The King of Shanghai

by Ian Hamilton

  “Amanda was raised in a family business. She understands that kind of emotional attachment.”

  “Exactly — that’s how she came across. So when I realized we might have found the right the fit, I did some due diligence of my own, on your business.”

  “Of course.”

  “I knew of May Ling by name and reputation — what Chinese woman in business doesn’t? I was really happy when I discovered how respected she is. As for Amanda, well, she has a terrific education and background. You were a bit of an enigma, but I thought that if May Ling Wong wanted you for a business partner, that was recommendation enough. That’s when we decided to make a serious pitch.”

  “And that’s how we took it — seriously. But I can’t help saying again that it was naive of you to expect an instant decision.”

  Gillian closed her eyes, pressed her lips together, and sighed. “My brother rarely gets involved in business matters.”

  “I sensed that.”

  “When I said that we’d talked to other companies, what I didn’t mention was that this has been going on ever since the day my uncle sold the firm. We must have talked to ten potential buyers. Clark has been getting impatient. Actually, impatient is an understatement,” she said. “He’s bursting with ideas, and not being able to transform them into reality wears on him. He gets emotional, even neurotic, at times. One of my main challenges is to keep him calm and keep him focused on the business at hand.”

  “Did he also meet with the other companies?”

  “Some of them, but it was always strained. Either they were put off by his personality or he wanted nothing more to do with them. He liked Amanda, of course, which is why yesterday happened.”

  “Yesterday was a good thing all around.”

  “We thought so too, which is why the insertion of Chi-Tze into the process was a bit of a shock. She was acting exactly like every other bean counter we’ve met. It was as if all the due diligence Amanda did and all our conversations didn’t matter. We felt like we were back at square one.”

  “There was some miscommunication within our team. Chi-Tze is not to blame.”

  “So you say. Our fear is that she’s the tip of the iceberg.”

  Ava shrugged. “Clark is not the only person whose feelings need to be considered.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Chi-Tze has gone through hell over the past six months. This assignment — which so far has consisted entirely of her reading Amanda’s briefing notes and flying into Shanghai this morning — is a way for her to put a lot of misery behind her. She wants to impress us. She doesn’t really need to, but in her mind she thinks it’s necessary. So she overdid things. She is very bright, very analytical, and as well trained as Amanda. She has studied how to build a brand, so we thought her input would be useful. We didn’t expect her to go back over old ground. It was our fault that we weren’t more specific.”

  “She was very aggressive, to the point of being rude.”

  “I apologize for that. That wasn’t our intent.”

  “What was your intent?”

  “We wanted her to confirm our belief that investing in the PÖ brand isn’t a far-fetched idea.”

  “Confirm?”

  “We like your plan. So does Chi-Tze.”

  “She never even hinted at that. She was all doubt and skepticism.”

  “As I said, there was a misunderstanding.”

  “So where does that leave us?”

  “Where is your brother?”

  “Why?”

  “I have a proposal for you.”

  Gillian pushed her chair back from the desk, as if distancing herself from Ava. “If this is a business discussion, you should be having it with me,” she said.

  “What I have to say, I need to say to the two of you.”

  “I would like to hear it first.”

  “No.”

  “You can’t dictate —”

  “I’m not,” Ava said, her voice rising. “We have a proposal. I want you and your brother to understand, directly from me, what we are prepared to do, why we are prepared to do it, and what our expectations are.”

  “He’s left and he won’t come back.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “I’ve been through this before.”

  “So what do you suggest?”

  “Are you serious about making an offer?”

  “Yes,” Ava said.

  “Then give it to me in writing. I’ll review it with my brother and our lawyer and I’ll get back to you.”

  “How long will that take?”

  “That depends on the complexity of the offer.”

  “We’re prepared to give you most of what you want.”

  Gillian blinked, and Ava thought she saw her catch her breath. “You used the word most,” she said.

  “Yes. You may have some questions about the financial controls we need to put in place, but I can assure you they’re not there to impede the running of the business.”

  “I want to see the details.”

  “Of course.”

  “Is that all?”

  “No. We want to put someone into the business full-time. That person would represent our interests, and we’d make sure they had skills that would be of benefit.”

  “We don’t need anyone. One reason we want to do this is to have control of our own destiny. We’ve had enough of working for other people.”

  “I’m suggesting someone you would work with, not for.”

  “Amanda?”

  “I don’t have a name yet.”

  “Whoever it is would have to be compatible with Clark.”

  “That’s a given.”

  “Would the person be Chinese?”

  “Why do you ask that?”

  “It’s no secret that my brother is gay. With our European and North American customers it’s completely inconsequential. China is another matter. Even in cities the size of Shanghai there is widespread intolerance. I said earlier that some of our potential buyers were put off by Clark’s personality. Personality is a euphemism — all those buyers were Chinese. Some of them even asked if we would hire someone to be the public face of the brand.”

  “I understand.”

  “It isn’t a small matter.”

  “And it won’t be treated as one.”

