Theo H. Davies & Co.

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Hawaii's Big Five

Theo H. Davies & Co.

Theo H. Davies & Co. is a formerly Hawaii-based company that was once part of the Big Five sugarcane companies in territorial Hawaii.

The company was founded in 1845 by Englishmen James Starkey and Robert Janion as a small trading company under the name Starkey, Janion, & Co. In 1857, Theophilus Harris Davies arrived in Hawaii and joined the company, which by then had changed its name to Janion, Green & Co. Davies worked his way up in the company and eventually became Janion's partner after Janion dissolved his partnership with Mr. Green. Davies took full control of the company after Janion died in 1881, and incorporated his growing interests in the sugar industry. Under the laws of the Provisional Government, it became Theo. H. Davies & Co., Ltd. in January, 1894.

After Davies died in 1898, the company remained in family hands until 1973, when the family sold the company to Hong Kong-based conglomerate Jardine Matheson. Davies became the first company to get out of sugar, and it diversified its holdings, owning the Pizza Hut and Taco Bell franchises in Hawaii, as well as the franchises for Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar.

Starting in 2003, Jardine gradually sold its various holdings in the islands.