Daisuke noticed. He just didn't have the leverage at the right time. "And you do." Takahashi said. "Yes."
The word landed cleanly. No elaboration, no performance around it, just the fact of it set down between them. Takahashi's jaw shifted slightly, the micro movement of a man absorbing something and recalibrating. He looked at the table for a moment, then back at her. "The Pacific Northwest acquisition."
He said. "Three of the four anchor companies have significant minority positions held by entities connected to Harold Stentz network." Amara said. "Not majority, nothing that forces a legal disclosure, but enough that when those positions move in coordination, the deal's risk profile changes materially." She paused.
"Your institutional backers are conservative. They don't like surprises. If the risk profile on the acquisition shifts in the weeks before close, two of the three will request a valuation review." "Which delays the timeline." "Which exposes the leverage assumptions the deal is built on."
She said. "The acquisition is priced on a forward revenue model that depends on infrastructure permits that haven't cleared yet. If the timeline slips by 60 days, two of those permits expire and have to be refiled." She let that settle. "You'd get the deal eventually, but not on the terms you've announced and not before your Q3 investor presentation."
Takahashi was quiet for a long moment. This was the part she had prepared for most carefully, not the confrontation, but what came after it. The confrontation was easy. She had been ready for that since Osaka. What required more precision was this.
Sitting across from him with all the leverage clearly in view and deciding what to do with it. "You're not here to destroy the deal." He said. He was working it out as he spoke. A reading her the way she had read him at the restaurant with the full attention of someone who had finally decided the subject was worth reading carefully.
"If you wanted to destroy it, you wouldn't have arranged a meeting." "No." "Then what do you want?" Amara looked at him steadily. "I want you to understand something."
She said. "Not for my benefit, for yours." He waited. "You've been operating for 30 years on the principle that scale is protection." She said.