Diversification: Bonded Rum & Agatha

When Booker McConnell & Co., a 150-year-old British-owned sugar and rum company, acquired controlling interest in Master Spy James Bond four years ago, the deal was in deference to Ian Fleming. Bond's creator and Booker's then Chairman Sir Jock Campbell had been Eton classmates, continued to be golfing partners. They also were mutual enthusiasts about the West Indies, where Bond frequently cavorted and where Booker owns eight sugar plantations, as well as investments in ships and stores. When Fleming, during a golf game, complained that no one would buy his Bond-holding Glidrose Productions Ltd. and manage it while he spent...

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