New Employees With an Annual Salary of 1 Trillion Won - Chapter 151

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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 151. A Set Table (1)

How could one become full from the first spoonful?

During the World Cup season, we had signed foundry contracts with many IT companies, but it wasn’t quite at a satisfactory level yet.

“I don’t understand why people are so stingy. If they’re going to make contracts anyway, wouldn’t it be nice if they did it generously? What’s with all these conditions about test production and first-phase contracts?”

“They probably set those conditions because they don’t trust Daehyeon Semiconductor’s technology yet. The scale is small, but just signing contracts is already a great achievement.”

Chairman looked at the contracts and clicked his tongue.

Some companies had signed small-scale supply contracts, while others said they would sign formal contracts after test production.

These contracts wouldn’t generate immediate profits.

But if we could satisfy customers through these contracts, bigger contracts would naturally follow.

“At least Apple was pretty generous.”

“They probably trusted us because the quality of iPods produced at Nexcon is so good.”

“I was tempted to use my major shareholder authority to force contracts.”

“That’s one method, but it could worsen relationships.”

“Don’t you think I know that? I’m just saying. Anyway, shouldn’t we start the bank acquisition soon?”

Chairman said while pushing the contracts to one side.

Knowing that Chairman had been moving tirelessly during the World Cup period because of the next operation, I couldn’t delay any longer.

“Actually, I’m scheduled to meet with Hana Bank today.”

“Who are you meeting? The Bank President? Or someone from Commerzbank?”

Hana Bank’s shareholding structure was quite complex.

To survive the IMF, attracting foreign currency was absolutely necessary.

Germany’s Commerzbank secured over 30% of shares as a condition for their investment.

“First, I’m scheduled to meet with a high-ranking executive from Commerzbank. Wouldn’t it be easier to work on the major shareholder first?”

“I heard the general manager has been meeting German people lately, so it must have been someone from Commerzbank.”

“Since we were trying to contact Germany’s second-largest bank, we had no choice but to go through headquarters.”

“Well done. How about I come along and at least play the role of a figurehead?”

There was no need for Chairman to step forward.

Although Commerzbank was Germany’s second-largest bank, we were just meeting an executive in charge of Korea, not a bank representative.

But Chairman was already preparing to get up from his seat.

How could I move alone with such a Chairman?

And there would definitely be convenient aspects to moving together, so I didn’t refuse.

“If your schedule permits, would you like to come along?”

“Of course I should come along. Wouldn’t it be a waste to just watch such an interesting event? Let’s go quickly.”

Chairman was already heading outside.

I quickly moved and went to the meeting place together with Chairman.

***

Commerzbank had been established in Korea for a long time.

They had been operating the Seoul Branch since the 1970s, consistently showing interest in the Korean financial market.

So this time, a Vice President personally came to Korea to negotiate with us.

“Aren’t you Chairman Robertson? I really didn’t expect you to come personally. It’s truly wonderful to meet you like this. I’m Hans Müller, serving as Vice President for Asia at Commerzbank.”

“I came along since I was visiting Korea to watch the World Cup. But it’s really disappointing. Unfortunately, the German team came in second place.”

“Why else would there be a saying that victory is given by heaven? It’s a disappointing result, but it can’t be helped.”

As expected, the conversation started with World Cup talk again.

Only after celebrating Germany’s runner-up finish and Korea’s unexpected performance together and lifting the mood did we get to the main topic.

“I heard Hana Bank’s situation is quite difficult.”

“The aftermath of Tiger Fund’s short selling of card companies hit Hana Bank. Ah! Of course, I absolutely don’t think it’s because of Tiger Fund. Too many negative factors have overlapped from the IMF until now.”

“I heard there are also many debts that couldn’t be collected from Daehyeon Construction and Daehyeon Electronics. Coincidentally, they’re all matters related to Tiger Fund, so I don’t know what to say.”

There wasn’t just one reason why Hana Bank was shaking.

Of course, the financial situation rapidly worsened when they merged with card companies due to the card crisis.

But the funds that couldn’t be recovered from Daehyeon Construction and Daehyeon Electronics also occupied a large portion.

“How could we blame Tiger Fund? It’s my fault for making wrong choices. We shouldn’t have purchased Hana Bank shares in the first place.”

