Wiese denies Pepkor rumours

Cape Town - Pepkor chairperson Christo Wiese said there was no truth in rumours that that retailer planned to relist on the JSE.
 
Pepkor’s JSE listing ended in 2003 after Brait SA acquired a 20%-odd private equity stake in Pepkor. At the time the delisting elicited considerable criticism.

Investment institutions and individual investors argued that private equity funds were not necessarily interested in companies, but only in the profits to be realised and in the value they could unlock for investors.

The rumours that Pepkor was on its way back to the JSE because Brait wanted to dispose of its stake arose from a remark in Brait’s annual report that almost 65% of the fund manager’s investments totalling R1.585bn was in companies which had already reached maturity, and that the value of the investment would be realised within the next six to 18 months.

Brait’s interest in Pepkor represents 39% of the fund manager’s investments.

The remark, without any further explanatory notes, caused analysts to deduce that Brait would dispose of its 39% in Pepkor and that Pepkor would consequently have to return to the stock exchange to pay Brait the value of the stake.

Analysts point out that Brait manages several investment funds and that private equity funds normally have an investment horizon.

It might be that the fund concerned, in which Pepkor has been involved for six years, has reached its end and that a natural unlocking of value has to take place.

Apart from listing, the other possibility that analysts mention is that Wiese and other Pepkor shareholders will take over Brait’s stake.

Bloomberg reports that Pepkor’s market value is more than R10bn, 35% of which belongs to Brait.

In response to enquiry Wiese strongly denied that Pepkor was planning to list on the JSE again. He declined to comment on Brait’s remarks in the company’s annual report.

- Sake24

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