The Toll Group is one of the largest logistics companies in Australia. It provides transportation, warehousing, and distribution services to a wide range of industries across Australia and Asia. The company has a complex ownership structure with multiple shareholders. In this article, we will look at the key shareholders of Toll Holdings Limited, the parent company of the Toll Group.
Brief History of Toll Group
The Toll Group has its origins as a small family owned transport business founded in Newcastle in 1888 by Albert Toll. Over the decades, the business expanded across Australia through acquisitions and organic growth. In 1986, the Toll family sold the business to Japanese logistics company Nippon Express. In 1995, the publicly listed transportation company Brambles Limited acquired Nippon Express’s 50% stake in Toll Holdings. This gave Brambles full ownership of Toll. During the 2000s, under Brambles ownership, Toll Group expanded significantly in Australia and Asia, including major acquisitions like Patrick Corporation.
In 2006, Brambles demerged Toll Group, listing it as a separate entity on the Australian Securities Exchange under the name Toll Holdings Limited. This demerger created an independent Toll Group focused on transportation and logistics services.
Current Ownership Structure
Today, Toll Holdings Limited trades on the ASX and has a market capitalization of around A$8 billion as of October 2023. It has a diverse share register consisting of institutional investors and private shareholders. No single shareholder owns a controlling stake in the company.
Let’s look at the major shareholders:
Major Shareholders
Institutional Investors
Institutional investors hold the bulk of shares in Toll Holdings. Some of the major institutional shareholders include:
Shareholder | Ownership Percentage |
BlackRock | 14.99% |
The Vanguard Group | 5.7% |
Commonwealth Bank of Australia | 4.2% |
BlackRock, an American investment management corporation, is the largest institutional investor in Toll Holdings with about 15% ownership stake. Other major institutional investors are Vanguard Group and Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
In total, institutional investors account for around 70% of the ownership of Toll Holdings. These large investment funds invest on behalf of their clients and beneficially own the shares.
Japara Family
The Japara family, descendants of Albert Toll, have an ownership interest in Toll Holdings via their investment company Japara Holdings. Japara Holdings has an approximately 7% stake in Toll, making them the second largest shareholder after BlackRock.
Toll Management
Toll’s senior management and directors own a small proportion of shares, totaling around 1.3% ownership.
Other Major Shareholders
Apart from the above, other shareholders with at least a 1% stake in Toll Holdings are:
Shareholder | Ownership Percentage |
IOOF Holdings Limited | 1.8% |
Dimensional Fund Advisors | 1.5% |
FIL Limited | 1.1% |
Full Ownership Breakdown
Collating the major shareholders covered earlier, here is the summarized ownership breakdown of Toll Holdings:
Shareholder Category | Ownership Percentage |
Institutional Investors | 70% |
Japara Holdings | 7% |
Toll Management | 1.3% |
Other Major Shareholders | 4.4% |
Remaining Shareholders | 17.3% |
To summarize, while Toll Holdings has a diverse shareholder base, institutional investors hold a controlling majority of 70% shares. The Japara family is the largest individual shareholder with 7% ownership. No single shareholder owns more than 15% of the company. The free float is approximately 80%.
Recent Changes in Ownership
There have been some changes in the shareholder register of Toll Holdings in recent years:
Increase in Institutional Investors
Institutional ownership has increased gradually over the past decade, going from around 65% in 2013 to the current 70% levels. Large investment managers like BlackRock, Vanguard and Commonwealth Bank have steadily built up their stakes.
Japara Reduced Stake
In 2015, the Japara family sold a portion of their shareholding, reducing their ownership from around 20% to the current 7% levels.
New Major Shareholders
Several new institutional shareholders have emerged with over 1% stakes in the last few years. This includes Dimensional Fund Advisors, IOOF Holdings and FIL Limited.
Reasons for Diverse Ownership
There are several reasons why Toll Holdings has such a diverse shareholder register rather than a single majority owner:
Publicly Listed Company
Toll Group has been a publicly listed company for many years. Public listing and trading on the ASX stock exchange facilitates wider share ownership rather than concentration in the hands of a single owner.
Corporate Actions Drove Dispersion
Key corporate actions such as the Brambles demerger in 2006 and the Japara selldown in 2015 distributed shares widely to new owners. This reduced concentrated ownership.
Attracts Institutional Investors
Toll’s business fundamentals and size makes it an attractive investment for large professional money managers. Institutions invest on behalf of millions of underlying clients.
Lack of Takeover Appeal
Toll’s low profits and high debt levels make it less appealing for an outright corporate or private equity takeover. This also enables the diverse shareholding structure.
Impact of Ownership Structure
The dispersed ownership structure has some implications:
Oversight Difficult
With no single majority shareholder, oversight and strategic direction for management can be less focused compared to a company with a clear controlling owner.
Management Autonomy
Management likely has more autonomy in operating decisions as they don’t have to align with the interests of one key shareholder.
Balanced Perspectives
But diverse owners can also be positive by balancing varying shareholder perspectives rather than being skewed towards one.
Conclusion
In summary, Toll Holdings has a wide array of institutional and individual shareholders, with no single majority owner. The largest shareholders are BlackRock, Japara Holdings and The Vanguard Group, each holding less than 15% of stock. Share ownership has become more diversified due to Toll’s public listing history and past corporate actions. This creates both challenges and advantages in aligning management oversight with responsibilities towards a dispersed shareholder base. Going forward, gradual shifts in the mix of investors are likely given Toll’s strong appeal to institutional investors managing billions of dollars in funds.