Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Chapter 766: Fulfilling Preliminary Examination Requirement to Go Public (1) - Part 1

It was September.

The daily temperature range became great since yesterday. It was getting cold.

Gun-Ho was reading an economic newspaper in his office in GH Building, Sinsa town that day when he received an urgent call from the branch manager of the stock brokerage firm in Gangnam.

"Sir, we did it."

"What do you mean? We did what?"

"The KOSDAQ Listed Companies Association approved our application for the preliminary examination. Congratulations, sir."

Gun-Ho jumped out of the sofa.

"Is that right?"

"They posted the list of the companies this morning, that passed the preliminary examination. There were ten companies that received their approval. We will see the official announcement in the evening newspapers. You can also see it on the internet anytime soon."

"Oh, my. That's wonderful. You have done a great job, Mr. Branch Manager. I know you've worked hard to make it successful, as our agent."

"We haven't done much, sir. Dyeon Korea was qualified enough to pass the preliminary examination. We just helped with paperwork to show them the qualification."

"What is the next step? What do we need to prepare at this point?"

"We need to file a report on the marketable securities with the Financial Supervisory Service."

"When do we give a presentation on our business targeting institutional investors?"

"Once our report on the marketable securities is received by the Financial Supervisory Service, we will do the presentation."

"Hmm, I see."

"You know the purpose of requiring companies to report their marketable securities, don't you? It's basically to protect the investors, and also to create a healthy environment in procuring funds. It's shown in our country's Securities and Exchange Act."

"Hmm."

"You don't need to disclose special information on the report, but we just need to show the companies' marketable securities and the current status of the business."

"Where do we file it?"

"We submit it to the Securities and Exchange Commission."

"As to the marketable securities, our company currently has 20 billion won of capital. That should be reflected on it then, right?"

"The company is offering its shares to the public for the first time, so we will need to report the increase of the shares."

"How many shares should we increase?"

"That needs to be determined by you, sir. Since this is a joint venture company, you probably want to discuss it with your partner—Lymondell Dyeon—as well."

"Hmm."

"This is not something that could be determined during the executive meeting by discussing it with your executive officers, but you have to determine it as the president. Once it's determined, please sign the report; we will then submit the report for you."

"Okay."

After getting off the phone with the branch manager, Gun-Ho made a call to Dyeon Korea's internal auditor.

"Our preliminary application to register with KOSDAQ has been approved. I just received the call."

"Wow! Finally, we made it, sir. I knew we would make it."

"Can you let Mr. Vice President Adam Castler know?"

"Yes, I will do it, sir."

"About the report on our marketable securities, I will directly contact the stock brokerage company that is handling the process."

"Yes, sir. In the meantime, we will be preparing for the presentation for IR."

After spending some time thinking about what he was going to do with the increase of the company shares, Gun-Ho felt a headache.

"I want to take a sauna."

Gun-Ho was thinking about going to a sauna that was located inside the Education Community Center Building in Yangjae Town, and then he decided to go to a closer place—Le Meridien (Ritz Carlton Hotel). It was situated next to the Sinnonhyeon Station which was close to Sinsa Town where he was working at. Gun-Ho started thinking about it with his arms crossed in the sauna.

'The current value of Dyeon Korea's shares is 20 billion won. It's 10,000 won per share, and we have 2 million of them. GH Mobile owns 9 million won worth of shares, and Lymondell Dyeon owns equally 9 million won worth of shares. The remaining 2 million won worth of shares are owned by our employees per the employee stock ownership program. Therefore, GH Mobile owns 45% of the company…

What GH Mobile owns is what I own. Once the number of its shares is increased due to going public, the company will be funded substantially, but my ownership interest in the company will decrease….

I will increase the company shares only by 30%. The new shares will be 600,000, and we will get funded with 6 billion won. The company's capital will be increased from 20 billion won to 26 billion won then. GH Mobile's ownership interest will be reduced from 45% to 35%. If we receive good estimated demand, the price of our initial public offering will be high. Say, the price of our initial public offering is determined 5 times of the current price, then GH Mobile's ownership interest will be 45 billion won since it has 9 billion won now, and if I multiply it by 5 times, it will be 45 billion won.

If someone wants to buy GH Mobile, maybe I should sell it to the person for 45 billion won… or not. I don't know, but it is an opportunity for me to make 45 billion won.

Gun-Ho found his fingers shriveled up. It seemed that he lost track of time while being lost in thought. It was time to get out of the sauna.

Once he walked out of the sauna, he checked his smartphone. There were two missed calls from Minister Jin-Woo Lee. Gun-Ho made a call to Minister Jin-Woo Lee right away.

"It's Gun-Ho Goo, sir. I'm sorry that I missed your call."

"I guess you are having a busy day, huh?"

"Haha. Not really. I was taking a sauna. I didn't have my cell phone with me."

"I'm so envious of you that you have time to take a sauna on weekdays. Well, I called you because I wanted to thank you."

"For what, sir? Oh, oh that one."

"I'm in the middle of something right now, and I have to go, but just know that I appreciate it."

After getting off the phone with Minister Jin-Woo Lee, Gun-Ho searched for new political news with his smartphone. There was news about the upcoming by-election.

[It was reported that one of the candidates for the upcoming by-election had made a disparaging comment about the people in his election district.]

Gun-Ho giggled.

"Hahaha. It's working."

Gun-Ho clicked the news title to read more about it.

[One of the candidates for the upcoming by-election—a former news anchor—is encountering unexpected and severe criticism by the very people in his election district. It all started with the comment that he made in the past. The comment was made years ago, and in the comment, he said every woman living in Gangnam District is beautiful while so many women living in other areas are so ugly. He also added that that's why he is living in Gangnam District.]

[A resident in the said district—Ms. Park, 23 years old—questioned why this man is claiming that he would represent the interest of the people in the area where he doesn't even want to live because so many ugly girls are living there.

According to a public opinion poll conducted by Gallup Korea, after the former news anchor's comment in the past was revealed, the voting gap between him and the other candidate—Former Minister Jin-Woo Lee—was getting bigger. It's now 45:55.]

Gun-Ho grinned and said, "Who was the person that said 'running a company is an act of art?' Oh, that's right. It was Chairman Joong-Hoon Jo—the founder of Hanjin Group. His son and daughter are tainting their father's reputation by habitually going on a power trip. It was said by their father—Chairman Joong-Hoon Jo—who acquired Korean Air and Inha University."

"The funny thing is that I believe it's not just running a company that is an act of art, but things that happened in the political sphere look more artistic. Speaking of which, that reminds me of what the American political scientist—Murray Jacob Edelman—said. He said politics is an art of symbolic fabrication. Hahaha."