In October 2022, CEO East Africa broke the story of how one of Africa’s wealthiest families, the Oppenheimers, had acquired a majority 75% stake in Uganda’s third largest soft drinks manufacturer, Harris International, through their investment vehicle Oppenheimer Partners.
Harris International was founded in 2005 and is one of Uganda’s leading food and beverage companies. It is a proudly Ugandan company popularly known by its flagship brand, RIHAM.
Since its inception in 2005, the company has evolved and expanded its portfolio to more than 50 healthy, refreshing and enjoyable products such as Carbonated Soft Drinks, Natural Mineral Water, Fruit Juices, Malt & Energy Drinks, and a variety of Biscuits and Sweets.
More than 120 million litres of Hariss International Limited’s differentiated soft drinks are consumed per annum. At the same time, its other products are enjoyed by thousands of customers in Uganda and across East Africa every day.
Who are the Oppenheimers?
The Oppenheimers, led by their patriarch Nicky, are the third richest people in Africa with a net worth that Forbes estimates at almost $9.4bn in 2024. Only the Nigerian manufacturing tycoon, Aliko Dangote and Johan Rupert are richer. The Oppenheimers made the vast majority of their wealth in mining, with a story that goes back over 120 years ago.
In 1902, Nicky’s grandfather, Ernst Oppenheimer arrived in South Africa at the age of 22 to represent a London-based diamond brokerage in a transaction as a buyer and he never left. 15 years later, he started the Anglo-American Corporation, a mining company, with financial support from famed American financier, JP Morgan.
Through an Anglo-American company, Ernst purchased his first diamond mines in South Africa in 1919 before gaining control of DeBeers, the world’s largest diamond mining company in 1927 founded by Cecil Rhodes. This gave the Oppenhemiers a global monopoly over the world’s diamond industry which would last almost 85 years.
Ernst died in 1957 and was succeeded by his son, Harry who consolidated what his father had started. Harry turned his father’s upstart from just a South African company to global heights. In the 1950s, Anglo-American had become the world’s largest producer of gold while its twin, DeBeers commanded 90% of the world’s diamond trade as per Harry’s official biography, Harry Oppenheimer: Diamonds, Gold and Dynasty by Michael Cardo.
Harry would remain chairman of both Anglo-American Corporation and the DeBeers for 25 and 27 years respectively, retiring in 1982 and 1984. At this point, Anglo-American Corporation accounted for 25% of South Africa’s GDP and an estimated 60% (or more) of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. He also led Anglo-American’s expansion into South African banking, steel, sugar, and paper as the country’s isolation during apartheid prevented it from buying mines in foreign markets.
Energy Ministry Orders UEDCL Board to Investigate Top Management Over Performance GapsThe third generation of the Oppenheirmers, Nicky joined the company at the age of 23 as a personal assistant to his father, Harry. In 1998, he became the chairman of DeBeers and in 2012, he sold 40% of DeBeers to Anglo-American for $5.2bn ending their diamond dynasty as a family.
As per Bloomberg, Nicky received $390m as a dividend from this transaction and planned to invest the proceeds in Africa through his private equity firm, Tana Africa Capital, a joint venture with Singapore-based PE Firm, Temasek Holdings. He also invested in 4Di Capital, a South Africa-based venture capital firm that backs African startups.
Investing in Harris International.
In 2016, Nicky alongside his son, Jonathan and three other partners started Oppenheimer Partners, a new investment vehicle. As per its website, Oppenheimer Partners is described as a “global investment business with international expertise and extensive reach and experience”. The goal of the firm is to create value through making long-term investments as a strategic holder in any business they invest in.
Oppenheimer Partners has built an impressive Pan-African portfolio of investments already. Apart from Harris International, they have backed GZI, a leading supplier of aluminium beverage cans in Nigeria and West Africa, and Genser Energy, an energy company in Ghana that supplies power and gas to blue-chip mining companies, industrial giants and large-scale utilities, as well as AMROD, a Pan-African supplier of branded promotional products in South Africa with branches in five other African countries.
Oppenheimer Partners invested in Hariss International in mid-2020. One of the key sectors they focus on is FMCG which “benefits from the changing socio-economic, demographic and growth dynamics across Africa.”. Harris International was a good fit because of this.
Having become the majority shareholder, they partnered with the founder of the business.
Oppenheimer Partners will utilise Harris International’s deep experience and knowledge of global and African markets as well as expansive network and expertise to pursue growth opportunities in such a way as to make a real and permanent contribution to the well-being of the local communities throughout Uganda.
