Johann Rupert’s billions

South Africa’s richest man, Johann Rupert, derives most of his wealth from three companies – Richemont, Reinet Investments, and Remgro.

All three of these companies originated from Voorbrand, a tobacco company his father, Anton Rupert, started in the 1940s.

Voorbrand later became Rembrandt, which dominated the South African tobacco market for decades.

As Rembrandt thrived, it diversified into other sectors, including mining, financial services, engineering, and food.

Rembrandt’s international assets were spun off into Compagnie Financière Richemont, a Swiss-based luxury goods company.

Rembrandt and Richemont consolidated their tobacco assets under Rothmans International, which later merged with British American Tobacco (BAT).

Rembrandt was restructured into two publicly traded companies: Remgro, which managed its traditional assets, and VenFin, which handled its technology investments.

In 2008, Rupert created Reinet Investments, a company focused on non-luxury assets spun off from Richemont.

Rupert remains the chairman of Remgro, Richemont, and Reinet, making him one of the world’s top businessmen.

Richemont, with a market cap of over R1 trillion, is the third-largest luxury goods company in the world behind LVMH and Hermès.

Brands in the company’s stable include Cartier, Vacheron Constantin, Montblanc, Chloé, Panerai, Dunhill, Peter Millar, A Langhe & Söhne, and Delvaux.

Remgro, although much smaller than Richemont, also owns many top companies, including Mediclinic, Vumatel, Heineken, and TotalEnergies.

The Rupert family owns numerous properties around South Africa and internationally, including L’Ormarins, Rupert & Rothschild Vignerons, and La Motte.

However, the Rupert’s family’s wealth is mainly derived from their shareholding in Richemont, Reinet Investments, and Remgro.

Remgro

Johan Rupert and Anton Rupert Jnr. hold 7,551,005 shares in Remgro through an associate company, representing approximately 1.4% of the company’s issued share capital.

The Rupert family’s shareholding in Remgro amounts to around R1.12 billion. It is, therefore, a small part of their wealth.

However, the associate holds all of the 39,056,987 issued B-class ordinary shares, which gives the Ruperts 49.91% of Remgro’s voting rights.

Reinet Investments

The Anton Rupert Trusts holds 48.8 million ordinary shares in Reinet Investments, representing a 24.93% shareholding of the company’s total issued share capital.

The Rupert family’s shareholding in Reinet Investments amounts to R22 billion, much more than their Remgro investment.

The Ruperts also own the only 1,000 management shares issued by Reinet, which gives them, as General Partners of Reinet, broad powers to manage the company.

Richemont

The Rupert family holds 6,418,850 A-class ordinary shares in Richemont. They also hold the entire issued 537,582,089 B-class ordinary shares in Richemont.

These shares collectively give the Rupert family a 10.18% economic shareholding in Richemont, representing a R144 billion shareholding. It also gives the Rupert family 51% of the voting rights.

The Remgro, Reinet and Richemont shareholdings are collectively valued at around R167 billion.