Pacific Capital

"Ok. Let me know what happens."

"Will do." Hannah replied.

As we were walking out of the club, Hannah's phone rang. She picked up the call and had a smile on her face as she ended the conversation quickly.

"That was Cece. Hien just called her to let her know that Tran just delivered a signed authorization letter to proceed with the proposed offering. She also said that Tran included the initial signing fee payment of US$500K." She laughed when she said that last bit.

"Great news. Why the laugh?" I asked.

"Cece said that Hien was screaming into the phone. She has never seen a check for that amount of money before."

I laughed also. I could just imagine Hien flipping out when Tran handed her the check.

"Did she at least deposit it?"

Hannah smiled as she nodded her head. "She said that she put it into the account as fast as she could, then sent Lillian an email to advise her of the payment."

I laughed. That must have been an eye-opener for Hien.

"Ok, we need to get things moving. Please ask Lillian to get the word out to the funding pools that they should be forwarding their funds in accordance with the vesting schedule. Also, ask Cece to make flight arrangements for the three of us to return to Hanoi some time next week. Make sure that she works with our schedules."

I called Sam when we got back to the office and put him on speakerphone.

"Ok Sam. Deal's on. We need to get over there and do the paperwork but you might update your resume and put your thoughts on paper regarding assistance that you can provide."

"Didn't you just send the proposal over the other day?" he asked.

"Yeah, but we verbally discussed it with them last week when we were over there." I replied.

"Very cool. They acted quickly." Hannah added.

"Yes, for a government minister to act that quickly they must have had support at a high level." Sam interjected.

"I think it might have been Vice Premier Ling. She sat in on one of our meetings." I informed Sam.

"Vice Premier Ling?" he asked?

"Yeah. She was at our initial meeting with the Trade Ministry. She listened to the entire presentation."

"That means that they know that they can't fund all of their projects internally."

"Yes. They know that they need outside investment in order to grow their economy. So Sam, my guess is that whatever you can do to help some of their businesses increase their exports as well as attract outside investors will be looked at very favorably."

"Damn. This might be more that I can do on my own. If they take off, I'll probably be burning the candle at both ends."

Hannah smiled, "so recruit a couple of bright international business students and train them in the ways of the world. If you can do that, I think you'll be golden."

"Fuck, Peter. You don't do things half-way do you?" he chuckled.

"Gotta reach for the golden ring. Always."

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Life became hectic to say the least. Hannah and I were in Hanoi two weeks out of four, working with the Vietnamese government to allocate funding to their various CIP projects. Helping to advise them of what made sense to fund with the capital that we were providing as well as what projects should be funded somewhere else or ignored all together.

Hien received her passport in a week with Quang's assistance. He apparently walked it through himself after he couldn't get a satisfactory answer after a couple of phone calls. She came over to the US and spent two weeks with us getting familiar with people in our office as well as learning how things are done in the US. First time out of Vietnam for her, and first time in a western country.

Talk about culture shock! Not just different people and different foods, but different climate, different dress, street vendors, Uber, Lyft, Tex-Mex, TV channels galore. At times a little overwhelming. But she showed her resilience and youth, and took up the challenge without blinking an eye.

Back in Vietnam, with assurances and assistance from us, Hien plunged right into the fray and was sorting through project funding requests from the get go. That was part of our agreement with the Vietnamese government; that we would preliminarily vet funding request and recommended that they be approved or denied. Quality control was what we were after in order to assure ourselves that the investment capital was being put to use productively.

We had also introduced her to the world of international contracting; crash course in international contract law, dealing with unscrupulous business people (with an iron fist), and how to quietly grab people by the balls and squeeze when they failed to live up to expectations.

Well, that was what we wanted; a country manager that could swing our bat and hit homeruns. And Hien's insistence on performance helped to get the best bang for the investment dollars that we provided. Vice Premier Ling was impressed and tried to hire Hien away from us but she politely refused.

"Madam Ling, please do not misunderstand," Hien explained. "I appreciate your offer very much, but Pacific Capital is my home. They take me and train me when I have no experience. Only school work. I owe Mr. Sekimura and Ms. Keran so much for the opportunity they give me."

Ling understood fully, knowing that without our guidance and support, that Hien would have probably ended up working in the country's diplomatic corp somewhere doing who knows what.

Ling relayed the conversation to us over coffee one evening after Hannah, Hien and I had finished briefing her and her team on the progress of projects funded.

"Ms. Phuong is very loyal to your company. I ask her to join our government but she very much appreciates working for you."

I looked at Hien and smiled, "Ms. Phuong has more than exceeded our expectations. We are very fortunate to have met her and interested her in the work that we do."

Borland never made it to grad school. He was in our office meeting with Cece to go over the intern program when Sam Dinarae dropped by. Just off the plane from Hanoi.

"Kid, you want to learn international business? You come with me. Fuck grad school. They won't teach you much besides what you can read in a textbook or read in the news. You come with me and it'll be immersion to the max. Both feet, all hands on deck. We'll be the ones making the news. Know what I mean?"

Talk about deer in the headlights. Borland didn't have a chance to say no. He was on a plane to Hanoi after he got a passport issued to him. Never been out of the country before so this was a rude awakening for him. Kind of like what Hien went through but in reverse. But five years into it and you couldn't pry him away.

Pacific Capital is just moving right along. After five years, the returns on the Vietnam deal were ahead of forecast. There were several achievement milestone awards that were part of the package. One of which was to sustain a GDP growth rate in excess of 10% for three years or more. And the country's GDP was climbing past 17% after three years. That meant a nice bonus fee that we shared with our funding partners. And that generated interest among other Asian investors to be involved with our next deal.

Sam Dinarae and James Boland hit the ground running. Sam was in his element goading manufacturers to either step up or shut up and don't grumble whiles others took market share and position away from them. Of course no one wants to look like a loser so they all stepped up.

That caused Sam and James to burn the candle at both ends and in the middle. Especially Boland. Talk about on the job training and trying to swim while learning the ropes. Poor guy. They had their hands full matching manufacturers to buyers in South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and the US. They took in at least two international business school graduates to help them but also helped to place countless other graduates with manufacturers. They were being hailed as heros by the Vietnamese government.

Boland had it rough learning not only how to survive and thrive in the international business world, but a new country and culture as well. At first I felt sorry for him. We all did. Especially Hien. So much so that they ended up hooking up. Yeah. James and Hien became a couple. Good for them. We thought they were made for each other.

Hannah, Cece and I did manage to put our 'marriage' together legally and held a private ceremony at a small onsen in Hokkaido, Japan. No one else was invited. Just the three of us cementing our matrimonial bonds. Of course, we spent several days doing the 'cementing' part!

Pacific Capital continues to forge ahead. After the Vietnam deal was seasoned for a couple of years, there were several hedge funds that came knocking on our door. Could we use some of their excess funds? And access to that capital helped to fund a second traunch for Vietnam as well as first round investment capital for Singapore.

And we were also approached by a mega M&A company who was interested in buying us out. But as Lillian Korning, our CFO, pointed out, mergers and acquisitions are a totally different ball game versus capital investments. We wouldn't understand or fully appreciate each other's needs. So we remained privately held.

Not sure when the girls plan to have children but I think it may be sooner than later. We're not getting any younger and their maternal nesting instincts seem to be lurking just under the surface of things. Just the other day they indicated an interest in buying a home with a yard. It was supposed to be a really great deal for a five bedroom house. Five bedrooms! How many kids are they thinking about?