Greg Wilkins

"At breakfast in Klosters on the morning of December 20, Peter Munk reviewed with great satisfaction the fax that had arrived from his financial people, Jerry Garbutt and Greg Wilkins, on the matter of Goldstrike development financing. Munk’s team recommended that, of the two banks submitting offers—the Toronto-Dominion Group and the Union Bank of Switzerland Group—the lead mandate be awarded to the UBS group, which offered US$441 million secured against 1,050,000 ounces of gold over eight years, extendable to eleven years. There it was, a commitment for US$441 million, which, according to Bob Smith, would turn the little mine called Goldstrike into North America’s top gold producer."

"Gerry Schwartz and Anthony and those guys look at six deals a week! I hate deals. When I do deals, it upsets me, makes me nervous. I always feel that I’m going to make a mistake. I do them to attain my strategic objectives. It sometimes takes a few deals to get there. But I never do a deal per se. I hate it! It’s a totally different mentality. Yes, I did Lac, but God save me from another Lac. And yet I'll do one next year again— maybe because I have to—for getting Barrick in position. But its a different mindset. Their business is to look at deals, like investment bankers. Gerry’s background was as an investment banker. Anthony had some time at First Boston, the investment bankers. I like people like Bill Birchall and Greg Wilkins and Bob Smith, who have run a business for twenty or thirty years and build permanent entities and value for their shareholders. Different mentality."

"The reality check is that I call my colleagues. That used to be Gilmour, now it’s also Birchall, always, for the last thirty years. It’s also Greg Wilkins, and others whose judgement we trust. Certainly when it comes to Barrick it’s Smith. Then I pitch them and then usually they go along. But after all, their destiny is tied up with their decision so they are just as involved as I am. Then we have another meeting and we have a fifth meeting and eventually we come up with a platform and a position. We listen to each other and talk, and then boom, we go. That's how it works."