Jooste accused of 'naked fraud'
Largest shareholder won’t be selling its stake just yet — because there simply isn’t enough information available
Though Steinhoff has shed R207bn (86% of its value) within six weeks, its largest institutional shareholder, Coronation, says it doesn’t plan to ditch its 5.2% stake any time soon. It’s a risky gambit, since Steinhoff’s banks have withdrawn some of its credit lines, following its December 6 admission of "accounting irregularities". CEO Markus Jooste has resigned and last week Steinhoff admitted it would now withdraw its 2015 and 2016 financials — essentially an admission that it duped investors. Charles de Kock, who heads Coronation’s absolute return funds, says it’s been an upsetting few weeks. "You think back over whether you missed something, but the fact is, if fraud has been involved which has fooled the auditors and others, there’s not much chance you’ll catch anything," he says. At this point Steinhoff hasn’t spelt out what the "irregularities" were that led auditors Deloitte to refuse to sign off its 2017 financials. But insiders told the Financial Mail that the problem seem...
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