Lonrho

History

Origins (1909–1998)

Lonrho traces its historical roots to the original Lonrho plc, which was incorporated in the United Kingdom on 13 May 1909 as the London and Rhodesian Mining and Land Company Limited.

By the late 20th century, Lonrho plc had grown into one of the world's largest conglomerates, reportedly controlling more than 800 subsidiary companies across 80 countries.

From 1962 to 1993, the company was led by businessman Tiny Rowland, whose tenure attracted significant public and academic scrutiny. While criticised in political discourse—including being described by Prime Minister Edward Heath as the "unacceptable face of capitalism"—subsequent scholarship has argued that Lonrho plc operated in close alignment with British governmental and commercial interests in post-independence Africa.

Formation of Lonrho Africa plc

The modern company known as Lonrho was incorporated on 26 February 1998 as Lonrho Africa plc, following a demerger from Lonrho plc, which was subsequently renamed Lonmin.

Under the terms of the demerger, Lonrho Africa plc assumed ownership of Lonmin’s non-mining African assets, while the mining businesses were retained by Lonmin.

The company formally adopted the name Lonrho plc on 10 May 2007 following shareholder approval.

Operations and investments

Lonrho pursued investments across several African markets, with business interests including agricultural production, logistics, hospitality, infrastructure development, and aviation-related services.

The company was an early funding partner in the African low-cost airline Fastjet. This followed the exchange of its stake in Fly540 for shares in Rubicon Diversified Investments plc, which was subsequently renamed Fastjet in August 2012.

Takeover and delisting

In 2013, Lonrho plc agreed to a £174.5 million takeover by FS Africa, a bid vehicle controlled by Swiss investors Thomas Schmidheiny and Rainer-Marc Frey.

Following the acquisition, the company was delisted from the London Stock Exchange, JSE Limited, and the OTCQX.

References

References

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2. "1988 – Directory of the World's Largest Companies: Lonrho PLC – Corporate Information". United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations.
3. (2003). "Colonialism: An International Social, Cultural and Political Encyclopedia". ABC-CLIO.
4. Uche, Chibuike. (2015). "Lonrho in Africa: The Unacceptable Face of Capitalism or the Ugly Face of Neo-Colonialism?". Enterprise & Society.
5. (22 August 2013). "Market Access Profile – Lonrho Plc". McGraw Hill Financial.
6. (2004). "Lonmin plc History". International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 66.
7. (11 December 2012). "Lonmin – 2012 Rights Issue Prospectus". Lonmin Plc.
8. (February 2012). "Lonrho plc / Lonrho Africa plc / Lonmin plc". Equiniti.
9. (31 December 2013). "Fastjet plc Annual Report 2013". Fastjet plc.
10. "Lonrho departs Fastjet's share register".
11. Osborne, Alistair. (15 May 2013). "Lonrho bows out after sale to Swiss investors for £175m". The Daily Telegraph.
12. Allix, Mark. (15 May 2013). "FS Africa to buy Lonrho for £175m". Business Day Live.
13. (29 July 2013). "Thomas Eggar acts for Lonrho Plc in £170m takeover and de-listing". Thomas Eggar.
14. (7 June 2013). "Takeovers". Investors Chronicle.