Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 186: Chapter 44: The Economic Crisis Is Coming (Part 3)

Let the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau investigate the corporate data of various countries in Europe and America, allowing Carlo to more clearly discern which companies are suitable for acquisition.

After all, only those truly valuable companies are worth acquiring. Those railway companies established solely to catch the railway construction wave, and other enterprises founded merely for making money without any technology, are naturally not on Carlo’s acquisition list.

For Carlo, factories lacking abundant production resources and skilled technical workers can be set up anytime if he wishes.

But factories with unique production techniques and excellent workers can’t be bought with money under normal circumstances.

Only during an economic crisis or when these factories go bankrupt can one acquire all their shares with minimal capital, and then transfer their equipment, technology, and workers to Spain as much as possible.

Of course, while paying attention to the economic trends and stock market fluctuations of other countries, the two major securities exchanges in Spain must also be monitored.

Although the Madrid Stock Exchange and the Barcelona Stock Exchange are not large in scale, they are securities exchanges, and there are various entrepreneurial activities and securities issuing.

In 1872 alone, Spain’s two major securities exchanges had more than 70 entrepreneurial activities and securities issuances, totaling an amount of 46.51 million Pessetas.

If there isn’t much attention given to securities trading activities in Spain, the economic crisis sparked by the securities exchanges in other European countries could likely affect the Madrid and Barcelona Stock Exchanges.

Spain’s capital system is inherently fragile, and even a small impact from an economic crisis could be a devastating blow to Spain’s delicate capital.

To protect domestic capital, it’s necessary to impose certain limitations on trading in Madrid and Barcelona’s securities exchanges. Companies issuing securities need stricter screening to ensure companies founded solely for securities trading don’t appear in Spain.

This isn’t baseless speculation. Because of the marital ties with Austria-Hungary, economic exchanges between Spain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire are closer.

Entrepreneurial activities and securities issuances at the Vienna Stock Exchange are more frequent than those at Madrid’s two major securities exchanges, involving a larger sum of capital.

In 1872, the Vienna Stock Exchange had over 200 entrepreneurial activities and securities issuances, three times the total of Spain’s two major securities exchanges.

While such scale seems promising, it’s not necessarily good news. Due to lack of regulation, a significant portion of these are banks and construction companies set up for speculation.

These speculative banks and construction companies brought short-term prosperity to the Vienna Stock Exchange.

But if faced with the impact of an economic crisis, these enterprises would undoubtedly face bankruptcy first. The bankruptcy of many companies would certainly affect the overall trading volume of the Vienna Stock Exchange, plunging the entire stock market into a sea of green.

Then various chain reactions follow. Because the whole securities exchange market lacks regulation, the chain reactions are swift and deadly.

By the time the Austro-Hungarian Empire Government responds, perhaps the economic crisis has already destroyed the Vienna Stock Exchange, along with numerous shell companies set up for speculation.

If only these shell companies for speculation didn’t exist, even when an economic crisis came, order in the securities exchanges could be maintained.

Especially in a stock market like Spain’s, due to its relatively small overall scale, the impact of an economic crisis is certain to not be too severe.