Offerings by Michael ByungJu Kim

Author:Michael ByungJu Kim
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781950691692
Publisher: Arcade
Published: 2020-03-11T16:00:00+00:00

*

After the match, we repair to the sauna, a favorite meeting place of Wayne’s. We’re the only ones there.

“Hae Sun says hi, by the way,” he says. “Gonna put her in our next movie.” I wait for more, but he launches into the topic at hand.

“Prosecutors are circling,” he says, wiping the sweat off his brow. “And the labor unions want their kilogram of flesh. But a successful sale of Ilsung Motors, that’s the whole cake.” Whole ca-kee. Only shot to get the cash he needs. Otherwise, he loses control of the flagship companies to the creditors or, worse, to his ambitious brother, Kane.

Wayne confirms what I’ve heard from Jun and others of rival factions forming among the group executives, some supporting Wayne and others lining up behind Kane. Kim Sil-jang, who has the chairman’s ear, has been positioned as the effective casting vote. Wayne says Kim Sil-jang’s fingerprints can be dusted into view in the development of the rivalry. Number Two knows he’s out once one of the brothers ascends to the throne. For now, he sits in the middle and plays the brothers off each other for his own gain. What Koreans call uh-bu ji-ri.

The heat in the small sauna room is stifling, and there is a warm smell of ripening apples.

The only way for Wayne to get Kim Sil-jang to support him is by raising several billion dollars in a sale of Motors. The proceeds will pay back the creditors, with plenty left for the slush fund, administered by Kim.

I have my misgivings, but I’m not feeling morally heroic enough to question deeply my role in abetting Wayne in his dubious grand plan. Just giving a client strategic advice on a corporate divestiture, I tell myself.

“The key is generating competitive tension among multiple potential acquirers,” I advise. “Daimler-Benz is the right buyer in strategic fit, but we have to get GM or even Renault interested. It takes two to make a party.

“What we’ve got to do is strike the fear of God in GM and Renault: lose Ilsung Motors to Daimler, you lose Korea, and you can kiss the huge China market goodbye.” Wayne soaks it in. “All we need is one of them to be a stalking horse to Daimler,” I say. “Only way to get the acquisition price up. As it is, we’re concerned Daimler will hold out to pick up the asset on the cheap. At a fire-sale price.” Which would be not unreasonable, since it is a fire sale. “But, no matter what, we can’t look like a desperate seller.”

Wayne nods vigorously; he’s excited to be privy to the dark arts of M&A. He offers to plant a story saying that creditors are firmly supportive of the Group in one of the local papers he’s “friendly” with. I tell him we need to leak the story to the Financial Journal, the influential international paper. We agree I will do it, since I know the Asia M&A beat reporter there.

Wayne says, in case I didn’t get the message, “Pardner, my entire empire turns on this deal.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.