Bankerupt (Ravi Subramanian) Read Online Free PDF Page A

commits to take care of these employees.’
    ‘Emotional fool,’ Nalin thought to himself. ‘I presume you would value the company at roughly fifteen to twenty times its projected future earnings. Right?’ Shivinder butted in, ‘That’s what we would expect.’
    Nalin didn’t respond.
    The discussion ended in the next fifteen minutes. As they were walking towards the exit, Shivinder caught up with Aditya. Nalin and Jigar Shah were walking ahead. Nalin glanced back and, seeing Shivinder quite a distance away, whispered to Jigar Shah, ‘Mr Shah, have you considered allowing Mr Shivinder Singh to take over the company? Obviously with funding from friendly private equity players. He has been around for some time and knows everything inside out.’
    ‘I wouldn’t want that to happen.’ The response surprised Nalin. ‘Shivinder is a fantastic salesman, but he is emotionally very cold with my employees. That’s the reason why I have had to stay involved despite his presence. After me, if he is the only person running the company, I fear that the employees will have a tough time. I definitely don’t want that to happen. If contractually he is bound to keep these employees intact, then I will be fine. Please do …’ He stopped abruptly when he saw that Shivinder and Aditya had almost caught up with them.

    ‘Understood,’ Nalin acknowledged as he walked to the exit.
    Aditya saw Nalin off at the porch and turned towards Shivinder. ‘Where do you stay, dude?’ Over six feet tall, he wore his slightly excess weight around the midriff well. Very articulate and clear in his thoughts, he sounded like a true-blue CEO.
    ‘Santa Cruz. And you?’
    ‘Bandra. Pali Hill. Are you heading home now?’
    ‘Yes. Unless you’re telling me there is some other plan.’ Aditya smiled. Shivinder had always been a smart-ass. Never one to give direct answers.
    ‘We can grab a drink if you are up to it.’
    Shivinder looked at his watch, thought for a second and said, ‘OK. Let’s go.’
    The two of them headed back into the hotel, to the bar, reminiscing about the old days and updating each other on what their batchmates were up to. They had a lot to catch up on. In any case, Cirisha was in Boston that day. Aditya didn’t have much to do back home.



6
November 2004
    Mumbai
    Aditya was in his car, waiting for Shivinder in the porch of a suburban hotel, when his phone rang. Not wanting to pick it up, he let it ring for some time. He was in a foul mood. They had met a number of prospective buyers for Step Up Shoes and nothing had worked out. He had just got out of the seventh presentation and that too had not gone well. Four of the seven prospects found Step Up Shoes to be too small for them to evince any interest and three had found it to be too big. However, there was one thing in common: everyone had said that the profitability did not stack up to the valuations that GB2 was pitching it at.
    The left-side door opened and Shivinder got in. ‘Come, let’s go somewhere and get a drink. I’m really pissed off. If this guy felt that we are demanding too steep a price, why did he even agree to meet us?’
    ‘Shivinder.’ Aditya cut him short. ‘There is a problem. I am advising you not as your investment banker, but as a friend.’
    ‘What’s the problem? Don’t we have a balanced and sustainable business model?’
    ‘Yes, your model is fine. But your growth has been too slow for anyone’s comfort. The valuation of two hundred and fifty crore rupees that we have demanded is not cheap by any yardstick. Our valuations are based on forecasted profitability of twenty crores, a profitability number that you expect to reach three years from now.’
    ‘Yes. I am aware. We are asking for a valuation of Step Up Shoes at a multiple of twelve times the projected earnings. Which isn’t excessive. I was initially hoping to get up to fifteen times the projected profitability, but we have climbed down from that stance. Don’t people