$5.7 billion deal for South African retail company
Wiese, South Africa’s fourth-richest man with a fortune of about $5.6 billion, hammered out the deal with Steinhoff CEO Jooste, a friend and business partner for 20 years. He will remain a Steinhoff shareholder with a stake worth about 34.7 billion rand ($3.17 billion), the company said.
Pepkor will assist Steinhoff in its goal to tap further into discount retailing in South Africa as more shoppers seek value amid high inflation and a 25 percent unemployment rate. South African retailers have struggled this year as the economy is set to grow at its slowest pace in five years.
By 1986, Pepkor had bought grocer Shoprite Holdings Ltd. (SHP), which was later spun off and is now Africa’s biggest retailer by market value. Wiese had equity in both companies and now owns a stake in Shoprite valued at about $1.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires’ Index.
‘Remarkably Successful’
“He’s been a remarkably successful businessman and built a retailer that contends with the big players,” Wayne McCurrie, a Johannesburg-based money manager at Momentum Asset Management, said by phone. “He keeps a low profile considering his wealth and investment in South African businesses.”
“I will be playing a more active role in the whole Steinhoff setup,” said Wiese, who graduated from the University of Stellenbosch with a law degree in 1967. “There’s no sadness because I haven’t really sold my business. It’s just another chapter.”
Source: bloomberg.com
