1841, Seth Ebrahim Noordin, a man who survived a shipwreck and arrived India on a bale of cotton, came ashore Hong Kong with the British East India Company just a few months after the British landed. Within a mere year, he set up Abdoolally Ebrahim to trade cotton, silk and tea, and founded Hong Kong's first ever cross-harbour ferry services. In 1951 Abdoolally Ebrahim was changed from a partnership to a limited company that went by the name of Abdoolally Ebrahim & Co (HK) Ltd, now the principal subsidiary of the Abdoolally Ebrahim Group (AEG).

While most of the Indian firms established in those early days no longer exist, AEG not only survived the wars and numerous disturbances that have rocked Hong Kong, it out-lasted recessions and external trade embargoes. As the ex-colony grew from a 'barren island' to one of the largest commercial centres of the world, the group shared its fortune and rose into a prosperous international corporation with subsidiaries dealing in a wide variety of businesses. Today, run by the family's 5th generation descendent as a newly restructured corporate entity, AEG is not only one of the oldest trading houses of Hong Kong, it is HSBC's oldest surviving client