Chapter 3238: Best Choice

In order to quickly acquire a suitable food processing company, Li Yalin had Ai analyze the list of all formal food processing companies in Morocco, and then, based on their registered addresses, combined with satellite images of the skyline, to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of each food processing company.

One of Ai's greatest advantages is that it can think, so Li Yalin did not need to guide it step by step, but directly told it his needs, letting it find, among these companies, one with poor operating conditions but with land area and building scale capable of hiding several thousand people and located far from densely populated areas.

Thus, Ai immediately selected five companies that met the requirements for him.

These five companies are all located in relatively remote areas of Morocco, one of which is not far from Duke Mining, only about a hundred kilometers away, and even more perfectly, this company is less than fifty kilometers from the coastline; if people were to be stationed here awaiting overseas transfer, this would be the best choice.

Thus, Li Yalin set out early the next morning, temporarily parting with Ye Chen, and went alone to that company to investigate.

Ye Chen, meanwhile, remained seated on the floor in the hotel room, continuing to review that set of hand seals while slowly accumulating spiritual energy within his body.

Ye Chen is now deeply obsessed with this set of hand seals, like a wool-gathering addict who, whenever he has time, practices it constantly, repeating the hand seals endlessly to exchange for additional spiritual energy.

After three hours of driving, Li Yalin finally arrived at the small town where the food processing company is located.

The company is situated in the suburbs of the town, with over three hundred employees basically all coming from this small town; the town is about thirty kilometers from a fishing port on Morocco's northeastern coast, and since it is not directly on the coast, the townspeople have no opportunity to become fishermen.

While coastal fishermen improve their livelihoods through fishing, the villagers of this small village can only go to surrounding seafood processing plants for work, and the company Li Yalin selected is a private enterprise specializing in seafood processing, mainly producing sardine cans.

Morocco is the world's largest exporter of sardines; domestically, enterprises relying on sardine can production and other seafood products for survival number at least several hundred to over a thousand; although Morocco's GDP has risen due to sardines, these sardine can-producing enterprises mostly struggle to survive.

Because they are only primary food processors, their entry barriers are relatively low, and due to the low barriers, competition among peers is extremely fierce; new enterprises trying to establish themselves often resort to price wars to win orders, and over time, mutual price suppression has continuously shrunk the industry's profit margins, with many enterprises now struggling on the brink of survival.

The company Li Yalin chose is precisely such a case.

It was established by a local former municipal government official, and after over a decade of continuous development, its scale has indeed grown larger, but due to outdated production technology and low efficiency, the operating conditions here have also been gradually declining; the company owner is aging, gradually losing ambition, only wanting to continue generating meager profits from this enterprise, and precisely because of this mindset, he has not invested funds in recent years to upgrade or expand the enterprise, resulting in its competitiveness deteriorating further.

More critically, such an old enterprise finds it very difficult to sell, as industry profits are already low, and the cost of upgrading and renovation here is a huge expenditure; a slight misstep could lead to losses, and no one wants to take this risk.

Li Yalin also noted another natural advantage of seafood processing companies: they necessarily have vehicles constantly shuttling between the factory and the dock to transport raw materials; once Ye Chen needs to secretly transport those warriors, the sea route would be the only reliable option, and by disguising through the seafood processing plant, one could use the vehicles traveling to and from the fishing port to continuously transport people away.

Therefore, overall, this company is the best choice.

When Li Yalin arrived at the gate of this food processing company, he found that the company had no security personnel at all, and the old gate remained wide open; from the outside, the factory buildings appeared large, but indeed showed signs of age, giving an overall impression of decay.

The area just inside the gate is an open space of about three to four thousand square meters, where an old Fiat sedan is parked, along with various bicycles and a number of heavily modified, barely recognizable simple motorcycles.

To the right appears to be the unloading and storage area, as there is not only a convenient unloading platform but also a well-sealed single building; Li Yalin guessed this should be the cold storage for raw materials, and indeed a truck was parked in front of the platform, with several dockworkers unloading fresh seafood covered in ice and carrying it into the cold storage at the rear;

Behind the cold storage connects the largest single factory building, which should be the production line; to the left is another similar unloading platform, behind which is similarly equipped with a closed building; Li Yalin guessed this should be the storage and loading area for finished products.

