Ireland Blyth Limited

Predecessor firms

Blyth Brothers traced its establishment in Mauritius to 1830. It was linked to the London merchant house later known as Blyth, Greene, Jourdain & Co. James Blyth (1801–1873), a partner in that house, lived in Mauritius from 1830 to 1839 and sat on the island's Legislative Council from 1833. He acted as an intermediary between London lenders and Mauritian planters, including during the payment of slavery compensation. In 1929 Blyth Brothers became the Mauritius dealer for Caterpillar equipment, an arrangement continued by the group through its subsidiary Scomat.

Ireland Fraser & Co. was founded on 1 July 1850 by George Ireland, Hugh Hunter and James Fraser under the name Hunter, Ireland & Co. It took the name Ireland Fraser & Co. after Hunter left the partnership and was incorporated as a limited company in 1927. Both firms were active in the sugar trade, shipping and the import of goods.

Ireland Blyth Limited (1972–2016)

The two companies merged in 1972 to form Ireland Blyth Limited, which was admitted to the Official List of the Stock Exchange of Mauritius in 1994. In 1973 it set up Mauritian Eagle Insurance as a joint venture with the South African insurer Eagle Insurance; the company was renamed Eagle Insurance in 2019. The Winners supermarket chain opened its first store in 1994.

In the 2000s the CIEL Group was a leading shareholder. Arnaud Dalais, CIEL's chief executive, chaired Ireland Blyth, and in September 2008 CIEL agreed to buy the 16.05% stake held by CIDL, a Lagesse family company. In November 2009 Ireland Blyth distributed its 29.4% holding in Sun Resorts to its own shareholders. In 2010 GML Investissement Ltée, formed in 2008 from the merger of the Lagesse family's CIDL and DESMEM investment companies, bought shares from CIEL and became the controlling shareholder. GML, Swan Life and Belle Mare Holding signed a shareholders' agreement that year covering a combined 72.77% of the company. Bloomberg described Ireland Blyth in 2008 as the largest company in Mauritius by sales.

In 2011 IBL Consumer Goods and IBL Frozen Foods merged to form IBL BrandActiv. The group bought Robert Le Maire Ltd in 2013. In February 2015 its tuna canner, Thon des Mascareignes, merged with Princes Tuna (Mauritius), leaving IBL with 40.64% of the combined business. In December 2015 IBL agreed to buy the 49% of Winhold, owner of the Winners chain, that it did not already own. Retail then accounted for about 35% of group revenue.

Nicolas Maigrot was chief executive from 2010 until June 2015. Until the 2016 merger the company was run by an executive committee chaired by Arnaud Lagesse, who had been chairman since 2013.

Amalgamation with GML Investissement (2016)

In 2016 Ireland Blyth Limited was amalgamated "with and into" GML Investissement Ltée (GMLI), which held 48.70% of it. GMLI was the surviving company, under sections 244–248 of the Companies Act 2001. Minority shareholders of Ireland Blyth received 4.8277 GMLI shares for each share they held. The ratio was based on a valuation by EY, and BDO issued a fairness opinion. To keep control of the enlarged company, GML Ltée received about 1.51 billion restricted redeemable shares, which carry votes but no dividend rights. These shares are redeemable if GML's holders own less than 25% of the ordinary shares.

Shareholders of both companies approved the transaction unanimously on 14 June 2016. It took effect on 1 July 2016, when GMLI was renamed IBL Ltd, and the new shares began trading on 14 July 2016. After the amalgamation IBL Ltd also held GMLI's interests in companies including Phoenix Beverages, Lux Island Resorts, Alteo and AfrAsia Bank. Jan Boullé, formerly of the Constance group, became chairman, and Arnaud Lagesse, GMLI's chief executive since 2005, became Group CEO.

IBL reports four clusters, plus corporate services. The main companies in each are listed below, with the group's percentage holding at 30 June 2025 where IBL has published it.

Retail

Winners: a supermarket chain in Mauritius with 28 stores (100%).

Naivas: a Kenyan supermarket chain with 114 stores. Mambo Retail, in which IBL holds 73.20%, owns 51% of it.

Run Market: hypermarkets in Réunion (51%), held for sale at June 2026.

Legal and regulatory matters

In 2014 the Competition Commission of Mauritius fined Phoenix Beverages and Stag Beverages for a market-sharing agreement in the beer market. It was the commission's first published cartel decision. Phoenix Beverages was then part of GML and became part of IBL in the 2016 amalgamation. The 2026 French clearance of the Réunion retail combination was conditional on commitments by IBL (see above).