The deal, which Steinhoff says half of its shareholders have agreed to, will give the diversified group exposure to Africa’s fast-growing apparel market.
Steinhoff, a furniture retailer and owner of diversified industrial businesses across Africa, Europe and Australia, said it will pay 62.8 billion rand ($5.7 billion) for the stake in Pepkor. It will acquire a 52.47 percent stake belonging to Christo Wiese, the top investor in African retail giant Shoprite, for 609.1 million shares at a price of 57 rand each and Brait’s 37.06 percent for 15 billion rand in cash and 200 million shares. It will also buy 2.81 percent from Pepkor’s management giving it a 92.34 percent stake overall.
With the purchase of pepkor, which owns the
Pep brand that sells everything from school uniforms to household goods and mobile phones, Steinhoff says it is targeting budget-conscious shoppers in southern Africa and Europe. According to Reuters, while 68 percent of Pepkor’s revenue comes from Africa, the company is also a major retailer in Poland and has been growing in eastern Europe, so the deal will allow Steinhoff to accelerate its own European expansion.
“Strategically it does make sense,” Reuters quotes Nic Norman-Smith, Chief Investment Officer of Lentus Asset Management, which owns shares in Steinhoff. “It certainly will provide scale benefits and scale is one of the few areas where you can generate a competitive advantage in retail.”
However, at a price of nearly twice Pepkor’s annual sales, the deal was also “quite expensive”, Norman-Smith added.Steinhoff
said it will fund the cash portion through existing cash resources. The
deal will give entities controlled by Christo Wiese, a director at
Steinhoff, about 20 percent of the furniture company. This means the
deal will require endorsement by an outside expert as to its “fairness”,
Steinhoff said.
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