Doing the right thing
Being respectful
Showing resilience
Staying connected
Making a difference
Out of the box thinking
Doing hard things
Continuing to learn
Thoughtful actions
We are proud of our values-based culture that has been developed over many generations and continues to be the core driver of our success. Our people embody our values of integrity, initiative and accountability.
Our culture is our competitive advantage. It underpins and drives our investment approach. All members of Soul Patts’ small, close-knit investment team, led by the MD & CEO are actively involved in decisions. This encourages robust debate and peer review, ensuring capital is deployed where we believe it will generate enduring value.
At Soul Patts we pride ourselves on fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce of more than 50 dedicated people. Our employee value proposition (EVP) is designed to attract and retain the best talent who drive our purpose of generating enduring success and contribute to a strong workplace culture.
At the time of our public listing in 1903, Soul Patts had 21 pharmacy stores. By the 1950s, it dominated the retail pharmacy market nationwide.
The 1960s and 1970s marked our diversification into building materials and resources, which included the investments in Brickworks Ltd and the purchase of what is now New Hope Corporation.
The 1980s saw us expand into media with the purchase of NBN Television, which over time grew into TPG Telecom, the third largest telco in Australia.
In 2021, we acquired one of Australia’s largest listed investment companies, Milton Corporation. This transformed our scale and liquidity, allowing us to pursue a wider range of investment opportunities.
Our investment portfolio is designed to pivot to where we identify superior risk-adjusted returns. Our belief in being purposefully diversified – by industry and asset class – has enabled Soul Patts to weather market cycles and generate sustainable shareholder returns over the longer term.
Our current portfolio houses more than 200 individual investments in private, public and real assets. We are disciplined in our approach and active when opportunities arise, supported by our strong balance sheet and our reputation as trusted stewards of our shareholders’ capital.
While Soul Patts no longer owns Australian pharmacies, many of the investments made decades ago remain large positions in today’s portfolio.
Lewy Pattinson opened his first Balmain pharmacy.
Washington H. Soul Pattinson & Co was incorporated, listed on the Sydney Stock Exchange (now ASX).
42 retail pharmacy stores which expanded to 300 agency stores nationwide by 1980s.
Diversification into building materials (Brickworks), resources (New Hope), and media (TPG Telecom).
Divested remaining interest in the Australian pharmacy operation (API).
Strategic merger with Milton Corporation.
Diversified investment house with a total portfolio Net Asset Value of $11.8 billion.
Soul Patts remains one of the few public companies that has been managed by the same family from the outset. Our story started when Caleb Soul and his son Washington opened their first store at 177 Pitt Street, Sydney, in 1872, while Lewy Pattinson opened his first pharmacy in Balmain in 1886. The men became friends.
Some years later Washington Soul approached his old friend, Lewy Pattinson, and asked if Pattinson & Co. would buy him out. Pattinson agreed and after discussion with his partners, Pattinson and Co. bought out Washington H. Soul and Co., effective from 1st April 1902.
Out of respect for his old friends, Lewy Pattinson included the name of Washington H. Soul in the name of the new Company, Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Limited, incorporated on 21 January, 1903 and listed on the Sydney Stock Exchange (now the Australian Securities Exchange). Today, we are affectionately known as Soul Patts and our Chairman, Robert Millner AO, Lewy’s great-grandson, represents the fourth generation of the family to Chair the Company.