Treating stocks or stock-index futures as financial products and trading them was normal financial speculation.
But if someone spent money—especially a great deal of money—to purchase stocks, that was no longer financial speculation. It was commercial investment!
The purpose of purchasing a company's stock was to make money from its rise in value. No one would think there was anything wrong with that.
But once the purpose of purchasing stock became gaining control over the stock's voting rights, the nature of the act changed.
That involved acquisitions and similar matters, which required advance reporting to the Financial Supervisory Commission.
The Financial Supervisory Commission was not particularly approving of foreigners holding stock in the Federation's core strategic industries.
Of course, they would not say, "You can't do this. Your stocks are special, and we don't welcome foreign shareholders."
They would tell the other party that this might involve highly classified national or corporate secrets, and that they had to confirm whether the investment was appropriate before allowing the foreign capital to enter.
Some of the core industries under Northern Industrial Group could be said to have run through the entire Federation's industrialization process. The technology, patents, and metallurgical formulas held by those companies could not be measured in money.
Those things could even determine the balance of power between nations in backward regions!
Everything brought about by industrialization could not be explained in just a few words.
The people asking those questions clearly had such intentions.
If they became shareholders in those companies, it would not be unreasonable for them to ask to see the design drawings for certain machines, would it?
They had already become shareholders, one of the company's owners. There was no reason they could not even look at their own property, right? Lyme glanced at the two