By Cole Latimer
When APA Group boss Michael McCormack retires he hopes to be able to pursue his love of drumming.
The long-serving chief executive, who has built the company from the ground up, is also well-known in the industry for his stick work and cites Steve Gadd – famed for his work on Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘50 ways to leave your lover’ – as an influence.
Some have made the claims he takes it more seriously than he lets on, and if you play an instrument it won’t do any harm to your career at APA. The ‘APA All-Stars’ is the company band, known for playing not only at the work Christmas party but also ‘touring’ for corporate events.
Mr McCormack has led APA from a tiny business to a virtual pipeline monopoly. Credit: Peter Braig
“These days I don’t get to do it as much, I only play about six to eight gigs a year but when I retire I’ll be able to take it a bit more seriously," he told Fairfax Media on Friday, not that he's suggesting he will retire any time soon.
In fact he is about to face arguably one of the greatest tests of his career as APA Group is the latest in a string of Australian energy companies in the sights of a cashed-up foreign buyer as rising oil prices have lifted the sector's prospects.
Hong Kong-based CKI’s $13 billion offer for APA is one of the largest nearing the $15 billion offered - unsuccessfully - for Santos earlier this year.
CKI is already a player in the sector having bought West Australian pipeline network Duet Group last year. APA and CKI also have a working relationship, as APA manages some of CKI’s networks.
APA has grown rapidly in the eighteen years since it listed on the ASX as it has bought or built its way to a virtual monopoly over Australia’s major gas pipeline infrastructure. Mick McCormack has helmed APA since the very beginning.
“With the deal, whatever happens next, it’s not about me it’s about the business and the industry,” he said.
“The industry needs to focus on getting more gas in Australia. We need more for generation and peaking power, getting away from coal, and supporting renewables in Australia. The role of gas should be supported.”
Although some in the industry say he plays up to his knock-about bloke reputation to hide an astute negotiator, most agree that he has focused unceasingly on building Australia’s gas industry.
“Mick’s a gas man, he’s lived it and breathed it gas all his life,” the Grattan Institute’s energy director Tony Wood said.
Mr Wood said he’s known Mr McCormack for the better part of 40 years, “since back in Queensland when I was working for Incitec Pivot and Mick was at AGL trying to sell us gas.”
Much of Australia's domestic gas is transported via APA's pipeline network.Credit: Brendan Esposito
APA's head of strategy Ross Gersbach said the man trying to sell gas 40 years ago is still the same man leading APA now.
"Mick's not your typical CEO, he's just one blokes. But he is ambitious. He has kept to his vision."
Prior to APA, McCormack worked for AGL and Envestra, which became Australian Gas Networks and who outsources much of its operations to APA.
If gas is moved around Australia, there's a good chance Mr McCormack plays a part.
“Mick’s been a remarkable success story," Mr Wood said.
“He’s got a very uncontroversial reputation, he’s comfortable talking to people at any level and is an astute leader. Mick’s been a very steady pair of hands at APA compared to the more flamboyant style of other Australian CEOs. I’ve never heard a bad word about him.”
Those who has sat opposite him at the negotiating table say he is a "straight shooter" even if he was taking shots at them.
Mr McCormack has been vocal in battling with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission labelling its claims that APA was operating unchecked as ‘flea-bitten nonsense’ .
APA has thrown its support behind Australian ice hockey, with Mr McCormack building the strength of the sport nationally.Credit: Louise Kennerley
Mr McCormack has also taken ice hockey to heart, becoming the patron of the sport in Australia.
“It all started with family holidays to Whistler, Canada, where we’ve been going for the last 12 to 13 years,” he said. After seeing hockey regularly on tv he asked a colleague if there was a league in Australia and the price of buying a box to watch games.
“They told me for the price of a box I could sponsor the whole league, so we did,” he said.
“Like APA, they’ve had humble beginnings but they’re going strong.”