Collection MS 335 - Alliance Trust Archive

The Alliance Trust was formed in 1888 by the merger of the Dundee Investment Company, the Dundee Mortgage and Trust, the Oregon and Washington Trust and the Oregon and Washington Savings Bank, Limited. The firm initially operated from office in Panmure Street, later moving to offices in Meadowside and then to Meadow House in Reform Street. Many prominent figures in Dundee and Angus invested some of their money in the Alliance Trust and its predecessors, including land owners, merchants, ship owners, ship builders, textile manufacturers and businessman including the Earl of Airlie and Sir John Leng. From 1918 the firm shared its premises and most of its operations with the Western & Hawaiian Investment Company which was eventually renamed the Second Alliance Trust. Although in practice this was effectively a merger, the two companies remained legally distinct entities until 2006 when a full merger took place. For most of their early existance the two Alliance Trusts' main interests were focused on the mortgage and land business, which was centred on agricultural areas of the western United States (especially Oregon, Idaho and Texas) and Hawaii. The company also established a successful business leasing mineral rights of properties in Texas and Oklahoma to prospectors, as well as investing in a number of other ventures in the UK and further afield. From 2008 until 2011 it was listed on the FTSE 100 index. In the 2000s the company left Reform Street and moved to new purpose built premises in West Marketgait.