Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Chapter 896: Rumors About Acquisition (1) – Part 1

Gun-Ho started making his announcement in a calm voice in front of the executive officer.

“First of all, as you all know, Mr. Senior Director Kim has tremendously been contributing to growing Dyeon Korea to its current status. He will be promoted to vice president.”

“I haven’t done much, sir… Thank you,” said Director Kim.

Director Dong-Chan Kim knew about his promotion already since Gun-Ho had previously told him about it in person, but his face still brushed when the promotion was confirmed in front of other executive officers.

“Next, Mr. Hee-Yeol Yoo, who has been doing an excellent job in supervising our production site, will be promoted to a director position. He will still perform dual duties as a plant manager as well.”

“I will do my best, sir.”

Manager Hee-Yeol Yoo also blushed and gave a bow to Gun-Ho. The people in the room were not surprised by the promotions for these two people. It was expected and obvious.

Gun-Ho continued, “Mr. Internal Auditor, Mr. Director Yoon, and Mr. Senior Director Hyeong-Woo Lee, who is currently working in Guangdong Province, China, will maintain their current positions this year. I’m hoping to give good news for these three next year. Mr. Director Yoon, please make these promotions official when you receive the appointment letter from Lymondell Dyeon for the president position on December 14th. I will be resigning from the president position by then, and will take the board of directors’ chairman position, so add to the official announcement as such. And, Mr. Chief Research Officer has been with us in the advisory position for the past 2 years, and it will expire at the end of this year. I understand that he has contributed to our company greatly, but we will have to let him go complying to our company’s policies.”

“Yes, sir.”

“For those who got promoted, I want you to keep in mind that, with your promotion, you will enjoy benefits such as receiving a higher salary, but don’t forget that it comes with heavier responsibilities as well. Congratulations to all. For those who didn’t get their promotions this year, I will expect to have good news next year for you. For the people in the position of mid-level management, I want you to discuss and take care of their promotions with Mr. Vice President Adam Castler here.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Also, we are expecting to have visitors from W Group’s planning and coordination department sometime this week. They will conduct their investigation on our assets.”

Everyone in the meeting room looked at Gun-Ho with questioning looks on their faces. A visit from an external auditor would make sense, but they didn’t understand why investors from W Group would visit the company.

“We are doing some projects with W Group, and it’s a necessary procedure for it. You will hear a full explanation once their investigation is completed.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And, Mr. Internal Auditor, since I won’t come to work here starting the 15th of this month, please send the company’s performance report to me via email when it becomes available.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And, if our operating income this year increased by more than 20% as we had achieved last year, please review the possibility of giving a year-end bonus to our employees.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Alright. We will end our meeting here today. Mr. Director Hee-Yeol Yoo, would you go downstairs and tell Mr. Chief Research Officer to come to my office?”

“Yes, sir.”

The executive officers in the meeting left the room, and they seemed to have a lot of questions.

“Why would W Group want to know about our company’s assets all of a sudden?”

“That’s what I’m saying. Are they going to place a huge product order for us?”

“Well, I don’t know. When a client company wants to start business with a vendor company, they usually ask the vendor company to produce financial statements. They don’t conduct investigations on the vendor company’s assets. This is certainly unusual.”

“Did you hear Mr. President Goo asking the chief research officer to come to his office? I guess he wants to tell the chief research officer about leaving the company, in person.”

“That sounds about right. I guess it’s not easy to work as the president of a company. It’s certainly not a pleasant job telling someone to go home and not come back.”

“Anyway, Mr. Director Kim, and Mr. Manager Yoo, you can’t just go home today. We have to celebrate your promotions.”

After a while, the chief research officer entered Gun-Ho’s office. He looked pale. He probably heard the news about his job being terminated.

“You asked to see me, sir?”

The chief research officer, who was in his early 60s, gave a deep bow to his president, who was in his late 30s, as he entered the office.

“I just wanted to have a cup of tea with you. Ms. Seon-Hye Yee’s jujube tea is great.”

Gun-Ho then asked Secretary Seon-Hye Yee to bring two cups of jujube tea. As Gun-Ho looked at the chief research officer’s face from a close distance, he could see his deep wrinkles on his face. The wrinkles on his forehead and neck were very noticeable.

“I guess your children are all married, Mr. Chief Research Officer.”

“One is married, and the other one is still single.”

“I see.”

As Gun-Ho let out his sigh without realizing it, the chief research officer smiled and said, “It is okay, sir. You don’t have to feel so difficult to let me go. As a matter of fact, the two years with the company in an advisory position were good years for me. I do appreciate it. When I heard Manager Yoo being promoted, I knew what I had to do. I was going to come to your office to thank you, and let you know that I wouldn’t come to work starting tomorrow.”

“Thank you for your understanding, Mr. Chief Research Officer. Manager Yoo’s promotion to a director position has been confirmed. With his promotion, we now have an executive officer in the research center, and it wouldn’t be reasonable to keep the position that you are holding in this setting. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, but this is my final decision.”

“I completely understand, sir. I’m just grateful for the opportunity that I had with the company for the past two years. Thank you, sir.”

“Thank you. There is no severance package for an advisory position according to our company policy, but, we will give you something similar to it for your two-year service with us. I will talk to Director Yoon about it.”

“Thank you so much, sir.”

At that moment, Gun-Ho’s smartphone started ringing, and the chief research officer quickly stood up to leave.

“I will go back to my office now, sir.”

“I hope you the best.”

Ignoring his smartphone ringing, Gun-Ho also stood up from his seat and gave a 90-degree bow to the chief research officer; it was his own way to give a farewell to the old man.

After the chief research officer left the office, Gun-Ho answered his phone. It was from W Chemicals’ CEO.

“I will send our people there tomorrow by 10 am.”

“How many people are we expecting?”

“Two will be there. They are the staff from our planning and coordination department. They will check the company’s bank statement for cash assets. For them to verify the company’s fixed assets, if you could prepare a certified copy of corporate registration or similar documents, we would appreciate it.”

“Okay.”

“They will also need to review documents about your manufacturing facilities overseas. A lease agreement, sales contract for the real property, or government-issued approval document for the use of the land would be sufficient. They will also need to check the goods in stock, piled up inside the factory.”

“Understood. And, when we drafted our stock transfer agreement, we missed one thing.”

“What is it?”

“I want you to keep the current workers and executive officers when you acquire this company. You must not leave out even one single person. If that cannot be promised, I can’t sign the agreement either.”

“Haha. Don’t worry about it. We will keep everyone there.”

Gun-Ho said, “Can you make it in writing?”

“In writing? Sure. I will send it to you via email. I can use the email address shown in your business card, right?”

“Yes, that’s my email address. If you could send it to me today before your investigators arrive here would be great.”

“Okay.”