Becoming Rich with Daily Scavenging APP-Chapter 700: Contract Termination

After chatting with Lawrence, Chen Yiyang sent him off.

Upon returning to the hotel, he asked Schaefer, "Do you think this business is reliable?"

"That guy definitely hasn't told us everything." Schaefer took a sip from a glass of red wine, pondering slowly.

"I've been in business for so many years and have seen a lot, gaining valuable experience.

That is, unless one party in the transaction is a reckless second-generation leader or a suddenly mentally ill person in charge, there's always a reasonable cause behind any absurd occurrence.

This collaboration between New Zealand and South Korea involves two countries, a port, and a shipyard.

In a business deal of this magnitude, the chances of encountering a madman or spoiled heir are very slim.

Therefore, Korea's sudden increase in construction costs for supporting facilities from around two billion to twenty billion, a tenfold increase, absolutely has a reason."

"Couldn't it be that the Korean shipyard first signed the contract at a very low price to squeeze out competitors, and then raised the stakes?"

Chen Yiyang admitted he had biases against Koreans, hence believing the issue lies with the Korean shipyard.

"Did you notice?" Schaefer recalled what Lawrence mentioned earlier and continued, "Korea's budget increase tenfold was proposed to New Zealand last year.

According to Lawrence, in fact, they recently decided to change the subcontractor and have a different shipyard build the ships.

This means that last year, New Zealand didn't find the offer problematic."

Schaefer's reminder made Chen Yiyang realize.

Lawrence's timing was off.

If Korea's offer had been truly absurd, both parties should have stopped cooperating last year and prepared to change shipyards.

Why did they only act this year?

"Now comes the question," Schaefer shrugged at Chen Yiyang, "If I spend some money, I might be able to uncover the hidden issues behind this.

But clearly, this transaction is far more complicated than it seems. Does a big boss like you really want to be the intermediary for New Zealand and earn a commission?"

"I'm not short of petty cash right now." Chen Yiyang said, sitting on the sofa, "Even if the shipyards from New Zealand and the domestic ones are generous, I'll make just a few million.

My main focus is Lawrence's connections in New Zealand. He's representing the New Zealand government. If I build a good relationship with him, some businesses can smoothly enter New Zealand in the future."

Exactly.

The reason Chen Yiyang talked so much with Lawrence was mainly because he valued Lawrence's connections in New Zealand.

Although New Zealand is a small country, it is rich in resources and adjacent to the ocean. New Zealand is not only a developed country but also has a relatively liberal economy, making it one of the easiest countries for commercial trade.

Moreover, since New Zealanders primarily speak English, it's convenient to communicate with other large markets.

Thus, in today's economic environment, New Zealand is a relatively quality market.

Chen Yiyang aims to expand Yiyang Automobile and other industries into New Zealand. If he can build a good relationship with Lawrence in advance, his development in New Zealand will be smoother, relying at least on his contacts.

"Understood." After hearing Chen Yiyang's plan.

Schaefer also understood. Chen Yiyang, unlike him, doesn't solely depend on earning commissions as an agent for others.

He owns many businesses, and entering the New Zealand market is more lucrative than just receiving a commission.

"Since that's the case, I'll help you inquire about it over the next few days. Anyway, I'm not in a hurry to find partners for German businesses now."

Schaefer also happily stayed in the Imperial Capital to assist Chen Yiyang.

His expenses in the Imperial Capital were covered by Chen Yiyang, and he could even reimburse these expenses with the companies who commissioned him once he returned to Germany.

Thus, not only could he enjoy a free ride in the Imperial Capital, he could also earn extra money.

Although it's not much, even small gains add up.

So Schaefer decided to stay in the Imperial Capital and called friends to find out what's going wrong with the deal between New Zealand and the Korean shipyard.

Two days later, Schaefer approached Chen Yiyang.

"I found out, I initially thought it was a business issue, but it turns out to be due to party rivalry."

"Party rivalry?" At this moment Chen Yiyang was getting a private massage in the hotel.

He gestured for Schaefer to lie on the massage bed beside him, and the two talked business while getting massages.

"Yes, party rivalry." Schaefer said, "When negotiating the contract with the Korean shipyard, New Zealand was still under Labor Party governance.

Although it can't be confirmed, those Koreans definitely handed out money to key figures, which helped them secure the contract.

Meanwhile, to avoid public scrutiny and prevent attacks from political enemies during contract signing, the contract's main item, namely the construction costs for the two ships, was extremely low, essentially without profit.

The bulk of the profit was in the supplementary facilities. According to the contract, the shipyard had to construct a suitable port for the ships.

Due to large-scale infrastructure involvement, complexity arises, making vast amounts of finances and expenses hard to monitor.

The Korean shipyard and Labor Party members have ample excuses to continuously hike up the construction costs for the supporting facilities.

Yet, inflating the cost tenfold to around twenty billion likely contains not only the desire to profit from the Korean shipyard but also local legislators from the Labor Party plotting a big cash grab.

But with overspending to such a degree, this contract had long caught the attention of New Zealand's public. If the Labor Party remained in control, the project might still progress.

However, coincidentally, this year's election resulted in the change of power, switching New Zealand's ruling party from the Labor Party to the National Party.

Given the project is now so absurd, the National Party is bound to cancel it no matter what."

"Is that really the hidden reason?" Upon hearing Schaefer's explanation, Chen Yiyang quickly realized that though messy, the solution was rather straightforward.

They just need to convince the Korean shipyard to accept terminating the project and allow New Zealand and domestic shipyards to renegotiate.

"What a shame." Chen Yiyang sighed.

Just recently, he and Schaefer had offended quite a few people within Korea due to the World Expo host city campaigning issues.

If they hadn't, they could leverage some connections to perhaps save New Zealand a bit of money, facilitating termination of the contract with the shipyard.

Since the cause was clear, Chen Yiyang immediately looked for Lawrence, ready to discuss the shipbuilding issues again.