New Employees With an Annual Salary of 1 Trillion Won - Chapter 145

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 145. One Plus One (4)

The situation flowed as expected.

Under government pressure, bank-affiliated card companies merged with their parent banks to recover soundness.

Large corporation-affiliated card companies were also able to keep non-performing loans at manageable levels through mergers with securities companies or support from parent companies.

But GL Card was the exception.

The scale of non-performing loans alone was a whopping 20 trillion won.

Since it was too large a scale of bad debt for GL Group to handle, it inevitably had to be handed over to the creditors.

“Branch Manager! The creditors have suddenly converted part of the debt to equity and conducted a paid-in capital increase.”

“It’s an unavoidable choice to reduce the scale of bad debt. With the government pressuring them like that, the creditors had no way to hold out either.”

It was merely a stopgap measure like pissing on frozen feet.

While they could get through the immediate crisis, the situation had actually worsened.

“Thanks to the paid-in capital increase, the stock price has fallen even further.”

“It’s natural for the stock price to fall since the per-share value was diluted. And anxiety about possible additional capital increases gets added on top of that.”

“Not only that, but the situation is flowing in an unexpected direction.”

The Deputy Branch Manager pulled out an indicator.

The financial authorities had transparently disclosed various indicators for early suppression of the card crisis, and we could receive more detailed materials through various channels.

“GL Card’s delinquency rate has gotten even higher.”

“Many people are expecting GL Card to go bankrupt. There’s even talk about whether there’s any need to pay back money to a card company that’s going to collapse soon anyway.”

“Moral hazard is occurring.”

The media was reporting on GL Card’s condition daily.

Since most citizens knew that GL Card’s non-performing loan scale exceeded 20 trillion won, this kind of moral hazard occurred.

“Even with the creditors stepping in, the situation isn’t progressing, so eventually the government will move more strongly.”

“The Blue House is pressuring GL Group. The group did present a 1 trillion won support plan, but the actual funds injected don’t even reach 200 billion won.”

200 billion won was by no means a small amount.

No matter how large a corporation, squeezing out 200 billion won in cash wasn’t easy.

Even though GL Group squeezed out and injected 200 billion won, GL Card was like a money-eating hippo, so the situation didn’t improve at all.

“It would be difficult for GL Group to handle 20 trillion won in non-performing loans. The places in Korea that could handle that scale can be counted on one hand.”

“Normally the creditor commercial banks would bear the burden, but the banks also have no capacity left as they’re each taking on card companies.”

“Only we remain. Moreover, we already have a precedent of normalizing Hanseo Card, so the government has no choice but to seek us out.”

Tiger Fund had already proven itself.

We had revived the toxic asset called Hanseo Card and possessed the financial power to withstand even 20 trillion won in bad debt.

So it was a natural sequence for the government and financial authorities to eventually seek us out, and the prediction hit exactly right.

“Branch Manager! The Blue House has contacted us. The Chief Secretary called directly.”

The Chief Secretary stepped forward personally.

I moistened my throat with a sip of water and took the call.

“This is Lee Jung-hoo.”

[Branch Manager Lee, it’s been a while since I contacted you. If your schedule is fine tomorrow, could you come to the Blue House?]

“If the Chief Secretary wants it, I should naturally make time. May I ask what this is about?”

[A GL Card countermeasure meeting is scheduled to be held at the Blue House tomorrow. The President may also attend personally, so please make sure to come on time.]

The Chief Secretary’s voice was much gentler than usual.

He repeatedly emphasized that I must attend tomorrow before hanging up.

“Eventually the Blue House is trying to put an end to this crisis.”

“With the Blue House holding the meeting directly, a conclusion will come out one way or another.”

“They’ll try to pass the buck to each other as much as possible. I’ll have quite an entertaining show to watch tomorrow.”

It was a much better flow than I had expected.

If the meeting was held at the Blue House rather than the Financial Services Commission, I could take over GL Card under much more favorable conditions.

