Chapter 5 - DAMIAN’S BRIDGE LOANDamian had built something complicated.
That did not automatically make it illegal.
Mercer Systems wanted to acquire Helix Motion GmbH, a German robotics company.
Price:
About $1.1 billion.
The board had not approved the final transaction.
Damian wanted to move faster.
He created a separate investment vehicle with private lenders and two family offices.
If Mercer Systems approved the acquisition, the vehicle could finance part of the purchase and later sell assets into the public company subject to approvals.
Aggressive.
Potentially conflicted.
Not automatically criminal.
Damian personally pledged assets.
His own Mercer shares.
Real-estate holdings.
Interests in two funds.
Still not enough for the cheapest financing terms.
The lenders wanted more collateral.
Family Class B stock offered unusual comfort because of voting power.
I refused to pledge mine.
Grandfather refused to pledge additional shares while ill.
That should have ended it.
Instead, documents began describing:
anticipated Mercer family collateral contribution.
My name appeared in internal schedules.
850,000 shares.
Estimated collateral value:
$96 million at the time.
My consent was represented as:
pending administrative execution.
That was not consent.
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But if enough people assume a signature is coming, large financial machines begin moving before the signature exists.
The remote forced those machines to stop.
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