Arnhold Holdings Ltd.

Arnhold Holdings Ltd (Stock Code: SEHK 0102) is a public company listed on the and is a leading name in the distribution of building materials and engineering equipment in China. It is the corporate descendant of Arnhold, Karberg & Co., a company founded in 1857, and prominent "amongst the merchants who have contributed largely to the development of China's commerce" in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Employing more than 650 people, its headquarters has been in Hong Kong since 1949, with sales offices in both Shanghai and Macau.

Though Germany was not a colonial power in Asia, its merchants carried on an active trade there. Throughout the nineteenth century, German firms became increasingly competitive with those of other western countries. In the opening decades of the twentieth century Canton (modern day Guangzhou) was the centre for trade, but it declined in importance with the development of ports in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

The firm of L.E. Lebert & Oxford was formed in Canton on 4 December 1857. Lebert subsequently terminated his involvement in the firm, leading to the creation of Oxford and Co.

Arnhold & Karberg & Co. (德商瑞记洋行) was founded by Jacob Arnhold, a German Jewish businessman, and Peter Karberg, a Danish merchant, as a German-registered trading company in September 1866 on Honam island (the modern day Haizhu District), on the opposite bank of the Pearl River to Canton, where all the foreign offices were then located. The firm relocated to Shameen Island when Britain and France located concessions there in 1859.

Initially the firm operated on a "small scale", but "by perseverance, acumen, and integrity it rapidly increased its business and expanded its sphere." The firm opened its first branch in Hong Kong in 1867, and its next in Shanghai on 1 January 1881. By 1901 the firm had 37 branches throughout China, including branches with European staff in Tientsin, Hankow, Tsingtau, Wuhu, Kiukiang, Newchwang, Chungking, and Mukden, while branches with Chinese only staff in Peking, Tsinanfu, and Kirin, among others. Additionally the firm had "numerous Chinese agencies."

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