Remgro chair Johann Rupert said on Wednesday it is the “end of an era” as his investment holding company and Rand Merchant Bank Holdings (RMH) prepare to unbundle their stakes in the country’s largest financial institution by market capitalisation, FirstRand.

Rupert was reflecting on the 40 years that have passed because he founded Rand Merchant Bank in 1979, saying he considers his decision to swap shares in Anglo American’s mining businesses for shares in the financial services company in the early 1990s as one of the best of his career, despite significant internal opposition within Remgro to it...