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27th Sep 2008, 13:53
An entrepreneur's wild ride in the sky (http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=843674) :
A biography of Craig Dobbin was bound to be good because the Newfoundland entrepreneur left such a rich trail of anecdotes. Burlington, Ont.-author John Lawrence Reynolds has plundered this stash magnificently. One Hell of a Ride paints a vivid portrait of the lumber dealer's son from St. John's, who rose to become chairman and founder of CHC Helicopter Corp.
Dobbin began by building houses in the 1960s when the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. provided mortgages on new homes worth 130% of the construction costs. Each house was on the market while he was building it, and the proceeds of one house would finance the next. Nothing unusual in that. But Dobbin's young family was living in each house as it was being built, and once it sold they would have to move to a new construction site.
Though it was rough on his family, Dobbin's wealth grew and he was a force in Newfoundland real estate development by the 1970s, a successful businessman who loved time with friends, drinking, telling tales and fishing in Newfoundland and Labrador. During one fishing adventure, he had the brainwave that the best way to access remote fishing holes would be via helicopter. Then he decided a helicopter company might even be profitable.
Thus, he founded Sealand Helicopters and spent three decades building the company, bolstered by the growth of oil exploration off Canada's east coast. One step ahead of creditors, Dobbin bought the best craft available and expanded globally, flying into jungles, mountains, war zones and disaster areas. Even when both his lungs were replaced late in life, Dobbin continued to drive his company forward. Though he frequently infuriated financiers, he gained the friendship and loyalty of a range of people, from his groundskeeper to former U. S. president George H. W. Bush.
A past winner of the National Business Book Award and the author of more than 20 books, Reynolds could have improved this book by providing more solid details, such as the price, valuation and debt requirement of the various deals Dobbin struck, as the reader needs a better understanding of how ambitious each deal was and how it would change the company. But this is nitpicking compared with the superb job Reynolds does in stringing together anecdotes to make One Hell of a Ride soar.
Here's one: In 1985, Dobbin's company, Sealand Helicopters, was in arrears on millions of dollars it owed chopper manufacturer Aerospatiale and the French company hauled in Dobbin and an executive to demand their money. Though its businesses spanned the globe, Sealand had virtually no cash, and the Aerospatiale executives and lawyers bullied the two Newfoundlanders.
Finally, Dobbin exploded, telling them to take their helicopters. "There are three parked deep in the Amazon jungle, two more up on Baffin Island, two in St. John's and three in Africa," he barked. He told them he would immediately cancel insurance on them and call his pilots home. "You want 'em, you go and get 'em." With that, Dobbin left.
The parties resolved the matter more pleasantly the next day.
While that incident revealed Dobbin's everything-in-the-kitty gambling mentality, the book also reveals a gentler side of his character when describing Dobbin in the late 1990s as he launched one final deal that would make CHC (the successor company to Sealand) the largest helicopter company in the world.
Dobbin began the negotiations for his largest competitor, Helicopter Services Group ASA of Norway, by flying his team to Oslo so they could meet with their counterparts and discuss the proposal. As they were leaving, Dobbin turned to HSG chairman Radar Lund and asked: "By the way, can you recommend a good lawyer and investment banker for us?"
Ever heard of a CEO launching a takeover without legal and financial advisers lined up, let alone asking his counterparty to recommend them? Dobbin was a relationship businessman and lawyers and bankers recommended by Lund would be people trusted by the HSG team. Asking the Norwegians to recommend advisers helped ensure a congenial negotiation.
Even his creditors could become friends, such as Toronto-based Newcourt Capital founder Steve Hudson. Hudson once spent three days flying around Atlantic Canada in a futile effort to seize aircraft from Air Atlantic, a regional airline Dobbin ran in hock for $40-million to Newcourt. Everywhere he landed, the planes had just left.
When Hudson married in 1992, Bay Street friends held a roast for him with all the proceeds going to charity. Unable to attend, Dobbin sent a telegram offering to donate $5,000 to Hudson's favourite charity and to double it if Hudson mooned the corporate elite in attendance. Hudson had little choice but to comply.
Hudson and other friends flew to Dobbin's deathbed in Newfoundland in 2006 to say goodbye to the old warhorse who was clearly dying. In a final meeting with his longtime CEO Sylvain Allard, Dobbin tearfully said, "We had one hell of a ride, didn't we?"
