NOTE I
THE REORGANIZATION
OF THE RAND SELECTION
CORPORATION
as the preceding chapter has
made clear, the relations between Rand Selection Corporation,
Consolidated Mines Selection Company, and Anglo American Corporation
have always been very close. With the completion of its financial year
ending on 30 September i960, Rand Selection Corporation had reached the
sixty-ninth year of its existence. The year was marked by the
announcement of financial proposals which were intended to
revolutionize its position; as Mr. H. F. Oppenheimer explained in the
chairman's statement accompanying the annual report: 'If our proposals
are accepted, Rand Selection Corporation will become the largest
investment company in South Africa, with a portfolio of exceptional
merit both as regards its security and growth potential', its assets
rising from approximately £23 million to approximately £102 million.
The technical nature of the operation was a twofold one. First, the
enlargement of the capital and the assets of the De Beers Investment
Trust, a subsidiary of De Beers Consolidated Mines, by the transfer to
it of assets held by certain mining houses or subsidiaries of such
houses9 in exchange for shares; secondly, the acquisition by
Rand Selection Corporation of the entire capital of the so enlarged De
Beers Investment Trust—again in exchange for shares. Existing
shareholders were, further, to be offered shares, the net effect being
that the authorized capital of Rand Selection Corporation was to be
increased, in terms of shares, from eight million to thirty-five
million, and in terms of money, from £2 million to .£8,750,000.
This
scheme of reorganization, which was subsequently adopted, was
recommended to shareholders by the chairman in the following words:
I
believe that these proposals open up new vistas of progress for us and
will allow this corporation to make a highly significant contribution
to the
9
Anglo American Corporation, certain subsidiaries of the British South
Africa Company, Central Mining and Investment Company, De Beers
Consolidated Mines, International Nickel Company of Canada,
Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Company, and Engelhard Hanovia.
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