The Group History of Swire Group

Swire was originally a small import and export company in Liverpool, and officially opened in the early19th century. The company's founder, John Swar (1793- 1847), is from Yorkshire and was born in Halifax, a wealthy mill town. His family lived there for 150 years, until1in the late 1950s, when his grandfather began to trade in wool. However, in the 1990s 18, with the rise of the New World of America, the wool industry faced the competitive pressure brought by cheap imported cotton, which led to the bankruptcy of John Swall's grandfather and father.

John Swall is only a teenager, and he decided to go to Liverpool to develop. At that time, Liverpool was a prosperous trade center in Britain. At first, he was an apprentice in an import agency of a relative. He worked hard and finally opened his own company in 18 16 just a few years later. John Swall's business mainly revolves around his old line-textile industry, which imports raw cotton in New Orleans and exports cotton products in Lancashire. Under his painstaking efforts, the small company is thriving and the business is booming. By the time John Swall died in 1847, the trading company he left to his two sons, John Samuel Swall and William Hudson Swall (1830- 1884) was already quite large.

At that time, John Samuel Swall (1825- 1898) was only 22 years old, but he was already a very outstanding businessman. His true nature as an entrepreneur laid the foundation for the company's later achievements. When he was in his twenties, he traveled all over the United States and once owned a postal franchise store in Arkansas, USA, which made great achievements. 1854, he sailed to Australia for gold. Although he failed, he successfully set up a branch in Melbourne in 1855. Although he quickly entrusted this business to an agency, the establishment of Swire Brothers shifted its business focus from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, which made the company take an important step. Melbourne's business later developed into a trading enterprise that exported all kinds of goods to Australia, from barbed wire, cement, olive oil to Guinness beer. British Swire Group engaged in Guinness beer bottling business in the 1960s and exported it overseas under the name of Dagger Stout.

186 1 year, the American civil war broke out, and John Swall returned to Liverpool before the war broke out, but soon after, the civil war had a disastrous impact on cotton trade. Fortunately, the two brothers have sold their shares in two cotton trading sailboats "evangeline" and "Theodore" which they first owned in the 1950s, so that they can switch to trade with China without any worries and import precious tea and silk from China, and China has become their potential textile export market.

China and other places.

For many years, China has been closed to the outside world. It was not until the signing of the treaty of nanking and the opening of many ports for foreign trade about 20 years ago that China entered the world market. Prior to this, foreign companies engaged in foreign trade could only open stores in the southern port of Guangdong (Guangzhou). A quarter of a century later, the focus of trade between the West and China shifted to Shanghai, which is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

However, China is far away from Britain, and China's agents lack vitality in doing business, so John Swire soon wants to do more direct transactions. Just then, 1865, an old friend of John Swall contacted him. He was Alfred Holt, the owner of Liverpool. Engineer Holt once designed a new type of steamboat, which has fast sailing speed and low fuel consumption. He suggested using this boat to rob the tea boat transportation business from Liverpool to the Far East. Under his lobbying, Swire readily agreed to invest in his friend's ocean shipping company (later renamed Blue Funnel Shipping Company), and Holt promised that if Swire intends to set up its own business in Shanghai, he would let Swire act as its agent in China.

John Samuel Swall was inspired by Holt's proposal, so he went to Shanghai 1866 years ago. In the same year1February 4th, North China Daily published a small notice announcing a company named butterfield &; Swire company was formally established. Richard Shackleton Butterfield is a partner of Taikoo Group, a Bradford wool and worsted wool manufacturer, which is one of the largest export customers of Taikoo Group. As a result, their cooperation did not last long. Only two years later, the partnership ended, but the new company still kept the name of butterfield for the next 100 years. According to the local tradition, John Taikoo soon gave the company a Chinese name-Taikoo Foreign Firm. "Taikooli" has a large scale and a long history. In fact, this name is still widely known in Asia.

By 1870, Swire had set up branches in Yokohama, China, and offices in Manchester and new york, while the British headquarters moved from Liverpool to London, until today.

After arriving in Shanghai, John Swall was shocked to find that steamboats sailing in the Yangtze River basin had certain potential. At that time, the Yangtze River was the only channel for trade between the west and the inland of China. At Alfred Holt and his Clyde shipyard Scotts‘Shipping &；; With the support of the engineering company, Swire established the Swire Shipping Company registered in London, and was appointed by Swire Foreign Firm to hold a management position in Shanghai. John Swall immediately ordered three Mississippi-style Ming ships for the new company-Beijing, Shanghai and Yichang. Before three new ships arrived in China, he had acquired the assets of United Shipping Company, which had just declared bankruptcy, thus acquiring valuable property and two steamboats in the Yangtze River basin. 1873, the old ship "Jiong" of Justice Steamship Company became the first ship sailing under the Taikoo flag.

