GL Limited is an investment company listed on the

Singapore Exchange Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX Group) is a Singapore-based exchange conglomerate, operating Equity (finance), equity, fixed income, currency and commodity markets. It provides a range of listing, trading, clearing, settlement, depository and ...

. Founded as Brierley Investments in 1961, it was formerly listed on the

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

exchanges.

History

Brierley Investments was founded by

Ron Brierley Ronald Alfred Brierley (born 2 August 1937) is a New Zealand investor and corporate raider, chairman and director of a number of companies in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. He founded Brierley Investments, R.A. Brierley Investments Ltd (BIL ...

in 1961 and in 1985 listed on stock exchanges in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

. It grew to become one of the biggest – and for a time most successful and glamorous – companies in the 1980s. At its peak about 150,000 New Zealanders were Brierley Investments shareholders. In the 1980s Brierley Investments was a feared

corporate raider In business, a corporate raid is the process of buying a large stake in a corporation and then using shareholder voting rights to require the company to undertake novel measures designed to increase the share value, generally in opposition to th ...

in Australia and Britain, but the firm stumbled after the 1987 sharemarket crash, and Brierley was eventually deposed in a boardroom coup. In the 1990s the firm's investments were poor, it mismanaged its foreign-exchange risk, and its balance sheet suffered. In 1999 the firm moved its head office to Singapore and listed on the

. In July 2002, BI was delisted from the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd (ASX) is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary Exchange (organized market), securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or c ...

. In 2003, Brierley Investments was acquired by the

Guoco Group Guoco Group Limited (, ) is an investment holding company. The principal activities of its subsidiaries and associated companies include investment and treasury management, property development and investment, stock and commodity broking, insuran ...

and rebranded GuocoLeisure in November 2007. Due to a low volume of trading, GuocoLeisure's board decided to delist from the

New Zealand Exchange New Zealand's Exchange (), known commonly as the NZX, is the national stock exchange for New Zealand and a publicly owned company. NZX is the parent company of Smartshares, and Wealth Technologies. , the NZX had a total of 179 listed securiti ...

in June 2014.

Investments

Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 28 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily within the Pacific Rim. The airline h ...

(35%) *

Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media (communication), media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The ...

(25%)John Fairfax Holdings Ltd

Australian Takeovers Panel The Australian Takeovers Panel, a statutory authority of the Australian Government, is the primary Australian forum for resolving disputes about a takeover bid during the bid period itself. The panel is a peer review body, made up of part-time m ...

* Clermont Hotel Group *

Guinness Peat Group Guinness Peat Group was an investment holding company with interests in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. History The company, which had been formed as an investment offshoot of London based investment bank Guinness Mahon in the 1980s, was acq ...

* Industrial Equity Limited *

James Hardie James Hardie Industries plc is an American-Irish global building materials company and the largest global manufacturer of fibre cement products. Headquartered in Ireland, it is cross-listed on the Australian and New York Stock Exchanges. Its ...

(29%) *

Thistle Hotels Thistle Hotels, a subsidiary of the Clermont Hotel Group, is a UK-based hotel company with a portfolio of 8 Central London hotels, one at London Heathrow and one in nerby Bedfordshire, operating in the Star (classification), three and four star ...

(46%) *

Union Company Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand Limited was once the biggest shipping line in the southern hemisphere and New Zealand's largest private-sector employer. It was incorporated by James Mills (ship owner), James Mills in Dunedin in 1875 ...

(100%)

References

{{reflist Companies formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies formerly listed on the Singapore Exchange Companies listed on the New Zealand Exchange Financial services companies established in 1961 Financial services companies of New Zealand 1961 establishments in New Zealand 2003 mergers and acquisitions