘The way I see it is like this. Somboon is still convinced in his heart of hearts that we should have seen the American announcement and the price drop coming…’

‘But that’s craz—’

‘Gordon, shut up and listen! Your puritanical Scat’s view on trading ethics isn’t going to help us out of this hole!’

‘Okay, boss. Sorry.’

‘Somboon’s convinced that he is being ripped off in one way or another. We have to make some sort of gesture to him to give him face and to make sure that he doesn’t just walk away from the contract and sell to someone else just to spite us.’

‘Do you think he would?’

‘Sure as hell… What would he have to lose? If we just fix the price at today’s level of about $200 a tonne and he could get the same price from any other trader then he could well walk away just to stuff us up. He loses nothing financially and gains a lot facewise.’

‘Shit.’

‘Exactly. So we’ve got to give him a deal that keeps him happy but doesn’t cost us too much.’

‘So how much are you thinking of giving the little bastard as a present?’

‘$50 million.’

‘Whaaat!’ Robbie could almost feel the line go cold as Gordon tried to come to grips with giving $50 million to someone just to stop them feeling hard done by.’

‘Robbie, you’re talking to someone whose canny Scottish mother was horrified when she discovered I had taken a mortgage of £30,000 to buy a flat. I don’t think I can quite handle this!’

‘Look, Gordon, none of us are angels in this deal. By getting rid of the futures that were protecting our price exposure on the Thai purchase price we can take advantage of the drop in the market, right?’

‘Right.’

‘The way we engineered the market the other day in order to dump the futures wouldn’t have pleased your mother, right?’

‘Absolutely bloody right. Although I reckon she would have been pretty good at it!’

‘I bet! Anyway, we’re selling to the Indonesians at $350 a tonne. If we agree to buy from Somboon at two hundred and fifty instead of the current market of two hundred we still make an extra hundred dollars a tonne and give him a birthday present of $50 million. On one million tonnes we make an additional hundred million dollars. Think of that, Gordon, an extra one hundred million dollars. So what if we give the little shit $50 million into the bargain even though we don’t think he deserves it!’

‘My, my, boss, you have been busy. And I thought you were just sitting in the tropics drinking gin and tonics.’

‘Some of that too. I’ve had to spin Somboon a real hard-luck story about how much we’ve been losing because of the price moves. We can’t make fixing the price of his sugar look too easy. Why don’t you call me at the Chao Phraya restaurant over the next hour or so letting me know how you are getting on and how much you have been able to fix. It would probably help if Somboon talked to you direct to hear how tough it is. You know the sort of thing.’

‘You bet. Life is tough.’

‘My heart bleeds. One other thing, I was so bloody convincing in my story about how much we were losing that our friend now wants us to open letters of credit to guarantee the payment.’

‘But we would never do that for someone like him… What about our face?’

‘You’re right. I made out I was deeply offended – which in fact I was. Anyway, I suppose it adds to the authenticity of our story. And for an extra hundred million dollars I’m prepared to lose face as well as give it to Somboon!’

‘I think you’re selling your soul to the devil.’

‘Look, mate, if I can play these guys at their own silly games and make lots of money out of it, I don’t give a shit! The only concern I have is persuading de Gruchy to overstep his bank line for us. Can you get him on the other line so that I can set things up while you listen in. Let’s see what Banque du Rhône can really do.’

*

De Gruchy rolled down his shirtsleeve, put the syringe in his desk, closed the drawer and locked it. He sat back and relaxed as his body sucked up the heroin. He smiled to himself as he thought of the simplicity of his secretary, who believed he suffered from diabetes.

After a few minutes, he turned towards his laptop and tapped in a code word. He scrolled through his list of private clients. If the introduction made yesterday by Hartono came off he would have almost a billion dollars of client money sitting on deposit.

His direct line rang softly. He heard Gordon’s voice on the other end.

‘Hello, Victor. I have a hard-working boss currently in Asia on the line for you.’

