The Chaebol Who Flies From Space - Chapter 99



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The Tycoon Who Flies Into Space Episode 99

Episode 99 Bush Beer Acquisition Negotiations (1)

“WD Engine’s profits have increased tremendously, right?”

“Because there are people lining up to buy our products. Marine engines produced by WD Engine are the most competitive in the world.”

WD Engine currently only makes marine engines, but is developing turbine engines for aircraft in the future.

Many people are talking about separating WD Engine from Joseon and listing it, but I don’t know what they are talking about. I plan to keep it as an unlisted subsidiary and never list it.

“Japanese companies are making a fuss about selling ship engines.”

It was a laughable sound.

“They say production is difficult these days.”

“Japanese shipbuilders are somehow trying to get engine contracts. They seem to be lobbying the Korean government as well. We keep getting pressure calls from government officials.”

“Remember the names of those who interfere with Japanese shipyards. When the opportunity arises, blow them up in one fell swoop.”

I plan to handle China carefully because there is a lot to miss out on next door, but I have no regrets about Japan at all.

It’s not like we export soju from toads to Japan.

“Yes, I will keep that in mind as you said. And will the engine research center be built in the US as planned? Wouldn’t it be better to build it in Korea?”

“Isn’t Korea lenient on spies? Americans like to keep their industrial secrets, where punishment is severe.”

In the United States, if you were caught as an industrial spy, you were severely punished for espionage.

It’s on a whole different level from the mushy Korea.

“In the future, Korea will also have to punish industrial espionage severely.”

“Because we developed our technology by stealing it from other countries, we can’t help but be relatively weak.”

One of the factors that contributed to Korea’s rapid growth was that it copied technology and developed its own technology.

Punishment for industrial espionage cannot be light.

Now that we have reached a point where others are coveting our stuff, we need to strengthen the punishment for industrial espionage.

To keep the secret, they planned to create an engine technology research center in LA.

All cutting-edge engines to be developed in the future will come from the engine research lab.

Engines for tanks and airplanes were developed through the ship engine research center.

The heat from the engine rapidly raised the temperature in the laboratory.

The triple turbo engine I’m building is incomparable to existing engines. The engine is made of materials that can withstand extremely high temperatures, so its lifespan is also incredibly long.

The engine life of existing fighter jets, which are subject to harsh flight conditions, is no more than 5,000 hours at best, but engines with new designs can easily exceed this number of hours.

Last night, I was doing engine tests until dawn. I took a short nap and woke up to find out how long the engine would last.

I sipped a cold beer while spinning up some lab equipment.

It was sweet and refreshing to drink a beer away from the sweltering heat of the laboratory.

Since Jamie was out shooting a movie, he had free time in the evenings too.

“They say that even after marriage, a man should have his own cave.”

[Then why get married? It’s better to live alone.]

“I’m just living. Strictly speaking, I think it’s right to live alone.”

[I don’t understand.]

“If you do that, you’ll be human and not AI.”

The US and British coalition forces that occupied Baghdad, Iraq, declared victory in the war and formed an interim government.

The TV screen in the break room continued to show the president declaring the end of the war. The US troops that had advanced to northern Tigrit returned to Baghdad.

[It’s too much work to do that and there’s no special effect.]

“It’s a political show. It’s just the beginning. How long can the provisional government last? It’s just for show to the Americans. What other meaning does it have?”

The United States was not one to tolerate a Shiite majority taking power in Iraq.

A provisional government was formed by integrating political factions that opposed Hussein, but the future was clearly bleak.

Basically, it was a plan to establish a pro-American government in Iraq, but pro-American governments in the Middle East were not popular with the people.

Even if I were asked to rule Iraq, I would have no plan. There were a mountain of headaches. The problem of how to treat the majority Shiites, and the northern Kurds’ demand for independence.

There was no apparent way to solve it.

“The more I think about it, the more terrifying it becomes. It’s a total Pandora’s box.”

[Political issues aside, just worry about oil prices.]

“Did it go up a lot?”

[It’s back up to $30. With demand increasing, it’ll go up to $50 by the end of the year.]

“The Iraqi oil fields I was worried about weren’t destroyed?”

[It is not easy to increase supply. Saudi Arabia is also expected to maintain its production reduction policy to raise oil prices.]

Although Saudi Arabia has the largest reserves in the world, its mining costs are also the lowest.

[Oil companies that have taken over Iraqi oil fields also want oil prices to rise to cover their costs.]

“Then the price of oil will definitely go up.”

[How about going to Micronesia sometime?]

“Shall we go to the genetics?”

[Yes, please take a look.]

“Hey, it’s too far if you think about the time it takes to come and go. Let’s think about it later when we have time. Is the genetic development going well?”

[Additionally, five more small oil fields were discovered. The underground terrain is more scattered with small oil fields than with mammoth oil fields.]

“How much is the total reserves?”

[The estimated reserves of the Micronesian oil fields discovered so far are about 2.4 billion barrels. If you include the areas currently being explored, it is expected to be over 3 billion barrels.]

“Even so, they are scattered all over the place. The mining cost will go up. How much will it be?”

[It would probably cost about $20 on average.]

“The cost is higher than other places.”

[And the oil fund’s returns continue to rise.]

“Are you steadily increasing your base funds?”

[The total amount of money invested is over 4 trillion won. The profits from Seohae Oil were invested in advance.]

“You said you put it in in advance?”

[We took that action because we had already invested a lot and there was no place to invest more. The oil fund is symbolic and the entire nation is very interested in it.]

