History
Discovery Limited was founded in 1992 by Adrian Gore and Barry Swartzberg. In the same year, RMB Holdings (RMBH) acquired a stake in the business by making Discovery Limited its subsidiary through Momentum Group (now part of MMI Holdings Limited).[8]
In 1998, the Momentum Group became part of First Rand after the merger of the financial services interests of Anglo American Corporation of South Africa Limited (now Anglo American plc) and RMBH to achieve the objective of a unified financial services grouping.[9] With First Rand Group owning 75 percent of Discovery Limited.[10]
Discovery Limited was successfully listed on the JSE in October 1999 through a successful initial public offering. During the year, First Rand Group reduced its stake in Discovery Limited to 64 percent.[11] In 2003, Momentum Group Limited transferred its investment in Discovery Limited to FirstRand Limited for R740 million.
In November 2007, FirstRand unbundled all of its entire shareholding in Discovery Limited and allotted the shares of Discovery Limited to its shareholders. This led to RMBH receiving a 25 percent direct stake in Discovery Limited, making it the single largest shareholder.[12][13]
On 7 March 2011, RMBH, Remgro, and FirstRand spun off their insurance assets to Rand Merchant Insurance Holdings and separately listed it on the JSE.[14] This restructure led to the transfer of RMBH's entire stake in Discovery Limited to RMI Holdings.
In September 2015, Discovery Limited announced its intention to set up a retail banking subsidiary with an initial $150 million investment.[15]
In March 2019, Discovery Limited launched Discovery Bank, the world's first behavioural bank. Despite not being a private bank, its target market is higher income earning South Africans.[16]
In February 2026, Discovery announced that it had purchased the building in which its headquarters was located. Discovery Place, a contemporary building located in Sandton, Gauteng, was to be leased by Discovery for a further seven years, but because the company believed it would use the building beyond that point, it decided to buy the building for a sum of R4 billion.[17]
At the time of purchase Discovery mentioned a commitment to South Africa, long-term strategy, as well as low interest rates and Joburg property prices as contributing factors towards its decision to buy the building.[17]
