After Leo and Ben enjoyed a round of exquisite snacks, Shane finally decided that it was time to get down to business and decided to present his first business proposal.
"So… let's start our meeting with some good news," Shane said, smiling from ear to ear as he alternated his gaze between Leo and Ben.
"Our product testing department did run a bunch of tests on your products and all of them passed the quality benchmark set by the White Tiger Group" Shane said, clapping politely as he said this as he seemed to be extremely happy that all of Leo's products performed as he claimed them to.
"That means, I'm interested in buying the entirety of your product line–" Shane said, sliding a piece of paper over to Leo where he had written down the terms of his offer.
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•The White Tiger Group is willing to pay an annual fee of 1 million gold coins to secure the exclusive rights to sell products produced by the 'Mount Faulkner Trading Company'.
( Note :- This fee is just to secure the exclusive rights to purchase the goods and is not contingent on the Mount Faulkner Trading Company's production volume)
•The White Tiger Group is willing to enter into a 50-50 partnership with the Mount Faulkner Trading Company where the profit generated from the sale of each product is divided equally between both parties after deducting operation costs.
•The White Tiger Group is willing to supply the raw materials needed to produce these goods so that the Mount Faulkner Trading Company does not need to invest into inventory.
•The White Tiger Group is willing to help set up the factories needed to produce these goods and cover the one-time cost to establish the said manufacturing facilities.
•The exact price of each product and the minimum purchase volume is up for negotiation's, however, in-case the Mount Faulkner Trading Company fails to deliver the expected amount of goods then a share of their profit will be reduced for that batch.
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Leo read the terms given to him by Shane in great detail and to be fair the terms given to him by Shane were extremely generous.
Firstly Shane was willing to pay him an annual fee of 1 million gold coins just to become his exclusive trading partner, in an offer that wasn't contingent on anything else.
Even if Leo could not produce and supply a single unit, Shane was still willing to pay him that 1 million just to secure his exclusive trading status.
Secondly, Shane was willing to help set up the factory and production lines for Leo and even foot the bill for the inventory, which was a big plus for Leo, who was worried about how to find the money to purchase the goods.
Finally, the profit split that Shane suggested was at a generous 50-50%, meaning whatever Shane made Leo would too, which essentially made him an equal partner in this venture with a big trading company like the White Tiger Group.
If amongst all this there was one condition that was slightly unfavorable to Leo, it was the condition that if Leo could not hit the expected production targets that they negotiated beforehand, Leo would have to forgo a part of his profits for the delay that he caused.
This condition was put in place by Shane to ensure that Leo did not become complacent in the manufacturing side because he wasn't essentially taking any risks with the White Tiger Group footing the inventory bill.
Hence, this condition was a sort of safeguard for Shane that despite paying for essentially the whole process except labor costs, he would not be robbed by his partner.
"What do you think? Mr.Ben?" Leo asked, showing the paper to him, as Ben read the terms and conditions with a very stern and serious look on his face.
"Well, Leo…" Ben said, making sure to emphasize on the word 'Leo' as if to show that he remembered his correct alias, before continuing "I think these conditions are good, but they are not as good as what Mr.Wade offered us…".
Ben subtly dropped the name 'Wade' in the conversation and immediately Shane became upset upon the mention of a competitor.
"Wade? As in the leader of the Greed Jade Group?" Shane asked, his smooth voice cracking as he seemed to lose his usual demeanor upon the mention of that man.
"Oh yes, just yesterday Mr.Wade came looking for us bearing gifts at the inn we were staying at.
Naturally we were surprised to see him come look for us since we never gave anyone apart from you a product pitch, however, there he was offering us a blank sheet of paper to name our conditions as he seemed to be prepared to say 'yes' to any and all of our demands.." Ben said, as immediately Shane slammed his fists on the negotiations table in anger and got up from his seat.
"Mr.Leo! Is what your lawyer saying the truth?" Shane asked, sounding upset as he sought confirmation from Leo regarding this subject.
"Yes it's true…. Of course I did not sign with him despite his insistence since I'm a man of my word and it's you that I approached first.
However!
In the end I'm a businessman, so I'll only sign with whoever gives me the most profit, whether it's you or Mr.Wade…..
Also, Mr.Shane, my companion here is not my lawyer, he's Ben Faulkner, but you may know him as the 'KingSlayer' " Leo said casually, as listening to his words, Shane began to tremble immediately.
On one hand, he felt furious that Wade was trying to meddle in his deal and wanted to vent his anger by breaking a few objects, however, on the other hand, the man that accompanied Leo, whom he assumed to be his lawyer that was here to read the fine print of the deal turned out to be the most dangerous man in the entire Empire, Ben Fucking Faulkner in the flesh.
Recalling how he had a few seconds ago slammed his palms across the table in front of Ben Faulkner, Shane began to tremble in fear as he prayed internally for his well being.