Wiese’s dreaded ‘reverse Midas touch’

MARKET lore has previously held that punters could do well by simply following the investment trail of serial risk taker Christo Wiese, who built enormous long-term wealth with retail firms Pepkor and Shoprite.

Up until fairly recently, that might have been a rewarding strategy. But of late, the retail tycoon, who famously operates out of an office in unfashionable Parow East in Cape Town, has shown the symptoms of the dreaded “reverse Midas touch”.

Anyone following Wiese’s investment strategy at the start of this year would have incurred third-degree wallet burns.

Pretty much everything Wiese has invested in – from property companies to mining ventures and industrial counters to retail – has taken a battering over the last year or so.

The dramatic collapse in consumer conglomerate Steinhoff International, however, is a blow that Wiese will certainly battle to fully recover from.

Over the last few years, it seemed Wiese was determined to “externalise” a chunk of his investment holdings through Steinhoff. This was done by rolling up a number of his investments into Steinhoff, which had transformed into a global retail champion with a primary listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

It’s difficult to quantify Wiese’s paper losses at Steinhoff. But it seems he may be down by more than R45-billion.

At this point, the salvaging of Wiese’s fortunes rests on Steinhoff soon clearing the air around allegations of irregular business activities.