  Gillian looked across the desk at Ava. “So where does this leave us?”

  “We’ll prepare an offer and send it to you.”

  “Fine.”

  “And you’ll explain to your brother about Chi-Tze’s behaviour?”

  “I’ll try.”

  “That’s all we can ask. Now I’d better get Amanda and Chi-Tze.” Ava stood. “We’ll be in touch.”

  As she walked along the corridor she could see two faces staring at her from the boardroom. Their expressions couldn’t have been more different. Chi-Tze looked distraught; Amanda’s face was full of questions.

  “We should leave. How soon can you get us a taxi?” Ava asked.

  “Five minutes,” Amanda said.

  “Then do that,” Ava said.

  While Amanda called a cab, Chi-Tze pulled her papers together, her eyes cast downwards.

  “We’ll talk when we get outside,” Ava said. “The two of you have some work to do.”

  “So —” Amanda began.

  “Outside,” Ava said.

  When they walked out the factory door, the cab was waiting for them. Ava motioned for the two women to get into the back seat. She sat in front. “The Peninsula Hotel,” she said to the driver. As he pulled away, she turned to face Amanda and Chi-Tze. “Gillian and I had a decent talk, so let’s not dwell on what happened earlier.”

  “Great,” Amanda said. Chi-Tze bit her lower lip and gave a slight nod.

 
; “What I need to know from the two of you is whether or not you’re absolutely on side with our getting into this business — and by that I mean buying into Clark Po’s dream. So let’s hear it. Can this really work, and are you both prepared to get into it up to your chins?”

  “Are you saying you want both of us to be actively involved?” Amanda asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Do you think Gillian and Clark will be okay with that?” Chi-Tze said.

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves trying to anticipate what they’ll like. Let’s concentrate on what we want.”

  “I want to do the deal, and I’ll do everything I can to make sure it’s a success,” Amanda said.

  “Me too,” Chi-Tze said, just as forcefully.

  “Good. When you get back to the hotel, I want you to create an offer sheet. I’d like it done by tonight so we can run it past May Ling and then send it to Gillian and Clark.”

  “That’s quick,” Amanda said.

  “Is that a problem for either of you?”

  “No, we can do it, as long as we have some guidance.”

  “Give them the share structure they want, but we have to have right of first refusal if they want to sell even one share,” Ava said. “Detail and insist on the financial protection May Ling thinks we need. Commit us to putting in ten million dollars immediately and whatever else is needed if the business’s performance matches the projections in Gillian’s plans.”

  “Ava, if those projections are met, we’ll have to come up with another twenty or thirty million quite quickly. Currently we don’t have that kind of availability,” Amanda said.

  “May and I talked about this last night. The money will be there if it’s needed.”

  Amanda looked surprised but simply said, “Okay.”

  “Now in addition to those points I’m sure there’s a lot of boiler-plating you learned at business school and will want to add. Feel free to do that, but remember the sensitivities you’re dealing with.”

  “Is that all?” Amanda asked.

  “No. We want you to be the partner who sits on the board and the executive committee and is the official point of contact for all things PÖ.”

  “Gladly.”

  “And we want Chi-Tze to be our eyes and ears and brain in the business.”

  “What does that mean?” Chi-Tze asked.

  “Are you prepared to move to Shanghai?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you’ll be our in-house manager. Use whatever title you want. All that matters is that you run day-to-day operations with Gillian.”

  “Do you really want that spelled out in the offer sheet?” Amanda asked.

  “Yes.”

  “They won’t like that,” Chi-Tze said.

  “I don’t care. It’s our money, and we have a responsibility to make sure that it and the business are managed in a way that makes us comfortable.”

  “I would hate to see you lose the deal because of me,” Chi-Tze said.

  “Look, we’re a relatively new company and we’re small, but the one thing we’ll always do is cover each other’s backs. There are more important things than closing a deal.”

  Chi-Tze glanced at Amanda, who was staring at Ava. “Thank you for your trust,” she said.

  “We’re a team. Thanks aren’t necessary.”

  ( 15 )

  It was nine thirty by the time they sat down for dinner.

  As soon as they got back to the Peninsula, Amanda and Chi-Tze had taken over a small boardroom in the hotel’s business centre to begin drafting the offer. “Call me if you need me or when you’re done,” Ava said. Then she went to her room to get her own thoughts organized and to call May Ling.

  May answered almost immediately. “How did it go?”

  “Well, we’re all still talking and the Pos have agreed to consider an offer. They want it in writing, and the girls are drafting it now.”

  “That’s fantastic.”

  “Don’t say that until you see it. I wasn’t exactly hard-nosed.”

  “I’ve just spent two hours on the phone with Beijing, and we’re scheduled to be back at it in a few minutes. After listening to Suki and the guy there negotiate, I can only say that I have a different view of hard-nosed than I did before. They beat the hell out of each other, and then they gladly agreed to do it again.”

  “Is it going well?”

