Gerard Farley

Empire Securities Group or ESG provides Corporate Advisory Services (a full suite) and Private Equity, from Venture Capital through to IPO, from our network of institutional funds, hedge funds, family offices, and Ultra High Net Worths.

The company was founded by Gerard Farley, who has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. Before founding Empire Securities Group, Gerard worked in New York as Director of International Institutional Research Sales at Merrill Lynch (Bank of America ML) and as a Senior Vice President of International Equities at James Capel (HSBC). Gerard's eldest son Tom (UT BBA) worked with the firm before joining a hedge fund in New York and his second son Felix (LSE BSC) has since joined the firm, alongside an effective team of analysts.

Gerard Farley: Journey from Commercial Property Valuer to Executive Chairman at Empire Securities Group

Gerard Farley commenced his career as a commercial property valuer (CB Richard Ellis) in Melbourne, Australia, subsequently joining the derivatives hedging division John Elliot’s Elders Finance JV (Australia’s largest owned merchant bank) with Michael Milken’s Drexel Burnham Lambert, working in Melbourne, HK, London, Chicago & New York. He then went on to work with investment banking firms McIntosh Hamson Hoare Govett (now Merrill Lynch) in Melbourne and then recruited to James Capel (now HSBC) in London and New York. Gerard’s role was procuring US institutional investment for the Australian market in general, and mining and natural resources worldwide. Gerard’s role was to diversify US institutional funds’ mining investments from their heavy holdings in Africa (75%). Succeeding in this, he was recruited by Merrill Lynch (Bank of America ML) to work from their HQ at the World Financial Centre, NYC. In 1989 Gerard returned to Sydney, Australia, working with State Bank NSW’s First State Securities (Colonial First State/Commonwealth Bank’s CommSec).

In 2007 Gerard decided to set up his firm, Empire Securities Group (ESG), with a focus on mining. They have led and co-led capital raisings in the hundreds of millions, 80% in the natural resources, especially copper and gold. 80%+ of these funds have been sourced from major global mining funds, many of whom he was advising from his days in NY in the ‘80s.

Crawling Down the Old Mines in South Africa

In the ’80s Gerard Farley was crawling down old gold mines in South Africa, pressing the button on explosive blasts in the Premiere diamond mine. 20+ years later funding three of the world’s biggest brownfields gold projects between Bendigo, Victoria (with historic production of 60 million ounces), Johannesburg, South Africa (300 million oz historic production). In the last 18 months seed funded several new brownfield projects with combined Copper 15+ Billion pounds & 28,000,000 ounces of Gold. As well we’re currently raising capital for 50% of known western world Rare Earths Elements (REE) and Critical future metals.

In addition, funding a breakthrough, via patented Hydrogen Fuel-Cell, that is ultra-safe to transport and generate, capture, store and release to power Boats, Cars, Trucks, Planes and Trains, as well store energy generated from hydro or solar/ wind farms. Effectively anything that requires electricity/electric power.

Ego can Drive Uncommercial Activity

If a company starts at the peak of a cycle, it’s easy money and they take 1 or 2 years longer to meet milestones as the market dips they tend to issue more and more stock at a discount disincentivizing all stakes and stockholders. Therefore, funding an exploration play and further development stage through listing requires multi-talented executives. The most promising partners in exploration are the geologists/geophysicists who fascinate us with their scientific understanding of the million-year processes of mineral formation, through their expertise, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they can manage expenses, nor know when to fold. If the ideal path finders required are elusive and good results aren’t forthcoming, ego can drive uncommercial activity. In the worst case, lifestyle company achieving nothing but keep salaries rolling on.

Assuring Investors of Cost-Effectiveness

The only thing you can control in the cyclical commodity business are production and G&A costs. As such a commercially minded executive who can get definitive guidance from the geologists and geophysicists and deliver a timeline of outcomes and meet them assures the investors of cost-effectiveness. At each stage, hire the right team to successfully discover, develop and get into production. Investors appreciate the board and management having skin in the game via meaningful stock holding as an alignment with the shareholder interest.

Survived and Prevailed Through Deep Recession of precious metals and materials 2011-16

In NY, Gerard worked with and met many large institutional funds and saw how they survived and prevailed through recessions, anticipating the movement of money to safer stores of value so he was prepared for the GFC with his firm focusing on precious metals. More than surviving, they saw some of their best performances during that period. Arguably we must recognize we may have another geo-politically driven policy failure/s crushing traditional investment performance. Apart from the decarbonization mandate, precious metals and commodities across the board attract major investment and thrive and are the first to be accumulated post a rout.

Building Registers with the Investors is the Secret

Gerard was effectively running James Capel’s NY office’s mining division worldwide as an Australian living in the Big Apple, 10-15 years younger than all his peers. He was so grateful to be in the game that he was ready to do the work no one else wanted to do, like getting money out of South Africa as EU Apartheid sanctions loomed. NOBODY wanted his job. At Merrill, there was only him and a Danish guy doing offshore European equities. Gerard’s secret is building registers with world class investors with a 3–5-year horizon to make a 3–30x +multiples on their investments. (Assuming they’re in from pre-IPO).

Discovering More Hidden Assets Well Below the Surface

They (ESG) are, due to their local and global relationships/partners, the beneficiaries of several developments in the application of artificial intelligence aided geophysics in exploration. And we fund (Australian, Asian, America/s and African explorers and developers) whom are now able to see/discover, via more powerful technology, deeper into the earth’s surface and discover more hidden deposits of ore assets (those without outcropping signatures) well below the surface.

Company Quote: All the smart tech (smartphones/cars/satellites/wind and solar farms) rely on so called battery metals, made smart using REE or rare earth elements, and the economy is is increasingly relying on technology for everything we do.. At the same time, most renewable energy hardware/infrastructure is built on copper and nickel so there are like the new oil. The seismic government/s and unelected WEF and EU dictate to shift away from carbon, will see unprecedented divestment from fossil fuels to metals for the electrification and de-carbonizing the world energy & transport etc. Expect a generation of unheralded and enormous investment. Notwithstanding potential excessive inflation and or deflation both in the period, which can also drive substantial increased investment in precious metals as well. As such an overweight position in materials and natural resources is essential for out performance.

Management: Gerard Farley, Executive Chairman at Empire Securities Group (ESG)

Website: https://empiresecuritiesgroup.org/