Omniscient Investment Point - Chapter 231



Only Noblemtl

231. Buy Japan – 2

(1)

Things in life rarely go according to plan.

This time it’s the same.

As I was returning to work, I got a call from Hyun Ki-hyuk.

– It appears that Magnetic’s management has reached a dramatic compromise with its creditors.

“Huh? Really?”

Compromise here seems to mean not going bankrupt tomorrow.

– Yes. It looks like they will just extend the short-term bonds and move on to a workout.

“then…….”

– We need to watch a little longer, but nothing will change. The deficit will pile up as the days go by, but we have only delayed the bankruptcy. In fact, the deficit will snowball even further.

I agree.

A corporate workout means improving its financial structure.

In other words, the task was to reduce the deficit and achieve a surplus within a short period of time.

– Anyway, there’s no point in going to Japan tomorrow, so let’s just wait and see a little longer.

“Yes, that’s right.”

After hanging up the phone, I quickly started to sketch out the scenario for the future.

‘If it were Korea, it would be a company that would overcome the bankruptcy crisis and grow… ‘

What if Magnetic was a Korean electric car parts company?

There will probably be less of a default crisis, and perhaps not that much.

This is because Korea has achieved a good balance between domestic sales and exports of electric vehicles.

But Japan was different.

Because the transition to electric vehicles was so late, domestic sales were not easy.

In that case, they should have switched to exports, but this is also a situation where Korean and Chinese companies have already taken over the global market.

It will gradually improve, but it will take a lot of time.

Moreover, export improvements are not achieved all at once as demand for electric vehicles is temporarily decreasing.

In other words, the solution is exports, but until then, we need the capital to hold out.

‘It doesn’t seem easy, as the current president said.’

So, I started to monitor the magnetic situation with my senses sharp from the next day.

Anyway, there was someone there who would relay the news that was going on locally.

This is the branch manager, Myung Joo-won.

– I started working out, but not a single expert predicted my chances of success.

“Really? No, why?”

– Japan is not good at organizing people. That’s why the companies that have always been good at restructuring are the ones that brought in foreign managers.

“But you left the restructuring to the current management?”

– Yes, that’s right. We’re preventing bankruptcy and giving the current management time. If this happens, like other companies, they’ll end up like zombies.

“ah…….”

There was a reason why there were so many zombie companies in Japan.

– In times like these, the media and public opinion need to do their part. But that’s not easy in Japan.

“Why on earth is Japan like that?”

– Hahaha, that’s right. That’s why I can’t see the future clearly.

Honestly, I had no intention of pointing out other countries’ flaws.

Our country’s future is not bright either.

The system has broken down a lot, and there are quite a few people who feel like reality is hell.

But I thought it was better than Japan.

At least let the damn company go bankrupt.

So, the rotten area had to be removed to allow new flesh to grow.

‘Then, this will take longer than expected?’

Because I had made up my mind to spend money, I feel a bit regretful.

Waiting is not in my nature, so isn’t there something I can do?

There is. Of course… … .

“Mr. President, please come to Korea for a moment. Tomorrow morning.”

– Yes? Oh, yes, yes. I understand. Hahaha. I will buy a plane ticket and go right now.

At first, Myeong Ju-won seemed puzzled and said, “Yes?” But then, as if he had read my decision, he smiled brightly and answered.

And I… … .

“Let’s have a meeting tomorrow morning.”

We notified the executives, including Tak Jun-seok, Kwon Ji-young, and Choi Su-ri, and even called in Kang Dae-ho from Angel.

(2)

Evidence proving that Japan is a nearby country.

The point is that Myung Joo-won can attend the meeting the next morning.

So, for the first time in a long time, most of our company’s executives gathered together.

If you look at the details, he is someone I have had a connection with for a long time.

Secondly, Kang Dae-ho, who served as CEO at Angel, as well as Jo Jeong-hwan, who is now a senior partner, and Choi Sang-soo, who is also serving as a senior partner, also caught my eye.

JTS Partners, like the second-in-command, Executive Director Tak Jun-seok, Japan Branch Manager Myeong Ju-won, Research Institute Director Kwon Ji-young, and Sales and Marketing Director Choi Su-ri, all gathered.

However, no one knew why they had gathered.

One of the Myungjuwon seemed to expect me to do something big, but I don’t know the specifics.

So I declared it first.

“We plan to create a TF team for the acquisition of Japanese companies, including Magnetic. Please send capable people from two investment companies and one branch office.”

Myeong Ju-won had the same expression, and the other people’s eyes grew wide.

Among them, Kang Dae-ho begins to speak as if he knows the content roughly.

“Magnetic is where the workout is decided.”

An attitude of treating oneself as the group leader, unless it is one-on-one.

I nodded my head, giving myself a thumbs up.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“In Japan, entering a workout doesn’t mean there is no acquisition value. It will gradually become a zombie.”

“So we have to take over before that.”

“Is the bondholder willing to sell?”

