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Russell & Company

Heard and Coolidge formed a rival merchant house Augustine Heard & Co. in 1840 after there were disagreements between the partners of Russell & Company. The firm was managed mainly by Heard's nephews and had branch offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare

In addition to market surveillance studies, network activities include analytical development, PTS studies and the implementation of harmonised quality management systems. Priority is given to testing products that may present a health risk for consumers, either linked to the presence of prohibited or restricted substances (according to EU legislation) or trace metals. The network also publishes test methods after performing inter-laboratory trials to confirm that these methods are fit for purpose.

History of Jardine Matheson & Co.

Profits accruing to the firm in the early years were enormous. According to one source, over a ten-year period the amount divided amongst the partners amounted to $15,000,000 – approximately £129,480,000 at 2011 values, "the greater part of which had been accumulated in the opium traffic." Nevertheless, in the face of increasing domestic Chinese competition and a growing anti-opium movement back home in England, in 1872 Jardines formulated an explicit policy ending significant involvement in the opium trade. This move freed up huge amounts of capital, which were then available for investment in new market sectors. In terms of property, Jardines were the only foreign firm to feature on an 1881 list of the eighteen largest land taxpayers in Hong Kong with a bill of HK$4,000 per annum. Such was the influence of the firm that an old joke ran: "Power in Hong Kong resides in the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club; Jardine, Matheson & Co; the Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation; and the Governor – in that order.

Russell & Company

Olyphant & Co. was formed by Protestant missionary, D.W.C Olyphant, in the early 1810s who opposed the opium trade on moral grounds as a result of his Christian principles. John M. Forbes wrote in a memo to Heard that he should remain “on [his] guard” due to Olyphant's vocal disavowal of their practices.

European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare

The European Committee for Food Contact Materials and Articles (CD-P-MCA) is tasked with developing and strengthening harmonised measures that supplement EU and national legislation to ensure the safety of packaging, containers, utensils and other materials and articles for food contact. It is supported by two subordinate bodies: the working group on food contact materials made from paper and board and the working group on printed food contact materials. The technical guides published by the CD-P-MCA are used as reference documents by manufacturers and other business operators, safety evaluators and control laboratories.

History of Jardine Matheson & Co.

Shipping played an important role in the firm's expansion. In 1835 the firm had commissioned construction of the first merchant steamer in China, the "Jardine". She was a small vessel intended for use as a mail and passenger carrier between Lintin Island, Macau, and Whampoa Dock. However, the Chinese, draconian in their application of the rules relating to foreign vessels, were unhappy about a "fire-ship" steaming up the Canton River. The acting Governor-General of Kwangtung issued an edict warning that she would be fired on if she attempted the trip. On the "Jardine's" first trial run from Lintin Island the forts on both sides of the Bogue opened fire and she was forced to turn back. The Chinese authorities issued a further warning insisting that the ship leave China. The "Jardine" in any case needed repairs and was sent to Singapore. <br>Jardines launched a cargo line from Calcutta in 1855 and began operating on the Yangtze River. The Indo-China Steam Navigation Company Ltd. was formed in 1881, and from then until 1939 maintained a network of ocean, coastal and river shipping services, which were managed by Jardines. In 1938, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the company bought four ships, "Haiyuan", "Haili", "Haichen" and "Haiheng" from the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company, which were subsequently operated between Hong Kong and Tientsin (modern day Tianjin).

Russell &amp; Company

Founded in July 1832 by Scots William Jardine and James Matheson, the commission firm dealt heavily in opium and had inherited connections in India from merchant John R. Latimer, who had refused to work for Russell & Co. prior to announcing his retirement. Its steamship subsidiary CCSNC became a direct competitor of Shanghai S. N. Co and would later be known as Jardine Matheson & Co. Ltd.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

The first ocean-going steamships owned by Jardine's ran chiefly between Calcutta and the Chinese ports. They were fast enough to make the trip in two days less than rival P & O vessels.

