Pacific Capital

We took a break to attend to our luncheon meeting with Sam Dinarei, an acquaintance of mine from my high school days. We kind of drift in and out of each other's orbits from time to time. Sam had been stationed in South Korea for the last four or five years with Omaha Mutual Partners. His job had been to smoke out short term investments that had potential. He had been cycled back to the US and was on vacation.

We met at The Shores which is an "old money" private club that I belonged to. I had added Hannah to my membership so that she could make all the arrangements and use it herself as well.

We were greeted by the doorman as we walked up the stairs to the lobby. Sam was already in the lobby, checking out the artwork as well as spying on who was in the restaurant. That's one of the things that I liked and didn't like about Sam; always on the make for new customers and women.

"Hey Peter!" he yelled as he saw us coming through the door.

"What's happening Sam." I replied as we shook hands.

"So is this Mrs. Sekimura?" he asked and Hannah laughed.

"Hannah Keran, Mr. Dinarei. I'm Peter's PA." Hannah answered.

"No shit?" he said as he checked Hannah out. N-C-A-A (no class at all), just like in high school. Ah, but he scored a lot more than the rest of us did back then also.

We were promptly seated by the hostess, which saved me from having to run interference.

"So Peter, what's up man? Anything new with you besides Miss Universe here?"

Hannah turned pink while I laughed, "nah, nothing much. Just the same old, same old."

"Yeah, but your same old, same old, makes a ton of money when it hits."

I smiled. "So tell me what's happening in Korea these days.

"Nothing much the last couple of years. The North Korean political risk has been a little more than most investors are willing to accept. Fucking Kim Jong-Un is even worse than his father. He even assassinated his playboy half brother and his uncle. Nut job. I'm just happy to be away from there."

"That bad?"

"Yeah. The only stuff that was making some sense was down south in the Philippines and Vietnam. And of the two, Vietnam looks about the best. Muslims in the Philippines can make life kind of unpredictable sometimes. And their fucking corrupt politicians ..... some of them make our politicos look like boy scouts."

"Vietnam is the better of the two?"

"Yeah. Funny how that turned out. Ho Chi Minh tosses the French and the US out of there, and takes the country communist. But the communists can't stand not making a little on the side and suddenly everyone's an entrepreneur."

I looked at Hannah and she smiled. We had our fingers on that pulse these last several days.

"Country's still a little rough around the edges, though?" I asked.

"Yeah, but so what. The economy there is growing at what, a plus 10% or better each year? If their infrastructure was better, they would be growing even faster."

"No problem with investment capital?" Hannah asked.

Made Sam's head jerk as he turned to look at Hannah.

"Yeah. Big problems. Not enough to do what needs to be done. But they're trying." You could see the wheels behind his eyes turn as he reassessed his earlier opinion of Hannah.

"How much outside investment do you think would make a difference over there?" she continued.

"Gotta be fucking big and no sense looking if you can't leave it for at least five years or more."

"Which areas of their infrastructure needs the most attention?" she asked.

"Roads, harbors and airports. Improvements are needed in a big way."

"Telecommunications networks adequate?" Hannah inquired.

"Amazingly enough, yeah. The younger generation is nuts about wireless technology. I think there are more wireless devices than land line devices. The cell phone guys had to go in and build the infrastructure before they could sell their devices. So big time wireless bandwidth."

I nodded my head, "Infrastructure projects can be the black holes of Calcutta."

"Don't we know that and so does everyone else. That's probably why no one has expressed an interest in helping them."

"Too bad. Could be a gold mine if it pans out." I commented.

"Oh, it's going to be a gold mine. No question about the end result. Just the 'how long will it take' is still up in the air."

"Who's the main man there now days?" Hannah asked.

Sam laughed, "You and everyone else asks that question every day. Seems to be a Merry Go Round in the C-Suite."

By then our lunches had been served and we began digging in. Hannah had a garden salad and I had a salad topped with shrimp and broiled salmon skin. Sam had an 8 oz prime rib. He said he was still a growing boy.

As we were finishing lunch, Sam popped a question that he had been waiting to ask; "So Peter, you know anyone who could use a hired hand in Southeast Asia?"

"You looking?"

"Yeah. I'm looking for a risk taker that is looking for long term versus short term profit."

