In the finest hotel in downtown Sheffield, Li Yi, having just finished his shower, lay in bed deep in thought.
This afternoon, he had spent over four hours talking face-to-face with the miners. Through their perspective, he had learned a great deal of information he hadn’t previously known.
That’s right—Li Yi hadn’t negotiated with the workers today. Instead, under the pretext of gathering information, he had invited them to an empty production workshop and spent the entire afternoon talking with them.
According to the miners, Sheffield Steel’s production capacity had remained high three years ago, and its smelting technology and market share were also solid.
Moreover, as a nation built on industry, the British Isles have a massive demand for steel. Normally, even if steel prices were a bit low, it wouldn’t be enough to bring down this centuries-old steelworks—the UK’s leading steel mill.
The current situation is directly linked to the Sassoon family’s intervention.
For over thirty years, this family had been steadily acquiring shares in Sheffield Steel, but it wasn’t until four years ago that they finally secured a controlling stake in the company.
Since then, the company’s production has been artificially slashed.
The Sassoon family, primarily active in the financial sector, intentionally reduced Sheffield Steel’s production to create a market shortage, then profited by aggressively exploiting the market through the company’s futures trading.
The result was that Sheffield Steel was essentially ruined: a massive exodus of skilled workers, blast furnaces shut down, equipment in the mines severely damaged, and some members of management taking advantage of the company’s leadership vacuum to sell off company assets on a massive scale…
In short, Sheffield Steel’s situation was far worse than he had anticipated.
Li Yi had originally thought that as long as he could appease the workers and fill the management vacancies, the company would be back up and running.
Looking back now, he realized he’d been far too optimistic…
He had originally thought this trip to London would take two or three months at most, but now it looked like it would be a real struggle.
Li Yi couldn’t help but think of Sandy; he wondered how that guy was getting on.
Today, he’d also gleaned some information about the company’s former general manager from the miners. Surprisingly, most of the workers spoke quite highly of him.
Almost all the workers felt that Sandy was a man of vision and capability, but he simply couldn’t compete with the Savoon family—those sharks.
This speaks to the respect he commands among the workers; if he were to step in, things would be much easier…
“Knock, knock, knock!!!”
But just as Li Yi was deep in thought, a soft knock suddenly sounded at the door.
Li Yi immediately went to the door and asked in a deep voice, “Who is it?”
“Brother Yi, it’s me!”
Hearing Zhang Ziqiang’s voice, Li Yi opened the door immediately!
As soon as he saw Li Yi, Zhang Ziqiang said, “Brother Yi, Sandy’s here. He’s downstairs and says he wants to see you!”
Li Yi was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and said, “Show him in!”
“Got it!”
Soon, Zhang Ziqiang led Sandy into Li Yi’s room.
By then, Li Yi had already changed into his everyday clothes. He still looked sharp and capable, whereas Sandy, who had traveled a long way, looked a bit disheveled!
Before Sandy could speak, Li Yi smiled and said, “The fact that you tracked me down here, Mr. Sandy, shows you’ve made up your mind. I look forward to a fruitful partnership!”
Seeing Li Yi extend his hand, Sandy immediately reached out to shake it, saying at the same time, “Looking forward to working with you!”
Now that both parties had agreed to cooperate, Li Yi got straight to the point: “Sandy, if you were to take over the company right now, how long would it take to resume production?”
“As for the miners…”
Before he could finish, Li Yi said in a firm tone, “I spoke with the miners at length today and have a good understanding of their situation. Their demands aren’t excessive. To summarize, they want higher wages, shorter working hours, and respect!”
“Personally, I don’t think these demands are unreasonable. I plan to set aside time to formally discuss this with them. As long as the pay raise doesn’t exceed 50%, I believe I’ll be able to meet their conditions!”
Sandy nodded and said, “If that’s the case, I’m confident we can resume production within a month!”
Perhaps concerned that Li Yi might not fully understand the steel industry, Sandy elaborated, “The biggest fear in blast furnace steelmaking is a furnace shutdown. Once production stops, the equipment could very well be rendered useless…”
Li Yi immediately replied, “You don’t need to explain that to me. I’m no stranger to steel and iron production. I’ll give you a month!”
“Alright. I’d like to know how you envision Sheffield Steel—as a steel company, or…”
Before he could finish, Li Yi interjected again: “Of course it’s a steel company. As for finance, we’ll get into that later, but we can’t take risks—otherwise, we’ll end up just like the Sassoon family, getting kicked out!”
Hearing this, Sandy’s eyes lit up instantly, and he said at once, “I know what to do!”
“Sandy, I know you’re a capable person, so from now on, at Sheffield Steel, you won’t just be the General Manager—you’ll also be the Chairman of the Board. Within the company, aside from me, you’ll be in charge of everything!” Li Yi said.
Sandy understood perfectly well that Li Yi meant he would wield unimaginable power within the company and be free to fully exercise his talents.
“Boss, thank you for your trust. I’ll prove with my actions that your choice was the right one!”
Li Yi nodded and then asked, “Sandy, what do you plan to do?”
Sandy paused briefly to think, then replied, “The company currently faces three major crises. The first is the workers’ strike; the second is that the company has run out of funds; and the third is that government officials are conducting a rigorous investigation into us. Many people are being hounded by them, which has caused widespread anxiety within the company.”
“We can’t resolve the government issue for now, so we’ll set that aside. The other two, however, can be addressed together. In my view, both problems stem from a lack of funds, so our first priority is to make money.”
Li Yi asked with interest, “How do we make money?”
“There are three methods. The quickest is to resume the company’s trading on the futures market, using the steel the boss currently has in stock as delivery collateral, and liquidating our short positions!”
Sandy continued, “The second method is to release the news once our negotiations with the workers are complete, taking the opportunity to drive up the stock price so we can cash out a portion of our shares!”
“The third method is to take out a bank loan, but that process might take a while!”
Li Yi nodded and said, “We don’t need to cash out the shares. You can sell the 20 million tons of steel we have on hand, but the proceeds cannot go to the company. However, I can allow you to take out a secured loan from the bank!”
“How much can we borrow?”
“How much do you think the company needs?” Li Yi asked.
“If it’s just to keep us afloat until production resumes, about 20 million pounds. But if we’re aiming to restore production to the company’s peak levels, we’ll need at least 100 million pounds!” Sandy said.
“Then I authorize you to secure a 2 billion pound loan from the bank using 30% of the company’s shares as collateral. Of that, 100 million will be allocated to the company’s daily operations, and the remaining 1.9 billion will be deposited into a designated account as a reserve!” Li Yi said.
“Boss, you…”
Sandy was also stunned by Li Yi’s move; he simply couldn’t fathom why Li Yi would borrow such a massive sum all at once.
Even though bank interest rates aren’t particularly high right now, any low rate multiplied by the massive figure of 2 billion pounds still amounts to an astronomical sum.
According to Sandy’s estimates, if this 2 billion were borrowed for a year, the cost of capital would be at least 100 million pounds.
For a moment, Sandy looked at Li Yi with an expression that seemed to say he wanted to speak but held back…
………..