Breaking Up Is Better Than Divorce

scandal

Eugene is also aware that Daeyang Card, a financial affiliate of the Daeyang Group, will acquire Samho Card of the Samho Group, a distribution conglomerate.

However, before the acquisition of Samho Card, the fact that the British private equity fund Winton Group and Seosung Card, an affiliate of Seosung Bank, were trying to jump in was a bit of a surprise.

“What is the proportion?”

Eugene asked David.

“It’s eight to two. Winton is eight.”

Upon hearing David’s answer, Eugene thought for a moment. It is unlikely that Seosung Bank is trying to join hands with overseas private equity funds because it lacks money.

“It’s because of the BIS ratio.”

When acquiring a financial company, the equity capital ratio of the acquiring company must be maintained above a certain level. If that doesn’t work, you’ll have to find another way.

“you’re right. It looked like that. So, as a consortium with Winton, I plan to take over Samho Card and transfer Winton’s stake to Suseong Card in a few years.”

If so, it’s a great investment. If it’s guaranteed to sell your stake in a few years, anyone will be interested.

“If you can get it, you can make a pretty big profit.”

“Yes. The problem is that Daeyang Group is also coveting Samho Card. And in Korea, it seems that the power of large corporations is stronger than that of financial groups.”

As with everything else, the acquisition of credit card companies is not simply resolved by economic logic. If it’s that big of a sale, the business world, the financial world, and even the relationship and politics are bound to stick together in order to get a good deal.

From the moment the Daeyang Group participated in the takeover battle, the consortium of Suseong and Winton was expecting defeat.

Of course, everything else aside, it is natural to get Samho Card if you pour in enough funds to overwhelm your competitors.

But both banks and private equity funds eventually move to make a profit, and if you spend enough to defeat the ocean, it will be difficult to make a satisfactory profit.

Moreover, if it is a collaboration between two companies rather than one company, there is bound to be a difference of opinion about the profit.

And Eugene could recall the fact that some of the Daeyang Group’s main affiliates would change their main bank to Seosung Bank around this time.

It seems that Seosung Bank will change its main bank in exchange for giving up the Samho Card bid.

“Is there anything you want from me?”

You already know what your partner wants. A person who can jump into the Samho Card takeover battle even if it loses a little. It seems that they think it would be worth trying in the competition with the Daeyang Group if it attracts people who have more financial power than private equity funds.

“How are you? Participating in the Samho Card acquisition consortium with Winton.”

David didn’t hesitate to say what he wanted.

It seems that because Eugene knows that he has a fight with the Daeyang Group, and that he will be tempted to inflict damage on the Daeyang Group.

“I do not know. It’s because I never thought about taking over a credit card company.”

“All right. I was just telling you to think about it.”

David accepted Eugene’s rejection with a relaxed smile.

At the dinner that followed, the story about the acquisition of Samho Card did not come up again.

It was just normal conversations about each other and about Joanna.

“I apologize for what happened today. I didn’t know David would come up with such a story.”

On the way home from the restaurant, Joanna apologized.

“You didn’t know David was going to the Winton group, did you?”

“yes. It’s really the first I’ve heard of it. It’s a really bad inspiration.”

Joanna did not hide her disappointment.

“Isn’t it natural for people who are in investment business to use connections to meet other people and recommend investments, like today? Do you think it would be different if Joanna was in a position like that?”

Rather, Eugene didn’t mind.

“Well… … Yes, though… … You have to think of me in the middle.”

“It seems that David thought it wouldn’t be too bad for Joanna. If it were a fight with the Daeyang Group, you would have thought I would be happy.”

“I know the boss has a problem with a big Korean company. But is it enough to jump into something that doesn’t even make money?”

“Well? It is true that we have to see an end with the Daeyang Group. But I have no intention of fighting until I lose. Wouldn’t it be a proper victory if I could do damage to the opponent and take advantage of myself?”

“Is that so too?”

Joanna nodded as if she was satisfied with Eugene’s answer.

“Starting tomorrow, let’s learn about Samho Card and Seosung Bank.”

“Are you planning to join the fight?”

“Whether to fight or not, we have to look at the situation.”

“I see. I will try to find out as much information as possible.”

Eugene didn’t ask Joanna how she was going to learn about Korean companies, and Joanna didn’t say much.

Joanna seemed to use this as an opportunity to showcase her abilities, and so did Eugene.

“Did you go on a date with Joanna yesterday?”

The next day after dinner with David, Yooseong asked with a single smile.

“date?”

When Eugene looked at his brother with an expression of what are you talking about, Yooseong handed the smartphone he was holding to his brother.

“what? This picture?”

There, there was a picture of Eugene and Joanna walking out of the restaurant affectionately.

“The New York Daily News? If the New York newspaper is in Korean, it looks like it’s a Korean newspaper, right?”

What Yoosung showed was an article on a Korean portal.

For some reason, it seems that Eugene’s photo was obtained from the New York Daily Newspaper and published as an article, and it was copied again from an Internet newspaper in Korea and uploaded as an article.

“A new tycoon rising to Manhattan is in a relationship with a mysterious woman… … What the hell are these guys… … .”

Eugene was a little ridiculous. Up to now, he has used the media to his heart’s content whenever he needs it, and on the other hand, he has seen quite a few articles criticizing himself in the media touched by the Daeyang Group, but he has never seen an article like this.

This isn’t just a criticism, it’s just gossip targeting Eugene.

“Right now, the article and the photo are spreading without a joke. It must be an article that has become a hot topic after my brother won the Mega Millions?”

Yoosung said with a smile.

“why?”

“Joanna is so conspicuous. Few things get people’s attention as much as a blonde beauty and the devotee of rejection.”

“I have to… … How am I supposed to tell Joanna this by the way?”

