Hong Kong-headquartered supply-chain solutions company Li & Fung formally delists this afternoon (May 27) ending a 28-year tenure as a public company.
The family that founded the company 114 years ago will retain effective control of the business holding 60 per cent of the voting shares. However Singapore-based warehousing and logistics company GLP will hold 100 per cent of the non-voting shares, giving it an effective 67.67 per cent financial ownership of the business.
“We move forward with the next chapter of our transformation as a private business while maintaining our commitment to our staff, customers, suppliers, business partners, and the community of Hong Kong, who have together served as the foundation of Li & Fung for the past 114 years,” said Li & Fung group chairman Spencer Fung in a statement.
Group CEO Spencer Fung described today as “the start of a new journey” for the company as it focuses on achieving a fundamental transformation of the business.
“While there will be challenges to manage, Li & Fung will benefit greatly from our partnership with GLP. Our commitment to our retail and supply-chain partners remains as strong as ever.”
He said the company would continue to transform the business, which operates a sourcing and production platform in 50 countries, to meet “ever-changing consumer demands in a complex global environment”.
GLP co-founder and CEO Ming Mei said the two companies share a vision to create the digital supply chain of the future.
“I am confident that with its commitment to long-term transformation, Li & Fung will build upon its position as the global retail supply chain leader. I also look forward to exploring the areas where we can deepen our partnership and develop shared opportunities between logistics networks and technology innovation for our customers.”
The delisting formally occurs at 4pm Wednesday (May 27) and Li & Fung says checks to shareholders would be sent out on or before June 1.
GLP, described as “a leading global investment manager and business builder in logistics, real estate, infrastructure, finance and related technologies” operates in Brazil, China, Europe, China, INdia, Japan and the US with some US$89 billion in assets under management in real estate and private equity funds.
