Swire Pacific Ltd bids goodbye to Chairman Christopher Pratt who recently announced his retirement from the firm. The Hong Kong trading house, subsequently, named John Slosar as Pratt's successor.

Christopher Pratt, put in 35 years of service to the Swire Pacific group, but will officially hand over the reins to Slosar by March of next year. 

Slosar, who was Cathay Pacific's Chief-Executive-Officer in 2011, revitalized the said company's earnings under his term through strategic cut-backs on capacity and marginal reductions on the number of operated planes. Slosar will be leading both Swire Pacific and Swire Properties Ltd when he steps into office.

Incidentally, Swire Pacific is currently dealing with hardships because of the first decline of commercial rents in Hong Kong since 2008. The lower figures for retail rents and home sales caused Swire's property division to miss estimate profits foresighted by analysts as the unit reported yesterday.