“No way. The zombie companies you mentioned are companies that can only pay interest and cannot repay the principal.”

In fact, Japan has been churning out endless zombie companies over the past 40 years.

None of them were able to repay the principal and were surviving on interest.

Naturally, growth stagnated.

Because of this, the country’s driving force also came to a halt, and a vicious cycle was repeated, creating the Japan of today.

So will Japan collapse like this?

Absolutely not.

The possibility that the country will wake up and become an underdeveloped country is close to zero.

Even people in our country with strong anti-Japanese sentiments would not agree with this.

I, too, find Japan’s behavior annoying and pathetic, but I don’t think there is a chance that Japan will sink.

Rather, we were judging that if we could properly utilize Japan’s excellent human resources, we could sweep up good Japanese companies and lead JTS Partners to a big jump.

Before that, we had to convince our entire company first.

“No financial institution would want to avoid receiving money they have lent.”

“Of course.”

Kang Dae-ho was still speaking on behalf of others.

“What I mean is that when acquiring a Japanese company, you have to interpret the intentions of that government and try to do it. Basically, Japan does not give its strategic industries to foreign companies. I think that the government’s influence is also in Magnetic’s creditors.”

“Yes, that could be the case. That’s why we need a specialist to handle that part. Did the Japanese government really pressure the creditors to save Magnetic? Or did they use tricks to keep the 20,000+ workers and their families alive? If you don’t know this, how can you think about taking over?”

Most of the people gathered nodded at these words.

Even Kang Dae-ho looked in agreement.

However, there was no one who did not know the answer to the question I asked.

So it seemed like Tak Jun-seok had stepped forward.

“Magnetic is saved, or its life is extended. I don’t think it can be determined. Could it be that they changed direction to workout because they didn’t want to save it? Of course not. However, I think there is no Japanese economic bureaucrat who cannot envision the future of Magnetic. They will probably think that it will become a zombie company like many other companies.”

“Then what if we step forward and offer to save them?”

“I would welcome it. They want to invest money? But they have no choice but to watch out for the workers. If a foreign company takes over, it’s obvious that the workers will be laid off.”

“The bottom line is that if we give the workers an alternative and show our will to take over, the Japanese government will not stop us.”

“Yes, maybe.”

“Okay, great. This is exactly the conversation I wanted to have. That’s why I’m saying again, we need a task force to acquire Japanese companies.”

People’s expressions are starting to show doubt.

Just a moment ago I said that we were acquiring Japanese companies including Magnetic, but now the word ‘Magnetic’ has disappeared.

Naturally, the part about the acquisition of a Japanese company stood out more, and someone vaguely seemed to read my will.

“What is this? Does it sound like the CEO is going to sweep up all the Japanese companies?”

“I hear that too.”

“Well, it’s not that bad. If you get your hands on a decent Japanese company, you’ll definitely make money, right?”

“It won’t work if it’s just okay. We need to secure a company that can firmly capture the Japanese domestic market.”

I snickered as I watched Kwon Ji-young and Choi Su-ri talking loudly without even expressing their opinions.

Myung Joo-won also has the same expression.

And now, finally, he started to come forward.

“I would also like to say something.”

“I wanted to ask for your opinion anyway. Please tell me.”

Let’s lay the groundwork, the unexpected rapid-fire gun fires.

“First, I would like to say that there are many good companies in Japan. However, there are not many people who can properly manage those good companies. That is why they are not growing further. In other words, if they touch them properly, they will explode greatly. There is no doubt that one of them is Magnetic. It is ranked 18th in the world among electric vehicle parts companies. Now, the number 18 is important here. In fact, most of our customers are Japanese car companies. Even though we only sold to those, we are ranked 18th.”

Perhaps because he was staying in Japan, Myeongjuwon was able to see things that we couldn’t.

“Then what if we have American and European cars as our customers? And what about Korean or Chinese cars that want to enter the Japanese market? Don’t you see the potential to easily be in the top 10? The same goes for labor issues. To be honest, 20,000 is too many. Daehyun Mobis, which is ranked 6th among electric vehicle parts companies in the world and 1st in Korea, has only 11,000 employees. In other words, it is a well-known fact that the deficit is getting worse due to increasing labor costs. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that resolving the surplus labor force is the only thing that depends on Magnetic’s survival.”

“So, is there a solution?”

“Yes. Instead of just cutting them, we send them down to subcontractors. We cut the salaries of the workers we send down, and we persuade them to support part of the workers’ salaries to the subcontractors, who will inevitably go bankrupt if the main contractor goes bankrupt.”

“ah…….”

A fluid answer to my question.

That was the reason why not only I, but also everyone else gathered today let out exclamations with their faces.

I couldn’t help but conclude from this.

“Then, I will decide. I will create a task force team to acquire Japanese companies, including Magnetic, within a short period of time.”

Even though I said that, the name of the TF team immediately came to my mind.

Buy Japan TF team.

This is it.