Ghost of Steinhoff raises R27 billion
Ibex Investment Holdings Ltd., formerly known as Steinhoff International Holdings NV, raised R26.6 billion rand by selling its entire stake in Africa’s largest clothing retailer, Pepkor Holdings Ltd.
Pepkor’s shares gained as much as 3.8% and traded 1% stronger by 10:28 a.m. in Johannesburg.
Ibex sold 1.05 billion Pepkor shares at a discount of about 6% to the last closing price, according to terms seen by Bloomberg. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Investec Plc managed the share sale.
The disposal is part of Ibex’s move to restructure Steinhoff, which collapsed after an accounting scandal.
Steinhoff built a retail empire spanning Australia, Europe and the US, including acquiring a controlling stake in Pepkor and changing the company’s name to Steinhoff Africa Retail Ltd.
The share sale will help remove an overhang on Pepkor’s shares.
“The free-float of Pepkor has increased substantially due to this placement,” said Jean Pierre Verster, the chief executive officer of investment firm Protea Capital Management Pty Ltd.
“Pepkor shareholders can now look forward to index-tracking funds increasing their weight in Pepkor shares.”
Pepkor reverted to its original name after the fraud, which wiped out more than 95% of its market value.
Steinhoff, which owned Conforama in France and Mattress Firm in the US, unraveled after auditors refused to sign off on its financial statements in 2017.
That led to the start of police and regulatory investigations in both Europe and South Africa. The probe by auditor PwC uncovered €6.5 billion ($7.4 billion) of irregular transactions with eight firms over eight years.
The company changed its name to Ibex in 2023. It held the Pepkor stake through its wholly owned unit Ainsley Holdings Ltd.
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