Our Culture

At Hili Ventures, we have two priorities: growing our business and supporting our people to grow in their professional and personal lives. We believe that our business will only prosper if our people prosper within it.  It’s that simple. Our secret? Opportunity.

We are expert at seeing opportunity and potential and we pursue them relentlessly. That’s why we are an open, collaborative, and multi-cultural organisation. We thrive on communication, connectivity and diversity. We train, mentor and inspire so everyone can be the best they can be. And we do all this with the utmost integrity and transparency.

We may be present in 11 countries around Europe and North Africa (so far, at least!) but we never let hierarchy or geography get in our way. We invest heavily in travel to bring people together whenever we can. Our business and HR planning processes are designed so that none of our teams ever feel isolated, wherever they are based. And, if you’d like to take up an opportunity with another company within Hili Ventures outside your country, there are procedures to help you take the plunge.

Our philosophy is stemmed in five values.

They guide every decision, every action we take.

Integrity

Care

Ambition

Innovation

Impact for Good

Our Story

We build on a legacy that’s a 100 years old!

We do business proudly through our underlying groups of companies engaged in food service & retail, real estate & hospitality, and shipping, engineering & technology in 11 countries thanks to a fantastic team of more than 11,000 people.

1923

How it all started

Carmelo Caruana trades in grain and other goods and expands into shipping.
1923
1970

Carmelo Caruana Shipping Agency

The Hili brothers join Carmelo Caruana Shipping Agency

1970
1988

Carmelo Caruana Company

Carmelo Caruana Shipping Agency is established as a limited liability company

1988
1992

Motherwell Bridge

A joint venture with Motherwell Bridge Group of Scotland offers engineering services to the oil and gas industry, ports and utilities.

1992
1995

Hili Company

Carmelo Caruana Company changes its name to Hili Company to act as the group’s investment arm.

1995
1995

McDonald’s in Malta

First Food Franchises acquires the McDonald’s developmental licence for Malta.

1995
2000

Baltic Container Terminal

The group acquires the Baltic Container Terminal in Riga

2000
2003

Mariner SpA

Mariner SpA, the ports holding company, acquires 50% in Terminal Intermodale Venezia

2003
2005

Premier Capital

Premier Capital is set up and acquires 75% of First Food Franchises.

2005
2007

McDonald’s in the Baltics

Premier Capital acquires the McDonald’s developmental licence for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

2007
2011

McDonald’s in Greece

Premier Capital acquires McDonald’s developmental licence for Greece.

2011
2012

PTL

The group acquires Philip Toledo Ltd in Malta, which rebrands to PTL.

2012
2013

Hili Ventures

The group is split. Mariner continues port business separately. Hili Ventures is set up as the holding company for the other business lines.

2013
2014

SAD in Poland

PTL International acquires SAD in Poland.

2014
2016

McDonald’s in Romania

Premier Capital acquires McDonald’s developmental licence for Romania.

2016
2016

ALLcom in Poland

Logistics company ALLcom joins the group.

2016
2016

TechniPlus in Morocco

Engineering company TechniPlus joins the group.

2016
2017

1923 Investments plc

1923 Investments plc is set up to hold three groups – Harvest Technology, iSpot Holdings and Hili Logistics

2017
2018

Hili Finance Company plc

Hili Finance Company plc is established to act as a holding, financing and investment company

2018
2019

Cobalt Leasing Ltd

Cobalt Leasing Ltd established to trade in containers

2019
2019

HV Marine Ltd

HV Marine Ltd established as the holding company of a diversified and reputable array of businesses within the marine industry

2019
2019

HV Hospitality Ltd

HV Hospitality Ltd established as an investor in distinct properties and locations around Europe

2019
2020

STS Marine Solutions

1923 Investments acquires STS Marine Solutions, to oversee global ship-to-ship operations, and service major oil companies and their fleets 

2020
2022

iRiparo in Germany

1923 Investments enters into a Master Franchise Agreement with iRiparo S.r.l. (“iRiparo”), a leading European retailer supplying refurbished phones, high quality mobile device repair and accessories

2022

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