With the market capitalisation of Steinhoff International's local subsidiary, Steinhoff Retail Africa (STAR), now larger, some analysts are speculating that the troubled parent may look at reducing its stake in the company that owns both Pep and Ackermans to pay down its debt. Charles Allen, a senior retail analyst at London-based Bloomberg Intelligence argues: "The idea is that they ask ... can we do that in a way that would bring us most money and also how we can do it in a way that will enable us to address debt that is not necessarily in South Africa." At the end of the week, Steinhoff's market capitalisation was R25.67-billion, while its local subsidiary had one of R69.44-billion. Steinhoff owns a 76.81% stake in STAR. STAR was initially meant last year to buy a 23.3% stake in Shoprite Holdings, but after the accounting scandals at its parent company, this transaction has been stalled. "We've already seen that they [Steinhoff] are selling businesses at less than they paid for t...
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