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Pepkor seeks leave to appeal

Beef: Tekkie Town’s for­mer share­hold­ers, led by founder Braam van Huyssteen, say they were duped into sell­ing the busi­ness.
Beef: Tekkie Town’s for­mer share­hold­ers, led by founder Braam van Huyssteen, say they were duped into sell­ing the busi­ness.
/Masi Losi

Pepkor Holdings’s leave to appeal the order preventing it from selling or dealing in the shares of shoe retailer Tekkie Town will be heard in September, it said.

Pepkor Holdings’ leave to appeal the order preventing it from selling or dealing in the shares of shoe retailer Tekkie Town will be heard in September, it said on Wednesday.

In April, Western Cape High Court judge Nathan Erasmus granted a preservation order that essentially prevents Pepkor or Steinhoff, the direct and indirect owners of Tekkie Town, respectively, from selling or ceding its shares until the dispute over the ownership of Tekkie Town has been resolved.

The order was sought by a group of former shareholders of Tekkie Town, led by founder Braam van Huyssteen, who sold the business to Steinhoff for R3.25bn in August 2016, before Pepkor (previously called Steinhoff Africa Retail) even existed.

Van Huyssteen and the other shareholders believe they were duped into selling the business in exchange for restricted shares in Steinhoff by its former CEO, Markus Jooste. However, Pepkor has repeatedly said it has no intention of selling Tekkie Town and has applied for leave to appeal the matter. That hearing is set down for September 13.

Allegations of accounting irregularities surfaced in December 2017 and led to the collapse of Steinhoff shares. It was once the sixth biggest company on the JSE.

Steinhoff itself has stated that accounting irregularities and fraud led to the overstatement of assets and income by about R105bn.

No fraud has been reported at Pepkor Holdings, and advisory services company PwC, which was hired to investigate Steinhoff, has stated that the company was not involved in any questionable transactions.

Van Huyssteen launched legal action to have Tekkie Town returned to him in 2018, a matter which is proceeding through the courts and which, thus far, Steinhoff has defended. He says he is open to discussion.