Shoprite The four legs of the table
Things are not lekker with Oom Christo and Shoprite. “People are always talking to me about the deferred shares,” he grumbles. “But there is nothing on the table right now.” Except, presumably, for an open box of Ouma rusks and a lonely cup of rooibos. He refers of course to the 265 million deferred Shoprite shares, by which he has swing over 32.3% of the Group’s votes. In June, you may recall, rebellious shareholders put an end to Shoprite’s plans to swop the offending certificates for 20 million ordinary shares, valued at R178 a piece. And the share price is not playing nice either: after last week’s muted results, and given the ongoing weakness of the retail sector, punters are looking for other mattresses under which to hide their hard-earned. If Wiese had managed to unload his stock at the 2017 price, he would have realised around R3.5bn on the deal. “A deal at current prices might get him R2.3bn,” says a gimlet-eyed analyst, who preferred not to be named.
Comment: Schadenfreude is that frisson of delight one feels at the misfortune of others. Not something we feel right now vis-à-vis Oom Christo, but there are, we’re sure, those who do.