15225 replies to this topic

[DayTraderDad]

Interesting: https://www.theaustr...e17f7d8abb602be

[Tom]

https://www.news24.c...-claim-20200802

 

Conservatorium fights Christo Wiese on Steinhoff claim

 

• Embattled retailer Steinhoff has proposed a settlement for those with claims against it, but Christo Wiese's claim is being disputed. 
• Conservatorium is taking Wiese to court in Amsterdam and the Western Cape in a bid to claw back €1 billion lenders had loaned him.
• Conservatorium accuses Wiese of winding up a Netherlands-based company to avoid paying back the loan.

 

Former Steinhoff chairperson Christo Wiese may have seen some headway made in resolving his litigation battle against the retailer, after the Stellenbosch-headquartered conglomerate last week announced it was proposing a payout of R16.5 billion to resolve the 90 legal claims against against it. 

 

 

But a challenge to his own R59-billion claim against Steinhoff continues as a deal with lenders comes back to haunt him.  

 

It has been almost three years since the Steinhoff's CEO Markus Jooste abruptly resigned at the start of an accounting scandal that brought the group's share price crashing down by more than 90%.

 

 

But, while Wiese is one of the largest claimants against the group, he himself is the subject of a separate court challenge.

 

A US company, Conservatorium LLC, has taken him to court in the Netherlands and the Western Cape High Court.

 

Conservatorium is the legal successor to lenders, having acquired 93% of the claiming rights of a consortium of banks that included Citibank, Goldman Sachs and HSBC last year, that provided Wiese-owned companies a €1.6-billion non-recourse loan to purchase 314 million shares in Steinhoff in 2016

 

The Wiese companies that the lenders entered into the agreement with are Thibault, Upington Investment Holdings and Titan, according to Conservatorium court documents.

 

Thibault is part of the R59-billion claim in relation to the R34.7 billion it alleges to have lost in the Pepkor shares Wiese exchanged for Steinhoff shares, due to the price not being the true value because of the accounting dishonesty at the company.

 

Steinhoff is a majority share holder in the retailer, owning 71% of the company.

 

Judgment pending

 

In 2014, Wiese had exchanged his stake in Pepkor for shares in Steinhoff.

 

According to Conservatorium’s court documents filed in May on the Western Cape High Court, Upington was a company registered in the Netherlands that held the Steinhoff family shares, including those of disgraced former Steinhoff executives, CEO Markus Jooste, former CFO Ben La Grange and former company secretary Stephan Grobler.

 

The consortium of banks lost €1 billion as a result of Steinhoff’s decline.

 

However, Upington, which Wiese owned 89% of, was quickly wound up in 2018 and the lenders were not informed, according to Conservatiorium court documents.

 

The company then sold its assets, including claims, to Titan.

 

Upington was collateral for the €1.6-billion loan and had pledged shares and claims as security of more than 750 million Steinhoff shares, which the lenders have not been able to claim since Upington has been winded up.

 

"The Cession and Sale were concluded to divert claims away from Upington’s creditors, and to unlawfully and wrongfully deny the lenders of their rights to enforce Upington’s claims," Conservatorium said in the court documents.

 

The consortium of banks said they would not have financed the loan, had Steinhoff itself provided accurate and complete financial information according to Conservatorium's court documents.

 

In December last year, Conservatorium approached the Amsterdam District Court to have the liquidation set aside.

 

The judgment on the matter is pending, but Conservatorium is forging ahead and has also headed to the Western Cape High Court to assert its claim to shares that had been transferred to Steinhoff in South Africa.

 

'They have a baseless claim' (said Wiese)

 

It is also trying to intervene, in the same court, in Wiese’s claims against Steinhoff to ensure that its interests are protected. 

 

"Conservatorium takes the view that it, and not Wiese, is entitled to the proceeds from any and all claims related to the shares which were pledged to the Lenders as collateral for the loan which Upington used to acquire the Steinhoff shares in 2016," said Conservatorium’s legal advisors Michael-James Currie and John Oxenham of Nortons Inc.

 

However, a defiant Wiese is fighting back.

 

"We deny all their claims, we’ll resist it vigorously. They have a baseless claim," he said on the phone on Friday.

 

As for winding up Upington, Wiese said he had not informed the lenders because it didn’t affect their rights.

 

"But I don’t want to discuss these issues, it’s litigation issues," he said.

 

However, his battle with Conservatorium could be costly for Wiese.

 

In its settlement term sheet, Steinhoff said that with regards to any disputes about legal ownership, amount or value of a claim against it: "...will wait for the final unappealable determination, or consensual resolution, of those disputes before paying any compensation to the owner of the claim."”

 

The company added that it would dispute the claims made by Conservatorium stemming from the Upington matter.

