About us | History | Objective | Group Structure | Key Facts


Investing for generations

'The independence, the entrepreneurial flair, the international investment emphasis and the single minded drive for shareholder value have been in the Alliance character since its origins in 1873' (John Newlands, Put not your trust in money - a History of the Investment Trust Industry, AITC, 1997).


1873 - Early beginnings of The Alliance Trust

A group of Dundee businessmen, who had made their fortunes in jute production, formed a venture to lend money to immigrant farmers in Oregon in 1873. This was the first of several Dundee land and mortgage companies.


1880 - First seeds of The Second Alliance Trust

Originally called the Hawaiian Investment and Agency Company, this company specialised in mortgage business for sugar planters in the Hawaiian Islands. It subsequently expanded into mortgage lending in America.


1888 - Incorporation of The Alliance Trust

Three of the Dundee land and mortgage companies, namely the Dundee Mortgage and Trust, the Dundee Investment Company and the Oregon and Washington Trust (which was run from Dundee) combined to form the The Alliance Trust. From their roots lending money to farmer and sugar planters, the trust initially concentrated on US railway bonds, mineral rights and fixed interest securities.


1873 - 1888 | 1918 - 1966 | 1969 - 1998 | 2005 - Present