Manoukios’ eyes were darting around in panic and fear gripped him of what else Elli had up her sleeve. He was searching his memories, his actions, his whole life, for anything else incriminating and damaging. He was almost ready to capitulate in shame and accept his fate when he looked around the table at the faces of those present for the answer to Elli’s question.
He thanked his god and his lucky stars for the panic and uncertainty that forced him to delay his surrender, to conceal his weakness before Elli’s onslaught at the critical time that his fate would be judged by his allies maintaining their support and standing firmly behind him, to rein in the urge to give up and leave this humiliation, to hold back from uttering the words that were rushing to get out as the fruit of his fears.
He thanked all that he held sacred for keeping him quiet for that bit longer, but long enough not to trip, not to disrupt the feelings of his allies, not to allow them to be intimidated by Elli into submission by being brought back to their senses and changing their minds, forcing his eviction from their loyalties, their minds and their hearts.
There was a glimpse of hope on his part that he had not lost his support in the meeting. His supporters were still with him. And then he saw what he had hoped but accepted he could no longer expect. He could not believe it. There was strong assent from all the heads of the clans and shareholders present that they agreed with the views he had expressed, apart from Elli’s own immediate family, including Iraklios, who, though he had his own agenda in mind, had decided that there was no need to stir those particular waters right now or to draw attention to himself. He could not allow anything, let alone something as minor as this internal company conflict, to detract from his ultimate goal.
Manoukios could not believe it but Elli had not managed to sway the minds of his allies, even after having exposed him and his weaknesses for all to see, even after him failing to hold the course and stand firm and stay faithful and strong to his strategy agreed with them before the meeting, even after being made to look like a fool, although he had to concede he had done that all by himself to himself. They agreed with him.
All those people still agreed with him after all that had transpired at the meeting. They were stupid, he thought to himself, but it did not matter as long as they were his stupid allies and he was glad to have them on his side.
The time had come for Elli to quash this laughable uprising and bring the matter to a close once and for all. It was time for the trump card. ‘Fine. As you wish. This meeting is over. Go back to your plush and decadent little lives and be comforted by your personal and vested interests. You shall not have them for long.’
Now Manoukios was really panicked. ‘Are you declaring war on us?’
‘Oh, no. That would be too crude, too gentle a word. I’m using a little-known clause in the rules of the company to ostracise you and force the delivery to me of your holdings.’
‘You cannot do that. We will take you to court, if you even try. We will sue you for everything you have.’
Elli turned to Vasilis. ‘Please distribute the relevant documents.’
Manoukios again. ‘What? What is this? But how…?’
Elli just smiled and waited while those present around the table read their indictment and sentence all wrapped in one beautifully presented package. They were studying the document and Elli could see their eyes opening wide in disbelief. She had their attention. She pressed her advantage.
‘However, I will not be cruel. I propose that the company buys you out. You will tender your shares at a fair value that has been reached by an independent valuation.’ Elli gave copies for distribution. ‘If you accept this valuation and this offer, which is voluntary and very generous, your shares will be purchased at that price and cancelled. This is conditional upon you also signing a document surrendering any rights you may have in law.
‘The purpose of this is to avoid any unnecessary trouble in the future. I think you know that anything you may be considering to try has no chance and you will lose. And you will be left with nothing. The offer will not be open indefinitely. You have five minutes. Think it over.’
It took them a lot less than that. She could see that they had not expected her generosity and they liked it. She could almost see them drooling and licking their lips with their tongue. They had been won over. She had them eating out of her hand. They were nodding like a group of penguins copying each other or a set of dominoes set up in a scheme and now falling.
Elli had already sold company assets worth around seven billion US dollars, which was the amount needed to fund the buy-out of the other shareholders’20 % stake in the company. She and Iraklios together held a combined 80 % stake. She had the authority to sell those assets, even up to such a large amount, according to the company’s explicit and very detailed rules.
She was not obliged by the company’s rules to obtain the board’s approval, nor was she obliged to notify them of the sale, before or after. That is why she was able to do it in secret and well in advance of the meeting. She was quite surprised, though, that none of them even got a whiff of such large sales. Some gossip should have reached their ears. It showed how detached they were from the business world at the very least and, perhaps, the world at large.
It was as if they lived in an extremely protective cocoon. But as she thought that, Elli knew that she was so feared and respected that nobody would dare to say anything or allow anything to leak about those transactions. The vow of confidentiality was sacred and would be respected. It was not just a matter of a reciprocal ‘my word is my bond’ pact.
And even if the buyers were publicly-listed companies, they could not reveal the deals until after this particular meeting. It was all included in the contracts with draconian penalty clauses and a whole array of legal consequences that would have come raining down on them, if they stepped out of line and breached them. And none of those transactions required the approval of the purchasing companies’ shareholders.
Nobody could afford to find themselves on the wrong side of Elli. Let them think or speculate that Valchern may be in trouble. It didn’t matter. As a private company it was not at the mercy of the markets and, furthermore, it was cash rich with ample resources and did not need any credit or loans from any banks that may be reluctant to lend, acting on rumours of financial difficulty, rumours which could though be easily crushed by access to the company’s accounts. And she had engineered a blanket on the media too.
But Manoukios would have none of it. He was not yet convinced. He had to fight his corner. That was exactly what he was, cornered. And those who are cornered become desperate. They don’t think things through and just lunge out and make mistakes. He had to win his rapidly waning support back. He had to make one last desperate effort.
‘With what money?’
‘The money is there. And let me remind you that you have no choice. You and your conspirators went against the company rules, against the best interests of the company and that is a punishable offence. I believe that the sentence or penalty, as you may prefer, is appropriate and it is within the power accorded to me by the rules to impose.’
Manoukios was standing alone and isolated now and he knew it. He finally realised that he had been defeated. He said nothing more and sat down looking at his notepad. He could not believe he had lost. He had been confident it had all been meticulously organised.