Free Geneva Connection, The by Martin Bodenham

him.”
    They left his office and walked over to the meeting room where Wright was waiting. His face was red, and he was pacing up and down the room like a trapped animal. He had his lawyer with him, a senior partner from one of the top international law firms in London.
    Kent had not even sat down, when the Henderson Wright lawyer fired the first salvo. “Mr. Kent, your colleague, Ms. Kirkland, has informed my client that you’re unable to complete the transaction set out in your offer letter of two days ago.”
    Kent had plenty of experience in handling condescending lawyers. “Good afternoon to you too,” he said.
    “I have informed my client they’ll be entitled to recover considerable damages from CBC, in the event they suffer loss as a result of your failure to meet your obligations under this contract.”
    “Are you interested at all in hearing why we have a problem?”
    “I don’t give a damn about your problems. You made a formal written offer, which we accepted,” spat Wright. He was leaning against the window, his arms crossed.
    Kent wanted to shove him through it; he’d heard enough. “Our offer letter said the financing was subject to us being satisfied with our due diligence.”
    “And?” asked Wright, placing his hands on his hips, as if to say, “Is that the best you have?”
    “Well, we’re not satisfied.”
    “What the hell are you talking about? You haven’t carried out any due diligence yet.” Wright shook his head.
    “We’ve done enough.”
    “My client would know if you had,” said the lawyer.
    “We started it today, Doug, when you walked into our offices. I decided I don’t like your judgment.”
    “What?” Wright’s face looked as though it was about to explode.
    “Turning up here with your mad-dog lawyer and acting all belligerent shows very poor judgment in my view. It’s not how we expect a CEO of one of our investee companies to act when he’s under pressure.”
    “I object to that, Mr. Kent,” said the lawyer. Kent ignored him. An irrelevant stuffed shirt.
    “If we can’t trust your judgment, there’s no point carrying on with further due diligence. It would be a complete waste of our time and your money. You’ve fallen at the first hurdle, I’m afraid.” Kent smiled.
    “That’s not due diligence,” said the lawyer.
    “We decide what to assess when considering an investment. That’s why we’re investors and you’re just a lawyer. Now, gentlemen, we’re busy here. I think we’ve completed our business.”
    Kent stood up, offered no handshake, and left the meeting room. Kirkland followed, her jaw still wide open in awe.

    One week after the BBC interview, Kent was sitting in his office reviewing his firm’s latest quarterly return for the FCA, the industry regulator. The draft return had been prepared by Kevin Long, the most junior CBC partner and compliance officer. Long had suggested Kent might want to write a covering letter to update the FCA on the financial state of CBC. He’d reminded Kent that the FCA’s rules required an open and transparent dialogue with the regulator. Kent thought this was a good idea; the market was now alert to CBC’s situation so it would be wrong not to explain the details to the FCA. It was also right that Kent, as the CEO, should write the letter.
    His phone rang. It was Tara. “I have a Mr. Baumgart for you. He wants to talk to you about our fundraising plans,” she said.
    “Thanks. Put him through,” he replied.
    Kent was now becoming pissed off with these inquiries. In normal circumstances, CBC might have expected one or two calls a month from potential investors. Since CBC’s troubles had hit the press, however, the firm had received several calls a day. The problem was all of them had been secondary investors looking for a bargain. Kent had seen these vultures rise in prominence during the recession. They waited for large institutional investors, like Grampian, to run into financial difficulty so they