Beneficiary Share issued in Tananarive (Madagascar) in 1948. The decree of 1900 granted a territorial concession of 100,000 hectares in Madagascar to MM. Eugène Buhan, Paul Buhan, Théophile J. Dubois, Pierre J. Dubois, Harry Johnston and Marc Maurel for the construction and operation of a railway between Tananarive and the sea.

The company La Grande Ile was founded by Buhan in 1902 with the aim of forestry, afforestation and reforestation on the Hauts-Plateaux (Périnet) and in the North-East (Nandrasana), agricultural exploitation in the east, on the Vohitra and on the Iaroka. The company produced wood, coffee, sugar cane, fruit, rice, tobacco, etc. It also managed mining of the "La Madagor" deposits: graphite, quartz, corundum, precious stones.

The company's headquarters was previously 2, quai des Chartrons, in Bordeaux.