Novartis

Novartis was founded in 1996 through the merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, two companies with a diverse corporate history.

Mercado Abierto Electrónico

Mercado Abierto Electrónico S.A. is the most important securities market in Argentina.

Muthanna Investment Company

Incorporated in 1999, Muthanna Investment Company is a leading Sharia-compliant investment player that offers a multitude of services including corporate finance and asset management with main emphasis on portfolio management; in addition it provides trading services, private equity and equity …

Xstrata

Xstrata in its current guise was created through an IPO on the London Stock Exchange in 2002, although it began operating in 1926 in Switzerland under the name Südelektra AG.

REN

REN covers two major lines of business: Electricity transmission and natural gas regasification, transportation and storage.

América Móvil

Since foundation in 2000, América Móvil has come to be ranked as Latin America’s leading telecommunications company.

Vale

Returning to the World Finance 100, the diversified multinational Vale is the second-largest mining player in the world.

Power Corporation of Canada

A Montreal-based diversified international management and holding company, Power Corporation of Canada has interests in premier companies in the financial services, communications and other business sectors in North America, Europe and Asia.

Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft is one of the world’s most recognised computing companies, and needs little introduction.

Daimler

The founder of Daimler, Gottlieb Daimler, has been credited along with business partner Carl Benzhave as the inventor of the automobile.

Procter & Gamble

Procter & Gamble is the company behind many of the world’s most recognised household names.

Tencent Holdings

Founded in 1998, Chinese online service provider Tencent Holdings has developed into one of the country’s largest ISPs.

Newcrest Mining

Established in 1966 as an offshoot of Newmont Mining Limited, Newcrest Mining acquired its current name just before the turn of the century.

Hengan International Group

Founded in 1985 by Sze Man Bok, Hengan International Group is a major Chinese retailer, producing products such as sanitary napkins, disposable diapers for both babies and adults as well as other personal hygiene essentials.

Union National Bank

Founded in 1982, UNB is a leading domestic bank in the United Arab Emirates.

Bharti Airtel

The major telecommunications contender was founded in 1995 by Sunil Bharti Mittal.

JustCommodity Software Solutions

JustCommodity is a commodity trading and risk management (CTRM) solution provider based in Singapore.

Hong Kong UST Business School

Established in 1991, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (often referred to as HKUST) was ranked the best university in Asia in 2011 by a QS Asian University Rankings department.

Grupo Mexico

Grupo Mexico SAB was founded in 1942 and started out as a construction company, originally operating under the name of Mexico Compañia Constructora.

Berkeley Mineral Resources

The strategic approach of British mineral processing company Berkeley Mineral Resources Plc is to process tailings at former mines by accessing above-ground dump deposits with known grades of metallurgy.

Alan Mulally

Esteemed American engineer Alan Mulally has served as CEO of Ford Motor Company since 2006.

CorpBanca

CorpBanca is Chile’s fourth-largest private bank by loans and deposits.

Andrew Forrest

Billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest is the chairman of Fortescue Metals group, formerly Allied Mining.

E-Star

Previously known as RFV, the Hungarian knowledge-based energy specialist works on complex, self-financed, supplier-independent enhancement projects in Central and Eastern Europe.

Carl Zeiss MicroImaging

Founded in 1846, Carl Zeiss MicroImaging has become the leading supplier of microscope systems.

Kamakura Corporation

Kamakura Corporation has, in just 21 years, become one of the globe’s top providers of risk management software, information and consulting services.

LontohCoal

One of the fastest-growing anthracite, coking and thermal coal mining companies in operation returns to the World Finance 100, first featuring in the 2010 list.

Ava FX

Ava FX is one of the world’s leading online forex and CFD trading brokers.

Visa

Founded in 1970 in Delaware, international payments technology company Visa connects businesses, consumers, governments and banks in over 200 nations through digital currency instead of cash.

Christian Dior

French high-fashion manufacturer and retailer Christian Dior has, since its inception in 1946, upheld the values that lifted the label to the top echelon of luxury brands.

Westpac

One of the continent’s largest banks, Westpac operates within five primary businesses and provides a wide range of products and services including wealth management, business and institutional banking, and retail banking.

Tadashi Yanai

Uniqlo founder and president of Fast Retailing, Tadashi Yanai regularly tops the rich-lists in Japan thanks to his ability to take calculated risks that pay off.

Shandong Gold Mining

Established 11 years ago, Shandong Gold Mining is considered one of China’s top three gold producers.

HTC

HTC, the Taiwanese manufacturer of smartphones, was founded in 1997 by Cher Wang, HT Cho, and Peter Chou.

