From Palestine to paydirt: The Shahin’s OTR journey
In a rare public speaking appearance, one of the Shahin brothers has described his father’s journey from Palestine to building an Adelaide business and the family’s $1 billion sale of OTR.
Peregrine Corporation managing director Charlie Shahin speaking at William Buck's CFO Summit. Photo: Supplied/Andrew Beveridge.
It took nearly a year for petrol station and convenience store chain OTR Group’s $1.2 billion sale to interstate servo giant Viva Energy to be sewed shut, and, just like the slow-moving deal, it took time for the company’s founders to reach those billion-dollar heights.
Khalil (Charlie) Shahin – one of three sons of Peregrine Corporation founder Fred Shahin – spoke to business and finance leaders about the company’s journey at William Buck’s CFO Summit last week.
It was a rare public appearance for Charlie, who noted his aversion to public speaking during his talk at the Summit. He used the platform to speak about how his family’s rise to becoming South Australia’s richest, in the decades following their leaving Palestine during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
Shahin said the Summit’s date of 15 May had special significance.
“Both my father and mother, their siblings and their parents were forcibly expelled on the 15th of May, 1948 – 76 years ago to the date,” Shahin said, at the beginning of his speech to the Summit after a brief acknowledgement of country.
“Acknowledgement of country is important because I think it sends a message that no occupier, no coloniser, no oppressor has the right or the privilege of rewriting history, of erasing culture, of demonising indigenous communities.
“We’re fortunate in Australia that despite the wrongs that happened 150 or 180 years ago, we have sought – successfully I would say – to reconcile. The truth is [in Palestine] that is not the case – as of yesterday… Gazans are getting killed at the rate of 10 per hour for the last 200 days.”
Shahin said his father’s experience was integral to understanding his business journey in Australia.
Fred Shahin and his family arrived in Australia in 1984 – 40 years ago. Charlie’s father was an accountant and an auditor for the United Nations before the Shahin family migrated to Australia.
They landed in Sydney, but a simple calculation by Charlie’s number-savvy father directed the family towards Adelaide: Palestine is about 3600kms from the equator, and Adelaide is about 3800kms from the equator – ‘It will feel like home’ Fred said according to Charlie.
The story of how Peregrine began from there has been well-trod: Fred saw an ad to purchase a BP service station and an adjoining home at Woodville, which they acquired. The business grew from there, and prior to announcing the sale to Viva Energy the company owned about 200 petrol and convenience stores across South Australia.
Charlie said he’d been asked countless times about Peregrine Corporation’s secret to success, and said at the CFO summit that the one “true reason” was that his father was an accountant.
“He was our de facto CFO for 25 years,” Charlie said.
“A CFO is generally wedged between a really smart CEO who generally doesn’t want to listen, and if they want to listen they want to listen to what they want to do.
“CFOs have to, somehow, bring together the aspirations of the CEO and keep them grounded. I would argue that the most important position in any organisation is the CFO.”
During the Q&A session following his presentation, Charlie said that “every day is a blessing when you’re a refugee”, and that he wouldn’t have been able to have the success OTR and Peregrine has seen if his family didn’t come to Australia.
“Australia has been such a wonderful country for us, and has allowed us to achieve what we’ve achieved. No other country would allow us to achieve what we’ve achieve – I honestly, firmly believe that without Australia we wouldn’t have got to see this success,” he said.
“The Australian system, the Australian people, the Australian way of life is what has allowed our success.”
His status as a Palestinian refugee was also the driver behind Charlie’s recent acquisition of 408,000 hectares of land in the Northern Territory.
In February, it was reported that Charlie’s family was the new owner of Aileron Station – a beef-producing property about 130km north of Alice Springs.
At the Summit, Charlie said though Aileron Station was a commercial enterprise, it was also symbolic for him and his family.
“It’s not a hobby farm – but the truth is, it’s a testimony more so to this wonderful country that allows migrants to prosper and contribute, and provide that prosperity,” he said.