In a short period of one year, John Swire bought two coastal trading vessels from Scott as an auxiliary business, and John Swire named them the Coastal Shipping Company (CBO). The company soon developed a monopoly business-bean cake trade along the coast of China. "Bean cake" is a fertilizer made from the remaining soybean shells after soybean oil pressing, which is mainly used in southern fruit growing areas. 1883, CBO merged with Swire Shipping Company. At that time, CBO's charter network had spread all over Southeast Asia and had begun to sail to Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

Swire Steamship Company's business is increasingly diversified, which urges the company to open up new business areas. The first operation began in 188 1 year, when the company acquired a large number of large-scale land in Bayu Bay, Hong Kong Island. Soon after, it began to build Swire Sugar Factory and put it into operation in 1883. Due to the growing trade of raw sugar imported by Swire Steamship Company from Java, the Philippines and North Queensland, and the two ready-made markets in China and Japan, Swire Sugar has become the largest and most advanced sugar factory in the world. By the end of19th century, the company had a small sugar fleet.

At that time, the fleet of Blue Funnel and Swire Steamship Company was huge, so it was obviously necessary to establish its own maintenance facilities in the Far East. As Hong Kong is an excellent deep-water port and an ideal place for ship repair, 1990, Swire built a Swire Wharf on a piece of land next to Swire Sugar Factory. This huge ten-year plan was carefully designed by the shipbuilding company of Scotts (the main shipbuilding company of Swire Steamship Company at that time) and put into practice under the leadership of James Henry Scott (1845-1912). After John Swall died in 1898, Scott succeeded him as the senior partner of the company. As a descendant of this shipbuilding family, Scott was born in butterfield &; Swire has been working in the company since its establishment, and has always been a trusted deputy of John Swire. 19 10, Swire Dock built the first inland river trading ship "Shashi" for Swire Steamship Company, and soon after, it cooperated with Scott Company to build a coastal trading ship for the company. Swire Wharf later became the largest wharf in Hong Kong and one of the most enterprising employers, providing houses, hospitals and schools for employees.

At the same time, the company continues to act as an agent for many well-known British companies. By the mid-1970s, the company had set foot in the insurance industry, acting as an agent for the predecessor business of Royal Insurance and Guardian Royal Exchange. By 1990, Swire had the largest fire insurance business and a considerable marine and accident insurance business portfolio in the name of Swire in Shanghai. In the next 90 years, insurance has been an important business area of Swire. In the early days, the company also represented some banks in small coastal ports. In the 1980s, it even published its own "banknote" issued by Taikoozhuang, which is a popular currency in Shantou, southern China.

19 14 years, when the initial partnership agreement expired, Swire Group of Britain became a limited company, and the first chairman was John Jack, the eldest son of John Samuel Swire (1861-kloc-0/933). In the next twenty years, under the leadership of Jack and his brother (George) Warren Swar (1883- 1949), the shipping industry has made great progress. Warren Swall took over as chairman of the company on 1927. By the end of the 1920s, foreign steamboats were sailing in the inland river of China, but the great recession in the 1930s had a slow impact on the business here, so the fleet scale expanded, prompting the company to launch new business in Shanghai. Finally, Swire opened the Oriental Paint Company Colour &；; Varnish factory

● Self-improvement in adversity

Taikoo Wharf (about 1925).

World War II destroyed Taikooli's hard-built business kingdom. After the war, the company's property in China was completely looted or destroyed, and even the interior of its London office was raided. Swire Steamship's fleet was not completely lost, and more than 30 ships were missing. Swire Wharf and Swire Sugar Factory in Hong Kong were also destroyed by American shells.

At that time, the Yangtze River was closed to foreign ships, and China kept increasing restrictions on coastal ports.

Taikoo Sugar's van.

This indicates that the company gradually withdrew from Chinese mainland after the 1949 revolution. This was a turning point, but under the leadership of Jack Swar's son, John Jock Kidston Swar (1893- 1983), the company made a comeback from this crisis and became a stronger company. 1950, Swire Sugar resumed production, and Swire Dock also built the first 6000-ton ship for Swire Shipping Company.

Although Swire Steamship Company is headquartered in Hong Kong, it has shifted its business focus to Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, and its business network along the Pacific coast is also expanding day by day, setting a good example for the company's regular container ship business since then.

