Sime Darby

Infobox_Company
company_name = Sime Darby Berhad
company_| company_type = Public
company_slogan = "Developing Sustainable Futures"
foundation = Established 1910
location = Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
key_people = Tun Musa bin Hitam (Chairman)
Ahmad Zubir Bin Murshid (President & Group CEO)
Razidan Ghazalli (Group CFO)
num_employees = Over 104,000
industry = Plantation, Motors, Industrial, Property, Energy & Utlities
revenue = 20.74 billion MYR June 2007
(Profit 1.51 billion MYR)
homepage = [http://www.simedarby.com www.simedarby.com]

Sime Darby (myx|4197) is a major company in Malaysia and one of South East Asia's largest multinational corporations with involvement in over 20 countries. Sime Darby is listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad with a market capitalisation of approximately RM 70 billion as of 27 February 2007.

History of Sime Darby

Sime Darby, which was established in 1910 to manage convert|500|acre|km2 of plantations land in Malacca, takes its name from its two founders, William Middleton Sime, a Scottish adventurer and fortune seeker, and Henry Darby, an English banker.

William Middleton Sime

William Middleton Sime was a 37-year-old Scottish adventurer and fortune seeker. He had two failed ventures behind him – one in import-export business and the other in coffee plantations - when he left his job as a merchantile assistant in Singapore.

Henry Darby

Henry Derby was a wealthy 50-year-old English banker who owned property in Northern Malaya.

Malaysianisation

In the late 1970s just under half the equity in Sime Darby Holdings was acquired by Malaysian investors – mainly through Tradewinds (Malaysia) Sendirian Berhad. In December 1979 with the incorporation of two new Malaysian entities, Sime Darby Berhad (SDB) and Consolidated Plantations Berhad (CPB), Sime Darby moved its headquarters to Kuala Lumpur and became a Malaysian registered and managed concern. By 1983, the Malaysian equity stood at over 54%.

History of Kumpulan Guthrie Berhad

The company was founded in Singapore in 1821 by Alexander Guthrie: it was the first British trading company in South East Asia. Guthrie introduced rubber and oil palm in Malaysia in 1896 and 1924 respectively.

Malaysianisation

In 1981, the group became a wholly Malaysian-owned company after former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad engineered a raid by Pemodalan Nasional Berhad to take over the group at the London Stock Exchange.

Guthrie Group was made a public company in 1987 and was subsequently listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) in 1989 in what was then the largest public issue in Malaysia.

History of Golden Hope

In 1905 "Harrison and Crossfield", a British tea and coffee trading company, purchased several small estates in Malaysia for £50,000 and amalgamated them to form the "Golden Hope Rubber Estate". [http://www.answers.com/topic/elementis-plc?cat=biz-fin Elementis] ]

Malaysianisation

In 1982 "Harrison and Crossfield" sold three large plantation groups - Golden Hope, Pataling, and London Asiatic - to Malaysian concerns for £146 million. The business was renamed "Golden Hope Plantations Berhad" in 1990 after Pemodalan Nasional Berhad took majority equity of the company. Its interests originally were in tropical agriculture but, while plantations have remained a core business interest, the company has diversified into other areas including glycerine manufacture, fruit juices and real estate. The group now has 83 subsidiaries based in seven countries. The main estate and plantations are Carey Island and Banting in Selangor.

Merger

In January 2007, the three Malaysian giants merged into the vehicle entity named Synergy Drive and on 27 November 2007, Synergy Drive was renamed Sime Darby Berhad.

Post Merger

Sime Darby Berhad, the merged entity of three Malaysian corporations is a diversified Malaysian multinational with a workforce of 104,300 employees. Its core businesses are plantations, property, motor, heavy equipment and energy & utilities which are expected to benefit from continued population growth and economic development within the Asia Pacific region and the global economy. Sime Darby's non-core business units such as healthcare, insurance, and home products are grouped under its Allied Products and Services division (APS). Subsidiaries under APS include Subang Jaya Medical Centre (healthcare), Sime Alexander Forbes (insurance), and Dunlopillo Malaysia Sdn Bhd (home products). It also has a controlling share in the supermarket chain Tesco in Malaysia. Sime Darby is a multinational company, with more than 60 percent of the group’s revenue coming from abroad.

As a result of the merger, Sime Darby became one of the world’s leading listed oil palm plantation groups. Sime Darby Berhad also has a significant presence in downstream palm oil activities. The merger also made Sime Darby a leading developer of residential and commercial communities. Furthermore it holds Caterpillar rights in 12 countries worldwide and distributorship and dealership of well known motor brands such as BMW. The current President and Group Chief Executive is Dato’ Seri Ahmad Zubir Murshid.

ustainable Practices

Sime Darby plantations implemented Zero Burning Planting Techniques (ZBPT), a practical and environmentally sound technique of replanting, in 1989: the old and uneconomical stands of oil palms and other tree crops are felled and shredded and left to decompose in situ.

References

See also

*Guthrie Berhad
*Golden Hope

External links

* [http://www.simedarby.com/ Official site]