304 Chapter 298 (1/2)
”This is a secret I can't talk about in this room. I need to talk it over with you only, Mr. Morgan,” said Hyunwoo.
”Well, these people here are all like my other self. You can tell us frankly what you want to say,” answered Morgan.
”To me, they are completely different people. I can't compromise on this. If you accept my request, I'll sell STM to you. If you don't, let me find another company,” said Hyunwoo resolutely.
Morgan nodded, ”Please get out, everybody. Let me have an exclusive talk with Mr. Jang.”
”No, you don't have to. Shall we go out? The weather is good outside, so let's have a walk for a talk.”
Morgan understood Hyunwoo's intention for Hyunwoo was worried about potential wiretapping inside.
”Great. Let's go out.”
Both went out, and when they were walking up to the middle of the road, Hyunwoo mentioned the most important condition of the deal.
”Korean politics is corrupt. The reason I want to sell STM is to root out corrupt politicians.”
”I don't understand what you're talking about. Does the sale of STM have anything to do with corrupt politicians?” asked Morgan, tilting his head to one side.
Hyunwoo stopped walking and looked at him, saying
”Can you lobby the corrupt politicians while you're in the process of buying STM? Then, my colleagues will find out the whole process and catch them all?”
But Morgan showed displeasure with Hyunwoo's suggestion.
”OneStar, including me, will be put in danger in that process.”
”No, you won't be affected at all. We're going to make sure you know nothing about it. Instead, the head of your Korean corporation, Hamilton, is the one who will have lobbied the corrupt politicians.”
Hyunwoo's point was simple. Namely, he wanted Morgan to agree to make Hamilton a scapegoat of the STM sales deal.
Morgan didn't answer easily.
Instead, Hyunwoo continued calmly,
”Currently, the stock value of STM is over 100 billion dollars. And it's going up every day.”
Morgan was aware of that. STM would be more valuable ten years from now. If he had the funds now, he wanted to buy STM even for 120 billion dollars.
Hyunwoo said, ”If I can change the political landscape of Korea, I can invest ten billion dollars. If you accept my proposal, I will sell STM for 90 billion dollars.”
Morgan's eyes popped up. If he could buy STM right now, he could make as much as 20 billion dollars in profit immediately.
”Don't you think that's enough compensation for your local head in Korea? And in Korea economic criminals are punished lightly. Even if they are charged with illegal lobbying, they would only get a few years' sentence in prison, and that's it. Besides, Hamilton is a US citizen, right? I don't think you have to be worried so much.”
Morgan could not refuse Hyunwoo's proposal.
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Still, there was a problem.
Even if Hyunwoo sold STM less than its current going price, Morgan needed 90 billion dollars for its takeover. Morgan knew he couldn't raise the money.
In other words, STM was too big a pray for Morgan to swallow at a time.
But he could not give it up.
Morgan suggested, ”How about this way? What I need is engine fuel such as gasoline, diesel and Bunker C oil. As I don't have enough money to take over STM now, let's exclude other products than those I just mentioned.”
In fact, Hyunwoo had that in mind, too.
The core of the Paekdu Project was Toughtex extracted from kerosene. If he wanted to continue the production of Toughtex, he needed the kerosene refinery factory.
Hyunwoo said, ”The core business of STM is engine fuel. And the rest is kerosene for home use, which is less than 1% of STE's total sales.”
”But I think I can save at least 900 million dollars,” said Morgan.
Nodding, Hyunwoos agreed.
”Got it. Let me lower the sales price by 900 million dollars on the condition that you exclude the kerosene business from this deal.”
”I still don't have the necessary funds. Can I pay with the equities of my companies?”
”For example?”
Morgan mentioned his companies around the world, including the copper mines in Congo, timber development rights in Indonesia and coal development rights in Russia.
What drew Hyunwoo's interest most was a car factory in India that had been purchased by OneStar recently. Though its market capitalization was two billion dollars, Hyunwoo felt it over ten billion dollars as he was thinking of an overseas factory of Samryong Motors.
”Okay. As you have accepted my condition, let me make some concessions, too,” said Hyunwoo.
Both of them together calculated the value of Morgan's companies. The copper mines in Congo were valued at over 10 billion dollars.
The total market capitalization of Morgan's companies was 43.6 billion dollars. Including Morgan's personal wealth, the total was 46.1 billion dollars, which meant Morgan still needed to secure another 43 billion dollars.
Morgan said, ”Let me raise the money by forming a consortium with other companies.”
Hyunwoo nodded at his suggestion.
”How about this? Let me sell the US subsidiary of STM first. And let me sell the remaining STM subsidiaries after I drive out all the corrupt politicians. You can buy time until then, and I also need some safety devices like that.”