Steinhoff’s Jooste to sell plot

Steinhoff International Holdings’s former CEO Markus Jooste has put a plot on a luxury estate up for sale, asking R4.5m more for the property than the embattled businessman paid for it two years ago.

Steinhoff International Holdings NV’s former CEO Markus Jooste has put a plot on a luxury estate up for sale, asking R4.5m more for the property than the embattled businessman had paid for it two years ago.

Jooste bought 978 at Val de Vie, a sprawling Western Cape estate with vineyards, for R10.5m and is trying to sell it for R15m, according to Val de Vie’s interactive sales map.

He bought the plot in December 2015, the same month the retailer moved its main listing to Frankfurt from Johannesburg, the state registry shows.

The sale indicates that Jooste is trying to raise cash following his resignation from Steinhoff amid an accounting scandal six weeks ago.

Mayfair Speculators, of which Jooste was until recently a director, sold champion racehorse Legal Eagle in December, according to the Sporting Post. Jooste is a horseracing fanatic and Val de Vie is an equestrian estate that has hosted the UK’s Prince Harry for polo matches.

Steinhoff shares have lost almost 90% of their value since the owner of Mattress Firm in the US and Conforama in France said on December 5 it had uncovered accounting irregularities. Billionaire chairman Christo Wiese has quit alongside Jooste and the company has been in emergency talks with lenders to continue operating as a going concern.

Neither has spoken publicly about what went wrong.

“It must be a liquidity issue,” said Petri Redelinghuys, founder of Herenya Capital Advisors. “You need to have that liquidity, whether it be for the business or for legal fees or just to keep everything ticking over.”

Jooste did not respond to a cell phone message seeking comment about the sale.

Jooste is not the only one frantically trying to raise cash. Wiese, Steinhoff’s largest shareholder, has seen his net worth cut by more than half and has had to sell shares in another company he is linked to for R4.2bn.