Many of the people who usually insist that public corruption is the problem have reacted to Steinhoff with shock.
Steinhoff International Holdings former chief executive is set to cash in after Markus Jooste’s investment company has struck a deal with banks, Bloomberg reported.
In a letter seen by Bloomberg, Jooste’s personal investment company Mayfair Holdings Limited owes Investec, Absa, and the capital markets arm of Sanlam, a combined R959-million which had been backed by stock in Steinhoff.
However, Mayfair defaulted on its loans when Steinhoff shares crashed in December following an accounting scandal at the retail giant. In order to realize the most value out of Mayfair, the banks decided against liquidation, choosing a “breakup proposal” where less central business components within the company — such as real estate and racehorses — would be sold to release capital.
Mayfair has until the end of 2018 to sell assets to the value of R2.08-billion in order to repay approximately R1.6-billion in loans to banks and other creditors.
Bloomberg reported that two companies tied to Jooste and his son-in-law, Stefan Potgieter, may realise over R200-million from the asset disposals.
After Mayfair had paid its creditors, documents seen by Bloomberg show, the company would able to retain the proceeds from the asset sales which would amount to R500-million.
Since Jooste quit Steinhoff on December 5 last year, the company has referred him to an anti-corruption police unit. The Steinhoff scandal saw the company lose over 90% of its share value in the three days following Jooste’s resignation after news that German prosecutors began investigating the company for accounting fraud.