Much was said last week about how the long overdue collapsing of the Pick n Pay Holdings (Pikwik) pyramid control structure will benefit supermarket specialist Pick n Pay Stores’ shareholders.I’m delighted the archaic pyramid structure is being dismantled, but considerably less enamoured of proposals to issue B-shares to Ackerman Investments to ensure the Ackerman family retains artificial outright control of Pick n Pay with an effective economic interest of just 26%. The argument, from Pick n Pay chairman Gareth Ackerman, is that over time the simpler structure should improve Pick n Pay Stores’ appeal to investors, which could, in turn, help the company’s long-term growth strategy.Fair enough, but the way I see it — and I’m not a Pikwik or Pick n Pay shareholder — is that the way the pyramid is being dismantled could prejudice shareholders in the longer term. At the outset, the short-term benefits of the collapsing of the pyramid — involving its Pick n Pay shares being unbundled — ...
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