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.”
“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.”