After a moment's hesitation, I told Sam, "I might know someone who might be looking. Got a resume that I can forward?"

"Yeah. Can I email it to you?"

Hannah gave him one of her business cards with her email address on it.

Sam gave it the once over and pocketed it. "I'll email it over later tonight. Thanks for the lunch."

As we went our separate ways, Hannah asked, "What are you thinking?"

I looked to make sure that Sam was on his way out the door before I replied, "Definitely not for us. He's too much of a loose cannon for what we do. But you never know when it's good to have someone on the inside. Maybe we can find him a home in Ho Chi Minh City."

"What?" Hannah laughed.

"Hey, the place is full of Chinese entrepreneurs trying to be the biggest and the baddest. And considering Sam's style, he might fit in really well over there."

"Devious Peter. You are a devious person."

"No ...... more like an opportunist, I think." I replied as she laughed.

By the time we returned to the office, it was early morning over in Japan, Korea and Vietnam so my phone began ringing with the call backs.

One really interesting conversation was with Lucy Hendricks who worked for Morgan Hunter in Tokyo. Lucy had worked for me for a couple of years before her husband got assigned to Yokouska by the US Navy. So we knew each other well.

"So you're saying that the Japanese are also looking at Vietnam?" I asked.

"Yeah. Several of the large construction companies have already set up offices and baseyards over there. I know that the Vietnamese are rolling out major CIP RFP's. Everything from airports to schools to hospitals."

"How are they financing their projects?" I asked.

Lucy laughed, "That's the million dollar question. Nobody knows. The World Bank has already reached their funding limit with them and so has the IMF. So we're all just waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"Are you thinking they might try a bond issue?"

"We proposed to float one for them, but they balked at the timing and the fees. So probably not."

After our conversation was over I briefed Hannah on what Lucy said.

"So there's a potential fly in the ointment with funding?" she asked.

"Yeah. Knowing Morgan Hunter, it was probably an expensive arrangement. Probably too short of an investment window also. But unless Vietnam is able to somehow fund the CIP's, they'll run into problems or have to drag out the projects. Perhaps an opportunity for us. Know anyone in Hanoi that we can talk to?"

"Not at the moment but give me a minute and we can certainly find out." She grinned.

"Oh, best have Cece make flight and hotel reservations when you have an appointment in hand."

She nodded her head as her fingers skimmed through her computer's keyboard.

I turned back to my phone messages and remained on the phone for the balance of the afternoon. Damn time zone differences. Our evening was their mid-day.

By the time Hannah and I surfaced from our phone calls and emails, it was pushing ten pm. The office was quiet. Even the cleaners had come and gone. That's how our days are from time to time. But when you're on a roll, the adrenaline takes over and time loses its relevance.

"One last call." I told Hannah.

She looked irritated but nodded her head in acknowledgement. I think she just wanted to go home and relax.

"Fairmont Downtown? Do you have the honeymoon suite available?" I asked.

Hannah perked up in an instant.

"I'd like to book it for the evening ...... yes, we're getting in late and just want to pamper ourselves."

Hannah was smiling from ear to ear and began to rub my shoulders.

"Yes, please reserve it under Peter Sekimura. And could you have the kitchen send up two of their house salads, two grilled salmon steaks with capers and lemon wedges, and a bottle of a nice chilled Pinot Grigio?"

"I'm going to fuck your brains out you lovely man." Hannah whispered in my ear.

"Yes, we'll be over in a few minutes." I informed the hotel.

I grinned and kissed Hannah. "Well, shall we be on our way?"

"If the hot tub and salmon steaks weren't waiting for me, I'd have your cock in me right now."

"And I'd be the one drilling you through the carpet." I replied as I kissed her again.

We checked in and made our way up to our room. The front desk must have called the kitchen to let them know that we had checked in as a waiter was pushing a serving table with our dinners on it as we arrived on our floor.

We had a splendid dinner. The Pinot was light and crisp and went well with the salads and fish. By the time we had finished dinner, Hannah had undressed herself down to her bra and panty and I was down to my briefs and she was sitting in my lap as we kissed repeatedly and at length.

