novel
| ← Ch.295 | Ch.297 → |
Of course, Hyunwoo had to get the Bangladesh government's approval first for the mangroves project.
"Got it, let me take care of that, " said Hyunwoo.
After the call, he immediately contacted the Bangladesh government. He asked the government officials to ask for his meeting with their President with respect to the development of coconut mangroves to resolve its chronic seawater intrusion issue.
The president quickly agreed.
Hyunwoo flew to Dacca, the capital city of Bangladesh to meet the president.
President Laheman asked the finance minister to negotiate with Hyunwoo. After consulting with relevant ministers, the finance minister proposed a negotiation agenda.
"This marked area is the place that we can give you the right to develop. This area is 20km long from the coast to the sea. We'll give you 100 years of a development right, but you have to pay for the profits you make here."
But the most important clause was missing there.
"How much do you want me to pay for this development right?"
After hesitating a bit, the finance minister opened his mouth, "Ten billion US dollars."
Hyunwoo was surprised momentarily.
In fact, this project was intended for Bangladesh, not for Hyunwoo's business.
Of course, Hyunwoo could make some profits, but he would have to pay the taxes anyway.
Though the development area was vast, the whole area was not proper for development. For example, he could not develop those areas where the current was too strong or the water was too deep.
Hyunwoo showed a troubled look at his proposal.
Now the finance minister tried to steal the show.
"I know what you're trying to say, but please take into account the bad financial situation of the Bangladesh government. We think we're requesting economic aid from you rather than selling the development rights to you. I know you have enough money to do that."
At that moment, Hyunwoo held back the urge to let out a sigh.
As the finance minister said, Hyunwoo had solid financial stability.
In fact, Hyunwoo's wealth was estimated at 200 billion dollars, so the financial minister seemed to think he could spend ten billion dollars easily.
But that was his big mistake.
It was true Hyunwoo had a lot of wealth. In particular, his wealth increased a lot as he listed the local overseas corporations of STM on stock markets around the world. The total capital marketization of STM was over 110 trillion won.
Hyunwoo's signature company was Ani & Funny, which generated more than 6 trillion won in net profits per year.
But in terms of the total revenues STM was greater than that of Ani & Funny.
The local corporations of STM around the world kept expanding their factories, occupying 7% of the automobile fuel market.
Of course, STM didn't sell Super Green directly to the consumers as Oshung Group had the sole right to sell it for five years.
When the contract expired last year, STM avoided a multi-year contract. Instead, it signed a month-to-month contract.
The profit per one liter of Super Green was 300 won. Despite the monthly sales strategy, the profit decreased by ten won.
It was natural, given the enormous supply of Super Green in the market now.
Ohsung Group initially made profits of more than 500 per liter, but were only making 200 won now.
The annual production of Super Green was 1. 2 billion liters in Korea, 5. 6 billion liters in Japan and 15 billion liters in America. Combined with the production of Super Green in Europe, China, and Southeast Asia, it totaled about 30 billion liters per year.
Besides, the sales of Toughtex went over 300 billion won per year.
The production process of Super Green and Toughtex was very simple. And the facilities were mostly automated. Accordingly, once the initial production facility was completed, there were no additional costs for it.
In the case of Super Green and Toughtex, Hyunwoo made 7 trillion won in net profit out of 10 trillion won in total revenues.
KOVE DREAM was also making over 3 trillion won in net profit every year.
The profits were not just related to the increase in sales alone. In fact, the sales profits didn't go over 500 billion won.
The main reason Hyunwoo could maintain 3 trillion won in net profits per year was that he redeemed the capital investment he made in many companies in Southeast Asian countries, China, and Korea. He made almost one trillion won in investment in those companies. As 90% of them succeeded in standing on their own feet, they generated almost 4 trillion won in profits.
Besides, Hyunwoo's personal investment was also over 500 billion won per year, which raked in over one trillion won in profits.
Combined, his combined profits were almost 17 trillion won.
Though Hyunwoo made lots of money, he spent as much.
He tried to spend the profits as much as possible instead of saving as he believed in the value of creating something new by investing.
In particular, he put the priority on educational investment.
So, he continued to expand Dalnim Kindergartens across the country by building more and hiring more teachers.
