COMPANY COMMENT
Steinhoff’s Mattress Firm deal needs to come under the microscope
The debt-laden bedding company was acquired at a premium
Former Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste’s statement in parliament last month that the decision to buy Mattress Firm in September 2016 was not, in retrospect, a good one was a bit of an understatement. The bedding company, which cost $2.4bn and came with $1.4bn debt, has been dogged by bankruptcy rumours for the past several months. While Mattress Firm has never been directly linked to the “accounting irregularities” that prompted the December 2017 collapse in the Steinhoff share price, it’s to be hoped that the PwC investigation into those irregularities will touch on this, the last big deal that the global retailer signed off on. If not PwC, then perhaps one of the class actions launched by shareholders will shed light on why the Steinhoff management and supervisory board unanimously agreed that paying a 115% premium to the Mattress Firm ruling share price was such a good idea. In their defence it has to be said that the deal was announced when, despite growing concerns about the high-p...
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