Swire Group ( zh, t=太古集團) is a highly diversified global conglomerate with its parent company being John Swire & Sons Limited that holds controlling stakes in a range of businesses trading in the UK, USA, Australia, Papua New Guinea, East and West Africa, and across Southeast Asia. The Group's businesses are arranged into groups: property, aviation, beverages and food chain, marine services, and trading and industrial. Its core businesses are mainly focused on Asia, with its key operations in Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland. Within Asia, Swire's activities come under the group's publicly quoted arm, Swire Pacific Limited, which is the largest shareholder in two Hong Kong listed companies: Swire Properties and Cathay Pacific. Taikoo () is the Chinese name of Swire. It serves as the

brand name A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

for businesses such as Taikoo Sugar, Taikoo Li and Taikoo Shing.

History

The Swire Group's privately owned parent company is London-based ''John Swire & Sons Limited''. The Swire Group, started by John Swire (1787–1847) in 1816, had its beginnings as a modest

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

import-export company based mainly on the textile trade. ''Swire Pacific Offshore Holdings Limited'' (SPO), was a wholly owned subsidiary of Swire Pacific, supplying chartered vessels that supported the offshore oil and gas industry worldwide. It owned a fleet of 69 offshore vessels. Tidewater entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Swire Pacific Offshore (SPO), a subsidiary of Swire Pacific Limited, for approximately $190 million in early March 2022. Tidewater announced the completion of its acquisition of Swire Pacific Offshore on Friday 22 April 2022.

Businesses

Swire Pacific Limited

The Swire Group's core businesses in Hong Kong are held by Swire Pacific Limited, listed on the

Hong Kong Stock Exchange The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (, SEHK, also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong. It is one of the largest stock exchanges in Asia and the List of major stock exchanges, 9th largest globally by market ...

. It also operates ''Swire Beverages Holdings Ltd'' and ''Swire Foods Holdings Ltd'' for their beverages and food chain group.

Cathay Pacific Airways

In 1948, Swire Pacific acquired

Cathay Pacific Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, or simply Cathay Pacific, is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main airline hub, hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and its subsidiaries have schedule ...

, Hong Kong's largest airline, and remains as the largest shareholder, with 42%.

Swire Properties

Incorporated in 1972, Swire Properties develops and manages commercial, retail and residential properties, with a particular focus on mixed-use development in prime locations at major mass transportation intersections. The company's investment portfolio in Hong Kong totals approximately 17.8 million sq ft (approximately 1.66 million square metresGross floor area in respect of 100% of the properties excluding car park areas and not on an attributable basis.) of gross floor area, with Pacific Place, Island East as its core holdings. In addition to Hong Kong, the company has a presence in China, the United States and the United Kingdom. In China, Swire Properties has a portfolio amounting to approximately 12.9 million sq ft (approximately 1.20 million square metres), the majority of which is under construction. The five projects consist of mixed-use developments in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu, with Sanlitun Village and The Opposite House hotel in Beijing being the best-known among them. In 2008, the company formed Swire Hotels to create and manage urban hotels in Hong Kong, China and the United Kingdom.

Swire Resources

Swire Resources is a Hong Kong retail company specializing in sports apparel, swimwear, and footwear. The company is the Hong Kong distributor for several major international brands, including Aldo,

Arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

, Columbia Sportswear, Crocs, Rockport, and Speedo.

Swire Shipping

Swire Shipping is the wholly owned shipping arm of John Swire & Sons Limited, headquartered in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. It operates shipping agencies for its liner shipping trades. The company has a 67% shareholding in ''Quadrant Pacific'' of

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 ...

that provides third-party agency services to the forestry and oil industries, as well as husbandry services.

Swire Bulk

Swire Bulk is a company that is in HK.

Steamships Trading Company

Steamships Trading Company is a diversified leader in shipping, transport, property and commercial operation in Papua New Guinea. The company has a 70% shareholding in ''Consort Express Lines'', a leading provider of coastal and river shipping services in Papua New Guinea. Its liner trades service 17 ports in Papua New Guinea and the company also provides project charters. The company has a 100% shareholding in ''Pacific Towing'', which has a harbor towing, offshore support and salvage operation that owns and operates 12 tugs and nine line boats across seven ports in Papua New Guinea.

John Swire and Sons (Green Investments) Ltd

John Swire & Sons (Green Investments) Ltd has acquired Scottish biodiesel producer Argent Energy. Argent Energy pioneered large scale commercial biodiesel production in the UK when it started production at its plant near Motherwell in Scotland in 2005. The firm makes its road fuel by recycling wastes and residues from other industries – specifically used cooking oil which is a waste from the food industry, tallow from the meat industry, and sewer grease.

Swire Coca-Cola

Swire is an anchor bottler in the

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

System. It is the bottler of Coca-Cola and its related products in 11 provinces and the Shanghai Municipality in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Cambodia, Vietnam, and 13 states in the western United States. This territory represents a population of 780 million people.

Chairmen

Chairmen of Swire Pacific

''Swire Pacific was formed in 1974 (from Taikoo Swire) to become the main holding company for Swire's Hong Kong–based assets.'' # John Bremridge, 1974–1980 # Duncan Bluck, 1981–1984 # Michael Miles, 1984–1988 # David Gledhill, 1988–1992 # Peter Sutch, 1992–1999 # James Hughes-Hallett, 1999–2004 # David Turnbull, 2005–2006 #

Christopher Pratt John Christopher Pratt (December 9, 1935 – June 5, 2022) was one of Canada's most prominent painters and printmakers.

, 2006–2014 # John Slosar, 2014–2018 (First non-British citizen as chairman) # Merlin Swire, 2018–2021 (First Swire family chairman) #Guy Bradley, since 2021

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies established in 1816 Conglomerate companies of Hong Kong Conglomerate companies of the United Kingdom Companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Multinational companies headquartered in Hong Kong History of foreign trade in China Former companies in the Hang Seng Index Conglomerate companies of China British companies established in 1816 Swire family Oneworld Trading companies of China Trading companies established in the 19th century