Allan Gray founder donates his fortune to charity

Allan WB Gray, the founder of Allan Gray and its offshore partner Orbis, has announced that the newly-established Allan and Gill Gray Foundation has been endowed with his family’s controlling interests in the Allan Gray and Orbis groups.

“The Allan & Gill Gray Foundation will serve two equally important purposes: Firstly, to promote our firms’ continuity, independence and commercial success by ensuring that we continue to serve our clients’ best long-term interests and secondly, to devote the dividends from its controlling shareholdings exclusively to philanthropy,” said Ian Liddle, Chairman of Allan Gray.

The perpetual nature of the ownership structure empowers the executives of the investment management firms to focus entirely on doing what is in the best long-term interests of clients, free from the short-term pressures that third-party ownership can bring, said Little. Allan Gray considers this “both the right thing to do and a small but necessary contribution toward a society full of hope for all humanity.”

Allan and Gill Gray Foundation is a new initiative, not to be confused with the long-standing Allan Gray Orbis Foundation. “We will continue to fund the education of high potential scholars through our donations and dividends to the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation, which also stands ready to finance the entrepreneurial ventures of graduating Allan Gray fellows,” said Liddle.

Allan Gray, an investment company also has a subsidiary in Botswana.