The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 270



Only Noblemtl

270. Hyenas of Wall Street (5)

While I was on a business trip to the U.S., a lot had changed in Korea.

Taewo Group was growing steadily without major changes, but the situation in Korea was different.

“Vice Chairman, the conservative camp won this presidential election.”

“It’s only natural if you look at the results of the last local election. And everyone expected that the primary for conservative candidates would be hotter than the presidential election.”

A new regime was born.

A new regime was born in conjunction with the subprime mortgage crisis.

“We won by an overwhelming margin under the slogan, ‘Economic President.’”

“You said he was from the Hyunjae Group? The former president of the Hyunjae Group achieved what neither Chairman Jang Young-joo nor his son could do.”

This president’s career was quite unusual.

If most of the presidents so far have been figures from the political world, it is safe to say that this president is from the business world.

Of course, he served as Minister of Construction, so he had been in the political world for quite some time, but the fact that he was from the Hyunjae Group did not change.

“The Hyunjae Group is now firing off congratulatory messages cautiously. And the same goes for other large companies. Since he is from the business world, we expect him to implement business-friendly policies.”

“I don’t think we’ll really benefit from it.”

“Because we were completely on the sidelines in this presidential election, the government is not looking for us in particular. In the case of national projects, we may be pushed to the bottom of the list.”

In the construction industry, national projects were especially important.

One of the President’s key pledges was the Four Major Rivers Project, and enormous civil engineering work was to be carried out.

“Taewoo Construction will be disappointed.”

“On the contrary, I like it. Thanks to the vice president winning the contract for Apple’s new headquarters project, there is a lot of work to do. There is no room to carry out national projects due to the overflow of work, so I feel like it is a good thing.”

National projects were literally projects led by the state.

However, the moment you blatantly support large corporations, you will receive national criticism.

Therefore, national projects were carried out mainly for small and medium-sized companies and local companies, and in the case of large construction companies, it was not possible to make such a large profit.

“The scale of Apple’s new headquarters is considerable. And as you know, Apple people are very strict. Construction must proceed without mistakes.”

“Taewoo Engineering & Construction executives have already departed for the United States, and the president of Taewoo Engineering & Construction is said to be directly leading the construction.”

“Then that’s a good thing. Aside from the construction industry, there aren’t any affiliates that the government can notice, right?”

“It would be a lie to say there is nothing, but Taewo Group has grown to the point where it does not need government support, so it is not a big problem.”

The domestic market naturally took a hit.

However, most of Taewoo Group’s affiliates placed greater emphasis on overseas markets than on domestic markets.

Affiliates with a high share of the domestic market, such as oil refining, automobiles, and electronic products, were already firmly rooted and could not collapse no matter how much the government tried to shake them.

“As Taewoo Group grows, political attacks will decrease. The level of pressure has already decreased significantly compared to the past.”

“That’s true. If you think about the military regime era, now it’s no different from heaven.”

“Do you have any other reports?”

“I received a call from the Ministry of Finance. They requested a meeting with the Chairman of Korea Development Bank.”

“Are you talking about the president of Korea Development Bank? We have no contact whatsoever, so why are you with him?”

I understood if the Ministry of Finance wanted to meet with me separately.

Since we acquired AIZ, the largest insurance company in the United States, a lot of discussions were needed.

But what is there to meet with the Chairman of Korea Development Bank?

“This administration is trying to privatize the Korea Development Bank, and the newly appointed Chairman Yoo Seong-min has experience working on Wall Street.”

“If you’re talking about Wall Street, which bank did you work at?”

“I have experience working at CITI Group and Lehman Brothers. In particular, I served as the representative of Lehman Brothers’ Seoul branch.”

ah! Now I know why.

When the story of Lehman Brothers came up, one memory came to mind.

Korea Development Bank’s attempt to acquire Lehman Brothers.

An incident that could have been a major dark event for the Korea Development Bank was about to happen in this lifetime as well.

“Please schedule an appointment. I’m very curious to hear what you’re going to talk about.”

“The Treasury would like to schedule an appointment as soon as possible. Do you mind if I join you for dinner tonight?”

“Make a reservation at the Korean restaurant I often go to. I’ve been in the U.S. for a long time and I want to eat Korean food.”

* * *

A Korean restaurant run by Captain Kang that I visited after a long time.

At the entrance, Captain Kang was waiting for me with tears in his eyes.

“Representative! How have you been? I should have gone to America with you, but I’m really sorry that I couldn’t.”

“How do you bring someone who runs so many companies to the United States? Thanks to the good security provided by Captain Kang’s employees, I was able to return to Korea without any trouble. Is your business going well?”

“Taxi, rental, and chauffeur service have all taken the No. 1 market share in Korea. In particular, Cocoa Taxi has now completely established itself, and many call taxi companies have disappeared.”

Is it because it’s been a while since I last saw you?

I could feel a profound energy in Captain Kang’s appearance.

A lot of the military personality has disappeared, and now he exudes the feeling of a proper boss.

“I’m glad things are going well. I’ll come to the office soon. Have the customers arrived?”

“The Vice Minister of Finance has arrived, and the Chairman of the Korea Development Bank is said to arrive soon. I will guide you to the annex.”

Captain Kang’s restaurant had a quiet atmosphere overall.

However, because the annex was located in a remote area, it was particularly quiet and was the perfect place to talk about important things.

smart!

