China Merchants Group

About China Merchants Group

China Merchants Group Limited (招商局集团有限公司) is a Chinese state-owned conglomerate whose businesses span ports and logistics, shipping, finance, property and marine engineering.^[1] Its registered office is in the China Merchants Building on Jianguo Road in Chaoyang, Beijing, and the legal entity behind the group was registered on 13 October 1986.^[2][3] The group descends from the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company, founded in Shanghai in 1872 by the Viceroy Li Hongzhang, and took its present name when it was nationalised and reorganised in 1935.^[1] It owns Oriental Merchant Pty Ltd, the Australian importer and wholesaler of Asian groceries whose brands reach Australian supermarkets.^[4]

The group is held by the Chinese state, with no company above it: Wikidata and the Ethical Consumer Group's ownership record both put it wholly in the hands of the government of the People's Republic of China,^[5][4] and GLEIF records no accounting consolidation parent for it, direct or ultimate.^[6] It reports twelve main subsidiaries and about 230,000 employees across its core sectors.^[1] Its link to Australian grocery shelves runs through Oriental Merchant Pty Ltd of Laverton North, Victoria, formed in February 1990 when the Yiu family's Hong Oriental Food merged with China Merchants;^[7] since 2 October 2023 China Merchants Group has been the registered person with significant control of that company's British arm, Oriental Merchant (Europe) Limited, holding 75 % or more of its shares and voting rights.^[3]