God-Given Investment Genius - God-Given Investment Genius chapter 23

23- Seonghan Paper Co., Ltd. (6)

#23. Sunghan Paper Co., Ltd. (6)

“Keuk…”

Cheol-gyu Choi, head of the Future Strategy Department, who was spearheading the construction of a new semiconductor plant at Ilsung Electronics, kicked Oh Jung-hwan, president of Godeok Development, in the shin and said.

“Oh boss, you bastard, how many hairs do you have? Didn’t you hear that the site of Seonghan Paper is more important than other places?”

“Sorry, sorry, manager. It was an atmosphere that almost got over it when it was presented at a price 30% higher than the market price, but now they say they won’t sell it even if they offer it twice as much…”

“If you were like me, you bet at amusement park, would you come over for a small amount of money? Shouldn’t we have tied the knot a long time ago?!”

Chief Choi Cheol-kyu was irritated, but it was important to understand the situation now.

Chief Choi Chul-gyu turned his head and asked another employee.

“Who is in charge of civil engineering?”

Then, a sharp-looking employee in his thirties quickly responded.

“I am, chief.”

“What will happen if we proceed without the Seonghan Paper site?”

“As you know, most of the state land that the government has decided to hand over is difficult to use due to frequent submersion. To make the land usable requires extensive earthworks, which requires large amounts of soil. The site owned by Sunghan Paper is a hilly terrain including hills, where a considerable amount of soil can be procured from the nearest area, so it can be said to be a key area for our new semiconductor plant establishment.”

“Is that all? Aren’t there only mountains there?”

“The problem is that, as a result of the geological survey of the area, most of the nearby mountains are stone mountains that reveal large bedrock layers even if only 3 meters are dug in, whereas the Seonghan Paper site is mostly made of soil, so there is no need for blasting and crushing, which dramatically reduces the civil engineering process. It has the advantage of being shorter. If this is the case, there will be no problem in building the first factory, but it seems that there will be a considerable delay in the construction of the additionally planned second factory.”

Choi Cheol-kyu glared at President Oh Jung-hwan once again and asked.

“Write it. Is there no other way at all?”

“The soil can be collected from other regions, but as you know, the government is currently focusing on stimulating the construction industry, so landfill is in short supply. Even if the calculation is as tight as possible, an additional cost of more than 600 billion won will be incurred if the soil as much as the Seonghan Paper site is airlifted from another area.”

“Can we proceed as planned with 600 billion won?”

“Of course, the start date of the plant will be delayed as much as the civil engineering cost is added.”

“Use it… I was bitten hard trying to save a penny. Oh Jung-hwan, how are you going to take responsibility for this?”

In fact, President Oh Jeong-hwan also had a lot of unfair things.

In the first place, if it was such an important area, it was right for the front office to step out directly, and even if it wasn’t, it was the front office’s job to catch and prepare for the movements of other companies.

He wanted to make an excuse that he was just a salaried worker who had to produce maximum results with minimum cost, but he couldn’t bring himself out in front of the saddened Chief Choi Cheol-gyu.

“I’m sorry, manager. I will somehow meet with the CEO of Sunghan Paper to resolve it.”

“Is this a situation that can be solved just by meeting you?”

Choi Cheol-gyu continued.

“Foreign Cooperation.”

“Yes, chief.”

“Put a call to Cha Moo-seok, president of Yoo-won Semiconductor. I’m leaving right now, so please make sure to free up some time. I tell the vice president that I will come back and see it again.”

“Yes, chief.”

“Oh, Jeong-hwan Oh, check the registration of the Seonghan Paper Corporation and report it. Find out the list of shareholders and contact information and hand it over to the External Relations Team. okay?”

“Yes, manager. However, Seonghan Paper is a place where the family of President Park Seong-han owns more than 99% of the shares, so there is nothing to look into. Kkeuh…”

Choi Cheol-gyu kicked Oh Jung-hwan in the shin once again.

“Hey, you bastard. A company that made copy paper in the countryside suddenly asked for Yuwon Group. Do you think the owner will still be the same? Don’t be arrogant, go ahead and do what you’re told.”

“Yes, yes, chief.”

***

At that time, Cha Moo-seok, president of Harness Semiconductor Yoo-won, was having lunch with Ji-hyeok at a Korean restaurant near the company building.

“hahahaha, I should buy you a proper drink. Today, it’s just a matter of quenching your neck.”

Jihyuk smiled and said.

“Where would you like to be today? Have a drink later. You’d better keep your mind sober for an afternoon meeting.”

“Um… is that so? Anyway, seeing that Ilsung Electronics Number 2 is running like a colt on fire, I guess we held on to the leash properly, hahahaha.”

“Because it’s not normal land.”

