Gerard Cok's short biography

1. Gerard Cok
Gerard Cok
Personal information
Gerard Cok was born in the Dutch town of Kruiningen. It was there, in the
region referred to as Zeeland, that Gerard grew up and completed his studies
including an MBA in 1969 and multiple courses in banking to finalize his
training.
Contents [hide]
1 How he become a entrepreneur
2 First publicly listing under his leadership (Beate Uhse GmbH)
3 Punch Grafix and Xeikon NV
4 His passions: Art, Sailing & Gastronomy

2. How he become a entrepreneur
Early seventies, he started his carreer as a banker for the Slavenburger Bank,
where he remained active until mid 1980’s.
From that moment forward he evolved into a successful entrepreneur where
he was active as an executive in multiple companies, the most important of
which were Scala and Pabo. Next to these general mandates, he started to lay
the foundations of a roaring career as a real estate investor. First in his native
Zeeuws-Vlaanderen in the Netherlands, investing in smaller offices, retail
assets and the odd hotel, but then later, as from 2001 onwards in Belgium.
This Belgian portfolio grew into a 250 mio EUR office only investment vehicle
that was sold to a wide range of international institutional investors such as
CBRE Investors, DEGI, Union Invest and several Irish private parties between
2006 and 2007. In parallel to the Belgian activities, Gerard joined forces with a
couple of partners to start-up a Dutch investment vehicle that would be sold
entirely to an American institutional investor in 2007. Since then he remains
active, on his own or with both old and new partners, in the Dutch, Belgian,
Swiss, German, French and Polish real estate market.
First publicly listing under his leadership (Beate Uhse GmbH)
Next to his real estate investments, Gerard put his entrepreneurship and his
financial savvy to use at a German company called Beate Uhse GmbH, which
resulted in this company going public early 2000’s. The transfer from a private
group to a publicly listed entity under his leadership, is typical of Gerard’s
continuing strive to operate in a professional and transparent manner, without
ever forgetting the all-important “common sense check”.
Punch Grafix and Xeikon NV
His experience in the stock listed environment resulted in his appointment as
Director on the Boards of such companies as Punch Grafix and Xeikon, where
since 2011 both companies can now rely on his years of professional and
financial background. A genuine active board member, Gerard today fully
applies himself to the further development of these companies.

3. His passions: Art, Sailing & Gastronomy
His passion for business and real estate notwithstanding, Gerard aspires
different other goals in life, mainly as a huge amateur of sailing, gastronomy
and the arts.
With regards to Art, he is a found admirer of the Haagse School and more
specifically the oeuvre of Joseph Israel, Johannes Bosboom and Willem
Koekkoek, to name but some of his favorites.
Sailing is another of his passions, namely on beautiful and fast sailing ships.
His experiences in sailing can be followed on his own blog
www.fastoceancruiser.com and brought him to a wide variety of beautiful
locations around the globe. One of which is the gorgeous Port Napoleon in the
south of France that he promptly bought and now manages as a must-see
marina and ship yard for any serious sailor touring the Mediterranean.
His international life style, enabled Gerard to encounter multiple culinary
cultures, which he learned to appreciate along the way. Although appreciative
of all those cultures, his gastronomical heart is still lost to the cuisine of his
roots and the Belgian kitchen. To that regards you can follow his many culinary
experiences on another blog: www.inspiringgastronomy.net.