Gerrit J de Nys

Biography as at February 2022

Qualifications & Affiliations

Bachelor of Technology in Civil Engineering - B. Tech (Civil)
Advanced Diploma , Australian Institute of Company Directors
Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia - FIE Aust
Past-Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors – FAICD
Chartered Professional Engineer (Retired) – CPEng (Ret.)
Past – Fellow of the Institute of Directors (UK) – FinstD
Past – Fellow of the Institute of Quarrying – FIQ

Narrative

Career, exposure and experience progression

I am a Dutch-born Australian who arrived in Australia as a member of an immigrant family from the Netherlands in 1955. I completed my secondary and tertiary education in South Australia, culminating in receiving my Civil Engineering degree from the Adelaide University. Subsequently my career has taken me to various parts of Australia and as an expatriate to Hong Kong, Israel, Thailand and Singapore. I have been married for over 55 years, have two children and two grandchildren. I consider myself to have had tremendous experience in developing and running businesses in a variety of countries and cultures, have learnt a number of languages and am truly multi- and cross- cultural in my outlook and approach. I have been a “builder and manager of businesses” and on balance, have achieved a lot more successes than failures – in fact I find “failures” difficult to define as far as my personal experiences are concerned, as all negative experiences have, as an outcome, very worthwhile lessons, the learning of which one needs for the subsequent generation of more successes.

Upon graduation I joined the Shell Group in Australia as Bitumen Engineer and was immediately seconded to Pioneer Asphalts Pty. Ltd. in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, where I worked from 1968 – 1971, essentially as the Regional Field Manager, responsible for a “Hotmix” operation. During this time I personally tendered and won the contract for a sizeable 12 km. haulage road resurfacing contract on Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria, together with reconstruction of the road and utility system in the town of Alyangula, and supervised and saw the project through to completion. Whilst in Darwin, I agreed when asked, to join Pioneer Concrete Services Ltd. and move to Hong Kong.

I worked in Hong Kong for Pioneer Concrete (Hong Kong) Ltd. from 1971 – 1975 as the Concrete Division Manager culminating in the overall responsibility for the bottom-line operations of a number of concrete batching plants. After four years, I was offered a transfer to Israel.

In Israel I started as the Manager of Pioneer Concrete (Israel) Ltd. in 1975 and finished as the Managing Director in 1978. I managed a sizeable operation, culminating in 18 concrete batching plants and associated quarry operations. I decided to resign from the Pioneer Group, when I was approached to join with the owner of the Shui On Group - Shui On Construction Ltd. at that time - Mr. Vincent H. S. Lo, to set up a ready-mixed concrete operation in partnership with him in Hong Kong.

I became the founder (1978) and developer of Ken On Concrete Co. Ltd. and subsequently other construction material-related companies, during which the scale of operations and rate of development outgrew me as a partner to retain my potential equity position, and was absorbed by the Shui On Group, becoming Managing Director of the Construction Materials Division. We became involved, during this time in quarrying (Lamma Rock Products Ltd.); bulk cement importation and distribution (Far East Cement Co. Ltd.); joint ventures in crushing operations (Shui On Quarries Ltd.); a fully-integrated engineering laboratory operation (MateriaLab), now Fugro Technical Services Limited; the manufacturing of glass mosaic tiles, building materials trading etc. I was personally responsible for the founding, development and management of most of these businesses.

In 1985 I became the Chief Executive of the Shui On Group’s construction business, as well as retaining the position of MD of the construction materials interests, where construction included everything from road-works and other civil engineering projects, through to multi-storey commercial and residential buildings, including hotels, hospitals, etc. I also became Chairman of Hong Kong’s largest marine engineering company, viz. Gitanes Engineering Co. Ltd. My positioning culminated in that of CEO of all construction and construction material interests in Hong Kong and China, and Deputy Chairman of the publicly listed Shui On (Contractors) Limited. Following the Tiananmen Square incident in Beijing in 1989, I made the decision that it was time to leave Hong Kong, which I did at the end of 1990.

We moved to Australia, and following a 6-month period of sizing up the position, settled on the Gold Coast where we stayed for 3 years, during which I started up two businesses, employing about 40 people. One business was in home building (steel-framed) and the other was a “leisure” business involved in the hiring out of pre-1968 Ford Mustang convertibles. In 1993, I was approached by the IMC Group to join them. IMC was a joint venture partner with Shui On in the cement company in Hong Kong, a venture which I had negotiated with the then founding chairman and owner of the IMC Group, the late Tan Sri Frank Tsao, and with whom I have had a 40+ year relationship.

