JOHANNESBURG - THE PALLINGHURST Group is going through the end of an era after co-founder and chairperson Brian Gilbertson resigned after 15 years at the helm.
The London-headquartered private equity and battery materials investor announced that Gilbertson, who founded the group in 2006, would step down.
It said Gilbertson’s distinguished 50-year career created several mining champions and reshaped the global natural resources industry forever.
Frandsen said his first job after law school, some 27 years ago, was as an investment banker for Goldman Sachs, and his first client was Gilbertson, whose leadership and trailblazing at Rustenburg Platinum, Gencor, Billiton, BHP Billiton, Rusal, Vedanta and Pallinghurst cemented his position as one of the truly greats of the mining industry.
“When we created Pallinghurst 15 years ago,” Frandsen said, “we did so based on the simple premise that as the world grows there will be an increased need for sustainably-sourced, strategically-placed raw materials.”
Frandsen said Pallinghurst’s exclusive focus was on investing in the full value-chain of key materials used for the global electrification and energy transition drive.
“It has been a privilege to partner with Brian for all these years, together, implementing strategies and developing a number of exciting businesses, unlocking financial wealth and creating thousands of jobs in the process,” said Frandsen. Pallinghurst also announced the appointment of Rod Baxter, Lumkile Mondi, Julien Naginski, Betty Joy LeBlanc, George Nakos and Garth Higgo to its advisory panel.
It said Baxter would also be the chairperson of Pallinghurst Australia as it expanded its focus to investments in Australian battery material-assets.
Andrew Willis, the co-managing partner and co-founder of Pallinghurst, said: “I salute Brian for his lifetime of achievements par excellence and we wish him well in his retirement. Brian has had an unrivalled impact on the natural resources industry and being his partner for the past 15 years has been an honour and a privilege.”
The Pallinghurst Group is a leading strategic investor in the global battery materials industry, with significant development, operational and financial expertise in mining and processing, with focus on materials used for energy transition – facilitating the vital, global shift towards sustainable zero-carbon footprint energy storage.
The group has invested almost $3 billion (R43bn) of equity capital into resource projects in Australia, Europe, Africa as well as North America over 15 years.
BUSINESS REPORT