 

"Conservatorium… remains confident that it will ultimately succeed in demonstrating its entitlement to the proceeds of all of its claims and will continue with the current litigation proceedings until such time as there is a fair and workable settlement proposal on the table," said its legal advisors.

 

On Friday, Steinhoff said it would not comment beyond the information it had published in its annual results regarding the litigation. 

Edited by Tom, 02 August 2020 - 10:41 AM.

[LarryK]

Good morning all,

So if I get this right, Snh will most likely, after settling litigation,
- revalue/state - mf and pepcor
- equity account - conforama
- revalue/state their property and hemisphere
- claim back taxes paid during the period in question
- revalue/state goodwill to fair value.
Is this a complicated thing to do from an accounting point of view? Sorry I’m not experienced in this field...

I guess once done they will actually have a going concern - then use this to refinance loans much cheaper...

Would they still need to do IPOs for greenlit and Pepco? What could they benefit from this?

At the end of this we should have a healthy business. Is Richard heiss still there? If so he is worth every sent he’s been paid...

[DayTraderDad]

Interesting Tom so now we know Confo Switzerland revenue Euro 418 mil and that should give a EBITDA of 30 mil therefore (This is one of the profitable confo business)   at 8 times Steinhoff got around Euro 240 mil!!! Andi your thoughts!!

[Tom]

Conforama Switzerland is acquired by local investors

 

The South African group Steinhoff separates from the furniture brand. Swiss buyers were found despite the difficult economic context.

 

Conforama Switzerland has been owned by the South African conglomerate Steinhoff International since 2011 and changes hands. The furniture store chain announced the takeover by a group of Swiss investors on Thursday.

"We are returning to our original concept. When we become Swiss again, we will return to our roots," said Patrice Dupasquier, CEO of the Swiss brand.

In the middle of the corona virus pandemic, the Swiss subsidiary of Conforama has managed to convince new investors who want to remain discreet because their names have not been released.

“It may seem surprising from the outside, but not from the inside. The interest of new investors rewards 44 years of successful activities in Switzerland. We are doing very well, ”Dupasquier told the AWP news agency.

If the takeover talks started in September, they were successful during the health crisis. "It was rather an opportunity to demonstrate the resilience of our business model," said the director. Conforama Switzerland has almost succeeded in making up for the shortage during the two months of forced closure.

"Online sales have made it possible to mitigate the drop in income, and during the reopening we benefited from the closure of the borders and the lack of shopping tourism," explains the manager.

No restructuring in sight

The buyout does not change the current organization, neither within the management nor for the 1,200 employees of the company. “We see this transaction as a partnership. It is a relief for employees and suppliers, ”he explains. The acquisition will allow the group to continue investing in the digital channel and in businesses.

Online sales are indeed one of the strategic priorities of the company, which currently generates 10% of its sales. "Our goal is to strengthen ourselves in the omnichannel (simultaneous use of different sales channels), since the majority of the work will take place on the Internet." The group invested CHF 1.5 million in a digital project last year.

In view of the upheavals that have taken hold of the highly competitive Swiss furniture market, the director is confident: “We have a unique business model with furniture, decoration and consumer electronics. This enables us to win different customer segments for our businesses, especially young people. “

8 million visitors

In 2019, the group generated sales of 450 million Swiss francs and saw growth of 2% in the Swiss furniture market, which has been declining for several years. "It depends on the opening of new stores, but generally we benefit from a 3-5% increase in sales," explains the director.

One of the keys to this success is participation with 8 million visitors from the 22 Swiss brands. "We have an excellent network, but we still see potential for some businesses, especially in Zurich or in more remote regions," explains Dupasquier.

Steinhoff International has been in difficulty due to accounting irregularities since 2017 and sold Conforama France last July to the owners of XXXLutz and the American fund Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD & R). A comprehensive restructuring had been decided before the sale, which resulted in the loss of 1,900 out of 9,000 jobs in France. Switzerland was not affected.

Edited by Tom, 01 August 2020 - 11:23 AM.

[Investment novice]

Pls can o ask about the stabdard bank pepkor issue. Is there a potential issue here.?

Sent from my SM-G950F using Sharenet Sharechat mobile app

[Lionelza1]

Some great clarity in the FAQ's now on the website.

Of interest to us all should be the 'little note/comment' tucked away in question 2 on pg 8. (see extract in attachment) referring to "Financial Creditors" which reads (2nd Para)

"Instead they will be asked to provide consent for the proposed global settlement and to waive any tortious (delictual) claims they may have against the Steinhoff Group, D&O insurers and auditors!

The ONLY reason for this consent to be sought to be included, (and should maybe not have been requested in the light of wanting support for the settlement proposal), is because Steinhoff is setling itself up to be able to directly institute actions actions D&O insurers and auditors !!!