Russell &amp; Company

Owner of a London-based commission firm, John Swire & Sons, John S. Swire collaborated with wool manufacturer, Robert S. Butterfield to establish a Chinese firm, Butterfield & Swire, in 1866, after a brief trip to Shanghai. Much like Russell & Co., Butterfield & Swire was a commission firm concerned mostly with merchandise in its first few years of operation before establishing their shipping branch, CNC. Swire once wrote that "the Shanghai S. N. Co.'s shares would never have seen a premium," citing this as the reason for entering the Yangtze steamship trade, a prospect he had expressed interest in as early as 1867.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

In spite of firm resistance, Jardines lobbied hard against the government of China for many years to open a railway system. This failed completely, but in 1876 Jardines attempted to move forward on its own by forming the Woosung Road Company to purchase a 10-mile-long road between Shanghai and Wusong for the purpose of converting it first to a mule tramway and then to a narrow-gauge railway, the first in China. The first spike was hammered in on 20 January and the line was opened to traffic running six times a day on 3 July. Operations were considered satisfactory until a suicide on the tracks on 3 August 1876 caused the Viceroy of Liangjiang Shen Pao-chen to renew his previous objections. The British authorities ordered the train service to cease operation and the Chinese government announced that it wanted to purchase the line within the year. Jardines were told that as the railway had been built without official approval it could not be defended by the British government and the firm agreed to sell as long as all its costs were covered. Tls. 285,000 were paid in October 1877 for the land, rolling stock and rails which were then dismantled by the government and shipped to Taiwan where they were left to rust on the beach. The line would not be reconstructed until 1898.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

Jardines eventually succeeded in winning approval from the Viceroy of Zhili Li Hongzhang for the construction of a mule tramway from the Chinese Engineering and Mining Company<nowiki>'</nowiki>s colliery at Tangshan after it was shown the prospective canal would be unable to run the last to the mine. Again ignoring official injunctions against constructing a railroad, the CEMC's engineer Claude W. Kinder first insisted on constructing the tramway at standard gauge and then jury rigged a locomotive from material around the mine. This proved more economical than the mules and the canal's tendency to freeze in the winterand the coal's strategic importance for the viceroy's Beiyang Fleeteventually allowed the line's expansion first down the length of the canal and then to major cities like Tianjin. Over two decades, the Kaiping Tramway thus expanded into the China Railway Company, which again was purchased by the Qing government but this time kept on as a paying concern.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

In 1898, Jardines and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Company (HSBC) founded the British and Chinese Corporation (BCC). The civil engineering partnership Sir John Wolfe-Barry and Lt Col Arthur John Barry were appointed Joint Consulting Engineers to the British and Chinese Corporation. The Corporation rebuilt the old Woosung line and then went on to be responsible for much of the development of China's railway system, both in the Yangtze valley and in extensions of the northern Imperial Railways from Shanhaiguan to Newchwang and Mukden.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

The Shanghai to Nanjing line was built by Jardines between 1904 and 1908 at a cost of £2.9 million. The BCC was also responsible for the construction of the Kowloon to Canton Railway.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

On the initiative of Jardines and Sir Paul Chater, The Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company Limited was formed in 1886. Three years later on 2 March 1889, then Tai-pan James Johnstone Keswick again partnered with Chater to form The Hongkong Land Investment and Agency Company Limited (later Hong Kong Land). The first project undertaken by the new company was the reclamation of an area of of building land some wide along a new waterfront road that came to be known as Chater Road. Following an amalgamation of several local wharves in 1875, Jardine, Matheson & Co. were appointed general managers of the Shanghai & Hongkew Wharf Co., Ltd. In 1883, the Old Ningpo Wharf was added, and in 1890 the Pootung Wharf purchased.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

The Star Ferry Company, started by Parsee Dorabjee Nowrojee was bought by the Jardine/Chater controlled Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company Limited in 1898. The company operated steam powered ferries between Hong Kong island and the Kowloon peninsula.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

Jardines helped establish Hong Kong's tram system, which began directly as an electric tram in 1904. The company is now owned jointly by Veolia Transport and The Wharf (Holdings), successor to The Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company Limited.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

