He migrated to
Costa Rica in 1890 at age 13 to join his older brothers in business. The brothers had arrived in 1885 to work for
Minor Cooper Keith, who was building a railroad from Limon to San Jose, but quickly went into business as merchants, bankers and banana planters. In 1907, the brothers purchased
Juan Viñas, a vast sugar and coffee farm from
Federico Tinoco Granados. They became largest coffee and sugar producers in the
Costa Rica. In 1908, the brothers founded the
Florida Ice and Farm Company in
Siquirres,
Limón Province. The company was located at a farm called La Florida and was a major producer of
ice and other agricultural produce. The company acquired
Gran Cervecería Traube in 1912.In 1911, the Lindo Brothers, in partnership with Felipe Alvarado, purchased the Compañía Luz Eléctrica de San Jose, Heredia y Alajuela and invested in a large hydroelectric power plant in
Belén the next year. In 1924 the company was transformed into
La Compañía Nacional de Electricidad By 1911, the Lindo properties were producing half of Costa Rica's bananas, and
Joseph DiGiorgio, on behalf of the
Atlantic Fruit Company, approached Lindo Brothers with idea of purchasing all of their banana plantations, although the entire production was contracted to
United Fruit Company until July, 1914. On October 27, 1911,
Cecil Lindo gave the
Atlantic Fruit Company an option to purchase their banana plantations for $3,500,000 before August, 1912. Cecil was to be the General Manager of the
Atlantic Fruit Company in Costa Rica. The
Atlantic Fruit Company could not or would not execute the option, and in 1912, the Lindo properties were sold to
United Fruit Company for $5,000,000. By 1913, the Lindo brothers were owners of vast sugar, coffee and cocoa estates, lumber and flour mills, breweries, ice-making and aerated factories. Their agricultural interests included 1,000 acres of sugar, 2,000 acres of cacao and 7,000 acres of Coffee plantations, exporting three millions pounds of coffee each year, with an approximate value of half a million dollars.
Jamaica By 1911, Percy owned several thousand acres of land in the
Oracabessa area. That year he sold a property to
Ruth Bryan Owen, which she named
Golden Clouds. In 1914, Lindo Bros. & Co. Ltd. was formed in Jamaica and Percy was appointed the resident manager. The company began by purchasing properties along north coast of the island to plant bananas in conjunction with their cousins, the deLisser Brothers. In 1916 they purchased the entire estate of Colonel Charles Ward, which included
J. Wray and Nephew Ltd. and large estates in
Saint Catherine and
Clarendon. The next year Appleton Estate in
Saint Elizabeth and Cornwall in
Westmoreland were purchased by the company. They expanded factory and distillery operations, adding additional warehouses to store and age the rums, a bottle washing machine and an electric bottling line. International distribution deals were made on behalf of the company with Schieffelin & Co. of
New York and
EA de Pass & Co. of
London. In 1925 the Lindo Bros & Co., in partnership with Allan Keeling, invested £1,000,000 in the establishment of the Bernard Lodge Central Sugar Factory. In 1928, the Lindo Bros sold 56,600 acres of land in Jamaica to the
United Fruit Company for £2,000,000, which at the time, was the largest transaction in the history of the island. That year
Lindo Brothers acquired the wharf and office premises of the
Atlantic Fruit Company on King Street. Percy was an appointed as a Member of the Legislative Council from 1930-42. He was a director of the Jamaica Mutual Life Assurance Society and the Jamaica Imperial Association.In 1937,
Cecil Lindo told a journalist: "I have one million gallons of rum stored. When any quantity of the matured rums is taken out, the stock is immediately replenished." In 1939, Lindo Bros & Co. sold
J. Wray and Nephew Ltd. and Appleton Estate to Percy Lindo. After much experimentation, the first
Appleton Estate branded rums were launched in 1944. The rums were light, fragrant and meant to serve as a substitute for whiskey, which was hard to come by during
World War II. That year the
Mai Tai was invented using J.Wray & Nephew 17 year old by Victor Bergeron of
Trader Vic's. == Personal life ==