Neom City
In June 2017, the King of Saudi Arabia abolished the first Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and appointed his real son, Mohammed bin Salman, as Crown Prince.
It was an act that completely disrupted the unity of the Saud family by changing the succession system of Saudi Arabia, which was supposed to give priority to brother inheritance according to the will of the first king, Al Saud.
Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud, who took over the position of Crown Prince and important posts as deputy prime minister and defense minister, took action immediately.
It is the purge of the Saudi royal family who could challenge the succession to the throne.
The justification was enough. Saudi Arabia’s royals have monopolized the country’s economy for decades, committing various types of corruption and diverting their wealth.
When oil prices are skyrocketing, the people have turned their eyes on corruption because of the comfort provided by the state, but Saudi Arabia’s economy has been going through a slump due to the low oil prices that have been going on for several years.
The unemployment rate among young people in their 20s and 30s, who make up the majority of the population, is the worst in history.
They wanted someone to take responsibility for this.
The new prince took this opportunity.
Most of his cousins, the royals, were imprisoned in a hotel on corruption charges and forced to swear allegiance to him with an offer to release 70% of the assets he had accumulated so far.
In any society, the punishment for corruption is bound to be well-received by the people.
Even if the person who wanted to punish the corruption was also a participant in a similar act, even if it was obvious that it was simply a fight against the regime, it was natural for the support to increase when the punishment for corruption was raised.
So the new crown prince was able to seize the hegemony of Saudi Arabia.
And now the crown prince, who has come to power with a blitzkrieg purge, is looking to take the next step by listing Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company, Aramco.
Aramco, which owns Saudi Arabia’s monopoly on domestic oil production, is unsurprisingly the world’s largest refining company in terms of oil reserves and crude oil production.
The latent value of the company is estimated at at least $2 trillion.
If Aramco went public, it could raise as little as $100 billion or more by selling just a 5% stake.
On the other hand, by utilizing listed stocks, it is possible to obtain extra income in addition to the income earned from oil.
Aramco’s stock price will follow the fluctuations of oil prices, and the Saudi royal family has the greatest influence on oil price movements.
The funds raised were to be used to de-petrogenize Saudi Arabia’s economy.
Saudi Arabia’s economic structure is completely dependent on the oil industry.
85% of the government’s budget, 42% of gross domestic product, and 90% of Saudi Arabia’s exports come from oil.
And in the face of an environmental crisis, the world is increasingly betting on the drive away from fossil fuels.
We all know that Saudi Arabia’s oil-only economy is in crisis.
Compared to other neighboring oil-producing countries, such as Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman, who have been working for a long time to revive their oil-dependent economy, Saudi Arabia is very late.
Even now, the Crown Prince’s plan to prepare for the future was gaining wide public support.
But the king, who had supported his reforms until then, put the brakes on the crown prince’s plans this time.
Aramco’s IPO, which was scheduled for the end of last year, has been pushed back to this year, and even that is not certain given the current situation.
“We plan to raise about $100 billion in total through Aramco’s listing.”
Yasir’s words continued.
“And the money raised will be used to normalize the Saudi economy. However, you may be able to raise more money than you think. He wants you to have a solid plan ahead of the listing.”
Of course, Yasir’s words were not so different from the Saudi Arabia situation that Eugene knew.
The only difference is that his purpose is not simply a clear plan.
The failure of Aramco’s listing was due to opposition from his father, the king.
Although the king gave power to the crown prince who would take over his place, the listing of Aramco seemed to be a challenge to his throne.
Aramco is a symbol of Saudi Arabia.
Listing it under the Crown Prince’s initiative means that, from an outside perspective, all authority has been completely passed on to him.
Even as a king who trusted enough to make his seventh child, Bin Sal, the crown prince among his many sons, it seemed difficult to accept that alone.
In order to list Aramco, bin Salman, who has virtually seized power in Saudi Arabia, needed additional results other than the domestic purge.
In Eugene’s past life, the Crown Prince showed his future vision by partnering with Japan’s SoftBank through PIF and investing $45 billion in the Vision Fund to create a $100 billion fund.
But this time, instead of SoftBank, he is counting on Eugene.
It is a natural concern. If anyone looks ahead and invests in the future, Eugene is the most suitable.
If you’re making big investments, at least tens of billions to hundreds of billions of dollars, you need to partner with the best.
However, from last year until now, Eugene has not fully accepted Prince Salman’s request.
If the other person has a child, there is no need to give up what you want in a hurry.
