harleyscars Chapter 238 Acquisition
Chapter 238 Acquisition
Chapter 238 Acquisition
"To be honest, I really don't want to sell it." Ted's tone was tinged with reluctance. "After the family went bankrupt, I invested the last bit of money into the arms industry, thinking I could make a comeback, but I never expected—sigh."
His face displayed an extremely complex expression, a mixture of reminiscence for the past and helplessness in the face of reality.
Are you trying to use a story to appeal to my emotions and prevent me from lowering the price?
Lorne shook his head slightly, but didn't expose him. Come to think of it, his cheapskate father was in a similar situation back then. After going bankrupt, he was also single-mindedly focused on making a comeback—in that sense, you two are quite alike.
"I—I'm willing to sell all the remaining property rights I own." Ted raised his head, his voice trembling slightly.
"Lorne has 20%, and you have 80% left?"
"Um."
"Regarding the price?"
"Price—let's go back to the office first; it'll be more convenient there with paper and pens," Ted suggested instead of answering directly.
Back in front of the office building, Lorne said to Old Kohler beside him, "Old Kohler, wait for me here for a while."
"Okay," old Kohler nodded repeatedly. He knew they were about to start discussing serious business, and that having an outsider like himself there would only cause trouble.
Upon entering the office, Lorne unceremoniously pulled out a chair and sat down, meeting the gaze of Ted, who looked tense, behind the desk.
"According to my calculations," Ted began, forcing himself to remain calm, "our factory and equipment are worth approximately 11000."
"The ownership of the multi-billion dollar portion is worth 8800 pounds. And the ammunition in the warehouse is worth around 1000 pounds."
Including miscellaneous expenses, acquiring this factory would probably cost over 9000 pounds? That's a bit expensive, Lorne quickly calculated in his mind. Although the amount wasn't beyond his budget, the actual condition of the factory was worse than he had anticipated.
Lorne didn't respond immediately. Instead, he picked up a stack of documents on the table and slowly began to flip through them. The only sounds in the office were the rustling of papers and the two men's slightly heavy breathing.
After a long silence, he put down the documents, looked up, and uttered a number:
"The 7000 list".
He cut the price by almost a quarter.
Ted slammed his weight onto the table to steady himself, took a deep breath, and his voice trembled uncontrollably:
"This—this is far too little! Our factory has all the necessary licenses, from production to sales."
Moreover, I... I still have some debts to pay—7000 pounds, which is really—”
The business world is like a battlefield. Lorne showed no mercy. Meeting the other man's slightly flustered gaze, he calmly explained, "Mr. Ted, I did some market research before coming here. In the current climate, factories eager to sell are typically fetching only about 80% of their estimated value. 7000 is a very reasonable price."
He paused for a moment, giving the other party a chance to catch their breath, and then continued to escalate the situation:
"Moreover, the factory's accounts have not been paid off, and many workers have already gone on strike and left. If I take over, I cannot start production immediately, which will result in a double loss in terms of both time and money."
“Most importantly,” Lorne’s tone sharpened, “this factory doesn’t have a mature, standardized production line, so its production capacity is limited. Compared to large factories with extremely high capacity, it can’t sell at a high price.”
Having done his homework in advance, Lorne's words came one after another, each sentence hitting Ted's sore spots, leaving him no room for rebuttal, and his face grew paler and paler.
There was no way around it; everything Lorne said was true. Most importantly, the current market environment was indeed unfavorable; otherwise, he wouldn't have ended up in this situation.
As soon as he finished speaking, Ted's hands, which had been supporting him on the table, fell limply to his knees, his gaze extremely complicated.
They worked hard to start their business, hoping to revitalize their family, but they never expected to end up like this.
Selling it would be a painful decision, as it would mean all my hard work over the past few years would have gone down the drain. But if I didn't sell, I wouldn't be able to pay off my debts, and if the creditors came knocking on my door, my fate would only be worse.
Ted sighed deeply in his heart and finally chose to compromise.
"—This price it is." He seemed to have all his strength drained away as he took out a contract he had prepared long ago from the drawer.
Lorne took the contract and carefully examined it word by word, but found no obvious traps.
He lowered one hand, picked up a coin with his fingertips under the table, silently pondered the question, and performed a simple divination.
The results told him that there were no traps in the contract.
"I think we can close the deal." Lorne reached into his pocket, pulled out a thick envelope, and placed it on the table.
"This is a £1500 advance payment. Once the contract is signed, it's yours. The rest will be transferred via bank transfer after the factory handover is complete."
"I—can I check it?" Ted looked at the envelope, swallowed hard, and said, "I don't doubt you—but it's a lot of money, I want to be on the safe side."
"Yes, that's a very reasonable request." Lorne nodded.
The factory manager took the envelope, emptied out all the banknotes, and counted them one by one. They were all brand-new five-pound notes, still smelling of fresh ink, clearly just withdrawn from the bank.
"That's right, the quantity matches, and they're all genuine banknotes." Ted said with a sigh of relief after counting.
"I think we can sign the contract now."
"Hmm." Lorne picked up the contract, signed his name in the buyer's section with his pen, and then handed the contract and pen to the other party. "Mr. Ted, it's your turn."
Ted's hand trembled slightly as he took the pen. The nib hovered over the paper for a long time before he finally gritted his teeth and signed his name.
After signing the papers, Ted seemed to age ten years in an instant. "Mr. Scott, this factory is practically yours now."
He paused, then suddenly said somewhat embarrassedly, "Excuse me, could I step out for a moment?"
"What's wrong?" Lorne asked, puzzled.
"Now that I have the cash, I think—I think I'll go pay the wages of the employees downstairs first. I already owe them two months' wages," he paused, his voice even lower.
His mood swings were normal, and there was no sign of lying—was the first thing he did after making money to pay his workers' wages? This factory manager's character is actually quite good.
Lorne looked at him, and a thought suddenly popped into his mind.
"Perhaps I could be a hands-off manager," Lorne suddenly spoke up, "Mr. Ted, would you like to stay and continue as the factory manager?"