Haw Par Corporation
Haw Par Corporation Limited is a Singapore-based company involved in healthcare, leisure products, property and investment. It is the company responsible for Tiger Balm branded liniment. Its brands also included Kwan Loong and it also owns and operates weekend and leisure time destinations such as oceanariums.
The Haw Par Group owns two oceanariums: the now defunct Underwater World oceanarium attraction at Sentosa, Singapore, and Underwater World Pattaya in Thailand.
History
Predecessors
The predecessor of Haw Par Corporation, Eng Aun Tong, was founded by Aw Chu Kin, father of Aw Boon Haw and Boon Par brothers. Eng Aun Tong was then relocated to Singapore and expanded its branch to many Chinese communities in Asia. Aw Boon Haw also built Haw Par Villas in Hong Kong, Singapore and in Yongding District, Longyan, China. A private company, Haw Par Brothers Limited was incorporated in 1932 as a holding company for a vast majority of the family assets.After the death of Boon Par in 1944 and Boon Haw in 1954, the Haw Par Brothers Limited was owned by the descendant of the two brothers. However, companies such as Sin Poh Amalgamated and the publisher of Hong Kong Tiger Standard were owned by Aw family directly especially Sally Aw and Aw Toke Tone, son of Aw Hoe. Aw Hoe, adopted son of Aw Boon Haw, helped his father to establish Sing Tao Daily and Hong Kong Tiger Standard, died in a plane crash in 1951. According to Gren Manuel, a reporter of South China Morning Post, citing Aw Boon Haw's will filed in Hong Kong Public Record Office, Sally Aw and her adopted mother Tan Kim-kee would inherited Aw Boon Haw's assets, and requesting them to use them in whole or part for charitable and/or benevolent and/or philanthropic purpose, while other sons and daughters of Aw Boon Haw, either received cash as heritage in 1954, or already received some of the shares of the companies such as Sin Poh Amalgamated and The Tiger Standard Limited at the incorporation of the companies. Sally Aw's elder brother, Aw Swan, was renounced by Aw Boon Haw as son in 1952. Filing in Hong Kong Company Registries shown Sally inherited all the shares of The Tiger Standard Limited that was owned by Aw Boon Haw, with the rest were owned by other member of Aw family as well as still under the name of late Aw Hoe in early 1970s.
At the same time that Haw Par Brothers Limited made an open invitation to sell the Tiger Balm Garden of Hong Kong, Sally Aw and her mother Tan Kim-kee also sued Haw Par Brothers in order to reclaim deposits allegedly made by them in the company in 1961. The lawsuit was dismissed in 1962. Sally Aw also made another petition to wind up the company in 1961. Sally Aw withdrew the petition in the same year, after the barrister of Haw Par Brothers presented evidence on reclaiming Hong Kong Eng Aun Tong and its factory, which Sally Aw alleged that Hong Kong Eng Aun Tong and another entity were not the same and only the former was belongs to Haw Par Brothers, with the rest was Aw Boon Haw's personal heritage. Sally Aw also sued Haw Par Brothers in 1959. In 1962, Aw It Haw, younger brother of Sally, was instated as the director of Hong Kong Tiger Balm Eng Aun Tong Pharmaceutical. The lawsuit of the heritage of Aw Boon Haw was finally settled in 1967 by Sally Aw paying the company S$1.75 million. However, just 2 years after the settlement of the ownership of the heritage, some of the Aw family decided to sell the assets to the public by initial public offering.
Establishment, IPO and family dispute
Haw Par Brothers International Limited was incorporated on 18 July 1969 by the Aw family, in order to list most of the assets of Haw Par Brothers Limited on the Stock Exchange of Malaysia and Singapore. The assets included the brand Eng Aun Tong and Tiger Balm for liniment products, Sin Poh Amalgamated that publishes newspaper in Singapore and Malaysia, as well as subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand. The company also owned an equity investment in Chung Khiaw Bank, as well as a lease contract that signed between Haw Par Brothers International and Haw Par Brothers, to use the Tiger Balm Gardens in Hong Kong and Singapore that were owned by the latter. The shares started to trade in the exchange in November 1969.The listed company made a major disinvestment in 1970, selling Hong Kong Eng Aun Tong building located in Wan Chai Road for HK$2.8 million, in order to raise fund the Hong Kong subsidiary for other investment. Nevertheless, the actual price was disputed, as the buyer told the press in Hong Kong another figure.
