An international legal consultancy with a major focus on the energy services sector has made Perth its Asia Pacific headquarters in a bid to capitalise on the corridor of opportunity between India and Australia.
Hugh Fraser International chose a St Georges Terrace location to start the next growth phase of the company, which started in 2003 in Dubai.
Group managing partner Hugh Fraser said the past five years was focused on the circle of opportunity which is a five-hour flying radius from Dubai to countries including Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Libya, Egypt and Sudan.
“The next five years is a strategic expansion for HFI; we’re not moving out of the circle of opportunity but the company sees the corridor of opportunity as a major growth area,” Mr Fraser said.
“What’s really interesting is the deepwater discoveries in east India and the LNG revolution here in WA and a lot of things in between, and we just see that as a major, major area of interest to us.
“More importantly, it’s of huge interest to our clients.”
The company, which has its origins in the North Sea oil and gas industry, has clients from 20 different countries and employs 80 people worldwide.
Mr Fraser said there was a client driven focus on the corridor of opportunity.
“In terms of exploration and production areas, a lot of the technology is driven by sub-sea activity, whereas in the Middle East it’s largely onshore or shallow water,” Mr Fraser said.
HFI chooses Perth HQ you move out to the India to WA corridor, you really are becoming sub-sea focused and in many cases deep water focused…and it’s precisely these environments our clients are interested in.”
The Perth office will focus on opening opportunities for Australian clients looking to internationalise, global acquisitions and joint ventures and specialist oil and gas transactions in the corridor of opportunity.
Perth will also have links to HFI’s existing international offices and network including alliances in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
Currently HFI in Perth has a team of four, led by former chairman of the Australia Arab Chamber of Commerce and Industry John Yeudall.
