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Engineering entertainment with Birket Engineering
HSBC has been supporting the company as it grows internationally and keeps up with the latest in Walt Disney Company and Universal Studios.
Birket Engineering is a company that many may not have heard of, but chances are, countless have visited a theme park that runs on its engineering.
Since 1984, it has been serving attractions at theme parks in the US, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. With a head office in Florida, it has played a part in some of the biggest moments in rollercoasters, rides and attractions at the Walt Disney World and Universal Resorts in recent times.
Finding opportunity in uncertainty
Walt Disney World in Florida is where Birket’s founder and chairman Glenn Birket began his career when, as a student, he was part of the operations team for Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom Park.
“After I graduated, my supervisor clipped a note to my timecard with a ticket to California to interview with Disney's engineering organisation,” he said. “This culminated in an engineering position on the EPCOT theme park development project.”
He went on to become a lead engineer behind the American Adventure Pavilion at the EPCOT theme park, until he was made redundant at the conclusion of the project.
Instead of seeing this as a loss, Glenn swapped the accumulated holiday owed to him for a lump sum. He was left with enough money to start a business that has now celebrated its 40th anniversary.
“With the reputation that I built for myself at Disney, I started the company that we have today,” he said.
The power of international networks
Glenn needed to make sure his business was as global as the Walt Disney Company and Universal Studios. HSBC’s large international footprint helped here.
An office opening in Asia started his relationship with us. “We won a very small project and needed a new bank account,” he said. “I walked out on the street to look for a bank big enough to easily transfer money between the United States and Hong Kong.
“In Hong Kong you only have to walk for about two minutes, and you will see a branch of HSBC. That was the beginning of my relationship with HSBC.”
Birket’s finances goes up and down depending on the need of theme parks, so for the company, a bank that supports it during financial rollercoasters is a must.
HSBC’s relationship manager, Alex Llanos, explains that HSBC provided Birket Engineering with a $750,000 credit line for its working capital needs. “The line is used to cover any anticipated project costs at different stages of the project prior to Birket receiving payment from their clients for the completed work,” he said.
"I have to thank HSBC for sticking with us through thick and thin because ours is not a business that has a steady revenue stream." - Glenn Birket.
Defining moments
Birket Engineering now has 80 employees and has been at the forefront of some great Disney and Universal moments.
Glenn recalls the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Shanghai Disneyland as being a career high for him. “We blended motion pictures, animation, and action to create something so memorable that visitors leave wondering whether they saw something real, 3D or projection,” he said.
The future
The company now prides itself on covering five major components in the entertainment industry: control systems for rides and shows, speciality lighting products, pyrotechnic controls, design and sourcing of affordable electrical systems and components from Asia and, turnkey attraction systems.
Alex said: “Although Birket was already an international company before coming onboard to HSBC, it has been great to witness their growth and fulfil the client’s needs for international connectivity.”
Birket credits HSBC’s platform HSBCnet, an online tool to help manage global banking in one place, for providing them with a solution that is as simple as “dragging and dropping” money across the world.
Glenn explains: “With the currencies and locations we work in, we have an amazing number of bank accounts and because we work overseas, we are required to have one corporation in each country for local tax obligations.
“We wind up with an awful lot of account numbers and without HSBCnet to pull it all together into one place, I just don't know what we would do.”
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