One of the oldest business establishments in South India, this Coimbatore based company, which is today part of the Amalgamations group was founded in 1861 by Robert Stanes. Starting off with the Stanes Coffee Curing Works, the company went on to acquire massive estates across the Nilgiris and diversified into areas such as fertilizers mixing, automobile dealerships etc.
The Stanes story is an integral part of the development of Coimbatore, with Robert Stanes being appointed the first Chairman of the Coimbatore Municipal Council in 1864. He was also one of the founders of the Coimbatore Spinning and Weaving Mills, which kick started the industrialisation of the region.
Robert Stanes lived upto the ripe old age of 95, dying in 1936 in Coimbatore. The business was bought over by S.Anantharamakrishnan, the takeover baron of South India in 1961. The schools started by Robert Stanes and his family in Coimbatore and Coonoor remain popular institutions in the region.
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