Moreover, Eugene is not someone who needs other people’s money right away like SoftBank.
“Your Majesty does not want a stable investment. A vision for the future is much more important than that.”
Yasir once again emphasized that the Crown Prince’s purpose is not to make stable investments.
It means that you will bet boldly even at the risk of loss.
There are many rich people in the world, but there is probably no one other than an empty-year-old who can come with hundreds of billions of dollars in investment and say that it is okay to take risks.
“We will refer Eugene’s opinion to all projects of Vision 2030. In the construction of NEOM City, if there is a company that wants to work, we will take measures so that we can work together as much as possible.”
After such lengthy negotiations, an acceptable condition was finally reached.
Vision 2030 is also a mega project to build the future Saudi Arabia, presented by bin Salman.
The estimated size is $700 billion, exceeding the $500 billion Eugene said it would invest in Korea.
With a budget equivalent to the annual GDP of a middle-income country, the plan was to make Saudi Arabia a hub for high-tech and investment.
And of that, $500 billion is set aside for the construction cost of Neom, a new city to be built in the Red Sea in the northwest of the Arabian Peninsula.
This wonderful new city, which will be built on a site of 26,500 square kilometers, 44 times the size of Seoul, will use only renewable energy such as solar and wind power, and robots will perform simple repetitive tasks such as security and delivery, as well as caring for the elderly and infants.
Only self-driving cars and unmanned drones that do not need people on the road can come and go.
It is a very future-oriented project.
Of course, there are many criticisms. It is a fantasy project that cannot be realized with current technology.
But the cost to be put into it was real.
As is always the case with large construction projects, this project will also be a source of astronomical slush funds, while many companies will suffer significant damage.
Eugene’s participation in the project means that he will be given great privileges.
As soon as the construction company in which Eugene owns shares receives orders from this project, the value of the stake will soar, and the profits he will gain in various fields will be astronomical.
Of course, it’s not free. The money invested in Eugene will make money here again, and the Crown Prince will also get a sufficient profit.
Bin Salman proposed to Eugene to hold hands in earnest.
Through this, Eugene and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia will create an economic community worth at least $1 trillion.
“The word reference or, if possible, together… … That is too vague.”
“okay. If that’s the case, we’ll take Eugene’s advice outright, except in certain areas.”
Arabs, along with Jews, are among the most proficient in commerce in the world.
Like the Jews who lost their country and wandered around the world and believed only money, Arabs have been engaged in continent-to-continent trade for a long time.
Eugene knows very well that he always has to be very careful when dealing with them.
“Then we will consider it positively.”
That’s how a trillion-dollar mega project began. It was a transaction that both the Arab prince’s agent and Eugene were satisfied with.
* * *
“Did you contact him?”
On the afternoon of Sunggyu’s return from the Aegean Sea, Eugene received a very strange report.
An unexpected person came to Hwan Kim of SS Partners, the headquarter of Korea.
“Hmm… … okay. okay. Let’s hear what you want first.”
“This is the will.”
Sunggyu said while looking at the file folder he took out of the safe.
The safe was easily opened with the password that Sunggyu had received from his father, who was living in seclusion at a villa in the Aegean Sea.
Sunggyu was having a secret event in the president’s bedroom with the president’s widow, the only owner of this bedroom.
There are two more people who are familiar with the president’s last will.
It is the lawyer who wrote the will and the secret son, Secretary Liu.
The widow and Sunggyu wanted more than the will in the safe, and they didn’t want to share it with anyone else.
After flying to the Aegean Sea to find out the password, Sunggyu secretly contacted the widow to alienate Secretary Ryu and decided to share the assets in the safe between the two of them.
As a widow, there was no reason to refuse.
“It really means that you are going to hand over the entire stake in the Daeyang Group.”
Sunggyu said with a fishy smile.
“It’s absurd. Not even a penny or two.”
The widow said that she did not hide her hostility towards her husband, who had been living together for decades.
“That’s Okay. Now that this is in our hands, there is no need to worry about unnecessary things.”
Sunggyu, who looked over the will, said.
“okay. Tear up that ugly thing… … No, you have to burn it.”
“By the way, did you have a good conversation with the lawyer?”
“Sure. He won’t open his mouth in vain either.”
The widow had already said that she had had enough hands with a lawyer.
“And this… … .”
Sunggyu hands over the will to the widow and examines the documents in the safe.
The widow doesn’t even care about the wills that have already been obtained, and searches for documents with Sungkyu.
The overseas assets that the chairman had hidden for decades must have been hidden there.