We Do Business In Full Auto [EN]: Chapter 120

120

The Su Group (2)

“Huh?”

Oh Man-soo had never considered that.

The thought that all these people had entered the country legally hadn’t crossed his mind.

He figured that if they dug deep enough, they would definitely find loopholes.

“There must be something.”

“We’ll have to investigate.”

“We need to bring these issues to the surface.”

They were engrossed in figuring out how to attack CL Retail through collusion.

This was a matter of survival.

It no longer mattered who started the war. What mattered was that losing the war meant losing everything.

Finally, the day for negotiations with Chunwoo Trading arrived.

For the past two months, I had thoroughly investigated Chunwoo Trading and conducted various feasibility studies. The conclusion was that acquiring Chunwoo Trading would not only create synergy with other businesses but also provide significant benefits when expanding overseas in the future.

The acquisition cost was enormous.

A whopping 1 trillion won [approximately $850 million USD].

This was enough to buy out a decent mid-sized company, a deal worthy of being called a big deal. It was an M&A [mergers and acquisitions] that required staking the fate of the company.

However, I believed it was worth the money.

It was one of the top trading companies in the country and even operated its own shipping lines.

Moreover, they transported goods by private plane and had a substantial distribution network in the country, enough to launch a *택배* [delivery] company right away.

By renovating the logistics warehouses located throughout the country, they could easily start a *택배* [delivery] business. In fact, Chunwoo Trading was already testing the waters to enter the *택배* [delivery] industry.

Being able to acquire such a company for 1 trillion won could be considered a stroke of luck.

I was in the car heading to Chunwoo Trading’s headquarters, reviewing the documents again.

“1 trillion won won’t be a waste, right?”

“If you’re investing based on potential, it won’t be a waste.”

“Rather than immediate profits.”

“Yes. Isn’t that the kind of vision a businessman needs?”

I closed the documents.

All investigations were complete. Trying to confirm anything further would be foolish. Instead, I needed to focus on price negotiations.

“What’s the range?”

“It’s between 1 trillion won and 1.2 trillion won.”

“A 20% difference.”

“Consider anything over 1 trillion won as a kind of royalty.”

“So, it’s the cost of receiving all the shares at once and taking over management rights?”

“You could see it that way.”

“At around 40,000 won per share, they’re selling 25 million out of the 50 million listed shares.”

“Hmm. The current stock price is around 38,000 won. But that doesn’t really matter. It can go up as high as 45,000 won.”

The fact that the stock price didn’t fluctuate much and had been steadily rising meant that the company’s value had increased accordingly.

There hadn’t been any major scandals so far, and it had been developing slowly.

It was a company that had been in the trading business for 70 years, starting in the 1950s. Now, they were selling it off to invest in electronics.

“Come to think of it, is investing in electronics a trend these days?”

“It’s because of semiconductors. They’re also investing a lot in the booming electronics business and the bio sector.”

“So, they’re investing in future growth engines.”

“Yes. So, apart from their core businesses, they’re trying to invest in future growth engines.”

There are trends in the business world too.

Of course, these trends arise from insight, but once a boom starts, there’s a tendency to rush towards it.

It was an unavoidable psychological phenomenon that humans possess.

“That doesn’t mean we have to follow the trend.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to pick up the businesses they’re abandoning?”

Lee Seul-gi’s eyes lit up.

Although I wasn’t expanding into a conglomerate-style business yet, I thought that if the conditions were right, I could expand based on my technical skills.

The launch of a fully automated business with no labor costs.

Having no labor costs meant having tremendous competitiveness.

The negotiation venue was the Chunwoo Trading conference room.

Only about ten people gathered in the conference room that could easily accommodate dozens.

I brought Lee Seul-gi, Han Yu-ram, Han Ga-hee, and Lee Tae-jin, while they brought six people, including the CEO and executives.

With me and Chunwoo Trading CEO Kim Cheol-jin facing each other, the rest stood like *병풍* [byeongpung – decorative folding screens] behind each CEO.

Kim Cheol-jin is the third son of the Chunwoo Group chairman.

After stepping down here, he would move to the group. Perhaps some of the executives would leave with him.

He didn’t desperately need funds, so he seemed relaxed throughout. But that was the same for me.

I was trying to acquire Chunwoo Trading because I thought it was the best, but I had also scouted out a few other candidates.

Kim Cheol-jin was the first to speak.

“Nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about your reputation.”

“Oh, what reputation? I’m just running a few small companies.”

“Hahaha! I heard you became a chairman in just a few months. That’s not something anyone can do.”

“Compared to Chunwoo Group, it’s just a small shop. I just got lucky and made money selling Androids.”

It was all just empty praise.

I decided to take a low profile. Taking a high-handed approach would only lead to losses.

This was a basic principle of social skills.

The other party seemed to realize that I was not someone to be trifled with.

Kim Cheol-jin said.

“This is a big deal. Chunwoo Trading is worth more than that.”

Selling off a trading company to invest in semiconductors.

It was a trend spreading like wildfire in the business world, but I didn’t know if it was the right decision for the future.

Was there something I didn’t know?

According to the reports, raw material prices were fluctuating, and the trade balance wasn’t good these days. It meant that Chunwoo Trading’s value had been slightly shaken.

