Minds in Mines

Chapter 17: Poker

They were, of course, late for the nine-fifteen meeting with Mr Waterpauw, but the man did not make a big deal about it.

"It's fine, Mr AB. Nobody can stop the rain when it wants to drop this heavily. It can be a blessing for us to get this much water, although force majeure like the other day can also be inevitable."

Just like Mr Nahuway, Mr Waterpauw was a man with a ready smile. According to Mr Nahuway, which AB, Moony, and Shotty had known from their data, Mr Waterpauw was the first Papuan-origin member of the company's board of directors. He represented the Indonesian government as the current majority stakeholder of the company and was the person who invited them for a visit to the mines.

"How has the visit been, Mr AB?" Mr Waterpauw asked after some small talk.

"It's been very informative, Mr Waterpauw. My team and I got the chance to see concrete operations onsite."

"So you can see that the company is as strong as it has been in its fifty-five years of production."

AB went silent for a while. "My team and I saw changes. Changes that will certainly make a difference in the near future or the long term. The company's financial profile has had a lot of shifts in the past few years since the switch to the underground mines was implemented."

"It has, but as I'm sure Mr Schroder has told you, our company's operating cash flows last year raised to 5.1 billion and are expected to approximate 7.2 billion this year. I'm positive your company can ensure the continuity of the financial resources it has invested in us. After all, the two companies have had such good relationships for a decade."

"A company doesn't secure a billion in financial resources by making good relationships, Mr Waterpauw. It gets it by making infallible financial strategies and decisions. My team and I will need time to review several things before a new deal can be considered."

For the next hour, as expected, Mr Waterpauw and AB, with some intercession by Moony and Shotty, played a game of financial poker; comparing the company's cards, waging the risks and opportunities of the cards, and bluffing to gain the upper hand.

Mr Waterpauw might look like a friendly next-door neighbour, but he certainly knew how to bluff to achieve his goal of assuring Black Stone Global Capital's funds stay invested in the company.

When Mr Nahuway told them about Mr Waterpauw being the first Papuan-origin member of the board, Ray had prejudiced that Mr Waterpauw was just a puppet put on the board by the Indonesian government to please the local tribes and assuage the separatist sentiment among them.

As the discussion went further, it was clear that Mr Waterpauw was far from being just a planted puppet on that board of directors. The man knew the company inside out and was an astute corporate person. He was also very knowledgeable about global finance to be able to talk about current issues and drew parallels to what happened with the company.

The calm but intense discussion reached its decrescendo with talks about football when Mr Schroder came to the room and joined them.

"Did you know that Mr AB is a Chelsea fan, Mr Waterpauw?" Mr Schroder said.

"Ah, it must be difficult to see them struggling at the moment in the league."

"Indeed. I personally think they made a mistake by firing Tuchel so early in the season," AB said.

"Absolutely. After spending almost 250 million pounds to build a team for him, I could understand the impatient and dissatisfaction. But compared to how the team is doing at the moment under Potter, having Tuchel around longer could have been a better option, don't you think?"