Jardines insurance business, founded as the Canton Insurance Office in 1836 to support its shipping business, began offering underwriting services in many of the places where the company had offices and agencies and, as late as 1860, was still the only insurance company in China. In addition, to cater for clients travelling between Europe and the Far East, the firm had representation along the main steamer routes and at points on the Trans-Siberian Railway, including an agency in Moscow. The Canton Insurance office was later renamed the Lombard Insurance Co.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

Known in Chinese as "Yíhé Lóuqì Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī" (怡和機器有限公司), literally, "Happy Harmony Tool House", what became Jardine Engineering Corporation (JEC) in 1923 grew out of the period when the business of importing machinery, tools and industrial equipment to support China's development, until then handled by Jardine's Engineering Department, increased to a stage where it could stand alone as a separate company. JEC pioneered ammonia-type air conditioners and new types of heating and sanitation as well as in 1935 providing the vault doors for the new headquarters of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in Hong Kong. JEC also introduced fluorescent strip lighting into Hong Kong in 1940 and in 1949 installed the island's first major industrial air-conditioning plant at Tylers Cotton Mill in the Tokwawan District.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

Jardines was the first foreign trading house to establish a base in Japan when William Keswick, a descendant of William Jardine's sister Jean, was sent there in 1859 following the country's opening up to the outside world. He established an office in Yokohama after acquiring Lot No. 1 in the first land sale. Additional offices subsequently opened in Kobe, Nagasaki and other ports where a large and profitable business was conducted in imports, exports, shipping and insurance. Jardines also operated in Nairobi in the then British protectorate of Kenya through its Jardine Matheson (East Africa) Ltd. subsidiary and held a majority stake in the South African company Rennies Consolidated Holdings, until it disposed of this 74% stake to Old Mutual in 1983. This was later merged with Safmarine to form Safmarine and Rennies Holdings (Safren).

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

The firm became so important that for much of the history of the Executive Council of Hong Kong, the business community was represented by 'unofficial members' of the Council who included the head of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and the Tai-pan of Jardines.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

Jardine, Matheson and Co. became a limited company during 1906 and until the Second World War was widely referred to as simply the "Firm" or the "Muckle House", muckle being colloquial Scottish for "great".

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

From the end of the 19th century, Jardines created a number of new companies using their Chinese name "EWO". The first of these was the EWO Cotton Spinning and Weaving Co. Founded in Shanghai in 1895, it was the first foreign owned cotton mill in China. Two other mills were subsequently started up in Shanghai – the Yangtszepoo Cotton Mill and the Kung Yik Mill. In 1921, these three operations were amalgamated as Ewo Cotton Mills, Ltd. and registered in Hong Kong. Before the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), the three mills operated a total of 175,000 cotton spindles and 3,200 looms. In addition the company extended its activities to include the manufacture of waste cotton products, jute materials, and worsted yarns and cloths. The company suffered considerable loss of machinery during the war then in January 1954, Jardines took out adverts in the Hong Kong papers stating that it had "ceased to act as general managers" of EWO Cotton Mills.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

The Ewo Yuen Press Packing Company, also known as the Ewo Press Packing Company was established in Shanghai in 1907 and owned jointly by Jardines and a Chinese partner. When the partner retired in 1919, Jardines became sole proprietors of a company with total floor space of , which provided a normal annual output of 40,000 to 50,000 bales – quantities that doubled during peak years. Items packed included raw cotton, cotton yarn, waste silk, wool, hides, goatskins, and other commodities for which press packing for shipment or storage was suitable. The firm also offered rooms to the public for use in the sorting, grading, and storage of all types of cargo. The plant was situated near the mouth of the Soochow Creek, an important transport route at the time providing access to the interior of China or to Shanghai harbour for exports.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

In 1920, Jardines established the Ewo Cold Storage Company on the Shanghai river front to manufacture and export powdered eggs. Two or three years later, extensions were made to also permit the processing of liquid and whole eggs. Large quantities of these products were shipped abroad, mainly to the United Kingdom. In the 1920s and 1930s, the export trade in eggs and egg products had become an increasingly important factor in China's economy and immediately prior to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, egg trading was high on the list of leading exports. During the subsequent conflict, although Japanese occupation forces seriously reduced poultry stocks, the situation recovered quickly afterwards as poultry production was chiefly carried out by innumerable small units scattered over vast areas.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

