Story of a Big Player from Gangnam - Chapter 144
Chapter 144: Preparation for M&A (1) – PART 1
Byung-Chul Jo’s father passed away, who was one of Gun-Ho’s high school classmates. Won-Chul Jo—the president of WestFacing Club which was organized the last time when Gun-Ho’s high school friends got altogether, contacted every member of the club to let them know the news. Won-Chul contacted Gun-Ho as well.
“The funeral hall is at the Gil Hospital in Incheon since Byung-Chul’s parents were still living in that area.”
“I see. I will come by tomorrow evening.”
“I will be there tomorrow evening as well. I sent a text message to all of our friends to be there between 7 pm and 8 pm tomorrow. I will see you then.”
“Okay. Byung-Chul’s father was still young.”
“I know. I was told that he had liver cancer. He was a retired high school teacher and was receiving good retirement pay. He was not even 70 years old when he passed away.”
Gun-Ho sent a funeral flower wreath to the funeral hall with his company’s name on—President of GH Development.
When Gun-Ho arrived at the funeral hall the next day, he saw several friends who were already drunk.
“Hey, Gun-Ho. Come on in.”
Gun-Ho’s friends now treated him with respect. They made a vulgar joke or talk to each other, but they didn’t do it to Gun-Ho. Some friends even tried to butter Gun-Ho up.
“Did you send money to Jae-Sik too?”
“Jae-Sik? Jae-Sik Moon?”
“That as*hole swindled us. He told us that bullsh*t that he made an alumni directory book.”
“What? That was a lie? So he didn’t make an alumni directory book at all?”
“I knew he was lying, so I didn’t send him any money.”
“Ha.”
“Gun-Ho Goo, you sent him money too, right?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“How much did you send him?”
“100,000 won.”
“What? Why 100,000 won?”
“He told me that he wanted to send one alumni book to our teacher too.”
“Sh*t. That f*cker took our money and ran away.”
“Do you know where he went?”
“How do I know? If I knew where he is, I would go twist his neck badly.”
Gun-Ho felt somewhat sad about all these while drinking a glass of soju with a piece of Korean spring onion pancake. Gun-Ho thought that Jae-Sik must have desperately needed the money and it reminded him of his old days when he was having a hard time paying the interest of the sunshine loan and credit card bill.
“The friends he could successful deceive and take money from were about 30 to 40 people. The total money he took should be less than 2 million won. I hope that eased his hard life a bit.”
Gun-Ho didn’t blame Jae-Sik Moon. Gun-Ho thought he could understand the despair that Jae-Sik must have been feeling right now.
A few friends who arrived a bit late bowed to the deceased and then gathered around Gun-Ho.
“Hey, Gun-Ho.”
“Good to see you, Gun-Ho.”
Gun-Ho just kept drinking while thinking of Jae-Sik Moon’s situation.
Gun-Ho stood up from his seat to go home and told his friends that he’d better leave now because he had to drive a long way to his home. Byung-Chul who lost his father came and talked to Gun-Ho before he was about to leave.
“Thank you, Gun-Ho for coming today.”
Gun-Ho looked at Byung-Chul’s face; he was wearing thick glasses. He seemed to be so slim; the work at the research center must be hard. His brother who looked just like Byung-Chul looked skinny as well.
Gun-Ho remembered Byung-Chul as the most brilliant student in high school. The principal used to praise him a lot for his good work in school and said he had a promising future. Byung-Chul was even ranked number one in the national mathematics competition at that time. However, Byung-Chul today looked shabby and insignificant; Gun-Ho couldn’t figure out why.
Gun-Ho received a call from Mulpasaneop’s president—Se-Young Oh.
“Can we meet?”
“Sure, I will come there as early as I can. I often go to the area because of business with other companies anyway.”
“Oh, really? That’s good. I will be waiting for you then.”
When Gun-Ho arrived at Mulpasaneop, the accounting manager—Min-Hwa Kim greeted Gun-Ho. Gun-Ho gave her a box of cookies.
“Oh, what’s this?”
“It’s walnut cookies. I bought it on the way here.”
“Haha. Thank you very much. The president is expecting you in his office.”
When Gun-Ho opened the president’s office door and entered, the president was sitting in a chair with his head tilted to one side. He must have been dozing off. When he saw Gun-Ho, he greeted him with delight.
“Thank you for coming.”
“Of course, I should come.”
“My younger sister is blaming me and said that I am holding her life back. Can I borrow 200 million won from you? You can use my condo in Bangbae Town as collateral.”
“With interest?”
“Yes, but I can’t pay high interest though because I don’t get paid much now. After the court receivership started, the court let me take only 3 million won per month for my living expenses.”
“Okay, then I will lend you the money with bank interest, with one condition.”
“One condition? What would that be?”
“Hire me as an employee at this company. I will be working only during the court receivership period.”
“That…, that’s not…”
“The officers appointed by the court will decide the fate of the company. Once they decide it is better to sell the company, they will revoke the court receivership.”
“Hmm.”
“If that happens, the company will possibly be sold off in pieces.”
“Hey, look. This company is more than 30 years old. It won’t collapse that easily.”
“It’s not just creditors that you have to worry about. Once the court receivership is revoked, all of the employees will leave the company because they know they will not get paid at all. The secured creditor will then start the sales process.”
“Hmm.”
“Once I start coming to this company as an employee, I want to begin to collect information to know about the character of debt, the state of current debt like outstanding balance, the assets, etc. That way, when you have to sell the company through an M&A, the process will be quick.”
“Hmm.”
The president was in a difficult position; he was just staring at the ceiling. If he said he wouldn’t let Gun-Ho in the company then Gun-Ho would probably just leave. If that happens, then his sister won’t get her 200 million won anytime soon.
“I will have to talk with the officers sent from the court about hiring you.”
“Of course. I understand. I will meet with the officer on my own, and I assume that you agreed to hire me.”
“I am not getting along with those officers, so I won’t introduce you to them myself. If you join our company as an employee, I will welcome you. I have no reason to oppose to hire you. You will rather be helpful to me since you are very knowledgeable about monetary issues.”
Gun-Ho knocked on the door of the officer’s room, who was placed in Mulpasaneop by the court.
“Please come in.”
Gun-Ho sat on a chair placed in front of the officer’s desk.
“I am Gun-Ho Goo. I am running a non-bank financial institution.”
As he introduced himself to the officer, he handed his business card to the officer.
“I’ve seen you coming in and out of the president’s office lately. This company is in the process of the court receivership and it won’t be able to borrow any money.”
“I am not here to lend money. I am more interested in M&A.”
“The examiners appointed by the court haven’t finished the investigation yet.”
“I believe they will eventually determine that it’s not worth keeping the company since it doesn’t generate enough sales revenue.”
“We don’t know yet. As I said, the investigation hasn’t completed yet.”
“You are aware that once it is decided that the company shouldn’t continue the business, you need to start the sales process to a third party, right?”
“I am. I have worked as a court officer for a number of companies that applied for court receivership, and I also worked as a bank branch manager before.”
