Jan Bonde Nielsen

1960-1980 Activities

DCK International
Jan Bonde Nielsen created one of the world's largest flower growing groups, DCK International, based in Europe and Kenya in the period from the 1960s until 1974. The group operated under the name of DCK International and employed the most modern agricultural techniques known in the world at the time. With the support of the Kenyan government, DCK had more than five million sqm of land under cultivation and 7,000 people employed. From this venture a new industry developed in Kenya, which is now the country's largest foreign exchange earner.

During the same period Jan Bonde Nielsen was involved in a number of listed Danish companies as a non-executive director, such as Sadolin & Holmblad A/S, Kemisk Vaerk Koege A/S and Dannebrog Shipping Company. In the two latter companies he was chairman for a number of years. He was a board member of the Confederation of Danish Industries as well as the World Wildlife Fund, and was the chairman of the Horticultural Employers Association.

In 1975, as a result of his increasing involvement in Burmeister & Wain (see below), Jan Bonde Nielsen passed on the management of DCK to Bruce McKenzie, the former Minister of Agriculture of Kenya, and subsequently the ownership to an investor group led by Mr McKenzie. Ultimately, DCK was merged with the activities of a Unilever subsidiary in Kenya.

Burmeister & Wain
In 1974, Jan Bonde Nielsen together with a group of family and financial investors bought 51% of the shares in Burmeister & Wain, one of the oldest industrial companies in Denmark, consisting of various industrial activities, including a shipyard and a marine diesel engine manufacturing company. The company had not been profitable for many years, and the board, the workers unions and management as well as the general public held a negative view of the future of the company.

Jan Bonde Nielsen totally reorganised and restructured the company and it made a profit from the second year in operation. The equity, which was DKK 100 million at the time of acquisition in 1974, had risen to DKK 650 million by the end of 1978.

This turnaround was achieved through a combination of initiatives, which included streamlining production by producing fewer types of ships and instituting a best practice programme, which was developed by studying other companies, primarily in the Far East. Similarly, with the active support of the workers union, efficiency was improved dramatically. Unlike the previous 20 years, no strikes occurred after Jan Bonde Nielsen took control.

Jan Bonde Nielsen became involved in a major legal battle with the Government of Denmark beginning in 1978 and only ending in 1986 with a verdict categorically in his favour. However, during this same period the Burmeister & Wain activities had to be liquidated, but with no loss for any bank or other creditors. Jan Bonde Nielsen wrote two best selling books about this period of his life ("Doemt" and "Frikendt").

Wildlife Conservation
Jan Bonde Nielsen has been involved in nature and wildlife projects for a long time. Over the past 19 years he has been involved as chairman and member of the board of the charity FARM-Africa. This charity has been very successful in raising substantial private funding and in building an extensive organisation throughout Africa focusing on agricultural projects.

Further, Jan Bonde Nielsen is committed to preserving the Nguruman Group ranch, a privately owned wildlife sanctuary, where the natural habitat of flora and fauna is fiercely protected, by sixty rangers, from the dangers of poaching and excessive tourism. Located south-west of Nairobi, the reserve is situated on 65,000 acres of varying types of vegetation from semi-desert to rain forest.

The sanctuary is headquartered at the Oldonyo Laro Estate on the edge of the Nguruman escarpment with panoramic views of the Great Rift Valley 2,000 feet below and a backdrop of mountains rising 8,000 feet topped by rain forest. The main aim of the activity is to benefit the country and the people of Kenya by creation of jobs, protection of existing wildlife and fauna in the area as well as re-introduction of indigenous species, which have been poached to extinction in the area.

Hunting ended officially in Kenya in the 1970s and like the rest of the country the Ngurumans had suffered from poaching and the number of wildlife dropped to seriously low levels. Since the activity started, wildlife rangers have been patrolling the sanctuary and a significant increase in wildlife has occurred. The rangers clear the area from snares and make sure that new snares are not put in place. In addition to protecting the wildlife, efforts are being made to increase the number of watering holes and access to salt supplements to keep the wildlife in the area.


1981-1991 Activities

Property Investments in the United Kingdom
In 1981, Jan Bonde Nielsen moved from Denmark to the UK and became involved in the property market, which he considered to be undervalued. Supported by Sir Brian Wolfson, CEO of Granada TV, Professor Roland Smith, Chairman of Harrods, John Craig, Managing Director of Rothschilds, and Tony Clegg, Chairman of Mountleigh Group plc, Jan Bonde Nielsen entered into a number of projects in which property assets were acquired, restructured and subsequently sold for significant profits.

