The story
The network was formed in 1969. The current name was derived from Hodgson Landau Brands, which was based on some of the early members: Hodgson Harris, founded in 1877 by Robert Hodgson (UK), Mann Judd Landau, founded in 1926 as Fred Landau & Co by Fred Landau, (US) and Brands & Wolff (Netherlands). In the course of time, these three names all disappeared through mergers, and the network shortened its name to HLB International in 1990.
From Wikipedia’s article on HLB International, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4