1870 - 1948
Edwin John set out to Ceylon to join his brother George, a produce and exchange broker. On 1 January 1901, the company became E. John & Co., produce, exchange and share brokers. The business remained a partnership until 1948 when it amalgamated with two London tea broking firms, William Jas and Hy Thompson and Co., and Geo White and Co., and renamed itself E. John, Thompson, White & Co., Ltd, evolving into a private limited liability company.
1949 - 1973
E. John, Thompson, White & Co., Ltd. then sought to expand its activities and in 1960 merged with Keell & Waldock Ltd., another long established company engaged in produce, share and freight broking. The new entity John Keells Thompson White Ltd. marked its entry into the leisure industry with the acquisition of Walkers Tours and Travels Ceylon Ltd. one of country's leading tour operators in 1973.
1974 - 1985
In 1974, the firm became John Keells Ltd, a rupee quoted public company. In 1979, John Keels Holdings Ltd (JKH) was incorporated to hold, control and manage the many companies under the Keells umbrella. Mackinnons group of companies was brought into the John Keells fold bringing with it, the agencies for P&O and British Steam Navigation Co. With both Walkers and Mackinnons already engaged in tourism, John Keells invested heavily between 1978 and 1983 in the hotel and travel industry which was set to become a high growth sector.
1986 - 1990
In October 1986, John Keells Holdings Ltd., having acquired controlling interests in John Keells Ltd., and its subsidiary and associate companies, was quoted on the Colombo Stock Exchange following a doubly oversubscribed public share issue of 4,968,400 ten rupee ordinary shares. The group made steady inroads into other key areas of the economy, moving in 1987 into the export sector with Keells Diamonds Ltd. Another export venture, Keells Aquariums Ltd., was established in 1990 for the breeding of ornamental fish.
1991 - 1993
JKH acquired the Whittall Boustead & Co. Ltd in the largest ever deal at the time; a purchase that brought with it a vast amount of real estate in Colombo, Ceylon Cold Stores Ltd., Ceylon Holiday Resorts which owned Coral Gardens Hotel, Bentota Beach Hotel, a land in Trincomalee and a stake in Union Assurance. In 1992, the company entered into a joint venture with DHL International to form DHL Keells, the first fully represented Air Express company in Sri Lanka.
1994 - 1995
In 1994, John Keells Holdings became the first Sri Lankan entity to make a global issue of shares; with 2.25 million global depository receipts listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and traded over the counter (OTC) worldwide. In the same year Waldock Mackenzie Ltd., an investment bank wholly owned by John Keells Holdings Ltd., began operations.
In a 5050 joint venture with Richard Pieris & Co. Ltd., RPK Management Services (PVT) Ltd., was incorporated. This company acquired a controlling interest in Kegalle Plantations Ltd., and Maskeliya Plantations Ltd., in the privatization of regional plantation companies. The John Keells Group with the National Development Bank and the Central Finance Co. Ltd. also had a controlling stake in Tea Smallholders Factories Ltd., which was offered on sale by the Government.
1996 - 1999
In 1996, in the group's first major investment overseas, it acquired a lease on Velidhu Island Resort in the Maldives. Keells Plantations Management Services acquires a controlling interest in Namunukula Plantations which owns 12,000 hectares of tea and rubber.
John Keells Holdings was the first Sri Lankan company to post pre tax profits of over a billion rupees in the financial year 1997/08. A year later, Fortune magazine named JKH “One of the ten best Asian stocks to buy”. John Keells Computer Services was established to takeover the operations of John Keells Software.
In 1998 Nations Trust Bank (NTB) was established in a joint venture with the IFC and Central Finance. NTB subsequently acquired the business of the Colombo branch of Overseas Trust Bank of Hong Kong. During the year JKH also began operating a second Maldivian resort, Hakuraa Club.