Of course, the price would vary depending on how I moved.

GL Card coming over to Tiger Fund was already a foregone conclusion.

The reason the Blue House called me was ultimately to dump GL Card on me.

***

The card crisis countermeasure meeting held at the Blue House.

Actually, it would be more accurate to call it a GL Card countermeasure meeting.

All other card companies except GL Card had already succeeded in stably controlling their non-performing loan scale through mergers.

“This card crisis has seriously damaged South Korea’s financial credibility. What is this situation ahead of an international event like the World Cup!”

The Chief Secretary said while looking at the GL Card representative.

It was a gaze containing the meaning that GL Card was at the center of this crisis.

Receiving that gaze, the GL Card representative bowed his head deeply and only repeated words of apology.

“I’m sorry. We’re doing our best to resolve this, but it’s still insufficient. I’m shameless to ask, but we need greater help.”

“Help? What more do you want us to do? The creditors have already even converted their held bonds to equity, so what more measures do you want us to come up with!”

“Please, just a little more help. I’m truly sorry.”

It wasn’t only the GL Card representative bowing his head deeply.

Behind him sat the GL Group Vice Chairman as well, and he too couldn’t lift his head.

“GL Group Vice Chairman, you speak. Is GL Group going to keep pretending not to know?”

“…We are currently considering additional support measures internally, but time is needed for implementation.”

“Shouldn’t you find a way even if it means selling GL Group! Just trickling in spare funds and claiming to support GL Card only looks like a thief’s mentality to the public!”

The Chief Secretary’s voice became heated.

With not much time left before the World Cup started, he couldn’t hide his impatience.

He was pouring out anger at GL Card and GL Group, who could be called the culprits of this crisis.

“We absolutely have no intention of avoiding responsibility. We promise more active support.”

“Promises made only in words have no meaning. Do you have any intention of selling GL Card?”

“What does our opinion matter? GL Card’s management rights are already as good as held by the creditors.”

The creditors had suddenly risen to become major shareholders through debt-to-equity conversion.

Their combined equity shares exceeded 40%, which was more than GL Card’s held shares.

GL Card was in a position where its management rights could be seized by the creditors at any time.

“Then we should ask the creditors. Do you have any intention of selling GL Card?”

“We want to sell, but there are no companies willing to acquire it.”

“Couldn’t the banks that own card companies divide it up and acquire it? That would increase market share, so wouldn’t that be good?”

“We’ve already exhausted massive funds on card company mergers, so we have no capacity left.”

These scenes looked like a play.

A play to draw in Tiger Fund.

“Where would have good financial conditions right now? Please make some sacrifices for the development of Korean finance.”

“There is a place with better financial conditions than banks. And since they also own a card company, they could aim for synergy effects if they acquired GL Card.”

“Where are you referring to?”

It was as expected.

The creditors were about to mention Tiger Fund.

It looked like a play they had prepared for quite a long time, so I just quietly listened.

“Tiger Fund has sufficient capacity to acquire GL Card. And it’s also the only place that achieved high profits through this card crisis.”

“I heard reports that Tiger Fund conducted short selling. The profits exceed trillions, right?”

Everyone’s gaze was focused on me.

Especially the Chief Secretary was staring at me piercingly with anger-filled eyes.

Since everyone had made great sacrifices due to the card crisis, but only Tiger Fund had reaped profits, it was a perfect situation to become a target.

But even that anger seemed like acting.

The acting skills were excellent enough to rival professional actors, but I couldn’t feel sincerity in the Chief Secretary’s expression.

Of course, I couldn’t point out that acting, so I rather pretended to be slightly surprised and responded.

“We never triggered the card crisis to target short selling profits. We simply grasped the bad debt of Korean card companies faster than others. Moreover, we reported danger signals to the financial authorities before anyone else, even giving up profits.”

