About

Founded in China in 1832, Jardine Matheson (Jardines) is a Hong Kong based business conglomerate that has a broad portfolio of market-leading companies. There is a mixture of long term property investments and cash generating income businesses predominately across Asia, but the company’s future business strategy is seeing it make inroads into Western Europe as well. The group employs 440,000 people and has businesses in the motor industry, property development and investment, food retail, home furnishing, construction and engineering, insurance, transport, restaurants, luxury hotels, financial services, mining, machinery and agribusiness. The legal function of the group has been run by Jeremy Parr, group general counsel, since 2015 and managed by Stephen Hopkins, group legal manager. Handling the legal affairs of such a diverse range of businesses requires support that is agile, knowledgeable and wide-ranging. The group is constantly expanding, and its businesses are growing which also poses challenges for the in-house legal team. In particular one of its luxury hotel brands – Mandarin Oriental – is expanding with the announcement of a takeover of a hotel in Lake Como, Italy beginning in 2019. This task will demand close oversight and support from the legal department, whose advice will ensure the transaction is completed in a compliant and efficient way.