The man who will take over the R209 billion Rupert empire

Johann Rupert’s son, Anton Rupert, is set to take over the family’s R209 billion business empire, including control over Richemont, Remgro, and Reinet.

Johann Rupert is South Africa’s richest man and one of Africa’s best-known and most influential businessmen.

His wealth stems from his father’s, Anton Rupert’s, business endeavours. He founded the Rembrandt Group, which dominated the South African cigarette and tobacco industry.

Rembrandt was a runaway success and expanded into other industries, such as financial services, mining, engineering, and food, in the 1970s.

Johann Rupert joined the family empire in 1984, and under his guidance, the company was transformed into a global business powerhouse.

Through various transactions, Rembrandt was transformed into Remgro, Compagnie Financiere Richemont, and Reinet.

• Remgro is an investment holding company based in Stellenbosch that is interested in banking, financial services, medical services, mining, petroleum, beverage, food, and other products.

• Richemont is a Switzerland-based luxury goods holding company that sells jewellery, watches, leather goods, pens, and accessories through its subsidiaries.

• Reinet is a Luxembourg-based investment vehicle that was demerged from the Swiss luxury goods company Richemont in 2008.

On 24 December 2024, Remgro’s market cap was R83 billion, Richemont’s was R1.48 trillion, and Reinet’s was R88 billion. The Rupert family has varying shareholdings in these companies.

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

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.

The Rupert family holds 6,418,850 A-class ordinary shares and 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 and 51% of the voting rights.

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 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.

Taking over the Rupert family empire

Johann Rupert has ruled his global business empire with an iron fist since he took the reins from his father.

However, at 74, he is busy with a succession plan. He has elevated younger leaders to senior management positions and made numerous leadership changes.

In a 2022 interview, he confirmed having the succession plan but refused to disclose details, stating that it would put undue pressure on the chosen successor.

Rupert merely said the non-executive directors on the board are aware of the succession plan and are in agreement.

From the Rembrandt era, it has been a family-run business, and the Ruperts have had full control over their companies.

This is likely to continue, which means that his son, Anton Rupert, will take over from his dad when the time comes.

Anton Rupert is very private, and it is difficult to find any information about him outside of his directorships in the Rupert-owned companies.

Anton was appointed to Richemont’s board as a non-executive director in 2017 and is a member of the Strategic Security Committee.

He was a member of Richemont’s Nominations Committee until April 2022 and a director of Watchfinder.co.uk from July 2018 to December 2019.

He was also a director of MQA Limited, a company specialising in innovative music coding technology, from April 2015 to March 2023.

He currently serves as a non‑executive director of Remgro. He was appointed to the board in 2018 and is a partner of Compagnie Financière Rupert.

“He brings valuable insight into changing consumer behaviour in digital marketing and web-based commerce,” Remgro said.

Remgro added that Anton Rupert has had extensive exposure to all of the group’s businesses since 2009.

Anton is a non-voting observer designated by Reinet Fund and F.I.S. to the board of Carbon, a leading digital manufacturing platform.

Since January 2021, he has been a member of the Advisory Board of Asia Partners Fund, a regional South East Asia private equity fund.

He served as a director of the Gary Player-designed Leopard Creek golf course, owned by Johann Rupert.

He was also a director of the Rupert family’s Franschhoek Motor Museum and their L’Ormarins Wine Estate.

He regularly appears at sporting events linked to his family business, like the Cartier Queen’s Cup at Windsor Great Park and the Laureus World Sports Awards.

Anton Rupert in the news

Although Anton Rupert stays out of the spotlight, he did make headlines for less-than-admirable events.

In 2008, he crashed his father’s 1995 Ferrari F50. Commenting on the accident, Johann Rupert explained that he trusted his son to drive his vintage cars.

“I have asked a number of people that I trust, including my son, to drive the museum cars. This has been going on for well over a year,” he said at the time.

“Anton has completed an advanced driving course and has been my co-driver in two Mille Miglia’s.”

“My wife and I are very proud of our three children. Despite growing up under an inevitable spotlight, they have all coped very well. They are not spoilt brats.”

Johann Rupert added that his son, Anton, normally drove an eight-year-old, second-hand Toyota.

In 2015, his neighbours complained about excessive noise at his home at De Waterkant in Green Point, Cape Town.

“Residents relayed how they lay awake until the crack of dawn as noise, laughter, power ballads, and house music boomed from Rupert’s house,” City Press reported.

Francesco Uys Rootenberg, secretary of the De Waterkant Civic Association, told City Press they had received seven complaints about noise emanating from Rupert’s house this past year.

“The nuisance identified was a combination of loud music, and people talking, shouting and laughing within the residence,” said Rootenberg.

Rupert wrote to the members of the De Waterkant Civic Association to offer a full apology for the disturbances and to let them know it would not happen again.