They did, and Reynolds does a splendid job of inviting the reader along for it.
A biography of Craig Dobbin was bound to be good because the Newfoundland entrepreneur left such a rich trail of anecdotes. Burlington, Ont.-author John Lawrence Reynolds has plundered this stash magnificently. One Hell of a Ride paints a vivid portrait of the lumber dealer's son from St. John's, who rose to become chairman and founder of CHC Helicopter Corp.
Dobbin began by building houses in the 1960s when the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. provided mortgages on new homes worth 130% of the construction costs. Each house was on the market while he was building it, and the proceeds of one house would finance the next. Nothing unusual in that. But Dobbin's young family was living in each house as it was being built, and once it sold they would have to move to a new construction site.
Though it was rough on his family, Dobbin's wealth grew and he was a force in Newfoundland real estate development by the 1970s, a successful businessman who loved time with friends, drinking, telling tales and fishing in Newfoundland and Labrador. During one fishing adventure, he had the brainwave that the best way to access remote fishing holes would be via helicopter. Then he decided a helicopter company might even be profitable.
Thus, he founded Sealand Helicopters and spent three decades building the company, bolstered by the growth of oil exploration off Canada's east coast. One step ahead of creditors, Dobbin bought the best craft available and expanded globally, flying into jungles, mountains, war zones and disaster areas. Even when both his lungs were replaced late in life, Dobbin continued to drive his company forward. Though he frequently infuriated financiers, he gained the friendship and loyalty of a range of people, from his groundskeeper to former U. S. president George H. W. Bush.
A past winner of the National Business Book Award and the author of more than 20 books, Reynolds could have improved this book by providing more solid details, such as the price, valuation and debt requirement of the various deals Dobbin struck, as the reader needs a better understanding of how ambitious each deal was and how it would change the company. But this is nitpicking compared with the superb job Reynolds does in stringing together anecdotes to make One Hell of a Ride soar.
Here's one: In 1985, Dobbin's company, Sealand Helicopters, was in arrears on millions of dollars it owed chopper manufacturer Aerospatiale and the French company hauled in Dobbin and an executive to demand their money. Though its businesses spanned the globe, Sealand had virtually no cash, and the Aerospatiale executives and lawyers bullied the two Newfoundlanders.
Finally, Dobbin exploded, telling them to take their helicopters. "There are three parked deep in the Amazon jungle, two more up on Baffin Island, two in St. John's and three in Africa," he barked. He told them he would immediately cancel insurance on them and call his pilots home. "You want 'em, you go and get 'em." With that, Dobbin left.
The parties resolved the matter more pleasantly the next day.
While that incident revealed Dobbin's everything-in-the-kitty gambling mentality, the book also reveals a gentler side of his character when describing Dobbin in the late 1990s as he launched one final deal that would make CHC (the successor company to Sealand) the largest helicopter company in the world.
Dobbin began the negotiations for his largest competitor, Helicopter Services Group ASA of Norway, by flying his team to Oslo so they could meet with their counterparts and discuss the proposal. As they were leaving, Dobbin turned to HSG chairman Radar Lund and asked: "By the way, can you recommend a good lawyer and investment banker for us?"
Ever heard of a CEO launching a takeover without legal and financial advisers lined up, let alone asking his counterparty to recommend them? Dobbin was a relationship businessman and lawyers and bankers recommended by Lund would be people trusted by the HSG team. Asking the Norwegians to recommend advisers helped ensure a congenial negotiation.
Even his creditors could become friends, such as Toronto-based Newcourt Capital founder Steve Hudson. Hudson once spent three days flying around Atlantic Canada in a futile effort to seize aircraft from Air Atlantic, a regional airline Dobbin ran in hock for $40-million to Newcourt. Everywhere he landed, the planes had just left.
When Hudson married in 1992, Bay Street friends held a roast for him with all the proceeds going to charity. Unable to attend, Dobbin sent a telegram offering to donate $5,000 to Hudson's favourite charity and to double it if Hudson mooned the corporate elite in attendance. Hudson had little choice but to comply.
Hudson and other friends flew to Dobbin's deathbed in Newfoundland in 2006 to say goodbye to the old warhorse who was clearly dying. In a final meeting with his longtime CEO Sylvain Allard, Dobbin tearfully said, "We had one hell of a ride, didn't we?"
They did, and Reynolds does a splendid job of inviting the reader along for it.