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Pepkor has taken note of the court papers filed by the founders and former owners of Tekkie Town, it told Fin24 on Wednesday evening.
"Following review of the contents, Pepkor will respond appropriately to defend its rights and interests," it responded to Fin24.
The founders of Tekkie Town applied to the Cape Town High Court on Wednesday for an interdict to prevent Steinhoff, which owns Pepkor, from selling Tekkie Town. Both Steinhoff and Pepkor are named as respondents in the application.
In his supporting affidavit to the application, former Tekkie Town CEO Bernard Mostert claims that the respondents are concerned that recent sales of assets by Steinhoff could be a sign that Tekkie Town is at risk of being sold or used as security to raise funds as well.
The then Tekkie Town owners, including Braam van Huyssteen and Mostert, entered into an exchange agreement with Steinhoff for the sale of Tekkie Town to Steinhoff during 2016.
Steinhoff then sold Tekkie Town to its subsidiary the then Steinhoff Africa Retail (STAR), subsequently renamed Pepkor.
Mostert has said in the past that, following the collapse of Steinhoff, "it became clear" that the exchange agreement was based on the Steinhoff financials which the company had subsequently admitted contained irregularities and the Steinhoff shares they received in exchange turned out to be "worthless".
The former Tekkie Town owners cancelled the transaction with Steinhoff, but this was not accepted by Steinhoff. The former Tekkie Town owners have turned to the court to determine the outcome. This case is ongoing. This forms the basis for the latest court application by the former owners of Tekkie Town to try and prevent any chance of the business being sold by Steinhoff.
In September 2018 the former owners of Tekkie Town started a new business, Mr Tekkie. This also led to a few ongoing court cases.
Mostert claims in his latest affidavit that Steinhoff, under the guidance of Markus Jooste, insulated its SA assets as they were aware of potential legal matters starting to arise from Europe.
At the time of the creation of STAR these senior executives of Steinhoff's were, according to the PwC findings, already aware and complicit in the creation of "fictitious assets" and income in the Steinhoff structures.