“I understand you hold considerable shares.”

“It reaches 30%. But we can’t sell these shares at our discretion either. Since public funds have been heavily invested in Hana Bank, it’s difficult to make any decisions without approval from the Korean government.”

Hana Bank was already under state management.

Ultimately, even if Commerzbank sold their shares, the final decision-making power lay with the Korean government.

“Still, wouldn’t share sales be possible if there’s government permission?”

“Are you perhaps interested in acquiring shares? The Korean government will only give permission to those who acquire the entire bank.”

“Acquiring the entire bank right now has too much risk. We’re thinking of starting by acquiring some non-performing loans first. How does that sound?”

Vice President Müller smiled.

If even some non-performing loans could be disposed of, Hana Bank’s stock price would naturally rise.

“Of course we welcome it. But the authority to handle non-performing loans lies entirely with Hana Bank and financial authorities.”

“Still, if the major shareholder Commerzbank proposes it, wouldn’t they consider it positively?”

“I’ll submit a non-performing loan sale proposal today. But by any chance, are there any stories about Hana Bank circulating on Wall Street?”

Vice President Müller’s words had a subtle nuance.

He was definitely hinting that other American funds were interested in Hana Bank shares, and I already knew who that was.

“There are no stories coming from Wall Street. Lone Star is closer to Texas than Wall Street anyway.”

“You knew after all. Lone Star is showing interest in acquiring shares. From our position, we wanted to sell and leave as soon as possible, but we haven’t been able to complete the sale because Korean government approval hasn’t come through.”

Commerzbank’s influence was smaller than expected.

They certainly had a voice as major shareholders, but they didn’t have the authority to independently sell shares or arbitrarily dispose of non-performing loans.

I hadn’t planned to achieve great results from this meeting either.

It was just for the purpose of forming relationships with major shareholder Commerzbank and gathering information.

“If there’s anything Tiger Fund can help with, please let us know anytime.”

“Thank you so much for saying that.”

“Now, now! Let’s stop the work talk here and have a meal first. Who knows, we might end up working together on Wall Street later, right?”

Chairman made the atmosphere even softer.

We lightly raised our glasses and talked about the Korean economy in general, and during that time I was able to gradually obtain information about Hana Bank through the Vice President.

***

Vice President Müller moved quickly, unlike a typical German.

He sent a response about non-performing loans in just one day.

But I received an answer that was the complete opposite of what I wanted.

“What did Vice President Müller say?”

“He says non-performing loan sales are impossible.”

“To save the bank, disposing of non-performing loans would be urgent, so why won’t they sell?”

The plan had gone awry.

I had intended to secure Hana Bank shares through acquiring non-performing loans.

But I never expected to receive an answer refusing to sell non-performing loans.

“I don’t understand that part either. I was only thinking about how to buy non-performing loans at bargain prices, never thinking they would refuse the sale of non-performing loans itself.”

“Haha, things are taking an interesting turn. A bank refusing to sell non-performing loans. There must definitely be some other scheme.”

Chairman was actually enjoying the current situation.

But I couldn’t enjoy it.

Since the work I had designed and planned had gone wrong, I felt like breaking out in hives all over my body.

“I need to find the reason. Song Sang-yeon, please bring all the materials related to Hana Bank.”

“Headquarters should have quite a bit of data too. And Wall Street should have considerable Hana Bank data as well, so I’ll help too.”

All Fund Employees rushed in.

Since Chairman didn’t know Korean, he analyzed materials sent from Wall Street.

Song Sang-yeon, other Staff Members and I reviewed any materials even slightly related to Hana Bank.

We began analyzing day and night like that.

A day had already passed, and when Chairman was lying on the Sofa sleeping.

A discordant sound came from the economics newspaper.

“Song Sang-yeon, please help me check this together.”

“What’s the content?”

“This is related to banking law, with detailed provisions for exceptions to the financial-industrial separation law.”

“This is an article that came out when Cali Fund acquired Hanseo Bank. Banking law prevents industrial capital from acquiring banks, but exceptions are made for distressed banks.”

Distressed banks.

This part kept producing discordant notes.

“What are the criteria for distressed banks?”

