Chapter 479 – Part 3

The summer of 1996 was the coldest summer ever.
After the bankruptcy of the Hanbu Group, companies began to go bankrupt one by one, and in the fall, some large corporations, including automobiles, also began to go bankrupt.
Day after day, the media began to criticize the government’s incompetence, reporting on a series of bankruptcies, as if the country would collapse at any moment.

On October 14, the Blue House finally announced that the president would personally come out and apply for a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

And soon after, a due diligence team was dispatched to Korea from the IMF.
They were relentless beasts.
He started to literally hack Korea to pieces, changed corporate accounting standards, and opened up the financial market.
It also had to allow companies to sell overseas.

The country was in an uproar as if a portrait had broken out, and the stock price was crashing after crash to the extent that it was impossible to know where the bottom was.
The stock price of Jangsung Electronics, which had hovered around 300,000 won, fell to 40,000 won.
Several companies went bankrupt every day.

Although Korea First Bank had already declared default and received an emergency fund of 500 billion won from the government, it seemed impossible to prevent the 5th bond maturity period from going over.

President Kim Se-jung appeared in the media every day and attacked the national economy, saying that President Kim Hyun-sam and his son Kim Jin-cheol eventually went bankrupt.
If he does not resign, he threatened to send the impeachment bill to the National Assembly as the main culprit of the national bankruptcy.

Early December 1996.
A bailout of 12.9 billion dollars (approximately 15 trillion won in Korean currency) was approved by the IMF.
The entire nation fell into lamentation, saying that the country was eventually ruined and was subjected to interference in internal affairs.

In the end, a few days before Christmas, President Kim Hyun-sam bowed his head in tears, apologized to the public, and announced that he would step down from the presidency himself.
It was only natural that he apologized while also mentioning the corruption of his son, Kim Jin-cheol.

Kim Jin-cheol, who found out about the resignation of President Kim Hyeon-sam through the newspaper at the detention center the next day, shouted “Lee Seong-jin bastard,” Tore the newspaper to shreds, and went on a rampage in his cell for a while.

Kim Jin-cheol was later tried for bribery and slush fund creation, and as the sentence saying that he disturbed state affairs was inserted in the sentence, his sentence was sentenced to a whopping 25 years in prison.

Seong-jin was watching President Kim Hyeon-sam’s resignation announcement on TV at his house in Hannam-dong.
Kim Jin-cheol was already in custody, and in the end, even President Kim Hyun-sam was neatly dealt with, but his taste was bitter.
In that way, he saved the life of President Kim Hyun-sam and even made the president, taking care of the slush fund as a top priority, but in the end, it was because the end ended badly for each other.

Seongjin shook her head to shake off her feelings and called somewhere.
The country she ruined, now she had to bring it back to life.
And I had to save it better and more reliably than before returning.

“Brother Gwangsik. This is Sungjin. Now move.”

“Haha.. Am I finally moving?”

“Yes. First of all, form a consortium with Mirae Securities, Jangseong Securities and the financial companies we talked about before, and wait a little longer according to the schedule.
Finally, my older brother will proudly own a bank.”

The first thing the IMF did after entering Korea was to change the domestic accounting standard to an international standard, and to open the door to the Korean financial market to foreign countries by creating a capital integration law.
It also recommended that companies and even government-owned banks be sold if they are insolvent.
The words were recommendations, but Korea had no choice but to follow them in order to receive a bailout.

First Bank failed to meet the deadline for repayment of the 5th debt, so of course it went bankrupt, and disgracefully, like the name First Bank, it was put up for sale first.

“It’s good to just listen. Thank you, Sungjin. You are truly my lifelong benefactor. They said in the past that they would make me into a money ghost, but I never dreamed that I would actually buy a bank. Thank you very much.”

Of course, Gwang-shik formed a consortium to buy Jeil Bank, but the largest part of it was Sung-jin’s personal funds in Mirae Securities, and Seong-jin deliberately did not tell Gwang-shik about that.

“It’s all because my older brother believed in me and followed me. Let’s do well in the future.”

