C.A.S. Hawker Scholars

Written May 2025: Robert Bailey was awarded the Charles Allan Seymour Hawker Scholarship in 1992 and attended St Mark's College whilst studying combined degrees of Chemical Engineering and Law at the University of Adelaide, from 1992 to 1995.  In 1996 he spent six months working for Western Mining Corporation as metallurgist in the St Ives Gold Plant, based in Western Australia before travelling around Europe for six months. Returning to his studies in 1997 he completed his Bachelor of Law in 1998 whilst working as a petroleum engineer for Santos Limited in Adelaide.

Robert moved to Sydney in 1999 and started a career with Macquarie Bank in the corporate finance division and quickly gravitated towards the natural resources sector, given his prior experience as an engineer. He spent over 10 years with Macquarie working on a wide range of corporate transactions including mergers, acquisitions, trade sales, defence roles, financings, and principal investments with a focus on the natural resource sector in locations including Sydney, Perth and London, where he moved with Macquarie in 2003. Subsequently Robert had roles with Nomura (Japan's largest investment bank) and Royal Bank of Canada (Canada's largest bank) in London focused on the metals and mining sector..

When he was appointed Head of Natural Resources for Nomura in the Australasian region in 2015 Robert and his family moved back to Sydney, where he advised clients in the mining, oil and gas and power sectors on corporate transactions.

Since 2021 Robert has been acting as a Senior Advisor to EMR Capital, one of the leading global private equity funds focused on the metals and mining sector.   He is supporting the firm in various investment initiatives and financing activities across the portfolio including as a director of portfolio companies.

As well as his dual degrees in Chemical Engineering and Law from the University of Adelaide and Robert is also a CFA chartholder, a Fellow of FINSIA and a graduate of the AICD's Company Directors’ Course.

Robert and his wife Gillian have two daughters and live in Seaforth, Sydney. He is an avid reader with an interest in history and philosophy, and runs, cycles and swims to keep fit as well as the occasional triathlon.  He also enjoys travel, hiking, skiing and golf.