Africa-Press – South-Africa. Faan and Dirk van der Walt, the billionaire co-founders and co-CEOs of WeBuyCars, are set to take control of JSE-listed property company RMB Holdings (RMH).
The entity through which the acquisition is being made, AttBid, is 51% owned by the two brothers, with the remaining 49% being held by Atterbury Property Fund.
AttBid has been steadily buying up shares in RMH in anticipation of the mandatory offer that has now been made. The combined shareholding of AttBid and Atterbury in RMH has risen over the past two months to 42.59%.
On 8 April, RMH and AttBid released a joint announcement on the JSE stock exchange news service, reiterating AttBid’s intention to make an offer to RMH shareholders to acquire all of the shares in the company that are not already held by Atterbury.
The announcement also included the 50-page circular distributed to shareholders outlining the deal in more detail and what AttBid plans to do with RMH’s business if the deal goes through.
AttBid and RMH also revealed that they expect the transaction to be formally concluded by 1 June, with the last day to trade in RMH shares to participate in the offer being 26 May.
The deal has been a long time in the making, with RMH struggling to conclude its strategy of shifting from a strategic shareholder to an investment holding company focused on monetising its underlying property investments.
All the while, Faan and Dirk have been invested in Atterbury-related assets for many years, the company previously told Daily Investor in response to questions.
RMH began unbundling its investments in 2019, with it selling its stake in FirstRand and being left with predominantly property-related investments through its 38.5% stake in Atterbury.
However, selling these property assets has proven to be difficult, with the company struggling to find buyers for Atterbury.
The lack of alternative buyers for RMH’s stake in Atterbury makes AttBid, which includes Atterbury, the natural acquirer.
RMH also explained that the deal will give shareholders immediate value for their shares at the prevailing price. AttBid is set to pay R654.58 million for RMH, which is not much of a premium on the company’s current market value of R640.75 million.
The company explained that the lack of a premium must be considered against the ongoing operational costs of running a listed company and the significant future capital requirements of Atterbury.
In the circular, RMH also explained that the conclusion of the monetisation strategy announced in 2019 remains at the forefront of its board’s mind.
Thus, the sale of Atterbury maintains the certainty regarding this strategy and RMH’s willingness to see it through.
AttBid explained in the circular to shareholders that it currently does not intend to change the nature of RMH’s business.
However, the company will delist RMH once the deal has been concluded, with AttBid taking the company private.
This may complicate the deal slightly, as the pace at which this can happen will depend on the level of shareholder support AttBid’s offer receives.
If 90% of shareholders accept the offer, AttBid will invoke the Companies Act to acquire all remaining shares that were not voluntarily tendered, resulting in RMH being delisted.
In the scenario where less than 90% of shareholders accept the offer, AttBid will eventually delist RMH in compliance with the JSE’s listing requirements.
Ultimately, meeting the 90% threshold gives AttBid the freedom to acquire all the remaining shares in RMH.
While the deal appears to be going through smoothly, there has been some speculation that the WeBuyCars co-founders sold shares in the company they founded to fund the transaction.
The brothers sold R866.4 million worth of shares in WeBuyCars on 2 February 2026, just a week before AttBid announced its intention to acquire RMH.
However, WeBuyCars have dismissed this speculation, saying that the two events are unrelated.
“Faan and Dirk have been invested in Atterbury-related assets for many years, and this opportunity was committed to long before the recent sale of shares was executed. The timing of the sale of sales and this announcement are unrelated,” CEO Faan van der Walt said in response to queries from Daily Investor.
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