1952, in order to consolidate the foundation of the above-mentioned shipping business, Swire Group of the United Kingdom was once again directly active in Australia, where it invested in a small land hauling company for pilot projects. The success of this investment prompted the company to acquire the management equity of Frigmobile, a frozen goods transportation company, in 1956, and then invested in refrigeration, frozen goods transportation and special land hauling. These investments have now become Swire's main business in Australia.

During this period, Swire Co., Ltd. also started its business in Hong Kong. First, 1946, Taikoo &; Maclean will lay a solid foundation for the development of various international franchise businesses in the future. 1948, the company moved its paint factory to the rented building after the reconstruction of Taikoo Wood in Hong Kong. Since then, the company has continuously developed various types of specialized business, ranging from painting and aluminum can manufacturing to waste treatment services.

● The birth of airlines

Jock Swarm is determined to open up new business directions for the company. He believes that the air transport industry is the key to the future development of the world after the war, so he actively seeks air agency business for Swire. Since 1947, part of the resources originally invested in rebuilding Swire Wharf have been used to develop aircraft engineering facilities at Kai Tak Airport. 1950, Pacific Aviation Maintenance Service Company (PAMAS) and Jardine Aviation Maintenance Company merged to form Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company (HKAEC), which is a world-renowned aircraft engineering company.

1948, jock swire persuaded the board of directors to further invest the company's remaining funds in another aviation business, and purchased 45% shares of Cathay Pacific. At that time, Cathay Pacific was founded only two years ago by American Roy Farrell and Australian Sydney de Canzo. They met because they flew C47 planes to transport goods on the famous "Hump" route and crossed the Himalayas from India to China during the war. The company's first aircraft was an extra American military aircraft DC3 (Dakota) purchased by Roy Company, nicknamed "Betsy". In just two years, they expanded their fleet, including six DC3 planes and a catalina seaplane.

However, in 1948, Roy and West Germany were in trouble. They need cash to reorganize this small enterprise, so they face a severe takeover threat in the local area, and Hong Kong may impose new landing rights restrictions on foreign airlines. At this time, Swire acquired the controlling stake in this small company. Since then, the development of Hong Kong's aviation industry has become the pride of Jock Swire.

1959, Cathay Pacific purchased the first turboprop aircraft-Roche L 188 Electra. This year is a milestone for Cathay Pacific Airways, because the airline has obtained the right to fly north to Japan and south to Sydney. At this time, Cathay Pacific became an out-and-out regional airline, and entered the jet era after receiving the first Conville -880M aircraft in 1962.

● Develop new business areas.

1965, Swire acquired the American company Hong Kong Bottle Federation Company. This company owns the exclusive bottling business of Coca-Cola in Hong Kong. At that time, the annual output of bottling plants in Hong Kong was10.04 billion bottles. 1974, the company changed its name to swire bottling plant. At that time, its annual output reached1.800 million bottles, and the company was also ranked among the top 50 coca-cola bottling plants in the world. Today, Swire is one of the largest Coca-Cola bottling plants in Asia and the United States.

For Taikooli, the 1970s was an era of rapid change. In the early 1970s, container shipping developed rapidly, and the growth of Swire Wharf exceeded the capacity of its location on Hong Kong Island, so the company decided to close the wharf. 1972, Swire Wharf merged with Huangpu Wharf, the oldest wharf in Hong Kong, to form United Dock, headquartered in Tsing Yi. At that time, Swire had begun to participate in the development of the new international container terminal in Kwai Chung, Hong Kong. In the same year, Swire Group also acquired the equity of modern container terminal, an advanced container handling facility.

Swire Dock &; The engineering company was renamed Swire Foreign Firm Limited (Swire Co., Ltd. in 1990s). This is a ready-made holding company, holding all Swire's businesses in Hong Kong. The appearance of Swire Company symbolizes the birth of modern Swire Group, and also marks the end of butterfield's long-forgotten rights and interests in the company. The word Butterfield in the English name of the company has also been changed to Taikoo to highlight the corporate image of the group.

1972, Swire Sugar also closed its baking factory, focusing on sugar products and packaging business. In the mid-1970s, Swire Real Estate Company, which was newly established by Swire Real Estate and was in charge of real estate development and management, began to build Taikoo Shing using a large area of land vacated by shipyards and sugar factories in the eastern part of Hong Kong Island, bringing a brand-new urban look to this area. Taikoo Shing is the first private housing estate in Hong Kong. Together with the retail/office complex in Taikoo Shing Center (its basement parking lot was built in the former site of Taikoo Dry Dock), it is the first famous commercial project developed and managed by Taikoo Real Estate. Similar projects include Taikooli Square, Taikooli Square and Festival Pedestrian Street, which bring a new interpretation to the development of commercial buildings in Hong Kong.

