Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho said to SH Investment Partners’ President Geun-Soo Son, “The office space on this floor across the hall from this office that I’m using right now will be available starting on the 15th of this month. The occupying company is moving to the 9th floor. I want you to move into that office. Let’s open a new asset management company. This time, we actually accept other investors’ funds.”

“Move into this building, sir? Alright, sir.”

“And hire two additional workers who have work experience handling financial matters to the international business level. We want to hire young people.”

“Yes, sir. How much capital are you planning to invest in the new company, sir?”

“What is the minimum requirement for capital in order to establish an asset management company?”

“If you want to manage REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts), we will need at least 7 billion won to start. But, other than that, 2 billion won will be sufficient.”

“That’s not much at all.”

“That’s why we see so many asset management companies here and there. As a matter of fact, half of the asset management companies in Korea are not generating profits right now.”

“Let’s start with 10 billion won of capital.”

“Huh? 10 billion won, sir? Oh, umm, okay, sir.”

“This time, I won’t be able to guide you through. I don’t have good information. I want you to manage the company on your own, Mr. President Son.”

“One thing that I want you to know is that we can’t expect to hit a jackpot as we did with SH Investment Partners. In this industry, if we make 10% profits, that is deemed to be a great achievement.”

“Just try not to lose money.”

“Yes, sir. About the name of the company… To be honest with you, sir, we can’t expect to attract investors with an unfamiliar company’s name. This is from my experience, sir. As you know, I’ve handled a lot of financial matters including international business.”

“This new asset management company will be part of GH companies. One of GH companies and I will make an investment in this new company.”

“Got it, sir.”

Gun-Ho continued after taking a sip of his coffee, “We currently have 188.6 billion won in SH Investment Partners’ business bank account, right?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Transfer all of them to Ms. Seung-Hee Park’s bank account.”

“All of them, sir?”

“I believe that we left 100 million won in the company’s bank account for operating expenses, right?”

“Yes, sir. We now have about 90 million won left after spending some to run the company.”

“Leave that amount there, and move the rest of the fund to Ms. Seung-Hee Park’s bank account.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And, I believe that we already requested a CPA to do our accounting as we close the year, did we?”

“Yes, we did, sir. I’m not sure yet how much corporate tax we have to pay though.”

“Tell the CPA that we will pay the corporate tax as the amount of the corporate tax is confirmed. When we receive the bill, I will deposit that amount to the company’s bank account. We will keep SH Investment Partners’ bank account until we completely pay for the corporate tax.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Alright then. Let’s record it as that SH Investment Partners was dissolved as of December 31st last year, and file it with the government as such.”

“Yes, sir.”

The following day, SH Investment Partners’ President Geun-Soo Son transferred the amount of 188.6 billion won to Seung-Hee sister’s bank account. With the previous balance of 52.7 billion won in her account, there was now 241.3 billion won in her bank account. Gun-Ho called Seung-Hee sister and asked her to meet him in his office.

“I’m giving you back your bank account book. It has been very helpful. Right now, this bank account is holding 241.3 billion won.”

“Huh? 241.3 billion won?!”

Seung-Hee sister’s jaw dropped, and she couldn’t close it for a while.

“I wish those funds were all mine. We have more than 100 investors, and some of them are insisting on having their money back. So, I want to return all of their funds to the investors this time. Here is my personal bank account information. I want you to transfer all of the money in your account to this bank account. Since the amount of funds is substantial, you probably need to transfer them throughout the next several days. If a bank staff asks you about the funds, just tell them that you are returning the investment fund to investors. And, do not answer any other questions. This will be the last time that I use your personal bank account.”

Seung-Hee sister looked startled, and she asked, “Does that mean that I will no longer receive my salary from SH Investment Partners?”

“You will receive your salary for a while. Don’t worry about it.”

Gun-Ho opened a new stock account with Gangbuk Stock Brokerage Company. Once he received 241.3 billion won in his personal bank account, he moved 240 billion won out of 241.3 billion won to the new stock account, leaving 1.3 billion won in his personal bank account. Once he made the transfer, he immediately received a call from the branch manager of Gangbuk Stock Brokerage Company. The branch manager would like to meet with Gun-Ho, but he told him that he wouldn’t be able to meet him because he wasn’t feeling well that day. Gun-Ho intended to make money by using these 240 billion won, so he could pay the corporate tax of SH Investment Partners with the profits.

As of that day, Gun-Ho had 160 billion won with Gangnam Stock Brokerage Company and had 240 billion won with Gangbuk Stock Brokerage Company. He had 400 billion won cash in total. Gun-Ho was 39 years old at that time, and it was January that year.

Director Kang was giving a report to Gun-Ho about the matters with the single house in Bangbae Town. He said he had met with the property owner.

“I finally met with the property owner, sir. He is a businessman running his own business. Because of the company’s debt, he had taken a loan from a bank using that house in Bangbae Town.”

“I guess he has been suffering from harassment of his creditors just like Mulpasaneop. He should have dissolved his business before he took out the loan using his personal property as collateral. So, is he going to vacate the property?”

“He was asking if he could move out after the Lunar New Year’s Day since the weather is so cold these days.”

“Let him do that. It’s not like I need to move into the house right away.”

Gun-Ho asked, “Did he ask about the moving expenses?”

“No, he hasn’t asked about it yet, sir.”

“Well, as soon as he vacates the property after the Lunar New Year’s Day, start the renovation right away. According to its building register, it’s an old building.”

“Right, but it is a very well-built single house with all sorts of customization. The house is still in a very good condition, sir. I could take several pictures of its interiors with the owner’s consent. I told him that I need to show the pictures to the new owner.”

Director Kang showed a few pictures of the house that was stored in his smartphone.

“What do you think, Mr. Chairman? It’s not bad at all, is it?”

“Hmm…”

“I think that it doesn’t need a full renovation. With a few touch-ups inside the building and some landscape, it will be very nice.”

“Hmm.”

“I will ask the interior design company that helped with GH Gallery’s interior work to work on the property’s interior. And for the landscaping, I will ask the construction/landscaping company that made our rooftop garden in this building.”

“By the way, the rooms look a bit dark from these pictures.”

“They are actually very bright with a lot of natural sun lights. It’s just the pictures that were taken that way.”

“Okay. Well, do the interior and landscaping as you suggested.