Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Chapter 898: Rumors About Acquisition (2) - Part 1

W Group's staff from its planning and coordination department visited Dyeon Korea and conducted their investigation on the company's assets. As their investigation was completed, Gun-Ho received a call from Dyeon Korea's internal auditor.

"Sir, W Group's investigation is over."

"Was there anything particular that they pointed out?"

"No, sir. They sent one senior manager and a manager to our location. They did a cursory review of the documents that we provided them with, and their check with our products in our storage was not thorough either."

"Is that right?"

"They took a copy of our organizational structure and a list of the employees."

"Alright."

There would be a meeting in GH Mobile tomorrow. Gun-Ho was expecting to receive this year's performance report and next year's business plan during the meeting.

"Maybe I should make an announcement on promotions in GH Mobile tomorrow right after I receive the report."

At that moment, Gun-Ho received a call from SH Investment Partners' President Geun-Soo Son. His voice was telling that it was about an urgent matter.

"Sir, do you know that Dyeon Korea's stock price hit the upper limit today?"

"Really?"

"There are rumors that are widely spread in the stock market, that Dyeon Korea will be acquired by W Group."

"Hmm, really?"

"You must know something about the rumors."

"Well, nothing is confirmed yet. It's too early to say anything about it for sure. How many shares of Dyeon Korea have we bought so far?"

"We have purchased 3.2 million shares, sir. Our purchasing price per share on average is 25,000 won. When the price exceeded 30,000 won, I stopped the purchase. And, now the price is 36,000 won."

"If we purchased that many shares, I guess that you've already made a public announcement about it, right?"

"Of course, sir. It has been announced that SH Investment Partners is holding 32 million Dyeon Korea's shares. I've also noticed that an entity called OA Holdings bought 1.5 million of Dyeon Korea's shares as well, which is on public notice as well."

"OA Holdings? Do you know anything about that company?"

"No, sir. I've never heard of that name before."

"Well, I can tell you this about the rumors. I am currently dealing with W Group for the acquisition matter, but the deal hasn't completed, and I haven't received the payment yet. I want you to keep this to you until it is all done."

"I believe that you need to make a public announcement about the acquisition rumors if the stock price hit the upper limit again tomorrow."

"Well, if we receive a request to make an announcement about it, then yes, we should. If the stock price hit the upper limit again, I want you to watch the volume of buy requests carefully, and sell all of the shares that we are holding now if buy requests are not high enough."

"Yes, sir."

"If buy requests seem to be accumulated more than enough, hold our shares until the day after tomorrow."

"Yes, sir. I'm wondering, sir. Was that you that leaked the rumors about the acquisition to the stock market?"

"No, I didn't do it. I have never done such a thing before."

"In that case, it was probably W Group then that leaked the rumors."

"I don't know…"

The following day, Gun-Ho went to work in GH Mobile. As they had a meeting for this year's performance report and next year's business plan, every single executive officer gathered in a small meeting room. As to this year's performance report, since it was still December, and the month of December's performance was not yet completed, the report on the December portion was based on estimation only.

As Gun-Ho was entering the meeting room, he received a call from SH Investment Partners' President Geun-Soo Son.

"Dyeon Korea's stock price hit the upper limit again today, sir. Newspapers are talking about the rumors of W Group acquiring Dyeon Korea, and they said that that's why Dyeon Korea's stock price hit the upper limit two days in a row."

"Are there a good number of buy requests piled up?"

"Yes, sir. There are buy requests accumulated for about 2 million shares right now."

"Add additional buy requests to it, maybe about 1 million. We are not going to buy more shares, but just pretend that we would."

"Understood, sir."

Gun-Ho entered the meeting room and sat at the table. At that moment, his phone started ringing again. It was from Dyeon Korea's internal auditor.

"Sir, we just received a request that we have to make a public announcement. KOSDAQ Market Division is asking us to explain about the rumors on W Group acquiring Dyeon Korea's ownership interest."

"How much time do we have until the due date?"

"They want us to make the announcement by tomorrow noon, sir."

"Okay. I'm about to begin an executive meeting in GH Mobile right now. I will give you a call after the meeting."

"Yes, sir."

Gun-Ho was sitting at the middle of the table in the meeting room. As he looked around, he could see President Song, the chief research officer, the accounting director, the general affairs director, and the production quality control director. Director Jong-Suk Park was not there, of course, and Gun-Ho stared at the seat that Jong-Suk used to sit on, for a moment. The accounting director started giving the performance report.

"As the product orders from H Group and S Electronics Group increased this year, our sales performance…"

Gun-Ho chipped in, "Just give us the numbers. And, please speak up as well."

"Yes, sir."

"This year's total sales revenue is 187.4 billion won."

Hearing the number— 187.4 billion won— people at the meeting room let out a low moan of surprise. Compared to the sales revenue in the previous year, the sales revenue increased by 70%. Thanks to Party Leader Jin-Woo Lee. The volume of product orders from H Group and S Electronics Group increased substantially this year, and that made this amazing growth in sales possible.

"Please go on."

"The cost of sales is 149.9 billion won, and our total amount of profit is 37.5 billion won. Our general administrative expenses are 18 billion won, and the non-operating expenses are 2.4 billion won. Therefore, our operating income is 17.1 billion won and the operating profit to sales ratio is 9%."

"Hmm."

"After paying the corporate tax, our net profit would be 13.3 billion won, resulting in 7% of net earning rate."

"Good job"

The 13.3 billion won, that the accounting director gave in her last sentence of her presentation, was the amount of money that can be used. After setting aside a legal reserve requirement, they could use this money to distribute dividends among the shareholders or to pay for the company's debt.

After taking a sip of his water, Gun-Ho said, "We might see some updates on the yearly profit and loss statements that we just received, because we might be able to retrieve our investment."

The attendees of the meeting all lifted their heads and looked at Gun-Ho.

"We are reviewing the possibility of selling our ownership interest in Dyeon Korea. Until the acquisition is completed, you shouldn't disclose this to anyone outside this room as this fact is greatly affecting the stock price of Dyeon Korea right now."

President Song resumed the report by giving his presentation on next year's business plan.

"I will now talk about our business plan for next year. Our sales goal for next year is 247.6 billion won. It's a 30% increase from this year's sales revenue. We are planning to develop a new product…"

It took exactly 1 and half hours to listen to this year's performance report and the business plan for next year. Gun-Ho wrapped up the meeting and walked out of the meeting room.

Once he came back to his office, Gun-Ho called for President Song.

"Today is December 10th. As we are done with this year's performance report, why don't we make a confirmation on promotions for this year as well?"

"I was told that Dyeon Korea already made their decisions on this year's promotions, and they would make it official on the 15th of this month."

"Director Kim and Manager Yoo will be promoted in Dyeon Korea."

"That's what I expected."

"And, it is highly possible that Mr. Adam Castler is appointed to be its next president."

"I'm glad to hear that. We feel very comfortable working with him anyway, don't we?"

"The internal auditor will stay in the same position, and we are letting the chief research officer go this time."

"That's what I expected as well."