Wittington Investments

British holding company

Wittington Investments LimitedCompany type| Private

|

Industry| Holding company
Founded| 1941; 84 years ago (1941)
Founder| W. Garfield Weston
Headquarters| London, England, UK

Key people

| Sir Guy Weston (chairman)[1]
Revenue|  £14.133 billion (2020)[1]
Total assets|  £15.5 billion (2019)[2]
Owners|

* Garfield Weston Foundation (79.2%)
* Weston family (20.8%)

Subsidiaries| Associated British Foods (54.5%), Fortnum & Mason, Heal's, Wittington Properties
Website| wittington-investments.co.uk
Wittington Investments, LimitedCompany type| Private

|

Industry| Holding company
Founded| 1952; 73 years ago (1952)
Founder| W. Garfield Weston
Headquarters|

Toronto

Canada

Key people

| Galen Weston Jr.
Owners| Weston family

Wittington Investments Limited is the name of two privately owned holding companies, one based in Britain, the other in Canada. Both companies are controlled by the Weston family.[3] Through these holding companies, the Weston family control some of the biggest names in food and retail on both sides of the Atlantic, including Loblaws and Associated British Foods.

## British business

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The British business was incorporated in 1941 and is based in London, England.[4] 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 businessman W. Garfield Weston (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.

Wittington Investments owns 54.5% of Associated British Foods, 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.[5] Associated British Foods also owns British Sugar, processor of the entire UK beet crop and producer of half the UK consumption of sugar.[6] Further assets include ownership of the British department store Fortnum & Mason,[7] as well as Heal's, a chain of homeware and furnishing stores in the UK.[8]

## Canadian business

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"Wittington Investments, Limited" was founded by W. Garfield Weston in 1952 and is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[9] The company is the majority shareholder in the North American holding company George Weston Limited,[10] owner of Choice Properties real estate investment trust, controlling shareholder in Loblaw Companies Limited,[11] Canada's largest supermarket retailer and its in house retail brands including President's Choice, No Name and Joe Fresh.[12] In 1963, Wittington Investments subsidiary, DICOA, (Diversified Companies of America) purchased the controlling share in Howardsgate Holdings, owners of Fine Fare supermarkets and it's various grocery brands, from Associated British Foods for $11.7 million after the business lost $3.7 million.[13] Howardsgate Holdings was sold in 1966 to another subsidiary George Weston Limited,[14] before being sold back to Associated British Foods.[15][16]

In December 2020, the Weston family announced that Galen Weston Jr. had succeeded his father (Galen Weston Sr.) as the controlling shareholder of Wittington Investments, Limited.[10] This company was the owner of the Selfridges Group of department store chains, including Selfridges in the UK, Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland, and De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands.[17] 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 and Austrian firm Signa Holding.[18][19]

In 2024, Wittington Invesments became a Limited Partner in Radical Ventures first $800-million USD growth fund.[20]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Wittington Investments Limited". Retrieved 2023-10-01.
2. ^ "WITTINGTON INVESTMENTS LIMITED company key information". UK.GlobalDatabase.com. 1941-03-22. Retrieved 2022-12-04.
3. ^ "Wittington Investments Limited". Companies House. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
4. ^ "Company Overview of Wittington Investments Limited". Bloomberg Business. 31 August 2015.
5. ^ Associated British Foods. "Annual Report 2011" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
6. ^ "Obituary: Garry Weston". The Independent. UK. 16 February 2002. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
7. ^ "Wittington Investments Limited". Companies House. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
8. ^ "Weston dynasty furnishes Heal's with new home". The Guardian. 21 June 2001.
9. ^ "Wittington Investments, Limited". Dun & Bradstreet. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
10. ^ a b "Weston Family Announces Succession". newswire.ca. Retrieved 2022-01-27.
11. ^ "George Weston Limited – 2015 Annual Report" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 24, 2018. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
12. ^ Loblaw Companies Limited 2010 annual report. Toronto: Loblaw Companies Limited. 2011.
13. ^ Davies, Charles (1987). Bread men : How the Westons built an international empire. Key Porter Books. p. 111-112. ISBN 1550130501.
14. ^ Davies, Charles (1987). Bread men : How the Westons built an international empire. Key Porter Books. p. 113-114. ISBN 1550130501.
15. ^ George Weston Ltd (1967). 1967. p. 8.
16. ^ George Weston Ltd (1968). 1968.
17. ^ "Brown Thomas and Arnotts may sell in £4bn Selfridges deal". Irish Times. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
18. ^ "Selfridges sold for £4bn to Thai-Austrian alliance". BBC News. 2021-12-24. Retrieved 2021-12-24.
19. ^ "CENTRAL GROUP AND SIGNA HOLDING TO ACQUIRE SELFRIDGES GROUP FROM THE WESTON FAMILY". selfridgespress.com. Selfridges. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
20. ^ "Radical Ventures launches $800-million USD AI growth fund | BetaKit". 2024-08-15. Retrieved 2024-08-16.

## External links

[edit]

* 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)

* v
* t
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Associated British Foods

Current operations|

* AB Agri Ltd
* Abitec Corporation
* Abitec Ltd
* Argo cornstarch
* Allied Mills
* Allinson
* British Sugar
* Frontier (50%)
* G Costa
* George Weston Foods
* Illovo Sugar
* Kingsmill
* Mozolo oil
* Ovaltine (except USA)
* Patak's
* Primark
* Ryvita
* Silver Spoon
* Sunblest
* Twinings

Former operations|

* Burton's Biscuits
* Dairy Wrap Produce
* Fine Fare
* Kingsway Fresh Foods
* Lifestyle Sports
* Power Supermarkets Limited
* Stewarts Supermarkets Limited

People|

* W. Garfield Weston
* Garry Weston
* George G. Weston
* Guy Weston

Other|

* Garfield Weston Foundation
* George Weston Limited
* Wittington Investments

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