Elders Limited - 1980-1990

1980-1990

The 1980s were the most explosive, controversial and changing in the 141 years of Elders by whatever name it had been trading. In 1982 it merged with jam maker Henry Jones IXL to become Elders IXL and its surge to the top of Australia’s corporate tree had begun.

The following year, before the ink had dried on the Elders IXL agreement and in one of the most breathtaking swoops in the market, the new-look Elders launched a successful takeover bid for Carlton and United Breweries.

Now a growing global conglomerate, the new business had come a long way from its agricultural genesis in a very short time but never losing sight of its origins, continued to expand its wool market share and acquire more and more rural operations.

But growth was also to prove the straw that would break the camel’s back. In the late 1980s Elders made a bid for BHP in competition with Robert Holmes à Court as the company continued to “Fosterise” the world by purchasing Britain’s Courage Breweries.

However, timing in business is all and when the global economy went into a crash dive in the late ’80s, the over-extended Elders IXL was a victim. Henry Jones IXL was sold to The J.M. Smucker Co. in 1989.

At decade’s end and restructured now as Foster’s, Elders Pastoral became a division of the new business instead of the owner.