In 1935, the company built the EWO Brewery Ltd. in Shanghai. Production commenced in 1936, and EWO Breweries became a public company under Jardines management in 1940. The brewery produced Pilsner and Munich types of beers, which were considered suitable for the Far Eastern climate. The business was sold at a loss in 1954.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

Jardines were a major importer and exporter of all manner of goods prior to the 1937 Japanese invasion of China. Tea and silk ranked high on the list of commodities exported. As long ago as 1801, precursor firms to Jardines had secured the first licences from the East India Company to exports teas to New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land and when the East India Company's trade monopoly was overturned in 1834, the firm lost no time in expanding its tea business. By the 1890s Jardines were exporting large quantities of Keemun. Soochong, Oolong, Gunpowder, and Chun Mee tea. Ocean steamers laden with these cargoes departed from Fuzhou and Taiwan, as well as from the firm's godowns (warehouses) on the Shanghai Bund bound for Europe, Africa, and America. Silk played a prominent role as a commodity during Jardine's first century of operation. Before the Japanese invasion, the firm shipped from Japan to America, France, Switzerland, England, and elsewhere. For many years before war broke out in the late 1930s, the firm operated its own EWO Silk Filature or factory for producing the material. The firm also owned large warehouses in Shanghai, Tientsin, Tsingtao, Hankow, and Hong Kong, which provided access to the products of the cold north, such as wool, furs, soya beans, oils, and oilseeds and bristles as well as the produce of the vast agricultural centre, which included tung and other vegetable oils and oilseeds, egg products, bristles, and beans; and also the marketable yield of the sunny south, its tung oil, aniseed, cassia bark, and ginger. Hongkong and Shanghai were the main import and export centres while branch offices also engaged in these activities on a smaller scale dealing in products from timber to foodstuffs, from textiles to medicines, from metals to fertilizers, and from wines and spirits to cosmetics.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

From early on in its history, Jardines did business with a series of "correspondents" in other countries. These companies acted as agents for Jardines and were either independent or partly owned by the firm. In London's Lombard Street, Matheson & Co., Ltd., founded in 1848 as a private house of merchant bankers, became a limited company in 1906 and acted as Jardine's correspondent in London. The company was controlled by Jardines and the Keswick family and was the leading Far Eastern house in London. New York based Balfour, Guthrie & Co., Ltd., a firm founded by three Scotsmen in 1869, looked after the firm's interests in the United States of America. Further correspondents were located in various countries in Africa, Asia and Australia. Jardine's sister company in Calcutta, Jardine Skinner & Co. was established in 1844 by David Jardine of Balgray and John Skinner Steuart, it became a major force in the tea, jute and rubber trades. During the Second World War the company changed its name to Jardine, Henderson, Ltd., later run by John Jardine Paterson.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

During the 1940s Jardines opened an Airways Department that provided services as general agents, traffic handlers, and as booking agents. During this period, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) appointed Jardines as their general agents for Hong Kong and China.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

In Hong Kong, Jardines established JAMCo to provide up-to-date technical and maintenance facilities to the many air lines operating from and through Hong Kong. JAMco was eventually merged with Cathay Pacific's maintenance interests, to form HAECO, on 1 November 1950.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

Unrest and conflict in China in the 1930s, the Second World War from 1939 to 1945 and the Communist revolution in China in 1949 generated great turmoil in the region and created many challenges for foreign companies such as Jardines to overcome. During the period 1935–1941 the firm had two Taipans – Sir William Johnstone "Tony" Keswick (1903–1990), based at the head office in Shanghai and his younger brother the Hon. Sir John "The Younger" Keswick (1906–1982), in charge of operations in Hong Kong. By 1937, Japan had begun to advance into China and with its entry into the Second World War, the situation worsened for Jardine staff based in the country.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