Captain Kang carefully knocked and opened the sliding door.

Inside, the Deputy Minister of Finance greeted me with a bright face.

“Vice Chairman Kim Min-jae, are you here? This is Joo Young-gon, who has been appointed Vice Minister of Finance. It is an honor to finally meet you.”

“I am more honored. I am sorry for not being able to greet you sooner due to my long business trip to the United States.”

“It’s only natural that you work hard to develop the Korean economy.”

We exchanged very warm greetings.

Meanwhile, Yoo Seong-min, Chairman of Korea Development Bank, also arrived.

We stood up again and repeated the exchange of greetings.

More than 10 minutes passed just by saying hello.

By the time I had simply satisfied my hunger, an hour had passed.

Only then were we able to get to the point and talk.

“I was very surprised to see that AIZ was acquired this time. Not only was the Ministry of Finance surprised, but the Blue House was also shocked. The largest insurance company in the United States was owned by a Korean company. What greater advancement of national prestige could there be than this?”

“Thank you for saying that. Although we had a difficult time acquiring it, the problem starts now. We will do our best to manage it so as not to cause any inconvenience to the Korean economy.”

“I have no doubt that the Taewoo Group will do well. So I requested a meeting to get some advice and help.”

I pricked up my ears.

My heart was pounding as I wondered if he would really say what I expected.

“The Korea Development Bank is trying to acquire Lehman Brothers. The United States made an offer first, and the Ministry of Finance and the Korea Development Bank think it is a good opportunity. Don’t you think? Chairman Seong-min Yoo.”

“I think it is a great opportunity for Korea Development Bank to merge with Lehman Brothers and become a complete private bank. It can grow into the largest bank at once, and it is an opportunity to enter the global financial market.”

I really had to listen.

The Korea Development Bank said it would acquire Lehman Brothers.

It is not impossible since Taewoo Securities acquired AIZ, but Korea Development Bank did not have a solid parent company called Taewoo Group.

Of course, the Korean government could claim to be the parent company.

Since the Korean government does not have a huge amount of insurance contracts like ours, it had to acquire Lehman Brothers entirely using the national treasury.

“The acquisition itself may not be that difficult, but wouldn’t the problem be the acquisition amount? And while making the acquisition, you would also have to take on a huge amount of debt from Lehman Brothers. Is that possible?”

“The size of Korea Development Bank is by no means small. And the U.S. Federal Reserve has confirmed that it will help us acquire Lehman Brothers at a very low price.”

Hyenas of Wall Street.

Looking at the big picture, the Federal Reserve could also be seen as one of the hyenas on Wall Street.

It seemed like the plan was to hand over Lehman Brothers, which was on the verge of bankruptcy, to Korea’s Korea Development Bank and shoulder its debt along with the Korean government.

“If the acquisition is successful and stabilization is possible, as you said, Korea Development Bank can be instantly transformed into a large bank. However, if stabilization fails, there will be huge aftereffects.”

“We are fully aware of that. We are not planning to acquire all of Lehman Brothers, but rather, non-performing assets will be handled by the U.S. government, and we will focus on acquiring safe assets.”

Non-performing assets and safe assets?

What use would that be now?

Even if the company sold off its loss-making businesses, it did not help much in resolving Lehman Brothers’ debt.

Lehman Brothers’ debt is at least $600 billion.

The amount was over 700 trillion won in Korean money.

It was absolutely not an amount that the Korea Development Bank could cover on its own, and it was unclear whether the Korean government would be able to cover it even if it stepped forward.

“I don’t recommend it, but I’m willing to help if you need it.”

“We know what you are worried about. You can rest assured that we have put in place a plan to diversify your risks as much as possible.”

“I don’t know what the plans of the Ministry of Finance and the Korea Development Bank are, so I don’t think I have anything more to say. How can I help you?”

I took a step back.

In fact, even before the regression, Korea Development Bank gave up its attempt to acquire Lehman Brothers.

So even I didn’t know what would happen if we really took over Lehman Brothers.

“I understand that Vice Chairman Kim Min-jae has an insurance policy signed with Lehman Brothers. Can the Korea Development Bank transfer the insurance policy?”

“Transfer is possible at any time, but the problem is the amount, right? Of course, I have no intention of receiving the amount stated in the insurance policy. However, the value of the insurance policy is by no means low.”

It was an insurance policy for a company that was about to go bankrupt.

There was no reason not to sell, and in fact, this offer was just welcome.

“We will offer a price of 10% of the insurance amount.”

“Hmm, that’s a little short. Please think about the insurance premiums we’ve paid so far.”

“We will pay you in exchange for the assets held by Korea Development Bank. We can transfer not only real estate but also our high-quality loans.”

High-quality corporate credit.

This meant that the Korea Development Bank provided loans or investment support to businesses.

High-quality rating meant that the loan was for large corporations or mid-sized companies with a low debt ratio.

If you could get a loan from a company with a credit rating of at least AA, you could collect a large amount of interest every month.

“How big do you think the goddess is?”

“First of all, we are considering KRW 5 trillion in loans to AA-rated companies, and additionally, we can provide up to KRW 20 trillion in AA-rated loans.”

An opportunity to earn 25 trillion won.

The price was 25 trillion won in exchange for an insurance policy that was now worthless.

That wasn’t the end, it was an opportunity to receive real estate as well, so there was no reason to turn it down.