ANA reports that MPs heard on Wednesday that the billions of rand in losses suffered by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) following the collapse of the Steinhoff share price was likely permanent.  

Testifying before four parliamentary committees, the global retailer’s former chief financial officer, Ben La Grange, said the PIC, which manages pension funds on behalf of SA’s public servants, was Steinhoff’s second biggest shareholder.  He indicated:  “The losses that pension funds took up to date will in all likelihood be permanent losses and not temporary losses.”  During the same meeting, Steinhoff supervisory board chairperson Heather Sonn said she could not give MPs a guarantee that pension funds were safe because there were “so many circumstances” outside the board’s control.  In January, the PIC and the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) had indicated to MPs that the losses constituted only one percent of assets, but said the rand value lost – estimated at that time to have been about R20 billion – was significant.

• A short report is at The Citizen

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