The Chaebol Who Flies From Space - Chapter 28



Only Noblemtl

28. I’m a tycoon?

It could have pursued a high-price policy like the original Maehrt, but it was more important to focus on expanding the market.

For the time being, the priority was to continue production and stabilize quality.

Above all, it wasn’t the taste I wanted yet.

As soon as Maehrt was made, his grandfather and father came to take it. Word of mouth spread and demand increased.

I complained to my mother, but she just told me to make more.

It’s a good gift to give to people around you.

[How about investing in a Chinese liquor company? The company that makes Moutai is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.]

Guizhou Maotai Company, which produces Maotai liquor, is a local state-owned enterprise created through a joint venture of Maotai distilleries in Guizhou Province.

The shares circulating in the market are 37% of the total shares, the rest are all held by the company.

“This is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange?”

[It has been listed and traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange since last year, but its stock price is sluggish at around 10 yuan. This is because its sales volume is still small.]

“Why do you want to buy that?”

[In a word, it is because of the rapid growth of the Chinese market.]

“Should we buy stocks of famous liquor companies because of the economic growth?”

[In any society, when you become wealthy, you will look for good alcohol. If you are going to do it, it goes without saying that it is expensive and famous. In China, Maotai is called promotion wine. If you want to get promoted, it is customary to ask your superior for a bottle of Maotai.]

“Investing, as you say, isn’t a bad idea. As the economy improves, companies that make high-end consumer goods will make money. But is now the right time? Why not wait and invest?”

[It’s because of the amount of money to be received. Since the company is still small, I think it would be a good idea to negotiate with the company and receive some paid-in capital increase. We’ll also purchase some from the market. Since the stock price has been at rock bottom since the company went public, they’ll probably be worried, so if you could raise it by about double the current price, they’d welcome it.]

“If it’s double, it’s 20 yuan?”

[The current exchange rate is 3,000 won. Isn’t the price a bargain? If it were the B stock market, the stock price wouldn’t be at rock bottom like it is now. Isn’t it a company that foreigners like to invest in?]

Maotai’s stock price is bound to be low. Since it was listed by inflating the value of stocks of a liquor company in Guizhou Province to 2 trillion won, it is bound to be ignored by Chinese people who do not have money.

It is also an A share in which foreign investment is not possible.

The Chinese stock market is divided into the B shares market, which are traded by foreigners, and the A shares market, which are only available to domestic investors.

Now, after reform and opening up, China is going all-in on economic growth like crazy.

The field that is receiving the most attention is IT.

In the U.S. market, the huge IT bubble has burst and everyone is struggling to survive, but in China, information and communication companies have not even started properly.

The interest of wealthy Chinese people is focused on real estate, and if they invest in stocks, they want to invest in electronics or information and communications companies.

“How about investing in information and communication companies instead? It would be easier to invest through the Hong Kong stock market, which has fewer foreign regulations. Isn’t it difficult to buy Shanghai A shares in many ways?”

[With the recent change in the law, foreigners can now partially invest in China’s A shares. Master, isn’t that a good excuse? If you say that you invest the money you earn in China in China, the Chinese government will like it. And as you said, I will look for information and communication companies that are worth investing in.]

I visited WD Investment Trust Management Company after a long time. Director Kim complained that he didn’t visit the company often.

There were also things to do on both sides.

WD Investment Trust initially leased one floor of the building, but as it grew in size, it was occupying three floors.

“Fortunately, the top and bottom are empty.”

“Isn’t this a recession? With Daewoo’s downfall, the financial sector is also taking a big hit.”

As expected from Yeouido, where financial companies are concentrated, the surrounding area was full of securities firms and investment companies.

Many companies closed down as their funds became tangled.

In particular, among investment trust management companies, there were countless companies that failed because they made mistakes in investing in Daewoo corporate bonds.

If it’s big, it can withstand it, but if it’s small, it’s a sure thing.

“I don’t know why I invested in Daewoo Bonds. Most funds wouldn’t buy corporate bonds even if the interest rate was 30%.”

As I was stuck at the bar making alcohol, I had a chat with Chief Inyoung Kim, whom I hadn’t seen in a long time.

“It was because of the fund’s performance. I also had the feeling that Daewoo would never collapse.”

Daewoo Corporation issued a huge amount of corporate bonds, but financial institutions were reluctant to acquire them, so they were issued at extremely high interest rates. Kia Corporation bonds, which were under court receivership, were also issued at similar yields.

The interest rate differs by 5% to 10% compared to corporate bonds issued by other companies.

It was essentially a junk bond.

“Are the bond funds selling well?”

“There is an uproar at each bank demanding more.”

It was surprising. The difference in yield between bond type, which acquires and operates bonds, is not that big compared to other types.

“Why is that?”

“Because I believe the company is trustworthy. Isn’t Hyundai also in chaos these days? It’s been a while since Daewoo became like that, and Hyundai is fighting among brothers. Electronics and construction have also fallen, so securities are also questionable. These days, the popularity of financial products sold by WD is skyrocketing. The fund profits are profits, but the rumor that the owner of WD Investment, Toad, is making a lot of money has spread, so the evaluation that it is safe is the biggest.”

Even banks that seemed like they would never fail during the IMF crisis went under one after another.

I hoped people weren’t stupid and would invest in safe places.

Rumor has it that toads are raking money in China and Russia, and people are rushing to invest with bundles of money in their hands.

