25 - Chapter 24

Tasha awoke refreshed. She would spend the day in meetings, trying to find family businesses that were interested in selling. It would obviously depend on what they wanted, and what licences they held. She would need to ensure that she reviewed the details of each deal with Mamat to ensure that she did not overpay for the businesses.

While she had access to near infinite wealth, that did not mean she wanted to overspend. Everyone loves a bargain. There was also the fact that overspending would raise red flags all over the place and bring attention that she did not want nor need. She wanted to be in a much more powerful position before stepping out onto the world stage. These days companies spending billions on deals were not as eye-catching as they had been in the past. However, all deals were heavily scrutinised for a variety of reasons, but mostly by those that wanted to find a way to profit from any details they found. If companies were found to be paying over the odds, and they were in the public domain it would be written off as a bubble. However, a VC find overpaying for would stand out like a red rag to the bulls.

There would be infinite comment and scrutiny, everyone trying to work out the reason for overpaying, bringing enormous attention. That would lead to other businesses conducting research just because. Tasha was not yet ready to face that level of scrutiny. For that reason, she needed to ensure that her deals just looked like good prudent purchases in a traditional field. Noted and then ignored for being ordinary. Given that the companies would be private, the massive internal changes would be mostly ignored.

Her deal with the ministries would also give her the freedom to be more aggressive. With her approach decided, she got out of bed and prepared for the day. She considered whether she should go for a swim or use the gym, but decided against the idea. It was late enough that both would be busy, and she did not want to add stories of an olympic level athlete training, then buying companies. That would be noticed and commented on.

She took a leisurely bath, and then went down for breakfast. She took her time, as it was early enough. Part way through breakfast Mamat arrived looking tired but alert.

“I hope I am not working too hard.” said Tasha by way of greeting. “Why don’t you join me for breakfast.”

“Thank you, I will.” replied Mamat, taking a seat. ”I have not had to pull an all nighter this intense since my college days, so more a reminder of times long past.”

“Don’t worry, “smirked Tasha. “After this it will only be Sunny running you ragged, at least until I decide to pop back into town.”

“Some warning would be appreciated.” replied Mamat grinning. “I would say at least 6 months notice, but Sunny has warned me that getting 6 hours notice is you being kind.”

“It sounds like you two were busy gossiping instead of working.” teased Tasha. “I see now why you are so tired. So did you actually find time to get any work done?”

“You know we needed something to break the pattern,” replied Mamat, “So we interspersed our gossiping with occasional bouts of work.”

“What can I say, I am disappointed.” said Tasha with a mock frown. ”You had to take breaks from gossiping…. And here I thought I had hired professionals. I will have to ask HR to put you both on remedial training. Did this work lead to anything?”

Mamat handed over a folder to Tasha. “Well we had chat gpt spit out a few random things to make it look like we were busy.” replied Mamat looking hurt. “We are professional, you know, we have to keep up appearances.” Then devolved into a fit of laughter. “Seriously, your team is amazing. I have never seen anyone get through background checks and due diligence so fast.”

“Well they are your team now.” said Tashs as she started to look through the contents in the folder. “So you know the quality of work you are competing with for when you ask for a bonus.”

As Mamat ordered his breakfast, Tasha completed going through the company profiles, background and due diligence. For each company, her researchers had put together details on the owners, their families and associates. There were detailed business accounts, both the official and unofficial. There were details provided of licences held and details on raw materials mined along with projections on the size of the remaining deposits. In short more than enough detail to negotiate from a position of strength.

“I assume that someone will bring individual copies of these reports,” said Tasha.

“Yes, my secretary is working on that with the rest of the team.” replied Mamat between mouthfuls of breakfast. “They will be sanitised to not give away our true capabilities, as instructed by Ms Hanna.”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Excellent, there is nothing better than delegating to a bunch of professionals to make a girl’s life easy.” replied Tasha. “I am going to go get ready for the meetings. Obviously I have to give them a show. Let us ensure that the company representatives all get to see each other. I want them to realise that we are talking to their competition too.”