When Li Yalin arrived outside the main factory building in the center, the roaring sound inside was already deafening; since canned goods require heating for production and sterilization, the large door continuously rolled out waves of hot, humid air.

Until Li Yalin entered the factory, no one had noticed this unfamiliar face; then someone stepped forward and questioned him warily in the local language; Li Yalin saw that he looked like an ordinary worker, so he took out a ten-dollar bill and handed it to him, saying in English: "Where is your boss? I want to see him."

The man did not understand English or French, but he had heard the word "Boss" before, so he immediately understood that Li Yalin wanted to see his boss; moreover, the man's gesture was quite generous—ten dollars was already more than his daily wage—so he immediately flattered Li Yalin with gestures and enthusiastically led him to his boss's office.

The boss's office is located in a two-story steel-structure-supported building on the side of the factory; all four sides are glass, allowing a full view of the entire factory.

Seeing an employee bring a stranger, the boss was also somewhat surprised, so he began observing Li Yalin from afar.

Li Yalin, in disguise, though his true appearance cannot be seen, still has an Asian face; while this factory and its upstream and downstream are almost entirely staffed by local Moroccans, seeing an Asian here is indeed quite rare.

Before coming, Li Yalin had investigated this boss's background; he is now sixty-one years old, originally a local civil servant who went to work in a higher-level city government department, but later, feeling that the seafood processing industry had prospects, he resigned and went into business, returning near his hometown to open a canning factory.

Because he is a local and had accumulated many connections while working as a civil servant in the city, he received many favorable policies when returning to build the factory, not only getting a large plot of land but also several low-interest loans, and his scale has indeed grown over time.

However, because he started from nothing, in the early years of his entrepreneurship, his actual income was not high; the money he earned was either used to repay loans or to grease palms.

After the loans were paid off, for seven or eight years, his income level should still have been decent, with annual profits around two hundred thousand US dollars, which is considered quite high locally.

But in recent years, the situation has deteriorated significantly; his current annual profit has shrunk to only thirty to fifty thousand US dollars.

Knowing the boss has a civil service background, Li Yalin was certain he understood French, and communication would certainly pose no problem.

The employee led him to the door and said something in the local language; the boss inside then directly waved at the two through the glass.

The employee pushed the door open, informed the boss that Li Yalin wanted to see him, and Li Yalin, without hesitation, directly asked him in French: "Are you the boss here? I want to buy your factory."

Upon hearing this, the boss's eyes immediately lit up.

He knew Asians have money, especially Asian businessmen who come here to do business, who are generally wealthy; he had long wanted to sell this factory, but for years no one had inquired, and now an Asian businessman had come knocking on his own initiative; his heart immediately ignited with the dream of cashing out, leaving, and enjoying retirement, so he quickly stood up and said to Li Yalin: "Welcome, welcome! Please sit, please sit!"

Saying this, he quickly sent his employees away, proactively took out a bottle of mineral water and handed it to Li Yalin, smiling and saying: "We here have the idea of selling; as long as the price is right, everything here can be sold."

Li Yalin did not want to appear too eager to buy, but smiled and said: "Our country's people have recently started liking sardine cans, so I have the idea of setting up a factory in Morocco; when the time comes, the sardine cans produced will be exported directly to our country; I have inspected many factories along the way; please first give me a general introduction to your situation and your advantages."

The boss quickly said: "We here have a total of five production lines, four of which are used to produce sardine cans, and the other for other seafood products, with an annual output of about four to five thousand tons."

Li Yalin listened and immediately frowned, sighing: "Five production lines, yet only four to five thousand tons per year; as I know, large canning enterprises in Morocco have daily output starting at one to two hundred tons."

The boss quickly said: "My production lines here are mainly outdated, so efficiency is low; however, we have ample land, and if you are willing to invest in upgrades and renovation, we here fully possess the foundation to become a large enterprise."

