Steinhoff to list its African retail assets
As part of the deal, Steinhoff will consolidate the South African and African Pepkor businesses, JD Group, Unitrans Automotive, Steinbuild, Poco SA and Tekkie Town
Snubbed by Shoprite shareholders over a widely panned merger earlier in 2017, Christo Wiese’s Steinhoff has begun steps to list its African retail businesses on the JSE’s main board. "This is very much a plan B," Evan Walker, a money manager at 36one Asset Management in Johannesburg, said. "It looks like a last-ditch attempt to get a bit of value in the business," he said. As part of the deal, Steinhoff will consolidate the South African and African Pepkor businesses, JD Group, Unitrans Automotive, Steinbuild, Poco SA and Tekkie Town. The decision to cleave its domestic and international businesses has long been expected by analysts since the company listed in Frankfurt in 2015. Steinhoff said in a statement on Wednesday — after the market close — that a separate listing would establish a reference price for the African retail assets, thereby avoiding the assets being undervalued. But, the announcement raised eyebrows among the domestic investor community. "If they unbundled the ass...
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