Paul was appointed as the first CEO of the Firstgas Group in 2016, following the purchase of Vector gas assets and the Maui pipeline from Maui Partners. Paul has significant experience across the infrastructure sector. Prior to joining Firstgas Group, he spent 12 years in various regulatory, legal, pricing, commercial, business development and operations roles at Powerco, New Zealand’s second largest electricity and gas distributor.
Paul’s expertise in strategic planning and tactical delivery as well as a focus on building effective teams and strengthening relationships with stakeholders has seen him develop and implement Firstgas Group’s strategic business plan. To date, Paul has been instrumental in the acquisition of Rockgas and Ahuroa gas storage facility, both in 2018; obtaining a Baa2 credit rating from Moody’s in June 2020; and completing a NZ$610M United States private placement debt transaction that was 6.5x oversubscribed with US$ tranches priced at the lowest coupon reported for a USPP by a New Zealand issuer and represented the 3rd largest USPP ever for a New Zealand company.
Paul is a Chartered Accountant, Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand and a member of the Institute of Directors. Paul is currently Director of Liquigas.