Sir Rudolph Agnew
Businessman BORN MARCH 12, 1934 – DIED SEPTEMBER 14, 2023, AGED 89
SIR Rudolph Agnew defended a hostile takeover, in 1988, of the British mining business Consolidated Gold Fields by the Luxembourg-based competitor Minorco, before selling it to Hanson in a deal worth £3.5billion.
Minorco’s bid for the 100-year-old company was fronted by British Leyland’s former chairman, Sir Michael Edwardes, and controlled by investors in the Oppenheimer family and the De Beers diamond conglomerate.
Agnew ignored his investors who backed the takeover, instead engaging in a war of words with Edwardes that turned toxic.
A handsome man and witty, Agnew later reflected: “Edwardes attacked the competence of our management first.
“I was reacting and I have the Irishman’s ability to retaliate.” His grandfather, Irishman John Agnew emigrated to New Zealand before joining Consolidated Gold Fields in 1922 and becoming its chairman 11 years later.
Agnew was born in Perth, Australia, the youngest child of mining engineer Rudolph John Joseph and Pamela Agnew.
After school Agnew served in the British Army, joining Consolidated Gold Fields in 1957.
During his time there, he weathered criticism for the company’s continued operation in South Africa during apartheid.
However it later emerged he had facilitated secret talks to end segregation, leading to Nelson Mandela’s release.
Agnew was knighted in 2002 and married three times. His son with his first wife, Tessa Longley, died in a car crash, aged 21.
His third wife, Whitney Warren died in 2018. Agnew died of undisclosed causes and is survived by a son and daughter with second wife, Clare Dixon.