After 28 years on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, sourcing giant Li & Fung has officially gone private as its shares were delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE) after they lost over 94 percent of their value since 2011.
As a privately held company, Li & Fung will be managed by the Fung family and Singapore-headquartered global logistics warehouse operator and investor GLP Pte Ltd. The Fung family will retain a controlling share of the company with 60 percent of the voting shares.
Privatization of the company was prompted in part by Li & Fung’s fall from its perch as the leading middle man facilitating manufacturing and trade between factories in mainland China and brands and consumers around the world. As supply chains developed new demands and the value of the middleman waned, the company struggled to pivot, particularly as online shopping started to step into brick-and-mortar retail’s territory, and its volumes and profits took a hit.
Its focus now will be to create the digital supply chain of the future. The 114-year-old company is poised to put all of its efforts into a transformation that will empower it to deliver on the modern supply chain’s new demands.