“Okay. Okay. I get it. I will only believe in you, Sungjin, and go to the end. Haha..”

Seongjin was only talking on the phone without looking at her face, but he could feel how good Kwangshik was feeling and what kind of expression he was making.

Seong-jin had already created a private equity fund with funds from an American investment company for this time so that his name would not be revealed at all, and he had bid for the public sale of shares in Korea First Bank.
Seong-jin already knew how much the first bank was sold to an American private equity fund before her return, so she wrote a higher bid and was waiting for an announcement to be made soon.

In the history before regression, after buying First Bank, an American private equity fund wielded the ruthless blade of layoffs to cause a bloodbath, and then the bank that was organized like that started as the British standard in 2005. Resold for a hefty sum.

Even after the Bank of England merged with First Bank and entered Korea, the ruthless blade of layoffs, such as reducing branch offices nationwide, did not stop, and almost all Korean companies sold abroad, including First Bank, saw this happen. Do.
The government couldn’t help the people who were pushed to the streets like that.
It was the arrival of a truly ruthless era.

This time, Seong-jin thought of becoming the American private equity fund, and when he bought Jeil Bank, he went through receivables and a simple internal restructuring. I was thinking of selling it.
Finally, Gwang-shik became the president of a bank in the 1st financial sector, not the 2nd financial sector.

Finally, the results of the public bidding were announced, and of course Sungjin’s private equity fund bought a 49.56% stake in Korea First Bank for an amount of KRW 600 billion.
Seong-Jin immediately dispatched a due diligence team led by President James, including American accountants and lawyers, to Korea First Bank.

Perhaps because it was the first company to be sold abroad after the IMF era and the bad meaning that government-owned banks could be sold for money, when the US inspection team arrived in front of the headquarters of Korea First Bank, numerous reporters were forming a long line to cover the story.

The atmosphere at the headquarters of Korea First Bank was literally gloomy.
The notoriety of foreign private equity funds was such that there was no one in the financial industry who had not heard of it, so it was not strange at all when someone was fired.

However, after a due diligence period of about a week, the head of the due diligence team announces that only those who committed corruption and executives who mismanaged the company will be fired, and although wages will be frozen for the time being, the rest of the employees will continue their employment.
Of course, the people who committed the corruption and the executives were people who were involved with Kim Jin-cheol, so Seong-jin cut them off mercilessly.

Large-scale restructuring was expected, but when unexpected results came out, the employees of Korea First Bank cheered in relief, and the IMF looked embarrassed, but concluded to wait and see.

After that, Seong-jin quickly put this first bank up for sale again in less than a year, and a bank in Hong Kong, the bank in England, and a consortium with Kwang-sik’s brother were competing, but in the end, the amount was 1.85 trillion won. Kwang-sik, who spent 50 billion won more, was able to take the bank.

It is very meaningful that older brother Kwang-shik has a bank.
First of all, the biggest meaning was that the government-owned bank was not sold to a foreign country, and after that, while preparing for the Capital Integration Act, Korean banks began to merge and collect, increasing their size.

And another meaning is that there was a bank in which a large company called the Jangseong Group was involved.
In the past, the government has been extremely reluctant to allow large corporations to have banks.
This is because when large corporations even own banks, money is concentrated in one place, and large corporations that go wrong can escape the control of the government.

However, with this opportunity, the Jangseong Group created a formal bank in which they participated.
It seemed that this could accelerate the solo run of the Jangseong Group more than in the history before the return.

A few years ago, when Seong-jin first met Gwang-shik and made plans for the future, he knew the fate of Jeil Bank, so he decided to buy Jeil Bank and give it to Gwang-shik.

However, when such a situation came to mind, the terrible memories of the past, such as the mass layoffs of the IMF, came to mind.
So, Seong-jin bought the bank himself and guaranteed employment, rather than the government selling the bank to a foreign country and causing mass layoffs.

After finishing the phone call with Kwang-sik, Seong-jin called Mrs. Hong Ra-kyung this time.

“West.”

Mrs. Hong Ra-gyeong, who is in a better mood than ever, answered the phone with a voice that was one tone higher than usual.