Victor closed his eyes briefly. He fought to concentrate his mind on Robbie’s end of the Clyde and Clyde sugar deal that overall was bringing him so much business to Banque du Rhone. It was imperative that he compartmentalised the different aspects of the transaction that he was handling. For a few seconds his mind swam and Victor thought he would have to hang up and pretend they had been cut off. Finally the pieces fell into place.

‘Hi… Gordon. Can you put the great man on?’

The line clicked and Victor could hear Robbie’s hollow voice being patched through.

‘Hello, Victor. Can you hear me?’

‘Sure. Clear as a cracked bell.’

‘I guess that’s the best we can hope for. Gordon, can you hear too?’

‘Aye, boss.’

Robbie took a breath before starting the conversation. ‘Victor, we’re going to need your help.’

‘Given what’s happening in the market I thought you might,’ replied Victor in a non-committal way, preferring to wait until Robbie had had time to explain what he wanted.

‘To cut a long story short, our deal still stands and given the way things have developed we shall be making more out of it than we originally anticipated.’

Victor said nothing. He was beginning to wonder what sort of deal this was. One that seemed to make everyone from China to Indonesia enough money to require the private banking services of Banque du Rhone, while at the same time making a fortune for the traders as well.

There was a pause on the line.

‘Victor, can you hear me?’

‘Sure. So far I have heard the good news. I’m waiting for the bad reason you are phoning me up!’

‘Cynical bugger.’

‘Cynical, probably. Realistic, certainly. Not many people from Asia call their banker in the middle of their night for a social chat or to spread good tidings.’

‘True as always. But it’s not really bad news… just a change in the way the deal will have to be structured.’

‘Let me have it.’

‘Well, it goes like this. It seems I did such a good job in convincing the supplier…’

‘Somboon?’

‘Yes, Somboon… in convincing Somboon that Clyde and Clyde were not ripping him off… and that indeed we had ourselves suffered losses due to the gyrations of the market… that he wants all our purchases covered by letters of credit from now!’

‘And did you?’

‘What?’

‘Make socking great losses.’

‘Oh. Only Chinese ones.’

‘Eh?’

‘You know. A missed opportunity to make a profit. However, between you, me, Gordon and the rest of the board we are making out like bandits. But it wouldn’t improve the prospects for the deal if Somboon found out.’

‘Mmmm. Now I understand why you’ve called. You want Banque du Rhône to issue letters of credit now for the total value of the deal. Say about $200 million. Something that would blow your line of credit of $50 million out of the water and over the equator.’

‘If you put it that way, yes. Only the amount will be two hundred and fifty million – we have to build in a few Swiss chocolates for our Thai friend.’

‘Typical. And if you don’t build in the chocolates and we don’t issue the letters of credit, the deal’s off.’

‘Yes.’ Not for the first time, Robbie was amazed at how quickly de Gruchy understood the complexities of a deal. ‘But if you do, you’ll make a bomb in letter of credit fees.’

And private banking deposits, thought Victor as he sat back in his chair and planned how he could sell the idea to his board.

‘Robbie, I’ll have a go, but it will be essential that I have cast-iron evidence to work on as far as your sale is concerned. There’s no way in hell I can persuade the board to commit to such a large amount of exposure, even for Clyde and Clyde, without cover.’

Robbie replied quickly – he had been working with de Gruchy long enough to know how his mind worked and had already prepared the structure.

‘I don’t think that’ll be a problem, Victor. As you, and only you, know, the final buyer is the Indonesian Government through Hartono – the agent that they’ve always used. We’ve got a contract from Hartono and it looks okay. We are flipping the deal through the Chinese just to disguise it. As normal, the individuals concerned want to use their Hong Kong pet company Ever Rich. We’ll have the usual contract. All normal stuff that you’ve seen before.’

‘I agree,’ said Victor. ‘Horrible but normal.’

‘Gordon can have our operations guys fax you a copy of all the contracts. But for Christ’s sake, keep them confidential. They’re dynamite.’