She went off to freshen up and change into her business attire. Today was looking like it would be fun.

**Vampire Patriarch POV**

Malim bin Daud took a look at his reflection in the mirror. He had dressed in clothing designed to play down his wealth and status. He wanted to come across as another senior executive. While his face was recognisable the local families, he did not think he would run into anyone who would recognise him.

He had already held suspicions regarding the reasons for his daughter to go missing. Then just as they were frantically looking for her, a foreigner approached his company about potentially buying out their mining operations. He thought it was too random to be a coincidence.

He wondered if it really was unrelated, or was someone stupid enough to try and leverage his daughter to force him to hand over his business interests. Once the request had made it to him, he had insisted on attending this meeting personally.

He would go to this meeting and assess the people sent to make this deal. And if they had anything to do with his missing daughter, he would kill them all, after making sure to get details of everyone involved of course.

** Minister POV**

The ministers enjoyed breakfast while they waited to meet the prime minister. They had to be the ones to present the news of the deal they had agreed personally. They did not want the credit to be stolen from them. As junior ministers, political credit was the only way for them to progress. If their deal actually delivered, they would be able to present proof of significant foreign investment into the country, that would play well with the business owners. However, the fact that the company had agreed to implement significant workplace reforms as part of the purchase, would go down very well with the wider working population. It would shore up their flagging popularity numbers, and that should please the prime minister. As they were called into their meeting, they just hoped that nothing would go wrong.

** Tasha POV**

Tasha, dressed in a conservative business suit she had procured the day before, came down to the meeting hall she had booked with the hotel. The room was already bustling, with hotel staff laying on refreshments, and Mamat’s staff ensuring they had the details and were prepared for all the senior executives there were expect to attend today.

While the meetings would be one to one, Tasha had to be in on the discussions, otherwise it would be considered a grave insult. The executives would have to be pampered while they waited for their meeting time. Mamat had made sure that no one would have any reason to complain. First impressions were always important.

Tasha was happy with the preparations, as Mamat approached her with a stack of folders.

“The packs are ready for our guests,” he said, handing one over for Tasha to look at .”Do we want to give it to them while we wait, or do we want to wait till they are in the room with us.”

“I think we split the packs, give them details of our offer to review while they wait,” smirked Tasha. ”We can show them how well we know their businesses in the room, yes it will slow down our meeting cadence, but the shock value will be well worth it. Besides, we are essentially going to be having the same meeting multiple times today, we need something to break the monotony.”

“You really have a wicked sense of humour.” said Mamat, “It is good to be working for a boss who does not take everything seriously all the time.”

“What would be the point?” replied Tasha. “If life was that boring, I might as well be dead. Shall we go and settle in, I am sure your secretary can bring in the first executive for the meeting when they are here.”

“Why don’t you go in.” said Mamat, “I will be along once I have relayed your instructions.”

Tasha went off to settle into the meeting suite, as Mamat went off to give the team final instructions. Once he was sure that the team understood their requirements, he picked up the stack of folders, and entered the office suite.

The suite had a modern look, with a large conference table and comfortable high backed chairs. The look would not be out of place in any high end office across the world. Adya had taken a seat in the middle facing the door. That would make it easier for their guests.

Mamat placed the folder, already sorted into the order of their meetings, to one side. Leaving the whole stack in full view was also a negotiation tactic. It was saying we are busy people, and we have a lot of others to see. If you don’t want to sign a deal, we are not really worried, one of your competitors will.

It should make most executives more pliable. He sat next to Tasha, and placed the top folder from the stack in front of her.

They started to review the details of the first company, Alsid Mining, in preparation for their first meeting. Mamat had been in many deal meetings in his life as a contract lawyer, however he had never been in such a position before. He was sitting with the owner, who had access to a massive budget, as well as details on the confidential numbers behind each of their target companies. It was a potent combination. He could not wait to see how Tasha twisted these executives into her seeing the deal from her perspective.

His secretary knocked and showed in their first executive. The fun was just about to begin.