Nicolás Mihanovich

Operating five steam ships by 1879, the group initiated scheduled transports from Buenos Aires to the then-remote outposts of Bahía Blanca and Carmen de Patagones.

Facing increasing competition in the late 1880s, the Mihanovich Company's strong financial base put it in a position of great advantage following the ruinous Panic of 1890, which began in Argentina when the overissuance of local bonds by the Barings Bank led to their collapse in value.

[1] Purchasing Las Mensajerías for 450,000 gold pesos, and smaller rivals Giuliani and Balparado as well, the massive Sociedad Anónima Nicolás Mihanovich was incorporated in 1898; by then, the group operated over 200 steamers.

Enjoying the advantages of speed and inland access, the Entre Ríos Railway became enough of an obstacle to prompt Mihanovich to negotiate personally with the line's British owners (though with little success).

He also purchased an extensive quebracho forest to take part in the growing furniture market, a wheat mill, the Banco de Italia (over half of the 6 million immigrants in Argentina were from that nation),[3] and an abattoir, among others.

Completed in 1914, the Montserrat neighborhood landmark housed the Embassy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, by which Emperor Franz Joseph I named Mihanovich Honorary Consul and Edler in 1899.

His elder son, Pedro, briefly succeeded him, though in 1918, Mihanovich sold his family's stake in the group to a consortium led by a British shipping magnate, Owen Philipps, later Lord Kylsant, and an Argentine investor, Alberto Dodero.