BLACKWATER security contractor founder Erik Prince is turning his military skills in Hong Kong into becoming a logistics provider for energy companies operating in high risk areas of Africa, Reuters reports.
The 44-year-old former US Navy Seal has become chairman of Frontier Services Group (FSG), a Hong Kong-listed company, of which China's state-backed investment fund Citic owns 15 per cent.
Since selling Blackwater in 2010, Mr Prince has been working as a fund manager for his private equity firm, Frontier Resource Group (FRG), with investments in a refinery in South Sudan and a mapping company for early stage oil and mineral exploration.
"As I was moving around Asia for this private equity fund, a lot of the big investors said, 'It's great that you want to be a fund manager, but what we really need is a business like you had before. Not a defense services, but one that can help us operate in the challenging areas and take away a lot of the uncertainty'," Mr Prince told Reuters.
China is increasingly looking to Africa to meet its ever growing demand for natural resources. Trade between the two reached an estimated US$200 billion this year.
Blackwater, which provided security for the US government in Iraq and Afghanistan and grew from a US$6 million investment into a billion dollar business, gained notoriety after its personnel were accused of killing 14 Iraqi civilians in 2007. Blackwater denied wrongdoing.
The firm changed its name to Xe Services as Prince resigned as CEO in 2009. He sold the firm in 2010, after which it changed its name again, this time to Academi.
The new firm FSG already owns a few planes and airstrip in Kenya and is on the hunt for acquisitions this year to build a pan-African network of aircraft.
"We're starting in the aviation space because I believe if you're going to operate in Africa you've got to be able to move by air. Commercial airlines are limited, roads get washed out," he said.
Ask the difference between his old and new roles, Mr Prince said: "They're similar, but we're not here to serve government, we're not there to build their police forces. We're here to move an NGO, an advanced seismic crew or a drilling crew from a mining company, or if an oil operation needs their camp supported and built."
LOGISTICS
07 February 2014 - 20:36
Blackwater founder turns to logistics, lists in HK to serve in Africa
BLACKWATER security contractor founder Erik Prince is turning his military skills in Hong Kong into becoming a logistics provider for energy companies operating in high risk areas of Africa
LOGISTICS
07 February 2014 - 20:36
Blackwater founder turns to logistics, lists in HK to serve in Africa
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