Founded by Matthew Pennefather Evans
Matthew Pennefather Evans founding partner of business acting for tea and rubber companies, later acting as brokers for tea and rubber.
Partnership formed
Partnership helps pioneers raise capital on London market for new plantations and acts as company secretary and UK selling agent in their absence overseas.
Acquisitions
Partnership begins acquiring ownership stakes in the companies for which it acted.
A change in business
Exit from Sri Lankan tea: shift from rubber to oil palm in SE Asia as the superior financial rewards of planting oil palm became clear.
Australian agriculture
Expansion into Australian agriculture to create geographical and commodity diversity within the Group; first sheep, wool and grains, then irrigated cotton and finally grains and beef cattle.
Malaysian property development
Start of Malaysian property development after the main part of the Group’s old Bertam Estate was sold into a joint venture with two Malaysian partners.
Strategic initiative launched
Group structure rationalised into single company; seminal strategic initiative to exit Malaysia by selling its small valuable estates for property development, using the proceeds to fund a major expansion of its plantation areas in Indonesia.
One country; one commodity
Disposal of investments in Australian beef cattle and share of oil-palm joint venture to move the Group towards its strategic objective of having operations in one country, in one commodity, in operations that it controls.
