Lincoln Pan, incoming CEO of Jardine Matheson.
Jardine Matheson
Jardine Matheson, the Hong Kong-based conglomerate helmed by the billionaire Keswick family, has named a private equity maven as its new CEO amid the nearly-two-century-old company’s corporate overhaul.
Jardines on Thursday announced that Lincoln Pan will succeed John Witt as head of the conglomerate from December 1. Pan is currently a partner and co-head of private equity at Weijian Shan’s PAG. Previously he was CEO for greater China at U.K. insurance broker Willis Towers Watson, and had stints at Japanese private equity firm Advantage Partners and U.S. consulting firm McKinsey.
Witt, who has been with Jardines since 1993, will retire from all his roles at the conglomerate and its units, except at property arm Hongkong Land, where he will remain chairman.
In a statement, Ben Keswick, executive chairman of Jardines and the fifth-generation scion of the Scottish clan, said “Lincoln’s wealth of investment experience in the Asia Pacific region and track record of working with company boards and management teams makes him extremely well-placed to lead Jardines.”
Ben Keswick (left), executive chairman of Jardine Matheson, meets with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng in Beijing, China on June 1, 2023.
Liu Weibing/Xinhua via Getty Images
Jardines, whose roots date back to 1832 as a tea and opium trading house, has businesses across Asia ranging from property development to hospitality, car dealerships, heavy engineering, financial services and logistics. In recent years, it has been deriving the bulk of its profits from Indonesian conglomerate Astra International. Its other units include Hongkong Land, a major landlord in Hong Kong’s Central business district; the Mandarin Oriental luxury hotel group; and DFI Retail, which operates the 7-Eleven franchise, IKEA outlets and other supermarket chains in Asia.
The appointment of an outsider to lead the conglomerate comes as Jardines is trying to modernise its operations to boost efficiency and shareholder returns. In its 2024 earnings report, Jardines said it’s transitioning from being an “owner-operator” of its portfolio companies to a “long-term, engaged investor,” focusing on board-level oversight rather than day-to-day management. It has added independent non-executive directors on its board and appointed outsiders to head some of its units. Recent appointments include Michael Smith, ex-regional CEO for Europe and the U.S. at Mapletree Investments, who succeeded Hongkong Land veteran Robert Wrong as CEO of the property giant.
These changes are part of an overhaul orchestrated by Keswick, who took the reins as executive chairman in 2019 from his uncle Henry (Henry passed away in November). Two years into his tenure, Keswick engineered a $5.5 billion buyout to delist Jardines’ second-largest unit, Jardine Strategic. The restructuring untangled Jardines’ complex cross-shareholding structure that was set up in the 1980s to defend it against hostile takeovers following an attempt by Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong’s richest person, to acquire Hongkong Land.
“Jardines has changed a lot since we simplified the holding company structure into a more efficient and investor-friendly Group,” Keswick said in the statement. “We have been on an ongoing transition away from our historical owner-operator model, towards becoming an engaged investor with a sharpened focus on generating superior, long-term returns for shareholders”
Pan said leaving PAG was an “incredibly difficult decision,” and that he looks forward to helping steer Jardines towards its “ambitious financial objectives…while preserving the Jardines’ long-term approach and unique culture.”
