The Wharf (Holdings) Limited (), or Wharf (九倉) in short, is a company founded in 1886 in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
. As its name suggests, the company's original business was in running wharfage and dockside warehousing, and it was originally known as The Hong Kong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company, Limited and founded by Sir
Paul Chater
Sir Catchick Paul Chater ( hy, Փոլ Չաթեր; ; 8 September 1846 – 27 May 1926) was a prominent British businessman of Armenian descent in colonial Hong Kong, whose family roots were in Calcutta, India.
Biography
Early life
Chater was ...
. The company adopted its current name in 1986. The current major holder of the company is
Wheelock & Co
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Wheelock and Company Limited is a Hong Kong-based financial real estate company. It was listed as #1249 on the Forbes 2000 list.
The group's principal activities are property investment, property development, property management and agency ...
.
History
Even today, the company is still the owner of the
Star Ferry, although this icon of Hong Kong now forms a relatively small part of the company's portfolio. The Five Flag Poles, a set of flag poles flying flags of the company, are a short walk from the Star Ferry's
Tsim Sha Tsui pier and form a local landmark and meeting point.
In a more modern vein, the company owns two major flagship properties in the
Harbour City and
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...
shopping centres in Hong Kong. Both owe their origins to the company's transportation heritage, as they are respectively built on the site of the company's original wharf, and on the site of the original depot of the
Hong Kong Tramway
Hong Kong Tramways (HKT) is a narrow-gauge tram system in Hong Kong. Owned and operated by RATP Dev Transdev Asia, the tramway runs on Hong Kong Island between Kennedy Town and Shau Kei Wan, with a branch circulating through Happy Valley.
Ho ...
(owned 1974–2009), a former subsidiary.
Other holdings in Hong Kong include
i-CABLE,
Cable TV and
WTT, and
Modern Terminals. The company also holds many properties in the
Tsim Sha Tsui
Tsim Sha Tsui, often abbreviated as TST, is an urban area in southern Kowloon, Hong Kong. The area is administratively part of the Yau Tsim Mong District. Tsim Sha Tsui East is a piece of land reclaimed from the Hung Hom Bay now east of Tsi ...
area of
Kowloon.
On 26 July 2016, it was announced that Wharf Holdings (through Novel Colour Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary) is investing RMB 150 million to form
WWE & Company, a social mobile shopping platform technology company.
In 2017, The Wharf (Holdings) spin-off its real estate portfolio as a sister listed company
Wharf Real Estate Investment Company (Wharf REIC).
In February 2018, Wharf REIC replaced The Wharf (Holdings) as the component of the blue chip index
Hang Seng Index.
In December 2020, the company was awarded a plot located on
the Peak for $1.5 billion, marking the first sale of a parcel in the prestigious neighbourhood since 2011.
Holdings
Wharf Hotels is a subsidiary that manages 17 hotels, as of 2022, in Mainland China, Hong Kong and the Philippines. Twelve of the hotels are under the
Marco Polo Hotels brand and five are flagged under Niccolo Hotels.
See also
*
Star House
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wharf (Holdings), The
1886 establishments in Hong Kong
Companies established in 1886
Companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
Conglomerate companies of China
Conglomerate companies of Hong Kong
Family-owned companies of Hong Kong
Former companies in the Hang Seng Index
History of foreign trade in China
Land developers of Hong Kong
Wheelock and Company