Eugene was a little embarrassed.

“Rather than that, think about how to explain it on social media now. Because social media has gone mad. Everyone is asking who she is.”

“Well. Just ignore it.”

Eugene wasn’t too offended by the fact that Joanna had made a topic for herself.

Rather, I was worried about Joanna’s reaction.

“does not matter.”

Joanna was cooler than Eugene.

“You care about other people’s private lives, because everywhere you go. Up to the age of thirteen, I, too, had really weird articles in the newspapers. Even the story of the boy I hugged when I was six was published in articles for years.”

Looking back, Joanna would be more familiar with this than Eugene.

His interest in his own princess would be far greater than his interest in a single rich man.

“Then, is it okay to post a picture of Joanna on social media? I think the misunderstanding needs to be cleared up.”

“I do that.”

Joanna smiled and stood in front of meteor’s camera.

“Let’s upload the best photo and post it as a new intern.”

“Will people believe it?”

Yoosung tilted his head while taking a picture of Joanna.

“It doesn’t matter whether you believe it or not.”

Eugene didn’t care at all about people’s misunderstandings.

Rather, he thought that it was not bad for people to misunderstand his relationship with Joanna.

After all, the public is not interested in the truth. It always reacts only to the more provocative facts.

No matter how much you say something is true, you only believe in people you want to believe, and if you don’t, you won’t believe it with any excuses.

Moreover, proving the relationship between a man and a woman is by no means easy.

So I’d rather just let them believe what they want to believe. And that side will be more helpful for Eugene.

“I finished the assignment you gave me yesterday.”

After working hard to model in front of Yoosung’s camera, Joanna presented a thick bundle of papers and said:

“Did you finish it quickly?”

Eugene was amazed that Joanna had found so much data in one night.

“Are you staying up all night?”

“It is not. I slept for two hours.”

“Are not you tired? What if I only slept for two hours?”

Yoosung asked with a surprised expression.

“I am used to not being able to sleep. When I was in college or working at Barclays, there were cases where I could not sleep for two or three days and study or work a couple of times a month if I was behind on work.”

“There’s nothing to be so fussy about. Then, if it interferes with your work, it will be difficult, so get at least sleep.”

For someone who works on Wall Street, it’s probably a common-sense work attitude. But Eugene has no intention of pushing it that far.

“yes. I’ll do that. This time, it was the first time I had a proper work order, so I wanted to work harder.”

“okay. First, tell me about the situation.”

“Seosung Card, an affiliate of Seosung Financial Group, holds the 4th position in the industry with a 13% market share. The parent company, Seosung Financial Holdings, has affiliates such as Seosung Bank, the third largest bank, Seosung Securities, the fourth largest in securities, and Seosung Life, the fifth largest life insurance company.

Joanna spoke with a slightly nervous attitude about what she had researched.

“Government structure is 18% with the ownership of the Oh Sang-soo family and related persons, 11%, the National Pension, 10%, and, uniquely, the 300 members of the Kwanchin Association, which is a group of Korean-Japanese, each individually owns 18%.”

“Kingdom?”

Yooseong, who was listening next to him, noticed something strange in Joanna’s explanation.

“It is an abbreviation for the Kanto Zainichi Residents Fellowship. Kanto. So, it’s a gathering of Koreans living in Tokyo. Seosung Bank, which can be said to be the root of Suseong Financial Group, was founded at the time of its establishment by Oh Myung-hoe, the father of the current chairman, Oh Sang-soo, with support from Koreans in Japan. Even now, the members of the Kwanchin Association thoroughly support the rule of Chairman Oh Sang-soo. So, in reality, Chairman Oh Sang-soo’s stake is 29%.”

Eugene gave additional explanations.

“Then is it actually a Japanese bank?”

“I can’t really see it that way. At first, I received quite a bit of support, but now my stake has been diluted a lot, and I’m not much involved in management. It’s just that they support the Oh family and sometimes the president or the president goes to Japan to meet the people of the government association.”

“Well, that’s pretty special.”

“uh. It’s not very special.”

In fact, that is why Eugene showed interest after hearing from David the day before that Seoseong Card had attacked before taking over Samho Card.

The Kwanchinhoe is a group that is a bit strange to be simply a gathering of Koreans living in Japan.

In fact, they can be seen as the dominant major shareholder of Suseong Financial Group. From the outside, hundreds of individuals each own a small stake of a few percent, but they move in harmony and speak the same voice in all circumstances. In reality, it is safe to say that it is owned by one or two people, or is owned by a specific group.

And when the two sons of Seosung Bank Chairman Oh started a dispute over the succession of management rights a few years later, the shareholders of the government-affiliated association once again agreed in favor of the second son, who had been considered weak until then.

After that, things took a strange turn.

The second son, who took over as the new chairman, accepted more Japanese funds, and the outside directors of Seosung Financial Group’s affiliates became full of Japanese descent.

Now, it is just an invisible meeting of shareholders, but by then, it can only be seen as a ruler who actually holds and shakes Suseong Financial Group.

As a result, the financial group that competes for the top spot in the Korean financial world is dominated by an unknown Japanese group.

Of course, what is important to Eugene is not the issue of whether Suseong Financial Group is behind Japanese ancestry.

Eugene tried to find a way to influence Seoseong Financial Group, and the existence of a government-affiliated association would be the key.

It is not known now, but after a while, the identity of the Kwanchin Association became known to the world, and Eugene remembered it.

In addition, if it can prevent close contact between Daeyang Group and Seoseong Financial Group, it will be an added bonus.

After the Daeyang Group’s main affiliate changed its main bank to Seosung Bank, the two huge financial capital and industrial capital quickly became close, and Seosung Financial Group’s help in the Daeyang Group’s progress was not small.

If you cut it off in advance, it would be perfect for Eugene.