Saying this, he quickly added: "The labor cost in this area is very low; most workers earn no more than two thousand dirhams per month, not exceeding two hundred US dollars, and they are hardworking and enduring; I currently have three hundred workers here, and if you need more in the future, you can recruit five hundred skilled workers from nearby towns at any time."

Li Yalin smiled: "All enterprises have upgrade potential, but it all comes down to cost; let's do this: you give me a price, and I will consider it."

After thinking for a while, he said: "Five million dirhams, or five hundred thousand US dollars."

Although this factory still earns thirty thousand US dollars in annual profit, profits have already begun to decline, and the boss himself clearly knows he can at most persist for another ten years; over the next ten years, even if profits total two hundred thousand US dollars, that would already be considered good.

As for his factory, those pieces of equipment are already very old; even in a country like Morocco, they have already surpassed the scrapping cycle, belonging to a state of barely holding on; if sold outright, they would likely be worth only slightly more than scrap iron.

Moreover, due to the factory's age, its value is similarly hard to increase; after all, it is located in a remote, insignificant small town, where even the land is not worth much.

Therefore, let alone five hundred thousand US dollars, even three hundred thousand US dollars, he would sell without hesitation.

Li Yalin did not rush to discuss price with him, but instead asked him many detailed questions and had him show him around the factory; behind this factory, there is still an employee canteen and several warehouses; although the factory's workforce is only over three hundred, if one truly wanted to hide people here, hiding several thousand would still be very easy.

Besides, the finished goods warehouse still holds about fifteen tons of canned products awaiting shipment; according to market prices, this is worth about forty thousand US dollars.

After a thorough inspection, Li Yalin said to the boss: "Let's do this: I have seen your situation here; frankly, it is indeed older than I imagined; the cost of renovation, reconstruction, and upgrading will at least require several million US dollars; I, as a businessman, do not like to haggle, so I will give you two offers, two choices; whichever you accept, we can reach cooperation; if neither is acceptable, I will look at other options."

The boss quickly said: "Please speak."

Li Yalin said: "First offer: a one-time payment of two hundred and fifty thousand US dollars to buy out all visible and tangible facilities here, including land, factory buildings, production lines, and other equipment; oh, right, also all raw materials and finished goods inventory in your warehouse;"

Upon hearing this, the boss's expression immediately turned somewhat helpless, saying: "Don't hide it from you, our raw materials and finished goods inventory alone are worth at least fifty thousand US dollars."

Li Yalin smiled and said: "Second offer: I will pay you three hundred thousand US dollars, but only two hundred thousand upfront, with the remaining one hundred thousand to be paid after I commence production; the other condition is that you must help me maintain these workers; I may need two to three months to upgrade the equipment here; during this period, you must ensure these workers do not protest, cause trouble, or give me any trouble; at the same time, they must remain quietly at home, returning to work whenever I start operations."

The boss embarrassedly said: "I really cannot guarantee this; they all need to support their families; during these two to three months, they will have no income, and their families might not even have food to eat; in that case, they will definitely go look for other work."

Li Yalin said: "During this period, their wages will still be paid, half each month, with the other half paid in full when they return to work."

Upon hearing this, the boss immediately breathed a sigh of relief and quickly said: "Then there is no problem; not working but still getting paid, they will definitely agree."

Li Yalin reminded: "To ensure they do not leak information about my operations here or reveal my business secrets, these matters must be handled by you; you must make them believe it is you who is upgrading this place, not someone else; then, after they return home, they must not tell anyone about the situation here; once business secrets are leaked, their wages will be stopped, and the remaining half will also be directly voided."

The boss said without even thinking: "These are no problem; my reputation can still handle it."

Saying this, he rubbed his hands and gave an embarrassed smile: "Just this price... it's still a bit low for me, only three hundred thousand in total, and there's fifty thousand worth of goods in here. At least it should be over four hundred fifty thousand US dollars to be reasonable..."

Li Yalin said: "How about this: as long as you handle the matters I've assigned properly, letting me fully focus on driving the upgrade and renovation, once the upgrade is completed and construction starts smoothly, I'll pay you another two hundred thousand US dollars, making the total four hundred thousand US dollars."

Upon hearing this, the boss instantly beamed with joy and said without hesitation: "Deal!"