1973, Cathay Pacific added the first Boeing 707 long-haul aircraft to its fleet. In the following ten years, the company developed rapidly, introducing L101series Samsung wide-body aircraft, and purchasing the first Boeing 747-200 jumbo jet in 1979, which made the company's strength increase rapidly. The following year, Cathay Pacific opened its first direct flight to London, becoming a real international airline.

The revolutionary changes in1970s also included other new developments of Swire, the most famous of which included 1975' s establishment of Swire North Offshore Company (an offshore oil support company) and 1976' s acquisition of the equity of Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited (HKHACTL). During this period, the parent company Swire Group also tried to invest in offshore oil business. 1979, it acquired Taikoo Environmental Protection Equipment Co., Ltd. (later became a business department of Taikoo Group, named Taikoo Oilfield Services Company), a supplier specializing in North Sea transportation equipment. Swire Group of the United Kingdom is also involved in land transportation and material handling in Australia. 197 1 year, it acquired Transwest Transportation Company, and acquired shares of Steam Shipping Trading Company in Papua New Guinea and James Finlay, a tea trader in Glasgow.

In the late 1970s, Swire made its first investment in the United States. Swire Property acquired some property rights in Miami, and Swire Company obtained the bottling franchise of Coca-Cola in Salt Lake City for the first time. 1982, British Swire Group merged frozen goods storage company United States Cold Storage into its wholly-owned subsidiary, and soon made persistent efforts in Australia. 1988, it merged W. Woodmason, a refrigeration service provider (which has been an associate company of British Swire Group since 1970) into its wholly-owned subsidiary. Five years later, John Swar &; Sons Pty acquired South Australia cold storage, further increasing the company's growing share in the refrigeration service market.

Taikooli is a major commercial real estate company in New South Wales and South Queensland.

In the 1980s, Swire Properties also began to invest in animal husbandry in Australia. 1983, Swire Group and its affiliated company James Finley jointly acquired half the shares of Clyde Agriculture. Since then, Clyde (now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Swire Group) has expanded its business from cotton cultivation to wool and beef, and its land holdings have increased 20 times, covering more than 2 million acres of land in New South Wales and Queensland, including some of the most famous animal husbandry industries in Australian history.

During this period, Swire Company of Hong Kong continued to develop its trading business. 1983, it acquired the marathon sporting goods chain store, 1987, and it obtained the franchise of Reebok sports casual shoes. In the same year, Swire began to set foot in environmental protection services and waste treatment business, which later became an important business area of Swire. Swire has successively established partnerships with Browning Ferris Industries and SITA International, becoming the main contractor of waste treatment projects of the Hong Kong government, operating several landfills and providing waste transfer services, including using several small container ships designed and operated by Swire associate HUD Marine to transport waste to several outlying islands in Hong Kong.

Since 1980s, Swire has started to reinvest in China Mainland, including several joint investments with China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC Corporation). Since 1987, CITIC has been a major shareholder of Cathay Pacific. The focus of this investment is beverage and manufacturing business, which has laid a solid foundation for Swire in China's modern industry.

This trend continued until 1990s, when Hong Kong Aviation Engineering Co., Ltd. and its business partners jointly established an aircraft overhaul company-Xiamen Swire Aircraft Engineering Company in Xiamen, south of China. By the end of 1994, Swire had cooperated with Buniman, Carlsberg and Tate &; Lyle signed a joint venture agreement to operate paint oil production, wine brewing and sugar refining in Chinese mainland. Up to now, Swire's trade business in mainland China includes a series of brand-name sports shoes such as Reebok and Lockport.

In 1990s, Swire made a major breakthrough in aviation business, including acquiring shares of Dragonair (now its wholly-owned subsidiary), an airline in Hong Kong, and Huamin Airlines, an all-cargo airline. In 1995, Hong Kong Aviation Engineering and rolls royce Company established Hong Kong Aviation Engine Maintenance Service Company to take over the engine overhaul business of Hong Kong Aviation Engineering.

1999, Swire Company obtained the exclusive agency of Volvo Cars in Taiwan Province Province 20 years ago, and also obtained the exclusive agency of Francis Blackwell Forbes and Kia Motors in Taiwan Province Province to expand its automobile trade business. In 2002, Taikooli Automobile in Taiwan Province Province won the franchise of Audi, which increased Taikooli's share in the luxury car market in Taiwan Province Province.