We never made it to the hot tub that night. Instead we destroyed the bed, soaking it with our perspiration and body fluids. I'm sure the maids were pissed the next day. But hey, it's the honeymoon suite after all, and we did leave a sizable tip.

We returned home early the next morning, showered and changed our clothes and were back in the office by nine.

"So let's recap. Vietnam is moving forward with a massive CIP program that seems to be motivated by their need to grow their economy. But we don't know how they will be funding their projects. A heavy user of World Bank funding and the IMF, they can't dip into those sources at the moment. So they may be shopping for funding sources." I summed up.

"I agree with that assessment. I also checked with the US Dept of Commerce and they confirmed that there have been several large, US based multinational construction companies that have registered with them to take on work in Vietnam."

"So it sounds like we may have an opportunity to provide investment capital there?"

"I concur. However, we should probably run it by the board because of the political sensitivities." Hannah recommended.

I mulled it over and agreed. "You're right. We should do that right away. Have Cece contact the board and arrange for a teleconference meeting as soon as possible."

Hannah went to speak with Cece while I got on my phone and called Lillian Korning, our CFO.

"Lillian, Peter here. How much in investable capital do we have access to at the moment?"

"Hey Peter. Long or short term?"

"Long term; probably five to ten years. Maybe longer."

"What kind of ROI's we talking about?"

"I'm guessing interest rates of 2% to 3.5% with admin fees of .5% to .8%."

"Hmm, not bad considering the current interest rate environment. Any chance to reprice at some point?"

"I don't know. Something that needs to be negotiated."

"Well you know as well as I that the money peddlers will prefer deals that reprice every two or three years. The admin fee sounds low, but that depends on the size of the deal and what's involved."

"How much do you think we could scrounge up?"

"I'm guessing, and this is purely shooting in the dark, that we could probably come up with $300 to $500 million if the deal made sense."

"Do you think we could get subscriptions for more? Say upwards of $750 million?"

"What? That's a lot of dosh. What kind of deal are you thinking of?"

"Vietnam. Investment capital to fund their backlog of CIP priorities."

"Vietnam, eh? Not sure what their bond rating is, but it might fly."

"Bond rating was A- as of last month." I informed her.

"Well then it might just fly."

"And, we should consider this as possibly just the initial traunch. If they are successful at accelerating their economic growth rate, then the second round will be much larger. But by that time, perhaps their ability to borrow with the World Bank and IMF might be enhanced."

"Probably would. But they need to perform."

"Ok. Hannah and I will be meeting with the board soon and if they concur, then we'll be flying out to do a meet and greet."

"Good luck." And we severed the call.

Hannah interrupted my thoughts, "Cece has a teleconference call set up for early afternoon. We need to crank out a briefing memo and I've started it with what we have discussed so far. I'll forward that to you so you can take a look and edit."

And she sent me the link to the memo electronically. I scanned it quickly and decided that it was more than adequate to give everyone a good basic understanding of the situation.

"Good job. Let's have Cece send this out."

And Hannah sent it to Cece with instructions to disseminate it to the members of the board.

"How about lunch?" she asked.

"Ok. Any plans?"

"Let's take Cece out. We've been working her really hard lately."

I smiled, "sounds like a plan. Let's do that. Spago's?"

"I'll make the call. You let Cece know."

So I walked out of the office to invite Cece to lunch and found her dabbing her eyes with a tissue.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Sorry. My asshole of a boyfriend is being a prick. Excuse my language."

I knew Cece had been living with this guy for the past year or so. Thought they were moving towards making their arrangement permanent.

"Not a problem. Let me know if we can help."

She sighed, "I may need to take you up on that."

I looked at her and she had a deflated look about her. "What can we do to help?"

"I'm probably going to need a place to stay for a week or so while I find a new place. Asshole emptied my bank account yesterday and now I can't even afford to put down a deposit. Do you think I can have an advance on my next paycheck?"

"Fucker! What happened?"

"Well, things have not been great between us the last month or two. I think he's moving on to greener pastures."

"What? The guy's cheating on you?"

"I haven't caught him but I've all but accused him and he's hasn't said anything. But I went to the ATM this morning and discovered he had emptied my savings."

"Hannah?" I called back into my office. And she came out.

"Cece needs our help. Her boyfriend, I guess ex by now?" and Cece nodded her head in agreement.

