A. Gary Klesch (born 1947) is an Anglo-American entrepreneur, who in 1990 founded the Klesch Group, a global industrial company, based in Geneva, Switzerland, which he owns and chairs.[1][2] The Klesch Group of companies has interests in metals, mining, oil and gas, power generation, chemicals and other traditional "heavy" industries. Klesch specializes in principal investing in companies that are operating below their full potential.[3]
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Early life
Klesch was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1947 and educated by Jesuits. He graduated from John Carroll University in 1968 with a B.A. in Political Science.[4]
Career
In 1969, aged 22, Klesch joined McDonald & Company,[5] then one of the largest regional investment banking firms, based in Cleveland, Ohio, as an associate. Two years later, aged 24, Klesch was made McDonald & Company's youngest-ever Partner.[6]
Klesch then came to the attention of Bill Simon, who had just been appointed Secretary of the Treasury under President Gerald Ford, and in 1975, aged 28, he was appointed Director of Capital Markets Policy.[4] In this role he contributed to the development of a new model of financial regulation. Klesch's responsibilities included developing the legislation that set in motion the deregulation of the securities and financial services industries in the United States. Whilst at the Treasury Department, Klesch also served as the Ford Administration's representative in negotiations leading to US Government loans and guarantees to various financially troubled entities, including Lockheed and New York City. He also served as the US Government's representative on the Board of the United States Railway Association, where he played a role in the negotiation and reorganization of troubled railroad companies, most notably the Penn Central Corporation,[7]. Additionally, he was responsible for finding private finance for the space shuttle.[8]
In 1978, after two and half years in Washington, Klesch took a sabbatical and then joined the management of Smith Barney Harris Upham & International Smith Barney Harris Upham & Company, Inc. | Better Business Bureau Profile, the Wall Street securities house, in Paris. He was the Director responsible for Middle East development.
In 1980, he was appointed President of the brokerage firm Dean Witter Reynolds Overseas Ltd.[9] in London, where he was responsible for the firms' international activities. Two years later Klesch left to create his own investment company.[10]
Quadrex
In 1983, Klesch set up[11] Quadrex, which started in the Euromarkets but soon moved into acquisition finance, leverage buyouts and restructurings.[12] The firm had operations in both London and New York. Quadrex Holdings first subsidiary, Quadrex Securities Ltd. specialized in international financial transactions.[13]
Klesch Group
In 1990, Klesch founded Klesch & Company Limited to specialize in distressed and turnaround investing. Klesch & Co. is a global industrials commodities business with three divisions specializing in the production and trading of chemicals, metals and oil. It employs more than 4,500 people across 40 locations in over 16 different countries. Its turnover is in excess $5 billion.[citation needed]
Corporate activity
- 1993: acquisition of DAF, Dutch truck manufacturer
- 1996: acquisition of TC Farries, Scottish bookseller
- 1998: acquisition of Knickerbox, a British lingerie chain, and of Myrys, a French shoemaker[8]
- 2009: acquisition of Delfzijl steelworks in Netherlands and of Heide refinery in Germany (from Shell)
- July 2012: acquisition of Kem One, vinyls activities of the French Arkema Group
- February 2013: acquisition of Groupe Leali,[14] an Italian steel producer
- January 2022: acquisition of Kalundborg Refinery and its terminal located in Hedehusene in Denmark (from Equinor)
Criticism
Unions and European local politicians fear the worst from Gary Klesch, as shown by the example of unions at Alcoa's,[15] Sardinian steel factory, whose employees protested against a possible takeover by Klesh & Company Limited. This is due to its reputation as a "vulture capitalist"[16] conveyed in the press and the closing of several acquisitions made by Gary Klesch for which the businessman pledged to boost the activity, as the example of Kem One[17] company.
In 2012, Klesch & Co bought the vinyl business division of Arkema for one symbolic euro, which he later renamed "Kem One S.A." Klesch claimed that the raw materials industry is subject to a bright future and said that the group Klesch & Co had the expertise to improve the efficiency of industrial processes and trade with amenities.[18] In the transaction, Arkema[19] took charge of its 587 million loss from the pole and offered a treasury of 100 million euros to help stimulate activity. 8 months later, the company was declared insolvent, threatening more than 1,300 jobs. French unions[20] suspect him to have placed Arkema money in its financial holdings registered in Jersey, Malta or Bermuda.
References
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