“Oh! So this is a strategy to gain popularity by quickly putting money into the fund and showing off how to make a lot of profit.”

[Yes, we are increasing the scale of investment in the IT sector with the invested funds.]

“What has the return been so far?”

[Although there has been some dilution due to the influx of new funds, existing investments are showing returns of over 30%.]

“Wow, everyone would love that.”

[Considering the increasing speed, we are thinking of reaching 10 trillion by the end of the year.]

“What about the exchange rate? The won is steadily strengthening in the foreign exchange market?”

[It has risen to 1,000 won per dollar. The government hopes that the exchange rate will not fluctuate at this level.]

“If it goes any higher, export problems will arise. It’s an appropriate level.”

[The oil fund does not plan to make domestic investments for the time being.]

“why?”

[There are many reasons, but domestic companies hate it. The government has requested that the Iriel Fund not buy domestic stocks.]

“… … If I increase my stake in a domestic company, I will feel pressured.”

[Because the conglomerates have a small stake. They are barely maintaining control through circular investment right now, so wouldn’t it be unsettling if a whale like us came in and swept up the stake?]

“I guess they must be anxious because of what they’ve done so far.”

[But we can’t not buy it. We are internally dividing it into several funds and purchasing shares of Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motors.]

The two companies needed to acquire shares to secure domestic influence.

“Where else?”

[It is not very attractive as an investment destination. It would be better to increase investment in the U.S. stock market.]

“Are domestic companies seriously guilty of fraudulent accounting?”

[In addition, unfair practices such as pushing work through subsidiaries are rampant. Just because a company’s business is doing well, its stock price does not rise accordingly. Expectations are low.]

“You said that WD Shipbuilding’s sales target for 2003 was 19 trillion won?”

[WD Chosun is continuously expanding its docks, but there are so many orders that it is reaching its limit.]

“Once the new factory is completed, sales of Toad F&B will increase significantly, right?”

I expected there to be many meteors buried in the vast South Pacific, but it was beyond my imagination.

Exploration missions have discovered traces of previously fallen meteors and extracted the necessary metals.

With the smooth acquisition of necessary metals, the expansion of Toad’s factory facilities was also easily accomplished.

A large-scale new soju factory was being built in the Jecheon and Mungyeong areas.

Once the two production plants were built, they would be capable of producing one hundred billion bottles per year.

Demand is a problem, but supply is still so insufficient that there is no major concern.

The demand for toads has increased not only in the Shanghai and Beijing areas but also in inland areas.

[The Chinese market can handle about 5 billion bottles. The rest must be sold in Russia and the United States.]

Excluding Russian supplies, the amount available for supply to the United States is 2 billion bottles.

Once the listing was completed, the company was looking to acquire Enheiser Busch with its spare cash.

“We need to negotiate the acquisition price of Bush Beer well.”

Enheiser Busch is a global beer company that produces Budweise.

It was a mega deal with an expected M&A fund of over 50 billion dollars.

[If paid in cash, the acquisition price could be reduced to $40 billion. That would be a 30% premium over the market price.]

“All we have is cash, so we have to lower the acquisition price enough.”

[With the toad listed on NASDAQ, the chances of the US government rejecting the Bush takeover have decreased.]

I was worried that the government would reject the merger because of the opposition of the American people, since this was such a common case.

There was no problem with funding. There was over $30 billion in funding that was raised when the toad was released, but the only thing they had was cash.

A successful acquisition of Bush Beer would complete Toad’s mainstream lineup.

It was not difficult to create a sales network for Dduki Soju by using the beer supply line.

“Shut up, while I was chatting with you, it’s almost time for the results to come out. Let’s go check the results.”

[I bet it turned out well. It wasn’t a difficult experiment. We just made it.]

“But if you want to record the process, you have to do a show. If you don’t have this process, what excuses are you going to make later?”

[You might say that you are worrying about buying it. Why don’t you just make it? Why are you looking at what others think?]

“What can I do if I was born that way? And the real reason is that I find developing engines fun.”

[What fun is that, let’s just make it.]

I went back to the lab with a grumbling Ariel.

There was still a lot of experimentation left to do to develop the engine.

* * *

If Director Kim In-young was in charge of the listing of Toad on NASDAQ, Director Jung Joon-in was in charge of Bush’s M&A.

He flew to St. Louis to secretly negotiate the acquisition and reported the results on his return.

“What do they say over there?”

“We are positive about the acquisition, but the price is still an issue. They want to get more than the price we offered for a 51% stake.”

“Even though they said they would give me cash.”

“While we do prefer cash, most Bush Beer shareholders are long-term shareholders.”

“How’s your cash flow?”

“The beer market is consistently in the black. Although the black figure is not as large as that of a toad, it is the dominant position in the market, so it is not easily taken over as one might think.”

“We will allow up to 50 billion won in acquisition costs, so please respond with ease. If you negotiate only with us, it will be fortunate, but if there is a company that intervenes, the price will go up.”

“That’s InBev. That company is going to have financial difficulties.”

InBev, which acquired the domestic DB Brewery, expanded the company’s size through aggressive M&A.

If information about Bush Beer leaked out, they would be the ones to pounce on it with saliva dripping from their mouths.

“The takeover negotiations are proceeding on a very friendly basis, perhaps because they have accepted the negotiation condition of not interfering with management rights.”

Perhaps because he was about to be acquired by a global beer company, the face of the person negotiating was bright.

If the acquisition of Bush Beer is successful, Toad will become the world’s number one liquor company.