Tony Keswick was shot in the arm by a Japanese official during a 1941 election meeting for the Shanghai Municipal Council held on the Shanghai Racecourse. He escaped major injury but thereafter travelled around the city in a 1925 seven-seater armoured car that had been custom-made for Al Capone. The same year John Keswick, facing internment by the occupying forces, left following Hong Kong's surrender to the invading Japanese on Christmas Day 1941. He managed to escape to Ceylon (Sri Lanka), where he served on the staff of Earl Mountbatten of Burma. Both brothers worked clandestinely as senior operatives for British Intelligence throughout the war.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

Many of Jardines' staff were interned in camps, while others were exiled to Macau, mainland China and elsewhere. Local Chinese staff struggled to survive under Japanese occupation, but several risked their lives to help and support their imprisoned colleagues at great personal risk to themselves.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

When the war ended, a handful of emaciated staff emerged from the camp at Stanley to thank those who had helped them, and to celebrate their freedom by re-opening Jardines' offices in Hong Kong as soon as they could. In Shanghai too, the released internees returned to work almost immediately.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

Following the end of hostilities in 1945, the British resumed control of Hong Kong and John Keswick returned to oversee the rebuilding of the firm's facilities that had been damaged during the conflict. In Shanghai he attempted to work with the Communists after capitalists were invited to help rebuild the economy. Believing that they would be more orderly and less corrupt than the Nationalists, Keswick argued for British recognition of the new government, and even attempted to run his company's ships past Nationalist blockades. Keswick believed that the heavy taxation implemented by the Communist regime was not "anti-foreignism" but an indication of the need for money to maintain a large army and a new government. As well high taxes, a number of foreign firms including Jardines were expected to buy Red "victory" bonds" that would make an overall contribution of $400,000 to the government's coffers. After protests, this requirement was withdrawn by officials on the grounds that "the tax and bond sales commission had no authority to deal with foreigners."

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

By 1949 although the firm employed 20,000 people, it became increasingly difficult to conduct business in the new People's Republic of China and by the end of 1954, Jardines had either sold, moved or closed down all its operations in mainland China, writing off millions of dollars in the process. As Time magazine reported:

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

Jardine's Hong Kong operations faced their first post-war challenge as a result of having to comply with the British trade embargo placed against China during the 1950–1953 Korean War. Nevertheless, between 1950 and 1980 the firm underwent another period of dramatic transformation. Just as the nineteenth century had brought change with industrialisation, the decades following the Second World War brought a new period of expansion as Jardines sought out new markets to replace those lost in China.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

When the Korean War ended in 1953, the firm continued to trade with China through the annual Canton Fair, at which approximately half the country's international trade was conducted through the seven official Chinese state trading corporations.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

In 1954, Jardines expanded into Southeast Asia through an investment in Henry Waugh and Co, which had operations in Malaya, Singapore, Thailand and Borneo.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

In the late 1950s, with support from three banks in London, John and Tony Keswick purchased the last Jardine family interests in the company. After its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1961, the firm acquired controlling interests in the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company and Henry Waugh Ltd. as well as established the Australian-based Dominion Far East Line shipping company.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

In 1956, John Keswick returned to England to direct the family estate, appointing Michael Young-Herries in his place as manager of operations in Hong Kong.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

Jardine, Matheson and Co. offered its shares to the public in 1961 during the stewardship of Tai-pan Sir Hugh Barton, an offer that was oversubscribed 56 times. The Keswick family, in consortium with several London-based banks and financial institutions, had bought out the controlling shares of the Buchanan-Jardine family for $84 million in 1959 but subsequently sold most of the shares at the time of the public offering, thereafter retaining only about 10% of the company.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

The Hong Kong Land owned Mandarin Oriental Hotel opened in 1963 as the first five-star hotel in Hong Kong's financial district, then one year later the firm's subsidiary Dairy Farm acquired the fledgling Wellcome supermarket chain, which has since grown into one of the largest retail operations in Asia.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