I joined early in 1994 in Bangkok Thailand, and soon became the Managing Director of Unithai Shipyard and Engineering Ltd., which had just started to develop a shipyard in Laem Chabang. To bring this shipyard to the position that it got to in 2006, (not to mention today), has been one of the most difficult projects in my career, and the tales I am able to tell covering my experiences will comprise a very interesting book one day! During my time in Thailand, I became the Chief Executive Officer of the Unithai Group, whilst retaining full executive responsibility for the shipyard and was responsible for much of its development. In 2000, we consummated an alliance between Unithai Shipyard and Engineering Ltd., Clough (Thailand) Ltd. (part of the Australian-based Clough Engineering Group) and Unocal Thailand Ltd. (now a division of Chevron), to commence an offshore oil & gas EPIC business with a heavy engineering fabrication facility at its core. I was both one of the “architects” of this alliance and negotiator, then subsequently Board member. In 2003, circumstances led to Clough’s withdrawal, for which I also was the chief negotiator, leaving Unithai with two thirds of the shares of the newly named organization, viz. CUEL Ltd., where the remaining one third share is beneficially owned by Unocal, now Chevron. In July 2002, I was transferred by IMC from the majority-owned Unithai Group to Singapore, to set up IMC’s Corporate Office.

Having been an “operator” in the forefront of the “rough and tumble” of business all my life, I don’t consider myself quite a corporate office-oriented person. However my 2-year stint in the capacity of MD of IMC Pan Asia Alliance Pte. Ltd., which was the management company of the IMC Group, now named IMC Pan Asia Alliance Group or IMC Group, has provided me with good experience in working with all business units across the Group in the development of consistent policies, guidelines, processes and monitoring and control tools.

At the beginning of 2004, it was decided that as the Group had substantial interests in non-marine assets, much of which was possibly not optimally utilised, including cash reserves, I should take on the position of Group Managing Director – Direct Investments a) to look after existing assets, inclusive of a substantial property portfolio and b) to search for long term, stable, low-risk investments preferably in natural resources. This has entailed me spending a considerable time in Australia, networking, searching, hunting and negotiating ourselves into various possibilities. I set up what was then known as the Austral-Asia Group, subsequently renamed the IMC Resources Group with an office in Perth and within which we had investments in:

  1. gold and nickel (View Resources Ltd.)
  2. a resource fund (LinQ Capital Ltd.)
  3. an unincorporated coal-mining JV (Ashton Coal Mines Ltd. in the Hunter Valley)
  4. an iron ore company (Atlas Iron Ltd.)
  5. Kairiki Energy Ltd (ASX:KIK)

Other investments included in:

  1. an oil & gas company (Horizon Oil Ltd.) (ASX:HZN)
  2. a gold producing company (Millennium Minerals Ltd)
  3. a base metals explorer (Trek Metals Ltd) (ASX: TKM)

Most of these interests formed part of the development of an overall IMC Group strategy, which focused on a unique supply-chain type of approach, where the Group involves itself from an equity point of view in various/all parts of the supply chain, moving resources from the source to the end-user, where the latter is primarily Asia/China.

In early 2006 I made a decision to “change course” and opt for more of a “balance in life”. I decided to basically shed my executive responsibilities and focus on non-executive interests.

As such, it was agreed that effective 1st July 2006, I take on the position of Non-Executive Chairman of the Austral-Asia Group now the IMC Resources Group (having appointed a CEO in Perth), and move back to reside in Australia. I retained a number of investee company Board positions to ensure continuity and effective transfer of the relationships built up to others in the Group.

In 2007 I was appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director of Hong Kong-listed Shui On Construction and Materials Ltd (HKSE:983) renamed SOCAM Development Ltd, and in 2009 as Non-Executive Chairman of publicly listed Red Sky Energy Ltd (ASX:ROG). In mid-2010, I joined the Board of Ochre Energy Pty Ltd as a Non-Executive Director.

My further involvement continued as:

  1. Resident Director and Public Officer of the IMC Resources (Australia) Group of Companies
  2. Chairman of the Group Audit and Risk Governance Committee of the Singapore-based IMC Group
  3. Non-Executive Director of Horizon Oil Ltd (ASX:HZN) and member of various Board Committees
  4. Director of Heritas Capital Management (Australia) Pty Ltd, an associate of Heritas Capital Management Pte Ltd (Singapore)

As at this date (January 2022), I have retired from all positions and now pass my time as a "gofer" in my daughter's business, silverstarcrafts.com.au— a very rewarding, fruitful and exciting career has come to its natural conclusion, at age 78.