BUYER UNKNOWN
Funders ‘force’ Christo Wiese to dump Steinhoff shares
The sale is believed to have been forced on Wiese by his funders, which include global banks
The sale of about 630-million Steinhoff International shares by Christo Wiese was "involuntary" and believed to have been forced on Wiese by his funders, which include global banks. No details were provided, but in 2016 Wiese, who was the largest single shareholder in Steinhoff, pledged 628-million Steinhoff shares in collateral to borrow money from Citigroup, HSBC, Goldman Sachs Group and Nomura Holdings. Wiese used the money to participate in a share sale coinciding with Steinhoff’s acquisition of Mattress Firm and Poundland. At the time of the pledge, the shares were valued at more than R80 each or about R50bn in total. They traded at about R6 during the past week, pointing to a multibillion-rand loss. It is believed the banks did not have recourse to any of Wiese’s other assets, which suggests that the loss rests with them. "Christo was always heavily geared. He got rich by gearing up on the back of his convictions; it’s great when it works," a trader told Business Day.
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