BIG DEAL.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18682, 4 May 1926, Page 5

BIG DEAL.

ANTHONY HORDERN AND SONS. HISTORIC BUSINESS SOLD. PURCHASE TRICE £2,900,000. Tho business of .\ nth«my Hordern and Sons Limited, Sydney, lias been sold lo a new company at a price of £2,900,000. The new company will have as chairman Sir Mark Sheldon, and a new board of directors will be appointed as soon as the company lias been legally constituted. Provisional directors have already been appointed. The controlling capital for the new business will bo found mainly in .Sydney, but shares will be held in Melbourne, Adelaide, and Brisbane. This salo represents tho largest business .sale that has ever taken place hi tho history of Australia. Mr Justly Raw-lings, the present general manager, is to be managing director of the new company. IE is understood that Sir Samuel Hordern. desires to bo free in future- to attend to public matters outside business, and before doing so ho desired to ■wind up the trust estate left in his control under tho terms of his father's will. For this reason Sir Baniuel will re tiro entirely from business life, and tho money from the sale, which is (o be a cash transaction, will lxs divided according to tho terms of tho trust. Information received indicated that far better terms might have been secured had Sir Samuel been willing to hare tho business sold to a syndicate of speculators for resale- to the public, but he absolutely refused to do so, and under the provisions of the sale agreement tho interests of the public have been carefully protected. There are to bo no special commissions or brokerage. The subscribed capital of tho new company is to be the amount of the actual sale—£2,9oo,ooo—and this is to be divided into debentures, first preference, and ordinary shares. Tho prospectus will, it is understood, he issued at the end of the month, but it will be for public information only. All tho money required for the purchase of the business was secured by firm offers.

There are over 3000 employees of the firm of Anthony Hordern and Sons, Limited, and the floors for the sale of goods on Brickfield Hill occupy just over 20 acres. The companv has its own factories for the of furniture, bicycles, marble goods, ironworks of different kinds, including bedsteads, clothing of alt kinds, sporting goods and other materials sold in the shop. There is a wide ramification of depots for the delivery of goods to the different suburbs. The coihpany owns its own garage for the fleet of motor-cars which take the goods to these depots, for distribution by horse vans to customers within and beyond the metropolitan area. History of the Finn. On Friday, August 6th, 1823, Mr and Mrs Anthony Hordern arrived in Sydnev with two sons- —Anthony and Lebbeua, and Mr Hordern had with him a parchment which permitted him to make ft land selection. He did not avail himself of this, but set Up as a wheelwright in King street, near Truth lane, on the site until recently occti- j pied by the Stal 1 and Garter Hotel. Later he removed to the corner of ' •George and Grosvenor streets, where there id at present a drapery establishment, and there he commenced business a 8 a draper» whilst his wife looked after the millittery department. The younger Anthony went- to Melbourne (then Port Phillip), and started business, and was later followed by his father. The younger Anthony, believing that his father made a mistake in leaving Sydney, returned to that city, and started the business out of which the present emporium developed. The first shop was on Brickfield Hill, where there was then a brick kiln in operation. The first business was carried on under the name of L. and A. Hordern, but after a few years the brothers dissolved partnership, and Anthony opened a business at George street, Haymarket, and in 1856, he transferred into a new double-fronted shop. At first the business was that of a draper only, but later grocery was added. The first Anthony Hordern died in 1869, and his son Anthony in 1876. He left two sons—Anthony and Samuel—to carry on the business of the father, which Was valued for probate at bver £40.000. The sons developed the business very rapidly, adding new shop aftef new shop to the concern, until they became knqjvn as "universal providers." Thiß business was carried oh at the Palace Emporium, Haymirket, under the title of Anthony Hofdetn and Sous. Anthony Hordern (the third) died at sea- in 1886, and the business was tlfeV continued by Samuel, -who prospered exceedingly. On Julv 10th, 1901, the premises Were entirely destroyed by fire, and Samuel Hofdern immediately made arrangements for the building of the present enormous structure at Brickfield Hill, and tho hew building was completed in 1901. Samuel Hordern, who may be regarded ad the founder of the fortunes of the present family, died m 1909 a millionaire nearly four times over, and under-the terms of # his wl 1 the estate became trust property, with tho present' Sir Samuel as the governing director. In order to facilitate the carrying out of the terms of the trust, tho estate was turned into a limited company in 1912, and Sir Samuel has since retained control of the business. Irt 1917 he asked Mr Justly Rawlings, who was then in charge of the London office of the firm, to come to Sydney as managing director of the company, and sinco then the management has mainly devolved on Mr Rawlings, whilst Sir Samuel devoted more of. his time to public affairs, and especially the development of the Royal Agricultural Society, of which he has been president for many years. Under the guidance of Mr Rawlings, tho firms developed considerably, two new storeys were added, and last year new frontages wero put in all the windows ot 'Georgo street. Pitt street, and Goul'burn strcot. In addition, many thousands were spent in providing accommodation for the welfare of the staff, which is ono of tho most contented of any of the business firms in Sydney;

Anthony Hordern atod Sons, Ltd. Tho nominal capital of the company was £3,600,000, in £1 shares. The shareholders were:—Mary A. Angehnetta 610, Mary C. Bellamy 1018, J. I<. Booth 10,001 plus 52,500, P. S. Booth 963, P H. Boney 1216, Louisa Bull 1776, Clare E. Curtin 283, Mary Curtin 282,' Monica Curtin 283, Alice J. Hawkins 837. A. J. GarbUtt 610, J. W. eneh 763, J. H. Harris 13,500, J. H. Hodcson 1033, Anthony Hordern 64,961. LeEbeus Hordern 10,457. Sir Samuel Hordern 07,389, Eileen M. Hugheß 282, W. K. Johnson 800, Annio Kimmins 382, osecufor of the late John Lumsden 3640, E. Porter 3382. J. G. Pritchard 1276, A. B. PurselJ 640, J. Rawlings 19,000. T. Road 1233, V. Read 10,501, Sarah A. Roberts 1-/0, P. J. Smith 5014, T. Jtt. Smith 610, H. U. Tear 010, Beatrice M. Turner 282, I Trustees of Estate of late S. Hordern 3.031,497, Edith B. Booth 847, J. B. Hawkins 3172, C. M. Savidge 2115,