GL Limited is an investment company listed on the
Singapore Exchange
The Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) is a Singaporean investment holding company that provides different services related to securities and derivatives trading and others. SGX is also a member of the World Federation of Exchanges and the Asian ...
. Founded as Brierley Investments in 1961, it was formerly listed on the
Australian
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal A ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
exchanges.
History
Brierley Investments was founded by
Ron Brierley
Ronald Alfred Brierley (born 2 August 1937) is a New Zealand born investor and corporate raider, chairman and director of a number of companies in Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
He founded R. A. Brierley Investments Ltd (BIL; renamed ''Guoc ...
in 1961 and in 1985 listed on stock exchanges in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
. It grew to become one of the biggest – and for a time most successful and glamorous – companies in the 1980s. At its peak about 150,000 New Zealanders were Brierley Investments shareholders.
In the 1980s Brierley Investments was a feared
corporate raider
A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...
in Australia and Britain, but the firm stumbled after the
1987 sharemarket crash, and Brierley was eventually deposed in a boardroom coup. In the 1990s the firm's investments were poor, it mismanaged its foreign-exchange risk, and its balance sheet suffered. In 1999 the firm moved its head office to Singapore and listed on the
Singapore Exchange
The Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) is a Singaporean investment holding company that provides different services related to securities and derivatives trading and others. SGX is also a member of the World Federation of Exchanges and the Asian ...
. In July 2002, BI was delisted from the
Australian Securities Exchange
Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...
.
In 2003, Brierley Investments was acquired by the
Guoco Group
Guoco Group Limited (, ) is an investment holding company. The principal activities of its subsidiaries and associated companies include investment and treasury management, property development and investment, stock and commodity broking, insurance ...
and rebranded GuocoLeisure in November 2007. Due to a low volume of trading, GuocoLeisure's board decided to delist from the
New Zealand Exchange
New Zealand's Exchange (), known commonly as the NZX, is the national stock exchange for New Zealand and a publicly owned company. NZX is the parent company of Smartshares, and Wealth Technologies.
On 30 August 2020, the NZX had a total of 1 ...
in June 2014.
Investments
*
Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier airline of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 30 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily around and within the Pacific ...
(35%)
*
Fairfax Media
Fairfax Media was a media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The Sydney Morning Herald' ...
(25%)
John Fairfax Holdings Ltd
Australian Takeovers Panel
The Australian Takeovers Panel, a statutory authority of the Australian Government, is the primary Australian forum for resolving disputes about a takeover bid during the bid period itself. The panel is a peer review body, made up of part-time ...
*GLH Hotels
GLH Hotels Management (UK) Limited (branded glh.) is a British-based global hotel company, headquartered in London, and subsidiary of GL Limited.
GLH is the largest owner-operator hotel management company in London with over 5,000 hotel rooms. T ...
*Guinness Peat Group
Guinness Peat Group was an investment holding company with interests in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
History
The company, which had been formed as an investment offshoot of London based investment bank Guinness Mahon in the 1980s, was acqu ...
*Industrial Equity Limited
The Adelaide Steamship Company was an Australian shipping company and later a diversified industrial and logistics conglomerate. It was formed by a group of South Australian businessmen in 1875. Their aim was to control the transport of goods b ...
*James Hardie
James Hardie Industries plc is a global building materials company and the largest global manufacturer of fibre cement products. Headquartered in Ireland, it is a dual-listed company, being listed on the Australian and New York Stock Exchanges. ...
(29%)
*Thistle Hotels
Thistle Hotels, run by glh., is a UK-based hotel company with a portfolio of 7 Central London hotels, one at London Heathrow and one in Dorset, operating in the three and four star sector.
History
It was set up by Scottish & Newcastle in 1965 ...
(46%)
*Union Company
Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand Limited was once the biggest shipping line in the southern hemisphere and New Zealand's largest private-sector employer. It was incorporated by James Mills in Dunedin in 1875 with the backing of a Scot ...
(100%)
References
{{reflist
Companies formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange
Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange
Companies formerly listed on the Singapore Exchange
Companies listed on the New Zealand Exchange
Financial services companies established in 1961
Financial services companies of New Zealand
1961 establishments in New Zealand