Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Chapter 785: Determination of Public Offering Price (1) - Part 2

Gun-Ho was having a cup of hot Longjing tea in his office in GH Development. At that moment, he received a rather unexpected call. It was from his sister.

"Congratulations, Gun-Ho. Dyeon Korea is going public, huh?"

"Oh, you saw the news?"

"Yeah. Actually, I learned it from my husband first. He heard about the news when he visited Dyeon Korea for work earlier. He told me that the workers there were vigorously talking about it."

"What were they saying?"

"The talks actually started last week. People talked about Dyeon Korea going public, and said that those, who purchased the company shares through the employee stock ownership program earlier, would make a lot of money soon."

"Hmm, is that right?"

"And, when I was surfing the web as it's one of my usual routines, I saw the word— Dyeon Korea. When I clicked it to find out what was going on, I learned about it going public. My husband told me that Dyeon Korea opened new manufacturing facilities in China and India. According to him, it will soon open additional factories in Southeast Asia as well."

"Yup, that's the plan."

"I'm so proud of you, my brother. I'm really impressed. You grew into this great businessman. If you think about the old days even a few years back, you and I couldn't even find a decent job in a public company. Whenever we heard of someone who got a job in a public company, we were so envious of them. And, now, you are not just working for a public company, but you are the president of a public company, who is running it. I still can't believe it."

"Okay."

"So, now, my question is… Can ordinary people sell and buy Dyeon Korea's stock?"

"Yes, it's possible."

"Oh, haha. You remember my friend— Seung-Hee— right? She is here with me in my office right now. She is saying that she is so sick of even hearing about investing in the stock market."

"Why is that?"

"She invested this lump sum money that she was going to use as a security deposit for her rental home, and she lost it all when she invested it in the stock market. That's how she started her current job selling insurance policies. She is here with me for insurance."

"Haha, really? Well, I hope you have fun with your old friend there. I have to go now. You know, I'm busy."

"Oh, okay, no problem. I will talk to you later."

After getting off the phone with his sister, Gun-Ho thought about Seung-Hee Park sister while having his Longjiang tea.

'Seung-Hee sister was very popular when we were all in high school. She was rather a conceited girl back then.'

Seung-Hee Park was Gun-Ho's sister's best friend in high school. She was pretty and popular among the boys in the area. She was making good grades in school, and her family was doing better financially than Gun-Ho's family. Her father was working for a tax accountant office or something. Gun-Ho also remembered that he had heard about her father's affairs with another woman, and he started a new family in another area or something.

In those old days, Gun-Ho had thought that if he had to marry, he would marry someone like Seung-Hee sister. However, when he saw her again for the first time in a long time when he was running several OneRoomTels in Seoul, he was very disappointed by her look. She changed a lot, and Gun-Ho almost couldn't recognize her. First, she was not as pretty as he remembered. Also, she looked shorter than he remembered, and she seemed to have grown into a mediocre middle-aged woman who could be often seen on the street. Seung-Hee Park visited Gun-Ho's tiny office at that time to sell fire insurance.

'So, Seung-Hee sister was once into stock trading, huh? Ha. Last time I saw her, she looked like a middle-aged woman who had no particular interest or sense in the business world or anything like that. I wonder how she had gotten into stock trading. Maybe, she simply put her money there when she heard of some information from someone. And that probably was how she lost her entire money that she was going to use to rent a condo.'

When Gun-Ho was thinking about Seung-Hee sister, he received a call from his wife— Young-Eun— which was unusual.

"Oppa? It's me."

"Huh? I've never expected to get a call from you at work. What's up?"

"Is it a good time to talk?"

"Yeah."

"Dyeon Korean is your company, isn't it?"

"Honey, you don't know what company your husband owns? Please have some interest in what your husband does."

"Well, hubby, I'm not interested in what company you are running. You and I already know that, right? The thing is that there are people who show their interests in what you do, around me."

"Who is that?"

"I received a call from a friend from college. He was senior to me. He asked me if Dyeon Korea that is going public is the company that Sang-Min's father is running."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him that it looks like it is."

"And?"

"He asked if he can buy the company stock now."

"I don't know that yet. He will have to wait until the stock becomes available in the stock market."

"Okay. I will let him know."

Gun-Ho felt a bit disappointed in Young-Eun's indifference in his work. He didn't expect for Young-Eun to get all excited about his company going public and making a fuss about it, but she could at least tell him to congratulate him quietly. But that was okay with Gun-Ho because they had a baby together. when he thought about his son— Sang-Min— laughing while waving a rattle toy, a smile spread across his face as well.

Later that day, Gun-Ho received a call from Dyeon Korea's internal auditor again.

"It's me, sir. I just came back to the office."

"You are very quick. You did a great job today, Mr. Internal Auditor."

"Mr. Vice President Adam Castler is asking if he can inform the head office about the public offering price of our company share."

"Sure, why not? It's not a secret. The price has been publicly announced already."

"They are also asking about the IPO lock-up period for major shareholders."

"They should know about it. I wonder why they are asking us such a question."

"They probably want to hear from us as a confirmation, sir. Haha."

"Tell them that it's 6 months."

"Yes, sir. They are also asking if we have any plans to do a stock split later. Lymondell Dyeon is asking about it."

"They asked about a stock split?"

"Do you want me to tell them that we have no plan to do it yet?"

"That sounds good. It seems that Lymondell Dyeon is very interested in the company going public and probably the following increase in value of their ownership interest."

"It is true that they are showing their acute interest in it, particularly at this time. Mr. Vice President Adam Castler emphasized twice to me that these questions are from Lymondell Dyeon."

"I'm sure that it is very possible that they will try to manipulate the stock market with help from the global investment banking companies such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, or Bear Stearns. They won't miss any opportunities to make money by investing in the stock market. They are professionals in this field."

"Even if that's their intention, since this is a joint venture company, both parties must let the other party know in advance about their move, right?"

"Of course, we should. Well, tell them that we haven't planned anything about splitting the stock for now, but if we do later, we will discuss it with them."

"Yes, sir. I will let them know as such."