“If the BIS (capital adequacy ratio) doesn’t exceed 8%, it’s classified as a distressed bank. In that case, industrial capital can acquire banks without any restrictions.”

“Then if KEB Hana Bank is designated as a distressed bank, Lone Star could acquire it without any restrictions.”

“Theoretically, yes. Of course, approval from financial authorities and the government would be needed, but the government probably wouldn’t oppose the acquisition of a distressed bank.”

Now I had found one piece of the puzzle.

With just one central puzzle piece, finding the remaining pieces wouldn’t be difficult.

“There’s also the possibility they blocked the sale of non-performing loans to become a distressed bank.”

“Although KEB Hana Bank’s situation worsened after the card company merger, it’s still insufficient to be designated as a distressed bank. After all, it’s one of Korea’s top 5 banks. But if they manipulate the numbers somehow, it seems possible for it to be designated as distressed.”

To fit the remaining puzzle pieces.

I needed to know KEB Hana Bank’s situation in more detail first.

“What is KEB Hana Bank’s current projected BIS ratio?”

“From what I’ve gathered, it’s between 8-9%. But it could easily be lowered by 1-2%.”

“Are you saying manipulation is possible?”

“BIS isn’t a fixed number but varies according to projections and evaluations. Just by projecting recoverable amounts as unrecoverable increases the expected loss amount. That would lower the BIS ratio.”

This was a loophole in the BIS system.

Of course, which bank would deliberately try to lower their BIS ratio?

They would try to raise it as much as possible since getting the highest score possible ensures credibility.

But KEB Hana Bank was different.

Only by becoming a distressed bank could they enable easy sale, so they were trying to lower their BIS ratio somehow.

“So ultimately, they won’t sell because they need to hold onto non-performing loans to lower their BIS ratio.”

“Since they need to become a distressed bank for foreign capital to increase acquisition probability, that seems highly likely.”

“But KEB Hana Bank couldn’t have planned this operation alone. It’s already a bank operating on public funds.”

“While it’s hard to see the government directly ordering this, it seems likely the financial authorities are involved.”

The rough blueprint was drawn.

Financial authorities who set up this scheme to prevent bank bankruptcy.

And Lone Star riding on that scheme trying to secure maximum profit.

Finally, KEB Hana Bank was very likely cooperating to survive.

“It seems the financial authorities set up this scheme to prevent KEB Hana Bank’s bankruptcy.”

“If one of Korea’s top 5 banks goes bankrupt, it would inevitably spread to the entire financial sector. So it seems they intend to resolve the situation early by blocking the KEB Hana Bank issue, even at a bargain price.”

I couldn’t tell if Lone Star and the financial authorities had joined hands.

But what the financial authorities and Lone Star wanted was identical, and if left alone, it was a structure where Lone Star would sweep up all the winnings.

“It seems the financial authorities and Lone Star have already set the table.”

“It appears so. If KEB Hana Bank becomes a distressed bank, they could also buy Commerzbank’s equity shares at bargain prices.”

“But why is only Lone Star sitting at such a delicious table?”

Intentionally becoming a distressed bank meant.

Once acquired, it could be restored to a normal bank at any time.

Why did only Lone Star monopolize this opportunity to acquire at bargain prices and make trillion-won profits?

“Even if designated as a distressed bank, acquiring KEB Hana Bank would require at least 2 trillion won in funds. There are no individuals or companies in Korea who can invest over 2 trillion won.”

“So ultimately, they couldn’t enter the game because they couldn’t pay the entry fee.”

“We can’t be left out of this money game. Or how about raising the entry fee to 3 trillion won?”

The Chairman, who had been lying on the sofa, had somehow approached beside me.

As if seeing through the entire situation, he licked his lips with a sinister smile.

“Did you hear everything?”

“When you get old, your hearing becomes sharp. Lone Star is trying to take the game with less than 2 trillion won? Then we should overturn their table and create a new game.”

“Is there really a need to overturn the table that the financial authorities and Lone Star have set so nicely? I’d prefer we just steal their chopsticks and eat deliciously ourselves.”

The table was beautifully set.

The question was who would become the owner of that table.

There was no law saying we couldn’t eat from a table set by others.

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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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