From the late 1990s to the early 20th century, Swire Group Limited, the British parent company of Swire, increased some major businesses. 1994, the company acquired Kalari, a bulk carrier in Victoria, Australia, which further enhanced Swire's professional position in the Australian land transport market. After the acquisition, Swire Group is determined to expand its scale and provide specialized warehousing and distribution services throughout Australia. 1996, British Swire Group acquired Collins &; Leahy's majority stake in order to further enhance the strength that has been established in Papua New Guinea. Collins company. Leahy is a major trading group in the highlands of Papua New Guinea and a shareholder of the shipping trading company. In 2000, Collins &; Leahy became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Swire Group, and then Swire's shares in the listed company Steamship Group increased to 72%. In 2005, the shipping company acquired Collins &; Most of Leahy's business in Papua New Guinea covers trade, manufacturing, hotels, real estate, shipping and transportation, while Collins &; Leahy still retains its real estate, aviation and agricultural businesses.

Frigmobile is a swire refrigeration brand deeply loved by consumers.

2002 1 1 month, John swar &; Sons Pty Ltd acquired most of the refrigeration and distribution assets of P. Cleland Enterprises Ltd This acquisition is the largest investment made by Swire in Australia so far, which greatly enhanced the strength of the group in the Australian refrigeration market and won some new major distribution contracts, which prepared for Swire's merger with the three major companies in the Australian refrigeration industry in 2004.

In Britain, Swire Group Limited increased its shareholding ratio to 100% when James Finlay plc, a famous tea producer, celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2000. James Finlay plc has long been a joint venture company of Swire. As for Swire Group's oldest operating company in the UK, Swire Steamship Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary registered in the UK, which acquired Bank Line and Indotrans in 2003.

In the first decade of 2 1 century, Swire's investment in Chinese mainland continued to grow. In 2002, Swire Properties, as a major real estate developer in Hong Kong, signed a joint venture agreement to develop and manage a 4 million square foot comprehensive development project in Tianhe District, a prime location in Guangzhou. It is expected to be completed in 20 10 and will be named "taikoo hui-Guangzhou Newspaper Culture Square". Swire Property's shareholding in the project has increased to 97%.

At the end of 2004, Swire Sheng Da Company began to build a new hazardous waste incineration plant in Shanghai, with an annual throughput of 60,000 tons, which will become the largest hazardous waste treatment facility in China and the first one designed according to EU environmental standards.

In the aviation field, AEC will increase its share in Xiamen Swire Aircraft Engineering Company to 54.55%, and Xiamen Swire Aircraft Engineering Company has built a sixth hangar to further improve its handling capacity and expand the service scope of Xiamen Gao Qi International Airport. In 2004, the company began to carry out the modification plan of Boeing special cargo plane, and converted Boeing 747-400 passenger plane into all cargo plane. Xiamen Swire Aircraft Engineering Co., Ltd. is one of the few companies in the world that have obtained permission for such projects. In 2005, Port Machinery Engineering Company and Xiamen Swire Aircraft Engineering Company signed a letter of intent to jointly develop the hangar facilities of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. After leaving Beijing 13 years, Cathay Pacific Airlines reopened its daily passenger flights to and from Beijing in 20031February, and began to operate daily passenger flights to Shanghai in 20061February. The company also obtained the right to operate passenger flights to and from Xiamen.

In 2006, Cathay Pacific celebrated its 60th anniversary. The highlight of this year is that Cathay Pacific, Swire Company, Air China and its parent company AVIC announced that they have reached an equity restructuring agreement with CITIC Pacific. According to this unprecedented agreement, Dragonair, a major regional passenger airline, became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cathay Pacific, and continued to operate under the original brand under the management of Cathay Pacific, while Cathay Pacific and China International Airlines finally held the equity of the other 17.5%. This partnership is of great benefit to Cathay Pacific's customers, shareholders and employees, and brings more cooperation opportunities for Cathay Pacific and Air China. In this plan, the two sides will jointly establish air transport facilities in Shanghai, extend the enjoyment arrangement code-named * * *, implement joint air arrangements between Hong Kong and major cities in the Mainland, and send business representatives to each other. By the end of 2006, Cathay Pacific's wide-body fleet had exceeded 100. After this breakthrough, the largest aircraft ordering plan in history was announced, including ordering 18 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft delivered from 2007 to 20 10 and 3 Airbus A330-300 aircraft delivered in 2008.

Today, Swire has more than113,000 employees worldwide. Although its business is diversified and spread all over the world, the British Swire Group is still a family business: the current honorary president and permanent president are descendants of Swire founder John Swire, who started in Liverpool.