As he was investing so heavily, it looked like 30% of all the kindergartens across the country would hang the sign 'Dalnim Kindergarten' sooner or later.
At the same time, he also expanded Haenim School and Sinsung University.
Haenim School already had almost 5, 000 students.
As the school was too small for them, Hyunwoo purchased another 100, 000-pyong lot and built classrooms there.
Students at Sinsung University also numbered more than 10, 000. As soon as new buildings were completed, they were crowded with incoming students, so construction was underway around many areas near Sinsung Univ.
STM Research Center was no exception. The research center in Sosan expanded in size and the number of researchers, but Hyunwoo established similar research centers in other countries.
The biotech engineering center in Bangladesh was one of them. Besides, he established a large research center in Mozambique and Russia for research on grasshoppers, grains and seafood farming.
This kind of investment was the child of Jisook's idea.
Recently, Hyunwoo was proceeding with the Paekdu Project of Samryong Motors. For this project, he spent several trillion won to speed up the construction of a factory that could produce up to 100, 000 cars per year.
Though Hyunwoo could make plenty of funds through public offering of STM on stock markets, he determined the use of that money for specific purposes in advance. As a result, Hyunwoo could not afford to secure 10 billion US dollars for the coconut mangrove project in Bangladesh.
Hyunwoo frowned upon the Bangladesh finance minister's proposal.
"Though I'm CEO, I can't secure 10 billion dollars overnight. What can I do?"
The finance minister clearly tried to persuade him by all means, "If you think so, we can give you additional business incentives. If you have to run coconut farms, you need processing facilities, right? We can give you the necessary lot for free."
The lot in Bangladesh was not expensive. And he didn't need a large amount of money to purchase a factory site.
When Hyunwoo shook his head, the finance minister proposed another incentive.
"It's not necessarily applied to coconut farms. If you build a factory here, we can rent the lot for free."
Given his desperate efforts to persuade him, Hyunwoo felt sorry for him.
Then he continued to explain other business incentives.
That was understandable, given Bangladesh's financial situation.
Basically Bangladesh was a country exposed to natural disasters. Every year the rivers overflowed due to flooding, ruining much of the agricultural crop, and frequent cyclones caused huge damage to the land.
To end this endless vicious cycle, Bangladesh badly needed flooding prevention facilities. And the current Bangladesh president had a stronger commitment to preventing flooding than any predecessor of his government.
In fact, Hyunwoo wanted to help the Bangladesh efforts. Given the President's strong determination like that, he could carry out something big if he had the necessary funds.
But Hyunwoo could not make the pledge thoughtlessly.
"Let me think over how to secure the funds."
"Thanks. Our people will regard President Hyunwoo Jang as the national hero if you did invest."
"Oh, no! Don't say that."
Hyunwoo stayed three more days in Bangladesh before flying back to Korea.
Back to Korea Hyunwoo stopped by the first factory of Samryong Motors first. Thanks to the enormous investment, the factory was nearing completion at a faster pace.
If all things went smoothly, Samryong Motors could produce Supercars, the core of the Paekdu Project, at the end of the year. And by next spring, a factory that could manufacture up to 100, 000 cars would be completed.
Hyunwoo planned to build the second and third factory respectively, so he could secure an auto complex that can produce up to one million cars within three years. His goal was to reach the production capacity of 10 million cars per year within five years.
When he thought as far as that, a good idea flashed into his mind. That was a perfect idea that could solve all his headaches all at once.
He needed to get his father's approval first to realize that idea.
Hyunwoo rant to STM Research Center with great excitement.
Duyoung was lost in research. Even though he made a great discovery, he kept challenging something new.
Hyunwoo called Duyoung quietly.
"What happened? Anything new?"
But Hyunwoo was extremely careful. He looked outside Duyoung's research room to double-check if anybody was near.
After confirming nobody was there, he locked the door securely, and played music loud just in case the room might be bugged.
Duyoung could not understand at all. He just guessed Hyunwoo was trying to say something pretty shocking.
When he asked Duyoung that ridiculous question cautiously, Duyoung was just dumbfounded for a while.
"Dad, can I sell STM to OneStar?"
| ← Ch. 295 | Ch. 297 → |