However, a year after IPO, Aw family sold the controlling stake of the family to Slater Walker, At the same time Sin Poh Amalgamated was privatized by Aw Cheng Chye, eldest son of the late Aw Boon Par. Aw Cheng Chye also bought back some of the shares from Slater Walker. Haw Par Brothers International also sold 49.8% stake of Chung Khiaw Bank to United Overseas Bank for S$22 million. Aw Cheng Chye was also re-elected as the chairman of Haw Par Brothers International despite the takeover. After the sudden death of Aw Cheng Chye during a trip in Santiago de Chile in August 1971, as well as re-election of the board of directors, it was reported that the listed company was chaired by Richard Tarling while Haw Par Brothers Limited was chaired by Aw It Haw, the fourth and the first biological son of the late Aw Boon Haw.
Aw Kow, the eldest son of the late Aw Boon Haw, who resigned as the director of Sin Poh Amalgamated and the managing director of Sin Chew Jit Poh in May 1971 due to his personal investment in Eastern Sun, also sued Haw Par Brothers Limited in 1972 for blocking him to read its accounts and financial statements, claiming under the late Aw Cheng Chye, the company allowed personal spending of Aw Cheng Chye, was invoiced by the company itself. The lawsuit was settled in 1977, in favour Aw Kow.
In the autobiography Escape from Paradise by John & May Chu Harding, they also claimed that Aw Cheng Chye's decision to make Haw Par Brothers International public, was against the wish of the part of the Aw family. May Chu Harding, née Lee, was the great-granddaughter of Aw Boon Par, or granddaughter of Lee Chee Shan and Aw Cheng Hu. Lee Chee Shan was the president of Chung Khiaw Bank in 1971.
Under Aw Cheng Chye as chairman, Haw Par Brothers also attempted to sell Tiger Balm Garden of Hong Kong in 1961; the last piece of the garden was sold to Cheung Kong in 1998 and the main building of the mansion was donated to the Hong Kong Government.
Expansion under Slater Walker
After Haw Par Brothers International was taken over by Slater Walker in June 1971, the new owner changed Haw Par Brothers International from a family-held business into a true business enterprise. Slater Walker also sold 20% stake of Haw Par Brothers International to Slater Walker's associate company Australian Industrial and Mining Corporation in November 1971, as well as a second listing of Haw Par Brothers International on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and in the London Stock Exchange. Austim sold 55% stake of Motor and General Investment Underwriters Holdings Singapore to Haw Par Brothers International in August 1971. It was announced that the Holdings would purchase a Singapore construction company Scott & English in September 1971.After the resignation of both Lee Aik Sim, and his wife Aw Cheng Sin, the daughter of late Aw Boon Par as the directors of Haw Par Brothers in January 1972, the subsidiary was sold in the same month to Jack Chia. Jack Chia and Haw Par Brothers International also formed a joint venture, which the joint venture have the rights to use "Tiger Balm" brand. In March 1972 Haw Par Brothers International acquired fellow pharmaceutical company in Chinese medicines, Hong Kong listed company Kwan Loong & Co., However, Slater Walker turned the Hong Kong company into an investment vehicle in financial market, which was known as Slater Walker Securities.
In April 1972, Haw Par Brothers International made a strategic investment on a property on 302 Orchard Road.
In 1973 the company expanded to Japan as well as bought 29% stake of a London-listed company London Tin Corporation. Haw Par Brothers International financed the deal by a proposed recapitalization. The stake was sold in 1976 and the sub-holding company that Haw Par Brothers International established in London, was sold in 1982.