In a ferociously competitive business, which still retains a whiff of the macho that has been exorcised from many financial markets, success will always stir up jealousy. Andi Case has faced plenty.

His profile shot up when he became chief executive of Clarksons in June 2008 after his predecessor, Richard Fulford-Smith, was ousted by its board in, as the London Times floridly put it, “a night of the long knives prompted by a multimillion-pound dust-up with some Kremlin-backed customers”.

Case and Julian Brynteson had been poached a couple of years earlier from cross-town rival Braemar Seascope to beef up Clarkson’s S&P deal-making team, sparking a ferocious row between the two companies and threats of injunctions.

Ex-colleagues and rivals reflect that Case handled that transition with more skill than he is given credit for, taking Clarksons’ old hands with him as he refashioned the business. Yet his desire to show practical leadership and remain a hands-on broker while leading the boardroom set up tensions that haunt still.

Case has led Clarksons on a relentless upward march through organic growth into new markets, recruiting key teams and making bold acquisitions such as Norway’s RS Platou. It is now by far the world’s biggest shipbroking group, with more than 1,600 employees and a stock market value of nearly £800m ($1.02bn).

It has delivered an unbroken escalator of rising dividends for investors from 2002, when it paid 15p per share, to 78p in 2019.

But the London listing has also been a millstone for what is in effect a partnership, raising awkward questions about corporate governance and the trade-off between public company accountability and the private nature of shipbroking.

Alongside the value creation have been brickbats, most publicly in recent years from shareholders who have repeatedly rebelled over the lucrative bonus-fuelled contracts held by Case and finance director Jeff Woyda.

‘He’s actually quite shy’

Close associates say Case is uncomfortable with the annual furore around his salary, as he feels he earns the money he makes from broking, which is then topped up with his chief executive pay. With the likes of Shell and some of the “new Greeks” as clients, fellow brokers understand his argument.

Clarkson’s board has come to the same conclusion, it appears, revealing at its latest remuneration review that it would not break existing contracts, but would not employ a successor on the same terms.

“He’s actually quite shy,” says one friend, reflecting a view that Case wants his private life to remain that. “He is not in your face or particularly gregarious. But he obviously knows what he is talking about and gets on with it.”

This reluctance to take the limelight has meant he does not adopt the usual approach of grabbing every opportunity to talk up company prospects, even if it sacrifices boosting the share price.

Other brokers acknowledge that Case is a complex character, but someone who has been on the top of his game for a decade. “He’s one of the most dedicated and forward-thinking brokers,” according to one. “Incredibly hard-working and absolutely driven.”

He can be “combustible” and doesn’t like losing, others add. “He can be ruthless when he needs to be, but is rather like an upmarket chocolate — hard on the outside but with a kind and soft centre.”

As Case turns 54, talk of succession will increase and his great legacy challenge will be digital transition: how to manage the switch of a deeply analogue and relationship-driven shipbroking business — in which significant revenue is generated through the accepted inefficiencies of people talking to each other — without cutting your own throat?

Clarksons has been quietly piling its chips on a new suite of services built under the Sea/ brand, although Case’s cultural aversion to publicity has blunted its market impact, some say.

Although Sea/ claims to be used by Cargill, Glencore, Vitol, Total, Mercuria and Norden among others, rivals argue that it does not have the sophistication to fully promote screen trading, nor does it adequately defend the status quo.

Case’s legacy lies in the scale and success of Clarksons’ global reach. “It’s got so bloody big now that even if you want to ignore them, you can’t!” says one shipowner-operator.