Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL) was an investment holding company based in Hong Kong. It was a

Fortune Global 500 The ''Fortune'' Global 500, also known as Global 500, is an annual ranking of the top 500 corporations worldwide as measured by revenue. The list is compiled and published annually by '' Fortune'' magazine. Methodology Until 1989, it listed o ...

company and one of the largest companies listed on the

Hong Kong Stock Exchange The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK, also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong. As of the end of 2020, it has 2,538 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of HK$47 trillion. It is rep ...

. HWL was an international corporation with a diverse array of holdings which included the world's biggest port, and telecommunication operations in 14 countries that were run under the 3 brand. Its businesses also included retail, property development and infrastructure. It was 49.97% owned by the Cheung Kong Group until 3 June 2015, when the company merged with the Cheung Kong Group as part of a major reorganisation of the group's businesses. The combined business was renamed CK Hutchison Holdings Limited.

History

Hutchison Whampoa originated as two separate companies, both founded in the 19th century. and ''Hutchison International'' was formed in 1877. In the 1960s, Hutchison International – under

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

Sir Douglas Clague (1917–1981) – gained a controlling interest of Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock, and in 1977 Hutchison acquired all of that company, creating ''Hutchison Whampoa Limited''. Although Hutchison Whampoa had a large portfolio of valuable real estate interests, in docks and retail ventures, the company eventually ran into trouble. It was rescued by

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (), commonly known as HSBC (), was the parent entity of the multinational HSBC banking group until 1991, and is now its Hong Kong-based Asia-Pacific subsidiary. The largest bank in Hong ...

, with HSBC taking a 22% stake in the company and ensuring that Clague was replaced.Stephen Vines
The Other Handover

Time magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on M ...

, 6 August 2005 On 25 September 1979, at the close of trade in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

, HSBC announced that it was selling its stake in Hutchison Whampoa to

Cheung Kong Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited, is a multinational conglomerate, based in Hong Kong. It was one of Hong Kong's leading multi-national conglomerates. The company merged with its subsidiary Hutchison Whampoa on 3 June 2015, as part of a majo ...

for HK$639 million. In March 2011, Hutchison Port Holdings Trust (HPHT) announced that the company would IPO through Singapore Exchange for about US$5.4 billion. This would be the largest offering in South East Asia and surpass Petronas Chemicals' offering of about $4.1 billion. In January 2015,

Li Ka-shing Sir Ka-shing Li (; born 13 June 1928) is a Hong Kong billionaire business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. As of June 2019, Li is the 31st richest person in the world, with an estimated net wealth of US$33.4 billion. He is the senior ad ...

entered into talks with

Telefónica Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is List of telephone operating companies, one of the largest telephone operators and List of mobile network ...

to buy its British mobile division O2 for around $15.4 billion but the deal was blocked in 2016 by the EU's Competition Commissioner. In January 2015, Li Ka Shing confirmed plans for Cheung Kong Holdings to purchase the remaining shares in Hutchison Whampoa that it did not already own, and merge the two companies as CK Hutchison Holdings. The merger is part of a larger reorganisation of Li's businesses, which will involve the spin-off of property assets into Cheung Kong Property. The new holding company has been incorporated in the Cayman Islands, rather than Hong Kong. In May 2015, Hutchison revealed plans to sell one-third of its stake in its British-based mobile phone businesses for a potential fee of $4.3 billion to five investors including GIC Private Limited, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, BTG Pactual and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.

Operations

HWL operated in 54 countries and employed around 230,000 staff worldwide. The company had six core businesses, most of which transferred to CK Hutchison:

Ports and related services

Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) operates across Europe, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. It operates in five of the seven busiest container ports in the world, handling 13% of the world's container traffic. Hutchison Whampoa operates

container terminal A container port or container terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land vehicles, for example train ...

s in Panama, as well as Mexico and other parts of the Americas.

Property and hotels

From office buildings in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, to luxury residential properties in the United Kingdom, Hutchison Whampoa Property develops and invests in real estate. Together with Cheung Kong Holdings, HWL has set up a joint-venture company, Harbour Plaza Hotel Management to operate and manage hotels under the portfolio of the Hutchison Property division.