“The fact that investors who invested in existing funds see high profits is also a reason for its popularity.”

“It seems that fund managers are good at managing assets.”

“That’s what happened.”

Unless it was a really stupid asset management, the returns would have been higher if I had left it alone without interfering.

Bond fund sales were 1.2 trillion won, and stock funds were about half that amount. Derivative investments using the company’s own assets have also taken hold and are steadily generating profits.

As we transferred capital as profits were generated, the capital stock increased to 150 billion won.

“I think it might be time to switch to a securities firm now?”

“In keeping with recent trends, rather than operating offline like existing securities firms, it would be better to establish a cyber securities firm as a subsidiary. Hasn’t the size of the establishment capital also been reduced to 10 billion won?”

“A cyber securities company?”

“Recently, it seems that many securities companies have also become interested in this area. I think that securities companies are sufficiently competitive as the number of customers ordering through electronic transactions is increasing rather than through branch sales.”

Director Kim’s proposal to establish a cyber securities company was attractive.

“We’ll review the materials prepared by the M&A team. Do you have anything to say?”

“It’s not for anything else, but because I think toads also need to prepare for being designated as large business groups.”

Large business groups, or conglomerates in other words.

“To be designated, the asset size must exceed 5 trillion?”

“Yes, I think the toad will go over after this year. The stock price traded over the counter has already gone over a long time ago. The fact that it was not designated early this year is also because the government was lenient.”

Who would say it is good to designate a failing company as a conglomerate as soon as it is acquired?

Once designated as a large corporate group, there was a lot to do. In short, it was like being watched from all around.

The price of Toad’s stock once fell below par value.

It’s only natural since they went bankrupt.

Now, the company’s capital has increased to 300 billion won, and the face value of 5,000 won has risen to 120,000 won in the over-the-counter market.

The market capitalization of the toad easily exceeds the standard at 7.2 trillion won.

“I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Dudoogi was also designated as a large corporate group in the past, so there won’t be any internal difficulties. The existing employees will know what to do. The problem is that once designated, cross-shareholdings are restricted. Now, it’s difficult for us to purchase food stocks.”

“Even if mutual investment is restricted, it doesn’t mean that personal purchases are restricted.”

“That’s true, but is that your personal money?”

It seemed like he didn’t know that we were buying our food stocks with personal funds, not company money.

“If it’s personal money, there’s no problem. The purpose of the law is to prevent the company from expanding its octopus-like legs with company money. If it’s personal money, you really have a lot of money, Mr. President. You’re still buying up our food stocks. It went up to 900,000 won this time. How long do you plan to keep buying them? The amount traded on the stock market could end up being too small.”

We have accumulated 15% of our food stock and are steadily buying more from the market. We plan to buy as much as we can.

Including the inherited shares, we have collected more than 70%. The distribution stock of our food products in the market has dried up.

Thanks to this, the stock prices of our food products have been soaring day after day.

“Our own product, Seolleongtangmyeon, has been successful, and the successful investment we made by acquiring shares in Dugeobi has also had an impact. Now that the quantity has dried up, we have high expectations that it will go over 1 million won.”

A rumor spread within the investment firm that I was amassing stocks in preparation for my inheritance.

There were many employees who continued to hold on to the stocks they had personally purchased.

The investment return is still great, but I didn’t know how high it would go. I couldn’t sell the stock.

I heard that the employees who sold in the middle regret it so much. They said they would buy it once it was adjusted, but before we knew it, the stock price was skyrocketing.

The stock price has reached the ceiling. What can I do? There is a lot of talk, but it seems to me that it is still far from the ceiling.

“That should be about it. It should cost at least 3 million won.”

“Three million won? Oh my! Hahaha. Three million won!”

Director Kim burst into laughter at the unexpectedly high stock price story.

“That’s the minimum. We are thinking of splitting the par value by 10 to increase the number of shares outstanding, and then it will cost 1 million won per share.”

Every time I spoke, Chief Kim couldn’t close his gaping mouth.

It seemed like he was busy calculating how much the stocks he was holding would be worth in the future.

“Does it sound good just to hear it? If you divide it by 1/10 and it’s 1 million won, how much is that? The market capitalization······.”

The more he spoke, the more depressed he became, and his face became sadder.

It was the face of someone who had woken up from a pleasant dream. Thinking about the market cap, he let out a long sigh, perhaps judging that it was not feasible.

“Why would you think that’s not possible? It’s entirely possible.”

“The food business, by its nature, does not have particularly high profit margins.”

“If you look at it as a business by itself, that’s true. The government won’t let you make a lot of profit. But if you make a successful investment with the money you earn, it’s a different story.”

“Are there any companies left to invest in?”

“It is already known that I purchased 15% of the stock of Toad, and this time I plan to create a new liquor company. I plan to allocate 10% of its shares to our food business.”

Although it was a shame to split the shares, it was a necessary task to increase friendly shares.

The real truth is that I was nagged by my grandfather and father.

As soon as they heard the news that a new company was being created, they started making a fuss and demanding that they give up their shares.

I demanded a larger stake, but they refused, so we compromised and ended up with a 10% stake. Thinking about it makes my stomach hurt and tears well up in my eyes.

A 10% stake in what would become the world’s largest liquor company was stolen simply because they were family.

My younger sister, Jeongyeon, also tried to sneak in. At first, I cut her off without mercy, but eventually she raised both hands.

Because he was so pushy, he had no choice but to hand over 1% of his shares for a very low price.