Johann Rupert’s holding company, Remgro, has sold its remaining shares in banking group FirstRand for R3.59bn.
The group said on Wednesday that the disposal of 39.6-million shares was conducted through on-market transactions.
The latest disposal follows the sale of nearly 52-million shares for an aggregate consideration of R4.88bn earlier this year.
Last year, the Rupert family ended its generational association with the tobacco industry, which played a big role in its wealth generation over the decades. In January 2025, Reinet announced its exit from British American Tobacco (BAT), selling its 43.3-million shares for £1.221bn (R26.72bn).
Business Day reported in December that Rupert, South Africa’s richest man, had a stellar 2025, with his family’s wealth up more than $5bn (R81.4bn), as the family closes in on breaking into the top 100 richest in the world bracket.
According to data from the Bloomberg billionaires’ index, the Rupert family added $5.3bn to their bounty last year, taking the family’s valuation to $18.9bn.
Remgro was up 16% last year, with a market valuation of R95bn, while Reinet grew 25%.
Remgro also has investments in Mediclinic, Heineken, RCL Foods, Rainbow Chicken, OUTsurance, TotalEnergies and eMedia, among others.
In March, the group boosted its interim dividend by 80% after its core portfolio performed strongly in the first half.
Its headline earnings for the six months to end-December increased by 38.8% to R5.175bn. HEPS was up by 38.5% to 931c and an interim dividend of 173c per share was declared, 80.2% higher than a year ago.
The strong results were boosted by increased contributions from Mediclinic (R485m), Rainbow Chicken (R280m), Community Investment Ventures Holdings (CIVH) (R264m) and Heineken Beverages (R166m) due to improved operational performances.
With Kabelo Khumalo
Business Day
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