The share price of Steinhoff African Retail (Star) — soon to be renamed Pepkor — fell nearly 5% to R16.54 on Tuesday, with its confirmation that Braam van Huyssteen and other founders of Tekkie Town were suing it on Monday evening, worsening a general slump in retail shares. The JSE’s retailers fell after Statistics SA reported a slump nearly five times worse than expected in the country’s first quarter GDP. The food and drug retailers index fell 2% and the general retailers index fell 3% after the disappointing GDP report. However, Star’s parent, Steinhoff International, bucked Tuesday’s retail slump, rising 7.5% to R1.15. Star issued a statement at 5pm on Monday saying that it had received a summons from Tekkie Town’s lawyers. Steinhoff International informed shareholders on May 10 that the vendors of Tekkie Town were suing it for about €120m. This was in addition to a €110m claim from shareholder GT Ferreira and R59bn claim from former chairman Christo Wiese. Along with its Sens ...

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