Swire


Swire Group is a diversified global conglomerate whose privately owned parent company is John Swire & Sons Limited. The group holds controlling interests in businesses operating in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Papua New Guinea, East and West Africa, and Southeast Asia.
Its core businesses are primarily focused on Asia, with major operations in Hong Kong and Mainland China. These activities are largely held through the publicly listed Swire Pacific Limited, which is the largest shareholder of Swire Properties and Cathay Pacific. Swire Pacific is included in the Forbes Global 2000.
Taikoo is the Chinese brand name of Swire and is used by businesses such as Taikoo Shing, Taikoo Li, Taikoo Hui and Taikoo Sugar.

History

The Swire Group traces its origins to 1816, when John Swire established a Liverpool-based trading company specialising in the textile trade.
The group's privately owned parent company, John Swire & Sons Limited, continues to be headquartered in London.
Swire Pacific Offshore Holdings Limited, a former wholly owned subsidiary of Swire Pacific, operated a fleet of offshore support vessels serving the global oil and gas industry.
In April 2022, Tidewater completed its acquisition of Swire Pacific Offshore for approximately US$190 million.

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

Swire Properties

Incorporated in 1972, Swire Properties develops and manages commercial, retail and residential properties, with a 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 and Taikoo Place 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 Resources

is a Hong Kong retail company specialising in sports apparel, swimwear, and footwear. The company is the Hong Kong distributor for several major international brands, including Aldo, Arena, Columbia Sportswear, Crocs, Rockport, and Speedo.

Swire Shipping

is the wholly owned shipping arm of John Swire & Sons Limited, headquartered in Singapore. It operates shipping agencies for its liner shipping trades.
The company has a 67% shareholding in Quadrant Pacific of New Zealand that provides third-party agency services to the forestry and oil industries, as well as husbandry services.

Swire Bulk

Swire Bulk is a Hong Kong company.

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 harbour 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 Ltd acquired Scottish biodiesel producer Argent Energy, which 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, such as 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 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 to become the main holding company for Swire's Hong Kong–based assets.
  1. John Bremridge, 1974–1980
  2. Duncan Bluck, 1981–1984
  3. Michael Miles, 1984–1988
  4. David Gledhill, 1988–1992
  5. Peter Sutch, 1992–1999
  6. James Hughes-Hallett, 1999–2004
  7. David Turnbull, 2005–2006
  8. Christopher Pratt, 2006–2014
  9. John Slosar, 2014–2018
  10. Merlin Swire, 2018–2021
  11. Guy Bradley, since 2021