“We all understand that. But wouldn’t the public be different? They’ll only remember the fact that Tiger Fund took advantage of this crisis to gain profits.”

The Chief Secretary made a threatening remark.

It was intended to intimidate, but I wasn’t scared at all.

The public also knew that the essence of this crisis was due to card companies’ reckless management, not short selling.

But this time too, I pretended to be intimidated.

That way, the proposal I want will come from the Chief Secretary’s mouth.

“We absolutely did not cause a financial crisis to make money.”

“I understand Tiger Fund’s feelings very well. But the public sentiment is quite sensitive, isn’t it? So please make a decision, Tiger Fund.”

“What kind of decision do you mean?”

“If Tiger Fund acquires GL Card, all problems will be solved. Since you’re managing Hanseo Card well, couldn’t you normalize GL Card too?”

Finally, the statement I wanted came out.

If I had stepped forward saying I would acquire GL Card, I would have had to proceed with negotiations without initiative.

But from the moment the Chief Secretary and creditors first proposed selling GL Card, the negotiation initiative completely shifted to my side.

“GL Card’s non-performing loans exceed 20 trillion won. Taking on 20 trillion won out of moral responsibility is too excessive.”

“How could we ask you to bear all the non-performing loans? Isn’t that right? The creditors will also share the burden bit by bit.”

The Chief Secretary looked at the creditors.

The creditors nodded as if they had been waiting and added their words.

[If Tiger Fund just takes over, we should naturally provide debt relief.]

[Although GL Card’s debt is large, Tiger Fund’s financial capacity is sufficient to handle it. If support is needed, we’ll provide help anytime.]

[We’re also prepared to transfer some of our equity shares. We’ll handle it properly so there are no management rights issues.]

The creditors were pouring out sweet words to unload the burden called GL Card.

But these were just words with sugar coating on the outside while the substance was completely hollow.

“I’d like to know the exact scale of debt relief. Only then can I at least consider it, right?”

“It seems you’re thinking of acquiring if debt relief is provided. Creditors, please don’t be too greedy and make maximum concessions.”

The Chief Secretary took my side.

Before I expressed acquisition intentions, he had been on the creditors’ side.

But now the situation had changed, and the Chief Secretary was actually pressuring the creditors.

“We’ll provide up to 30% relief. That’s an amount reaching 6 trillion won. We hope you understand that we’re also accepting tremendous losses.”

“To be honest, of the 20 trillion won in non-performing loans, the recoverable amount doesn’t even reach 6 trillion won. Please reduce the burden just a little more.”

“The government will spare no support either. So how about cleanly settling with 50% relief this time?”

Again, the Chief Secretary supported me.

He pressured the creditors to bear a whopping 10 trillion won in bad debt.

It wasn’t an excessively unreasonable demand. After the IMF, debt relief at the 50% level was never uncommon.

“50% is too excessive. The maximum is 40%. How about reaching an agreement at this level?”

“By any chance, what about the GL Card acquisition cost? You’re not thinking of handing over a company with over 20 trillion in debt for money, are you?”

“Hmm, but GL Card has assets, so we can’t just hand it over for free, can we? It’s definitely worth at least 3 trillion won.”

Debt relief and acquisition costs were separate matters.

The various assets GL Card possessed – real estate, customer base, IT systems – definitely had value.

The creditors seemed to have no intention of conceding on this part, and we spent time exchanging meaningless words.

After about 30 minutes had passed.

Without warning, the meeting hall door opened and the owner of the space appeared.

“Everyone is working hard. Are the negotiations proceeding well?”

“We apologize for the lengthy discussion. Since it’s such a sensitive matter, it’s taking time.”

“I stopped by briefly wondering if the Blue House could help with anything. I hope I’m not interfering?”

“Oh, not at all! It’s an honor that you came.”

The President’s appearance.

At that moment, the wind of negotiation completely reversed.

The creditors’ backs, which had been unbending, were instantly bent at 90 degrees.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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