29 June 2000The Diethelm family has sold its shares in Diethelm
& Co to Ed Keller Holdings, ending a 113-year
association with the company founded by Swiss pioneer
Wilhelm Heinrich Diethelm simultaneously in Zurich and
Singapore in 1887.
Both the family and Ed Keller Holdings have agreed to
keep absolute secrecy on the sale price of the shares.
According to a press release issued by Umbricht, Attorneys
at Law, based in Zurich, the sale took place in the first
quarter of this year. To industry observers, the sale does
not come as a surprise.
Eveline (Evie) S Diethelm, great-granddaughter of
Wilhelm Heinrich, is the investor behind Asian Trails, a
company she started with Luzi Matzig, formerly group
managing director of Diethelm Travel in Thailand.
The new business interest pitted her directly against
Diethelm Travel in Thailand. The press release said she
"decided to follow the family tradition of doing business
in the Far East". Management of Diethelm & Co changed
hands in 1993.
"After the death of Mark Diethelm, grandson of the
founder in 1993, and a brief interregnum by his widow, a
changeover took place at the head of the company with the
election of Andreas W Keller as chairman of the board of
directors," the release said.
Diethelm & Co entered Singapore in 1887 when Wilhelm
Heinrich took over the Dutch company Hooglandt in
Singapore. At the same time, he opened the first Diethelm
office in Zurich.
With time, the company expanded and is today, a global
company with business interests that go beyond trading.