hustle and bustle
pp. 61-63 · Read in the full issue
At Sullivan’s—air of hustle and bustle
By PIM staffman MALCOLM SALMON
There is a fine air of hustle and bustle about the George Street, Sydney, headquarters of the Pacific Islands trading firm, C. Sullivan Holdings Ltd, these days. And not all the voices taking part in the hours-long executive discussions going on there have Australian ac cents.
When I called at the office in April, the process of practical im plementation of the February take over of the company by the big French firm, Scoa, was well under way.
PIM first caught up with Sullivan director and Papua New Guinea veteran Mr Ron Knight. “Fish,” he proclaimed, waving at his paper strewn desk. “We’ve been talking about a fish deal all day. I can prac tically smell ’em.”
Then PIM met Swiss-born Mr Carlo Kraushaar, a youthful-look ing Scoa executive who explained that he was the one and only Scoa man from Europe who would be taking up permanent residence in Australia as a result of the change in control of Sullivan’s.
“Why should we bring people out here? It costs a lot of money and, besides, the Sullivan people know Sullivan business best,” he said.
There would be no change in the company’s name and only the barest minimum of change in management personnel.
PIM next moved from Mr Knight’s office to meet the man who is perhaps the most important single aspect of this “barest minimum”; Mr Jacques Leprince, the new chairman of directors of C. Sullivan Holdings Ltd. With him was Mr Alan Miflin, Sullivan director and financial man ager.
Mr Leprince will spend part of each year in Australia, but will con tinue to operate from his customary base in Paris.
Again there was talk of continuity in the Sullivan operation.
But, PIM ventured, along with continuity there must be change.
Scoa had not bought Sullivan’s to leave everything exactly as it was.
What would be the main directions of change?
Mr Leprince began to reply, but hesitated for a moment to search for a word. PIM suggested it under stood French rather well, if that would be more convenient. “I speak English,” was the polite but firm re sponse.
The first task, said Mr Leprince, was to co-ordinate Sullivan and Scoa activities. “For example,” he said, “Sullivan imports many goods from the Far East. In future, these goods can come from Scoa offices in that region.”
Mr Miflin said: “Even though it’s still very early days, co-ordination is already becoming a fact. The Scoa group though its Australian subsidi ary recently sold 7500 tons of Australian powdered milk to an African customer. It was a deal that could never have been hoped for without Scoa’s African connections.
There’s also been an inquiry from New Zealand about tropical timbers from Cameroon, where Scoa is well established.”
“Then,” Mr Leprince went on, “people must get to know each
other. It’s not just a question of learning the names of people in Africa and France to whom one sends a telex. It’s a question of knowing the people behind the names. So, Mr Knight will go to Europe and Africa later this year.
Mr Miflin will go to Europe in
August-September.”
Of Scoa’s economic strategy in the new venture, Mr Leprince said: “As a company exporting goods from Europe, we would hope to find markets in Australia chiefly for European industrial goods.
“But, if we want to be welcome here as an importer, we think we should help Australia and New Zea land to expand their exports.
“There could also be oppor tunities for Australian mineral ex porters through our Moscow office, which is already selling copper and other ores to the Russians.
From what PIM could see on its visit, the new scale of the operation was throwing strain on the present Sullivan office accommodation.
So, it was no surprise to learn a few weeks later that from the begin ning of July the company will move into 830 square metres (9000 square feet) of brand new office space in Sydney’s King George Tower, on the corner of George and King Streets.