I see this as confirmation of Steinhoff preparing a claim in the near future. Also makes sense as to why they want to buy more time from the Financial creditors. The intention could well be to settle these creditors from the proceeds of settlememts they receive.

Just my observation !!!

And this.... Ya... Pump time?

[Everlearning]

Some great clarity in the FAQ's now on the website.

 

Of interest to us all should be the 'little note/comment' tucked away in question 2 on pg 8. (see extract in attachment) referring to "Financial Creditors" which reads  (2nd Para)

 

"Instead they will be asked to provide consent for the proposed global settlement and to waive any tortious (delictual) claims they may have against the Steinhoff Group, D&O insurers and auditors!

 

The ONLY reason for this consent to be sought to be included, (and should maybe not have been requested in the light of wanting support for the settlement proposal), is because Steinhoff is setling itself up to be able to directly institute actions actions D&O insurers and auditors !!!

 

I see this as confirmation of Steinhoff preparing a claim in the near future. Also makes sense as to why they want to buy more time from the Financial creditors. The intention could well be to settle these creditors from the proceeds of settlememts they receive.

 

Just my observation !!!

[andi222]

Andi any investor that pays attention to news these days is a idiot!! The standard of jornalisim has hit rock bottom. News these days is just about negativity to create sensation.

 

Agreed, only sources which I do trust are the SENS of the company itself, Bloomberg and Reuters. 

[DayTraderDad]

https://www.iol.co.z...17-a480e7fbdf29

 

An example of misleading journalism.

Extract of the first paragraph:

"Embattled global retailer Steinhoff yesterday flagged that its losses had widened more than initially projected in the six months to March, doubling to 1.5 billion (R29.08bn) as Covid-19 disrupted supply chains and halted its operations."

 

Just that sentence is already misleading as the biggest portion of that 1.5 billion loss relates to 1) provision raised for claims for 0.9 billion and finance costs which mostly arise due to their debt levels of 0.7 billion. 

 

I really wonder sometimes if this is done on purpose? Does anyone have an idea or do you guys think Journalists are just getting lazy and just want clicks?

Andi any investor that pays attention to news these days is a idiot!! The standard of jornalisim has hit rock bottom. News these days is just about negativity to create sensation.

[andi222]

https://www.iol.co.z...17-a480e7fbdf29

 

An example of misleading journalism.

Extract of the first paragraph:

"Embattled global retailer Steinhoff yesterday flagged that its losses had widened more than initially projected in the six months to March, doubling to 1.5 billion (R29.08bn) as Covid-19 disrupted supply chains and halted its operations."

 

Just that sentence is already misleading as the biggest portion of that 1.5 billion loss relates to 1) provision raised for claims for 0.9 billion and finance costs which mostly arise due to their debt levels of 0.7 billion. 

 

I really wonder sometimes if this is done on purpose? Does anyone have an idea or do you guys think Journalists are just getting lazy and just want clicks?

[andi222]

Guys, Steinhoff is playing open cards now. Here are some FAQ towards the proposals:

 

https://www.steinhof...tion-claims.php

[andi222]

I think the guy is just degranted because he lost out in a opportunity. I dont believe after all the issues with Steinhoff that the excellent management of Pepkor would now go and do something so stupid.

 

Agreed and he is probably shorting Pepkor. . . .

[DayTraderDad]

https://twitter.com/...6473789440?s=20

I think the guy is just degranted because he lost out in a opportunity. I dont believe after all the issues with Steinhoff that the excellent management of Pepkor would now go and do something so stupid.

[nosh]

 

"

Dave Hazelwood: A day before Pepkor announced a capital raise, Pepkor issued trading update, saying sales in LAST 4 WEEKS in May was up 40%, but omitted to say that 1st week was down 50% (and they'd been trading before then even). Later, AFTER capital raise, they said sales in May was up 20%

".

 

thanks

[Tom]

"

Dave Hazelwood: A day before Pepkor announced a capital raise, Pepkor issued trading update, saying sales in LAST 4 WEEKS in May was up 40%, but omitted to say that 1st week was down 50% (and they'd been trading before then even). Later, AFTER capital raise, they said sales in May was up 20%

".

Edited by Tom, 31 July 2020 - 12:44 PM.

[Tom]

"

Dave Hazelwood: Standard Bank equity team expressing concern over corporate governance at Pepkor. They say trading update a day before capital raise was misleading

".

Edited by Tom, 31 July 2020 - 12:44 PM.

[nosh]

https://twitter.com/...0990090240?s=20

apologies - i battled to post the screenshots

[nosh]

https://twitter.com/...6473789440?s=20

 

https://twitter.com/...0990090240?s=20

[nosh]

https://twitter.com/...6473789440?s=20