Steinhoff Update: Lawyers in control inside and out as vd Merwe, Du Preez promoted
Tuesday 19 December 2017
- In the wake of ex-chairman Christo Wiese's departure on Friday, Steinhoff's former chief operating officer Danie van der Merwe (59) has been appointed acting CEO. Conforama's young CEO Alexandre Nodale (39) has been appointed deputy CEO and Louis du Preez (48) is now commercial director. They have also been appointed to a strengthened Management Board, joining Van der Merwe and chief financial officer Ben la Grange (43).
The appointments, announced on the day Steinhoff's fate will be decided during its meeting in London with global banks, confirms the notion that former CEO Markus Jooste's accounting irregularities were done without the knowledge of his confidantes. Van der Merwe, who trained as a lawyer, has been Jooste's right hand virtually since he joined Steinhoff in 1998. He has been a director of the group since 1999 and chief operating officer since 2013 so was the obvious successor. The other new appointments to the Management Board provide further clues about what is now happening within the group – that the focus now is on the legal fight rather than the business itself. Du Preez is also a lawyer. He was previously Steinhoff's General Counsel and wasn't even a member of the 15 person Executive Committee. Nodale, regarded as one of the group's rising stars, was appointed to the Exco three years ago when he became Conforama's CEO. He joined Steinhoff's French retail subsidiary as deputy finance director in 2009.
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