TheRembrandt Group, officially known asRembrandt Trust (Proprietary) Limited, is a South African tobacco and industrial conglomerate founded by tycoonAnton Rupert who oversaw its eventual transition to the industrial and luxury branded goods sectors. Rembrandt was split intoRemgro (aninvestment company with financial, mining and industrial interests) andRichemont (a Swiss-based luxury goods group).

Rupert launched the group in 1948 when he was working as a chemistry lecturer at the University of Pretoria, purchased two small cigarette-making machines, and was granted a concession to sell cigarettes.^[1]

Rupert originally established the tobacco company "Voorbrand" in the 1940s. He soon renamed it Rembrandt Ltd. The first Rembrandt cigarettes were manufactured in an old flour mill inPaarl. Four years later Rupert introduced the world to the first king-sized cigarette filter. It was a wild success and it was on the back of this and a R1,5 million loan fromSanlam that Rembrandt's vast overseas empire was built.^[2] In 1968, it incorporatedRemgro as an investment holding company with interests in financial, mining and industrial interests.

By 1972, the group was producing 1/15 of all cigarettes sold worldwide. However, the group's international subsidiaries were not consolidated, nor were the group's financial results.Rothmans International was created in 1972 to engage that consolidation. It created the fifth largest producer of cigarettes worldwide.^[3] The cash generated from the sale of tobacco was invested to diversify the group's assets (mining and metals, energy and banking). The group sold its US tobacco assets,Liggett, in 1978. Profit from tobacco and liquor dropped from 84.4% in 1979 to 72% in 1980, when the group still operated 64 cigarette factories in 26 countries.^[1]

Rupert's group had also created a development bank with theUnion Bank of Switzerland which financed loans and investments in 19 African countries.^[1]

In 1988, the Rembrandt group founded the Swiss luxury goods company,Richemont, which in turn acquired Rembrandt's shares in Rothmans. Richemont also owns such luxury brands asCartier (jewellery);Alfred Dunhill and Sulka (designer clothing);Seeger (leather bags);Piaget,Baume & Mercier andVacheron Constantin (Swiss watches) andMontblanc (pens).^[4] In 1995 Rembrandt and Richemont consolidated their respective tobacco interests into Rothmans International, which was at the time the world's fourth largest cigarette manufacturer. In 1999, Rothmans International was acquired byBritish American Tobacco for $7.5 billion.^[5]

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