Johann Rupert’s R146 billion ‘stepchild’ enters new era
Reinet reported a decrease of €13 million (R274.78 million) in its net asset value (NAV) between December 2024 and March 2025.
Billionaire Johann Rupert’s investment vehicle reported a NAV of €6.93 billion (at the time, R135.18 billion) at the end of December.
However, on Tuesday, 29 April, the company reported that by 31 March, its NAV had fallen to €6.92 billion (R146.13 billion).
Therefore, the company gained NAV in rand terms, but saw a decrease of €13 million in its reporting currency.
In the announcement revealing its NAV as of March 2025, the company said this amount reflects Reinet Fund’s shareholding in the Pension Insurance Corporation, its other investments and cash resources, together with other assets and liabilities.
This is the first time Reinet has reported its NAV since selling its significant stake in British American Tobacco (BAT) earlier this year.
Reinet and its chairman, Johann Rupert, have a long history with BAT that came to an end when the company sold its over 48 million shares in the tobacco giant over the past few months.
On 30 September 2024, Reinet owned 48.3 million BAT ordinary shares, comprising 24% of the net asset value of the company.
During November and December 2024, Reinet sold 5 million BAT ordinary shares through a dribble-out process for £148.5 million.
It will sell the remaining 43.3 million British American Tobacco shares to institutional investors at a price of £ 28.20 each.
Through this transaction, Reinet raised approximately £1.221 billion (R28 billion), which, combined with the previous £148.5 million, came to £1.370 billion (R31.6 billion).
After the sale, Reinet was left with around R2 billion in listed investments and R91 billion in unlisted investments.
Reinet’s unlisted investments are split between its wholly owned interest in Pension Insurance Corporation – its biggest holding – and other private equity funds.
End of an era
The Rupert family’s wealth was built on tobacco. Johann Rupert’s father, Anton Rupert, established Voorbrand, a tobacco company, in the 1940s.
Voorbrand was the forerunner of Rembrandt, which entered the South African cigarette and tobacco industry in 1948.
Rembrandt was a runaway success in South Africa, listing on the JSE less than a decade after being founded.
Throughout the 1970s, Rembrandt expanded into other industries, like financial services, mining, engineering and food.
A decade or so later, in the 1980s, Johann Rupert spun off Rembrandt’s international assets to form Swiss-based luxury goods holding company Compagnie Financiere Richemont, which holds brands like Cartier and Montblanc.
Rembrandt and Richemont consolidated their tobacco interests in Rothmans International in 1995.
A few years later, these tobacco interests were merged with those of British American Tobacco.
In 2008, Richemont’s non-luxury-related activities, which housed its tobacco interests, were spun off into a third company, Reinet Investments.
Therefore, Reinet’s principal asset was Richemont’s former interest in British American Tobacco, which accounted for 24% of its NAV – until recently.
Between September 2024 and January 2025, Reinet made the surprising decision to sell its stake in the tobacco giant, marking the end of the companies’ long history together.
This transaction raised an estimated £1.370 billion (R31.6 billion) for Reinet at the time, which the company said would be used for future investment opportunities.
Reinet’s 2024 annual report showed that the Rupert Family, through the Anton Rupert Trust, the Anton Rupert Descendants Trust and affiliated parties, hold around 48.8 million of Reinet’s ordinary shares.
This represents around 24.93% of the company’s total issued share capital, meaning the Rupert family indirectly made an estimated R7.9 billion in cash from Reinet’s sale of its interest in BAT.
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