Steinhoff said in a statement it has entered into call option agreements with Titan Premier Investments, a company ultimately controlled by a Wiese family trust, as well as the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) and Lancaster Group.
“The exercise and implementation of the call options will not require STAR to extend a mandatory offer to the remaining Shoprite shareholders,” Steinhoff said.
Once the call options are exercised and implemented, STAR will hold approximately 22.7% of the economic interest and 50% of the voting rights in Shoprite, Steinhoff said.
The deal will value Shoprite’s ordinary shares, deferred voting shares and cash at a combined 35.5 billion rand, the company said.
STAR will remain a unit of Steinhoff and will house all the firm’s African assets except its logistics unit Unitrans, Steinhoff said.
Pep, a low-end retailer founded by Wiese in 1965 in a small town near the border with Namibia, will be the largest single asset in STAR’s stable. Steinhoff in 2014 bought Pep for 63 billion rand — $5.7 billion at time.
-Reuters