Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho came back to his office in GH Building, Sinsa Town. He felt somewhat extremely exhausted, and he also felt like he would catch a cold or flu.

“I was going to convene an executive meeting with Dyeon Korea’s executive officers tomorrow, but I guess that I will have to postpone it. I’m not feeling well.”

Gun-Ho made a call to Dyeon Korea’s internal auditor, and let him know that there would be an executive meeting the day after tomorrow.

“I want to have an executive meeting the day after tomorrow, at 10 in the morning. Please make an arrangement as such.”

“Yes, sir.”

Gun-Ho took medicine before going to bed that night. The following day, he got up late and went to work late as well in GH Development in Sinsa Town. When he arrived there, it was around 10 am.

Gun-Ho was having a cup of hot Ssanghwa-tea* sitting on the sofa in his office when his phone started ringing. It was a call from SH Investment Partners’ President Geun-Soo Son.

“Sir, it’s Geun-Soo Son. Have you had a chance to look at Dyeon Korea’s stock price today?”

“No, I haven’t. Why? Is something going on?”

“Dyeon Korea’s stock price has been stable until today, at about 20,000 won, and I’ve noticed that its price suddenly increased by 5% today. Also, its trading volume substantially increased as well. It seems that someone is buying a massive number of shares today.”

“Really?”

Gun-Ho felt like he was hit by a hammer or something. It must be W Chemicals’ CEO and A Group’s CEO Park who were the only people who knew about the acquisition except W Group’s chairman.

‘Once we make a public announcement about the stock transfer, Dyeon Korea would be owned by W Group, instead of GH Mobile. That will certainly raise the stock price. Why didn’t I think about this earlier? It is highly possible that W Group and A Group’s CEO Park is covertly buying Dyeon Korea’s stock.’

GH Mobile was not a well-known company to the public, and if Dyeon Korea’s owner would be changed from GH Mobile to a large and well-known company—W Chemicals—its stock price would, of course, increase. With W Group’s financial strength, their people, their technologies, and their strong and well-established sales abilities, Dyeon Korea would grow dramatically. Say, there was a rumor about Samsung Group buying a company. That company’s stock price would definitely increase significantly.

President Geun-Soo Son asked, “Is there good news about the company’s business? Is that why its stock price is on the rise again?”

“Well, I’m not so sure. Let’s buy some of them for us too. I will send you the fund of 10 billion won today.”

Gun-Ho had previously moved all of the fund—132.7 billion won—that was sitting in Seung-Hee sister’s stock account to his personal bank account. Gun-Ho sent 10 billion won out of that amount back to Seung-Hee sister’s stock account that day, so it could flow into SH Investment Partners’ business bank account. Gun-Ho didn’t want to use his name in transferring funds because he could be well accused of illegal insider trading. Insider trading at this point would be deemed illegal, and harsh consequences would occur if he was caught, such as an enormous amount of fines. The insider could also face jail time.

“It is certainly cumbersome to transfer funds this way, but I see no other way to do it.”

Later that day, Gun-Ho received a call from Ms. Angelina Rein from Lymondell Dyeon in Seattle, U.S. The position of vice president at the international business development department with Lymondell Dyeon was still vacant after Mr. Brandon Burke retired, so Ms. Angelina Rein seemed to be doing the job for the moment. Secretary Yeon-Soo Oh picked up the phone on behalf of Gun-Ho, and after talking with Ms. Angelina Rein for a while, she said to Gun-Ho, “Lymondell Dyeon had a meeting yesterday, and they decided to appoint Mr. Adam Castler to the position of president for Dyeon Korea.”

Gun-Ho said, “That’s good. Tell her that we welcome him as the company’s president.”

Secretary Yeon-Soo Oh said something on the phone, and Gun-Ho could hear “Thank you” from the other line. Secretary Yeon-Soo Oh continued to talk on the phone with Ms. Angelina Rein for a while, and then she turned around and said to Gun-Ho, “His first day of work as the president will be December 15th, so they will send the official letter about his appointment on December 14th via fax.”

“Tell her that we are good with it.”

The following day, Gun-Ho got up early and headed to Jiksan Town. He then talked with President Song in GH Mobile.

“We need to sell our Dyeon Korea’s shares that are currently owned by GH Mobile.”

President Song seemed to be frightened by Gun-Ho’s unexpected declaration.

“Huh? Sir? Why are we selling Dyeon Korea’s stock, sir? Why would we want that? The company’s sales are constantly increasing every year.”

“Dyeon Korea’s stock was classified as a theme stock, and ever since then, it is drawing too much public attention, and I don’t like that.”

“Well, still, it is a good company with good business.”

“If it is that good, we can ask for a very high price reflecting its genuine value.”

President Song grinned.

“I see what you mean, sir.”

“Mr. President Song, please draft a resolution of GH Mobile’s board of directors about the stock transfer, and backdate the document; 5 days before today would be perfect.”

“Understood, sir. I guess that a stock transfer agreement was already made for this transaction. Which company is buying our ownership interest in Dyeon Korea?”

“I will give you all the details later. They want to conduct their own investigation before sending us the payment. So, the deal is not yet completed.”

“I see. I will make the board of director’s resolution as we are collecting our investment.”

“Don’t tell anyone about it yet though. I have an executive meeting at 10 am today in Dyeon Korea. I’m heading out now.”

“Yes, sir.”

Gun-Ho arrived at Dyeon Korea. The executive officers in uniform were gathering in a small meeting room.

Gun-Ho saw Mr. Adam Castler sitting in the front row. He seemed to be in a good mood. When their eyes met, Mr. Adam Castler gave Gun-Ho a wink.

‘That dude must have known that he will be appointed as the president of Dyeon Korea. He seems to have a hard time hiding his excitement.’

Gun-Ho started speaking, “Today is December 8th. We are closing another successful year. You have done excellent work this year.”

At that moment, Secretary Seon-Hye Yee came into the meeting room and placed a cup of jujube tea in front of each executive officer at the table.

“We have 5 people in the room including myself. Well, we are actually 6; Assistant Manager Myeong-Joon Chae is here with us to interpret for our vice president. Senior Director Hyeong-Woo Lee couldn’t join us today since he is in China right now.”

Everyone was listening to Gun-Ho.

Gun-Ho continued, “As our joint venture contract stipulated, I will resign from Dyeon Korea’s president position as of December 15th, and a new person will take the position, who will be sent by Lymondell Dyeon. I talked with someone from Lymondell Dyeon yesterday, and they will send their official letter about it on December 14th via fax. I have strongly recommended Vice President Adam Castler here as our new president, to Lymondell Dyeon.”

At that moment, Mr. Adam Castler let out a dry cough in embarrassment.

“Today, I want to make an announcement on the upcoming changes in Dyeon Korea’s executive officer positions except for the president position which we will find out on December 14th. I will make the announcement today, but the official effective date will be December 15th. These were not determined by myself alone, but they were fully discussed with some of the people here in advance.”

Everyone seemed to be feeling anxious, and they were all staring at Gun-Ho.

Note*

Ssanghwa-tea – A traditional Korean tea that is known to help recover from fatigue.