Swire Group is a Hong Kong- and London-based diversified conglomerate. Many of its core businesses can be found within the Asia Pacific region, where traditionally Swire's operations have centred on Hong Kong and mainland China. Within Asia, Swire's activities come under the group's publicly quoted arm, Swire Pacific Limited. Elsewhere in the world, many businesses are held directly by the parent company, John Swire & Sons Limited, in Australia, Papua New Guinea, East Africa, Sri Lanka, the US and UK. Swire controls a large property empire in Asia – mainly Hong Kong. The current chairman is Barnaby Swire. Taikoo is the Chinese name of Swire. It serves as the brand name for businesses such as Taikoo 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 in 1816, had its beginnings as a modest Liverpool import-export company based mainly on the textile trade. John Swire's sons, John Samuel and William Hudson took the firm overseas and it was John Samuel Swire in particular whose entrepreneurial instincts would be at the root of the firm's successes in years to come. 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 Ltd.
Businesses
The Swire Group's core businesses in Hong Kong are held by Swire Pacific Limited, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The Group's businesses are arranged into groups: property, aviation, beverages and food chain, marine services, and trading and industrial.
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 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, 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 owns a majority of Steamships Trading Company Limited, a Papua New Guinea property company.
Swire Pacific Offshore Holdings Limited (SPO)
Swire Pacific Offshore Holdings Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Swire Pacific, supplies chartered vessels that support the offshore oil and gas industry worldwide. It owns a fleet of 69 offshore vessels.
John Swire & Sons 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. The acquisition in 2013 for an undisclosed sum sees the firm remain in private ownership and it will continue to operate independently. It employs 300 people. As of 2018, Argent Energy has expanded into Ellesmere Port, UK with a Biodiesel Refinery, Pre-Treatment Plant and Oil Terminal. Argent Energy also acquired a Biodiesel Refinery in Amsterdam in November 2018.
Swire Oilfield Services
Established in 1979, Swire Oilfield Services is the world's largest supplier of specialist offshore cargo carrying units to the global energy industry and is a leading supplier of modular systems, offshore aviation services and fluid management.
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 China, as well as parts of 13 states in the United States, mainly the mountain west region. This territory represents a population of 420 million people. In October 2011, Swire Beverages exercised its monopoly to increase the price of Coca-Cola when it was found that the 759 Store, a Hong Kong chain store selling groceries, was selling below its suggested retail price.
