Getting While the Getting Is Good at Westlake

Forbes did a wonderful job on a recent portrait of Don Hankey, the man behind Westlake Financial Services.

The profile is worth a read. Hankey, who started Westlake in 1988 and remains very much behind the scenes, has built an automotive-related empire that Forbes values at $1.6 billion. Westlake, as some of you know, is a big part of that, with an estimated valuation of $1 billion based on the sale of 20% of the company to Marubeni for $250 million in July 2011.

The Marubeni deal was interesting in 2011, and is only more so after reading the profile. Hankey makes it clear that he intends to keep private Westlake and Hankey Group, the parent company. Yet, Hankey sold the 20% stake — which begs the question, why bring in an investor from Japan when Westlake seems to be moving along smoothly?

Here’s the answer from the article:

With regards to the Marubeni deal for a portion of Westlake, the 69-year-old businessman maintains that Westlake didn’t need the money. He did the deal, he says, because it afforded him more liquidity and gave the company a little more flexibility.

“If you wait until you need cash to get cash, it’s too late,” he says.

That’s how you build a $1.6 billion company, it seems.