Although trade with the mainland virtually ceased with the coming of the 1966 Cultural Revolution, Jardines still managed to sell six Vickers Viscount passenger aircraft to the Chinese Government during this period.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

In 1970, Asia's first merchant bank, Jardine Fleming, opened for business reflecting the greater sophistication of Asia's financial markets and the increasing personal wealth of individuals, particularly those in Hong Kong.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

A 1972 attempt by the Keswick family to install Henry Keswick as chairman met with considerable resistance from supporters of then managing director David Newbigging. However, with the support of institutional investors in London, the Keswicks won the day. Henry was named senior managing director and his father John became chairman, thereby ensuring that the family retained control of Jardines.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

Jardines opened the Excelsior hotel in Hong Kong that same year on the site of the original Lot No. 1. purchased by James Matheson more than 120 years before.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

Henry Keswick arranged a complete buyout of Reunion Properties, a large real estate firm based in London in 1973, a takeover financed by the creation of an additional seven percent of Jardine Matheson equity. As a result of the acquisition, the company's assets nearly doubled. In the same year, Henry Keswick also oversaw the acquisition of Theo H. Davies & Company, a large trading company active in the Philippines and Hawaii that controlled 36,000 acres of sugar plantations. World sugar prices rose dramatically a few months after the company was purchased by Jardines as a result of the 1973 oil crisis, netting the company substantial gains.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

Hong Kong's building boom presented another opportunity, which Jardines seized with its acquisition in 1975 of leading construction and civil engineering group Gammon Construction. Likewise in the same year, recognising that there would be demand for quality cars among the increasingly affluent population, the company diversified into the luxury car market by acquiring Zung Fu Motors, which held the distribution rights for Mercedes-Benz vehicles in Hong Kong.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

The successful bid by Li Ka-shing owned Cheung Kong Holdings for development sites above the Central and Admiralty MTR stations in 1977 was the first challenge to the Jardine owned Hongkong Land as the premier property developer in Hong Kong.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

In 1979, Jardines re-established its presence in mainland China after an absence of more than 25 years with the opening of one of the first foreign representative offices in Beijing, followed by Shanghai and Guangzhou. A year later Maxim's Catering, in which Dairy Farm holds a 50% interest, established the Beijing Air Catering Company Ltd, the first foreign joint venture in mainland China since the start of the 'open door' policy. Jardine Schindler followed as the first industrial joint venture.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

That same year, Jardine also entered into a joint venture with advertising giant McCann Erickson to form McCann Erickson Jardine (China) Ltd. The new company's remit was to handle advertising for Western corporations in China as well as advertising in the West for Chinese government-owned foreign-trade corporations and other organisations.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

During this decade Jardines also expanded their insurance interests with acquisitions in the United Kingdom and the United States laying the groundwork for the foundation of Jardine Insurance Brokers.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

By 1980 the firm had operations in southern Africa, Australia, China, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, as well as the United States, and employed 37,000 people. During the following decade, Jardines continued to develop its portfolio of businesses. It expanded its motor interests to the United Kingdom, opened Hong Kong's first branded convenience store under the 7-Eleven franchise, acquired the Pizza Hut and IKEA franchises in Hong Kong and Taiwan and set up a joint venture with Mercedes-Benz in Southern China. Jardine Pacific was also established to bring together the Group's trading and services operations in the region and create larger business units.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

In late 1980, an unknown party began buying up shares in Jardines. Many observers suspected that either Li Ka-shing or Sir Y K Pao, working alone or together, was attempting to purchase a large enough share in Jardine Matheson to win control of Hongkong Land. In November that year, then Taipan David Newbigging restructured Jardine Matheson and Hongkong Land by increasing their interests in each other and making it impossible for any party to gain control of either company. As a result, however, both companies incurred significant debt. The costs of fighting off Li Ka-Shing and Sir YK Pao forced Jardines to sell its interests in Reunion Properties.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

Jardines marked its 150th anniversary in 1982 by setting up the Jardine Foundation, an educational trust offering Jardine Scholarships to students from the Southeast Asia region to attend Oxford and Cambridge universities. The Jardine Ambassadors Programme was also launched to give young group executives in Hong Kong an opportunity to help the community.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

