Billionaire Johann Rupert’s investment giant making it rain

Investment giant Remgro, chaired by billionaire businessman Johann Rupert, is expected to report another set of strong earnings for the first half of its 2026 financial year, with headline earnings growth as high as 41%.

This comes as the investment giant has sealed some notable deals over the past year, including its R13 billion deal with Vodacom.

On Friday, 13 March 2026, Remgro informed shareholders that it expects to report significantly higher headline earnings per share for the six months through December 2025.

Remgro expects headline earnings of between 914 and 948 cents per share, marking an increase of between 36% and 41% compared to the first half of its 2025 financial year.

The company attributed this growth to continued improvements in the operational performances of the majority of Remgro’s investee companies.

Some of Remgro’s holdings include well-known companies such as Mediclinic, RCL Foods, OUTsurance, Community Investment Ventures Holdings (CIVH), and Discovery.

More details on the performances of these companies will be seen in Remgro’s interim results for the six months to 31 December 2025, which are set to be released on 25 March 2026.

This six-month period saw Remgro on a deal-making spree, making substantial changes to its holdings and several landmark transactions.

One of the most notable was its deal with Vodacom, which received all the necessary regulatory green lights in November 2025, roughly four years after it was first announced.

This deal saw Vodacom buy a 30% stake in CIVH’s fibre assets. Remgro holds a 57% stake in CIVH, of which Maziv is a subsidiary that was established primarily to facilitate the transaction.

In turn, Maziv holds the assets of fibre network operator Vumatel and open-access backhaul provider Dark Fibre Africa.

This deal was a struggle to get through, with South Africa’s Competition Commission initially rejecting the transaction due to anti-competitive concerns.

However, a compromise was reached and, in mid-November 2025, the parties received the final approval they needed from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa.

The deals continue

This was not the last major deal Remgro would enter into in 2025, as in December, it announced that Investment Holding Limited (IHL) proposed restructuring its interest in Mediclinic.

Mediclinic Southern Africa is the third-largest private healthcare provider in Southern Africa, by number of licensed beds. Previously, Remgro held a 50% effective interest in the company. 

IHL is a Luxembourg-based wholly owned subsidiary of MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company Holding SA.

Remgro explained that IHL’s proposed restructuring would result in Remgro acquiring full ownership of Mediclinic Southern Africa.

IHL, in turn, would acquire full ownership of Hirslanden, the Swiss operations of Mediclinic Holdings.

Going into 2026, it appears as though Remgro’s dealings are not done, with the investment giant announcing on 11 March that it has further sold down its stake in FirstRand, South Africa’s most valuable bank.

Remgro announced that it had disposed of 52 million shares in FirstRand for a total of R4.88 billion.

This sell-off formed part of a broader restructuring of Remgro’s portfolio, with the company having focused on making its holdings more unique and less reliant on JSE-listed stocks.

FirstRand was not the only company on the chopping block as part of this restructuring, with Remgro also making several other changes to its holdings.

For example, it listed OUTsurance, delisted Mediclinic, and merged its interest in Distell with global brewing giant Heineken.