"Her ex cleaned out Cece's savings so we need to help her out a bit. By the way, how much did he get away with?"

Cece mumbled, "he took more than $20,000."

"Did you give him signing authority on the account?"

"No. We kept separate accounts."

"Good. That means that he probably forged your signature. Hannah, let's help Cece call her bank and file a forgery charge."

So she did and we ended up taking Cece down to her bank and signed what needed to be signed. The branch manager assured Cece that her funds would be restored that night and that they would be filing a police report with her ex-boyfriend as the primary suspect.

As we sat in my car in the bank parking lot, I asked Cece, "What is the most important thing you need to do next?"

"Get my stuff out of the apartment."

"Ok, let's do that. You have a lot?"

She laughed half-heartedly, "yeah."

Hannah chimed in, "We're probably going to need help to do this. I'm thinking also help to keep her ex from interfering and causing trouble."

"Good idea. Call a security company and let's arrange to have at least one security officer accompany us. Cece, when do you want to do this?"

"As soon as I can. Sorry that I'm taking up your afternoon with my troubles."

Hannah hugged her. "Not a problem. We take care of our own."

"Cece, we, or I should say I, have a spare bedroom. You can use that for a couple of days."

She looked at me then Hannah, "ah, you live together?"

Hannah looked at her, "Is that going to be a problem?"

"No, it's just that you're his PA?"

"Yes. That way I'm accessible 24/7. And we know each other really well so we function well together."

I smiled at her, "Cece, it works for both of us. And we work extremely well together as a result."

"I won't be intruding?" she asked.

Hannah laughed, "no, not at all."

So it was decided that we would move Cece out of her ex's apartment after our teleconference call with the board. Hannah made a call to the security company to firm up the time and place.

Our prior lunch plans were abandoned and we stopped by some nameless fast food place to pick up a couple of sandwiches and beverages.

Back at the office we quickly downed the sandwiches while Cece set up the teleconference call and rang it through to our office extension.

The meeting itself was short and to the point. And after a couple of difficult questions that we didn't have answers for, the board voted to move forward with the project with final approval subject to final review of the negotiated terms and conditions. I was satisfied with that.

"How are our travel plans?" I asked Hannah after the conference call was completed.

"We leave in two days. Cece has us taking Korean Air to Incheon, then down to Hanoi. We'll overnight in Seoul at the Grand Hotel Meyongdong, then depart the next afternoon for Hanoi. We have reservations at the Hanoi Fairmont. And we have a request to meet with the US embassy attaché' and the Vietnamese Minister of Trade. I'm hoping that we'll hear back tomorrow."

"Sorry," Cece interrupted us, "Mr. Edwards, the US attaché, called while you were on your teleconference call. He said that he would be happy to meet with you and to just call his office when you arrive. I've loaded his phone number and email address into your contact folders. So next time you refresh you'll have that info added to your phones and tablets."

I smiled at Cece. On the ball. Of course. We only hire and retain the best.

"Anything more we need to do right now?" I asked both of them.

"Nope."

"Nope."

"Ok, then let's get going. The security company confirmed?" I asked Hannah.

"Yep. They should be at Cece's apartment building in about ...... thirty minutes. Will your ex be around?"

"No, he should be at work." Cece replied.

So we left the office, jumped into my car and drove over to Cece's apartment where we found her ex's car in his parking stall.

"Oh shit," Cece moaned. "I don't want to cause a scene."

"Well girl, we gotta do this and the sooner the better for you." Hannah replied.

"I guess."

So we parked in the visitor parking lot and met the security person at the front door of the building.

We shook hands and I told the guy what we would be doing and that Cece's ex might be in the apartment. I was hoping that our presence would prevent any potential violent situation from developing and that's why we wanted the security person. He understood his role and we went up to Cece's apartment. As she opened the door we could hear two people fucking in the bedroom. It was very clear to me what they were doing by the groans and moaning and the sound of pelvis' banging against each other.

I could see Cece's anger build and I took her by her shoulders and made her wait with Hannah while I took the security guard with me to the bedroom.

"Ahem." I said loudly as the security guard and I interrupted Cece's ex and his partner as they were vigorously fucking on the bed.