Bloomberg reports that the Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) wants Steinhoff International Holdings NV acting CEO Danie van der Merwe to resign after it emerged he borrowed R26.4m backed by company shares a week before the stock collapsed due to accounting irregularities.
“The timing of the loan application is highly suspicious and smacks of insider trading. There is absolutely no way that Steinhoff top executives, including Van der Merwe, could not have full knowledge of what was going on, on the eve of the share collapse,” Fedusa said in a statement on Friday. Steinhoff said earlier that the 29 November loan taken out by Van der Merwe’s personal investment company from Investec Plc had been repaid. It was standard practice for lenders to accept personal assets as security for loans and the transactions have no implications for the company, a Steinhoff spokeswoman said. The Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) was heavily invested in Steinhoff through the Public Investment Corporation (PIC).
- This short report by John Bowker is at Moneyweb
- Read Fedusa’s press statement in this regard at SA Labour News
- See too, Steinhoff to meet lenders on debt restructuring, at BusinessLive
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page