Who is Tyler Brock from Tai-Pan and what is their importance?

Brock is a fifty-year-old trader from Liverpool, England. He is the head of Brock and Sons, a merchant shipping company, and lives in Macao. He and Dirk Struan have been bitter rivals since their teen years when they worked on the same ship. Brock and his son Gorth try to sink Dirk's lorcha when he is sailing with the bullion. Dirk sets their ship on fire.