ANGLO AMERICAN CORPORATION 89
Bank,
agreed to join the board. Ernest Oppenheimer and W. L. Honnold were
made permanent directors, and Mr. F. R. Lynch and Mr. E. S. Langerman
were appointed alternates (Mr. Lynch was at the time managing director
of the Consolidated Mines Selection Company). In addition to Honnold,
two other Americans joined the Board, Mr. Sabin, of the Guaranty Trust
Company, and Mr. W. B. Thompson.4
The Anglo American Corporation of South Africa Limited was duly incorporated on 25 September 1917. The original capital was £1,000,000 which could be increased to £2,000,000
without the necessity of a general meeting, though the borrowing powers
were not to exceed twice the nominal capital for the time being without
the sanction of such a meeting.
In
the light of the subsequent evolution of Anglo American Corporation
and of the present level of costs and prices, the figure of one million
pounds may not seem a very large one. At the time, however, though
outranked by some of the larger groups, the capitalization of Anglo
American Corporation was not unimpressive. Consolidated Gold Fields and
the Johannesburg Consolidated Investment companies had authorized (and
paid-up) capitals of £4-5 million in 1918. Central Mining's capital was £3-4 million: but General Mining's capital was only £1*875 million, Goerz and Company (later the Union Corporation) had a capital of £875,000 and Rand Mines one of £550,000. Consolidated Mines had a capital of £600,000 and Rand Selection a capital of £550,000. (No allowances have been made in these comparisons for reserve funds or outstanding debenture debt.)
The
announcement of the formation of the new mining house was widely
commented upon by the Press, both in London and South Africa. Perhaps,
naturally, in the circumstances of the time, it was the association of
American names with the new venture that attracted most attention. The Rand Daily Mail's headline of 26 September 1917, 'American millions for the Rand', was, even if exaggerated, typical. Even the London Times of
28 September 1917 headed its comment 'American capital for the Rand',
remarking that the formation of Anglo American Corporation 'meant the
beginning of a new epoch, for it is the first occasion on which a
definite arrangement has been
4
It was through Mr. Thompson that the Newmont Mining Corporation became
shareholders in the Anglo American Corporation and were subsequently to
be associated also with the Rhodesian Anglo American and, therefore,
with the base metal activities in Northern Rhodesia. Messrs. J. P.
Morgan and Company also became large shareholders.
