A question about corporate espionage

[Nobilis]

Let's say that someone with a bit of money to spend had gotten wind of the game that Ishmael's banker played on him.

With a bit of initiative could they not have swooped in, offered Ishmael the wherewithal to pay off his loan, and gotten the share in Ish's company at a tidy discount?

If so, then it would seem to me that much of the underworld of the Golden Age would be occupied with corporate espionage.