Lonrho

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Lonrho
Company type Private
Industry Conglomerate
Founded26 February 1998 (as Lonrho Africa plc)
Headquarters London, W1, United Kingdom
RevenueIncrease2.svg £206.5 million (2013)
Total assets Decrease2.svg £328.5 million (2013)
Number of employees
3,415 (2013)
Website www.lonrho.com

Lonrho is a London-based conglomerate with operations primarily focused on Africa. The company was established in 1998 as Lonrho Africa plc following a corporate demerger from Lonmin, and operates across multiple sectors including agribusiness, infrastructure, transport, hospitality, and support services. [1]

Contents

Although it shares its name with the earlier mining-focused Lonrho plc (now Lonmin), the present-day Lonrho is a distinct corporate entity formed to hold and manage non-mining African assets.

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. [2] [3]

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. [2]

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. [4]

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. [5] [6]

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. [7]

The company formally adopted the name Lonrho plc on 10 May 2007 following shareholder approval. [8]

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. [9] [10]

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. [11] [12]

Following the acquisition, the company was delisted from the London Stock Exchange, JSE Limited, and the OTCQX. [13] [14]

References

  1. ↑ "Lonrho Plc's Strategy & Vision" . Retrieved 29 October 2012.
  2. 1 2 "1988 – Directory of the World's Largest Companies: Lonrho PLC – Corporate Information" (PDF). United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 December 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  3. ↑ Page, Melvin E., ed. (2003). Colonialism: An International Social, Cultural and Political Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. pp. 350–351. ISBN   1-57607-335-1.
  4. ↑ Uche, Chibuike (2015). "Lonrho in Africa: The Unacceptable Face of Capitalism or the Ugly Face of Neo-Colonialism?". Enterprise & Society. 16 (2): 354–380. doi:10.1017/eso.2014.31.
  5. ↑ "Market Access Profile – Lonrho Plc" (PDF). McGraw Hill Financial. 22 August 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  6. ↑ "Lonmin plc History". International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 66. 2004. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  7. ↑ "Lonmin – 2012 Rights Issue Prospectus" (PDF). Lonmin Plc. 11 December 2012. p. 156. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  8. ↑ "Lonrho plc / Lonrho Africa plc / Lonmin plc" (PDF). Equiniti. February 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
  9. ↑ "Fastjet plc Annual Report 2013" (PDF). Fastjet plc. 31 December 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  10. ↑ "Lonrho departs Fastjet's share register" . Retrieved 5 April 2014.
  11. ↑ Osborne, Alistair (15 May 2013). "Lonrho bows out after sale to Swiss investors for £175m". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  12. ↑ Allix, Mark (15 May 2013). "FS Africa to buy Lonrho for £175m". Business Day Live. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  13. ↑ "Thomas Eggar acts for Lonrho Plc in £170m takeover and de-listing". Thomas Eggar. 29 July 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  14. ↑ "Takeovers" (PDF). Investors Chronicle. 7 June 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
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