“Miss Ragyeong. Your voice is especially good today. Corporate shopping going well?”

“Chit.. Seobang-nim, don’t you want to see Jaemin and me? If you are in Korea, you have to come often to see the face of your beloved son, but he doesn’t come, and the first thing you said after a long time is about work? Heh… I’m sorry.”

As she got older, she was Mrs. Hong Ra-gyeong, who only grew more charming and angsty.

“Okay. Okay. I’m sorry. How is our Jaemin?”

“Yes. Of course I’m doing well. My son is so strong that today he climbed on the sofa by himself and fell. Well, he doesn’t cry…”

Mrs. Hong Ra-kyung continued to chatter about her son, saying that her son, who was not yet three years old, was a genius, and that he was a merchant because he resembled her father.
Seongjin put a warm smile on her lips and she listened to the chatter until the end.
As she kept listening, it was also true that she really wanted to see Mrs. Hong Ra-gyeong and her son.

“I’m glad that Jaemin is doing well. I’ll be sneaking over to the villa sooner or later, so you make some time.”

“Yes. All right. Mr. West.
And, according to the words of the West, companies are already buying as they prepared. You don’t have to worry too much.”

Seong-jin tried to bring up the topic of work again, but Mrs. Hong Ra-gyeong, who was also quick-witted, explained what Seong-jin was curious about first.
Well, it’s going on at the planning office of Jangseong Electronics, so what special problem should there be?
Seongjin listened to Mrs. Hong Ra-gyeong, and she just nodded her head.

“Don’t be too self-sufficient, and distribute moderately to other conglomerates as well. You know what I mean?”

“Yes. I understand. Mr. West. How safe can I not follow the words of the West? Ho ho ho…”

Mrs. Hong Ra-gyeong cheerfully responded to Seong-jin’s old woman’s nagging.
Seong-jin hung up her phone quickly as she thought she’d become a shrew herself if she talked to her anymore.

Sungjin’s Mirae Securities and Hong Ra-kyung’s Jangseong Securities literally swept out cheap stocks in the recent stock market.

Mirae Securities was dominating the Korean stock market with a staggering amount of money from Seong-jin’s sale of the remaining 2 trillion won and US dollars, leaving only about 1.5 trillion won of her personal funds for her brother Kwang-shik’s consortium.

At Jangseong Securities, Seongjin told first lady Hong Ra-gyeong to stay out of the previous exchange speculation scandal, but Jangseong Electronics’ planning office was able to secure quite a bit of surplus funds after Hong Ra-gyeong’s insinuating words, and the Jangseong Group was able to secure quite a bit of surplus funds. It was buying stock in companies it would merge with its stock.

Unlike Mirae Securities and Jangseong Securities, Sungjin’s American private equity fund was buying up real companies that had already gone bankrupt.

After such a busy year-end and New Year holidays, it was March 1997.

As President Kim Hyun-sam resigned, the wind of the presidential election was blowing in Korea prematurely.
Candidate Kim Se-joong of the main opposition party was almost certain to be the next president as the ruling party candidate who ruined the country due to the people’s desire to revive the economy was unconditionally filtered out.

With less than a week left before the presidential election, news like a nuclear bomb exploded in Korea.

[The owner of an American private equity fund that is buying Korea First Bank and other leading companies is revealed to be Lee Seong-jin, former chairman of HK Group..]

Seong-jin’s work, which he tried to keep secret, was suddenly revealed as an article in Korea, not in the United States.

[Lee Seong-jin, who is he?]
[Lee Seong-jin, is he a devil? Are you an angel?]
[Lee Seong-jin’s private equity fund, nationality turns out to be American…]
[Lee Seong-jin, how much is his property?]
Etc..

Numerous articles related to Sungjin began pouring out.

The main culprit who spread this article was none other than Kim Se-joong.
In order to ensure that he would win the presidency, Seong-jin was deliberately publicized.
At the same time as announcing that Seong-jin was saving the country with an enormous amount of money, he used it as an election strategy by publicizing that Seong-jin Lee was supporting him.