Hi DTD, I agree with you regarding the value in Steinhoff- however there is this huge IF in the air. The value is only there if the Litigation are sorted.
I like your optimism, however there is no way these will be settled before December. We will be lucky if they can find agreements before December 2021.
One thing is for sure- Steinhoff will be operating till December 2021. There is no doubt about that.
No with regards to litigation. Normal shareholders who participate in a class action basically have little to zero chance of getting anything out of Steinhoff. Looking in the past Bank of America, VW for example huge amounts where claimed however only around 1-5% of the total claim was actually settled/paid. So I don't see too much danger here. The only guys who will win something here are the lawyers as they get a fixed % of the total claim. For example if the manage to get say 5% of the 200 Billion total claim for shareholders that would be around 10 Billion rand and they normally get 10% of this for their work. So at the end they would get 1 billion rand for their work and they will smile for days and except the offer made. So i think the max settlement will be 10 Billion - Around 500-600 Million euro.
Now the bigger threats are the claims from Christo wiese and the other claims. Biggest one here is CW claim, luckily he has said mentioned that he is willing to sit around a table and discuss the claims and find a solution out of court.
As Steinhoff will be able to focus on these I think they have a good chance of fighting these claims.
Please also don't forget that the following parties will support Steinhoff in these processes as they would have to share the fines. These parties include:
Genesis International Holdings N.V. , Deloitte & Touche Group Service (Pty) Ltd, Standard Chartered Bank, Rodl & Partners, Steinhoff Secretarial Services (Pty) Ltd, Southern View Finance UK Limited, Campion Capital, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft , Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft , Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft , PSG Capital, Steinhoff International Holdings, Steinhoff International Holdings N.V.
So there are many parties involved and trust me Steinhoff will not be the only one liable for all settlements (if any).
Hi Andi,
The reason I see litigation sorted by December is:
1 - There is no money for litigation or payment for claims. The more money SNH spends in lawyers the less shareholders going to get.
2 - Creditor have a strong hold in the company due to the debt and do not see them taking a haircut to pay shareholders.
3 - The longer the claims hang around SNH neck the less the chance of recovery.
4 - I do believe this will be sorted soon because there is no other solution. Basically there is liquidation or settlement.
5 - As much as CW has a claim he is in turn being sued by shareholder class action claims. So how will this play out!!! Think he will have to answer the purchase of MF.
6 - The only way is for all to sit and come to some agreement to allow the company to restructure and after paying debt down they can give dividends.
So if CW wins then the full sale should be reverse in which case Brait would need to give back the money, SNH compensated for the development of the business etc. Also SNH could claim back the money for the worthless Brait shares.
If one takes all the above in consideration there is not much options left and the quicker this is sorted the quicker SNH future will start because without restructure SNH will not survive.
