News

May 15, 2008

BG’s Bob Wilson Shows The Rest Of British Business How To Get Aboard The Asian Resources Boom

By Our Man in Oz

Australians and Brits love rubbishing each other. It’s what friends do. But, sometimes it seems that having this sort of fun means that great business opportunities are overlooked. That’s certainly been the case as the Australian resources boom heads into its seventh year, with Asian investors continuing to steal opportunities missed by blinkered Brits. Sir Robert Wilson, a former chief executive and chairman of Rio Tinto, is a rarity among British businessmen in that he understands the potential for wealth creation in using British capital to develop Australian resources to sell to Asian customers. That’s why, wearing his new hat as chairman of BG Group (the old British Gas) he is splashing out A$14 billion to buy Origin Energy, an Aussie gas and electricity utility, which is planning to develop the world’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) project fed from coal-seam methane rather than conventional natural gas.

When he was just plain old Bob Wilson at Rio, Sir Robert learned exactly how to pull together a capital/resource/customer deal. It’s a combination of cash and skills which he put to good use helping to build the world’s second biggest mining company. A handful of other Brits, including Richard Elman, founder and taipan (or boss) of the Hong Kong-based Noble Group, have been doing something similar. But all the same, Noble Group is more a trader in commodities, and has limited direct involvement...