Alexander Wood appointed as CEO of AWR Lloyd

AWR Lloyd, the Asia-focused energy and mining industry advisory firm, has appointed Alexander Wood as Managing Partner and CEO at a General Meeting of shareholders on 30th July 2010.

Alex is one of the founders of AWR Lloyd and has been instrumental in the development and growth of the firm over the past decade. Alex has built core client relationships for the firm, including the longstanding association with Banpu, the Asian coal group. He has also launched and established several key franchises for the firm including its Fair Value Investor Relations consulting practice, Vietnam presence and Downstream Oil business. Prior to AWR Lloyd, Alex was with the French investment bank, Paribas, for nine years in corporate banking, equity capital markets and M&A with a focus on the emerging markets resources industries.

Alex provided some comments on AWR Lloyd’s progress to date and explained his strategy for the firm’s future:

“Over the past ten years AWR Lloyd has established a strong name in the Asia-Pacific resources sector for best practice and innovative strategic advice. We have an enviable trackrecord including work for many of the world’s blue-chip energy and mining sector players – as well as some long term relationships where we have helped our clients achieve exceptional share price growth over periods of up to eleven years and counting.

As one of the founders of the firm I’m very proud to see the progress we have made and the recognition we get these days in the energy and mining industries. Going forward, I would like the focus of our business growth to be increasingly around corporate finance transaction work (capital-raising, M&A, investment advisory…) but with continued growth also in our strategy consulting and industry consulting practices. These three service areas have strong synergies, particularly when it comes to long term client relationships and greenfield project development.

The fusion of these services differentiates us strongly from our competition. Unlike conventional investment banking advisors, AWR Lloyd brings deep industry knowledge and best practice strategy consulting skills which add integrity and insight to our financial advisory service. And unlike most industry consulting firms, AWR Lloyd is much more results-oriented: we can provide detailed project studies but can also raise capital and bring in strategic partners for new projects.

Geographically, over the next two years, AWR Lloyd will seek to develop a presence in North America, China and Indonesia. We will also continue to establish and grow our footprint in Korea and Vietnam. We are particularly interested to service some key cross-border investment trends in the resource sectors – such as North Asian investment in the North American renewable sectors and Chinese acquisitions in oil, coal and mining in Southeast Asia.

I am excited to become AWR Lloyd’s CEO at this time – and will do what I can to push the firm up a steep growth curve over the next few years. In the medium to long term I see opportunities for the firm to diversify into equity capital markets and private equity.”

George Lloyd, Chairman of AWR Lloyd since 2006 remarked:

“Our business is focused on delivering valuable solutions to our clients.  With his extensive knowledge of the Asian minerals and energy scene and a successful track record in corporate finance transactions as well as guiding resource companies towards market realization of ‘fair value,’ Alex is ideally suited to lead and grow AWR Lloyd.  Clients will benefit greatly from his capability and commitment.”