Retail

A.S. Watson Group A.S. Watson Group (or A.S. Watson or ASW) is the world's largest international health and beauty retailer, with over 16,000 stores in 27 markets worldwide serving over 5.3 billion customers every year, and over 137 million loyalty programme mem ...

(ASW), HWL's retail arm, operates its flagship retail chains in Asia such as Watsons, ParknShop supermarket, TASTE food galleria, GOURMET boutique style fine food hall, GREAT Food Hall, Fortress electrical appliances store,

Watson's Wine Cellar Watson's Wine is a wine retailer in Hong Kong and a member of the A.S. Watson Group (ASW), a wholly owned subsidiary of CK Hutchison Holdings Limited (CK Hutchison). They offer a comprehensive selection of fine wine, spirits, accessories and ...

and Nuance-Watson duty-free operator. In Europe, ASW's retail network comprises health and beauty chains: DC,

Drogas Wasalu Muhammad Jaco (born February 16, 1982), better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco ( ), is an American rapper, singer, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to fame in 2006 following the success of his debut album, ''Lupe Fiasco's ...

, Kruidvat, Rossmann, Savers Health & Beauty, Superdrug, Trekpleister,

Spektr and Watson's Spektr (russian: Спектр; en, Spectrum) (TKM-O, 77KSO, 11F77O) was the fifth module of the Mir Space Station. The module was designed for remote observation of Earth's environment containing atmospheric and surface research equipment. Sp ...

, as well as luxury perfumeries and cosmetics retail brands: Marionnaud, ICI Paris XL and The Perfume Shop. A.S. Watson is the world's largest health and beauty retailer.

Infrastructure

Cheung Kong Infrastructure CK Infrastructure Holdings Limited (CKI), is the largest publicly listed infrastructure company in Hong Kong with diversified investments in energy infrastructure, transportation Infrastructure, water Infrastructure and infrastructure related ...

(CKI), HWL's infrastructure arm, is a diversified infrastructure company with businesses in transportation, energy, infrastructure materials, water plants and related operations.

Energy

HWL was a major shareholder of Husky Energy, one of Canada's largest energy and energy related companies, holding 33.97%.

Telecommunications

HWL owned the " 3" brand. It also owns 60.4% of

Hutchison Asia Telecommunications Hutchison Asia Telecom Group or HAT, is a division of Hong Kong-based multinational conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings. The division provides telecommunications services to several Asian countries. The division was formerly incorporated as ...

(HAT), which provides mobile phone networks and data services in Asia. The company's subsidiary 3 Group Europe owns its '3' branded businesses in Europe. Another 1% of HAT is owned directly by Cheung Kong Holdings, the holding behind Cheung Kong group to which HWL belongs. Additionally, HWL is an official backer of the

.mobi The domain name mobi is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. Its name is derived from the adjective ''mobile''. The domain was approved by ICANN on 11 July 2005, and is managed by the mTLD global r ...

top level domain A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet after the root domain. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. For all domains in ...

created specifically for the mobile internet and has launched the mobile porta
Three.mobi
under its "3" brand. Hutchison Whampoa attempted to purchase O2 for £10.25 billion in March 2015, but the European Commission blocked the acquisition in May 2016.

Criticisms

Hutchison Whampoa has received criticism from charities such as the Burma Campaign UK and appear on the charity's 'dirty list' for their involvement in trade with the military

junta Junta may refer to: Government and military * Junta (governing body) (from Spanish), the name of various historical and current governments and governing institutions, including civil ones ** Military junta, one form of junta, government led by ...

in Burma. They state that the company's subsidiary Myanmar International Terminals Thilawa (MITT) is "strategically positioned to facilitate and service Myanmar's international trade" and are concerned about the role foreign investment plays in "perpetuating" the country's brutal regime.Dirty List – Campaigns – Burma Campaign UK
. Burmacampaign.org.uk. Retrieved on 18 September 2013.

References

External links

Hutchison Whampoa

Yahoo! Finance {{authority control Financial services companies established in 1863 1863 establishments in Hong Kong 2015 mergers and acquisitions Predecessors of CK Hutchison Holdings Companies formerly listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Conglomerate companies of China Mobile phone companies of Hong Kong Port operating companies Multinational companies headquartered in Hong Kong Trading companies of Hong Kong Former companies in the Hang Seng Index Retail companies of China Conglomerate companies of Hong Kong