China Life Insurance

China Life Insurance is the largest integrated insurer in China.

Banpu

Power company Banpu PLC was founded in Thailand in 1983.

Agile Property Holdings

Founded in 1985 in China, Agile Property Holdings Limited is a public company dealing in various forms of real estate.

Acer

Founded in 1976, technology firm Acer specialises in the production of PCs, notebooks, tablets TVs, projectors and smartphones, the latest launch being the Acer Liquidmini Ferrari Edition.

Lakshmi Mittal

Born in India in 1950, steel magnate Lakshmi Narayan Mittal is the chairman and CEO of the world’s largest steel making company, ArcelorMittal.

FedEx

Founded in 1971 as FDX Corporation, FedEx Corp is a logistics services company based in the US and headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.

SAP

Founded in 1972 in Germany, SAP (Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing) is one of the world’s major business software companies.

Saint-Gobain

Established in 1665, Saint-Gobain started out as a mirror manufacturer, and it has developed into a market leader in areas of habitat and construction markets.

Jack Dorsey

Known as the godfather of Twitter, Jack Dorsey is an American software creator and businessman.

Tsesnabank

Tsesnabank, one of the top-10 banks in Kazakhstan, with a countrywide network and 20-year history, has been looking for opportunities through the turbulent times of the crisis.

Iberdrola

The leading private electric utility, Iberdrola, is the largest renewable energy operator in the world, and its operations include generation, transmission, distribution and marketing of electricity and natural gas.

ABB

The ABB Group is a multinational market leader in power and automation technologies, specialising in power products, power systems, discrete automation, low voltage products and process automation.

Banco Santander

Banco Santander was founded in 1857 in Santander in Spain, and Alfredo Sáenz Abad serves as the company’s CEO.

Johnson & Johnson

Founded in 1886, Johnson & Johnson has just celebrated its 125th anniversary.

ING Group

The ING Group is a global financial institution founded in 1991 in the Netherlands. The company covers retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, asset management, and insurance services.

ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil is the world’s largest publicly traded international oil and gas company.

Apple

Founded in 1976, Apple is a multinational corporation specialising in consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers such as the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro.

Facebook

Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, the success of social network pioneer Facebook is like a modern-day fairytale.

Prof Dr Alexander Hemmelrath

Prof Dr Hemmelrath serves as Member of the Board of WTS GROUP Aktiengesellschaft. WTS is an international group of consulting companies operating in the tax, legal and business consulting sectors.

Dubai Islamic Bank

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), established in 1975, is the world’s first Islamic bank and the largest Islamic bank in the UAE and its shares are listed on the Dubai Financial Market.

HSBC

History has been kind to HSBC and its substantial international market presence, as it has achieved unthinkable success since its humble beginnings in 1865 within the former British colony of Hong Kong.

Reto Francioni

An illustrious record and a strategic management style in the German Stock Exchange since joining in 1993 earned Francioni the position of chairman and CEO at Deutsche Börse in 2005.

LiteForex Investments

US-based trading group LiteForex, launched in 2005, focuses on placing financial instruments on international currency markets as well as stock markets, precious metals markets and futures markets.

Carlos Ghosn

Carlos Ghosn is a Brazilian-Lebanese businessman born in 1954.

Intel

The American multinational technology giant was founded in 1968 by semiconductor pioneers Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore.

3M

Formerly known as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, 3M is a multinational conglomerate producing solutions for many different industries and purposes via a wide range of off-shoot companies.

Merck KGaA

A globally operating venture with German roots, the healthcare company’s business model encompasses medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, consumer health and animal products.

Novozymes

Danish biotech company Novozymes started its days in 1925 as a producer of insulin.

France Télécom

The Paris-based telecommunications giant is considered Europe’s third-largest provider and operates its platforms entirely under the Orange label today.

BASF

Founded in 1865 by Friedrich Engelhorn, German chemical company BASF (Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik) is the largest of its kind.

Rio Tinto

The major mining group, Rio Tinto, is a diversified venture with headquarters both in London and Melbourne.

Roche Holdings

The Switzerland-based healthcare company is one of the industry’s major players.

Société Générale

Société Générale has been voted among the most desired companies to work for and is one of France’s oldest banks with an A+ long-term debt ranking.

GDF Suez

Energy behemoth GDF Suez became the globe’s largest utility when Gaz de France merged with Suez in 2008.

Sanofi

Formed as Sanofi-Aventis in 2004, the global and diversified healthcare leader focuses on six growth areas including healthcare, vaccines, innovative products, emerging markets, diabetes, and animal health.

