Tuesday’s SENS announcement that Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste (52) had sold R309m worth of stock gave some of the group’s shareholders the jitters. The share price has been on a rip this year, rising from R24 in June. It closed at R42.80 on Wednesday.
Was the CEO signaling that after a 78% surge in six months, the stock had become over-valued?
Certainly not, if you consider Jooste’s logic: “I sold 10% of my holding in Steinhoff to repay the debt we took on five years ago when we invested more in the company – and to pay tax on the vesting of all my share options the last couple years.”
Related to the sale by Jooste and other senior executives, but less noticed, was a fresh R757m investment by company founder and former chairman Bruno Steinhoff . In two tranches, the German citizen bought a further 18.6m shares in the R80bn group.
Says Jooste: “Bruno wanted to increase his stake to above 10% of the company so it was an ideal opportunity for him and the management to rearrange their affairs. “
Steinhoff (75), who relinquished executive duties in 2008, has now pushed his stake to 190.6m shares, just over 13% of the group’s equity. His holding is worth R8.2bn at the current share price.
After selling those 7.7m shares, Jooste still owns a hefty 65m Steinhoff shares, worth R2.8bn at Wednesday’s closing price. The other “billionaire” investor on the board of the 80 000 employee group is entrepreneur Christo Wiese whose 43m shares in Steinhoff are worth R1.8bn. – AH