Simon Keswick took over as Taipan in 1983 and quickly moved to reduce the firm's debt by disposing of their interest in the South African-based Rennies Consolidated Holdings. He also implemented a new, decentralised management system with separate divisions responsible for Hong Kong, International and China respectively.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

In 1984, Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited ('JMH') was formed as the Group's new holding company incorporated in Bermuda, a British overseas territory. This was done to ensure that the company would be under British law under a different takeover code. Two years later Dairy Farm and Mandarin Oriental were listed in Hong Kong. Jardine Strategic was incorporated to hold stakes in a number of group companies.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

In March 1988, Simon Keswick announced that he would step down. He was succeeded by Brian M. Powers, an American investment banker who became the first non-British Tai-pan of Jardines. The appointment caused concern among members of the company's more traditional Scottish establishment but Simon Keswick, who had reversed the company's decline, defended his choice of Powers, explaining that Jardine Matheson was now an international company with Hong Kong interests (not vice versa) and that Powers was best qualified to manage the affairs of such a firm. Subsequently, Powers successfully defended the firm against successive takeover bids by Sir Y K Pao and Li Ka-shing working together with the mainland's state-owned China International Trust & Investment Corp. (CITIC) by splitting the group into two interlocking corporate halves, Jardine Matheson and Jardine Strategic, making them virtually takeover-proof. The raiders subsequently signed a pledge that they would not try another attack on any Jardines firm for seven years.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

At the beginning of the 1990s, Jardine Matheson Holdings and four other listed group companies arranged primary share listings on the London Stock Exchange in addition to their Hong Kong listings.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

In 1994, Jardine Matheson asked Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) for an exemption from the takeover and mergers code, in order to give the company greater security if Chinese parties attempted a hostile takeover of its listed companies after Hong Kong's 1997 handover from British to Chinese sovereignty. However, the SFC refused and so Jardine firm delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (Hang Seng Index) in 1994 under the tenure of Alasdair Morrison and placed its primary listing in London. Officials in the People's Republic of China (PRC) regarded the delisting as a rebuke to the future of Hong Kong and the government of PRC. This caused trouble when Jardine Matheson attempted to participate in the Container Terminal 9 project but the group's business interests continued to be managed from Hong Kong and the East Asian focus of its business carried on as before.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

In 1996, Jardine Fleming was ordered to pay $20.3 million to three investors for alleged abusive and unsupervised securities allocation practices by Colin Armstrong, head of asset management.The 1997 Asian financial crisis severely affected both Robert Fleming, Jardine's partner in the venture and Jardine Fleming itself. Robert Fleming was forced to approve massive lay offs in late 1998. The firm restructured in 1999, buying the remaining 50% stake in Jardine Flemings in return for giving Jardine Matheson an 18% stake in Robert Flemings Holdings, which was subsequently sold to Chase Manhattan Bank for £4.4 billion ($7.7 billion) in April 2000.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

Other significant developments during this decade included the merging of Jardine Insurance Brokers with Lloyd Thompson to form Jardine Lloyd Thompson, the acquisition of a 16% interest in Singapore blue-chip Cycle & Carriage and Dairy Farm's purchase of a significant stake in Indonesia's leading supermarket group Hero. Mandarin Oriental also embarked on its strategy to double its available rooms and capitalise on its brand.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

During the first decade of the 21st Century Jardine Cycle & Carriage acquired an initial 31% stake in Astra International, which has since been increased to just over 50% and a 20% shareholding in Rothschilds Continuation Holdings, which rekindled a relationship that began in 1838. Hongkong Land became a Group subsidiary for the first time following a multi-year programme of steady open market purchases while Jardine Pacific raised its interest in Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited from 25% to 42%.

History of Jardine Matheson &amp; Co.

In 2002, the Group established MINDSET, a mental health charity spearheaded by Jardine Ambassadors as the central focus of the Group's philanthropic activities. In 2010 it officially opened MINDSET Place, a home for people recovering from the effects of chronic mental illness.