Wittington Investments Limited is a privately owned British holding company. It was incorporated in 1941 and is based in London, England. The company is 79.2% owned by the Garfield Weston Foundation, one of the United Kingdom's largest grant-making trusts, which was established in 1958 by Canadian-born businessman

W. Garfield Weston Willard Garfield Weston (26 February 189822 October 1978) was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist who was a member of the prominent Weston family. He led George Weston Limited and its various subsidiaries and associated companies, includin ...

(1898–1978), and 20.8% owned by members of the prominent Weston family. As of 5 April 2008, the trustees of the Garfield Weston Foundation valued their 79.2% stake in Wittington Investments at £3.62 billion.

Holdings

Wittington Investments owns 54.5% of

Associated British Foods Associated British Foods plc (ABF) is a British multinational food processing and retailing company headquartered in London, England. Its ingredients division is the world's second-largest producer of both sugar and baker's yeast and a major pr ...

, one of the largest food companies in the world and the parent company of Primark, the largest discount clothing chain in the UK and Ireland. Associated British Foods also owns British Sugar, processor of the entire UK beet crop and producer of half the UK consumption of sugar. Further assets include ownership of the British department store Fortnum & Mason, as well as Heal's, a chain of homeware and furnishing stores in the UK.

Canadian company

There is a similarly-named company in Canada called "Wittington Investments, Limited", which controls George Weston Limited. It was founded by W. Garfield Weston in 1952 and is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In December 2020, the Weston family announced that

Galen Weston Jr. Willard Galen Garfield Weston (born December 19, 1972), known as Galen Weston Jr. or Galen G. Weston, is an Irish-Canadian businessman and a member of the prominent Weston family. He serves as chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Georg ...

had succeeded his father ( Galen Weston Sr.) as the controlling shareholder of Wittington Investments, Limited. This company was the owner of the Selfridges Group of department store chains, including Selfridges in the UK, Brown Thomas and

Arnotts Arnotts can refer to; * Arnott's Biscuits, an Australian biscuit and salted snack food company * Arnotts (Ireland), a department store in Dublin, Ireland * Arnotts (Scotland) Arnotts was a department store in Glasgow, Scotland. It became part o ...

in Ireland, and De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands. In December 2021, it was reported that the majority of the Selfridges Group's assets were being sold for around £4 billion to a joint venture between Thai conglomerate

Central Group Central Group consists of a variety of diverse investments in various corporations in Thailand and abroad, including investments in retail, property development, brand management, hospitality, and food and beverage sectors, and in digital lifes ...

and Austrian firm Signa Holding.

References

External links

Website of Wittington Investments Limited
(British company)
Webpage of Wittington Investments, Limited
(Canadian company)
2009 report of the Garfield Weston Foundation
(see page 15 for details of the ownership and assets of Wittington Investments Limited) {{Associated British Foods Companies based in the City of Westminster Privately held companies based in London Privately held companies of England Privately held companies of the United Kingdom Investment companies of the United Kingdom Family-owned companies of the United Kingdom Weston family Fortnum & Mason