AXA

Paris-based AXA is a leading multinational group of companies that provides services within key areas including insurance, wealth management and healthcare.

Vodafone

The rise of the world’s largest mobile telecommunications network Vodafone, has been nothing short of astounding.

Goldman Sachs

New York-headquartered banking giant Goldman Sachs is a full service global investment banking and trading house with expertise in areas including securities, structured products, proprietary trading, and financial markets around the globe.

BNP Paribas

Created through the merger of Banque National de Paris and Paribas in 2010, BNP Paribas started out as a European bank and has grown to become a dominant international player in financial services.

Saxo Bank

Saxo Bank is a leading online trading and investment specialist.

ARM Holdings

What started off in Cambridge as Acorn Computers in 1978 has today grown to become ARM Holdings, one of the world’s leading designers of semiconductors.

Bank Aljazira

BAJ is a joint stock company recognised as one of the leading Shariah-compliant financial institutions in Saudi Arabia.

TFI Markets

TFI has been providing treasury services since 1999 through the TFIFX brand name. TFI offers tailor-made solutions for both individual and corporate clients for online and offline market access to currency trading, metals and commodities.

Agricultural Bank of China

When Beijing-based Agricultural Bank of China went public in 2010 it became the largest IPO on record to date, paving the way for the lender now regarded as a leader amongst the world’s top banks.

Google

What began in 1996 as a university project into the anatomy of hyper-textual web search for Stanford students Sergey Brin and Larry Page, is now Google, the globe’s most recognised brand for internet search, advertising technology and cloud computing.

Wells Fargo

Established in 1852 by the founders of American Express, Henry Wells and William Fargo, Wells Fargo set the tone of the company’s countrywide ambitions almost immediately.

Bruno Sälzer

Despite being born into a farming family, Sälzer pursued fashion and eventually became one of its pioneers, taking the helm of Escada in 2008.

.CO Internet

Founded by serial entrepreneur Juan Diego Calle in 2010, .CO has quickly become one of the most successful global domain extensions in history, with over one million web addresses registered by people in over 200 countries.

JPMorgan Chase & Co

A behemoth in financial services with a large hedge fund division, JPMorgan Chase has earned its reputation as a prized, client-driven frontrunner within investments, retail and securities.

IBM

Celebrating a century of innovation and hi-tech superiority, IBM grew from a machine tabulating company to an internationally celebrated technology giant which pioneered the development of computer mainframes.

Amazon.com

Amazon.com’s modest beginnings as an online bookstore are long gone, following its expansion into electronics, software, DVDs and even MP3s, apparel, food and furniture.

ConocoPhillips

As one of the six largest vertically integrated oil companies, energy giant ConocoPhillips is internationally renowned and celebrated for reservoir management, technology expertise in production, petroleum exploration, as well as 3D seismic technology.

Etihad Airways

The flag carrier of the UAE has become one of the fastest-growing airlines since its inception in 2003, priding itself on challenging and changing principles of airline hospitality.

DuPont

Rarely has a brand achieved as much versatility in its offering as innovative chemicals company DuPont.

GlaxoSmithKline

A rich history dating back to 1715 has moulded GlaxoSmithKline into an internationally recognised pharmaceuticals, vaccines, healthcare and biologics conglomerate.

IAC

IAC ranks among the top five internet businesses worldwide thanks to its prolific international network of websites that include Match.com, Dictionary.com, Ask.com, CityGrid Media, and Mindspark Interactive.

Mazaya Qatar Real Estate Development Company

A Qatari shareholding company headed by CEO Seraj Al Baker, Mazaya Qatar Real Estate Development Company offers a variety of services spanning real estate development and investment, including: consultancy and research, contracting, maintenance, commercial brokerage, marketing, and buildings and facilities …

Abdulkareem A. Abu Alnasr

A highly respected figure in the industry, Abdulkareem A. Abu Alnasr has won many awards in recognition from fellow leaders operating within the Islamic banking and finance sector.

FxPro

FxPro Financial Services Limited (FxPro) is an award-winning global forex broker with offices in London, Sydney, Madrid, Nice, Vienna, Moscow and Limassol.

Netflix

California-based Netflix has become synonymous with on-demand internet subscribed media and film streaming but chiefly revolutionised the movie rental industry with unconventional disc-by-mail alternatives.

Volkswagen Group

The German automotive group does not think small, considering the international expansion strategy that brought Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Audi, Skoda and SEAT to its roster of brands.

Banco Interacciones

The Mexican bank Banco Interacciones was founded in 1993 and operates as a subsidiary of Grupo Financiero Interacciones SA de CV.