Phoenix Properties and Finance plc
In 1985 Jan Bonde Nielsen acquired 29% of this public company by injecting various property assets. Over a two-year period and under new management the assets of the company were improved, and Jan Bonde Nielsen sold his interest in 1987 at a price more than five times the acquisition price.

Wembley plc
In 1986 the ownership of Wembley was in dispute and became the object of considerable litigation. BET plc owned 49% of the Company with private investors controlling the rest of the shares. There was a very complicated structure of cross shareholdings as well as dubious share ownerships, and one of the owners went into receivership. Supported by a group of financial investors Jan Bonde Nielsen acquired the Company and under the management of Sir Brian Wolfson the fortunes of this world-famous business were turned around.

Bugge Eiendoms AS
A Norwegian public company with extensive property interests in Norway and the UK. This company went on to acquire significant shareholdings in UK public companies using bank finance and suffered dramatically from the stock market crash in 1987. Jan Bonde Nielsen orchestrated a successful rescue take-over by Mountleigh Group plc.

Mountleigh Group plc
Following the deterioration in health of the founding Chairman, Tony Clegg, Jan Bonde Nielsen in the early 1990s put together a group of financial investors and acquired a 20% interest in the Mountleigh Group with the purpose of maintaining management control and restructuring the assets of the group.


1992 to Present

Investments in Russia and CIS
From 1992, Jan Bonde Nielsen became involved in a number of Russian projects, including timber production in Siberia and Vyborg Pulp and Paper Company, all interests that were subsequently sold.

It was a difficult period in Russia but it provided the background and experience to get involved more successfully in a number of other Russian projects.

Tebukneft JSC
A publicly quoted oil company in the Komi Republic in northern Russia, producing a million tons of crude oil per year.

Following an initial 11% investment in 1994 Jan Bonde Nielsen together with a financial investor made a successful takeover bid, obtaining a controlling interest which was sold in 1999.

Greenoak Group
In August 1999 the Greenoak Group was founded. The Greenoak Group is an international investment company, providing capital as well as management resources. The Group activities include oil transportation, shipping and a number of industrial investments. The Group activities include significant investments in Georgia and the Caucasian Region.

State Glass Institute, Moscow
The Russian State Glass Institute was acquired in 2000. The assets included, amongst others, some 50,000 sqft of poor office space on the outer ring road of Moscow. Initially, the passing rent was insignificant, but with minimal refurbishment and efficient property management the rent is now in excess of a million dollars per annum. The entire shareholding was sold early 2004 for ten times the initial investment.

Menzi Navigation
Jan Bonde Nielsen was a partner in Menzi Navigation, which in 1996 bought nine Ro-Ro vessels together with the Cyprus ship-owner Adonis Papadopoulos, the Chairman and main shareholder of Interorient Navigation Co. . In the meantime all the vessels have been sold.

Plasma Surgical
Jan Bonde Nielsen was co-founder of Plasma Surgical, a medical technology company which develops devices and equipment for use in surgery. The company's immediate objective is to introduce a new technology for safer and more effective coagulation in surgery. The PlasmaJet system is based on a unique and proprietary breakthrough technology in the field of plasma dynamics. The product was originally invented by the Russian professor Nikolaj Suslov whose work and inventions over the past twenty years led to this latest development. The prevention of bleeding is a key issue in the practice of surgery but particularly important in all major procedures. The shareholding was sold at the end of 2004.

The FLS Industries bid
On 15 September 2003 it was publicised that an international consortium of investors led by Jan Bonde Nielsen was seeking to acquire the FLS Industries Group. FLS is one of Denmark's leading industrial companies and, amongst its many activities, is involved in the construction of more than 50% of the world's cement plants. The total cost of a bid was likely to be in the region of USD 1 billion.

In addition to Greenoak the consortium comprised Citigroup Venture Capital Equity Partners, a member of Citigroup, one of the world's leading financial institutions; Multiplex, an Australian international construction and property development group with a stock market capitalization of more AUD 1.5 billion; and Atlas Cement Technology & Management Group, a privately owned independent cement company.

PetroKazakhstan Inc
During 2004-2005, Jan Bonde Nielsen was a member of the Board of PetroKazakhstan Inc, a Canadian publicly quoted company which was acquired by CNPC Intetrnational for USD 4.2 billion in October 2005.

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