{"id":825146,"date":"2025-05-22T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=825146"},"modified":"2025-05-22T11:14:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T09:14:14","slug":"a-new-era-for-pick-n-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/825146\/a-new-era-for-pick-n-pay\/","title":{"rendered":"A new era for Pick n Pay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gareth Ackerman will step down as Pick n Pay\u2019s chairman in August, officially ending a period of majority control and oversight from the Ackerman family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ackerman\u2019s father, Raymond, founded Pick n Pay and turned it into a retail behemoth.\u00a0Raymond stepped down as Chairman of Pick n Pay in 2010, with Gareth taking over from his father.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following a period of turmoil where the group declared a R3.2 billion loss in 2024 and was technically insolvent, the group issued a R4 billion rights offer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As per the rights offer, the Ackerman family reduced their share of voting rights from 52% to 49%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that after 57 years at the helm, the Ackerman Family gave up control of the retailer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, Ackerman also announced that he would retire from the board of directors following the release of the group\u2019s results. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The board has thus announced that James Formby, currently serving as the Lead Independent Director, will take over as board chairman on 5 August after the group\u2019s Annual General Meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Formby previously served as the CEO of Rand Merchant Bank and spent 25 years at the FirstRand group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The board also announced that CEO Sean Summers extended his contract with the group and will continue with his role until May 2028. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis extension ensures continuity and stability in the leadership team during a period of significant strategic transformation,\u201d said Pick n Pay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt also allows for a considered and deliberate succession process, including a comprehensive handover period in due course.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summers replaced Raymond Ackerman as CEO in 1999, having worked with the group since 1974. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He left the group in 2007 and advanced his career in international retailing. He returned to the group in 2023 at the request of the Ackermans to restore it to its former glory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group was in dire straits after the poor rollout of its Ekuseni strategy, which cost the company billions. After taking over, Summers quickly reversed this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summer’s first year saw several developments, including the R4 billion rights offer and Boxer’s IPO, which raised R8 billion for the group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group is also closing underperforming stores and converting Qualisave stores back to Pick n Pay or Boxer stores. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other board changes <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
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The board also announced that Pooven Viranna has been appointed as an independent non-executive director and a member of the Audit, Risk, and Compliance Committee from 1 June 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Friedland will retire as an independent non-executive director and member of the Audit, Risk and Compliance and Finance and Investment Committees, with effect from the 2025 AGM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding the Ackermans, Suzanne Ackerman, Gareth\u2019s sister, has elected to step down as the Chair of the Social, Ethics and Transformation Committee (SETC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The form is part of the group\u2019s efforts to strengthen the independence of Board committees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She will remain a member of the SETC, but Haroon Bhorat, an independent non-executive director, will take over the role of chair effective 26 May 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pick n Pay has officially announced the replacement for Pick n Pay Chairman Gareth Ackerman. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":773963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[4067,2214],"class_list":["post-825146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-pick-n-pay","tag-rmb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=825146"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":825162,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825146\/revisions\/825162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}