  “We’re close to a deal in principle. It may take a trip to Beijing to finalize it, but that’s a small matter. We still need to do our due diligence, but Suki already knows a lot about the internal workings of that company, and after listening to her grill the guy, I’ll be shocked if there are any surprises.”

  “What is it going to cost us?”

  “Close to eighty million U.S.”

  “About double what we gave Suki for the shares in her company.”

  “He has substantially more assets in terms of warehouses and trucks.”

  “That eats up our initial investment fund and then some.”

  “Yes, so thank goodness for Xu. And by the way, his money is already in our bank account.”

  “On this end we’re going to be out of pocket ten million.”

  “Do we really have to front that ten million so soon?”

  “After this morning, we need to demonstrate our confidence in the Pos. We were going to put up the money eventually, so why not do it now and get credit for it?”

  “I see the sense in that, as long as we have our controls in place.”

  “We will or there’s no deal.”

  “How about operationally?”

  “I like Amanda’s idea of putting Chi-Tze into the business full-time. Clark will obviously be the creative boss, and it makes sense to leave Gillian in charge of day-to-day operations such as procurement and production, but I don’t believe they have enough expertise in actual brand building. Chi-Tze can fill that void.”

  “Will the Pos be okay with that?”

  “I don’t know. I’m more concerned about our best interests.”

  “And you’re not worried that it might be too much for Chi-Tze to take on?”

  “No. I know she’s young, but she’s certainly smart enough, and she’s conscientious. Mind you, you never really know if someone is ready to take on a responsibility until you actually give it to them. But Amanda thinks Chi-Tze can handle it, and I trust her judgement.”

  May laughed, catching Ava by surprise. “What’s so funny?” she asked.

  “I was just thinking how crazy the past twenty-four hours have been.”

  “Isn’t that the truth.”

  “I find it exhilarating.”

  “I felt that way when I left the Po factory, though I didn’t let the girls know.”

  “Yes, don’t ruin your image.”

  “Image?”

  “The girls think you’re the coolest thing around — the unflappable Ava Lee.”

  “I wish.”

  “Anyway, that’s what they think, and I don’t think you should try to dissuade them of that idea. It’s good when there’s that much respect for the boss.”

  “I hardly think of myself as that.”

  “Well, you’d better start, because that’s what you and I are now. If we close these deals we will have five companies under our control.”

  Ava paused. The thoughts that had been rumbling around in her head during her walk in the French Concession, and later in the taxi, returned. “I can’t help finding it strange. For ten years it was just Uncle and me, and for a lot of that time, especially when I was on a job, it was me alone. I’ve developed a mindset and habits that reflect that experience. It’s going to take me some time to get used to all this interdependency.”

  “Nonsense.”

  “Anyway, be patient.”

  “Momenta
i,” May said, and then quickly added, “Ava, I have to go — Suki is waving at me. I’ll be back at the hotel sometime in the early evening. Save dinner for me.”

  Ava yawned. She was exhausted and feeling the effects of residual jet lag and the previous night’s disturbed sleep. It was late afternoon. She wondered if the Bund was negotiable for a run, but a quick glance out the window told her it wasn’t. She turned on the television, skipped past news shows, and found herself looking at a young Chow Yun-fat in the movie Hard Boiled, John Woo’s last Hong Kong gangster/cop film before he went to Hollywood. Ava had seen it before and thought it was one of Woo’s best. Chow and Tony Leung were both sexy and moody in it, though Ava thought the female lead, Teresa Mo, was a bit plain for either of them; but then, women were usually incidental in Woo’s films.

  She went to the room bar, found a bottle of white burgundy, fluffed her pillows, and lay down on the bed to enjoy some wine and watch the film. She didn’t make it past the first few minutes, waking to the hotel phone ringing and a different film on the screen.

  “Ava, this is Amanda.”

  “Hi,” Ava mumbled.

  “It’s nine o’clock.”

  “God, I fell asleep.”

  “We’re downstairs waiting for you. We have a table at Sir Elly’s Restaurant, on the thirteenth floor.”

  “See you there,” Ava said, and then groaned. She showered quickly, brushed her teeth and hair, and threw on a pink shirt and black skirt. As she was walking towards the elevator, her cellphone rang. Before she could retrieve it from her bag, the elevator doors opened. She stepped inside, and as the doors closed the incoming call was cut off. She checked for missed calls and saw a vaguely familiar Hong Kong number. Well, whoever it is, she thought, they’ll call back.

  Sir Elly’s may not have had the dramatic setting of Whampoa, but it was spectacular in its own way. The room was long, with a high arched ceiling, and terminated by a massive, speckled black marble fireplace. Floor-to-ceiling windows looked out onto the Bund, the Huangpu River, and Pudong. May Ling waved to Ava from a window table.

  May, Amanda, and Chi-Tze stood as she approached. They were all smiling. Ava saw an open bottle of champagne on the table.

  “We’re having a little celebration,” May said, extending her arms for a hug. “Our man in Beijing finally agreed to Suki’s basic terms. She and I are flying there tomorrow to continue the due diligence, shake hands, and put together an offer sheet.”