RESTRUCTURING
Steinhoff accounting boggles the mind
Steinhoff said to simplify the structure it decided in 2016 to create separate "clusters" for its European and African businesses
Nothing in Steinhoff’s accounts was done with simplicity in mind. That is how one finance expert describes Steinhoff’s complicated accounting. In particular, the accounting that underpinned the restructuring of the group’s assets when Steinhoff became a Dutch-registered company and transferred its primary listing to Frankfurt at the end of 2015. Transfers and redistribution of assets, valued at billions of rand, between similar-named entities within the group appear to be at the core of the complexity, which is expected to take PwC millions of man hours to unravel. A big part of this restructuring involved the distribution by Steinhoff Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of Steinhoff International, of its shares in Steinhoff Finance Holdings to the Dutch-registered and German-listed holding firm, Steinhoff International. Steinhoff told Business Day that Steinhoff International had two South African subsidiaries: Steinhoff International Holdings (SA) and Steinhoff Investment Holdi...
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