Chapter 705: Employee Stock Ownership Plan (3) – Part 2

It was Thursday.

Gun-Ho went to work in GH Mobile in Jiksan Town. When he saw a lot of people, who were wearing a GH Mobile’s uniform, being around the building next door that he recently purchased, he entered the building. People were installing shelves and stuff to make a storage space. The painting and the bathroom seemed to be completed. The general affairs director, who was overseeing the work, greeted Gun-Ho when he saw him.

“We’ve made the final payment for this building, haven’t we?”

“Yes, we have, sir. We are done with the painting, and the repair work in the bathroom is completed as well. We cleaned the septic tank too.”

“Good job.”

“Director Park is overseeing the work in the storage right now. They are doing some welding work there.”

“Hmm, is that right?”

Gun-Ho walked into the storage. Director Park was standing behind the workers, who were doing welding, and watching the work. It seemed that he would no longer do welding himself.

“How’s it going?”

“Oh, bro.”

“Are we making a storage space here?”

“Making storage is easy work. It will be done by the end of today. Since we are going to store our products here, we don’t want people to freely enter the storage. So, we need to install the screen. We will also divide the place into several lots and assign each separate lot to our vendor companies, so they can place their products in their spot. Our storage manager will handle the process.”

“Hmm, this storage is very spacious.”

“It won’t look spacious enough once we pile up products here. We need a space large enough for a forklift truck to move around here.”

“You said that we are going to do some manufacturing work here too, right?”

“Yeah. Our third production site will be placed on the building over there with a blue roof on it. Hydraulic press machines will be installed there.”

“Hmm, I see.”

Gun-Ho said as he looked around the storage, “Did you receive the official notification about the employee stock ownership plan with Dyeon Korea’s shares for GH Mobile’s employees?”

“Yeah. When we received the notification from GH Mobile, we sent out our notification to each department with President Song’s signature saying that we will distribute 292 Dyeon Korea’s shares to each employee.”

“What’s the workers’ reaction?”

“Well, each worker responds differently from another. Some say that it is a good opportunity for them to make money in the future, and some say that they could lose money if Dyeon Korea goes public and the stock market is not doing well at that time.”

“Hmm, I see.”

“It seemed that Dyeon Korea had an information session about it already. Director Kim explained to the workers in the auditorium about it, and he told them that they would make money by purchasing the company shares now for the current price. He told them that it is a gift from the president to the workers. And, they will provide the workers with a payment plan as well, so more workers could afford it. To make the process convenient, the workers can choose to let the company take out the monthly payment for the shares from their salary.”

“Hmm, really?”

“I was told that 95% of Dyeon Korea’s employees are willing to purchase the shares, and only 5% gave up.”

“What about GH Mobile?”

“We don’t know yet. We gave our workers time to think about it until the end of May. We might not see 95% like Dyeon Korea, but maybe about 90% of our workers will choose to buy Dyeon Korea’s shares. The general affairs director over there told me earlier that he was expecting to see only 10% of forfeited shares.”

“Hmm, I see. Let’s then do this, Jong-Suk.”

“Do what?”

“When the deadline to give their intention to participate in the employee stock ownership program is close to end, you go and talk to President Song quietly. And, tell him that you want to take all of the forfeited shares.”

“Me? Buying the 10%? Huh? I don’t have money, bro.”

“GH Mobile has 500 employees. If 10% of them choose not to purchase the shares, the assigned shares for 50 people will be available. 292 shares are given to each worker, so it will be 14,600 shares since it’s for 50 people.”

“Yeah.”

“The price per share is now 10,000 won. If you buy 14,600 shares, you will need 146 million won. Buy them all.”

“Bro, I simply don’t have money for them. I used all I had when I bought the condo in Purgio Condo Complex in front of Dujeong Station.”

“Take out a loan from a bank.”

“You want me to borrow money from a bank to purchase Dyeon Korea’s shares? Are you sure that the price of the shares will increase later? Well, of course, you know it will… but, still…”

“I don’t know whether the price will go up or not. But, I want to believe that it will go up.”

“Once I take out a loan, I will have to start making payments to the bank for the interest. If the price doesn’t go up, I will lose money and have to keep paying for the interest.”

“I will take care of your interest.”

“You will?”

Jong-Suk Park gazed at Gun-Ho vacantly for a moment.

Gun-Ho laughed and tapped Jong-Suk’s shoulder.

“I gotta go now. Think about it, okay? Don’t tell what I just suggested, to anyone else.”

Jong-Suk Park was still gazing at Gun-Ho’s face; he couldn’t say anything.

Gun-Ho was sitting in his office in GH Mobile when Secretary Hee-Jeong Park called him through the interphone.

“Sir, the overseas president of Dyeon Korea in India is on the other line. Would you like to take the call?”

“Okay, let him through.”

“Sir, this is Manager Jong-Geun Lee in India.”

“Oh, hi. How have you been?”

“I found a factory for sale in the Chennai area. Its land is around 5,000 pyung large, but it’s not exactly located in the center of the Chennai Industrial Park.”

“How much are they asking?”

“They listed the property for 200 million Rupees.”

“200 million Rupees?”

“It’s about 3 billion Korean won, sir.”

“Is the factory building clean?”

“The building is about ten years old. I haven’t been to the place yet, so I’m not sure if it is clean or not, sir.”

“Hmm, I see.”

“There is another one on the market. Its land is only 3,000 pyung large. The sales price for it is 150 Rupees.”

“Is that right?”

“Do you want me to keep looking, sir?”

“Yes, please do so.”

“Okay, sir.”

Coincidentally, Min-Hyeok Kim also called Gun-Ho to give him an update about the factory in China.

“I found two factories that are available to buy.”

“Really? What are their locations?”

“If you go a bit further toward Shanghai City from the Suzhou Industrial Park, the factory is there. It’s about 5,000 pyung large.”

“Is it currently working?”

“Yes, but not 100% though. Only 20% of the factory is working right now. It used to be a manufacturing company that produced tools and equipment related to new renewable energy. I was told that Xibanya (Spain) invested in the company. It’s now partially working.”

“How much is it?”

“I talked to the Jingli (manager) who is in charge of selling the property. He gave me the price in dollars, maybe because he noticed that I’m not Chinese. He said that they are asking for 3 million dollars.”

“Even though China has huge land, the price of a piece of land is still expensive. It’s about 3 billion Korean won, right?”

“Yeah. I think that they are asking that much because of the infrastructure that they built there. It must have cost them a fortune.”

“Did you say that you found another factory that is available too?”

“Yeah. This one is larger than what we want; it’s 7,000 pyung large. I visited the place. Its structure wouldn’t go well with what we need.”

“What are they producing there?”

“They are making clothes. The factory is huge, and it looks like a large storage. Because of the size, the price is high. And, they said that it would take several months for them to vacate the factory.”

“I see. I will pay a visit there in the near future. If I can’t make it, I will send someone to take a look at them.”

“I will keep you updated once I see a new listing of a factory appearing on the market for sale.”