Billionaire Wiese faces antitrust hurdles in bid to merge assets
Bringing together Shoprite and Steinhoff will give the combined entity the scale to sell everything from potatoes to sofas at discount prices to Africa’s consumers
Christo Wiese, SA’s fourth-richest person with a fortune of about $5.7bn, is at the centre of plans to create the continent’s largest retailer by combining the African operations of Shoprite and Steinhoff International. Here’s why a transaction makes sense for the billionaire and why a deal may face opposition from minority shareholders and antitrust authorities. Why are Shoprite and Steinhoff proposing to merge? The proposal is for Cape Town-based supermarket chain Shoprite to buy Steinhoff’s African retail assets in exchange for an undisclosed yet significant equity interest. This could lead to Steinhoff taking control of Shoprite via a buyout offer to minority shareholders. Talks on pricing and structure are ongoing and some investors and analysts expect the companies to announce an outcome in coming weeks. That helps Wiese bring part of his 23% stake in Steinhoff and his 16% share in Shoprite under one roof. It may ultimately also help bring both companies under Steinhoff CEO Ma...
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