Chapter 147: Preparation for M&A (2) – PART 2

There were four more workers in the accounting department in addition to the accounting manager, but they couldn’t handle the work that the accounting manager was doing. They were not knowledgeable or experienced enough in the field to handle the work. The accounting manager was a smart woman who was good with numbers. Whenever she was asked a question about her work by the president or the court officer, she answered as if she was a computer.

Gun-Ho asked the accounting manager one more question.

“The total amount of claims that are reported to the court is 70 billion won, right?”

“Yes, it is 71,247,200,000 to be exact. The amount claimed for public interest among them is 12,264,000,000 won.”

“The claims for public interest are something like tax?”

“Yes, it includes tax, unpaid Four Major Public Insurance, unpaid wages, etc.”

“It is indeed a substantial amount of money.”

“That’s right. That’s why we had suffered a lot by the creditors before the court receivership started.”

When Gun-Ho came back to his desk, he started agonizing over whether it was a good idea to acquire this company because the company had a significant amount of debt which Gun-Ho was not sure if he could handle.

“It’s 71.2 billion won. And the amount claimed for the public interest is 12.2 billion won.”

Gun-Ho felt very exhausted, so he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

After a moment, Gun-Ho heard a yelling sound from the court officer’s room.

Gun-Ho and the accounting manager ran to the room. The court officer and President Se-Young Oh were yelling at each other at the court officer’s room.

“You listen to me very carefully. I understand that you are here because the court-appointed you. But, this is my company that I grew for 30 years.”

“This company is not your personal asset, sir. The company has been maintained by the creditors’ funds and their efforts as well; you can’t just control the company in whatever way you like. You might be able to do it before, but you can’t do that anymore. This company is under the court’s control; it’s under the court receivership. You need to look at reality.”

“If I knew you would interfere with my business like this, I wouldn’t even have applied for the court receivership. Everyone knows that the company invested in China, but you don’t allow the business trip to China? That doesn’t make any sense at all.”

“The company in China is not part of this company. Then, we can’t allow you to use this company’s money to travel to China for that company’s matter.”

“What do you know about the factory business? You have worked in a small office like in a bank, doing some office job.”

“Whatever you say, we can’t allow you to use the company’s funds as business expenses for the trip to China.”

The president was trembling in anger.

Managing directors, directors, and managers came to the court officer’s room when they heard the yelling sound, but none of them said a word. They couldn’t take anyone’s side.

At that moment, Gun-Ho stepped in. He talked to the president first.

“President Oh, let’s go back to your office. Please calm down.”

When the president came back to his office and sat at his desk, Gun-Ho quickly brought a cup of cold water to him.

“That as*hole came to my company and interfered with my business. He does that because he thinks the court has his back. Son of b*tch!”

“Haha, sir, I think he is a play-by-the-book kind of guy. Many government workers and bank workers are like that.”

“You saw what he was doing, right? That young kid acted so rudely. He had no respect toward me and he doesn’t give a sh*t to my 30 years work for this company. Sh*t!”

Once Gun-Ho made the president calm, he went to the court officer’s room.

“How are you?”

“Sh*t! He is out of control.”

The officer gulped down the water.

“You handled the situation very well.”

“You think about it, Managing Director Goo. What did I do wrong? It doesn’t matter what the president said, but the company in China is a legally totally different and separate company from this one.”

“The president is an old man. I guess things were played differently in the old days.”

“He wants to go to the company in China, which his son established. So what? He can’t use this company’s money to go to his son’s company. I’m telling you this because I trust you, Managing Director Goo. I could see why this company had to come this far and start the court receivership.”

Gun-Ho came back to his desk and leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed.

“This company is a mess. Maybe I should take my hands off this company. I have more than enough money to live my life without working. Why would I want to take this trouble?”

However, Gun-Ho really wanted this company. The company’s sales revenue was over 70 billion won and it had 250 workers. It was a desirable company.”

“The problem is their debt. They have the same amount of debt as its sales revenue—70 billion won.”

When he was thinking about it, he received a call from Min-Hyeok Kim in China.

“Hey, what’s going on? I heard you are working at a company in Asan City as a managing director.”

“Yeah, it happened like that.”

“According to Manager Kang, you want to make an M&A of that company? And that’s why you got inside the company to grasp their situation?”

“That’s right.”

“You must be very busy.”

“Oh, since you are there, let me ask you something.”

“What is it?”

“There is a company called Mulpa Automotive in Suzhou City in Jiangsu Province.”

“Automotive? It’s an auto parts company?”

“That’s right. It’s not far from where you are. Can you go there and see if the company is still doing business or closed already.”

“Is it related to the company you are working at as a managing director right now?”

“This company president’s son used to run that company, and I heard it went broke already. I am not sure what really happened to that company.”

“Okay. I will visit that company and will let you know.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Gun-Ho received a call from Min-Hyeok around the time when he was about to leave to his home.

“Gun-Ho, I just came back from that company you told me earlier. They closed the door already.”

“Really? What about the equipment? They still have all the machines inside?”

“Yes, the factory seemed to have full equipment. They all look in a good and new condition, and big too. The problem is that the machines shouldn’t be in a stopping position for a long time like that.”

“What about people? No workers there?”

“I didn’t see anybody. I talked with their caretaker though. He said the company hasn’t paid the rent for the past 6 months and they haven’t paid to the workers for a long while either. So the workers took over the factory.”

“Hmm.”

“The electricity is out because they didn’t pay the bill. He said the representative of the workers comes to the factory about twice per week. I will meet him. I left my contact number with the caretaker for now.”

“I want to know how much debt they have and how much payment to be paid by their customers. Do you think that a representative of the workers might know?”

“Well, let me talk with him first.”

“How large is the factory roughly?”

“It seems to be about 2,500 pyung large. The factory is new too. It’s a shame that that new factory is not working anymore.”

“Okay, Min-Hyeok. Thank you. Just let me know after you meet with that representative.”