Max Gebhardt
It’s hard to believe Brian Gilbertson was once of the opinion that unbundling wasn’t in the best interests of Gencor. Especially if you consider that he has taken Gencor by the scruff of the neck and given it a well- deserved shake. The once massive industrial conglomerate is now nothing more than a shell of its former self.
The 54-year-old executive chair of Gencor has stripped, sold off and merged virtually all the company’s interests. Ask him what’s left of Gencor and he laughs. “Five months down the line I see Gencor comprising of nothing but myself and my secretary Elsab.”
And of course the share certificates to Impala Platinum and the newly forged Goldco are locked up in his safe, in his fourth floor office in downtown Johannesburg.
Yet when Gilbertson first joined Gencor as an executive director in 1988, one of his first roles under then chair Derek Keys was to investigate its unbundling. And he admits that at first it didn’t make sense. But if you look at what he’s done for the company this year alone, you would be hard pressed to believe he could have ever been of that opinion.
He’s overseen the birth of Billiton, which is now listed on the London Stock Exchange. It houses all of Gencor’s former base metal and coal interests. Billiton’s birth marked a significant step in South Africa’s corporate history, as it was the first real evidence of the country’s reintegration into the global economy.
“What was up to then a South African company was accepted into one of the major capital markets of the world, and we raised a great deal of money, almost a billion pounds,” says Gilbertson.
Then, as if that wasn’t enough, Gilbertson and his opposite number at Gold Fields, Alan Wright, hammered out in a matter of weeks a merger of their gold mines to create a R17- billion mining house called Goldco.
And at the same time roused the anger of giant Anglo American. To say they were unhappy with the deal would be a bit of an understatement. In one fell swoop Gilbertson and Wright had created the world’s biggest mining house – eclipsing Anglo’s gold division, Anglogold. Though not for long. A matter of weeks later Anglogold chair Bobby Godsell was given his freedom by Anglo American. South Africa’s biggest company had finally decided to allow its subsidiary to go its own way and in the process created a R20-billion gold company free from the shackles of 44 Main Street.
But most of this is going to be forgotten when economic historians look back on 1997. This year is most likely going to be remembered for one thing only – the world stock-market meltdown. And when they look into South Africa’s corporate history their focus will be on black empowerment.
This is after all the year when Anglo sold JCI to Mzi Khumalo, which had by the end of the year turned into a disaster. A year in which Cyril Ramaphosa, deputy chair of New Africa Investments, tried twice to buy a stake in the gold industry. But was twice defeated. Once by Khumalo, the second time by a plunging gold price.
And Don Ncube of Real Africa Holdings, often forgotten by the press as all eyes either focused on the mining industry or the markets, quietly built an IT empire.
So why all the attention given to Gilbertson? In the eyes of his colleagues and peers he is seen as one of the country’s leading executives. He is the darling of the financial press with his openness and charm. But more importantly, in the five years he’s headed Gencor, he has created two world-class companies.
But if you ask Gilbertson about it, he says there was only one thing he really wanted from the Goldco negotiations. “The right to appoint next year’s squash team,” he answers with a smile.