The restructuring

In October 2000 Pepkor restructured its operations extensively. It unbundled its holding in the South African food retailer Shoprite and in the UK retail group Instore plc to its shareholders. In the case of Instore, the shares were housed in a new company, Tradehold, now listed on the JSE, and the shares of Tradehold unbundled to Pepkor shareholders on a pro rata basis.

At the same time Pepkor’s pyramid structure was collapsed and its ultimate holding company, Pepgro, delisted from the JSE. This left Pepkor with the discount clothing retailers Pep, Ackermans and Best & Less.

Delisting

In December 2003 the shareholders of Pepkor Limited voted with a substantial majority to accept a buy-out offer from Pepkor Holdings Limited, an offer initiated by Brait South Africa. Investors accepted either a cash offer for their shares or exchanged them for shares in Pepkor Holdings. Dr Christo Wiese, who had controlled Pepkor through a pyramid holding company, retained a strategic interest. Other major shareholders, in addition to Dr Wiese and Brait, are Old Mutual and Pepkor management, who were given the opportunity to acquire 10% of the shares while provision was also made for empowerment partners. Early in 2004 Pepkor was delisted from the JSE.