There was a pause. Then Victor spoke coldly. ‘Robbie, you’re talking to a bank. I hardly think…’

‘Okay, Victor, sorry; I overstepped the line. Things are a bit stressed out here…’

‘All right. I guess things must be tough for you right now. If Gordon can get me the paperwork I’ll give it a shot with the board. There’s a credit committee meeting in about an hour. I’ll bounce it off them then. No promises.’

‘I understand. Can you give me a call on my mobile with the verdict? I’ll be trying to keep the Thais happy over dinner.’

Robbie signed off with Victor and Gordon and returned to the dining room. James and Somboon were having an animated conversation in Chinese, with Lee Lee looking on wide-eyed but silent. When they saw Robbie enter the room they fell silent and then switched to English.

‘How did it go?’ asked James ‘You were away more then a few minutes. I’m afraid we started – Thai food isn’t good cold. Has the great house of Clyde and Clyde been able to accommodate the request of my honourable cousin? I hope so. He’s becoming more than a bit enervated.’

Robbie did his best to put on a confident but concerned smile. He turned towards Somboon.

‘Somboon, it’ll be tough but I hope we can fix a price that will be better for you that the current market of about two hundred. Gordon will call back over dinner with progress reports. As for the letters of credit, I’ve spoken to the bank and these are being arranged. Even when Clyde and Clyde have lost a bucket of money it appears that our credit rating is still good! Why don’t we all just relax and enjoy dinner while the people in Europe do the work?’

Somboon frowned and agreed grumpily.

Robbie looked at the Thai food spread out over the large table. He was beginning to feel quite hungry. He took a spoonful of the Thorn Yum Kung soup and stopped dead in his tracks. The chilli hot but tepid liquid burnt his tongue and the back of his throat before it cut into his stomach. Robbie felt beads of sweat bursting out of his forehead. He looked across at Somboon who for the first time this evening was smiling faintly.

‘Have some green curry to go with your soup,’ said Somboon, pushing the small bowl of curry in Robbie’s direction.

Bastard, thought Robbie. He never gives up. But he won’t win this one.

‘Great stuff, Somboon,’ said Robbie taking a gulp of cold Singha beer to douse the fire already raging inside his body. ‘You know I love Thai food.’

Gordon called up twice during the following hour giving the agreed tales of grief and woe regarding the progress he was making on pricing the sugar. During the second of these calls Somboon spoke to Gordon, who made all the right noises in response to Somboon’s bad-tempered questions.

During the course of this conversation Lee Lee caught Robbie’s eye and smiled demurely. As Robbie stared at her he was struck not only by her beauty but by the fact that her lips were curling slightly at the corners and her eyes had a knowing look. He quickly looked away, in Somboon’s direction.

Robbie’s phone rang again. It was Gordon. Robbie spoke to him briefly and then turned to Somboon.

‘Okay, so you have fixed the whole million tonnes at an average price of $250 compared to the current price of two hundred. That’s $50 a tonne better than you would have got if you were dealing with any of the others. Don’t ask me how we did it but, I can tell you for nothing, you should be happy.’

Somboon grunted but said nothing.

As they were drinking their second espresso the phone rang for the fourth time. It was Victor.

‘Okay, my sugar-trading friend, you’ve got everything you want. I’ve probably used up several of my nine lives and stretched the credibility of the board beyond normal Swiss breaking point in the whole process. Anyway, you can sleep easy. Your deal is safe as far as the banking is concerned.’

Robbie tried to suppress as well as he could his feeling of elation so as to keep his response to Victor as flat as possible.

‘Thanks. So the letters of credit will be opened later today?’

‘It deserved more than a “thanks” but I guess you must be up to your ears with nice Thai people listening in. Please tell them to expect the letters of credit to be advised by their bank tomorrow morning their time. That should make life for you a bit less stressful.’

‘I hope so. Thanks again.’

As Robbie rang off he turned to Somboon.

‘The letters of credit will be on your desk tomorrow morning. Now you know why you are dealing with Clyde and Clyde and not some tin-pot broker.’

