C. Brewer & Co.

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Hawaii's Big Five

C. Brewer & Co.

C. Brewer & Co., Ltd. is a Honolulu-based company that was once part of the Big Five companies in territorial Hawaii. The company at one time did most of its business in agriculture.

The company was founded by Captain James Hunnewell of Massachusetts in 1826, making it the oldest of Big Five companies. The company originally traded sandalwood with China. After the sandalwood industry in Hawaii died, a man named Charles Brewer joined the company. The company was later renamed after Brewer, who shifted the company's focus to supplying whaling ships. In 1863, the company entered Hawaii's sugar cane industry, managing three plantations on Maui.

The company emerged to become one of Hawaii's Big Five companies. Between 1978 and 1986, the company was owned by International Utilities Corp. In 1986, the company's Hawaii president led a $200 million buyout by other executives, investors, and friends. The move once again put control of the company into Hawaii hands, but it left the company in heavy debt.

By the end of the 20th century, the company still owned some 70,000 acres (280 km²) throughout the state. In 2001, however, the company's shareholders voted to liquidate C. Brewer & Co., Ltd., though the company's chairman, John W. A. "Doc" Buyers, said he would buy a large portion of the company's assets and form a successor company called C. Brewer Enterprises, which would be focused on the "wellness" industry. [1]