Swire Group

The Swire Group is a diversified conglomerate, headquartered in Swire House in the City of Westminster, London. It controls a large range of wholly owned businesses, including deep-sea shipping, cold storage, road transport, and agricultural activities, along with energy and oil businesses and investments. Swire controls a large property empire in Asia - mainly Hong Kong. The current chairman is Barnaby Swire. Taikoo (太古) is the Chinese name of Swire. It serves as the brand name for businesses such as Taikoo Cube Sugar and Taikoo Shing. Swire Groups' Current Market Cap is approximately 52.2 billion USD.

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.