Robbie suddenly felt extremely tired. He stood up abruptly. It was time to make a gesture.

‘I hope you lot are now all happy now. You’re getting a better price than you deserve and Clyde and Clyde are opening letters of credit – something that we would never normally agree to do. I hope you understand what we are doing for you and how much we want to preserve our good relationship in these difficult times.’

Robbie looked at Somboon who was still unmoved. Bastard, he thought. Perhaps Gordon was right and I’ve sold my soul.

‘Anyway, whatever your feelings, I’m going to bed.’

*

As Robbie came out of the shower there was a knock on his door. Pulling the thick towelling bathrobe around him, he answered the door to find Lee Lee standing outside. Robbie stared at her in surpnse.

‘Lee Lee, what on earth are you doing here?’

She smiled the same knowing smile that she had given him earlier in the evening.

‘Ask me come in, ’n I tell.’

‘You must be crazy,’ Robbie blurted. ‘Somboon will kill me and probably you too into the bargain.’

‘Let me in quick, he don’t know. Keep me waiting ou’side ’n you prob’ly right.’

Robbie looked nervously up and down the empty corridor, and then opened the door fully. Lee Lee smiled foxily and walked in.

‘Lee Lee, I don’t want to seem r-r-rude but what the hell are you doing here?’ asked Robbie feeling distinctly ill at ease.

Lee Lee draped herself over an armchair, shook her long ebony hair and lit a cigarette. ‘I think I got something int’restin’ for you.’

Robbie laughed nervously, lit a Marlboro and looked at Lee Lee’s slender legs, which were scarcely covered by her short figure hugging black dress.

‘Does Somboon know you’re here?’

Lee Lee looked upwards in exasperation and blew out a stream of smoke. ‘You crazy? Course not. He late drinks with cousin James. No need me for three hours maybe.’ She paused and giggled. ‘Then he can’t do much!’

Robbie relaxed slightly. ‘Why do you stay with him? He treats you horribly.’

Lee Lee smiled thinly. ‘Easy say… money. He very rich… give me nice things,’ she paused, ‘’n drugs.’

Robbie looked startled. ‘You m-m-mean you’re… er…’

‘Junkie. Yes.’

Robbie stared at her in amazement. ‘But you don’t… er…’

‘Look like druggie?’ she said, staring straight at him and leaning forward. Her dress rode even higher up her thighs. She made no attempt to pull it down. Robbie felt himself starting to sweat. He took a deep drag on the Marlboro.

‘Well… yes… I suppose so. No you d-d-don’t look like an addict.’

Lee Lee laughed sharply. ‘Same Somboon.’

Robbie looked startled. ‘Somboon!’

Lee Lee smiled her knowing smile, happy to have dropped the first of her bombshells. This nice kind Englishman was so innocent. Not like the horrible Somboon who treated her like shit and made her do horrible things. Now she would get her own back. This nice Englishman would help her even if he didn’t know what he was doing.

‘Yes. Big junkie. Many year. That how we met.’

‘Fuck,’ said Robbie sitting down.

‘There much you don’ know,’ said Lee Lee flatly. Then she turned to him and smiled. ‘That why I like you.’

She came and sat down next to Robbie, put her hand on his knees and then slid it between his thighs. Robbie tensed.

‘If you nice to me… very nice, I can tell you many things… big, interestin’. Don’ forget, I Thai but Chinese. Understand ever’thin Somboon and others say. And some things v-e-r-y interesting. But first, you be nice to me. Then promise to pay me part of sugar-deal profit.’ She slid her hand up to Robbie’s crotch and started massaging him gently. ‘What you think?’

Robbie’s head started to spin. First the no-hands restaurant and now this. He looked at Lee Lee and tried to think. His heart was pounding. He put his hand on her hip. God, she was a hooker and a junkie with almost certainly a dose of everything nasty known to mankind. But… perhaps… if he was just a little bit nice… he could find out what she was talking about.