“By the way, your pockets look pretty thick. Seeing as they bought all the surrounding hills. According to our secretary’s office, they must have heard at least 40 billion… 20 billion was borrowed from the bank we introduced, but…”

Ji-hyeok realized at once what Mu-seok Cha was worried about.

“Don’t worry, it’s not Seoyeon’s money. It’s my money.”

Mu-seok Cha was startled and waved his hand.

“Oh, no. I didn’t mean it that way, so don’t misunderstand.”

“Then I’m glad.”

“Anyway, great. But how did you buy the land so quickly? Even the civil engineering drawings are ready. In fact, we thought it was impossible because time was so tight on our side.”

“An expert who knows that well helped me. It’s a blueprint, well, since it’s not like we’re going to build a real factory, we only asked for a rough assortment, so there was nothing difficult.”

“hahahaha, that’s right. great anyway Actually, we’re just lending our names and we have nothing to lose if something goes wrong, but you wouldn’t be able to lose a lot of money if this goes wrong…”

Jihyuk raised an eyebrow and said.

“That won’t happen. As I said, it is not an ordinary land.”

Choi Cheol-gyu tilted his head and asked.

“Actually, I still don’t know. In terms of location, wasn’t it directly included in the site for Plant 1 and Plant 2 announced by Ilsung Electronics? Besides, it’s a hill with nothing.”

“So what Ilsung Electronics needs more is the land. As you will know if you investigate closely in the amusement park, that land is the best land in the area.”

“Um… is it a good place? It’s the perfect spot according to Feng Shui.”

Jihyuk smiled and said.

“That’s right, Myeongdang. By the way, the important thing here is that the land itself is better than the location from feng shui. If you look at Pyeongtaek City as a whole, most of it is a humid and wet terrain, but only that area is windy and dry. I haven’t calculated it exactly, but if Ilsung Electronics can’t secure the land, there will be a direct loss of up to 1 trillion won.”

Mu-seok Cha opened his eyes and said.

“One trillion won? Is that so?”

“What are you so surprised about? If you calculate the future revenue that will be generated when the factory is completed quickly, it may not be 1 trillion, but 10 trillion.”

“If what you’re saying is true, I think we can make our bets a little harder…”

Jihyeok asked.

“What did Chairman Seongcheol Jin say?”

“Our president said that he would like to try holding Ilsung Electronics’ ankles. In fact, when we only had a telecommunications company, it was an absolute power even for Ilsung Group, the No. 1 in the business world. Because the amount of cell phones we sell is staggering.”

“It must have been.”

“But this situation changed drastically after we started semiconductors. Aside from competing in the international market, semiconductor materials and equipment companies are tightly held by them, so they cannot expand properly. Even if we want to build a new factory, it is too slow to receive key equipment or parts.”

“Then, maybe we can fix that. Select a few key companies and ask them to share your stake.”

Cha Mu-seok shook his head and said.

“There’s no way Ilsung would do that. The best we can think of is to ask for a priority supply of key equipment.”

“Why do you think so?”

“That’s right… we would have done that even if we were in the same position.”

“Anyway, try it once. The head of the future strategy department at Ilsung Electronics will hand it over to anyone with a long-term perspective. If you refuse to the end…”

Jihyeok took out some documents from the bag he had placed next to him and handed them to Cha Moo-seok.

“Show me this.”

“huh? What is this? Semiconductor demand forecast and future response strategy?”

“This is a personal report. To give you an overview, it is about how demand for semiconductors will increase exponentially soon, and how Ilsung and Yuwon will work together to target the global market.”

Cha Moo-seok’s eyes widened as he turned over the papers, almost popping out.

Jihyeok’s report accurately diagnosed stock price fluctuations of companies leading major high-tech industries around the world and what they imply.

The rate of use of electronic components in electric vehicles and internal combustion vehicles, trends in AI development, and future semiconductor demand forecasts.

It was a report with nothing to throw away.

“Eh, did you really write this?”

“There is nothing particularly great about it. If the pie gets bigger, you might get sick while eating alone, because that’s what it says.”

“Huh… but this is nothing…”

Even at a glance, the report Jihyeok handed over was a proper report that properly saw through the core.

Moreover, the format and clarity of the report did not seem to be the skill of writing a report like this once or twice.

Cha Mu-seok said with an absurd face.

“Hey, what is your identity?”

“Didn’t I tell you? My name is Kang Ji-hyeok, who runs a small paper mill.”

“A person who runs a paper mill writes such a high-quality report in just a few days? All the staff in our planning department should take off their clothes for this, hahahaha.”

“Anyway, give it a try. Even if you refuse, there is nothing to lose at the amusement park, right?”

“yes. Negotiation is my specialty. But, what if, this is really what if… If Ilsung accepts our offer, what do you want?”

“I don’t really want anything from Yuwon Group. Ilseong will buy my land at a high price anyway.”

Cha Mu-seok said firmly.

