South Africa’s retail royals sell millions of Pick n Pay shares
Pick n Pay’s founding Ackerman family has sold about 64 million shares, the South African retailer said on Tuesday, more than a year after pledging to cede control of the struggling grocer.
In May 2024, the Ackerman family said it will relinquish control of Pick n Pay as part of a revamp aimed at stemming losses, cutting debt and regaining market share.
Gareth Ackerman, who had been with the company for four decades, said he will retire as chairman after 14 years in the job.
The placement shares, representing an 8.5% of Pick n Pay’s total issued ordinary shares, were sold at R25.50 apiece in an accelerated book-build, a 6.4% discount to the company’s closing price on Monday.
It raised about R1.6 billion in proceeds.
The massive shift for Pick n Pay ends an era of the Ackerman family’s control of the group. The retailer faced extreme financial pressures in the 2024 financial year, declaring a R3.2 billion loss.
This came off the back of the poor rollout of the Ekuseni strategy, which cost the company billions.
The strategy’s core premise was restructuring the company into different silos, shifting the Pick n Pay brand into the premium market to compete with Woolworths and launching a new “QualiSave” brand to compete in the middle market.
The plan was to reinvigorate the Pick n Pay brand and give consumers more choice and allow the retailer to more effectively compete across all market segments.
However, the strategy fell flat. This forced the group to implement a series of rapid changes, starting with the return of former CEO Sean Summers, who quickly reversed the strategy.
The group then announced a two-step recapitalisation plan, which included a R4 billion rights offer and the IPO of Boxer, one of the group’s best performers, which raised over R8 billion for the group.
As per the rights offer in 2024, the Ackerman family reduced their percentage of voting rights from 52% to 49%, ending the family’s control of the group, even if they maintain a large chunk.
Now, following the latest sale in shares, the Ackermans’ voting interest in the company will shrink to 36.8% from 49%.
The family has given up majority control but retains the role as the anchor shareholder to support the retailer’s turnaround efforts.
Following the placement, the Ackerman family will continue to hold 135.4 million ordinary shares in Pick n Pay.
“As a family, we’ve always seen ourselves not just as shareholders, but as stewards of something bigger, a business with purpose, people at its heart, and a deep belief in doing good while doing well,” said former chair, Gareth Ackerman.
“That belief has not changed. We remain committed to supporting Pick n Pay as it continues to evolve.”
Working back to profitability
Taking over from Ackerman as chairman of the group is James Formby, who previously worked as the CEO of RMB and spent 25 years at the FirstRand group.
Formby was previously the lead independent director and has been a non-executive director since leaving RMB in 2022. He was already the chairman of Boxer.
He will work alongside Pick n Pay CEO Sean Summers, who recently had his contract extended until 2028.
In October, Pick n Pay released its interim results for the 26 weeks through August 2025. On a group level, the company saw its turnover grow by 4.9% to R58.8 billion and its trading profit improve by 273.5% to R310 million.
However, this was largely driven by Boxer’s standout performance, as the retailer grew its turnover by nearly 14% to R22.52 billion and its trading profit by over 16% to R931 million.
In contrast, the company’s core brand, Pick n Pay, proved to be a drag on the company’s latest interim results.
This segment reported that its turnover remained essentially flat at R36.3 billion and it recorded a trading loss of R621 million.
Notably, this loss is a 13.5% improvement from the first half of the company’s 2025 financial year, showing that the group’s turnaround strategy is yielding results, but still needs time to play out.
With Reuters
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