Swire Group

for|people named Swire|Swire (surname)Infobox_Company
company_name = Swire Group 太古集團 | company_
company_type = Public (lse|SWRA, Sehk|0019 (Share A), Sehk|0087 (Share B),OTCBB|SWRAY)
company_slogan =
foundation = 1816
location = flagicon|UK London, England, UK
key_people = James Hughes-Hallett, Chairman
num_employees = 113,000
industry = Aerospace, Property, Shipping, Transport & Agriculture
operating_income = £2.65 Billion GBP (2006)
net_income = £244 Million GBP (2006)
subsid = Swire Pacific, Cathay Pacific, Dragonair, Haeco, Steamships Trading Company
homepage = [http://www.swire.com www.swire.com]

The Swire Group (Chinese: 太古集團) (lse|SWRA,Sehk|0019,Sehk|0087,OTCBB|SWRAY) is a transnational corporation headquartered in London, England. It controls a range of wholly owned businesses, including deep-sea shipping, cold storage, road transport, and agricultural activities.

The current chairman is Christopher Pratt.

Taikoo (太古) is the Chinese name of Swire. It is also the brand name of its business, like Taikoo Cube Sugar and Taikoo Shing.

History

The Swire Group's privately owned parent company is John Swire & Sons Limited. The Swire Group, started by John Swire (1793-1847), had its beginnings as a modest Liverpool import-export company started in the early years of the 19th century. In 1861, John Swire & Sons Limited began to trade with China through agents Augustine Heard & Co. In 1866, in partnership with R.S. Butterfield, Butterfield & Swire was established in Shanghai. Four years later, a Hong Kong branch of Butterfield & Swire was also opened.

Four years after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Butterfield & Swire closed all of its China offices. In 1974, Butterfield & Swire in Hong Kong was renamed John Swire & Sons (H.K.) Ltd.

The Group's businesses

The Swire Group's core businesses in Hong Kong are held by the publicly quoted Swire Pacific Limited. The Group's core businesses are grouped into: property, aviation, beverages, marine services, and trading & industrial. Swire Pacific Limited is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as Swire Pacific Limited Sehk|0019 (A-shares) lse|SWRA (A-shares in London) sehk|0087 (B-shares). Swire Pacific is the largest shareholder of Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong's largest airline.

Swire Properties is one of the largest property developers in Hong Kong. The company owns and manages several major shopping malls, including Festival Walk and Cityplaza. It has developed a number of well known residential and commercial complexes in Hong Kong, such as Pacific Place, Taikoo Place and Taikoo Shing.

The China Navigation Co. Ltd is the deep-sea shipping arm of John Swire & Sons Ltd.

Swire Pacific Offshore Holdings Limited (SPO) is the wholly owned subsidiary of Swire Pacific and plays a major role in supporting the offshore oil and gas industry worldwide. Swire Pacific Offshore has one of the largest and most modern offshore energy support fleets in the world.

It is after the Swire Group that The University of Hong Kong Swire Hall (1980) student dormitory is named.

Swire is an anchor bottler in the Coca-Cola System. It is the bottler of Coca-Cola and its related products in Hong Kong, Taiwan and most of mainland China, as well as parts of 10 states in the United States, mainly the mountain west region. This territory represents a population of 400 million people.

The company was featured under the pseudonym "Rothwell-Gornt" in James Clavell's novel Noble House, which is a thinly disguised fictional account of the rivalry between Swire Group and Jardine Matheson, another Hong Kong trading house.

External links

* [http://www.swire.com Swire Group]
* [http://www.swirepacific.com Swire Pacific Limited]
* [http://www.swireproperties.com Swire Properties Limited]
* [http://www.swireshipping.com Swire Shipping]
* [http://mkijima1.photosite.com/swirehouse/ Swire Memorial House at Yokohama ]
* [http://www.swire.com.sg Swire Pacific Offshore]
* [http://www.cnco.com.hk The China Navigation Co. Ltd.]