AWR Lloyd appoints CEO to manage the firm’s expansion

AWR Lloyd, specialist Asian energy and minerals sector advisory firm, has appointed Hal Kaiser as its first Chief Executive Officer, effective 1st April 2009. Hal has thirteen years of energy sector experience with Texaco, Chevron, Macquarie Bank and AWR Lloyd.

Hal will be responsible for the development and expansion of AWR Lloyd’s core businesses in Industry Research, Investor Relations & Strategy Consulting and Corporate Finance Advisory. He will also manage the implementation of a new professional framework of operating systems and will improve co-ordination between the firm’s consulting teams and regional offices in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Seoul, Hanoi and Sydney.

Hal began his career in power project finance and development with Texaco in the mid-1990s working on a number of projects in Europe, South America and Asia. After the Chevron-Texaco merger, Hal became Vice President for Commercial Development for Chevron Global Power Generation where he refocused the unit’s strategy leading to the development of a number of integrated upstream-downstream projects in the Americas, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. In 2005, Hal was appointed as the Country Manager for Chevron Global Gas in South Korea with a focus on LNG trading, regasification and pipeline development.

In 2007, Hal moved from industry to investment banking by joining Macquarie Bank in South Korea where he focused on M&A and advisory services to the oil and gas, power, city gas and LNG sectors. In 2008 he joined AWR Lloyd as country representative for Korea. Hal has been known to one of the AWR Lloyd founders for nearly a decade.

With his appointment as CEO, Hal will move with his family to Bangkok where AWR Lloyd has its largest consulting team. He will continue, however, to provide direct management of the firm’s Korean business and client relationships in conjunction with Sam Koh.

Hal Kaiser commented on his appointment:

“I am excited to become CEO of AWR Lloyd at this point in the firm’s evolution and at a time when larger investment banks and consulting firms are suffering. Over the last nine years AWR Lloyd has gradually built a reputation for best practice and innovative strategy consulting services to the energy and minerals industries in Asia-Pacific, with a focus on maximizing shareholder value for its clients.

In my new role I will seek to build on this foundation with the objective of transforming the firm from boutique status to a first tier consulting name. When any energy, mining or steel group in Asia or Australasia needs a market study, an M&A advisor or a strategy consultant, I want them to think of AWR Lloyd.”

AWR Lloyd’s Sydney-based Chairman, George Lloyd, remarked:

“The appointment of AWR Lloyd’s first CEO is an important milestone in the growth of the firm. While the founders will continue to be at the front line of client service and new business development, Hal will ensure that the firm’s consulting team, information resources, analytical tools and operating systems are developed and strengthened so we are able to take on bigger consulting assignments and a greater number of clients, while maintaining the quality of our service. Hal is the right man for the job with a combination of good management skills, an enterprising spirit, level-headedness, intellectual rigor and energy sector experience”.