“No, that’s not it. Thanks to you, I can sit back and reap the big benefits, but we can’t just move on. Does your factory make wrapping paper?”

“I make it… but it’s really good. We will take what we need through Seoyeon.”

“Seoyeon? Oh, that’s right. Seoyeon should also take care of the introduction fee. That’s what I’ll tell the president. How about you supplying wrapping paper to our group shopping mall? Margin will never be thinned out.”

Jihyuk replied with a smile.

“I won’t refuse it if you give it to me. But you won’t be trading for very long anyway. I’m thinking of changing the industry a bit.”

***

Two hours later, Yu-Won Harness Semiconductor President’s office.

– Bang!

Chief Cheol-gyu Choi, his face flushed red, hit the table in front of President Moo-seok Cha, who was much older than him.

“Are you going to throw sh*t on someone else’s table like this?”

“Uh huh, what are you saying that makes me so sad? And that’s true, aren’t you the ones who threw sh*t on the table? They said they would take over a semiconductor company that was barely equipped with an oxygen respirator and try to grow it.

“Ha… Then, what company is there to watch while ignoring that competitors are trying to increase in size?”

“is it? Then we’ll have to fry some sh*t on your table until the end.”

“Are you really going to do this? No matter how hard you try, there are things you can do and things you can’t.”

Cha Mu-seok said with a smirk.

“Hey, Chief Choi. Let’s eat and live together. If you eat everything in Ilseong, would you like to see it in the US or Europe? And look at this.”

Cheol-gyu Choi received Ji-hyeok’s report with a puzzled look on his face.

“What is this? Wait… where did you get this?”

“Quite plausible, isn’t it? Looking there, they say that the demand for semiconductors will explode soon, but it will be difficult for Ilseong to handle it alone anyway. How good is it?”

“I’m going to call the vice president first and come back.”

“Oh, take it easy. I’ll tell the secretary’s office to vacate your seat.”

“Then excuse me for a moment.”

President Cha Moo-seok felt goose bumps all over his body when he saw the change in chief Choi Cheol-gyu’s attitude as soon as he showed the report, just as Ji-hyeok said.

It was a pretty convincing report even when he saw it, but he didn’t know that Choi Cheol-gyu’s attitude would change so drastically.

Semiconductor materials, parts, and equipment companies that Ilsung Electronics acquired a large stake in and was exclusively supplying.

I even heard the expectation that the absurd request to share a stake in a so-called semiconductor material manager company might be fulfilled.

Of course, the shares of the companies owned by Yuwon Harness Semiconductor should also be shared with Ilsung, but in the first place, they were incomparable companies in terms of scale and technology.

After about 5 minutes, Choi Cheol-kyu finished the call and returned.

And he threw a bombshell right away.

“great. We will share shares in three companies: Taewon Tech, Vogue Hitech, and Juon Material. Instead, let’s jointly invest with us in the gas permeation measuring device technology acquired by the Institute of Standards and Technology.”

“Will that be enough? We also have a lot of companies that we can use quite a bit…”

Cheol-gyu Choi said with a smile.

“Isn’t there something in the amusement park for us? Instead, there is one more condition. In fact, the real condition is this.”

“Hmm… I don’t know what it is, but I’ll listen as much as I can.”

“Where did you write this report? The staff who wrote this report please send it to us. No, you can just tell me your name. We will take care of the scouts.”

It was openly said that they would take away the employees of the competitor, but I couldn’t refute it because it was a situation where they were obtained as if they were robbing a partner company of a competitor.

“Was the report that impressive?”

“Impressive? President Cha, that’s the share we hand over, that’s the share of the companies that I’ve worked hard to grow for over 20 years. Just as impressive as the stakes are worth.”

“Was that enough?”

“Yes, so if you’re going to make a deal, tell me right away, and if not, we’ll do our best at the group level to splash some sh*t on what Yuwon Group is doing.”

“Ah, what kind of harsh words are you talking about? I can tell you… but it was written by one of the outsiders, not the staff.”

Choi Cheol-kyu was even more shocked and asked back.

“Is that true?”

“I will ask one question. That report is impressive, but isn’t it predictable enough for the Ilsung Economic Research Institute you own?”

Choi Cheol-gyu sighed deeply and said.

“you’re right. A report more than 95% identical to this one was written by the Ilsung Economic Research Institute a while ago. That is why we are accelerating the construction of semiconductor factories.”

“Look at that. You all know about it, so what makes it so special?”

Choi Cheol-gyu, whose expression was distorted, spoke in an excited voice.

“President Cha, it means that the report we received was made by 100 masters and doctors at the Ilsung Economic Research Institute putting their heads together and investing for six months. Would you believe it if this report even looked cleaner and more accurate? Besides, this was written by one person? We have to embrace it even if it costs billions of dollars.”