Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho said to the stock brokerage company’s branch manager, “I’m in Sinsa Town right now, and you are in Yeoksam Town. We can meet halfway between the two towns.”

“What about we meet at the Japanese restaurant— Hanazono— in Ritz-Carlton Hotel next to Sinnonhyeon Station?”

“Hanazono?”

“Yes, sir. It’s a decent Japanese restaurant. It provides a great calming atmosphere. The place is quiet and adequate to have a conversation. The restaurant is located on the third floor of Ritz-Carlton Hotel. I will make a reservation for our lunch today.”

“Sounds good.”

When Gun-Ho arrived at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, the branch manager was already there waiting for Gun-Ho. He was sitting in a room that was overlooking a small Japanese-style garden. He quickly stood up from his seat when he saw Gun-Ho coming in.

“This hotel has a very nice garden inside the hotel.”

“Yes, sir. It adds a serene vibe to the restaurant.”

The branch manager ordered food for them. The course meal that he picked for Gun-Ho and himself was one of the most expensive meals in the restaurant. Maybe the branch manager thought that he should pick luxurious food because he was having lunch with the big player in Gangnam District. Various dishes including sashimi came out one by one, and the two men were taking enough time enjoying the food with sake.

“How’s the stock market these days? I have been away from the stock market lately, and I’m not sure how it’s doing.”

“It’s not very good, sir. Many big players like you— Mr. President Goo— moved to safer investment options such as bonds, and that resulted in the stock market’s depression.”

“Hmm, really? How do stock brokerage companies make money these days then?”

“We are not doing well at all.”

Gun-Ho didn’t say anything and continued to have his raw fish.

“Umm, sir. Does your GH Mobile have a plan to go public anytime soon?”

“No, we won’t. We don’t see any reasons to raise any funds for it.”

“Once your company goes public, the value of your assets will skyrocket. I don’t understand why you don’t want it.”

“Once the company goes public, we will soon have tons of small shareholders, and they will start talking about which direction the company should go and things like that, and I don’t think I would enjoy hearing that.”

“If I remember correctly, sir, your company has the sales revenue of almost 100 billion won, right?”

“It generated 110 billion won last year, and we are anticipating making 150 billion won this year.”

“150 billion won? The net income after tax must be around 10 billion won then.”

“That’s correct, and I’m content with it. I have no reason to have the company go public.”

The branch manager couldn’t read Gun-Ho’s intention of why he wanted to see him that day.

‘So, he is not here to discuss his company going public. Does he want to start investing in the stock market again? Well, probably not. He has a huge amount of money, and people with that much money usually don’t make a high-risk investment.

What does he want with me then? Is he going to withdraw his money from his account with us? That shouldn’t happen. If I lose him— one of the big players in Gangnam— I might be kicked out of this branch location and assigned to a small suburban city.’

Gun-Ho said after sipping his sake, “I have a joint venture company in Asan City, South Chungcheong Province. It’s a joint venture with the American company— Lymondell Dyeon.”

“Oh, I see. I’ve only been to your GH Mobile factory, so I didn’t know you have another business, sir.”

“I want to register this company with KOSDAQ.”

“Huh? Your joint venture, sir?”

“That’s right. We need a stock brokerage company that will help us register with KOSDAQ.”

The branch manager saw the opportunity and sat closer to Gun-Ho.

“What’s the joint venture’s yearly sales revenue, sir?”

“It made 53.8 billion won last year, and we are aiming at 100 billion won this year.”

“Oh, is that right? The size of the company is very good. When was it established?”

“It has been a bit less than two years.”

“Well, then you should wait a little bit more before it could go public. A company can go public three years after it is formed.”

Gun-Ho said as he placed his glass of sake on the table, “That company recently received the certificate being recognized as a startup company with technology.”

“Oh, it has officially been recognized as a startup company with technology?”

The branch manager sat closer to Gun-Ho again and said, “Then we can apply for it to register with KOSDAQ.”

“That’s what I was told.”

“How much debt does the company have now? And, you said that its last year’s sales revenue was 52.8 billion won. What about its net profit?”

“Since it’s a joint venture company, we have no debt. It made a profit of 9 billion won last year, and we reinvested that amount to the company.”

“Mr. President Goo, we will definitely help you to register your company with KOSDAQ. Let us do the work for you. Let’s make the contract for it.”

“If the joint venture makes the contract with your stock brokerage firm, so your company handles the KOSDAQ registration process for us, what would be the first step that you do?”

“We first register the company with the Financial Supervisor Service, and then we start analyzing the company’s marketable securities.”

“Analyzing the company’s marketable securities?”

“Our stock brokerage company needs to make an evaluation of our client company’s value. Once we apply for the company to go public, the KOSDAQ Listed Companies Association will perform the same evaluation process anyway during their preliminary examination stage, so we do this in advance to be prepared. The evaluation is basically conducted to see whether the applicant company is ready to go public or not.”

“Hmm.”

“They will review the company’s marketability, profitability, its financial status, technology, the transparency of management, etc.”

“It’s June now. If we wait for six more months from now, we will have this year’s financial statements. What if we do it then? I’m sure that our sales revenue will increase dramatically this year.”

“If you are confident, that’s a good idea too. However, I recommend that you make a contract with us to handle the process now. We can later determine which company you want to register with KOSDAQ since many companies let their subsidiary company go public first.”

“Well, then when you have time, please visit us in Asan City. I will show you around and introduce you to my people there.”

“Sounds great, sir. I guess GH Mobile invested in the joint venture, right?”

“That’s correct. GH Mobile and the American company invested 50:50, and the joint venture’s name is Dyeon Korea.”

“That means that it has only two shareholders— GH Mobile and Lymondell Dyeon.”

“Oh, I almost forgot to tell you this. We recently distributed some of the company shares to our employees. So, 10% of the company is owned by 500 individuals as minority shareholders.”

“We can then skip the process of recruiting potential small shareholders for the company stock dispersion. You have the list of the shareholders, don’t you? The list must be thick enough to make a book since you had to list the information of the 500 individual minority shareholders.”

“We do have the list, of course.”

“How many shares have been issued so far?”

“We currently have 1.9 million won shares, and it’s 10,000 won per share.”

“Hmm, is that right?”

Gun-Ho asked, “Once we apply for registering with KOSDAQ, how long will it take to actually go public?”

“Usually, it takes about four months, sir.”