As Nissan Ireland tees off with sponsorship of this week's Irish Open, Hugh Oram looks at the Irish group's origins and connections with Kuwait and Ramallah, Palestine.
As the players tee off for the Nissan Irish Open at Portmarnock tomorrow, few of the golfing fraternity or the car fans in attendance may know of the sponsor's links with sandy climes far from north Dublin.
For its ownership can be traced to both a Kuwaiti investment group and a non-executive director based in Ramallah on the West Bank.
Nissan Ireland is the new title sponsor for the Irish Open and the first golfer lucky enough to get a hole-in-one at the 15th will drive off with one of the company's new, state-of-the-art 350Z Roadsters. The tournament ends on Sunday.
The Irish Open will gets plenty of media coverage, but to most people the ownership of Nissan Ireland is very much a closed book. The group, one of the largest players in the local motors market, is in the same league as Ford and Toyota, has around 400 employees and will turn over about €400 million this year.
It's controlled by the Al-Babtain industrial holdings company, based in Kuwait. A Palestinian non-executive director based in Ramallah has also had a long time investment in the Irish group.
The origins of Nissan Ireland - before Nissan, the brand was called Datsun - go back to when the franchise was owned by the TMG group. It brought in Gerard O'Toole, who was made chief executive at the young age of 29. Then in 1977, O'Toole, together with the Al-Babtain group and Tawfik Hussein from Ramallah, started Nissan Ireland. The new company was set up with a modest share capital of £500,000 and, since then, it has really blossomed.
Nissan now has a market share here of around 10 per cent, the highest for the marque anywhere in Europe. During 2003, it expects to sell around 20,000 vehicles.
The group has substantial activities in other related areas, such as forklifts. It also controls Windsor Motors and Daewoo Ireland. Its latest venture is the franchise for Ssangyong Korean-made 4WD vehicles, sold under the Rexton name. Gerard O'Toole is group executive chairman.
The Al Babtain group which has the controlling interest in the group here is based in Kuwait, where it's one of the largest trading corporations and includes everything from the Nissan franchise for Kuwait to computers, healthcare products, plastics and paint. Its other motor interests in Kuwait include Citroën, Renault and the China Motor Company.
Altogether, it represents around 30 international companies in Kuwait and its long-term interest in the Nissan group here is as a strategic investment. It also has property and tourism investments in Egypt.
Abdul Aziz I. Al-Babtain is the chief executive of the Kuwaiti company. The two Al-Babtain family members who are Nissan Ireland directors are listed by the Companies Registration Office as Abdul Mohsen Al-Babtain and Bader Al-Babtain, both based in Kuwait. The other Middle Eastern investor in Nissan Ireland, again since 1977, is Tawfik Hussein, who is based in Ramallah.
The other shareholders also include, of course, Gerard O'Toole, who declines to reveal the size of the individual holdings in the group, and Tony Kelly.
Kelly is a former journalist, who went on to become managing director of Nissan Ireland. He retired from the company 13 years ago but is still heavily involved in Nissan Ireland's golf sponsorship interests, including the Irish Open. It's also involved in other sports and arts sponsorship.
Nissan has always done well in Ireland, while the parent company in Japan has been enjoying a great revival.
French car-maker Renault now owns 44 per cent of Nissan, the third largest Japanese auto maker. Here, the marque is sold through 53 solus dealerships. Nissans were assembled here until 1983 and O'Toole says that it's the only car distributor to handle all importation operations itself, everything from storage to dewaxing.
However good Nissan has been down the years here in Ireland, the suave O'Toole has never been someone to let grass grow under his feet. In 1998 came the first major diversification, when he was instrumental in bringing the Daewoo marque to Ireland.
The same trio, O'Toole, Al-Babtain and Hussein, were behind Daewoo Ireland with a £5 million investment, which was launched officially in January, 1999. It too has been remarkably successful here. General Motors, the world's largest car-maker, has a 67 per cent stake in Daewoo Korea.
Towards the end of 1999, a consortium led by the trio took a sizeable stake in Windsor Motors, which had been set up in 1968. Now firmly part of the group, it's now our largest car retailer. Its most recent expansion has been its new dealership on the Belgard Road in Tallaght, built at a cost of €8.5 million.
About 90 per cent of turnover comes from car sales. The two top executives in Windsor Motors are Michael Herbert and Gabriel Keane - Herbert took over as SIMI president in June.
Gerard O'Toole's latest move, completed earlier this year, was the setting up of the Ssangyong franchise for both Ireland and Britain. He believes that this is the first time an Irish car distributor has taken on a franchise for the British market.
All in all, it's been a remarkable success story in the motor trade and all along, a crucial investment role has been played by Middle Eastern interests, an involvement that continues to this day.
O'Toole sees the Irish car market as highly competitive, with 28 marques being sold currently. He has always been an exceptionally canny operator, backed by this long-term Middle Eastern money. Just wait for his next move.