It wasn’t a stable profit but was heavily influenced by the value of the won and the dollar. From a manager’s point of view, it was stressful, so I thought they had decided to sell it off.

“I’m offering 1 trillion won.”

“1 trillion won for a decent company at the level of a large corporation?”

“Then how much do you want?”

“We should receive 1.3 trillion won.”

“Hoo.”

Should we make this a long back-and-forth?

I thought we would settle at around 1.1 trillion won. But it seemed like it would take a long time using normal methods.

I cut to the chase.

“Let’s not haggle. I’ll add 100 billion won as an adjustment fee. The current stock price is 38,000 won, so it’s a substantial profit. Isn’t that the price you’re going to settle on anyway? The group must have given you instructions to that extent.”

“Uh… how did you know?”

He took off his mask.

I shrugged my shoulders.

“We’ve been investigating the company for two months. We estimated the appropriate price to be between 1 trillion won and 1.2 trillion won. So, I thought it would be settled at the midpoint.”

“You have more talent than I thought. I only knew you were good at science and technology, but I didn’t know you were also skilled in M&A.”

They were speechless because I had offered such an appropriate price.

It would be petty to try to raise the price further here.

If we haggled for a few hours, the price might go up slightly, but neither side wanted to do that.

“Hmm. I’ll agree to it.”

“Thank you for the quick decision.”

“Actually, I was worried too. I thought it might take several days. Do you see these documents here?”

There was an enormous amount of documents.

Just looking at them made my head spin.

So, if the deal hadn’t been settled like this, they would have tried to adjust the price by bringing up all the documents to get even a penny more.

That would be hell for me.

Since this representative had prepared so much, I couldn’t just send out Lee Seul-gi. In the end, I would have had to lead the negotiations.

Then I would have to come to work here tomorrow and the day after to negotiate.

I prevented such a terrible thing from happening.

Lee Seul-gi handed over the contract.

“Please check the contract.”

“I will.”

CEO Kim Cheol-jin carefully checked the contract.

Lee Seul-gi also brought copies so that Chunwoo Trading executives could review the contract together.

It took 20 minutes to read the contract.

The executives put down the contract.

“There doesn’t seem to be any problem.”

“It’s a satisfactory condition for both sides.”

Kim Cheol-jin nodded and carefully signed.

Once the signing is complete and the payment is made, that’s it.

After that, all authority comes to me. And I could start managing it right away.

I also finished signing.

Clap clap clap!

A round of applause erupted.

Above all, I was satisfied that the contract was concluded simply without any problems.

Kim Cheol-jin subtly suggested to me.

“Thanks to you, we have time left, would you like to have a drink?”

“A drink?”

It was daytime.

I was still working, but…

Chunwoo Group was an important business partner for the future.

Chunwoo Trading also played a role in exporting and importing Chunwoo Group’s products.

Building relationships with business partners was the most important virtue for a manager to have.

“Sure. Do you like Korean food?”

“I like Korean food. Andong Soju is a masterpiece, isn’t it?”

“Secretary Lee.”

“Yes.”

“Make a reservation.”

It was a Korean restaurant with a quiet atmosphere.

He even told me the type of alcohol. Since he openly mentioned Andong Soju.

I had a private meeting with CEO Kim Cheol-jin in the room.

“Let’s have a drink. I come here often, and the taste of the alcohol is excellent.”

“Hahaha! I heard that the president used to run a Korean restaurant. A place recommended by such a person must be of a considerable level. I had a hard time getting a *도시락* [doshirak – packed lunch] to eat this time, but it was excellent.”

“My wife is a good cook.”

“I’m so envious. Such a beautiful and talented wife. And her lineage…”

“I used to be called a thief or a robber. There’s also a bit of an age difference with my wife.”

Lisa had everything.

Looking back now, I didn’t understand why such a perfect woman as Lisa married me.

Even if she was running a Korean restaurant, it would have been a small shop from her perspective as the heir to the Cotton family.

The feeling of Andong Soju going down from broad daylight…

It wasn’t bad.

I could put aside a day’s work under the pretext of entertaining. Lee Seul-gi didn’t nag either. She had canceled all my schedules for a few days because it was a negotiation that might take several days.

The conversation ranged from everyday stories to stories about running a trading company.

In fact, that was what I wanted most.

There must be a reason why they were giving up the trading company.

The deal was already done. The payment had been completed, so Kim Cheol-jin had nothing to hide.

“The most difficult thing in running a trading company is labor costs.”

“Labor costs?”

“You need more high-quality personnel than you think. For example, look at the labor costs of a *선도사* [seondo-sa – lead trader]. It’s close to 200 million won per year. Operating ships also costs a lot, and most of it is labor costs. Navigators, almost all of them make over 100 million won.”

“It must have been quite difficult.”

“The point is that it’s getting harder to handle labor costs. When the company gets tough, we have to restructure… As you know, it’s hard to train navigators and high-quality personnel, and not many people want to do it. What does that mean? If we restructure, there’s no way to find people again later. Raw material prices fluctuate, and the value of the won goes up and down every day, making my heart pound every time.”

I fully understood the difficulties of someone running a trading company.

“Hmm. So, the problem is ultimately manpower.”

“I have a feeling you have an alternative. As you know, we can’t handle it. Not in this current situation.”

“That’s right. I can handle it well enough.”

Restructuring?

I can do it.

Training talent wasn’t difficult for me.